Title: Halloween Distress: Jesse’s Story

Disclaimers: They aren’t mine. Marvel Studios and the people associated

Summary: Jesse lets Brennan read a journal he wrote at sixteen that tells why he is so afraid of Halloween.

Warnings: none

Notes: The story told in the journal is told by a sixteen year old Jesse. The Mutant X writers have not revealed when Jesse joined Adam and Shalimar in Mutant X. I suspect he joined when he was a teenager or at least by the time he was twenty.

Halloween Distress: Jesse’s Story
by Angela

"Tell me, Jesse. Tell me what happened."

"You really want to know, Brennan. You may not like it."

"Yes, baby. I want to know."

Jesse looked up to Brennan with such love and trust in his eyes. He turned in the other man’s arms and sighed. The younger man took the older man’s hand and kissed it. Jesse kept a hold of the hand as he told his story of a scared six year old and older boys who he had wanted to fit in with.

"Here. This is a journal that I wrote about it years after it happened."

Jesse handed a large journal to Brennan. The dark eyes meet blue ones. They were looking for a nod. Jesse nodded his consent and Brennan opened to journal and began to read the horror of a little boy.


1st entry dated: October 16, 1995

This entry will start with the start of the first and last Halloween for me. It all started on October 29, 1985 when I was six years old. I had two of the best friends that I had ever had and I went to play some basketball on the court in a nearby court. I know not all six year olds could play basketball but my friends were quite a bit older and they let me try anything well not anything. Just some things that they thought would be all right for me. They had taken me to the park with my mother’s permission and we were off to have some fun.

We were shooting some baskets. More like Cage and Pace were shooting them. I thought the world of them and they returned the sentiment. They enjoyed being around me and I enjoyed being around them. I was watching them play and all of a sudden both of them stopped playing. I looked around to see why. I saw why. It was that stupid boy, Connor. The one that Cage and Pace always warned me about. He looked mad. I got up and ran to Pace. He put me back behind him so that Connor couldn’t get near me.

From my vantage point I could see the older boy approach my friend and take their basketball from them. Because I was with them Cage and Pace didn’t make a move. The other boy just laughed. That stupid laugh that made me want to punch him.

I can’t remember much about that day just that Cage was hurt bad and that Pace was told he would be hurt worse if he told anyone about it. Pace agreed. He was trying to protect me and Cage. And then that’s when it happened. Connor noticed me. He snatched me from behind Pace before he could shove me out of harm’s way. Connor sneered at Pace and my friend held back.

"Bring him by the cemetery on Halloween at 9:00. I have a little treat for you little friend here." He had said.

That’s when I got scared. Pace could do nothing but nod and help Cage up and get us out of there. I followed the two boys closely so that the bully couldn’t get me again.

Brennan at that point looked up into Jesse’s blue eyes and saw tears. The memory of what happened still brought tears to him after all these years. The dark haired man opened his arms to the younger man. Jesse dived into them and snuggled into Brennan’s side as he went back to reading what had happened to Jesse all those many years ago.


2nd entry dated: October 20, 1995

With Halloween coming up Adam thought that it would be best if I continue to write down my memories of that Halloween I just want to forget. So here goes again.

The next day I didn’t see either of my friends. It was making me nervous. I knew that I had to go with them to the cemetery on Halloween and I wasn’t looking forward to it. Momma took me to the store for a Halloween costume. I got to pick out one all on my own. Cage and Pace were going to take me trick or treating. I was one happy little boy but in the inside I was scared. I was scared thinking about what was going to happen on that might. I picked something out. I was going to be Dracula. I liked Dracula. We picked out candy and then left. By the time we got back I was exhausted and was sent to bed. I didn’t think about either of my friends all day.


3rd entry dated October 23, 1995

This seems to be helping me with my fears of Halloween. I hope I can get over them Shalimar wants to go out to a Halloween party at a friends.

