Part Two of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Though Schneep isn't making much progress, Dr. Laurens is determined to find a way to help, no matter what setback occur.]
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Dr. Laurens hurried through the halls of the hospital, barely staying aware enough to dodge orderlies and patients in her way. She was a bit lost in her own thoughts. When she first took on the Schneeplestein case, she hadn’t expected there to be so many…difficulties. So many…incidents.

She glanced to the side, and was immediately reminded of one of them. Passing the entrance to the hospital cafeteria she could see most other patients inside eating lunch. Normally she’d be taking this time to eat in her office. But last week, Schneep had attempted to stab another patient with a plastic fork. Well, “attempted” wasn’t exactly the correct word, because that implied there was a failure to stab. Luckily, the skin hadn’t actually been broken, so no blood. But the whole thing was still enough to get Schneep banned from the cafeteria. When Laurens asked him about it later, he refused to give an explanation, other than a mumbled “Thought he was someone else.”

If Laurens was being perfectly honest with herself, there were times when she considered dropping the case altogether and handing it over to Dr. Newson, who kept hinting that she’d be happy to take it. After all, did she really want to spend so much time with the guy who 1) killed thirteen people and 2) somehow kept managing to stab people while in a secure hospital? But then she’d remember Dr. Newson’s voice that first day: “Still wanna take this?” Like Laurens couldn’t handle it. Well, Laurens wasn’t one to give up easily. And besides…she just couldn’t leave someone who needed help. And Schneeplestein, as…strange…as he was, was clearly afraid of something. Laurens was sure she could do something about that.

Laurens finally reached her destination: Room 309. There was an orderly waiting outside—Oliver, if she remembered correctly—holding a paper cup. She smiled at him. “You can wait outside, Oliver.” She tried to put a cheerful note in her voice.

He frowned. “Dr. Newson said—”

“If anything bad happens, I’ll shout.” When he didn’t look convinced, she smiled again and said, “Besides, I’m sure you want to keep texting whoever it was.”

The orderly almost dropped the cup in shock. “How did you—”

“You were a little slow putting it away. I know phones are off-limits inside the halls, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” She let the statement hang in the air. You could almost hear the “unless” that would follow.

“R-right.” Oliver backed up, handing her the paper cup. “You go on ahead, doc. Don’t forget to shout.”

“I won’t.” Laurens adjusted the items she was holding so she could accommodate the cup, then turned the room’s door handle and stepped inside, closing it behind her.

The inside was identical to all the other bedrooms at the hospital. In the corner was a bed with beige pillows and blankets that were securely tucked in under the mattress. Next to it was a nightstand with a lamp and across the room was a dresser. There were also a pair of armchairs with a small, round table in between them. Overall, Laurens thought it was a nice room to stay in. There was even a window on the far wall, though it lacked the ability to open like windows normally had. Schneep was currently standing at said window, looking out and not turning around when Laurens came in.

“Hello Schneep,” she said, once again putting a happy tone to her words. She walked over to the pair of armchairs, setting her stuff down on the table. Notebook, paper cup, pencil (she hurriedly tucked that behind her ear), and lunchbox. “How are you feeling today?”

Schneep glanced over at her, made a noncommittal noise, then continued looking out the window.

“I see.” She didn’t. “Well, I brought lunch.”

That got his attention. He turned around. “What?”

“Soup,” she explained, pulling a thermos out of the lunchbox. “It’s just potato, but I have crackers too. And, uh, cheese, and some fruit.” She laughed a little. Partly to cover up the sudden jump her nerves made. She wasn’t sure if it was caused by her natural anxiety or genuine worry or fear.

Schneep pushed away from the window and wandered over, sitting in one of the chairs. He watched her silently as she took out the rest of the food from the surprisingly large lunchbox. Then he noticed the open notebook, and tried to lean over to look at it. Laurens quickly pulled it over behind the box. “This is…new,” he said slowly.

“Well.” Laurens shrugged. “I figured that since our sessions usually fall after lunch time, that it would be a good idea to combine them. I mean, I’m not the best cook but I think I’m better than what they bring you.” She chuckled. In truth, the cafeteria food wasn’t that bad, but homemade had to be better.

“So. If I understand this correctly.” Schneep leaned forward onto the table, placing his chin in his hand. “We are going on a lunch date, except instead of chit-chatting, you are trying to analyze me.”

Laurens froze. “We-we-well, uh, ah, you see, I-I didn’t—” She could feel her face heating up.

Schneep smiled. “It is joke, do not worry. I know this is not the place for things like that. Besides, I am married.”

“I thought you were divorced?” Laurens muttered, taking a seat in the other chair.

“Ah, separated, but we still talk.” His smile faded. “We…did, at least.”

Laurens nodded. She pulled the notebook toward her and pushed the food toward Schneep, who stared at it for a moment before slowly reaching toward the thermos and unscrewing the lid. “Do you, um, remember what we were talking about last session?” She asked.

There was a long silence as she waited for Schneep to answer. It was a while, as he seemed more focused on the potato soup than her question. But after a few moments, he mumbled, “I believe you were attacking me about what happened last year on Christmas.”

“I wasn’t attacking you,” Laurens said. “Just asking if you wanted to talk about it.”

“Yes, but I did not—and I still do not!—and you kept asking.” Schneep looked to the side, towards the window. “I was not involved with those videos, I promise you.”

“Alright.” Laurens decided not to mention the fact that he was in several of “those videos.” Last session had been the two of them going in circles, and she felt if she continued to bring up the Christmas incident, then this one would be too. She decided to move on. “I like your hoodie,” she said. “Didn’t take you for the type to wear them.”

“…oh.” Schneep reached up and uncomfortably tugged on the hoodie strings. “Well, it was not mine at first.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No, it belonged to my friend. Jackie. He left it at my apartment one day, then only realized he left it there after he bought a replacement. So he let me keep it.”

