He closes the door to his bedroom behind him, and goes for the bed. He lies face down, arms wide spread, and listens to his muffled breathing.
The cat is not around. Its just him and the four walls. And the bed. And the toys that were meant to cheer him up the last few years. They're not so important. They haven't been so successful. The cat is OK though.
The cat wasn't meant to cheer him up. The cat is just a cat. The cat just walks around the house - he has nothing to do with anything.
He has no choice anymore. Tomorrow he gets to go to school.
That's it. He is finally going to school.
Other kids his age have been going to school for the past four years.
Not him, Jake has been a special case.
He really has no choice.
He never had much of a choice about his condition either.

He gets tired of breathing in a muffled way. He moves his head slowly to the left. He gasps some air, and looks to the far end of the room.
His parents are downstairs. He's in the room.
There's the wall, right there.
Tomorrow, there's going to be a tomorrow.

Tomorrow is eventually going to come.
There's no choice about it.
His parents are insistent, and even though he has shown them his unhappiness, he knows that he has to go.
Time has come.
Their insistence has bothered him though.
It's the finality of it all.

Jake finds a couple of tears escaping his eyes. He is slightly surprised. He didn't think he was going to cry. It wasn't like there was a fight. It wasn't like they shouted at him, or anything like that.... its that he's scared. And now his tears show him that. They are the proof. He didn't think he was that scared. His parents hinted at it, but he dismissed it. Not true. But now it is.