Chapter 123 - Things We Don't Know.

Chapter 123: Things we don't know.

(Jason's dream.)

In this world everything was different for him. Jason was sitting in the living room with his little sister. For some reasons he was fifteen years old again and Queenie was 3, a mere toddler.

Their living room was considerably smaller and wherever he turned to, he would see a portrait of himself with James and Miranda, even baby Queenie on the wall. He was smiling in all the pictures.

He was playing a video game with his phone when James came inside the house holding a bag.

"My dear boy, come…do you think that your father would forget your birthday?" James handed the bag to Jason and he opened it. It was a wrapped gift.

"Happy birthday, Son" 

"You remembered! You've never remembered my birthday before, Dad" Jason looked surprised. Something wasn't right. James was being nice and caring towards him.

James moved closer to him and he patted his hair.

"Nonsense! I have never forgotten my boy's birthday before. How could I? I love you, Jayden"

James told him. Even though Jason knew that something was wrong, he stared at his father's face and slowly, a smile appeared on his face.

He has waited his entire life for James to say those words to him.

"I love you too, Dad" Jason hugged him.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Jayden!"

Jason turned around to see Miranda holding a cake and singing for him. The cake was placed on the table.

"Miranda?" Jason called her by her name.

His biological mother looked at him.

"Jayden, sweetheart, you can't call me by my name, silly. I am your mother" 

Jason blinked. Everything was different here. 

For one, he was back to fifteen years old and James just told him that he loves him. Something felt wrong. Jason couldn't remember what exactly.

"Mom?"

"Exactly. Come on, darling. It's time to blow out your candles and we can play a word game afterwards. Grab your sister, Jayden" Miranda smiled at him.

Jason turned around and he picked Queenie up and he took her to the dining table.

"Make a wish, boy and blow out your candles" James told him with a smile.

"Am I not too old to be blowing out candles?" Jason asked them.

"No, silly. You are always going to be our beloved son. Come on, blow out the candle, Jayden" Miranda urged him to.

"I think my name is Jason…Mom"

James and Miranda laughed out loud. "No, it's Jayden"

Miranda cut a piece of cake and placed it in front of him. Jason grinned and started eating as they chatted heartily for a while.

When the time came for the word game, Jason was asked to start the game. The word he formed was E-L-I-X-I-R.

"Hmm, That's strange!" James said.

"Elixir…. It's a name. I don't know why I know it" Jason looked curious.

"Your father's ex wife was named Elixir" Miranda told her.

"Do I know her? Have I met her before? I think I know her" Jason questioned.

"I don't see how that's possible. Elixir died when you were a baby and she only saw you once when you were a baby" Miranda answered him.

Jason felt a single drop of tears on his cheek. He was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness for someone he never met.

"Don't be sad, boy, we are your family now and we love you" Miranda told him and wiped the tears from his face.

"And you don't have to be extraordinary, Jayden…no one is expecting you to change the world. We just want you to be happy, my boy" James told him.

"I am happy" Jason murmured.

Hours passed in seconds and suddenly he was in his room and he could hear sobs. He listened for a while, part of him wanted to do something about it but another part of him told him that he wasn't supposed to. He was ordinary and he was happy.

And happiness comes at a price.

Jason laid on the bed and he dozed off.

When he woke up, he was an adult. He was in a different apartment all together. A woman entered the bedroom.

"Who are you?" Jason asked her.

"I am Eden. I am wife" 

"You are?"

"Yes, honey, is the flu affecting your memory too? We've been married for two years and we have a son named Jimmy" Eden told him.

Jason blinked.

"Do we love each other?" Jason asked her.

"We have our ups and downs but we do alright. We are happy together. We make sense" Eden told him.

"Okay" Jason said.

*****

Moments became fleeting again. Soon, Jason was walking down the road in the place where he met Mckenna in the real world and he stopped.

He couldn't help but feel like he was supposed to meet someone there. He looked up on the words written with a marker on a white banner. It was the same name he saw before - E-L-I-X-I-R.

Jason stared at the name for a while before he continued walking, soon he was in his parent's house. They looked older and happy. And Queenie was no longer little.

They sat around the table, Jason, his alternate reality wife and son, Jimmy, Queenie and his parents. They were sitting around the table like one big happy family.

"This is a happy life, is it not son?" James asked him.

"Happy" Jason whispered. "What does that even mean?"

"It means here you have your father's love and your real mother's guidance. You don't have to carry so much weight on your shoulders and you married without the drama and heartache like before" his father told him.

Jason looked around. "This is not my life" he murmured.

"But you like it better here, don't you?" Miranda asked him.

"E-L-I-X-I-R. You lied to me. I know her. I didn't meet her once when I was a baby. She is my mom, isn't she?" He asked Miranda.

"Jayden, you like it here. You can stay here with us forever" James told him.

"Daddy?" His alternate son called him

"Sweetie?" Eden called him.

"My name is Jason! This is not my life. You are not my wife, McKenna is" he told Eden.

"Mckenna doesn't trust you. She will break your heart eventually like she did when you came home with Kara, like she will now that EJ is around. Don't lie to yourself, Jason. You can see it in her eyes, she is going to leave you but if you stay married to me here, no heartbreak….no hurt" Eden told him.

"But I don't love you" Jason whispered as he thought of what she was saying to him.

"Love is overrated. Peace of mind is the stuff of legends. The logic is since you don't love me, I can't hurt you" Eden answered.

"What about my children? Kara and EJ?"

"What about them? Kara got you on the radar of a psychopath. EJ is a stranger you have to love" Eden answered

"But then that leaves my mother…Elixir" 

"Elixir is the reason you are here today" Eden touched his hand.

"Who wants Pizza?!" Miranda announced.

Jason watched the family in front of him and he swallowed. He stood up from the chair he was sitting on.

"Where are you going, boy?" James asked him.

"I am going back" Jason answered.

"But why? Do you want the heartache and the disappointment? If you go back James won't love you anymore. Mckenna might leave you, Kara and EJ might grow up to be the kind of kids that sends you on an exile like you did your father!"

Jason thought about it for a while before he answered.

"I wasn't raised to be ordinary and now, I know why. This is a lovely almost perfect ideal family but have you noticed that Miranda cries at night and Queenie hasn't said a word to me. You are my eight grade teacher, Miss Eden and Jimmy is…well, the little boy that used to sit behind me in eight grade. This is not where I belong, Eden" Jason rubbed his forehead.

"I love Mckenna and until the last breath I take, I will find a way to make her trust and return my affection. I will take another bullet for Kara without thinking twice because that child is my life and EJ, she might be a stranger to me but good lord, this is the beginning of our story and it's going to be a terrific story, the stuff of legends" Jason told her.

"What about Elixir? Can you forgive her for putting you in a situation where you are fighting for your life? I am your real mother, Jayden" Miranda told him.

Jason went around and he squatted down in front of Miranda.

"Miranda, I am sorry. I should have made an effort to see you…to get to know you because you are my mom too. And if I get out of here, I will do better, I promise" Jason stood up.

"And I have nothing to forgive Elixir for, she is my mother and she is a god damn superhero. You made the right choice when you gave me to her. She is the reason I am extraordinary. The man I am today, is because of my mother and I…I am grateful" 

Jason turned to James.

"I won't give up on you, Dad. I will find a way to make peace…maybe not now but the future is alive. And…I don't give up…ever and I don't take the easy way out either"

Jason walked to the door and he looked back at them one more time before he opened the door and stepped outside.