“Jackie?” Laurens asked, intrigued. “Do you mean your friend Jack?”

Schneep laughed. “No, Jack and Jackie are different people. Though they would make jokes about that. They already looked similar enough, so they would say they are clones.”

Laurens smiled a bit. “Nice. And these two…they were the only people you considered friends?”

“No, no.” Schneep shook his head. “There was Chase and Marvin, too. It was the five of us, all together. Sometimes I thought we were closer to family.” His expression shifted, becoming a bit grayer. “I…have not seen them in a long time. I-I almost thought—hoped—they would come visit me, but I suppose not.”

“Oh…” Laurens felt an ache in her chest. “Why do you think that is?”

Schneep snorted. “Well, maybe, perhaps, because I—” He stopped short suddenly, stiffening. He turned around and looked behind him.

“Schneep?”

He was silent for a moment, eyes locked on a single spot on the wall. Then: “Shut up.”

Laurens blinked. “Me?”

He turned back around. “No, not you, I—” He sighed, letting his had fall forward into his hands. “Why am I explaining this to you? You think it is in my head.”

“Well…that doesn’t mean it’s not real,” Laurens said slowly. She was pretty sure she heard that in Harry Potter, but damn it, it was applicable to this situation. “Do you want to talk about that, or keep talking about your friends? Why do you think you haven’t seen them in a while?”

Schneep laughed dryly. “It does not matter. It is safer this way.”

“Safer?” Laurens blinked. “Why?”

There was no answer. Schneep didn’t even look up. Laurens shifted uncomfortably, making a few quick notes in her notebook in the hopes he’d say something soon. When he still hadn’t, she cleared her throat. It was worth a guess, wasn’t it? “Are you…afraid you’ll hurt them?”

Schneep looked back up. After a moment of staring at her, he nodded. Slowly.

“Oh.” Laurens didn’t feel that good about guessing correctly. If anything, she felt worse. Not in a way related to herself. But…god, she had the file on Schneep’s case. She was there when he attacked an orderly with a pen, when he’d scratched up another patient’s face. Which meant she remembered how he would start wailing apologies as soon as it was over, how he’d repeat over and over again that he didn’t mean to, that it wasn’t his fault. As bloody as his case file was, he didn’t want this. She set the notebook down. “Look, I…it may sound weird, but I believe in you. You can work through this. And we can help you with that. It’s why we’re here, after all.”

“You cannot help me.” It was less a contradiction, and more a toneless statement of fact.

“Well, we can try. Who knows? Maybe we’ll surprise you.” She tried for a gentle smile. “Hey, the food is getting cold. Are you still hungry?”

After a moment, Schneep straightened and started picking at the food she’d brought.

“Oh! And you need to remember this.” Laurens pushed the paper cup toward him. The pills inside clacked against each other.

“Yes, yes,” Schneep mumbled. He looked over at her and paused. His mouth opened, like he was about to say something. Then he closed it again, shook his head, and resumed.

And even though that night Laurens would look over the notes she took for this session and feel like nothing got done, she would later remember this as one of the better ones.
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What made a “good” session didn’t always depend on her. Of course, there were times when she wouldn’t push enough, and the session would be mostly chatter, or when she would push too much and Schneep would shut down in silent anger. But also…well, she learned quickly that if Schneep was having one of his bad days, they wouldn’t get much done at all.

Like the day he threw the lamp at the window. She came in to find it broken on the floor and Schneep banging and clawing at the glass. He kept attempting to force open the window, repeating “Ich bin gefangen…lass mich raus, lass mich raus!” Occasionally, he would shout “Behalte mich nicht bei ihm!” Laurens didn’t speak German, so she didn’t know what he was saying, but she could tell he was distressed. She spent the entire time attempting to calm him down.

Then there was the day, about a month after the first lunch session, when she finally made good on her promise to call for an orderly if something went wrong.

She could immediately tell this was going to be a difficult day the moment she walked into Room 309. While Schneep would usually be sitting in one of the chairs, waiting for her, today he was sitting on the bed in the corner with his knees drawn up to his chest. His eyes were wide, and there were dark bags under them. Laurens very much doubted that he’d gone to sleep the night before.

She set her lunchbox down on the small round table. Hopefully she’d get to use that today, but possibly not. “Hello Schneep,” she said. “How are you feeling today?”

Schneep didn’t say anything in answer to her usual greeting. His eyes were focused on some point in space in front of him.

“Ah. Well, that’s too bad.” She dragged one of the armchairs over so it was closer to the bed and sat down. She set her notebook on her knees and opened up to the page with today’s date listed at the top. “I brought food. We can get to that later, though, if you’re not up for it yet.” She looked up at him. “Last time we were—”

“I hate this.”

Laurens blinked. “Ex-excuse me?”

“I hate this.” Schneep was pulling on the strings of the hoodie he was wearing. It was the only one he had, the one he said belonged to his friend. “I hate this, I hate this, hate it, hate this—”

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘this’,” Laurens said patiently.

“Yes you do. You do not? You do. Please do not lie to me.”

“I’m not lying, I promise.” She gripped the edges of the notebook tightly.

His eyes whipped over toward her, still wide. “Please do not do this.”

“H-how about you tell me what the ‘this’ is, and maybe I’ll understand what you mean,” she suggested.

He looked away again, back towards that spot. “It is still going on. Why? Why does it not end?” He tugged on the hoodie strings again. “It is never over. Not—not going anywhere.”

“What isn’t?” Laurens asked quietly.

“Where are they? I do not know. I-I do not know what he wants from me.” Schneep suddenly grinned, a strangled, manic laugh escaping. His hand shot up and clamped over his mouth, but there was still the muffled sound of giggling. He started rocking back and forth, using his other arm to hug himself.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Laurens leaned forward, putting all the reassurance she could in her voice. “I want to help you, but I can’t if I don’t know everything. Who are ‘they’?”

