by Beth Hoyer
sounded like Victoria which he jerked opened his eyes to discover himself lying on a bed in a room with two windows flanking it from the sunlight. He felt himself wearing pajama pants while having a blanket covering him. He looked around the room with fear with unfocused eyes as he felt a hand touch his forehead that stiffened him. Jinks heard the Dad comment spoken again looked on his right to see Victoria standing next to the bed looking a little pale while dressed in a bathrobe and next to her having hands on his daughter’s shoulders was a woman dressed in a peasant dress looking familiar. He felt the hand’s touch on his forehead felt familiar jerked his eyes towards his left to see his son Robert leaning over him with worry in his eyes.
Robert spoke “Dad your safe now, don’t worry. You’re in a house residence belonging to the Master organization in California. They won’t get you here I oath to you.”
Jinks groaned a soft sound as Robert rubbed his forehead in a soothing motion till his senses blared warning and he felt sleepiness hit him shut his eyes passing out unconscious.
Jinks dreamed of he facing Lance who looked concerned by the look on his face. He stared at his father who reached out a hand and touched his shoulder gripping it in a gentle grip. He felt himself stiffening from his father’s touch as Lance stared at him with the expression still in his face.
Lance spoke “Jinks, the cop that helped you? He’s a descendant of former Mayor of the city Kevin Hettinger who you defeated in an election years ago.”
He stiffened hearing his father’s words as Lance kept talking “The former Mayor’s family has some anger at you for what you did to Hettinger after the election which was having him arrested and charged with bribery which he wound up with a jail sentence for that.”
Jinks frowned as memories of the time as Mayor flashed in his mind as Lance kept talking “The cop descendant of Hettinger has been dubbed the black sheep of the family for insisting on dropping the vendetta against you. He was pressured to shoot you by some of his family members which he did but he realized it was wrong when you looked at him with that look on your face.”
Jinks frowned stiffening further as a memory of the crowd charging at him and touching him all over flashed in his mind as Lance paused from talking to rub his shoulder.
He stared at his father who spoke “The cop’s family will drop that vendetta I oath to you for I’ll see to it.”
He gave off a groan in a loud tone and with a hand removed his father’s hand from his shoulder and sighed from the hand’s removal as he let go of Lance’s hand. He saw Lance form a frown on his face with some serious look in his eyes while staring at him that made him nervous.
Lance spoke “Don’t worry about the crowd doing that stunt. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again with the help of the cop who helped you and others. That incident gave you unexpected allies who’ll do what it takes to protect you from harm.”
Jinks sighed and stiffened as his father reached out a hand with his eyes warily watching the hand touch his forehead followed by his eyes forced shut. He felt himself losing sensation as blackness arrived followed by nothingness.
Jinks woke up with a gasp jerking his eyes open looking around the room with fear in him. He saw no one in the room sighed to hear a meow in a worried tone and felt pressure next to his right arm looked to spot a cat he saw was all black with long fur. He slowly sat up as the cat arched its back and walked off the bed which he followed with his eyes seeing it go to the door that was ajar and walk through the opening out of sight. He yanked the blankets off his form and got up from the bed to stand as he saw sunlight shining from the window next to the bed. He went to the window and looked out to see rows of trees appearing to hold fruit far in the horizon in his eyes sight. Jinks stiffened as he sensed a presence behind him sensing it was Robert. Jinks turned around to spot his son standing near the foot of the bed looking concerned by the look in his eyes and facial expression. He stared at Robert who slowly walked forwards making him stiffen from his son’s movements edging closer towards him.
Robert spoke “Dad?”
He heard the worry in his son’s tone did a short bob in a yes gesture with his head towards Robert who stopped once he was inches away. Jinks felt he getting nervous as Robert reached out a hand putting it on his shoulder.
He struggled to relax from Robert’s hand on him as his son spoke “You’ll be alright, Dad.”
He felt his nervousness take control yanked Robert’s hand from his shoulder and turned around darting towards the window which he smashed through falling towards the ground below head first. He felt his body flip to land on the ground feet first which he squatted and started running through an aisle between the trees.
