in the rain i could hear your whisper, in the storm i could hear your scream
It's summer, at least in Jono's universe, and now that there's no excuse of being in class to keep him busy, Jackson has been dividing his time between Boeshane and Earth. The division isn't as equal as he'd like, given how worried his mom had been when he ran off and how difficult it is for her to come to terms with him being gone for any amount of time, but he can't blame her and usually just ends up missing Jono for the several weeks between his visits because it's damn near impossible to call someone who communicates telepathically.
The plus side is that Gray seems to be improving daily, thanks largely to all the telepathic help he'd had and the doctor he's seeing regularly now, and Jackson is beginning to see bits and pieces of his brother return. The play catch while the weather is still good, go out at night to stargaze when the daytime heat gets unbearable, and eventually settle down to build a rain collector when the season begins to change, just like they used to do with dad when they were kids. It's a little bit of a set back when it finally sinks in for Gray that their dad is gone, but he just cries on Jackson's shoulder instead of requiring an emergency call to his doctor and it kind of feels normal.
The next morning, Jackson gets up before sunrise and marks another day off his calendar. He can go back to Earth for another visit soon and maybe even take more classes there, though recruiters keep coming around with brochures for the military and it all looks very tempting compared to the end of the dry season on Boeshane after three years of drought. Ideally, he should be aiming for an offworld academy to pursue higher education, but that requires sitting for examinations and having his test scores submitted and he's feeling itchy for something that doesn't leave him in limbo.
'Itchy' would be a good word to descibe how he feels in general lately, like a kid who hates wearing his safety harness in a shuttle, and the minute he's out in the dunes with the rest of the maintenance crew, Jackson slips out of his shoes and shirt to work in bare skin and shorts. It's a pretty simple job and the heat isn't half of what it was before the dry season started to break, the sand isn't even too hot to walk on, but before noon he's beginning to feel uneasy. There's an odd pressure in his chest, more emotional than physical, like irrational dread settling in ... only he's not sure what he's dreading. It nags at him for the rest of the time he's out with the crew, making the hours a lot longer and wearier than they rationally should be, and by the time he shuffles home, Jackson feels outside himself and distracted.
Something feels wrong, like he's forgotten to do something but can't remember what, and trying to figure it out takes its toll rather quickly. After a glass of water, he retreats to the cool darkness of his bedroom and sprawls across the bed face down, trying to blot out the now very nervous uncertainty with sleep. Outside, thanks largely to the project completed earlier that day, clouds roll across the sky and open up, pouring rain down onto the colony and surrounding area. Water trickles in through the rain collector in his bedroom window and accumulates at the bottom, but Jackson hardly notices. If anything, the sound of rain is so foreign to Boeshane that it reminds him more of Earth and helps finally lull him into a fitful sort of sleep.