Peace/Turmoil

“Nope, staying here.” Carson leans on his kitchen counter. He’d just been able to eat a little something for the first time all day, and his headache was finally starting to go away. He holds the phone to his ear, listening to Misty. “Figured they had enough people going, and besides that, I want my own bed tonight.”

Turning around, he sighs. “You going home tonight? Thought maybe I could convince you to get out and get some fresh air tomorrow if you’re feeling up to it.”


Laura grins at Nate, then gives his arm a playful slap. “Quit reading my mind.” She can’t contain her excitement though, and her eyes dance. “This is going to be fun.” Suddenly she stops, her eyes widening. “Oh my goodness, I have to go home now and pack, and make sure everything is okay there, and…” She spins around, grabbing her purse and keys. “Make it 7:15 to make sure we get to the airport in plenty of time.”


“Come on, babe.” Scott directs Domino with the leash, up to Wyatt’s porch, and he rings the doorbell.

Wyatt answers the screen door, grinning just a little. “Hey, pooch.”

Domino wags her stump of a tail, starting to wiggle with excitement.

Wyatt takes the leash from Scott before kneeling down to the dog. “You’re not going to pine away for daddy while he’s gone, are you?”

Scott chuckles and takes the bag off his shoulder. “Not if you give her her toys. I’ve got her dish and food in here too. She can go for hours alone in the house, so you can just leave her when you’re out and about.”

“No problem.” Wyatt rolls his eyes. “After having Trooper here once, this is going to be a piece of cake.”

Within minutes, Scott’s back on the road and heading back to his house where the TJY van would be picking him up.


The quiet corner of the tarmac is unusually busy as people gather near the private jet. Everyone is excited and ready to go as their bags are loaded. As eight o’clock nears, eyes glance around to see if everyone who is going is there.

Con squints in the setting sun, missing the one person he really wished would have come. But he hadn’t shown up.

Soon, they start climbing the stairs to board.

“Dibs on the seat next to Katie!” Scott hollers.

“Only if I get the one next to Jamie!” Con retorts.

“Help!” Laura lets out a laugh as her purse gets caught on the latch on the door and she needs help getting loose.

Ty is right behind her, so he lends a hand, receiving her thanks. He makes his way to the back where he sits alone until Mick comes to sit near him.

As the airplane starts to move, the excitement just grows, and the chatter starts all over again, everyone anticipating arriving in Texas. It would be fairly late, but they all knew that once they got there, sleep would be the farthest things from their minds.



Jason opens the apartment door quietly and slips inside, not knowing if Carson will be up or not. Seeing him in the kitchen, he just gives a slight nod, heading for his bedroom. It was just after eight o’clock. Most everyone else would be in the air by now.

Carson opens a cupboard to grab a glass for some water, but just as he’s pulling it out, it slips form his grasp. Plummeting to the tiled floor below, it hits hard and shatters with a loud crash.

Jason stops dead in his tracks, his head on his bedroom doorknob. That sound…that breaking glass… A memory comes shooting out of no where, and suddenly he hears Alex screaming a curse that reverberates through the house. Jason’s earlier encounter with a look-alike waves over him as if it had just happened minutes ago, and the fear returns so suddenly that his hands start to shake.

Taken completely off guard, Jason tries to fight it. He knows it’s from the earlier episode…he’d tried to get through that bout of memories…he’d avoided a flashback then…he had to now…he had to….

Carson grumbles a cuss word and grabs a nearby broom to sweep up the glass. Halfway done, he thinks he hears a strange noise in the hall. “Jason?” Receiving no response, he finishes his task, and aims for the hallway. Arriving, his eyes widen.

Jason curls up in a tight ball on the floor of the hallway, his body trembling in fear. He was in the house again. Alex was mad…very mad….everything had been Jason’s fault…he’d done everything wrong today. It was all wrong. Jason knew a beating was coming. He knew it was. He tried to run. He tried to hide. But everywhere he turned, the doors were locked, the corners exposed and bare, leaving him no place to hide.

He feels Alex’s grip on his shoulder, and he quakes under the grasp, the frustration, fear and hate building within him. Terror seizes him and he fights back.

Carson quickly kneels next to Jason, not knowing what’s wrong. “Jason…Jason can you hear me?” He places a hand on Jason’s shoulder.

Jason’s arm lashes out with force, the back of his hand smacking Carson in the side of his face, hard enough to make him fall back into the other wall. Carson’s eyes widen. “Jason!”

Slightly panicked, Carson tries again, this time, putting pressure on Jason’s arms so he can’t fight back. “Hey, hey, settle down, what’s wrong?”

Jason’s mind is in a fog, the only images are those of the past. Alex has a hold of him. He’s pinning him down, he’s ready to beat on him. Panic surges through him like an unstoppable locomotive, and he cries out, unable to shake the torment.