A JSE Fanfic
Chapter One: Red Light
[Hey everyone! This is the start of an INCOMPLETE SERIES that I wrote in about 2018-2019. I don't know if I'll ever finish it, but I still think there's good stuff in it, and merit in reposting it here. It's May 2018, and the group of Chase, Jackie, Marvin, and JJ are suddenly thrown into chaos as their enemy known as Antisepticeye comes out of a months-long hiatus to mess with them again. It starts when the good doctor Schneep finally returns, but soon events takes many different turns, and Anti's plan goes a lot deeper than it appears...]
.............................................................................................
It was one of Chase’s bad days. Most of the time, he could get up and go out without much trouble, and occasionally he was even excited to do so. But sometimes, more often than he would’ve liked, there were days when he felt like he was just going through the motions, and couldn’t must the strength to do anything other than sit in the corner and think about the way things used to be.
Today, Chase decided to drink himself to death, or at least to unconsciousness. It didn’t work. He made a note to buy stronger whiskey…soon…at some point… and headed to bed without even changing his clothes.
But something woke him up. For a moment he just lay there, wondering why he was awake. Then he heard something that wouldn’t sound out of place in a horror movie: a little girl’s laughter.
Fear shot through him. He would’ve recognized that sound anywhere. But why would Bobby be here? It wasn’t the weekend…was it? Chase couldn’t remember. He sat up, head swimming. If Bobby was nearby, then Trevor had to be, too. The two of them were inseparable. Did that mean Stacy was with them? God, he hoped she wasn’t. He didn’t want her to see him like this.
Chase stood up and stumbled toward the light switch. He flipped it on, but nothing happened. Confused and bleary, he flicked it a couple more times for good measure. No, it was still pitch-black, and he still couldn’t see shit. He staggered back the way he came until he ran into the beside dresser. Running his hands over the surface, he grabbed a small rectangular object. Chase fumbled with the lighter a couple times until he managed to get a steady flame going.
His children’s laughter was ringing in the silence of the house. He was having trouble understanding why they were in his house, but they were, and he knew he had to find them. He left the bedroom, the floor seeming to sway beneath his feet. He had to get to Bobby and Trevor.
Something was deeply wrong.
The hallway was lit red. And there was a tingle in the air, like static electricity, but more…malevolent, somehow. The laughter seemed to be coming from all around, echoing inside his mind. And then Chase turned the corner.
“Who’s there?” he called.
There was a man standing in the doorway, barely more than a silhouette, outlined by the eerie red light. He looked…well, he looked a lot like Chase himself, but…he was almost a perfect copy of Jack. But it couldn’t be him. Jack was asleep, safe in a hospital. And strangely, the world seemed to be warping around the man, bleeding at the edges, making Chase see double. The man turned around slowly, and static hissed and whined as his right eye lit up, emitting a bright green light.
Suddenly, Chase realized who it was.
But what was he doing here? Had he lured Chase here with the familiar sounds of his kids? Or…
“Where are they?” Chase yelled, practically pleading. “What do you want from me?!”
There was no answer, but Anti drew closer. The way reality was breaking around him made it difficult to predict when he would arrive, and sooner than expected Chase found himself pinned to the wall. Double faces swam in the crimson glow.
“ Yo̷ur̢ ͢f̡r͏ie͞ņd͠ is w̴ea͞k,” Anti’s voice sounded like white noise made into words. “B͝ut͢ ͟he ̸c͢o͠uld be ͏w͝ȩa͝ker̨. Yo̷u ̶wan͝t ̡t̴o see̷ them a̡g͝ain?̢” A strange, broken laugh. “ M͝ake ̕s̡ure̡ ͠h̷e͟ n͢e̛ver̵͏ ͏w͢a̡kes̴͡ ͟up.̧”
The world broke into pieces of pixels, red and green flashing in a nausea-inducing pattern. Chase collapsed to the floor, dropping the lighter. Everything went dark.
.............................................................................................
Chase blinked open his eyes to a raging headache. Was it morning? The hallway was still dark, but not completely black, and the red light was gone. The lighter had thankfully gone out. Chase had enough trouble without worrying about his house burning down.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. It looked like he had two options. Sacrifice his best friend, or sacrifice his children. Could he go through with either of them? Was it all a trick? Would Anti even keep his word? He simply didn’t know.
Using the wall to keep himself steady, he stood up and made his way back to his room, where he’d left his phone the previous night. He needed to make a call.
“Hey, Jackie.”
“Chase! Good lord, you sound awful. You okay?”
“Gee, thanks bro. I’m fine, just not feeling too good.”
“You weren’t drinking again, were you?”
“Nah. But anyway, I was calling to say I couldn’t make it today.”
“Really? What happened?”
“I, uh, realized it’s been a while since I’ve been to the hospital. So I thought, now’s as good a time as any.”
“Alright. Marvin’s gonna be pissed.”
“That’s why I called you instead of him. He’ll understand, though.”
“Not gonna stop him from being pissed about it. But I’ll tell him and JJ about where you are. They’ll come around.”
“Thanks, bro. Catch you later?”
“Sure! See you ‘round.”
Chase couldn’t help the feeling of guilt that swept over him. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do once he got to the hospital, but he knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be a good decision.
Because it seemed that bad decisions were the only ones he could make.