A JSE Fanfic
Part Nine: The Maze
[This is part of a small ten-part series I wrote for Halloween 2019. There's a new villain in town, and Jackieboy is on his list. The group arrives at the last location, and find a surprise inside.]
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“Oh cool, this building has multiple stories,” Jackie commented, peering out the car window as it rolled to a stop. “This guy’s upgrading for the grand finale.”

“Yay, a whole three floors,” Marvin drawled. He rubbed his temples. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“You can say that again.” Jackie opened the car door and stepped out. The time was 5:05am. They had a little over an hour to finish this game, or…well, at this point, Jackie didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t finish. But he didn’t want to find out.

The building had a double-door entrance, made of blacked-out glass. Yet another typed note was pasted on the door. Jackie leaned close and read: "Jackieboy should go inside alone. After ten minutes, the others should follow. If you don’t follow these instructions, I be you can guess what’ll happen ;)" “Did he really type out a winky face?” Jackie muttered.

The others had followed, now reading the notes on their own, at their own pace. “That’s bullshit, he can’t threaten us,” Marvin growled.

'Well, we don’t know that,' JJ signed. 'For all we know, breaking his rules will lead to the death of innocents.'

“Or our own death,” Chase added.

“Y’know I’m sick of not having a choice,” Jackie sighed. Out of sheer spite, he ripped the note off, crumpled it into a tiny, tight ball, and threw it down the street. “Alright. I’m goin’ in. Set a timer for ten minutes, then follow me.”

Chase suddenly wrapped his arms around Jackie, squeezing tight before letting go. “Be careful, bro.”

Jackie smiled. “I will be. Promise.” He took a deep breath, looking around at the others. “I’ll see you guys soon.”

“Good luck,” Marvin said.

'Ten minutes and we’re there,' JJ reminded him.

“Thanks.” And he turned to the doors, took another breath, and disappeared inside.

The ten minutes spent waiting felt like an eternity. Marvin paced around the sidewalk, unable to keep still. JJ kept checking the time on his phone every twenty seconds. Chase went back inside the car and turned on the radio. Until, finally, JJ signed that time was up.

“Welp.” Marvin folded his arms. “I’ll be honest, I’m kinda nervous about going inside.”

“At least you have cool magic shit,” Chase pointed out, climbing back out of the car. “All I have is a gun, and I don’t even have that right now.”

'If it makes either of you feel better, I doubt there would be a situation where force would count,' JJ said helpfully. 'These are puzzles and games, mind over matter.'

“Oh great, another thing I don’t have right now,” Chase muttered.

'You came up with the idea to use the search feature,' JJ pointed out. 'If you hadn’t done that, we may not have gotten to Marvin in time.'

“We’re wasting minutes!” Marvin suddenly shouted. “Let’s go.” He pulled open the door and ducked inside, the other two hurrying to follow close behind.

The inside was a small room with three doorways. Two were open, one was blocked by a roll-down door that resembled a garage door. “Uh…which one do we take?” Chase asked.

I don’t know,” Marvin said, looking back and forth between them. “Guess we choose one at random? Other than the closed one.”

“Might as well.” Chase strolled forward, the other two close behind. The room beyond had three more doors, as well as a flat screen mounted on the wall.

'It’s a maze,' JJ realized.

“We don’t have time for a maze!” Marvin shouted. “We have less than an hour to finish this!”

Suddenly, the screen on the wall flickered to life. “Well, then I guess you should hurry.” It was the gamemaster’s voice.

“Shut the fuck up!” Marvin yelled.

“You know, there’s the trick about hugging the right wall.” The flat screen solidified into a video of a shadowy figure, sitting at a desk. “Maybe if you hurry, you can get to the second floor quickly. You’re really gonna want to see what’s up there.”

They exchanged looks. “…what’s on the second floor?” Chase ventured to ask.

“Well I’m not spoiling it for you,” the gamemaster said, shrugging. “Guess you’re just gonna have to…STEP up to the challenge.”

“Was that a pun? Was that a shitty pun?” Marvin demanded. There was a faint wheezing sound, and Marvin whirled on JJ. “Don’t laugh, it’s not funny.”

'It wasn’t,' JJ agreed. Yet he was smiling.

“I’ll just remind you of the time limit,” the gamemaster said. “See you soon.” The silhouette reached to the side, and the screen turned off.

“Alright, we’re running through this maze with our hands on the right hall, let’s go! Go!” Chase didn’t even wait for the others, just breaking into a run. Luckily, the others followed.

The rooms were identical, except for when they ran into a dead end. Soon there was no way to tell where they were within the building. With no way of knowing where to go, they kept to the right-wall rule. Until, finally, they came to a metal staircase leading upward. JJ checked the time and told the others: '5:36 in the morning.'

“That took way too long,” Chase said. “I’m pretty sure this guy is deliberately wasting the time he gave us. But we still have some left.”

“Well, let’s go upstairs, what are we waiting for?” Marvin started climbing.

The staircase to the second floor led to a single hallway with six doors. Five of them were open, one shut tight. “…okay now I don’t know where to go from here,” Marvin admitted.

'Check the doors,obviously,' JJ signed. 'I suggest checking the closed door first. It must be closed for a reason.'

“Alright, might as well.” Chase approached the closed door and turned the handle, only for it to stop turning. Locked. Luckily there was a key on a ring hanging from a peg in the wall. Chase grabbed it, tested the key in the door’s lock and found that it fit, then unlocked the door and opened it.

Upon entering the room, Chase froze. It was empty except for a screen mounted on a wall and one other thing…or rather, one other person. Chase gasped, covering his mouth. He could feel tears building in his eyes. “Sch…Schneep?” he whispered.

It was Schneep indeed. He was sitting in the corner, leaning against the wall. His eyes blinked slowly at Chase, looking a little dazed and out of it.

Marvin and JJ peered over Chase’s shoulders. JJ covered his mouth in shock. Marvin, who hadn’t been around for Schneep’s apparent death, just looked confused.

“Schneep!” Chase hurried over, kneeling next to Schneep and hugging him tightly. Schneep took a moment to realize the contact, stiffened, then relaxed and returned the hug. “Schneep, you’re okay! You’re okay, oh my god!”

“Mmm…” Schneep murmured.

Chase backed away from the hug, looking him over. “Oh my god, how are you okay?! We saw—well, I didn’t see anything, but I heard—”

“Mnn…faked…” Schneep said slowly.

“How could you fake that?” Chase shook his head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter, explain to me later. We have to get you out of here.” He climbed to his feet, pulling Schneep with him, who stumbled and practically fell against him.

“I…am so confused, just…” Marvin ran his hands through his hair, turning around to face the nearest wall. “So he’s not dead. It was fake. I shut down for nothing, okay, that’s fun. I…okay. Give me a moment.”

JJ, for his part, ran over to Chase and helped him support Schneep, draping one of Schneep’s arms over his shoulder. Schneep leaned his head against Chase, eyelids fluttering. JJ frowned, and signed, 'Drugged?'

“I’m thinking so, yeah,” Chase agreed. “Well, we should get out of here before anything worse happens.”

Marvin turned around. “Guys, I think you’re forgetting something.”

'What?' JJ asked.

“Where’s Jackie?”

Everyone froze. Then Chase slapped his forehead. “I’m so stupid! We gotta find Jackie.”

