Chapter 3

When the lesson finished, Jacob was dozing until William tapped his shoulder.

"I wish I could have slept through that too," he sighed. His younger brother stood up with a confused frown.

"What was it about?" he mumbled.

"Did you not listen to any of it?"

Jacob shrugged and moved so they could start making their way out of the busy room.

"It doesn't matter. You can look at my notes when we're home."

When they reached the hallway, it was time for the brothers to go to separate lessons.

"Do we finish at the same time today?"

"Um..." Jacob pulled his bag from his back and rummaged through it. Just as he reached for his timetable, a guy bumped into him, and he dropped it. Everything spilt onto the floor.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" William frowned but the guy turned with a scowl directed straight for Jacob.

"Freak," he muttered, loud enough for the brothers to hear.

"What did you say?" William stormed after him.

Jacob tried to ignore it as he leant down to pick up his things. William grabbed the boys shoulder, but he turned and pushed him away, just as Hunter approached them. Hunter rammed the guy into the opposite wall who froze when he saw who had pushed him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hunter growled.

"Get off me," the guy muttered, a little timid of Hunters big frame. He wasn't shy about holding back a glare until he eventually left, giving Hunter a reason to back off.

"Thanks, man." William sighed, turning to see if his brother was okay. Jacob was at the end of the corridor when he saw him walk quickly out of sight.

Jacob hated confrontation. He knew his brother would be okay because he could stick up for himself. Even though they were the same height and pretty much the same weight, Jacob didn't have the confidence to talk back to people when they deserved it.

"Are you okay?" the deep voice was so loud in his mind, he almost jumped.

"Get out of my head." he thought and clenched his jaw.

"Where are you going?"

He didn't answer and quickly made his way down the stairs and towards the exit. He had decided that today just wasn't going to be a good one. It began rough, and he needed some long hours by himself without having to pretend that he was okay.

"Your brother is worried about you."

"Will you just be quiet?" he said out loud, catching the attention of a tutor who stood next to the reception.

Jacob chewed on his bottom lip and dug his hands into his pockets. His face burned with embarrassment. Sometimes he wished the ground would swallow him whole as he quickly made a smooth exit out of the double doors and into the sun. As he put his hood up, he saw a group of boys standing and chatting. A few of them stopped and watched him walk down the steps.

He recognised them. They were standing with Hunter when he first caught him staring. Jacob gripped his bag straps and marched across the carpark. He wanted to be very far from civilisation today.

"Things will get better, I promise."

Jacob wanted to laugh out loud at how stupid that statement was.

"Leave me alone."

"I can't, even if I wanted to."

Jacob continued into the trees. If he walked for fifteen minutes or so, he would reach a field where he could lie down and shut the world out for a little while. All Jacob wanted was some peace. He used to like his own company, but now, it felt like a curse. There was someone else in his head, how could he escape that?

After five minutes of walking, his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Jacob waited until it stopped before checking who it was. Of course, it was his dad. He ignored it; he didn't want to talk about his feelings, not over the phone.

* * * * *

The sun started to set at 6:30 in the evening. The sky was clear, creating a beautiful pink and orange horizon before the sun fully disappeared to wake the other side of the world. Jacob was lying in the field, and four hours ago he fell asleep. Now that it was getting dark, it wasn't safe for him to be in the middle of nowhere.

"Wake up."

Jacob turned over. His head was resting on his bag, and his coat was zipped all the way up. It felt a little chilly without the sun rays.

"It's not safe for you here-"

Jacob stirred when he heard someone talking. It was slowly pulling him to his senses.

"It's not safe!"

He woke up with fright when the deep voice dominated his mind. He quickly sat up with a shaky breath. His eyes darted around the open field, surprised that it was evening time.

"You need to go home."

For a moment, he relaxed. He was still alone, and nobody was here trying to put him in danger. The fact that he was alone and hearing the voice pulled together a dark cloud that hung above his head.

He sighed, rubbed his eyes and slowly climbed to his feet. He checked his watch and then his phone. He had five missed calls from his dad, seven from his mum, and three from William.

He groaned, and the guilt hit his chest. They worry about him too much.

"Go home, Jacob. It's getting dark."

"I don't care. I want to be outside."

"I know, but it's not safe."

"You don't know that." He picked up his bag. "You're not even real."

"I am real, you just don't know who I am."

The hairs on the back of Jacob's neck stood on end. He hated it when it spoke like it was an actual person, listening to his inner thoughts. He now felt on edge about being alone in a place like this. His eyes scanned his surroundings, and it felt like he was being watched.

"Go, it's not safe."

He heard faint snapping of branches and decided that the voice in his head had more common sense than him. Jacob started to jog back towards the trees. He wasn't going to stop until he reached the car park.

"That's it, go all the way home."

Sometimes, the voice was very good at making him do the right thing, especially when he wasn't in the right frame of mind.

Eventually, Jacob reached the car park and stopped to catch his breath. Tutors and other members of staff were leaving the building while he quietly walked by and kept his head down. It would take him another forty minutes to get home, but he wasn't aware that his mother was driving around looking for him.

After his nap, he felt better. Even though he was hungry, cold, and sore from sleeping on the grass, having a refreshed body was all he longed for most days.

Over the past couple of months, the voice had started to talk to him more, especially when he was feeling sad, which was also more often. He knew that maybe feeling depressed would fuel the voice further, so he did try to stay positive. He was losing faith that he would ever be normal again.

"Jacob!" A woman's voice dragged him out of his thoughts. He turned at lightning speed. "Jacob Jones, get in this car right now."

In the dimly lit street, a familiar car pulled up next to him with an angry looking woman glaring from the driver's seat. Jacob's eye's had grown unamused. It was his mother. Slowly, he reached for the door and hesitantly climbed in. He was going to get a big lecture about safety, and he didn't want to hear any of it.

"Where on earth have you been? Why didn't you answer your phone? Your father and I have been so worried about you!" she yelled before she even thought about taking him home.

"I fell asleep, I'm sorry," he spoke quietly and pulled his sleeves over his hands.

"You fell asleep? Where?" she questioned. "It wasn't in that field again was it? You know we don't like you going there. You're too vulnerable. Are you trying to worry us on purpose?"

"I needed to be alone," he whispered and looked down at his feet. "I didn't have a good morning."

Grace's shuffled closer and put her arm around his broad shoulders. "I love you when you're not ignoring us like this." She patted his knee. "You know that right?"

Jacob nodded with a frown.

"I'm sorry, I won't do that again."

"You really stressed me out," she sighed and pulled away. "Please keep your phone off silent from now on, okay?"

Jacob nodded while she drove off the kerb and started the journey back to the house.

As he settled down in his seat and zoned out until they got home, the voice said something that sent an uncomfortable shiver down his spine.

"Someday soon, you'll know who I really am."