spin, spin. [jack!]

[Cassidy Briar]

"Oh god, I bet you're jealous, aren't you? Aren't you?" No one looked the other way as the teenager chatted and giggled on her cell phone, barely paying attention to anyone else. The girl never went anywhere without her mobile. It was like a part of her hand and she thought she might panic when it was out of it. And her dad always made sure she had the best and precisely what she wanted. Cassidy was spoiled; she had been all her life. Her dad was rich, powerful and he had an incredibly camera friendly daughter that held up the image he wanted his family to hold. Unlike the son that had vanished off the scene from what felt like forever now. It was lonely around the house without him. She'd always been close to her brother. They bickered sometimes, but it had been rare. He was the token big brother, protective, a little annoying but he loved her and the two shared a lot. She'd looked up to him, despite his faults. All their lives, he'd been quiet, almost crippling shy out in public, but she was one of the few that shared long-winded conversations with him. They would spend hours talking about what seemed like nothing at the time, but what she wound up missing later.

And of course, she knew about her father's hard hand when it came to Zachary. Everyone in the family knew about it, but no one said a word. Because no one stood up to dad. No one. And Cass loved her dad, she did. But she'd also watched her older brother suffer because of him. They'd been in Toronto for a few days now, living out of a too expensive hotel and going from event to event. It was later than she was supposed to be out, but no one ever got mad at her, so it didn't matter. She wanted to see the city and after spying a carnival, the fourteen year old girl had to go. And of course, she took her friend along, via telephone. That day had been great. Her dad had broke the excellent news that she'd be able to see her favourite band, not to mention, meet the boys that she'd been gushing over since she turned thirteen. And now, she had to boast. And boast she did. When her friend had to go, however, she shut the phone off and pocketed it in the back pocket of her jeans. Bored, she looked through the booths, trying to find something fun.

[Deleted]

"So now she's stuck in a hospital room and she's all pissy because of her roommate" Ian said as he walked through the carnival with Jack. It had been weird since the night of the dance. The house was crazy. So, he called up his teammate and asked him if he wanted to hang. Of course, he didn't know how much the Australian boy was loving the irony of what he was telling him. He had no clue that he was the one that had put his sister in that position. If he did, Ian wouldn't be here with Jack, venting to him about his hurt sister and walking around in a carnival. "At least this week's spring break. We don't have school until Monday"

Jack nodded, barely paying attention to what the boy was saying. "Maybe I should win Delilah one of these bears" he commented, walking up to one of the games. His hand touched the knives that were laid out on a table. He picked one of them up. How easy it would be to just dig it in Ian's throat, shut the idiot up. But, then there would be people around. There would be eyes watching. Heavy breathing down his neck--

"You want to give it a shot, son?" he heard the man ask. He looked up as he gestured to the balloons. He looked over at Ian, who was wandering off to get in line for a ride. He didn't follow, because he didn't think Ian would notice. He looked back down at the knives. He didn't understand it. Jack had never been to a carnival before. It wasn't the type of event socially accepted in mother's circle of friends in Australia. He didn't know what he was supposed to do.

"I throw them?" he asked, looking at the balloons.

"you get five shots. Go for the balloons with higher points. At the end you can choose a prize"

"All right." He picked up one of the knives and held it, eyes narrowing at the balloons with the highest point value. He tossed one, popping a balloon in that row

"good job! Try again!"

Jack tossed another. He could hear cheering from behind him. He looked around. He didn't even know these people. Why were they cheering for him? He looked at both balloons he had popped and threw a third.

"you're really on a strike! Come around, everyone, come see how it's done"

Jack's heart started to pound. He was feeling claustrophobic. "tw-two more?"

"that's right"

he nodded and tossed his fourth knife, popping yet another one on the highest row. He could hear whoops and hollers from the people who crowded around him. Sweat started to trickle down his face. Last one. He picked the fifth one up

"come on!"

"you can do it, kid!"

