fragile | jelix

"you met him?! and he looked perfectly normal?!" i'd been dealing with the same questions for about 5 minutes. i was walking home from school with mark and i decided to tell him about my encounter with jack about a week prior, trusting that he'd keep it a secret and not freak out about it. he already wasn't doing one of those things.

"yup. like i've said the past two hundred times."

"and he didn't look like a failed government experiment?!" i shook my head, partly because i was telling him no, partly because i was disappointed that he was one of the many people who thought he was a failed government experiment.

"no, he didn't. he looked like a perfectly normal human being."

"what was the line on his floor?! do you think he's radioactive?" i'd finally had enough and i smacked mark round the back of his head, to which he yelped and stopped talking. mark was the smartest person i knew, but i didn't know many people.

"i don't know what it was for, he never told me. he just said i wasn't allowed to cross it. and no, he's not radioactive."

"how do you know if you never crossed the line?" i smacked him again to shut him up.

"hey, quit doing that!" i giggled at him, praying that he would just drop the subject. and shockingly, he did. he must have gotten the memo at some point that i was sick and tired of him asking me the same stupid questions over and over again.

for the rest of the way back to my house we talked about school, the people we didn't like, homework, girls as if i had any interest in them, and video games. not once was jack brought back up, so that made me incredibly happy. well, that was until we got to my house.

"well, i'll see you tomorrow then." i shouted to mark, walking towards my front door. he stood on the pavement near my house and nodded at me, before turning his head to the house opposite. i assumed he would look at it for a few seconds and then walk away, but it's mark, so of course that didn't happen. instead he looked back at me and smirked before crossing the road. mark never went that way to get home. i knew he was up to something.

i ran from my front door to my best friend, grabbing his arm.

"what are you doing? you don't walk this way." he looked at me and simply stated, 'i know' before walking away from me and carrying on in the direction he was going. i caught up with him again.

"what are you doing mark?" we were now on the pavement near the house. he stopped dead in his tracks and grabbed my arm.

"if you get to see the kid, then so do i." he continued walking but i put my hand on his chest to stop him.

"mark, you're being an idiot, stop it. what i did was insanely stupid and risky. i could have easily gotten caught. if you try to sneak in there now, it'll be even more risky for you because when i did it his parents weren't-"

"woah woah woah. i never said i was gonna sneak in. i'm just gonna knock on the door, chill out." i felt relieved knowing that my best friend wasn't going to get in trouble for entering a random persons home, but i still didn't want him doing what he said he was going to.

"don't do that either! they'll only turn you away, i told you what they said to me in that letter. he's not allowed to see me in person, so why would they make an exception for you?" he looked down at the floor and sighed.

"that's a good point. but that's not gonna stop me from trying." i rolled my eyes and groaned loudly, on the verge of losing my temper. he carried on walking and eventually got all the way to the front door of the house, but that time, i didn't bother stopping him.

"you know what mark? go ahead, embarrass yourself, see if i care." i turned around and began to walk away, slightly tempted to turn back, grab him and run away. but i heard him knock on the door and knew it was too late for that. i had taken only a few steps when i heard the sound of a door opening, and i immediately began to cringe. that was until i heard my name being called by an unfamiliar voice.

"felix!" i turned around slowly to see a woman in the doorway of jack's house calling my name. she shouted for me again, so i slowly made my way back towards the house. i had now recognised the woman as his mom.

"i'm glad i caught you before you left. you are felix, right?" i nodded, feeling incredibly confused. i finally got to the door and stood next to mark, who also seemed puzzled. the woman pulled something out of her pocket and held it in front of my face.

"it's yours. take it." i retrieved the item and held it in my hand, making sure i had a tight grip on it.

"i thought whilst you were around and about i'd give it to you now." i nodded and thanked her for doing so. we exchanged fairwells and then she shut the door. me and mark shared a glance.

"i never even got to speak to her. as soon as she answered the door she pointed at you and asked me what your name was." i laughed at his misfortune and the fact that his plan failed. after discussing what had happened a little bit more, we departed and made our way to our own seperate homes.