It’s Halloween and I am excited. I can’t wait to go trick or treating. I can’t wait to get all that candy. Cage and Pace should be here by now. The doorbell rings and Momma is calling for me. It’s my friends. I run to them. They each give me a big hug and then I show off my costume for them. Momma doesn’t have a set time for me to come home because the guys want to take me to a Halloween carnival. I wanted to go and Momma relented.

Pace looked down at me and smiled. I smiled back. We were going to have fun. We had hit all the houses on my block and were going to the neighborhood were my friends lived so that I could go to the houses there. By the time 9:00 came rolling along I hadn’t expected to be at the cemetery. I must have forgotten about it. We showed up on time and Connor was already there with a few friends.

He gestured for me to come to him. Cage and Pace could only look on. Connor knew that he had them. I slowly went up to the older boy. I swallowed around the lump in my throat. I looked up into Connor’s eyes. The older boy was evil. He grabbed my arm and led me towards a tomb that was supposed to be haunted. He gestured me to follow him. I did thinking that it would help me and not let Connor hurt me. He shoved me in and then looked at me with such hatred.

"You have to stay in here all night or your two friends will be hurt."

I looked at him and nodded. That’s all I could do. He didn’t give me a blanket or anything else. He left with a laugh that sounded evil and then slammed the tomb’s door shut. I heard the lock click into place. I knew then that I was truly only. I couldn’t see because I was not left with a flashlight. I kept hearing noises all throughout the tomb. I wasn’t scared yet. By the end of the night I was terrified.

You see there was a legend that the tomb that I was in was the resting place for a man who had killed his whole family and then possibly killed himself. Noone really knows how true that is. Some say his wife wasn’t dead yet and had killed him before she died. There were all kinds of stories. The story goes that if anyone were to become trapped in the tomb that the ghost of the man would come after you especially young kids.The first hour wasn’t so bad. The second hour I started to hear noises. By the third and fourth hours I was hearing voices. At one time I thought I saw a ghost coming towards me and started screaming. There were several times that I thought the man was trying to get to me.

At one point I was so scared that I thought that the evil ghost was after me. In my delirium I ran around the tomb trying to get out. My hands, face, and legs were scraped and bleeding by the time that anyone came looking for me. I was also thirsty and hungry. All I wanted was to be with my mommy.

The next morning the police along with my two friends’ families had found me curled up in the middle of this tomb mumbling about someone coming to get me. I clung to the officer who had come in and got me. I didn’t want to go to anyone else. I just stayed there in the officer’s arms. He rode in with me and my momma.

I told the police what had happened. They weren’t happy and my mother forbid me to see Cage and Pace again. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to have any more Halloweens. That was fine with my mother.

I had nightmares for many weeks after that experience. I would always dream that the ghost of Old Man McNabb was trying to get me. In these dreams he would come after me with a long knife. I would wake up screaming.

I never did find out what happened to my friends. Sometimes I think I don’t want to know.

Shalimar is calling. Gotta go. This did help. Maybe someday I can enjoy Halloween again. Maybe there will be someone to show me how.

Brennan wanted to cry by the time he finished reading Jesse’s story. Really what he wanted to do was find the three boys and hurt them real bad for hurting his Jesse. The older man wished that he could be there for his lover. Brennan hugged Jesse tightly to him and vowed that he would show Jesse that Halloween was just fun and not a bad thing at all.

"Jesse, let’s have a Halloween party. Me, you and the girls. Maybe we could get Adam to let us invite some the Mutants that help with the safe houses."

"Ok."

Brennan smiled he thought he would get some kind of argument. Maybe this meant that Jesse was letting go of his fears. He kissed Jesse’s upturned nose and snuggled the blonde man towards him. Brennan drifted off to sleep thinking of ghosts, goblins and Halloween parties.

Jesse looked at Brennan and smiled. He was glad that he had let Brennan see his journal. It was nice to let some else share in your fears and help them with it. He smiled and drifted off to sleep thinking that Halloween wasn’t so bad after all. As long as he had his Brennan with him.


The end