'How do we find him? Just search the building?' JJ asked, confused.

The screen on the wall turned on again, the silhouette of the gamemaster showing up once again. “Well, maybe you guys should come up to the third floor. Jackieboy’s waiting for you up here.”

Chase frowned. “This feels like a trap.”

“Maybe it is!” The gamemaster agreed. “But do you really want to take that chance?”

They all looked at each other. And then, in unison, shook their heads.

“Great!” The gamemaster leaned closer to the camera, and the shadows hiding his appearance lifted some what. Only enough to see his face…or rather, the mask he was wearing over his face, hiding it all. It was red, with a white smile upon it. It was impossible to even see the gamemaster’s eyes, just black eye-shapes where the holes would be.

“Holy shit,” Marvin muttered, tensing, taking a step back. JJ shifted uneasily, and Chase pulled Schneep closer.

Impossibly, the mask’s smile seemed to widen. “I’ll see you soon.” And the video cut to black.

A JSE Fanfic
Part Five: The Choice
[This is part of a small ten-part series I wrote for Halloween 2019. There's a new villain in town, and Jackieboy is on his list. Now arriving at the second location, Jackie finds himself faced with a decision he can't make.]
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2:42am, and Jackie and JJ arrived at the address coded into the video. The place looked like it had been abandoned for a while. It was a long, low building that might’ve been a shop at one point, but wasn’t now, judging by the boarded-up windows and dirty walls.

There was a typed note taped to the front door. It read: "It’s unlocked, should open easily enough. Jackieboy, you go in alone. If your friend comes in as well then you forfeit the game, and the others are gonna be gone."

Jackie was frozen solid, re-reading the note over and over again. He looked over at JJ, who looked back at him. 'You don’t have to do it this way,' JJ signed slowly.

“No, I do.” Jackie shook his head. “I’m not taking a risk with their lives.”

'We can find another way,' JJ signed, his eyes wide and pleading.

“We don’t have time to figure anything out. Every second counts. And besides, I bet he can see everything around this building. Cameras and shit. He’d know.”

JJ didn’t look happy, but he took a step back. 'Please hurry.'

“If I’m not back in…half an hour, then you can maybe come in after me.” After making sure JJ nodded in understanding, Jackie turned to the door. He swallowed nervously. “Wish me luck.”

'Break a leg,' JJ signed tensely.

Jackie didn’t answer. His stomach was jumping too much to even think about talking. He stepped forward, grabbed the doorknob, and was surprised when it turned and opened easily. After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped inside.

The door swung shut behind him. Jackie turned around and tried to open it again, just out of curiosity, only to find the door now locked. “How did you…?” He shook his head. He had no idea how it would do that, but it did, so now he only had to go forward. Quite literally. The dark hallway extending before him had no doors. He reached to the side and found a light switch, flicking it on and watching as lamps with bare bulbs dangling from the ceiling illuminated the run-down walls. At the very end, the hall turned. With nowhere else to go, he started walking.

He reached the turn at the end, and found himself in a rectangular room. The door was on one of the long sides, near the corner where it meant a shorter one. The room was divided in two with a sheet of glass. And pressed against the opposite wall were—

“Oh my god! Chase! Henrik!” Jackie ran forward, pressing his hands against the glass. Chase and Schneep were each tied to a chair with its back against the wall, a vertical divide made of wooden planks between them, preventing them from seeing each other. They were both gagged, so they couldn’t answer when Jackie shouted their names, but they looked over. Chase cried out and immediately started struggling against the ropes. Schneep began jerking his head to the side, where Jackie could see a glass door set in the wall separating him from them. “Hold on, I-I’m coming!” He ran for the glass door.

There was a sudden burst of white noise. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Jackie suddenly stopped running, taking a moment to regain his balance. “Oh, and why not, Mr. I’ll-Hide-My-Face-Like-A-Goddamn-Coward?”

“You call it being a coward, I call it being safe. And this is why not.”

Jackie tensed as a clunking noise came from somewhere above him. Two panels in the ceiling opened up, on the other side of the glass. A strange device was lowered from each, a mess of mechanical parts. It took Jackie a moment to see the long length of metal, ending in a point, extending from each device. “H-hey! Don’t you—” He ran up to the glass and immediately slammed his fist against it. It rebounded, causing him to stagger backwards.

The gamemaster laughed. “It’s plexiglass, you idiot. Shatter-proof. You really think I’d take the chance of you messing up this next part of the game?”

Jackie shook his hand, a snake of fear curling around his heart. “What…next part?”

“It’s very simple. You should see a control panel in the middle of the floor there.” Jackie immediately saw it. His eyes had skipped over it before, obviously more concerned with his friends in peril. But now he took notice. It wasn’t really much of a control panel; there were only two buttons on the surface. “Those buttons have a very simple function. Pressing them will open the door in the plexiglass so you can get to your friend. But they’re also wired up to those spike launchers. I’m sure you know the drill here. Only one of these two will walk of the building with you. Make your choice carefully.”

Jackie’s heart stopped. “You…you mean I press the button and I’ll harpoon my friend?!”

“I mean, if you want to be so blunt about it—”

“No!” Jackie stepped back until he was pressed against the opposite wall. His eyes darted around the room. It was empty except for the chairs, the control panel, the plexiglass, and the spikes. “No, you can’t make me do that!”

The gamemaster laughed. “Oh I think I can! You see, the launchers are also remote-controlled from my location. If you don’t choose one, then they both die.”

Jackie screamed, suddenly running forward and punching the plexiglass hard enough for him to rebound backwards and fall flat on his back. He climbed back up, the gamemaster still laughing. On the other side of the glass, Chase had gone very still, before suddenly intensifying his struggles. Schneep’s eyes were very wide, but he wasn’t moving. “You can’t!” Jackie shouted. “You can’t, you can’t, you can’t do this! You said they’d be fine if I solved your stupid puzzles in the time limit!”

“Did I ever tell you that you’d get all of them back? Nope! I just said that if you took too long, or got help from anyone else, then they’d die. I never said they wouldn’t die anyway.”

“Liar! LIAR!” Jackie could only pull his hair and shake his head. His eyes were threatening to spill over with tears. “I-I can’t do this. I-I can’t, don’t make me choose. Please don’t make me choose.”

“Well, you have to. That’s the only way to open the door.” The gamemaster sighed. “This is taking too long. You have five minutes to press a button, or else I’ll set both launchers off. Starting now. Tick, tock.”

“Shit!” Jackie gasped. His head whipped up, looking at the others on the other side of the plexiglass. Chase was still struggling, but now he was doing his best to gesture over to Schneep. Schneep meanwhile, caught Jackie’s eyes. His head jerked to the side, pointing at Chase.

In that moment, Jackie felt his heart crack a bit. God, why did both of them have to be like this? This wasn’t easy to begin with, but now he had to be reminded of how wonderful and loving both of them were, both willing to give up for the other.

He paced the floor, continuing to pull and play with his hair. A constant flow of mutterings escaped his mouth, everything along the lines of “Okay, okay, okay, this is happening, you have to, fuck, this is happening, okay, you have to, why, shit, fuck.” How could anyone make a decision like this?! This kind of sick twisted trick was only supposed to happen in movies and comic books. But here it was. He was holding the lives of his best friends in his hands.

