Part Five of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Things aren't going so well, for Chase, Schneep, or Dr. Laurens, but Laurens thinks she's found something... interesting, and maybe helpful.]
.............................................................................................

“No, no, I understand. It’s fine. How long will you be gone, again? Oh, okay. Can you…tell me when you get back? Thanks. Tell them hi from me. Goodb—” Chase pulled the phone away from his ear, staring at the screen. She’d hung up pretty quickly. Did that mean she was still mad? Or not? He still wasn’t quite sure what he’d done to upset her in the first place, so he couldn’t figure it out. Chase sighed, leaning forward until his head hit the bathroom mirror.

The doorbell rang.

He looked up, frowning. He wasn’t expecting anyone…still, why not check? A short walk out of the bathroom and down the hall lead him back to the living room. The bell rang again. “Okay! I’m coming,” he said, reaching the front door. He pulled it open. “Oh…hi.” He blinked. “I wasn’t…what’s up? What’re you doing here?”

The familiar face on the other side of the door smiled at him. 'I came to check in on you,' JJ signed. 'That’s not illegal, is it?'

“No, just unexpected.” Chase paused, then started, remembering his manners. “Oh, you want to come in? I can make tea or something.”

'How about I make the tea? I feel you always make it improperly.'

“Okay, wow, excuse me for not being British.” Chase raised his hands as if in surrender. Then he stepped aside. “Anyway, come in. Sorry about the mess.”

JJ breezed inside and ended up standing in the middle of the living room, hands on hips. He was wearing one of his more casual outfits today: a tan button-up shirt with a bow tie and one of his pocket watches on a fine chain around his neck. It may have looked odd on anyone else, but JJ had the sort of style to pull it off. The shoulder bag was a little out of place, though. 'It’s not as messy as you think,' JJ signed swiftly. 'You’re doing better at cleaning!'

“Thanks.” Chase shut the door. “Uh, you want to go to the kitchen?”

'Yes, let’s.'

Once in the kitchen, JJ made a beeline for the counter, setting his bag on the nearest stool. 'So how are you?' He asked. 'What’s been going on in your life?'

“Uh, nothing much, really.” Chase leaned against the doorway. Nothing noteworthy, anyway.

'Surely there must be something.' JJ started digging around in his bag, pulling out items.

“I mean…I-I dunno, it’s kinda all been—” Chase stopped. “Jays. What is that?”

'It’s a knife.' JJ held up said knife, flipped open the blade before closing it again, set it on the counter, then continued rifling through the bag.

“Why do you have a knife?”

JJ took a moment to pull a small box out of the bag before pointing at himself, then making a sign with both hands. Literally, it translated to protection, but Chase had spent enough time interpreting JJ’s signs to understand that what he was actually trying to say was 'Self-defense.'

“Well, I guess that makes sense, but this is a pretty safe city. I don’t think it’s worth carrying a knife around.”

'You own a gun,' JJ pointed out dryly.

“Yeah, but—I mean, I-I don’t carry it around,” Chase stuttered.

'To each their own,' JJ shrugged. 'You can never be too safe. Anyway.' JJ picked up the small box, opening it and pulling out a couple of tea bags. 'I hope you don’t mind I brought a different blend.'

“No, go ahead. Wait.” Chase’s brow furrowed. “How did you know we would make tea?”

'It’s what you always do when you have visitors: offer them tea.'

“Well…I mean, I guess you’re not wrong. I did the same thing with that doctor lady who dropped by a couple weeks ago. Did I tell you about that?”

JJ paused in his tea making. 'I don’t believe you did.'

“Well. She did.” Chase scuffed at a spot on the floor. “That’s how I knew about…Schneep.”

'Your friend in the hospital.'

“Yeah.” Chase paused. “Y’know I think you two would get along. You should come with me one week for visiting hours.”

JJ was already shaking his head. 'I wouldn’t want to intrude on what time you have together.'

“It wouldn’t be an intrusion. I mean, I’d tell him before hand, he’d probably remember.” That was only a ‘probably.’ But JJ didn’t need to know that.

JJ was silent for a while, not looking at Chase as he set the kettle on the stovetop. After a moment he raised his hands, hesitated, then signed, 'Well, maybe. One day in the future, when you two have had more time to get reacquainted with each other. After all, tomorrow will only be your…third visit, is it?'

