Dak Ross - My Journal - 2. Jamie Is Found

Tuesday, April 23

Aunt-C tried to convince me to go to school today. i wanted to wait around to see if Jamie showed up. She was pretty convincing when she said he might show up at school, so i went. i went through the whole day, no Jamie. Just snickers from the most obnoxious kids. He's been missing over 30 hours now. The cops won't do anything until it's been 48 hours, since he's 18. i just know something is wrong, but i don't know what else i can do about it.

Wednesday, April 24

Still no Jamie. Sure, there's a missing person's report for him now, but the cops believe he was upset about his mother's passing, and he simply went somewhere to deal with it. They think he'll show up in a couple days. i'm not so sure at this point. Did i mention that i'm an emotional wreck?

Thursday, April 25

i got into another fight today. Well, actually almost three of them. Pete Black kept taunting me, asking where my boyfriend was. i couldn't take it any longer so i punched him a few times. It didn't matter that Tim Larssen was there too. He started in so i hit him too. i finally had to give up when Dan (Sticks) Baltimore threatened me with death if i didn't stop. i was a wild man, throwing punches everywhere, but Sticks caught one of my hands and squeezed it tight. But not tight enough to break it. Sticks is one of those reverse nicknames. Like calling a big guy 'Tiny.' Sticks was stacked. He played football, and was probably the biggest kid in school, both tall and wide. But not fat. Something really bothered me about a comment Pete made after Dan’s death threat, though. i hope he was just spouting off, but “like your faggot boyfriend” sent chills up my spine. Jamie’s been missing over three days now and i’m so fucking afraid something happened to him. i’m taking a ride to Pete’s house after school tomorrow and confront him with it.

Friday, April 26

i’m really worried now. No Jamie still and Pete was no help to my state of mind. He didn’t tell me anything specific, but i was scared out of my wits when he said, “You may as well forget him. You’ll never see him again.”

Saturday, April 27

Noooooooo! Usually i make these entries before i go to bed. i can hardly see the page through my tears. i think they found Jamie.

(Spencer again. Another printed article.)

BUFORD, GA: The body of a young man was found in Friendship Quarry last night. The waterlogged body was seen floating in the pond just before sunset. Authorities have indicated they are treating the case as a homicide. Ulster Langston, the quarry worker who discovered and retrieved the body said he couldn’t be sure, but it appeared the man was stabbed multiple times. No identification has yet been made. Buford police are investigating with missing persons reports in mind.

It’s nighttime now. Oh, God, i just know it’s going to turn out to be Jamie. i can’t even think straight right now. Please, please, please let it be someone else. Unk took me to the police station to see if we could possibly look at the body. They didn’t let us, but i knew Jamie went to the same dentist i did. They took that information and said they would look into it.

Sunday, April 28

Still no word this morning. We’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow to hear if info from the dentist will tell the cops anything.

OMG! OMG! It’s lunchtime and we’re heading to the hospital now. A camper was taking his kids for a walk in the woods near Bolding Mill Campground and heard someone quietly calling for help. It was Jamie. We have no idea how he got up there or what condition he’s in. BUT HE’S ALIVE!!!

After dinner now. We just got home. Jamie was severely dehydrated and really couldn’t communicate at all, but at one point i saw him smile. i was able to find out that he was chained to a tree, so he didn’t get there by himself. i just know Pete and them had something to do with it, but i’m holding back my anger until Jamie can talk. i asked him if he knew who did it and i think he nodded. i can’t be sure that he wasn’t just exhausted, and his head drooped. i’m going back after Aunt-C gets home from work tomorrow.

Monday, April 29

Aunt-C brought me to the hospital again after work. The nurse said Jamie had been getting better, but he took a turn for the worse that afternoon. Apparently, he was tired from being interviewed by the cops, so he didn’t talk much. He said enough to know it was the three stooges i fought with on Thursday. Amazingly, the cops haven’t picked them up yet. They’re still investigating. What the fuck are they waiting for? The victim said it was them; string 'em up!

Aunt-C and i ran down to the cafeteria for a while. After we finished eating and came back up to his room, he was asleep again. i wanted to stay, but my aunt said we should leave. Seeing a nurse on our way out, she said it was better we left, since he’ll probably be out until morning.

Tuesday, April 30

If looks could kill, my three stooges would be dead. Pete was the only one i had a class with, so he got my comments. The key one was that their plan failed, Jamie was alive and already pointed the finger at him and his buddies. He tried to hide it, but i know he got scared. i’d love to take out some revenge on them, but that’d be stupid. Using the rifle Unk got me for my 13th birthday was a tempting option, though.