He forced himself to calm down, and think through the swirl in his mind. From a logical perspective, Schneep was the better option. He was a doctor who could save many lives in the future, and if he was thinking short-term instead of long-term, Schneep was better at puzzles and trivia. But Jackie wasn’t purely logical. He thought about Chase’s kids, who were so dependent and loving. He thought about how if he chose Schneep, the last thoughts in Chase’s head would be how he wasn’t good enough to be saved.

Jackie stopped pacing and walked over to the control panel. One of the buttons had a picture of Chase, the other a picture of Schneep. Wait…if he pressed the one with their face did that mean it would save them or kill them? Oh fuck. Jackie pressed his hands to his eyes, taking deep breaths. The muffled cries the others were making sounded unnaturally loud in his ears. He couldn’t do this. He just couldn’t decide. But if he didn’t, then they’d both die.

“You have one minute left.”

Jackie jumped and looked up. Chase was panicking, shaking his head, and Jackie could see tears forming even from here. Schneep looked calmer, his eyes staring into nothing.

He couldn’t do it. But he had to.

Jackie squeezed his eyes shut, and with a half-strangled cry coming from deep in his throat, he slammed a hand down onto the control panel, pressing one of the buttons down. He cracked open an eye to see his hand had landed on the button with Schneep’s picture.

“Well I think you missed the point,” the gamemaster said in a bitter tone. “But it works. And hey, at least HE'LL get the point.” Slightly manic laughter. “Get it?”

The launcher in front of Schneep whirled to life.

“No! No!” Jackie pressed his face to the plexiglass and pounded it with his fist. “Henrik! Henrik, I’m sorry!”

Schneep met Jackie’s eyes. He tilted his head to the side, then glanced downward before looking back up. Then his eyes closed.

The launcher fired. There was a splash of red. Jackie stumbled back, covering his mouth.

The door in the plexiglass beeped, then opened.

Jackie screamed into his hand. He tore his eyes away from the scene before him, stumbling towards the now open door. Everything was frozen. Everything was broken and bleached, and the only thing he could do was get to Chase. Get to Chase, get him out of here, and maybe the world will resume its normal course.

Chase had his eyes squeezed shut, tears leaking from their corners. He was still struggling against the ropes binding him to the chair, though the struggles were weaker now. Jackie stopped by the chair and practically fell to his knees. “Hey. Buddy. I’m here, you’re getting out of here, I got you.” Assurances were falling from his mouth automatically while his hands were pulling at the gag in Chase’s mouth. Until finally, it came loose.

“J-Jackie?” Chase’s voice sounded so small. “What happened? What—is Henrik…?”

“Don’t look over there,” Jackie said dully. He was now working on the ropes tying Chase’s arms to the arms of the chair. “Don’t look, it’s going to be fine.”

Chase didn’t listen. He opened his eyes and turned his head toward Schneep, but the wooden barrier blocked his view. Tears started falling in force. “He’s—h-he’s—he’s d—isn’t he?”

“Don’t look, it’s going to be okay.” Jackie wished he could offer something more. But he was working on autopilot. Not even that, it felt like someone else was piloting. Someone else was untying Chase’s legs and telling him it’s going to be okay. Someone else was pulling Chase to his feet and letting him lean on his shoulder. Someone else was walking back through the room, partially covering Chase’s eyes as he sobbed, and following the hall back to the front door that was now unlocked again.

Jameson was pacing the sidewalk in front of the building nervously, rubbing his arms against the cool autumn breeze. When the door opened and Jackie and Chase staggered out, he stopped and ran up to them. 'Is everything alright?' he asked. He looked back and forth between Chase, crying, and Jackie, staring dully into space. 'What’s wrong? What happened?'

Jackie looked at Jameson. “Henrik’s dead.”

Jameson stared. 'What?'

“Henrik’s dead.” Saying the words made it real. Jackie’s eyes filled with tears, and then overflowed. “The guy—the sick fuck who set this up, h-he gave me a choice between—I d-didn’t even look, I couldn’t, I just pressed a button—I killed him. He’s dead.”

Jameson took a step backwards. He shook his head in disbelief, looking back and forth between Chase and Jackie like he was expecting them to tell him it was all just a joke. But when they didn’t, his expression broke. He turned and walked away, vanishing into the alley next to the building. and then there came the sound of trash cans clattering, falling against the ground, things being thrown against walls and slammed into bricks. When you couldn’t scream, you had to find other ways to make your pain clear.

Chase was still sobbing, leaning into Jackie’s shoulder like his legs couldn’t support him. Jackie eased him to the ground, now leaning against the wall of the building.

And then, from inside the building. “I suggest you don’t take too much time. You’re still on a deadline, you know.”

Jackie whirled around and shouted through the open door. “Shut the fuck up you bastard! One of my best friends is dead now! Our friend is dead! You can’t show a little bit of sympathy, you heartless sociopath?!”

“Trust me, it’s in your best interest to finish the next set of puzzles quickly,” the gamemaster said calmly. “I hate to put a time limit inside a time limit, but…well, actually I don’t. It makes the whole thing a lot more interesting.”

Jackie’s anger suddenly turned to ice. “What do you mean?”

“Check your email, Jackieboy,” the gamemaster said smugly. “And you’ll see why you need to hurry.”

Jackie paled to a ghost-like shade. He spun around. Shit, he didn’t lose the laptop, did he? No, the box was sitting on the sidewalk calmly. Jameson, now walking out of the alley, scooped it up. I heard that, he signed, tucking the box under his arm. 'You don’t think he’s saying…something will happen to Marvin if we’re not quick?'

“I think that’s exactly what he’s saying,” Jackie said quietly.

Sitting on the sidewalk, Chase wiped his eyes with his arm and sniffed. “W-well… then we’d better hurry, shouldn’t we?”

Jackie nodded. Once, and then again very quickly. Compartmentalize. Deal with the urgent situation first, then…“Let’s get out of here.” He reached down and grabbed Chase by the hand, pulling him to his feet. “I’ve had enough of this place.”

The other two nodded in agreement. Then the three of them walked down the street, determinedly not looking back. The silence was heavy on their backs.
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Part Seven of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. While visiting Schneep, things go awry for Chase and JJ, and Chase quickly catches on that something has changed.]
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Chase pulled his car into a spot, parking it easily enough. The lot was usually pretty empty, and having done this every Friday for a few weeks now, Chase had every moment of this down to a routine. Well, today that routine was slightly different. Because now JJ was sitting in the passenger seat, looking a bit uncomfortable as he stared at the front of the building.

“You okay, bro?” Chase asked.

JJ didn’t answer for a moment. Until: 'Maybe I shouldn’t have come,' he signed slowly. 'Won’t it just be…weird, having a third person in the room with you?'

“There’s always a third person in the room,” Chase said, shrugging. “The doctor has to supervise it. Sometimes there’s another guy, too, one of the, uh…I don’t remember the word, but he works there.”

JJ bit his lip. 'It’s different. This time there’ll be a stranger.'

“Hey, I’ve told Schneep a lot about you, it’ll be fine,” Chase assured him. “It might be a little awkward at first, but I think you two will get along.” If Chase was being honest, he was a little nervous about the two of them meeting. He wasn’t exactly sure why; maybe it was just the possibility that things might go wrong. But he had to try. Schneep needed more people to talk to than a doctor and one friend, and since all his other friends were currently…unavailable, this was probably the best move. “We can wait in the car for a bit, if you want.”

