Crater Lake Chapter 1: Jacob Laser
Loretta Laser twisted the knob to the door of Jacob’s room. She hadn’t been in there in several weeks, so she closed her eyes and…
Author: Stuart Janoff
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Loretta Laser twisted the knob to the door of Jacob’s room. She hadn’t been in there in several weeks, so she closed her eyes and…
Loretta Laser twisted the knob to the door of Jacob’s room. She hadn’t been in there in several weeks, so she closed her eyes and pushed the door open afraid of what she might find. The door creaked as she pushed it open further and as she made her way into the room she opened her eyes. To find that she was pleasantly surprised to see how neat and tidy his room actually was.
His room was cluttered, but everything had its place. Over on his desk, the writing pads were neatly stacked to the right of the keyboard with a pen laying across them diagonally. Opening up his top drawer she saw all the pens and pencils in their neat compartments. He even had a little magnetic container with his paperclips. She never knew he was this organized. Above the desk on a shelf is where he kept all of his trophies. One is for placing second in a ping pong tournament, another is for placing third in a county wide debate competition. However, the ones he is most proud of is winning the Tri-County Academic Decathlon 2 years running.
She walks over to his closet, only to see more of the same thing. All shirts hung neatly in a row and by color, same with all of the pants and shoes. How did she not know he was so obsessive about his belongings? Maybe because to everyone else he was a normal teenage boy. Dirty shirts and pants, always had a cut or bruise on him somewhere from some kind of trouble that he and his friends got into. It was as if he walked out of the house and purposely rolled around in the dirt before going about his day.
Now she was feeling a bit concerned, how could she know so little about her son? She made her way to his dresser, where again she found more of the same. T-shirts neatly folded and assigned a drawer based on color. Underwear stacked and labeled for the day of the week. It was the exact same with the socks in the next drawer. Mrs. Laser didn’t know exactly what she was searching for, she just knew that something was not right.
She finally made her way to his night stand, when she thought she heard a noise coming from down stairs. “JJ, honey?” she calls out. “Hello?” Hearing nothing she continues to rifle through his night stand drawer. When finally she finds his journal. Does she dare open it? She has already come this far, there is no way he is not going to know that she was in this drawer. She was so nervous when she opened it, that she forgot how everything was placed.
As Loretta sat there on his bed contemplating reading her son’s most private thoughts, she started thinking about the time when he was seven and fell out of the tree breaking his arm. He knew the exact right angle to hold his arm until Doc could cast it. Was it strange that the cast had to be a certain color? No, every kid likes to select the color of their cast. However it is very strange to mark where you want the cast to start and end.
Just as she was about to open the book and start reading, she heard a noise from outside the room. “Hello?” She asks as she places the book back in the drawer and quickly closes it. Maybe he won’t notice she thought as she quickly made her way out of her son's room.
Quietly closing the door, makes her way downstairs towards the kitchen where she sees Jacob bending over in front of a wide open refrigerator oblivious to the fact that she is in the room. “Thankfully he is always hungry after school.” She thinks to herself. “Will he know I went through his room and will he say anything if he does know?” Getting lost in her own thoughts, she doesn’t even realize Jacob is now standing in front of her. He grabs an apple off the counter and takes a bite.
“Mom! Hello? Earth to Mom”! He said as he walked towards her waving his hands.
“Hi, sweetie.” She replied. “I see you, I was just smiling because I was happy to see you were home.” Meanwhile on the inside she was hoping he didn’t already know she was in his room.
“Mom? Is there any pie?” Jacob asked
“No, I’ll make one tomorrow, she replied.
“K, going to my room to do homework.”, he responded as he grabbed a bag of chips from the grocery bag on the counter that he was supposed to put away when he got home from school.
Mrs. Laser didn’t mind that Jacob rushed by her on his way to his room. All she was thinking about was not getting caught poking around his room. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, so she’ll have to keep looking.
When suddenly she hears from upstairs “Hey Mom!” Jacob asks as he pokes his head from behind the door. “Uh, were you in my room?” He asked. “I mean you're allowed in my room, you normally just put my clothes on my bed for me to put away.”
“Are you questioning how I do your laundry?” Mom snapped back.
“No, ma’am.” He stammered. “Something is just off in my room and I don’t know what it is.” “No problem, see ya.” He quickly closed the door, before he got himself in any trouble.
Mrs. Laser went to the refrigerator to close the door that Jacob had left wide open, but decided to pour a glass of lemonade. So she grabbed the pitcher from the open fridge and spun around to shut it with her foot, while making her way to the cabinet by the sink for a glass.
She sat down exhaustedly at the table and poured herself a glass of fresh made lemonade. She started to think about what could have been in her son’s book. She knows that something is off with him, but she just can’t put her finger on it.
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