“Well…it would, but…” Chase shifted on his feet. “That same doctor lady gave me her number last time, and I gave her mine. She said she’d put me down as an emergency contact. Then yesterday, she called me saying it…maybe wouldn’t be a good idea to show up tomorrow.” He mumbled that last part, almost not wanting to say it.

JJ looked at him, surprised. 'Why?'

“Apparently, he—Schneep, he’s…not doing good,” Chase said slowly. “And the doctor—I think her name is Rya—said that if anything went wrong during the visit, then they could revoke visiting rights, and she thought it would be best not to risk that.” Chase closed his eyes and sighed. “I mean, I guess it’s a good idea. Better to miss one than lose them altogether.”

For a moment, there was quiet. Then there was a loud clapping sound and Chase jolted, opening his eyes. JJ looked him straight in the eyes and clapped his hands once more. “Oh, uh…sorry, guess that’s a little rude.” Chase folded his arms, trying to shrink into himself. “Didn’t realize.”

'It’s alright, just remember to keep your eyes open next time,' JJ signed. 'Anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine. There’s always next week.'

“Yeah, there is. It’s just…” Chase hesitated. “It’s just…I just got off the phone with Stacy before you showed up. She’s…taking Sophie and Nick on vacation for a week. So…I-I’m not going to see them this weekend.” Chase blinked rapidly. “I-I guess it’s just that—I don’t know, just both these things happening together, it just…”

JJ didn’t say anything. He crossed the room to stand opposite Chase, placing a hand on his shoulder. Then he gently pushed him over to the kitchen table, where he pulled out a chair and pushed Chase into it. He held up one finger as if asking him to wait, then returned to the counter. Chase watched as he finished the tea, pouring two mugs before approaching the table once more. He set one mug down in front of Chase and then took a seat himself. 'Now, everything’s better with tea,' he signed.

Chase laughed a bit. “You’re not wrong.” He took a sip. It was a sweeter blend than he was used to, but not bad.

'Chase, I hope you know you’re stronger than you think,' JJ signed. 'You’ve gotten through all your bad days so far, I believe you can handle the next few days as well. And if you need anything, you can always text me. I’ll answer.'

“I guess…”

'You don’t guess, you know. You are a capable, good man, Chase, and you can take care of anything life throws at you.'

For a moment, Chase just stared at Jameson. “Hey, Jays…?” The words stuck in his throat. He couldn’t say enough. His best friend was in a coma, another friend had been blamed for murder and sent to a mental hospital, and then two more had disappeared off the face of the earth. How could he say how much he appreciated Jameson for staying with him through all that, for being there through the dark times? “…Thanks,” he finally said. “Just…thanks.”

JJ smiled. 'You’re welcome. Now, how are you feeling?'

“A little better.”

'It’s the tea.'

Chase laughed. “I bet it is.”
.............................................................................................

Across the city, Dr. Rya Laurens was in the employee break room at Silver Hills, hurrying to finish her lunch. Normally she would’ve eaten earlier, but that persistent…cold, or whatever it was she had a few weeks ago, was back, and her foggy brain had forgotten until now.

Someone cleared their throat nearby, and she looked up. Oliver was standing some ways away, looking awkward. “Hey Doc, you ready to go?”

Laurens held up her hand, chewing quickly. She was aware it was almost time for today’s session. She wished she could take her food with her, and some for Schneep, too, like their old lunchtime sessions back in the old room. But Dr. Newson had forbidden it, saying that anything in the lunch that hadn’t been approved could technically be used as a weapon. Laurens didn’t use the word “bullshit” often, especially not at work, but…she shook her head. Dr. Newson probably knew what she was doing.

After a moment, she quickly stood up, swept the remains of her food into the nearest trash can, and grabbed her notebook. “Ready now. Let’s go.”

It was a bit of a walk from the break room to the Room 1010. Long enough for Laurens to start to feel the awkwardness between her and Oliver. She coughed. Making conversation was better than nothing. “So…how have you been liking this assignment? I know orderlies usually do a whole bunch, does this feel…different?”

Oliver frowned, considering. “It’s definitely not what I was expecting, I’ll tell you that.”

“Well, what were you expecting?”

“…I don’t know.” Oliver paused, looking almost embarrassed. “It sounds stupid, but something more…I don’t know, risky. I thought I was being brave, but he hasn’t done much.”

Laurens considered. “I-I mean, you were there when the accident with Theresa happened. It makes sense that would form an…impression on you. But you know that the people here really aren’t scary.”