'No, no let’s do this.' JJ shook his head. 'The more I think about it, the more likely it is that I’ll back out.'

“Alright. Let’s go, then.” And with that, Chase opened the car door and stepped outside.

The routine once again took over. The two of them signed in for visiting hours at the front desk, then Chase showed JJ down the hall to the visitors’ room. Which looked the same as ever, furniture still beige and brown, books and magazines still on the tables. Chase sat down on the nearest sofa, taking out his phone to pass time while waiting. JJ didn’t sit, instead standing awkwardly near the wall like he was afraid to get too close to the center.

A few minutes later, Chase heard the door open, and looked up to see a blonde woman in a white coat standing in front of him. He didn’t recognize her. “Um…hi?” He said.

“Sorry, but are you…” The woman looked down at a clipboard, the same clipboard they’d signed in on at the desk. “Mr. Brody or Mr. Jackson?”

“Um…just call me Chase.”

“You’re here to see Henrik von Schneeplestein?”

“Uh…yeah…” After an unsure moment, he stood up. “Is…something wrong? Who are you?”

“My name’s Dr. Newson, I’m the head here,” the woman said coolly. “I just wanted to check to see if you were…sure.”

Chase blinked. “Sure about what?”

“Well…this visit.” Dr. Newson flipped through the pages on the sign-in clipboard. “I can see you’ve been here almost every week for about two months now. That’s great, consistency is a virtue. But today is…” She stopped, searching for a word. “…perhaps not the best day.”

“Um. Why?” Chase looked over Newson’s shoulder at the door on the other side of the room. “Where’s the usual doctor? Dr. Laurens?”

For a moment, something flashed across Newson’s face. Was it worry? Or something…guiltier? But it was quickly hidden behind a professional facade. “She hasn’t come in today.”

“Oh. That sucks.” Chase got the feeling there was something more to this story, but now wasn’t the time to push. “But again, why isn’t today the best day?”

“Well…Henrik has been…” Newson pursed her lips. “…not well. So for your own safety, you know?”

Normally Chase might’ve dropped it there, but there was something in Newson’s last statement that rubbed him the wrong way. “What do you mean by ‘not well?’”

“Oh, um…” Newson tucked the clipboard under her arm. “He’s been…not all there. A bit confused, I believe.”

“Okay, so?” Chase shrugged. “I’m fine with that.”

“But…” Newson hesitated. “Well, I’m not sure you’re aware of what happened before he came here—”

“Yeah, I’m aware of what happened,” Chase interrupted. “But Schneep’s my friend and I only get to see him once a week, I’m not about to leave now.” He might’ve been inclined to if he wasn’t getting a sort of tone from Newson. He looked back at JJ, still standing by the wall. “Jays, do you want to leave?”

Jameson, probably picking up on the same tone, shook his head, stubbornly folding his arms.

Chase turned back to Newson. “So, yeah. We’re already here, and we want to see him, and we’re not leaving.”

Newson sighed, defeated. “Very well. You’re aware that I have to supervise, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Alright. I’ll be back, then.” Newson turned on her heel and walked back through the door she came through, shutting it behind her.

Chase looked back at JJ. “Sorry about that.”

'It’s fine, you weren’t in control of that,' JJ signed. 'You handled that very well.'

“Oh. Thanks.” Chase sighed, folding his arms. “You still nervous?”

'Well…yes,' JJ admitted.

“And it’s still going to be fine,” Chase assured him. “I promise.”

Only a few minutes later, Dr. Newson reentered the room. “I’ll um…just be over here, I suppose,” she said, walking some ways away to stand next to a chair…and decidedly not sit down in it. Shortly after her, the guy who was always there—Chase finally remembered the word “orderly”—entered as well. He was holding Schneep’s hand, almost pulling him along into the room.

Chase knew something was wrong immediately. He had a half-formed thought that Newson was just making up the bit about Schneep being “not well” for whatever reason, but apparently not. Schneep…didn’t look good. To be fair, he hadn’t looked his best for a while. Chase wasn’t sure when it happened, but sometime in the nearly ten months he hadn’t seen him (in between his initial disappearance and his admittance to Silver Hills) Schneep had gotten paler and thinner, and his eyes almost always had dark circles underneath them. But in addition to that, today there was…a sort of shakiness about him. He wasn’t quite looking at the room around him, letting the orderly guide him.

Well, Chase wasn’t about to let that stop him. He’d just have to be careful today. He could do that, especially if it made things easier for Schneep. Chase smiled, walking up to Schneep but stopping some way away. “Hey. How’re you doing today?” He tried to keep his voice light.

Schneep looked at him, and didn’t say anything. Or…it didn’t really feel like he was looking at him. Chase recognized the sort of glazed look when someone wasn’t quite connected to reality—he’d seen it in the mirror enough. Behind Schneep, the orderly took a few steps away, clearly giving the two of them space.

“It’s fine, take your time.” Chase took a step closer, but he was still some ways away. “I’m doing alright, though. Not perfect, but things have been okay.” They were okay enough, Chase supposed. He’d had a really bad day on Wednesday, but he was trying to get past that. Not quite succeeding, but it was better, he guessed. Maybe. “You know?”

Schneep slowly nodded. He still didn’t look like he was entirely listening, but that was a response.

“Cool.” Chase cleared his throat. “Anyway, I wanted you to meet someone. Remember JJ? Jameson, I keep mentioning him.” He paused, but apparently that one wasn’t going to get a response. “Alright. Well, he wanted to meet you too. So he decided to come along today.” Chase turned around. “Jays?”

Jameson had shrank back against the wall when Schneep entered, but now took a deep breath, and stepped forward. He waved a “hello.”

Schneep looked over at Jameson. His eyes widened. And then he screamed.

“What—no, Hen, it’s okay!” Chase reached out, but Schneep backed away, not taking his eyes off Jameson. He ran into a coffee table and fell over it, but continued scrambling backwards. “No no no, it’s fine, I promise.” Chase dropped to his knees to be on the same level, trying to reach out again.

“N-no! No—nein, nein!” Schneep smacked Chase’s offered hand. “Get away! Back!”

“Henrik, it’s fine, he’s not going to hurt you,” Chase said in a soft voice.

Schneep shook his head. His back was now pressed against one of the chairs, and he was still trying to back up further, legs kicking. There were tears shining in his eyes as he breathed too quickly. “No no, no, p-please do not—I-I do not want—I have done everything, everything, A-An—” He clapped a hand over his mouth, bending over and wrapping his other arm around his middle. He kept shaking his head.

Chase heard a strange, strangled sound behind him, like someone shocked. He turned around to look at the doctor and orderly, but they weren’t in the same direction the sound had come from. And besides, the two of them were busy talking to each other. Chase looked in the sound’s direction, but the only one there was Jameson. Who…also had his hand covering his mouth, like he’d just said something he hadn’t meant to. But…Chase blinked. “Jameson?”

Jameson lowered his hand, and took a few steps backwards. 'I think it would be better if I waited in the car,' he signed, and before Chase could say anything, he turned and quickly left.