Schneep looked back over to her. He unfolded a little from his position, though still rocking and still covering his mouth, and tugged on the hood of the hoodie he was wearing.

Lauren’s brows lowered. “Your…friends?” When Schneep nodded, she said, “I-I might be able to find them. They could come visit. Would you like that?” Another nod. Laurens briefly looked down to write a note to herself in her notebook. Schneep had provided a lot of information about them during their sessions, maybe she could do something to track them down. She looked back up. “And…who is the ‘he’?”

A renewed round of muffled laughter. Schneep began shaking his head vigorously, covering his head with the arm not already covering his mouth. He pushed backward into the wall, curling up tight once again.

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to say anything, don’t worry.” Laurens began flipping through her notebook to a single page near the back. This wasn’t the first, or even the second or the third time Schneep had mentioned a mysterious “him.” She wasn’t sure exactly what “he” meant for Schneep, only that he was very, very afraid of “him.” She was sure that if she got him to tell her about “him,” she’d make progress on what was going on inside his mind, and how to help him deal with it.

Laurens took a moment to make a few notes, first about “him” and then about Schneep’s behavior this session. “I wanted to ask you about your medication. You know, the pills? Are they working?” Probably not. She’d probably have to change the prescription soon. “Schneep?” She looked up.

Schneep had seemed to calm down. At first glance. There wasn’t anymore rocking, and his arms weren’t wrapped around his head anymore. But then she saw that was because they were busy wrapping—

“No!” Laurens lunged forward, her notebook toppling to the floor. “Stop that! Please!”

Schneep didn’t listen to her, and when she tried to pull his hands away, he resisted. It was the string. The string that was supposed to be inside the hood, but had apparently been pulled out. It was now tangled around Schneep’s neck, and he was pulling it tighter.

“Schneep! H-Henrik, don’t—” Laurens grabbed his wrists and tried pulling them away, but with the string still tightly held in his hands that was just making it worse. She tried to pry away his fingers, and when that failed, to grab the string around his neck and pull it off. It didn’t work. She wasn’t the strongest person in the first place, and Schneep jerked his head and hands away whenever possible. She was beginning to hear small choking noises.

There was no other option. “Help!” She shouted. “Someone, anyone! We need help in here!”

Like always, an orderly had been waiting outside the door. He barged inside, taking in the scene for only a brief moment before running to Laurens’s side. A struggle later, the hoodie string was safely removed and tucked into the orderly’s pocket while Schneep was half-lying in Laurens’s arms, wheezing slightly.

Laurens looked over to the orderly. “Thanks, Oliver.”

“What happened?”

“I-I don’t know. I just looked down for a minute and he must’ve—it was from his hoodie, he removed it and started—” Laurens shuddered.

“Oh, god,” Oliver muttered disbelievingly. “We should tell Dr. Newson about this.”

“Y-yes, probably a good idea. And can you page for the med team? Just to check for any damage.” While the orderly did that, Laurens looked down at Schneep. “Hey. Stay with me, buddy. I…I hope you know that…I-I’m trying my best.”

There was a dry, hacking sound that Laurens took a moment to recognize as a laugh. Schneep muttered something.

Laurens stared at him. “What did you say…?”

“The med team’s already here,” Oliver suddenly said. “It’s probably a good thing we’re close to the med wing.”

“Oh. Okay…” Laurens was quiet as the others took Schneep away. Was quiet as she picked up her notebook and lunch box and followed them down to the medical wing. Was quiet as they said he should probably stay there for at least a night. Was quiet as she wandered down the halls toward her office.

She’d told him she was trying her best.

He responded, “So did I.”

Laurens wrote this in her notebook. She wasn’t sure why, but…it seemed important.
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“Oh yeah, we had to confiscate that.”

“You what?!”

Laurens stared at Dr. Newson. She’d been called down to her office to give updates on Schneep’s progress, since the strangling incident that week might’ve seemed…counter-productive. She also wondered if maybe Dr. Newson was taking this as a chance to convince her to drop the case. But nothing could’ve prepared her for Dr. Newson casually mentioning…that.

“Well, of course.” Dr. Newson shrugged. Her posture was very relaxed, almost lounging in her office swivel chair on the other side of the desk. “You know the regulations. If we can’t have button-up shirts in the hospital, then I guess we can’t have hoodies either.”

“You…you could’ve just removed the string and let him keep the hoodie itself,” Laurens suggested.

“Hmmmm maybe.” Dr. Newson leaned back. “Or maybe he would’ve found a way to choke himself on that overlarge collar hoodies have. I’m not taking that risk.”

“But Dr. Newson—”

“Who’s in charge of the hospital?”

Laurens looked down, shifting in her chair. She idly looked around Dr. Newson’s desk as a way to distract herself. A bunch of paperwork, a desktop computer, and a framed photograph of Dr. Newson with a man who looked a lot like her.

“Why are you so concerned about this?” Dr. Newson asked. “It’s just a hoodie.”

“It-it’s important to him,” Laurens said meekly.

“Huh,” Dr. Newson stated. Was it just Laurens’s imagination, or was there a new, hard light in Newson’s eyes? “Well, I would think staying alive would be worth more. You can apologize to him if you want.”

Laurens nodded.

Dr. Newson idly ran a hand through her ponytail. “I’m thinking we need to move him to the first floor.”

“What?!” Laurens straightened. “No! We’re not at that point yet!”

“After multiple attempted attacks on staff and patients, shown destructive behavior, and now this? We’re still not at the point, huh?”

“But—but nothing’s succeeded since the pen incident,” Laurens said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice.

“Alright, fine,” Dr, Newson waved away. “It’s too much red tape anyway. But know I’m considering it. I expect more progress reports from you.”

Laurens felt an acidic wave of words rise in her throat. Progress reports? Like it was as simple as building a new road. The human mind was a lot more complicated than that, and progress wasn’t linear. But of course, she couldn’t yell any of this at her boss, so she kept quiet.