“I know. But there’s something different when one of them killed thirteen people.”

“It’s alright, I was nervous too. But Schneep’s okay, he just needs help.” Even if lately…it almost seemed like they were making backwards progress. He’d become more withdrawn over the last few days, sometimes not even acknowledging that she was in the room with him. Always seeming to look at something she couldn’t see, hissing things under his breath that she couldn’t understand, no matter what language the words were in. She just…really hoped this was just a bad couple of days, and not a sign of something deeper.

They arrived at the room. Laurens took out her key card, swiped it through the reader, and opened the door wide enough for her and Oliver to walk inside. The room was unchanged from the last session. Schneep was sitting on the bed, hugging the pillow to his chest and slowly rocking back and forth. He didn’t look up when Laurens walked over to the room’s one chair and sat, setting her notebook down on the table. “Hi Schneep,” she said. “How are you doing today?”

Schneep didn’t answer, or even acknowledge her. His eyes were fixed downward.

“Did you know it’s been almost three months since you’ve come here?” Laurens asked. “The sixth will mark three months exactly.”

Still no response.

She could already tell this probably wasn’t going to be a productive session. But she had to try. “Um, there’s something we really need to talk about.” She started thumbing through the pages of the notebook. “I know I keep bringing this up, and I know you don’t want to say anything about it, but it really needs to be addressed, so I can better understand where you’re coming from. So…” She pulled out a loose piece of paper that had been tucked in close to the binding. Unfolding it and setting it down on the table revealed it was the drawing Schneep had done during their session a couple weeks ago. The one that she was pretty sure was the thing he kept seeing. “Are you feeling up to telling me anything about this?”

That finally got Schneep’s attention. He raised his head and his eyes flicked down to the drawing on the table. Laurens saw his grip on the pillow tighten. He shook his head. “Nein. Nein, nein…du sollst nicht darüber…” He trailed off.

“I can’t understand you,” Laurens said gently. “Um…ich spreche kein deutsch?” She hoped that she wasn’t mispronouncing anything.

Schneep looked up at her. “Why do you say it, then?”

Laurens blinked. “Ah…”

It didn’t seem like Schneep was waiting for an answer. His head tilted upward as he looked at the ceiling. “Die Augen…” he muttered. “They are back. Though I think they are always there. Always watching.”

Laurens flipped to a different page in her notebook. The ‘watching’ seemed to be a recurring theme for Schneep. Obviously some form of paranoia, but what was causing it? She glanced down at the drawing. “You say that a lot. Who’s watching?”

He looked back at here, irritated. “Die Augen. The, the, the…eyes. From your face.” Back up at the ceiling. “I think they fell out, but now they watch.”

She took out her pen and made a note. “Why do you think they do that?”

“Is because of—” He stopped short.

Laurens leaned forward. “Because of what?” She paused, waiting for an answer and getting none. “You can tell me, you know? If you don’t want anyone else to know, I won’t say anything. I just need—”

“No.” Schneep shook his head. “No, nein, nein. Should not say in the first place.”

“Why is that?” Laurens waited for an answer. Schneep didn’t respond, and instead intensified his rocking. “Schneep…Henrik, do you think…will something bad happen if you tell someone?”

Schneep made a small sound, something in between a whimper and a groan. One hand reached up and started rubbing at his neck.

She waited for a long time, thinking maybe he just needed a while to answer. But it was clear he had no intention of saying anything. She looked down at the drawing again, then reached forward and tapped it. “Something to do with this?”

Schneep suddenly burst into laughter, shaking his head. Laurens jumped a bit at the surprise of it, but quickly calmed herself. It wasn’t long before the laughter started sounding strained, forced. More like crying. And the hand at his neck was—“Henrik, stop that!” Laurens shot to her feet and was soon in front of him, her hand darting out to grab his wrist and pull it away. There were red marks on his throat where his nails had been scratching at it. Schneep made eye contact with her, a wide grin lighting up his face but not his eyes. His other hand reached up and started doing the same, clawing, clawing at the skin. Laurens hurried to grab that one too.

For a moment, the two of them were frozen, staring at each other. And then the grin dropped from Schneep’s face. His eyes widened, and he seemed to shake a bit. Then with no warning at all, he threw his head backwards and hit it against the wall.