Odd. Chase wanted to call after him, but there were more pressing matters at the moment. Namely, Schneep was still panicking, hyperventilating and muttering something that was muffled by his hand still pressed to his mouth. Chase tried again to reach out. He set his hand on Schneep’s upper arm, relieved when Schneep didn’t try to shake him off. “Hen, it’s okay. You’re okay. Nobody’s going to hurt you, I promise.” He kept mumbling words to this effect as he slowly scooted closer to Schneep.

After what felt like forever, Schneep’s breathing slowed, and he loosened from his tense position. His eyes flicked up to meet Chase’s, and this time Chase was sure he saw some sort of registration in them. He slowly lowered his hand, and leaned forward against Chase. His fingers curled around the loose folds of Chase’s jacket.

“Yeah, see? It’s all good.” Chase wrapped his arms around Schneep, who let it happen. “I…I’m not sure what that was about, but it’s over now.” He fell silent for a moment, giving Schneep time to calm down. “Do you…do you want to sit on the sofa, or something?” Schneep made a short, high-pitched keening sort of sound. Chase felt him shake his head. “Alright, we’ll just stay on the floor, then.”

A moment more, and Schneep finally pulled away, though he kept hold of Chase’s hand. “It is over?” He asked, hushed as if worried someone will overhear. “He is gone?”

“Uh…yeah, he’s gone, bro, don’t worry.” Chase gave him a small smile.

Schneep visibly relaxed. He looked like he wanted to cry. “I am sorry,” he croaked.

“No, it’s fine, it’s not your fault you freaked out. It’s no problem,” Chase reassured him.

“No, is my fault.” Schneep shook his head. “It is because of me you are here. Jackie, I am so sorry.”

Chase froze, eyes widening.

Oh.

“You are not hurt?” Schneep asked, pulling on the edge of Chase’s jacket. “I can fix.”

Chase shook his head. “N…no, Schneep, I-I’m not—” The last word got caught in his throat.

“That is good,” Schneep said, unaware of Chase’s sudden cut off. “Very good.”

“Schneep, it…” Chase cleared his throat. “It’s Chase.”

“What about him?” Schneep gasped. “Did you see him here? Did he get—nein, please say he did not—!”

“No, no I haven’t seen him,” Chase hurried to say.

A sigh of relief. “Then what is it? Did you…” Schneep leaned closer. “Do you think he knows?”

There was something about the way Schneep emphasized the he that drew Chase’s attention. “I…don’t know if he knows,” he said slowly, playing along.

“I see,” Schneep said, nodding. “Well, if he does, it is not your fault, Jackie. You know, he is very clever.”

“Yeah…” Chase’s voice broke. “Yeah, I know.”

Schneep leaned further forward, until his head rested on Chase’s shoulder. “Can I stay here?” he asked quietly. “Until he comes for me again?”

“Of…of course.” Chase answered in an equally quiet tone.

Schneep sighed. “Danke.”

The two of them fell quiet again. Chase listened idly to the doctor and the orderly talking, saying something about medication. He…he had no idea what was happening anymore. Why had Schneep freaked out so much when he saw Jameson? Who was the he? Someone that both Schneep and Jackie knew, probably, if he thought he was talking to Jackie about him.

Maybe it was simpler than he thought. But something felt off.
.............................................................................................

Chase was almost out the hospital’s front door when he was stopped. By the orderly from before. “Oh. Um, hi?” He said, not bothering to hide his surprise. He wasn’t expecting this guy to talk to him.

“Hi. Sorry, just wanted to catch you before you left,” the orderly said. “You’re Chase? Schneep’s friend?”

“Yeah.” Chase noted the way the orderly called him ‘Schneep’—something Henrik only let his friends do.

“My name’s Oliver, I, uh, I work with him,” the orderly said. “And I work with, uh, Dr. Laurens. The two of us sort of…do things with him.” He paused. “Okay that sounds a lot worse than I meant it to be—”

“No, I get it, you mean like therapy and stuff.” Chase nodded.

“Yeah, exactly.” Oliver looked relieved.

“Anyway, uh…what’s up?” Chase noticed Oliver was holding something in his arms. “You, uh…want to talk about something?”

“Yeah, so.” Oliver shifted on his feet. “You know how Dr. Laurens hasn’t come in today. Well…she didn’t come in yesterday, either.”

“Oh. Is she sick or something?”

“I don’t think so. Dr. Newson tried calling her house. The two of them kind of…had a fight on Wednesday, and Laurens was supposed to show up the next morning to talk with her, but she never did.”

“Maybe she did show up but left super quickly?” Chase suggested. “Because maybe, if they had a fight, and Dr. New said she was in charge, maybe Laurens got…fired?” He hesitated to say it.

Oliver was already shaking his head. “No, you don’t get it. Dr. Newson was TRYING to call Rya—er, Laurens. And she got real nervous when Laurens didn’t pick up. If Laurens isn’t here, it’s not because of Newson. I’m worried something…happened.”

“That sounds bad,” Chase admitted.

“Yeah, I know. That’s enough on its own, but also, Dr. Newson is going to take over Schneep’s case until Laurens gets back. And those two, uh…” Oliver bit his lip. “They don’t get along. She, uh, really doesn’t like him. I don’t know why.”

“Well, shit,” Chase said. That would explain the tone from earlier. “Well, what do you want me to do about it? Do you want me to, like, sue her?”

“I don’t know, I mean, maybe it won’t be so bad.” Oliver didn’t sound too optimistic. “But anyway. I just thought that…I-I don’t know what I thought. But, um, on Wednesday, Laurens gave me these.” Oliver showed what he was holding to Chase: a manila folder with a keycard peeking out the top, and a thick turquoise notebook. “She said it was in case anything happened to her. It’s uh, Schneep’s case file, the card to his room, and her notes from all the sessions. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. But I thought, maybe, that you’re his friend, maybe you would…want to have them?”

Chase didn’t say anything, too stunned to for a moment. “Wow,” he finally landed on. “That…are you sure that’s a good idea? Won’t you guys need that?”

“Well, um.” Oliver shifted his weight. “Technically the case file is a copy. Because I copied the original Laurens gave to me. Which is still here. And I have my own card, and Dr. Newson has a master card, so we don’t need this, but…I-I don’t know. And I asked Newson if she wanted the notes, she didn’t. But uh…you can always give them back.”

After staring at the folder and notebook for a while more, Chase reached out and took them. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.” Oliver stepped back. He hesitated. “Y’know…I don’t think Schneep’s bad. If that makes sense.”

“Good. Cause he’s not,” Chase stated.

Oliver nodded once more, then turned and left without saying anything else.

Chase looked down at the folder and the notebook. The former he could read, it would be nice to learn more about what happened. But the notebook…? Wouldn’t reading that be a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality? And also a little personal, besides? But he had it now. And if Newson didn’t want it, he wasn’t going to force her to take it. So instead, he tucked both items under his arm and walked out to his car.
.............................................................................................

The ride back was silent for a long time. Though that was mostly because it was hard to talk to JJ and drive at the same time: you needed your eyes and mind to focus on the road and not on interpreting sign. But this was an…uncomfortable kind of silence. The sort that came about when something pressed on the air between two people.

Eventually, Chase couldn’t take it anymore. Soon after they turned onto the street to his house, he pulled to the curb and parked, looking over at JJ. “Hey…are…you okay?”