“I’ll be keeping track of any more incidents,” Dr. Newson continued. “If they become excessive, and/or dangerous, and/or more successful, then we’re moving him. Okay?”

“Okay,” Laurens repeated quietly.

“Great.” Dr. Newson straightened up. “You’ve dropped all other patients to focus on this, Rya, don’t fail.” She relaxed again. “You can leave now, if there isn’t anything else.”

Laurens pushed her chair back and stood up. “Goodbye, Dr. Newson. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” Dr. Newson waved lazily. As Laurens left, she heard Newson mutter something else. “Dunno why you’re so concerned about this anyway.”

It was a good question. Why was Laurens so concerned with Schneep’s predicament? But a better question was, why wouldn’t she be? She’d seen him lash out at others, true, but she also saw him strangle himself with a hoodie string. She’d read the case file about all the things he’d done to those poor people, but she also heard him admit he was scared he’d hurt his friends.

Dr. Schneeplestein was not fully in control of his own mind. And he knew it. And it terrified him. Maybe it was Laurens’s natural empathy, or maybe it was her training as a psychiatrist that told her to never leave anyone behind, but she wanted to help.

And when she arrived home that night, she logged onto her computer and typed a name into a search bar. Maybe she could help by finding someone he wanted to see.

Or maybe it would be a bad thing to alert these people. After all, he had said he didn’t want to hurt them. But Laurens thought that everyone needed their friends.

Part Two of The Stitched AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a completed fanfic series of mine with 24 total chapters. I started this October of 2018 and finished it May of 2021. After a strange, tragic event seemed to kill their friends Marvin and Jackie, Jack is attacked by a strange being. He and Chase visit a man named JJ who has knowledge of magic. They try to discover the truth of Anti, and are surprised to find him connected to Jackie and Marvin.]
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“You are lucky to not be dead.”

Jack couldn’t help but poke at the wound on his neck. He winced. “I’m lucky I know the best doctor in the world,” he said quietly. He didn’t want to tear the stitches.

Schneep huffed, but couldn’t hold back a smile. “Well, yes, I am a qualified doctor. But that is no reason for you to play with knives.”

“It was Halloween, bro.” Chase piped up for the first time since his arrival. He was leaning against the doorway of the hospital room, trying his best to look casual when he’d just been hovering nervously by Jack seconds before. “Pumpkin carving is a tradition, you know. How was he supposed to know he’d cut himself?”

Jack shifted uncomfortably on the hospital bed. For a moment, he wondered if he should just stay silent. But honesty was always the best policy. If what happened was real, then they had a serious threat to deal with. If it wasn’t, then they could figure out why the hell he was seeing things. “Well, actually, guys…I didn’t exactly do it myself.”

Immediately, Schneep and Chase jumped to attention. “Why? What happened?” “Should we call the police?”

“No, I…you guys are gonna think I’m crazy,” Jack sighed.

“No way, dude.” Chase shook his head. “We’d never think that.”

“I—you haven’t even heard what it is.” Jack muttered. “Okay, here goes…so, like, for a couple weeks now, I’ve had a feeling like something is watching me. But not at times when that would make sense, I mean all the time. And sometimes I’d see things out of the corner of my eye, or hear whispers that aren’t there.”

“Jack, I do not think I am the right kind of doctor for these problems,” Schneep said, half-joking.

“No, no, let me finish. So, sometimes I’d get nosebleeds out of nowhere, and sometimes I started, like, walking down to the shop or something but then a split second later I’d be back home, like there was a—a glitch in the fabric of reality. And I’d start laughing or hearing laughter for no reason.”

“Okay…so what does that have to do with this business?” Chase asked.

“So, I was doing the video, just like normal, and I’d keep hearing noises. When I went to check them out, nothing. I got another nosebleed, heard more laughing, and just…it just seemed like everything that was happening that month got dialed up to eleven. And then, after I got the pumpkin all finished and was about to do some fine cleaning…I just—I fucking have no idea how to describe it. My arm was moving on its own and it was like—it was like there was someone else in my head, like…squeezing it. And this thing was controlling my arm and it—it did the thing.”

Silence. Jack tried not to squirm as his two friends exchanged glances. They looked worried. “Jack…what I said before was joke, but I really think you should talk to a different doctor,” Schneep suggested haltingly.

“You haven’t even heard the weirdest part.” Jack shook his head. “It—he talked to me. He called me weak…and…” He swallowed nervously. He didn’t really want to talk about the things he said after he cut his throat and used his body like a puppet. So he skipped to the most important part. “Anyway, after he left, or retreated, or whatever, I saw him. And he looked a lot like me, but…wearing different clothes. He looked like a living computer glitch.”

“You sure you weren’t just…hallucinating?” Chase asked. “I mean, you’d lost a lot of blood by the time I came to check on you.”

“I know, I know, it’s a real possibility. But the weirdest thing was his neck. It was—was also cut open, but it was stitched close. With green string. But it wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping the wound closed, and the stitches were pulling apart…and I got the strangest feeling I knew him.”

Schneep walked over to the counter nearby and grabbed a pen and pad of paper. He wrote down something real quick, then came back and handed it to Jack. “I think you should check out Dr. Laurens. She is very good. Not to say you have to, but I think it would help.”

“Wait, doc, hang on a second.” Chase frowned thoughtfully. “I think…maybe…”

Schneep glared at him. “Chase, do not encourage him,” he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep Jack from hearing. “I know you are wanting to help but it will not to do this.”

“All I’m saying is—I mean—I’m wondering—” Chase stopped, gathering his thoughts. “So, I know you remember what happened a little under a year ago. I do too.”

The doctor’s expression immediately darkened. Nobody needed a reminder of what happened to Marvin and Jackie. It was bad enough that the double murder—or possibly murder-suicide, nobody could agree—got an unholy amount of media attention, given that no one could figure out what actually happened. One had a slit throat, the other held the knife, both were dead but only one was injured, and they were inside a circle drawn on the floor like some sort of ritual. How and why did they even die? And then the police found Jackie’s super suit hidden in the closet and all sorts of shady websites on Marvin’s computer. That only made things more complicated.