Jack looked around. He stared at the last balloon. He wondered if Zachary was watching this. He was probably laughing at him. Jack shook his head, clearing out all thoughts of his rival, and tossed the last balloon. The people around him jumped and screamed. "It's not that hard" he insisted, as the man pulled down a giant bear. Well, he had done what he said. He had won a bear for Delilah. A stupid overstuffed thing with fake-looking eyes. Whatever. She would like it.

[Cassidy Briar]

Cass' eyes were drawn to the boy popping the balloons. He was causing quite a stir. It was a well known fact that carnival games were usually rigged, so it was pretty impressive when anyone won something like that. She watched the boy for a moment before getting up the nerve to walk over. She wasn't shy. Cassidy had never been shy. She was outgoing and talkative, and seemed to crave the attention of other people. She had grown up with a lot of public attention. Unlike her older brother, she liked it and didn't want to stay in the dark.

"Hey, that was pretty awesome! You know, most people barely get one." She commented, immediately jumping into conversation whether he wanted her to or not. You didn't get anything if you didn't know how to initiate a conversation. And Cassidy was bored and he was so cute. She couldn't help it. It was like a light had turned on in her head recently, a light that made her kind of driven to the members of the opposite sex. "God, I'm rude. Cassidy Briar, but you can call me Cass. What's your name?" She introduced herself politely, used to giving her full name, because that was the kind of world she grew up in. Again, she flashed a smile at him, hoping that he'd be open to talking to her. She didn't like rejection. But, who did?

[Deleted]

The girl was a test to Jack's character, really. When she started talking to him, he wanted to hide behind the giant bear that he had in his arms and run far, far away. But he couldn't. Because he wasn't Amery anymore. So instead, he forced a smile and nodded to her. Oh, he caught her last name, and his eyebrows raised. "Briar, is it? I knew a kid with that last name, back home. He was from around here, if I remember correctly. You wouldn't happen to know him, would you?" He knew full well that it was perfectly possible that it could be two different people who just happened to share the same last name. But, he could hope. And hope he did. This girl could definitely give him some leverage on Zachary.

He hadn't given her a name. "Keane," he offered her a fake name. Jack had a set of rules, that he especially abided by now that he had a few surviving victims. The dance was a success, despite having had to leave early. But it was a success, because he had killed quite a few, and while there were a lot of survivors, nobody knew who it had been. It had been so dark, he wasn't concerned one bit. Hannah, Megan, Audrey, Riley...they were the ones who had known his name. They were the ones he had to keep quiet. And, well, he wasn't going to add to that list. He vowed to give a false name to each of his potential victims, just in case. So when he introduced himself, he gave her that name: Keane.

[Cassidy Briar]

Back home? His accent sounded Australian, so she assumed that was what he meant. They'd lived in Australia for a little while and although it was great there, Cassidy remembered spending most of her time homesick for New York. She liked home. When he mentioned another kid, however, she furrowed her brow. He looked like he could be around Zachary's age, though the thought of Zach knowing someone like him was... Well, it was a little slim. She supposed they could know of each other. She wasn't insulting her brother at all. He just wasn't social and she knew his personality well enough to remember that he seemed to avoid guys that looked like Jack. It was that quiet, artistic side, where they looked athletic and more interested in the typical masculine style. "We used to live in Australia, a couple years ago," she noted. It was possible. "—Zachie?" She asked, almost hesitantly. Talking about her brother was hard. While the family didn't talk about where he went precisely, she remembered what happened. To keep up stance, her father often noted that he was a little 'troubled' and was being responsible and getting help. That wasn't the real story. She remembered when they dropped him off and ever since, he wasn't allowed to be spoken of. It was like he tried to wash him out of their house completely. Her mom still mentioned him when her dad wasn't around. It was like he had died, when in reality, he was still alive... Well, she hoped.