Wednesday May 1

Well, the three stooges weren’t in school today. i should apologize to Moe, Larry, Curly, Curly Joe, and Shemp for using their titles on the bozos. Wait, that’s 5 stooges! Oh well. i checked out the online paper and found a short article about them being arrested and charged with assault, kidnapping, attempted murder, and false imprisonment. Good. i hope their asses rot in jail for 20 or 25 years before they’re brutally and painfully murdered. Can you tell I'm not at all bitter?

Aunt-C let me borrow her car to go visit Jamie but said she couldn’t do that every day. i understood, she does volunteer work and has to run her errands after work. i spoke with them about using some of the life insurance from mom to buy a used car. Unk said he would take me car shopping Saturday afternoon.

Jamie looked better. He still had bruises on him where the jerks beat him, but he’s out of the woods, no pun intended, those were his doctor’s words. They’ll be transferring him down here tomorrow if he’s stable enough. It’s not that far a bike ride, so i’ll be able to go see him on my own without bumming a ride.

Thursday, May 2

Biked over to the hospital after school. Jamie’s recovering slowly. They have him on IV fluids in addition to gradually letting him have more solid food. He says he’ll be released in another two or three days. i have that much time to convince Unk and Aunt-C to let him move in. i suppose that will come with rules about sex. Louie pretty much caught us once, so we’ll have to be more careful. The good news is he’s 18, so he can’t be shipped out to East Jabib to live with relatives. No idea how that location got into the English language, but, whatever. i have another appointment with Dr. Greiner tomorrow. i think i’m pretty well adjusted. Guess i’ll have to talk to him about Jamie’s adventure. i know he’ll ask me how i feel about that. Better think of something before the appointment, other than killing the assholes.

Friday May 3

i told Dr. Greiner what happened to Jamie. i figured just the truth would be best. i think it was. He said i was smart not to seek vengeance. It likely wouldn't have made a difference, and i could have gotten into big trouble. He also said considering everything i've been through, i'm adjusting very well. i'm still pissed a lot of the time, but i think that's waning now that Jamie's getting better.

Jamie said they'll be letting him go tomorrow. He says he still feels a little weak, but that'll get better in time. The doctor suggested he stay out of school until Wednesday, but he'll go back on Monday. i think he should stay out longer, but exams start Monday, so that's not really an option. i think he'll be okay since everybody else will be taking exams and the three worst offenders are gone.

i got my acceptance letter today from Gwinnett Technical College. i signed up for their Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities certificate program. After spending time in specs, i really want to go into teaching, especially with a focus on special education. Hopefully i can find something close by for the last two years. i had considered things like sports or hotel management and even was accepted at Georgia Tech for their Business administration and management degree program. But i definitely am going in a different direction now.

Saturday May 4

Jamie came 'home' today. Aunt-C set him up in one of the guest bedrooms downstairs. One flight of steps was hard enough for him to manage. Aunt-C also got all his sizes and she and Unk bought him some more clothes, toiletries, etc. They got him all sorts of things he'll need. i'm letting him use any of my stuff he wants. And, Unk, Aunt-C, and i are still discussing the possibility of him staying permanently. i think i'm making progress, they bought him a lot more stuff than he could use in a week. Keeping my fingers crossed. He spent most of the day in bed, but he did come downstairs for dinner. Louie was a madman with questions for Jamie. After a while, Unk had to tell him to calm down and hold more questions for another day. We had to put off car shopping until next weekend. With Jamie home, that wasn't a hard choice.

Sunday May 5

i spent pretty much the whole day with Jamie studying for exams. We both missed quite a bit of time over the last month or so, him with being injured, or should i say fucked over by three dickheads? i missed time with being suspended twice. We focused on the exams we'll have this week. We can cram for next week's exams next weekend. Jamie needs good grades more than me since he was accepted at GT for Bioengineering and biomedical engineering. He's interested in designing and building prosthetic devices. i've asked why but have never gotten an answer besides "i just think it'd be cool to do." i know he has another reason. He'll tell me when he's ready. i hope.

Monday, May 6

We both had our Chemistry exams today. i think i did pretty well. Jamie was happy with his performance, even though he was exhausted afterward. We're supposed to get our final grades on the 20th.

Tuesday, May 7

Jamie had his Statistics exam today. He thinks he aced it. i guess that's better than my pretty well in Chemistry. He wasn't quite as tired today.