“Well, it can’t be a coincidence that the same kind of cut appeared on Jack nearly a year later,” Chase pointed out. “And they were probably doing some kind of magic, right? Maybe black magic? Doesn’t what Jack said sound like he got attacked by a black magic demon or something?”

Jack smiled. He hadn’t really thought of the possibility that what happened to Marvin and Jackie could be connected to the thing that attacked him, but it was nice to know that Chase thought there was an explanation besides him being crazy. Schneep, on the other hand, looked doubtful. “I do not mean to speak ill of the dead, but Marvin believed in things that could not exist. If he dragged Jackie into his shit, then that was between them. But it had nothing to do with their deaths.”

“You don’t know that,” Chase snapped. “Maybe there was some sort of sacrifice or something, and things went wrong.”

“For god’s sake, do you really think JACKIE would be part of black magic?” Schneep threw his hands up in the air. “Have you ever heard anyone speak out against evil more than him?”

“I mean…the dark side can be tempting, bro,” Chase mumbled.

“I am not being part of this. I am leaving, I have other patients to check on. Jack, please at least try to visit Dr. Laurens. She can help more that mindless speculation.” Schneep stuck around long enough to see Jack nod in agreement, then quickly left.

“Jack…you think that…” Chase hesitated, then said the next few words in a rush. “D’you think that if we find out more about what attacked you we could find out what happened to them?”

Jack hesitated. There was a bit of desperation shining in Chase’s eyes. No, actually, there was a lot. Jack couldn’t blame him. A lot of terrible shit had hit Chase at that moment in time, shit that led to…well, it made sense that he wanted his friends back. Jack did too. But also, he just really wanted to know what the deal with this thing was. Why was he targeting them? “I mean, maybe,” Jack shrugged. “It’s worth a shot. And if there’s really a demon out there, we need to protect ourselves. But how do we do that?”
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The next day, Chase and Jack found themselves standing outside a little shop on the edge of town. The window showed a display made of books, amulets, and hanging talismans. The sign identified the shop as “Jackson Magick Emporium.”

“So, this place is, like, legit, right?” Chase asked.

Jack pulled on the bandages around his neck. “I mean, as much as one of these places can be. The website seemed to know what they were talking about, and there were good reviews from people who weren’t nutters. So…let’s go in.”

A bell ding-a-linged to announce their arrival into the shop. Chase blinked. “Good god, did we just step back in time or something?” The front room of the shop looked a lot like a living room from the early twentieth century, but with the addition of a counter with a cash register and price tags on the various knickknacks scattered on the tables. It was a pleasant place, pastel blue in color and well-lit with yellow lamps. But nobody was there.

“They head the bell, right?” Jack wondered, glancing over at the little silver instrument hanging by the door.

“Don’t see how they could’nt’ve.” Chase wandered over to one of the tables and picked up the leather-bound book on its surface. He turned it over in his hands. It did look like something Marvin would’ve had. This must be the right sort of place.

“I’d advise you to put that down.”

Chase jumped, looking around for the source of the voice. A well-dressed man in a blue vest and black hat was coming out of a door behind the counter. He…weirdly enough, he looked pretty similar to Jack and Chase, just with a mustache. Did Jack have some sort of doppelganger magnet attached to him?

“Sorry,” Chase mumbled, putting the book back.

“Quite alright. You had no idea. But I must warn you that it’s very old and fragile.” The man walked around the counter and approached the two. He gave a friendly smile and stuck out his hand. “My name is Jameson Jackson, but you may call me JJ if you like. Welcome to my shop. How may I help you?”

Jack shook his hand. “Hello. I’m Jack and this is my friend Chase. We, uh…” He looked over to Chase for support, but he just shrugged. “So I went onto your website and saw that you did a thing where you could get rid of, like…evil spirits and shit.”

“Well, I wouldn’t use that type of language,” JJ frowned. “But yes, that is correct.”

“Okay, so, you see…I mean it’s been happening for a while, but last night it really…really, um…” Jack fidgeted with the bandages again. “So, I’m not wearing these for fun. You see what I’m talking about?”

JJ’s brows furrowed. “Yes, I think I’m getting the gist of it. Why don’t we go into the other room? I can make us some tea and you can tell me everything, at your own pace of course.”

The other room looked pretty much the same, but red instead of blue and no items for sale. The main piece of furniture was a table and chairs in the center, but there were a few drawers and chests along the edge for holding things, along with a small stove. Jack and Chase sat down and spilled out the whole story, starting with Marvin and Jackie’s mysterious incident last year, and ending with Jack’s account of this thing taking control of his body and seeing it afterward. By the time their tale had ended, the tea was long finished. JJ set a cup in front of each of them, then joined them at the table. He leaned forward and rested his head on his hands.

“So, do you have any idea what your friends were actually messing about with?” he asked in a quiet voice, as if afraid someone would overhear.

Jack shook his head. “No, sorry.”

“They were in a circle?”

“Yeah, with candles around the edges. Is that…is that helpful?”

“Not very, unfortunately. Most spells—or at least, most heavy-duty spells—take place in a protective circle. It’s meant to protect the casters from outside dangers and keep any misfires contained inside. Do you remember anything else? Did they discover any spellbooks or charms?”

“I don’t remem—”

Chase interrupted. “Wait, I think…I think there was some weird things. A bunch of burned paper, and…and there were two weird necklaces, but…I dunno about those ones.”

“Explain.”

“Well, Schneep—he’s a friend of ours, a doctor—showed me the police report of the crime scene. They were both wearing them, and they were when he saw the bodies, but later, when he asked the cops about where those necklaces went, they swore there weren’t any.”