Laurens shrieked. “Henrik! Stop it!” Schneep didn’t seem to hear her, hitting his head again. Laurens looked toward the corner of the room. Oliver was standing there, as always. He was half-reaching towards her, hesitating, as if waiting for something. She looked at him and jerked her head towards the situation. And within moments, he was with them, holding Schneep’s arms securely to his side and keeping his head from moving any more. Schneep kept shaking. A small tear trickled from one eye.

Oliver looked at her. “I have some sedatives, if you—”

“No.” Laurens cut him off. “Not right…” But then she trailed off. Now, standing as close to the bed as she was, she noticed something odd. A lump. More than one, actually. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached forward, underneath the loose blankets, and felt around until her fingers wrapped around a small, round object. She pulled it out. Her eyes widened. “Henrik…” she held it up for him to see. “This is one of your pills. And it looks like there are more.” Her eyes widened. “You haven’t been taking your medication, have you?”

Schneep squeezed his eyes shut.

“For how long? A-and why?”

“Was not working,” Schneep muttered, opening one eye.

“You’re supposed to tell us that, Schneep!” She said, shocked. “So that we can change it! It doesn’t help anyone if you just pretend to take it and then hide it. You know this. If anything, this’ll just lead to—”

“It will never work!” Schneep wrenched a hand free and grabbed her coat, pulling her a bit closer before Oliver slapped his hand away. “You do not understand, none of you! He will not go away! None of it will stop! It does not matter, does not matter! Because I tell you, this is different from the things I have seen in the past, h-he is—is—is—” Schneep cut himself off, breathing too quickly to get words out.

“Then help me understand, Schneep,” Laurens emphasized. She grabbed his dangling hand, squeezing it tight. “Because if I can’t understand, then I can’t do anything for you except keep switching your medication. And I want to do more.” She paused, making sure he was fully listening to her. “Now just breathe. Calm down, alright. You know the five things you can see exercise, right? Would it help if you did that now?”

Schneep’s eyes darted around the small room. He started muttering things under his breath, too low for her to hear. After a while, he turned his attention back to her. Still breathing heavily, still with a few tears escaping wet eyes, but better.

“Are you ready to keep going?” Laurens coaxed. “Or do you need more time?”

Schneep bit his lip, looking downward. “I hate this,” he muttered. “Hate it, hate it. I am supposed to be a doctor, supposed to heal, not hurt. But I am here because I have done that.” He blinked quickly.

“You’ve said before that this wasn’t your fault,” Laurens said gently.

“But it is my hands I see the red on.” Schneep shuddered. “Is him, I know it. H-he makes…makes me. Puts the thoughts and feelings inside my head.” He hissed. “Shove a needle down their throats and watch them choke on it. It is inside there, but I know it does not belong to me. Is not me, is not.”

“So, this ‘him’…he makes you do things that hurt people?” Laurens clarified.

Schneep nodded vigorously. “…you cannot say anything,” he said, making eye contact with her. “That is what he wants. It makes him…” He paused, looking for the right word. “…have…influence. Strength. The more you talk about him.”

Laurens nodded. “Well, then. That was very…brave of you, to tell me this, even though you know that.”

“…thank you.” Schneep blinked, a few more tears slipping by. “I-I…I am tired.“

“I can leave, if you want me to,” Laurens suggested. Once he nodded again, she turned her attention to Oliver, who immediately let go of Schneep, letting him slump sideways on the bed. “I’ll be back tomorrow, Schneep.”

“You know, is odd that you do this every day, and not every week,” Schneep said, staring into nothing. “I do not mind, though. It lets me know when it is a day, instead of just time passing.”

“I-I do what I can,” Laurens said. “See you then?”

“Yes. Of course.” He closed his eyes.

Laurens stood up, glanced at Oliver, and then the two of them proceeded to leave the room.

The moment the door was closed behind them, and they were back in the hallway, Oliver let out a breath and said, “That…you know, I felt like I shouldn’t have been as big a part of that as I was.”

Laurens adjusted her grip on her notebook, flipping it open and getting her pen ready. “Really? Personally, I…well…thank you. I don’t think that would’ve gotten anywhere if it had been just me in there.”

“No problem. Just doing my job.” Oliver paused. “Was that…was that good, what happened in there?”

