Jake Wells-A Visit From Before

The light from the candles drew soft shadows against the bathroom wall.

With the sound of falling rain playing over his Bluetooth speaker, Jake Wells sat in the tub. Submerged in warm water, Jake sat there, allowing his muscles to loosen up.

Closing his eyes, Jake leaned his head against the wall and enjoyed the feeling of the cool tile against the back of his head.

For a moment, Jake was at peace; he wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere; all the baby furniture had been assembled, and his ‘honey-do’ list had been completed. So, he was free to simply soak; soak until he was as wrinkly as a plum, and the water was ice cold. And that’s exactly what Jake planned to do; however, his mind had other plans.

“Ahh, so this is what the good life looks like, huh?” Said a woman’s voice.
If Jake were a cartoon character, he would have been in space with how high he jumped up.

“What the fuck?!” He yelled, nearly falling out of the tub.

Snatching his towel off the rack, he hurried to wrap it around himself.

“Jakey, relax! I’ve already seen everything you got going on.” A dark-haired woman said as she gestured to Jake’s crotch.

Jake slowly backed away from the tub as he looked at the woman with complete horror.

As a kid, Jake would always watch horror films and scream at the TV, yelling for the dumb ass main character to run instead of trying to talk to the monster or killer. But right then, at that moment, in his bathroom, Jake was the dumb ass main character.

“How the fuck did you get in here?!” He yelled, staring at the woman as he attempted to figure out if he was awake or asleep.

“Oh, I live here. Or at least I used to.” She said as she looked around.

Jake studied her for a moment; was she a ghost? Did she break in with a key she kept? But don’t landlords change the locks anyway, just in case?

“Are you a ghost?” Jake asked in an attempt to wrap his head around whatever the fuck was going on.

“No fool! I’m you. Or at least I used to be you.” She said.

She used to be him? What the fuck was she… Suddenly it clicked. She was him, from the past, from before he became Jake.

“Woah, are you here to deliver some kind of message to me, or send me on some kind of mission?” He asked, his voice filled with wonder.

Her face fell flat as she looked at him with bored eyes.

“Really nigga? What, you think you some chosen one or some shit?” She asked, as she crossed her arms.

“Am I?” He asked excitedly.
The woman put her hands on her head and looked up at the ceiling.

“This nigga.” She said with a chuckle.

“If that were the case, wouldn’t future Jake be here instead of me?” She asked.

Jake thought about it for a moment, that made a lot more sense.

“Alright then, why are you here?” He asked.

Past Jake sighed and shook her head.

“I had a horrible day, and Donny and I decided to do some shrooms, and well, now I’m here.” she said with a shrug.

Jake paused for a moment and really looked at his past self. Past Jake looked exhausted, but Jake supposed that that’s what happens to a person when you’re constantly holding on by a thread; the work that kind of effort takes, usually begins to wear a person down.

Suddenly Jake remembered it, remembered what it was like to be her, but not really be her; like being in shoes that were a size too small, or living in a house that wasn’t his home.

“Can you wait here? I need to put on some shorts, and I wanna show you something.” He told Past Jake.

Securing the towel around his waist, Jake hurried out of the bathroom and slowly began making his way across the bedroom. His wife, who was eight months pregnant, had finally found a position comfortable enough to sleep in, and the last thing he wanted to do was wake her.

When he finally made it out of the room, Jake hurried down the hall and made his way downstairs. Swiping the family photo album off the coffee table, he made his way back to the bathroom.

“We’re married?! To a hot ass doctor?!” Past Jake yelled.

Jake was unsure if whatever form Past Jake was in could wake up his wife, but he didn’t wanna risk it.

“Yeah, you’ll meet her in college.” Jake said, looking at his past self.

Judging by the cringy clothing, and the absurd amount of Silly Bandz he was sporting on his wrist, he was able to tell that Past Jake was in high school, his senior year to be exact.

“Is that before or after we transition?” Past Jake asked.

Jake smiled his same goofy grin that he always did whenever he thought of his wife, Maxine.

“Before. We started off as good friends and grew to be more. Or I guess in your case, we’ll start off as friends and grow to be more.” He said.

Past Jake smiled as he looked up at Jake.

“Can you come sooner? Right now so many scary things are happening, and it feels like that will never come.” Past Jake said.

Jake laughed, not in a dismissive way, but in a silly kid, you just can’t see it yet’ kind of way.

“Jake, I’m here, in this bathroom, which means one day you’ll make it here to this bathroom too. You just gotta hold on.” He said.

Past Jake sighed, and Jake could feel his sadness weighing heavy on him. Past Jake was growing tired of waiting; waiting was like holding his breath, and Jake’s lung capacity wasn’t all that great, but the fact that Jake was soaking in his tub, with his wife and unborn child just outside the door, meant that Past Jake’s lungs were stronger than he knew.

“If I don’t become you, I’m gonna haunt your ass.” Pass Jake said, pointing a finger at Jake.

“Nigga, if you didn’t become me, I wouldn’t be here right now!” He yelled.

Past Jake opened his mouth to say something when a knock, followed by a muffled “baby?” came from the other side of the door.

Past Jake began to fade as the knocking and calling grew louder and louder.

Shooting up from the water, Jake’s eyes snapped open, the once warm water now icy cold around him.

The door opened and Maxine, Jake’s wife, poked her head into the bathroom and looked at him.

“Did your old ass fall asleep in the tub again?” She asked.

Jake could only laugh, with the baby on the way, he’d been pulling doubles at work, and falling asleep in the tub was becoming a regular occurrence.

“Yeah, gimme a second, I’ll be right out.” He promised.

Maxine nodded, before backing out of the bathroom.

Rubbing his face, Jake shook his head, what a wild fucking dream.

Standing up, he drained the tub before grabbing his towel and exiting the bathroom. After changing into boxers and a t-shirt, Jake climbed into bed and curled his body around his wife’s.

With his hand on her belly, he stroked her large stomach before gently pushing against it, earning him a kick from their child.

The baby would be coming any day now, and Jake couldn’t wait to shower his child with love, support, and all the knowledge he had of the world and how it worked.

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