“Hmm…” JJ took a sip of the tea, thoughtful. “Disappearing amulets…that is unusual. Depending on their purpose, we could guess at the spell they were trying. Hang on.” He stood up, walked over to a chest and rummaged it, then came back with a book with a red cover. He opened it, revealing that the book had been patched together with pages tied into the lining, like an old-fashioned kind of binder. They were covered with ink drawings of various amulets, with explanations of what each did. “Did your friend happen to describe them?”

“Uhhh…” Chase cast a line back into the waters of memory. “This is a recall of a recall of a glance, so don’t take this too seriously. But they were white…a bit teardrop-shaped.”

“Wait wait wait I saw those!” Jack nearly knocked over his teacup in excitement. “He was wearing them! They had these weird designs on them, and they were glowing green.”

JJ slid the book toward him. “Do you think you could identify them?”

“Maybe…I didn’t really see them that good.” Jack started flipping through the pages, then suddenly stopped. He looked around. “It’s happening again…” he muttered. “I feel like someone’s watching us…”

Chase, confused, said “What?” But JJ didn’t hesitate, shooting to his feet and dashing to the drawers, pulling them open and glancing at the contents before slamming them shut again.

“What are you looking for?” Jack asked, nervous.

“Either protection or the source of that feeling,” Jameson explained. “If you can, help me look.”

“We don’t know—oh, alright.” Jack didn’t want a repeat of Halloween night. He stood up, pulled Chase upward too, and ran toward the drawers. He figured he’d know if something was important. The drawers were filled with books and loose papers with strange writing, crude dolls with paint on them, amulets and other magickal jewelry, and so many other talismans that Jack couldn’t identify. Nothing stood out.

Until Jack heard a sudden shriek.

His head whipped around, and he saw Chase standing in front of an open drawer with a look of absolute shock and horror on his face. He held something in his hand, a pair of teardrop-shaped amulets dangling from strings. They glowed green, but the glow couldn’t mask the cracks that marred their surfaces.

“Chase! Drop it!” Jameson yelled.

Startled, Chase did exactly that. The amulets clattered to the surface. There was a sound, a sound in the back of their minds that seemed to be coming from the broken talismans. It was a high whine, punctuated with electronic-sounding crackling. Or was it laughing?

“How’d they get there?” Chase asked, breathless.

“They came with him,” Jack muttered.

It was definitely laughter. Then Jack heard, directly in his ear, “I’m so p̶ro̡u̡d, J̷ąck͝ie̴bo̢y.”

With a yelp, Jack whirled around, but nobody was there. Chase and Jameson, who’d apparently also heard something similar, were looking around wildly as well. The room seemed darker. The whine was growing louder.

“Where are you?” Jameson asked. “Show yourself!”

A giggle. “You’d lik̵e̵ that, wou̡l͞dn̕'͢t͝ yo͢u҉? A neat little ta͡r̴g̨et to throw your s͠p̛e͞l̡ls̶ at? Oh wait, I f͝or͠g̕o̶t, you don’t a̦̝̤̱̥c̗̭͝t̮̤̭̝u͈̭͓̰͈a̦ḻl̩̦͈y̠͟ have any m͏ag̢ic̢..” The voice bounced around the room, seeming to come from the corner one moment and the center the next.

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Jameson said.

“Oh, I̢̕ ̨͏k͏n̸̕o͠w̸͠.” He sounded amused now.

“What are you?” Jack cried.

“Can’t you t̶e͟ll? I’m y̕͢o̢͞͠u̷̶ , of course, J̮̪̘̯͝a̵̟̣̻ͅc̨̘̬͓͖̭̞̳̲̟k̛̼̣̝̞̹̹͍̬i̖̞̭͝e͏͓͢b̷̨̫̗̗̕o̤͔̝͖y̖͕̣.”

“N-no…” Jack whispered. “No, you’re not. If anything, you’re the anti-me.”

“ Ą̴n͢͠t͞i̶..oh, I l͟i̸̛ke̵ that. V͠e̡r̵y̛ m҉uch͝.”

“Great, you just named it,” Chase grumbled. Jack noticed his hands were shaking, and his eyes were darting everywhere.

He—Anti—laughed again, and the lights flickered at the same time. Jack felt the feeling of being watched lighten up, and the white noise seemed to shift…to Chase. “ Y̕o͞u’re putting on sųch͢ a b̷͝r̴͞av̧e fa͏͝c̶͢e, but I can taste the f̛e̵̷a҉̨r̶͝ i͝n͡ y̢o̕ur m͏̕͟i͟͠n͞d̷̸̶. It’s dȩ̴l̛ic̶i͠o͡u̡s̸͢.”

The flickering intensified. Jack’s eyes widened as Chase’s shadow shifted, contorted, then stepped away from the wall. “Chase, watch out!” Jack yelled. He started to run toward him, and Chase himself tried to turn around, but it was too late. Anti was real, and he was holding a knife to Chase’s throat.

Jack froze in place.

“ G̨ood i̢ḑea, J̷̶a̧ck͏̷i̛e̕.” Anti bared his teeth in what would’ve been a smile on anyone else, but on him it could only be seen as a threat. He did indeed look a lot like Jack, but his form was spazzing out and glitching at every moment, coming apart in pixels. The upper half of his face was hidden in shadows that twisted and writhed, strands of green light trying to form a symbol on the center of his forehead. The wound on his neck wasn’t just a cut, but a wide gash weeping blood. Green stitches were trying to keep it closed.

“What do you want?” Jack whispered.

“What do I w̶̡a͡n̵̴t̸̸?” Anti repeated the question, tilting his head like a predator sizing up its prey. “First, I want to see if y͡ou̴r f̢r҉iend he͠r̶e̡ b̵̶le̷e̢d̴̡s͟͠ like you, if your faces are t͢he ͝s̶a̡m̡e. Then…well, you͠'l̷l ͡soon fin͢d ͢o̧u̢t̵. I wouldn’t want to s̴po͠į͟l e̦̼v̖̫̱̰͇e͏̰r̤̜͝y̪̼͖̙̙̕t̥h̪͎̙̱i̖n̦̻̭̹͈̼̮͝g͢ for you.”