Jameson was silent for a while. 'Yes, I’m fine,' he finally signed, the gesture somehow small.

“Um…” Chase cleared his throat. “I didn’t know you…could make…sound.” Nope nope nope, abort, stuff that sentence back in your mouth, oh my god—

JJ smiled a bit. 'It’s not the sound I have trouble with, it’s the words. It’s…difficult to form them.'

“Ah.” Chase relaxed a bit, but only a bit. His fingers drummed a pattern on the steering wheel. “Hey, uh…about what happened back there, I-I don’t think—I mean, that didn’t have anything to do with you, Schneep just…gets confused. Sometimes.”

Jameson stared forward, out the windshield. 'Has something like that happened before?'

“Yeah, uh…kinda, I guess.” Chase looked down. “I mean, I wasn’t there, but I heard about it. Jack went over to Schneep’s apartment. Apparently he had a big surgery that day, and he wanted to see how it went. And uh, Jack had an extra key, so when Schneep didn’t answer he just walked in. Turns out, the doc was just sitting on the couch, kinda out of it. The moment he saw Jack, though, he started screaming. Told him to get out of his apartment or he’d call the police. Didn’t…didn’t recognize him at all.” Chase swallowed down a lump in his throat. “Jack and I went back the next day, and uh, long story short, that’s how we figured out Schneep had some issues that he needed to see people about.” He took a deep breath, and looked back up. “So, it probably wasn’t because of you.”

Jameson was still staring out the windshield. 'Chase,' he signed slowly. 'Is someone outside your house?'

Chase looked up. They’d stopped on the street a few houses away from his, and…and it DID look like someone was outside. Chase didn’t recognize them from this distance, but they were knocking on the door. “The hell?” Chase muttered. “What do they want?” He climbed out of the car, Jameson following his lead, and started walking down the sidewalk—quickly. Once he was in earshot, he shouted “Hey! You!”

The person at the door started, and turned. And that’s when Chase saw his face. He stopped, gaping. Jameson caught up to him, then had the exact same reaction.

The man at the door waved, a little awkwardly. “Hi. I guess you weren’t at home?”

Chase didn’t answer the question. He just stared. “Marvin?!”

“Um, yeah?” Marvin shifted awkwardly on his feet and folded his arms. “Why do you say it like that?”

“Where have you BEEN?!” Chase asked. “It’s been months!”

Marvin winced. “Yeah, I know. I probably should’ve said something at some point, but things got all…like….you know, uh…ugh.” Marvin sighed. “Words.”

JJ stepped forward. 'Should we go inside to talk?' he suggested.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Chase agreed. He closed the rest of the distance to the front door, unlocking it and pushing it open.

The three of them took seats in the living room, with Marvin on the sofa and Chase and Jameson in an armchair on either side. “So…are you gonna tell us where you’ve been? Or…” Chase trailed off. Maybe that was too personal to ask right off the bat.

“No yeah, of course,” Marvin waved away the awkward ending of the question. “I, um…well, I went to live with my grandma, for a while.”

“Oh, really?” That hadn’t been the answer Chase was expecting. “Just to visit, or, um…?”

“I mean, yeah, kind of.” Marvin ran his hand through his hair. In the time since Chase had seen him, it had gotten longer, now long enough to be held back in a ponytail. “It’s been a while. But also there was some, um…other…reasons.”

“Ah. Okay.” Judging by the uncomfortable pauses, Marvin clearly didn’t want to talk about it. So Chase should obviously stop talking about it too. God, why had he pushed so much? He felt a lump of guilt weigh down his stomach. “Well, it’s good to see you agai—Jays, you okay?”

JJ was staring at Marvin with a wide-eyed incredulous look. 'Marvin, doesn’t your grandmother live in Ireland?'

“Um, yeah? Where the fuck else would an old Irish woman live, Florida?” Marvin shook his head. “Actually older people travel too, never mind.”

'And you took your pets with you.'

“Yeah, I wasn’t about to leave them.”

JJ paused, processing this. 'Marvin, don’t take this the wrong way,' he signed, 'but how the hell did you take a three-foot-long snake across the Irish Sea?!'

Chase couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Bro, yeah, now that you mention it—the cats I get, you can get carriers for that, but how’d you take the snake?”

“Hey, there are carriers for snakes, too!” Marvin said defensively.

'You left the enclosure here!' JJ pointed out.

“Yeah, there was an old one back at my grandma’s place,” Marvin said, as if this was the most natural thing in the world. “I first got Salazar back when I was living with her, and she never took it down. Kept all the accessories and everything.”

Chase was still laughing, wheezing at this point as he leaned over the chair’s arm. “Bro, that was the most matter-of-fact way you could’ve—oh my god. Oh fuck, dude.”

Marvin cracked a small smile too. “Okay, guess that could be kind of funny.”

“Ah…” Chase finally calmed down. “Well, it’s good to see you again.”

The smile grew a bit. “Thanks. It’s…well, I needed to get away, but it’s nice to be back. Sorry about…not telling either of you. I probably should’ve, but it just…” Marvin paused, trying to find the right words. “It seemed so…big.”

Jameson nodded. 'Well, you came back eventually. Sounds like it was good?'

“Yeah, it was good. But I did miss you guys. Anything happen in the last, um…five months?”

“Oh boy, you have no idea, bro, so much—wait, five months?” Chase sat up straight. “Oh shit it’s August. Oh shit, your birthday was last week!”

“Oh, yeah it was.” Marvin sounded surprised. Not like he forgot his own birthday, but like he wasn’t expecting anyone else to bring it up.

“I didn’t get you anything!” Chase realized. “I didn’t know if you were going to be here!”

“It’s fine—”

“No, I’m gonna get you something. Give me like a week, I’ll do it.” Chase looked over at JJ. “Jays? Agreed?”

JJ smiled smugly. 'I actually did get you something, Marvin.'

“What?! Kiss-up!”

“You got me something?” Marvin repeated. “Even though I wasn’t here?”

'Well, yes, I figured I’d see you again,' Jameson said. 'So I could give you your present when I saw you. It’s back at my apartment, I can stop by your house later to drop it off? Maybe help you unpack, if you’re still having trouble with that?'

“Yeah, if you could do that tomorrow, that would be great.” Marvin flashed a smile. “Heh. Hey JJ, how does it feel to be two years younger than everyone?”

JJ huffed. 'You are not two years older than me.'

“Hmm, really? I thought there was a two-year difference between 28 and 26.”

'I thought there was a one year difference between August 1990 and October 1991,' JJ pointed out.

“Yeah, well. Same thing.” Marvin chuckled. “Anyway, you’re still the only one of the group that hasn’t had their birthday this year. Or, well…” Marvin settled a bit, looking sadder. “If all of us were here, you’d actually have someone else who’s not done that yet. Y’know, in September.”

Suddenly, Chase gasped. “Oh, you don’t know!”

Marvin looked over at him, confused. “What?”

“I’m so sorry, I got sidetracked, I wanted to fill you in on all the stuff that happened—” Chase cut himself off. Don’t waste time. “Anyway, Schneep’s back! Kind of.”

“Wait, he’s WHAT?!” Marvin gaped. “We found him? Where? What happened? What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

“It’s a…it’s a long story, bro,” Chase sighed. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Well, tell me the same way you found out,” Marvin suggested.