"Maybe, I guess it's possible. You just don't look like the type he'd be friends with," she commented. "No offence." She said, even though it could have been far from offensive, if he didn't know much about Zach. She loved her older brother and she thought he was great. He was smart, a little too smart some of the time, and she remembered staring in envy at what he was capable of drawing or imagining. He had a lot of talent. And he had problems, sure, but her art teacher once told her that many of the greatest artists were troubled in one way or another. Zach kind of fit that bill.

[Deleted]

Zachy. That was all Jack needed to hear. With a smile, he shrugged. "Naw, no offence taken. A lot's changed between then and now. " Now, that was true. Jack had been a much smaller boy, much wimpier, much nerdier. Even as a wimpy, nerdy kid, though, he hadn't been friends with Zachary. He barely even took notice of him. He was too busy avoiding Brandon and just being a wallflower in general. Of course, he wouldn't tell her hat. Nope, he needed her to think they had been friends. Otherwise, asking about him would have made no sense. Jack needed things to make sense.

"Tell 'im I said hi." he said with a nod, ready to move past the Zach topic. So, he had Zachary's sister, eh? This was too sweet. Already, his imagination was filling his head with images of what he could do to her. She was a pretty little thing. He would take her home, tie her up, duct tape her mouth. Cut away at her chest until he reached her heart. Then he would cut it into little sections, like an orange. Once she was dead, he would take her apart. And every day, he would deliver a new limb to Zach. Make him wonder who it was. And then, he would start taking parts off her face. Her lips, her nose, and then he'd put the rest and just wait in the shadows to see his reaction. So, Zachy had a sister, huh? Jack had a sister once. She died, too. They would soon have yet another thing in common--they would both have had a sister murdered by Jack.

Jack looked around and back at her. "So, Cassidy. I'm here all alone. You look like you're alone. Why don't we wander around together? I'll even treat you to a candied apple." He gave her the smile that made the girls at school melt. He was pretty good with this smile. He figured he'd make the young girl's night. And then he'd take her back to his place, and she'd make his.

[Cassidy Briar]

"Right, yeah, sure..." Cassidy said, biting down nervously on her lower lip. She couldn't tell Zach anything. She tried to write to him before, but she realised that her letters probably didn't even reach him. She had to give them to her dad first and as much as she loved her father, she knew he wouldn't send them off. She was being naive. And they weren't ever going to visit him, not any time soon. But, for appearances sake, she agreed to. She was more than happy not to talk about her brother. It was because she cared about him that it became so hard. She didn't have him in her life right now, as much as she wanted to. He was gone, locked up in some psych ward. And yeah, he had problems, but locking him up and throwing away the key wasn't the solution. Nothing that anyone said could make her believe it.

When he mentioned walking around with her, she visibly brightened and nodded. "Sure, sounds like a plan!" She beamed. Of course she wanted to hang out with the cute, older boy. She kind of hoped that he would ask her to. He looked nice and hey, he wasn't completely a stranger. He knew who Zach was! Of course, her dad would have probably been frustrated with that answer. But, so what? He never really got mad at her anyway. "Do you live in Toronto now?"

[Deleted]

'Perfect," he said, looking around. He wasn't so sure he could handle the rides with all the screaming, but looking down at the girl, and how much she brightened, he figured he might as well put on a show for her. "Do you want to head for the animals, the shows, or the rides perhaps?" Jack was gentle, letting her have the choice. He didn't want to suggest something that he really didn't want to do. If he was going to be dragged onto those rides that didn't look all that safe anyway, he wanted it to be her idea.

At her question, he paused, not wanting to say yes. He didn't want to look like he was searching for a lie, even though he was. "Here. Don't want you getting sick" he said, taking off his jacket and draping it over her shoulders. "No. I live over in Wasega Beach, actually. Thought I'd head down to Toronto, have some fun. I was going to go last weekend but, a storm cancelled my plans" he said, keeping his smile. "Are you guys here in Toronto?" Now, that was a question he actually wanted to know. If Zachary wasn't living with his family, then where were they?