Chase’s eyes were wide, and he held perfectly still. The knife was glitching ever so slightly. As Jack watched, it nicked Chase’s neck and a single drop of blood trickled down his throat. Jack sucked in an panicked breath. What could he do? Was there anything he could do?

Suddenly, Anti’s smile dropped. His head snapped—quite literally, the sound accompanied by a shattering of pixels—toward Jameson. Jack realized that he’d been awfully quiet during the whole confrontation. And it was because he was preparing. Several drawers were hanging open. There was a tall blue candle burning on the table, surrounded by strange symbols written in red chalk. Jameson held a golden amulet out in front of him, a golden square with a purple gem in the center. It was emitting a faint white light. He grinned triumphantly. “What were you saying about magic?”

Anti growled. “ F̵̮͎̠̭̮̯͇͟i̛͓̦̠͖͈̥̹̞̕n͎̰̠̙̻͟e͖̱̼̬. I’ll l̶͟e͠t ̛͝yǫ͝u win t͞͠͡hiş ti̷͞m̶̧̢e. But this i̛sn'͏̶t ̧̕o̢v̵̡e͞r̛.” Reality flickered, and shattered. When everything was set back to normal, the room was light again, Chase was gasping for air, and Anti and the amulets were gone. “S͏҉e̵̡e̶ ̸yo̸͡u͟ ̧s͏o̶̡o̸͢n͢͞.” One last whisper around their minds, and they felt his presence disappear.

Silence.

After a long while, Jack turned to JJ and said, “You have to teach us how to do that.”

JJ smiled shakily. “A strong and more specific variant of the banishing. I wasn’t sure it would work. But it was better than the alternative.”

“You can say that again.” Chase almost reached up to prod the small cut on his neck, but stopped himself. “We need to tell Schneep about this. Let’s see him deny it in the face of three eyewitnesses.”

“He’ll find a way to.” Jack sighed. “But we gotta convince him. He could be in trouble too.”

And still, Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew who Anti was, and not just because he shared his face. There was something eerily familiar…like a favorite song that had been twisted and distorted into a different tune entirely.

A JSE Fanfic
Chapter Six: Magic Solves Everything
[This is part 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. Marvin undertakes the task of finding Chase’s kids, but that’s interrupted when he’s called to help at the hospital. Magic backfires, and everything ends with a sudden realization.]
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The dining room clock read 1:08. It was hard for Marvin to believe it was still so early in the day. In the space of about an hour, Schneep had returned, they’d discovered that Anti had taken Chase’s kids, and the whole group had attracted the police’s attention in the bad way. Now they had to find the kids and wake up Jack before anything bad could happen to either of them. It was pretty overwhelming, actually.

He still found it weird how JJ’s house had two separate rooms for the kitchen and the dining room, instead of the combination-type thing most modern houses had. But whatever. It worked. Currently, Marvin and Jackie were sitting at the wooden dining table, waiting for JJ to come back. Jackie was leaning back in his chair, peering through the doorway into the kitchen, hoping to keep an eye on their silent friend. Marvin was staring aimlessly at the pale blue wallpaper, tracing the pattern with his eyes.

Bang! Marvin jumped, already reaching for his wand, only to see that Jackie had tilted his chair back too far and fallen over. “Ugh. Ow,” the hero groaned.

“You asked for it, you fucking moron,” Marvin muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Shut up and help me up.”

As Marvin pulled Jackie to his feet, JJ poked his head through the doorway. Observing the scene, he raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Jackie’s an idiot, but he’s okay,” Marvin explained. “You ready yet?”

JJ stepped into the dining room in answer. He was holding a ceramic bowl out in front of him with both hands, a leather-bound book tucked beneath one arm. Carefully, he walked over and set the bowl on the table’s surface.

Jackie leaned over and looked into the bowl. “Water?” he frowned. “I don’t get it. Is it, like, special magic water?”

JJ placed the book next to the bowl and signed, 'You need liquid or crystal in order to scry. Seeing as how we don’t have the time to go out and purchase a crystal ball, water is our best shot.'

“Okay…” Marvin pulled the book toward him. “What about this? Instructions?”

JJ nodded. 'Page 239.'

Marvin flipped through the old, yellowed paper until her reached the page mentioned. The spell looked simple enough. It wouldn’t even take that much energy. But he still spotted a problem…

“You do realize we’re on a time crunch, right?” Jackie asked, breaking Marvin’s concentration.

The magician scowled. “You can’t rush spells. Things could go very fucking wrong very fucking quickly if anything gets messed up.”

'I like being thorough as much as the next person,' JJ signed, 'but Jackie is right. We need to hurry. Just start and I’ll correct you if you stray off the beaten path.'

He hated skipping out on instructions, but Marvin had to admit they were right. “Okay, but there’s a catch. It says we need something that belongs to the person we’re scrying for. And I dunno ‘bout you guys, but I don’t feel like breaking into Chase’s ex’s house to steal his kids’ things. That probably wouldn’t look good to the police.”

'It’s recommended that we use something like that, but from what I know the spell can work just fine without it,' JJ explained. 'It just won’t be as powerful.'

“You sure?” Marvin asked. When JJ nodded, he sighed. “Okay. Here goes nothing.” Glancing at the book once more, he pulled on his mask and grabbed the bowl, moving it closer to him. He stared into the rippling water, taking slow, deep breaths. This wasn’t the kind of magic he was used to. There wasn’t any incantation-speaking or wand-waving. Just concentration and power of will, shaped by magic.