“Hm. Okay, that can work.” Chase settled back in his chair. Beside him, JJ got comfortable too. “So, basically this day in June—I think, it could’ve been early July—I get a knock at my door, and I open it to see this lady I’ve never seen before. She says her name is Dr. Rya Laurens, and that she knows Schneep.”

“Friend of his?” Marvin asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, no, not exactly. Well…” Chase considered this. “I guess kind of. But anyway, I thought she worked with him, but she’s actually the wrong kind of doctor. She, uh, works at Silver Hills. You know, the mental hospital a bit out of town?”

Marvin nodded. Then he visibly started as he realized something. “Wait—so Schneep is THERE now?! Like, living there?”

“Yep. We were actually just up there, visiting. That’s why I wasn’t at—oh my god, I just remembered I left something in the car.” Chase shot to his feet. “JJ, fill him in on the rest? I’ll be real quick.”

JJ nodded, watching as Chase left the house again.

It was a quick walk back to where they’d stopped the car, and once he got there Chase figured he might as well drive it the rest of the way to his house. He got inside, and was about to start it when he happened to glance at the rear view mirror.

There was a person reflected there. A man Chase froze. Was he…looking at his car? He kind of looked like he was. But he was some ways down the street, he couldn’t quite see his face. He blinked, and when he looked again, the man was walking away.

It was probably nothing, wasn’t it?

A few minutes later, with the car parked safely in the driveway, Chase walked back into the house to see JJ and Marvin talking in sign, going a bit too quickly for him to pick up more than a few words. He sat back down in the chair from before, waiting for them to finish, and set the case file folder and Laurens’ notebook down on the coffee table.

Once he was finished talking with JJ, Marvin looked down at the new items on the table. “What’s that?”

“Oh, uh, I ran into this orderly named Oliver back at Silver Hills,” Chase explained. “He said he worked on Schneep’s case, and he…gave me these.”

Marvin chuckled. “Ha. Oliver the orderly. Alliteration.”

'You’re one to talk, Marvin Maher,' JJ smiled.

“There should be a ‘magnificent’ in there somewhere,” Marvin said, grinning. “Anyway, so what is it, then?”

“Oh, uh, this is the case file,” Chase said, picking up the manila folder. “Has all the police information about…what happened during those nine months. It also apparently has a keycard to Schneep’s room.”

“Nice,” Marvin said. “Can I have it?”

“What, the file or just the card?”

“The file. I want to know what I missed just because I avoid news about crime.”

'Both of you need to know more about what goes on in the news,' JJ pointed out.

“Yeah,” Chase sighed. “Anyway, sure, Marvin. Just bring it back when you’re done, I might want to read it too.” He slid the file across the table, where Marvin slapped it to stop it from falling off the surface. “And also, there’s this notebook. It’s, um…it’s Dr. Laurens’ notes from all her sessions with Schneep.”

Marvin’s brows drew together, confused. “Won’t she need that?”

“Well…that’s the thing.” Chase folded his arms, shrinking back into his chair. “She…she apparently hadn’t shown up to work the last two days. And hasn’t been able to be contacted. She…she might be missing.” He mumbled the last part.

“Oh,” Marvin said quietly. “That’s…oh.”

“Yeah.” Chase sighed again. “They put this new doctor on Schneep’s case, Dr. Newson, but apparently they don’t get along, so that’s going to…be great.”

“Well, maybe the normal doctor will come back,” Marvin suggested. “Maybe she just decided to leave. Because, y’know…sometimes people have to leave, but they’ll come back.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Maybe.” Chase wasn’t too sure about that. He looked at the other two. “At least Schneep has us, right? At least—Jameson, are you sure you’re okay?”

Jameson was sitting rather stiff in his seat—had been for a while, since Chase said Laurens might be missing. His hands were clenched fists in his lap, and his eyes were locked downward. His face had suddenly gone very white, eyes wide. Almost as if he was afraid. When Chase said his name, he jumped, looking around, his hand going to his pocket. But he relaxed. 'I might be feeling a bit under the weather,' he signed.

“Um…yeah, okay,” Chase said slowly. Obviously, that wasn’t true. And judging by the confused look Marvin was pointing at Jameson, Marvin wasn’t buying it either. But maybe this wasn’t a good time to pry. “You want me to drive you home?”

Jameson nodded. 'Please.'

“Alright.” Chase stood up again. “Marvin, you want a ride?”

“Nah, I can take the bus back,” Marvin said, standing up at the same time.

“If you’re sure.” Chase shrugged. “C’mon, let’s go Jays.”

And so, for the third time that day, Chase found he was back in his car with JJ in the passenger seat. He glanced over at him. “You sure you don’t…need anything?”

Jameson shook his head. 'Just some space, please.'

“Okay, then.” Chase started the car.

As he turned to back out, he could’ve sworn he saw the figure of a man out of the corner of his eye. But it was soon gone. Just his imagination. Still, he felt a lingering chill.

A JSE Fanfic
Part Four: The Next Clues
[This is part of a small ten-part series I wrote for Halloween 2019. There's a new villain in town, and Jackieboy is on his list. Now with JJ's help, Jackie goes about solving the next set of puzzles.]
.............................................................................................

If anyone was walking through the streets of the historic section of the city at 1:40am, they would’ve been surprised to see the two men sitting on the curb, staring intently at the blue screen of a laptop. Jackie had the computer carefully balanced on his knees, JJ leaning on his shoulder as he watched. “And add to the list of things this guy knows about me,” Jackie muttered. “My freaking email! Yaaaay.”

'That is a bit disturbing,' JJ signed, frowning. 'How could he know all this?'

“Look, as someone who’s hacked before, I can tell you that very little on the Internet is entirely secure.” Jackie opened his email, immediately noticing a message from an email address: 4d6164@gmail.com. “But still, this guy must have some crazy skills. I’m starting to think he supplemented any cyber stalking with regular stalking. You know, following us around. Maybe placing spy cameras in hidden locations.” He clicked on the email he’d received, opening it to see it was completely blank, except for an attached zip folder called “Set 2.”

'That seems a tad excessive, doesn’t it?' JJ asked, but he stopped, reconsidering. 'Well, actually, this entire idea is excessive. If he wanted to go after you, he didn’t need to invent this entire twisted game.'

“That’s true. But some people just like to fuck with others.” Jackie downloaded the zip file, then found it in the laptop’s Downloads folder and unzipped it. “What worries me is that I’ve never even heard of this guy…”

The “Set 2″ zip folder had just one file inside: 2.png. Frowning, Jackie clicked on it. What popped up was a black-and-white image of a staff, with wings sprouting from the top, two snakes twining around its length. “Oh! This, this! That’s a…uh..” Jackie bit his nails a bit, thinking.

JJ looked at him, then finger-spelled a word. 'C-A-D-U-C-E-U-S.'

“Yes! Caduceus!” Jackie shook his head. “Man, my brain is all over tonight. More than usual.” He took a deep breath. “You know what this is? It’s a medical symbol. Henrik has a sweater with a caduceus on it, Jack got him it for his birthday one year.” Guess they now knew who the second set of puzzles was for.

'Focus, Jackie,' JJ implored. 'But is this all there is? I don’t understand what this could be pointing to, other than…who’s next.'

