Jack Whitmore Case

Jack Whitmore, age 16, grows up with normalcy until he finds himself highly intoxicated on a park bench. Drinking one night at a party with his best friend, Connor has Jack hitting the streets to wonder about pointlessly in a drunken stupor. For a resting point of the night, he chooses a park bench close to his house. After a few hours, he finds himself woken by a man in hospital scrubs offering him a ride home. Foolishly, Jack accepts the ride from the ominous doctor; however, Jack does not go home. Instead, he goes to the doctor's house, who then revels himself as Freddy, a control freak. Terrible things happen to Jack, nightmares things. However, thanks to his quick wit, Jack narrowly escapes Freddy, runs to Connor's house, and reveals the unspeakable horrors that accrued the night before. The two boys then plan and execute a brutal revenge that leaves Freddy dead in the middle of a highway. Putting that horror behind themselves, Jack and Connor go to London for a holiday to scope out the schools they could possibly attend. While exploring London, Jack finds himself in a pub approached by a man claiming to know Jack. Jack then finds himself given a pair or strange bluish-purple glasses and disappears. Upon inspecting the glasses, Jack finds himself in a world other than the drab hotel room he was in previously. Instead, he finds himself in a desert, empty, and desolate, which he learns is Marbury. In this world, it is an apocalypse world left from the ravishing of a war. Here, he meets young Griffin and Ben, teenagers who fight for survival daily. While here, Jack finds this horrifying world exciting and thrilling. However, on the other side, Connor, his best friend, is trying to kill him. While flipping between London and Marbury, Jack learns how far friendship, loyalty, and love bleeds into both worlds as he slowly loses his sanity. This sanity is due to finding himself addicted to fixing Marbury and uncover it's secrets. While Jack flips back and forth, Connor becomes ill and in need of immediate care in Marbury, where a ghost named Seth helps heal him and bring both boys back to the present day London. After realizing how much time he spent in Marbury, they find that that day is the day they must go back to their homes in California. Disappointed, both boys are home longing for London and Marbury when they meet the two boys Ben and Griffin; the boys that helped them survive the hellhole they call Marbury.

Jack shows at the beginning courage and loyalty to all who he considers friends, especially to Connor. An example of his loyalty and bravery was when he was in a truth circle where they had to say something about themselves, in which Jack chooses to talk about how Connor "is the only person in the world that I loved." (231). Jack shows his commitment to him even when he is embarrassed and shy; Even when in the prescience of others.

When in a tight spot, Jack still finds himself worrying about others rather than himself.