Chapter 24

Jean heard a knock on her door followed by her father's voice asking, "Hey, are you awake or sleeping?"

"I'm awake." Jean was just about to go to sleep but for the time being she was still awake.

"Our neighbor wants to talk to you," he opened the door and told her.

"Our neighbor?"

"Those two that just moved in. You know, the ones that were making that racket. Apparently, one of them knows you."

"Jackson?"

"I think that was what he said his name was. Well, isn't that surprising? Who would've guessed that you knew our neighbors? Though, I still don't forgive them for sending you to the hospital."

"It wasn't their fault," Jean told him again. They were partially to blame for it, but knowing Jackson, he definitely didn't do it on purpose and probably got lost in whatever it was that he was doing and forgotten how late it was.

"Ah, whatever. He's in the kitchen right now, so come out sometime soon."

"Wait, you invited him in?"

"I mean, am I suppose to leave him outside our door? It's common courtesy to invite them in and offer them some tea... or maybe minus the tea since we don't have any. Anyway, he's a very interesting guy, how did you meet someone like that?" Jean's father asked her.

"It's complicated." Jean didn't want to tell him how she met Jackson since if she did, there was a very likely chance that her dad would suddenly change his mind about inviting him to their apartment and kick him out immediately.

The truth was when she was younger, there was a certain someone who went around collecting strange things that he thought was cool and giving them to Jean. The things she received ranged from questionable to borderline illegal items. She didn't know how he kept getting his hands on any of those things, but there was word going around that he and his family did shady things.

"Is it? Then tell me the story some other time." After saying that, Jean's father left the room.

Jean took a minute to ease her headache by putting her knuckle on the center of her forehead. She learned this trick from Zack who claimed that it could get rid of headaches. She wasn't really sure if it was true or not but it did seem to ease it a bit. Running down all those flights of stairs had left her body feeling exhausted, and for some reason, she couldn't get herself to fall asleep despite all that. Her mind was running too wild with everything that was going on.

When she felt that the headache had gone away enough, she got up and left her room, and went to the kitchen where she found Jackson exploring the place. He was walking around looking at everything and didn't notice that Jean was right behind him.

"Hey."

Jackson jumped in surprise and almost knocked over a cup on the counter. "Woah, you scared me!"

"What are you doing here anyway?" Jean asked him, going straight to the point. Though, she already had an idea of what the reason was.

"Oh, you didn't come home yesterday and I was worried."

Yep, right on point. How did she know? Jean sighed and pointed at the door. "Well, I'm fine as you can see. If that's all, then please leave."

"Hmm... I don't mind leaving but are you sure you want me to? We barely talked at all."

"Yeah, please just go," Jean said while shaking her head. She really didn't want to talk to him.

"Alright, I guess I'll leave," Jackson said in a 'whatever' kind of tone. Jackson headed for the door but stopped last second, turned his head, and said, "Oh, and by the way, I happen to know a bit of what is going on with the terrorist attacks. A word of advice, tell your dad to avoid going to work this month. Things are going to be a bit more hectic for I.C.E. starting today."

"What?"

"If you want to know more about what I mean, feel free to knock on my door anything you want. I'll probably be in there most of the time."

"Wait, how do you know my dad works for I.C.E.!?"

"Oh that? Like I said, I can tell you more about it later. Anyway, I'll be going now. Remember what I said." Jackson exited her apartment and closed the door behind him. A few seconds later, she heard a door in the hallway open up and then close.

Okay... So Jackson was definitely in something shady, or otherwise, there would be no way for him to know that her father works at I.C.E. But one thing that she didn't understand was why he was telling her all of this. Wasn't he afraid that she might report this to the authorities and have them arrest him? Well, she wasn't going to do that since there was a lot that she wanted to know and Jackson knew it too, and that was why he didn't mind telling her all of those things.

Jean's father appeared behind her with a towel on his head, just finishing taking a shower. "He left already? That was quick. What did you two talk about in that short amount of time?"

"Nothing." Since she asked him to leave. There was nothing much she wanted to talk with the guy anyway, or that was before he mentioned the terrorist stuff. Now there was a lot she wanted to ask about but that will have to wait until tomorrow when she wasn't feeling so tired.

He gave Jean a confused looked and said, "It doesn't sound like you two get along well. Did something happen between you two?"

"Kind of, but not really at the same time."

"You're not really giving me a straight answer, but whatever happened, I won't ask any further. Just keep in mind that he will be our neighbor from now on for who knows how long. You'll be seeing each other sometimes, so it's best to forget old grudges."

"No, it's not that. It's hard to explain."

"Okay, if you ever need any help or advice, I'm always here. I'll go make dinner now, or is it still lunch?" Jean's father tossed the wet towel on a chair and went to the kitchen. "Do you want to help, or better yet go rest?"

"I'll go rest." Jean went back to her room and jumped back on her bed.

*Buzz* Her phone screen lit up. She reached over to the desk where it was laying on, stretching her arm as far as she can, but it was too far away for her to reach. She shifted her body a little and almost fell off the bed. "Woah!" She slammed her hands down on the floor and pushed herself back up. Giving up on that idea, she just got off her bed and went to grab the phone normally. It was a text from Samantha telling Jean to call her when she woke up.

Since Jean couldn't fall asleep right now nor did she have anything else to do, she decided to call Samantha. The phone didn't even ring once before for the call to be picked up. "Hey, are you alive?"

"Um... yes?"

"Okay, that's good to hear. With that aside, do you want to hear about that traveler at the cafe?"

"Sure."

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