He heard behind him a female voice speaking repeatedly shouting “Dad!”
Jinks ran till he tripped on a tree root and hit the ground on his stomach. He rolled onto his back swinging himself up with a karate move as he saw Victoria from a distance running towards him.
He heard her shouting repeatedly “Dad!”
Jinks felt his fear take control spun around in the opposite direction and took a step forwards only to feel his feet become heavy tipping his body back and forth. He heard Victoria’s voice become louder and louder as she came to him from behind sounding like she had the Master in control. Jinks growled an angry sound as rage took control overcoming his fearful feeling. He fisted his hands to roar an inhuman like cry and heard Victoria’s voice cut off as he sensed her behind him a meter away from him. He squatted with fists on the ground as a rage episode arrived within him putting him out.
Jinks came to discover himself with rage gone and feeling himself sadly upset while curled in a ball on the ground his hands touching his face wet with tears while feeling a hand touching the top of his head sensing it belong to Victoria. Jinks allowed the tears to flow as he screamed out sounds of anguish. He cried and cried till the tears stopped flowing and his throat felt raw from screaming which he shut his eyes willing himself to sleep as he felt Victoria remove her hand. He felt a hand touch his arm which he sensed belonged to Robert and opened his eyes pulling his hands from his face to sit up from the ground. He felt Robert hug him in a bear hug tight around him that soothed him to feel better to sigh loudly.
He sighed again relaxing from Robert’s hold around him as his son let go of him to speak “Dad?”
He heard the upset tone groaned as Victoria walked in his eyes sight still dressed in the bathrobe with pajama pants peeking out along with slipper like shoes on her feet which he reached out a hand towards her. He saw Victoria take his hand to grip it as he felt his other hand gripped by Robert which he gently squeezed. Jinks sighed softly as Robert stood up pulling him up. He allowed his children to keep their holds on his hands and pull him through the aisle of trees towards the house he saw looked massive towering over him. His eyes focused on a window with glass broken which he frowned seeing the distance as he was pulled closer to the house. He moved his eyes down to see a large gazebo nearby with a woman standing underneath the opening he remembered that she was Samira, Robert’s wife. He sighed softly as his children pulled him pass the gazebo underneath Samira’s watching eyes to around the house reaching a large covered porch which he was pulled up the steps.
He heard Robert speak “Sis, I’ll handle Dad and his needs. Just go to Samira and finish your meal.”
He sighed as he felt Victoria let go of his hand followed by her hugging him and then she darted away.
He felt Robert’s hand on his arm as his son let go of his hand while speaking “Come Dad, I think you need a shower and some clothes along with some food in you.”
Jinks didn’t protest as Robert led him into the house he saw reminded him of his time at Senator Baxter’s house visiting his son Nathan from time to time. He was led through several rooms and up the stairs till they stopped at a door which Robert yanked open showing the familiar bedroom with the smashed window.
He groaned loudly eyes on the windo
w and heard Robert speak “Don’t worry about the window. It’ll be fixed.”
He was led through the bedroom to a door which Robert opened and led him inside seeing it was a bathroom with a large tub and a large shower stall along with a single sink and a desk that appeared to be a vanity with a mirror above it. Jinks sighed as Robert stopped to let go of his arm and he stared at his son looking him over with his eyes with scrutiny in them.
He heard Robert speak “You look fine with nary a scratch from breaking that window and your walking fine suggest you didn’t hurt yourself from the landing. A shower will do you some good along so get yourself in the stall. I’ll see about getting you some clothes to wear.”
Jinks sighed as Robert left him gently closing the bathroom door behind him. He eyed the shower feeling himself needing to be clean stripped himself of his pajama pants leaving them piled on the floor and opened the shower stall door which he walked inside and headed towards the faucets. He turned the water on to tolerable heat levels and sighed feeling the water spray over him wetting his form. He brought his face up to face the shower spray shutting his eyes relaxing from the water spilling over him. He lowered his face and opened his eyes looking around the stall to find soap and shampoo on the shelves