“Well, with your puzzle I had to play around with editing an audio file.” Jackie closed the image and opened the laptop’s photo editor. “Might as well start doing the same for this picture. I mean, obviously not audio editing, but you know.”

The very first thing Jackie did when opening up the editor was click on the brightness slider and slide it all the way to the brightest setting. And words immediately appeared in the previously black area of the caduceus’s staff. Jackie leaned closer, tilting his head to the side. “ ‘Follow the skulls’…” he read out loud. His brows furrowed. “Well that means nothing.”

JJ waved his hand in front of Jackie’s face to get his attention, then signed, 'Perhaps it relates to some clues in the city around us?'

“Maybe. But I don’t have any idea what that could be referring to.” Jackie tapped his fingers against the laptop’s edge. After a moment, he started playing around with more sliders on the editing program. After turning up the contrast, something else appeared. “Whoa, hey, what are these?”

A string of figures were now wrapping around the edges of the picture. Small words in the top left corner said “Start here.”

'It must be some kind of code, right?' JJ asked. 'They’re numbers, but they go too high to be a simple alphabet substitution.'

“Yeah, but there are letters too.” Jackie began reading the string out loud. “68 74 74 70 73 3a 2f 2f…I have no idea what this is. But I guess that’s what Google is for.” He opened up the website, plugging ‘cipher decoder’ into the search bar. An overwhelming amount of results popped up. He blinked. “I…I don’t even know where to start.”

'Trial and error?' JJ suggested.

Jackie’s face fell, a gray cloud falling over his expression. His eyes darted to the small clock in the corner of the laptop.

'Perhaps there is one that could identify the cipher when you type it in?' JJ suggested. 'But other than that, we don’t really have much of an option.'

“…you’re right. You’re right.” Jackie took a deep breath. And another. “Okay, let’s start.”

It took five minutes to find a decoder that gave them something recognizable after plugging in the code from the picture. It turned out to be a url for a YouTube video, which Jackie immediately typed into a new tab.

“Oh! Uh, there’s earbuds.” Jackie handed one of the buds to JJ. “We can listen together. I know we could just take out the earbuds and listen with the laptop speakers, but just in case…” Just in case of what? He wasn’t sure. But JJ took the earbud anyway, awkwardly putting it in.

Jackie didn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t…this. He physically leaned backwards at the sound of the intro: “Yo, what’s up guys? I’m Chase, and welcome to Bro Average!” He had to pause it for a moment, just to bask in the confusion. “I-I thought…” he said slowly. “Was…was I wrong about who…?”

JJ looked confused as well. 'Perhaps it’s both of them?'

“But there are four sets? I-I don’t…?” Jackie shook his head. “Nevermind, it’ll make sense later, once we actually get to them. Because we’re going to. In time.” Jackie laughed. JJ gave him a concerned look that he waved away. “I-I’m fine, let’s just…see if there are any clues here.“ He pressed play.

It looked like any other video by Chase. In fact, Jackie thought he’d seen it before. It followed the same format at first. The music, the shots of Chase hanging out, the attempts at trickshots that always failed at first. Chase once said he liked to include the fails so the viewers would know he’s no better at these than anyone else, and that anyone could do the tricks if they tried. But then—

'What was that?' JJ signed quickly.

“I don’t know.” Jackie paused the video. He used the arrow keys to go back, but when that failed to pick anything up, he resorted to using the comma and period keys on the keyboard to go frame by frame. Until he finally managed to capture the image that had popped up for a split second: A hollow red circle, divided into fourths, with a red skull in the center. There were also a few strange dots and dashes along the bottom.

'Am I correct in assuming Chase didn’t originally have those in his video?' JJ asked. 'But then, how did that get there? Is it possible to put images in a video on the web?'

“No, but…” Jackie tapped the screen. “This is on a different channel.” Indeed, instead of Chase’s BroAverage channel at the bottom of the video, the channel name was a string of numbers with a few letters that looked similar to the encoded url that had been hidden in the .png of the caduceus. “That means the video could’ve been downloaded, then edited and reuploaded. There could be more of these…actually, there probably are. The image said ‘follow the skulls,’ I bet it meant ones in here.” He frowned. “What are these dashes? Morse code?”

JJ nodded in agreement.

“Well, great, guess we’re going to have to write these down and find another decoder—”

'Jackie.' JJ raised an eyebrow. 'I know Morse code.'

“You do?” Jackie blinked. “I didn’t know that. Since when?”

'Since…' JJ paused. '1923, I believe.'

“Oh. Okay. Well, that saves us some time. Here, I’ll just open up Notepad and write down the code on this image, then we can see if there are more images sneaked into the video.”

There were. Five more times, the image of the red skull appeared, each time accompanied by more Morse code. Jackie copied the code into a page on Notepad, and once he was sure there was nothing else hidden in the video, he passed the laptop to JJ. JJ glared at the code, then slowly began the process of translating. Jackie looked around the dark city while he worked, legs bouncing. The city was always empty at night, but it seemed even quieter than normal. He didn’t like it.

What if the gamemaster was somewhere in the darkness right now? He said he’d be watching. How? What if he was following them? Or were there cameras, invisible eyes, dangling in the shadows? Making sure they didn’t break the rules and get help? What time was it? How much was left? Though he didn’t want to, Jackie began wondering what would happen if he failed. He knew the basics, of course, he’d never see the others again. But what would happen to them? Would it end with something as simple as a gunshot? Or would it last longer? Maybe they wouldn’t be killed at all, maybe they’d vanish into a worse fate—

JJ tapped Jackie’s arm, and Jackie yelped. JJ sharply withdrew his hand, then asked, 'Are you alright?'

“Y-yeah, I-I just was, um…thinking. You startled me. Are you done?”

JJ clearly didn’t think Jackie was actually alright, but he nodded. 'I’ve finished. I believe it’s an address.'

“Here, lemme see.” Jackie scooted closer. It was indeed a simple address. “Spiralnest Street…that’s in the north part of the city. It…it’s dangerous there.”

'Well, we don’t have much of a choice, do we?' JJ signed, sighing.

“No. No, we don’t. We’re going to have to be quick, and hope we don’t attract any attention.” Jackie closed his eyes, preparing himself, then opened them again. “We can’t take public transportation, nothing runs this late at night. Neither of us can drive, and even if we could, we don’t have a car. How fast can you run?”

JJ bit his lip. 'Not as fast as I would like.'

Jackie looked at the time on the laptop. He watched the numbers change from 1:56 to 1:57. His stomach twisted sharply. “Okay. Okay. We have time. We’ll be quick.” He shut the laptop, putting it back in the box. “Let’s go.”

He stood up, and JJ did as well. He grabbed his hand and the two of them started running.

And somewhere else in the city, a man sitting at a desk leaned back in his chair, staring at a screen on a bank of monitors. Three hours left. They were still ahead of schedule, but now only slightly.

He reached over and switched cameras, checking first on a room with two people behind a sheet of plexiglass, then another with a single man lying unconscious on the floor. Good. Nothing had changed.

He stood up. By his calculations, it would take them anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour and a half to reach their destination. Enough time to drive over there and set up the final puzzle of Set 2. He chuckled.

He couldn’t wait for this part. It was a classic, one of his favorites. Though he had a feeling Jackieboy and his friends wouldn’t appreciate it as much.