Great portrayal of all-too plausible PTSD.

Author's Response:

Thank you, I hope it's fairly accurate, I've gone to decent lengths to try and portray this as effectively as possible without knowing a great deal about the exact nature of PTSD myself. Not something I'd ever want someone to go through, but for the sake of the story I owed it to myself to 'go there'.

Well, well, well. Look who is back. I think with the title of this chapter, we should reflect on such a great year of this story.

Jack reflects about the whole incident and still can't get rid of Caitlin. He can't get rid of Penny in his head either. Something about these Alphas keep sticking to him. I think Jack has some sort of desire in the back of his head despite what he has gone through.

Jack suffers from ptsd, or seems to. This experience was too much. How it affects how love, his school, and how he receives physical contact. Did you see what happened when Delon patted him? Jack refered to the abuse. Jack is fucked mentally now.

Wow, Jack's parents don't seem to give a shit about what happened to Jack. Video games all week? How does a parent even buy that? Jack's parents should like call Delon's parents and ask why they let their boys play games all week.

If Jack looked like shit, how come the parents didn't seem to have concern? It was only until Delon brought the conversation about some sort of sickness that the parents seemed to care.

Great work on Jack feeling claustrophobic in his own room. That's some story development right there. Using the environment to show a change in the character. Makes me wonder if would rather feel crowded, or comfy on a large bed with the memory of Caitlin. I'm sure he would rather be cramped.

Well Jack can't hide in his bed forever. Also, Delon might be spied on by Caitlin. Anyone watching Jack's locker? I don't think this bag retrieval is as easy as it sounds.

Hmm. What if instead of Delon showing up aftersxhool, it's Caitlin? Now that would be a plot twist. Jack all happy to get his bag, then nope.

I can't wait for the next chapter!

Author's Response:

Jack didn't come home on Friday night, but on Saturday Delon got in touch with his folks to say he was staying over, and then he was returned back on Sunday morning. He's basically spent Saturday at Delon's so far as they know, apparently revising, but probably playing games and chilling out, It's implied that this sort of thing happens relatively often, and it's been established that he's pretty shit with his phone: “I’ve been texting you for hours, what have I told you about not checking your phone?” - Chapter 3. I'm not saying Jack's parents are idiots or anything but they are completely oblivious to the specific kind of Alpha-inspired problems he's encountering, they themselves grew up in an era with far more Betas, associate with a lot of similarly-positioned Betas their own age (at their jobs etc) and are relatively care-free, laid-back people. To be honest they're more concerned about his grades than whether he's home at night, they trust his friend Delon and they also know Jack's a bit insular and mopey so they probably don't really notice anything out of the ordinary.