Jake spent the next few days doing two things: thinking of Michelle, and surviving Alaina. During the week Alaina and the other guests were busy, off working somewhere or visiting places of interest. The only person who was in during the day was the "assistant" nique.

During her breif visits Jake had snuck out from beneath his locked door and spied on her. She was a pretty brunette with green eyes who looked to be around his age, maybe a year older. Dark mascara underlined her eyes, and her hair was always tied in a ponytail. She usually cleaned the bathrooms, or Alainas office, but Jake could see she longed to enter his bedroom, which was off limits at all times. 

Alaina had said she knew he was here, and it must've been torture to not be able to even see him. she had seemed like a nice girl, and Jake was becoming desperate for a friend. he had thought long about this, but he decided he couldn't let her see him, he was just to nervous.

Today he decided to make a trip downstairs. He was bored to tears being confined to his room, and all theguests were gone today, not that there were that many staying here. He made the long walk down the stairs, landing with a jarring thud at every step. He had no idea where he was headed, just that he needed to do something today.

once he reached the bottom he traveled aimlessly from room to room, stopping to admire certain things, like how tall the furniture was compared to him. He was nearly dying from boredom , when his eyes rested on the old dusty grand piano he had noticed a few days ago. It's keys were already uncovered so he figured, why not? he wasn't doing anything else.

He reached the bench sitting in front of the piano, and decided it wouldn't be too hard of a climb. there were small notches in the flowery design that had been engraved on it's legs, and those would make for a stern foothold.

He heaved himself onto the first one, and followed them upwards in a swift, sure climb. he scrambled over the top onto the padded bench and lay there, huffing, it had taken more out of him than he had thought.

From here he would jump to the Piano keys, which were low enough for him to grab onto if he gathered enough speed. 

He backed as far away from them as he could, found his footing, and took off as fast as he could. Once he reached the edge, he pushed off of the bench surface with all his strength and flew across the gap. his right arm swung overhead and caught one of the keys, resulting in an echoing note that peirced his ears, lucky no one was home.

he frantically grabbed for the piano surface and hoisted himself up. he stood there panting, but proud of what he had accomplished.

now that he had reached his destanation, he decided to have some fun. 

He jumped onto the middle "E" key and from there, jumped to whatever key he felt like, creating an awful series of low and high notes. He was at this for about five minutes before he began to feel tired. Gasping, he collapsed lazily on one the key he was standing on and lay there, until his breath caught up with him.

As boredom once again took it's hold, his thoughts drifted to his mother, as they sometimes did, how he missed her and his home, and his friends. He felt stupid for ever trying that test, he wished he could take it all back, that he could just reverse what he had done, but he knew that he had to live with the choice. 

He stood then, and began to play once again, only this time he didn't press random keys, but instead played a song he had learned from his mother when he was six. It was a sad song, a song he had heard her play whenever she felt lonely, and so, in an attempt to make her proud of him, he had learned it from watching her, and had played it one day.

She had been so suprised, he had been grinning from ear to ear, even though it was such a sad melody. 

This time however, he played it to mimic his thoughts and feelings, of the sadness and emptiness, of his abusive caretaker and this lonely world he was in. Each note he had to walk to, so it was a bit slower than normal, but he recognized it.

When the final note rang out, Jake realized his eyes were watering. He wiped them and sat against one of the keys, hugging his knees close to his chest and resting his head, sniffling all the while.

He sat there for a good few minutes before he felt an odd feeling, like someone was watching him. He lifted his head to find the young girl Nique, sitting on the couch across from the piano.

She was looking at him, not in amazement or astonishment or wonder as people usually did, but she looked sad, like she pittied him. a tear had rolled down her cheek.

she stood then and approached him, Jake didn't get up, but instead buried his face in his hands, he just wanted to be left alone.

She sat on the bench in front of him and asked,"what was that song you played"?

Jake looked up at her and said," a song I used to play for my mom".

"I liked it", she said, with a half grin. "I'm Nique".

"Jake", he replied.

"why're you crying Jake"? she asked curiosly.

"I'm not crying", Jake said stubbornly, rubbing his eyes and standing up.

"you miss your mom don't you"? she said knowingly. "Alaina told me, it must be tough".

"it is tough", Jake said sternly," but i'm fine really".

Nique paused at this, and asked,"could I hold you"?

Jake was stunned, it was honestly the first time anyone had asked his permission, even his mother had not asked him.

He thought a moment and said," I guess so", shrugging.

She held out her hand and he stepped on. she brought him slowly to her face, he stumbled a bit and her hand clenched cautiosly, Jake suddenly felt like he was being held by his mother, Nique's hands gave him a sense of safety, just like hers.

"nice to meet you", she said smiling.

Jake smiled for the first time in days and said,"nice to meet you too".