Wednesday, May 8

Tough day today, we both had 2 exams, Comp Sci and English Lit. i did okay on the Comp Sci exam, Jamie said he did well, but would fall short of acing it. We both think we aced the English Lit exam.

Thursday, May 9

i had my Psychology final today. Probably slightly short of acing it. We'll see.

Friday, May 10

US History was the bear we both expected it to be today. i'm sure i passed it, but if i got as high as a B-, i'll be surprised. Jamie? Yeah, you guessed it, aces. Did i mention he's probably a fucking genius?

Saturday, May 11

i used part of the life insurance money from mom to buy a three-year-old Camry. Mom was leasing her car, so it went back to the bank. Unk says we got a good deal because we paid in cash. Actually, it was a check from the insurance account, but i guess it amounts to the same thing. Unk had looked into life insurance and home-owner's insurance for Jamie. He said he'll take Jamie after his check comes in. He wouldn't have gotten anything if she'd burned the house down herself from smoking, but the cops determined it to be arson. They didn't have any suspects, but i know exactly who did it. The 3 assholes.

Sunday, May 12

Happy Birthday to me. It was a good day, and it was a sucky day. Not having mom here to celebrate it with me was a real downer, but i got a few nice presents and one fucking amazing one from Jamie. i'm not saying what it was, but the compound adjective i just used was a clue. i gotta wait until January 10th to give Jamie his fucking amazing birthday present. Hehe. We went out for a nice dinner with Jamie, the family and a few new friends from specs. Their parents were very pleased i asked to include them. A party would have been worthless since all my previous 'friends' abandoned me when they found out i was gay. Fuck 'em, my new friends are nicer. Jamie doesn't mind having them around, but he keeps an eye on Chaz (Charles). He's the one that said he'd do things with me. i told Jamie he didn't need to worry.

Monday, May 13

We couldn't fail an exam today, neither of us had one. Hehe.

Tuesday, May 14

Another almost aced it for both of us in English Language.

Wednesday, May 15

i think i did better in Comp Sci Principals, than straight Comp Sci. Not as much programming. Another ace for Jamie. We're done!! Hooray.

Friday, May 17

Had another visit with Dr. Greiner. We'd pretty much beaten guilt to death, no pun intended, so we continued working on my anger issues. We kind of touched on it 2 weeks ago with my thoughts of revenge, but it was a deeper discussion today. i realized i really have problems there. REALLY!

Saturday, May 18

The salesman that sold us my car last week was really good, so we went back to him today to look for a car for Jamie. His insurance check wasn't back though, so the salesman was a little disappointed when he didn't actually make a sale, be we assured him we'd be back and will ask for him when we're ready. Unk won't say exactly, but he implied Jamie's life insurance check wouldn't be as large as mine. Jamie has been aiming lower, focusing on cars five to seven years old. His mom's car was in the garage, so it went up in flames too. It'll take a lot longer to get anything from the home-owner's insurance company.

Sunday, May 19

i drove to the dealership yesterday, but it wasn't far, so Jamie and i went out for a ride today. i couldn't believe it when he put the campground that he was taken to into his phone's GPS app and told me how to get there. i think he needed to see where it was without being half unconscious. As far as campgrounds go, i guess it was okay, but then i'm no judge, having never been in one before. The view of the lake from the boat ramp was pretty awesome, though. i guess that's true for a lot of ramps, but it looked like we could see for miles.

Monday, May 20

Jamie and i got our final grades today. We had to go into the school to get them, but then so did everybody else. The 9th through 11th graders were taking their general finals this week, so the school was pretty busy still. Jamie was right about acing his exams. He got straight A's. i did better than i expected, with 4 A's and 3 B's. i apparently got better than a B- in History. i was truly expecting a C grade there. We celebrated in my bedroom. Jamie shot off his fireworks first, then i had my turn. We have to keep the noise down so Louie doesn't get curious, but shoot 'em off, we did. Hehe.

Wednesday, May 22

We didn't do much yesterday, just both filled out a few online job applications for summer jobs. This evening the school had what they call Senior Sunset. Primarily a dinner picnic for the senior class. Jamie and i are waffling on going to the Senior Breakfast tomorrow. 9:15 is awfully early if you're a teenager with no real need to get up early.

Thursday, May 23

We ended up being awake around 8:30 so we went to the Senior Breakfast. If nothing else, we got more food than the Cocoa Krispies or Apple Jacks we would have had to get for ourselves at home. We hung out with my friends from specs, same as last night. Afterward, it was a slow day, just hanging around the house watching movies, playing video games, and swimming. In bathing suits this time, Vonda was working.