“I don’t think that…ah, well, that the first part, I mean, would be good for anyone. But the rest was…actually very helpful.” Laurens wrote down everything that happened. The feeling of being controlled by something else…it wasn’t unheard of, she had other patients before who had similar feelings. And she finally felt like she knew enough so they could really start to solve this problem. It only took three months. “I guess I need to change his medication.” She bit her lip. “Do you think it would be helpful to also add…something more…I don’t know, calming? You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“I don’t want to—I mean, I—I just don’t want him to do something like that when someone’s not there to stop him,” Laurens finished quietly.

Oliver nodded. “It’s a good idea. And I’ll be honest, I’m surprised it wasn’t required from the beginning.”

“Well. I guess.” Laurens cleared her throat. God, her throat still felt a bit raspy.

“No, I mean, really. So, Dr. Newson gave me the case file the other day. Said that since I was gonna be the number one orderly for this, I needed to know the details. There’s some…there’s some stuff in there, you know?”

Laurens paused. “It’s actually been a while since I read that.” She looked back down at her notebook.

“Well, you don’t need to read it again,” Oliver said awkwardly.

“Maybe I should.” Maybe, knowing what she knew now, it would shed some light on what had happened during those nine months.
.............................................................................................

She stayed late that night, planning to do exactly that. The case file wasn’t supposed to leave the hospital grounds, but there weren’t any rules against taking it to the break room. So at least she could be comfortable while reading about murder.

Thirteen people dead…that they knew of. There was always the chance of more, undiscovered. Though the ones they’d found, given the…scenes left behind, she really hoped no one else had gone through that. This whole time, for every one of them, did Schneep really think something was controlling him, compelling him to do such things? It would explain a lot, but not everything. For example, the initial incident, with Schneep’s friend Jack, the one in the coma. What had been the reason for the operation on him? Perhaps Schneep really thought he was saving him from something worse. But what? The ‘him’ he kept seeing?

And then there was the event that had happened last year in December. Over Christmas Eve night, actually. The series of videos sent to the police spoke more of some sort of…arrogant taunting, than anything Schneep had described so far. Like it was some sort of game, daring the police to find the victims before they all died. That was the incident that had clued the police into the severity of this case. Three people died that December night alone.

That December night…

Laurens put the file down. There was something she could barely remember, something else about December. Something she’d heard in the recent weeks. Scrunching her eyes close, she tried to recall where else she’d heard that, heard of some big thing going down in December. She had the vague feeling it was also related to Schneep, and that it was also…somehow tragic…

Her eyes snapped open. Wait. No, there was no way. Was there? Laurens searched through her pockets until she found her phone, taking it out and dialing a number she’d recently saved.

The other end rang for a while before it was picked up. “Hello? Who is it?”

“Hi, Chase? It’s me, Dr. Laurens. You gave me your number, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember. I should probably save you to my contacts.” Chase paused. “Is…is something wrong? I mean, you did ask for my number as an emergency contact.”

“I’m not sure. I just…remembered something.” Laurens looked back down at the file. “I don’t mean any of this to sound insensitive, but…your friend. The one who disappeared?”

“Jackie?”

“Yes. You said he disappeared back in December, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember the date?”

Chase laughed dryly. “Oh, not like I’d forget that. I mean, the last text he sent me was on Christmas Eve.”

“The 24th.”

“Yeah. I made some joke about him working on a holiday. It…it wasn’t a good Christmas, you know. Just…panicking.”

Laurens stared down at the file. That overnight search the police had been led on…had happened the night of the 24th. “Okay. That’s—that’s good to know.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” she lied. “Just trying to sort things out. Thanks.”

“No problem. Oh, hey, uh…do you know if I should…come visit on Friday?”

She didn’t want to kill the hope in his voice, but she was afraid she had to. “I don’t know. It depends on what happens the next few days. If you can, I’ll let you know. Even if it’s just, like, an hour before visiting hours start on Friday. But just…plan for not coming.”

A pause. “Alright. Thanks for letting me know.”

“You should be able to come the week after,” she offered.

“Thanks. I, uh, gotta go.”

“Goodbye.” Dial tone.

Laurens stared down at the file. Two events, happening on the same day…Chase had said that Jackie was a private investigator, working on a case before he disappeared. Could he…have disappeared because…?

She slammed the file shut, breathing heavily. It could just be a coincidence. But what if it wasn’t? Should she tell someone?

Laurens felt a lump sink to the bottom of her stomach. She couldn’t let Schneep know about this. She couldn’t let him know that he could be responsible for the disappearance—and maybe worse—of one of his best friends.

She’d finish the file tomorrow. And by then, she’d know what to do.