Friday, May 24

High school is completely over. We had our Graduation today. Both Jamie and i had mixed emotions without our moms being there, but Louie cheered for us louder when our names were announced than either of our moms would have. It was a good day for another reason, too. Jamie's mom's life insurance check came today. If one of the three cars Jamie was pretty hot on last weekend was there, our buddy at AutoNation Toyota will be happy to see us. Unk made sure to set an appointment with him, so we knew he wouldn't be busy with someone else. Jamie will still have some left over, but he'll need to start working sooner rather than later if he doesn't want the money to run out too soon. If nothing else, Unk and Aunt-C aren't charging him rent yet. There were whispers about a nominal amount once he starts working, but he's okay with that. His other choice would have been to go live with an Aunt and Uncle in Athens. Speaking of the uncle in Athens, he lost an arm in an industrial accident. Jamie's desire to work with prosthetics makes a lot of sense now.

Saturday, May 25

The used Kia Forte was still there. It looks a little like my Camry. Dark blue vs. my silver, but the bodies are similar. It was in the middle of the three cars he had looked at last week, both age-wise and pricewise. The cheapest car was sold, but he ended up with a five-year-old one. The four-year-old Altima he liked was a fair amount more expensive. Since he liked both cars about the same, he was frugal and went with the cheaper car. i actually liked the Kia better anyway.

Monday, May 27

Memorial Day. Another downer day for the two of us. Moms. So, it was another stay at home and play video games, watch movies, and swimming. Which, i guess when you're 18 and unemployed, it would otherwise be considered a good day.

Tuesday, May 28

Lucky bum. Jamie got an interview at the Texas Roadhouse. Busboy and dish washer, but at least he got a bite. i'm a little bit jealous, but i'm happy for him. Now someone call me!

Wednesday, May 29

Okay, he only beat me by a day. If i get hired, i'll be stocking shelves at the Publix. But i'm one up on Jamie. The Publix is closer.

Thursday, May 30

Jamie was hired right after his interview. He starts Monday. i have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure, but the department manager said he liked me and only had one more person to interview.

Friday, May 31

i guess the last interviewee at Publix was, how did Mr. Jacobson say it, a lost cause? i start Monday too! Dr. Greiner thinks i'm doing really well and is setting our appointments for every two months. i asked him about keeping the journal. He said to keep doing it if i want to, but his intent was more therapeutic, so it wasn't really necessary anymore. So, i guess this my last entry. It'll be in my desk drawer if i ever feel the need to write in it again. Dak Ross, signing off, at least for now.

Friday, June 7

i lied. The journal is going in the trash. i read through it again today before work and it depressed the shit out of me. Dak Ross, signing off. Forever this time.

Saturday, July 6

Spencer again. Claire was cleaning out Louie's room today and she found Dak's journal. One of Louie's chores is gathering the garbage every week. Apparently, when he emptied Dak's trash, he must have liked the cover, so he kept it. He says he didn't read it, and since it's been a month since Dak threw it away and he hasn't slipped and mentioned it, i believe him. i really hesitated to read it myself, but Dak's been a little moody lately. He says it's something at work, but he won't say what. i know it was invading his privacy, but as his guardian, well, i guess just Uncle now that he's 18, i need to know what's going on in his head. So, i read it. i obviously can't discuss anything in it with him, but considering he was happy when he stopped using it, whatever is bothering him is new.

Friday, July 12

Spencer again. Dak quit the store today because a fellow employee was hassling him continuously. After he told me some of the things the other kid said, i suggested he press charges for sexual harassment, but he just wanted to get away from a bad situation. He's starting college in a little over a month, so he's better off not dealing with shit at work anyway. Spencer Ross, signing off, to use Dak's words.

Epilogue

Dak survived being harassed and went on to graduate from Brenau University with a Special education and teaching degree. He spent the rest of his adult life teaching middle school and high school Special Ed students. He continued to call his classes 'specs.'

Jamie graduated with his Bioengineering and biomedical engineering degree and spent the rest of his life working with amputees.

Dak and Jamie married a few months after they both graduated. Uncle Spencer had become a judge by that time and performed the ceremony for them. They stayed in the Buford area, occasionally stepping up to a better house. Both were career minded, so they never really considered adopting.

Dan (Sticks) Baltimore, Pete Black, and Tim Larssen served out their life sentences and died in prison of natural causes. Sticks at eighty-four, Pete at eighty-one, and Tim a little younger at seventy-seven.

The End (first version)