Marvin felt a slight tingle in his fingertips and a pressure behind his eyes. The liquid in the bowl started swirling of its own accord, slowly turning green like dye spreading through a glass of water. Marvin inhaled deeply, letting the breath out slowly. This was the part where he was supposed to focus on the person he was trying to find. It was lucky that he’d met Chase’s kids before, otherwise they’d have to find another way to do this. He brought up memories of times when he’d been staying at Chase’s house the same time as the kids. Bobby was seven. She took after Chase in looks, but not in temperament. She was a bit grumpy and prickly, but she cared deeply about her family, especially her little brother. Trevor was only five years old. Very hyperactive. He was never able to sit still, always needing to fiddle with something in order to concentrate.

At this point, Marvin couldn’t have looked away from the bowl if he tried. His eyes remained fixed in place, unable to even blink. The water was completely green, glowing bright and whirling furiously in a downward spiral, but never spilling over the edge despite the violent swirling. He was dimly aware of JJ and Jackie leaning closer, peering over his shoulders, but he couldn’t afford to break concentration. He felt the magic pulsing up and down his arms, connecting his mind to the scrying bowl.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The water turned unnaturally still, unnaturally quickly. It seemed to clear, and Marvin saw his reflection, JJ on one side and Jackie on the other. Then, the reflection changed and warped, transforming into a scene that faded into a glowing green background like an old-fashioned vignette. The three stared down at a black-and-white image of a narrow alleyway, trash piled against dirty walls. The picture kept flickering, changing focus, glitching. Two small figures were stumbling through the small gap, the taller one leading the shorter one by the hand. They seemed to be in a hurry, but didn’t have the energy to run. They kept looking behind them. There was a shadow on the wall behind them, the silhouette of a man following them.

The image broke, splintering into many pixels. Marvin lurched backwards as something seemed to force him away. The bowl shattered, ceramic pieces and water flying outward. Fortunately, all of them were fast enough to protect their faces from the sharp projectiles.

“What the fuck was that?” Jackie asked, stunned.

“I don’t know Jackie, what else could it have been?” Marvin snapped.

“But are they safe? I mean, they weren’t in, like prison or anything.”

'Maybe they gave him the slip,' JJ suggested hopefully.

“I doubt that somehow.” Marvin chewed his lip in thought. “This is part of a plan.”

The sound of a phone ringing interrupted their speculating. Jackie dug into his hoodie pocket and checked the caller ID. “It’s Chase.” Surprised, he accepted the call. “What’s up?”

Marvin could actually hear Chase’s frantic voice on the other side. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down,” Jackie said. “Do we need to meet up with you?” More panic on the other end. “Okay, okay, we’ll be there. See you.” Jackie hung up.

“So…what’s the problem?” Marvin asked.
.............................................................................................

“He won’t wake up!?”

“That is what I said!”

The hospital room was crowded with five people crammed inside with a bunch of medical equipment. The equipment wasn’t originally in the room, but Chase and Schneep had sneaked all the necessary items for reviving a person in a coma. After all, it’s not like they could tell the hospital staff that they needed to wake up one of the patients. They would ask why, and if they explained that he was possibly in danger because a creature that looked exactly like him wanted him dead…well, it wouldn’t be good.

“Schneep, are…are you one hundred percent sure that you’re doing this right? “Jackie asked tentatively. “I mean, if hospitals could wake up people in comas, there’d be a lot less comas around.”

The doctor shook his head. “This is different, Jackie. Back—” he broke off, cleared his throat, and continued, “Back when it was clear to me that Jack was not going to make it out of the surgery alive, I induced this myself, to keep him out of his hands. That is sometimes done on the operating table under normal circumstances. I am aware of the steps needed to undo it. But n-nothing is wor-working.”

Chase, nervously twisting his hands as he stood by the be, jumped in. “Why did he want Jack dead anyway? I thought he wanted a new host.”

'A physically weak host is easier to control,' JJ explained. 'He might be able to force his way in for a brief time, but he can’t maintain that for long. He needs some sort of weakness to get in, the more severe, the better.' A pause. 'Or, he could have changed his mind and decided to get rid of him.'

Schneep frowned. “What are you talking about? How do you know these things?”

“So, what do you need us to do?” Marvin said hastily. “We’re not doctors.”

“No, but you have magic, Marvin,” Schneep said. “I think it might succeed where I have failed.”

“I…I’m flattered, Schneep, but I have no idea how to wake someone up,” Marvin couldn’t mask the shock in his voice.

“You can figure something out,” Schneep shrugged. “Is not too difficult to do.”

“Maybe winging it is good for some things, but not magic,” Marvin said through gritted teeth. “I’ve already said this today, but making up shit as you go can have serious consequences.”

“Well, do we really have a choice, Marvin?!” Chase yelled in an uncharacteristic burst of anger. “Yeah, we could wait for you to go find a coma-waking-up spell, but by the time you’ve done that Jack could be dead! Bobby and Trevor could—” he stopped, hands clenched in fists by his sides. “Just—you gotta just try.” His voice was choked with sadness and trembling with fear.

Jackie and JJ gave Marvin identical imploring looks. The magician sighed deeply. “Okay, okay, I see your point.” He walked over to the side of the hospital bed, pulling on his mask again. “But don’ say I didn’t warn you.”

Sometimes, Marvin hated that he was the only one of the group with magic. It meant he was constantly being called on for things like this. Of course, he wasn’t going to refuse. But he’d like some sort of help sometimes.

Looking down at Jack, he took a deep, steadying breath. Maybe…maybe if he modified some sort of psychic spell. He wasn’t too good at those, but seeing as how a coma was mostly a mental thing, it seemed like the best shot. “Vityo qoid tuer vid ies…” he muttered. “Ego tuer psyk uto…”

The words called to the magic, no wand needed. Marvin felt the familiar snap of sparks between his fingers, and saw green at the edge of his vision. Normally, you’d need eye contact for psychic spells, but that was impossible when one of the participants was in a coma. So instead, he placed his hand on Jack’s forehead, pushing the spell out through his fingers into Jack’s mind.

flashes of a strange place…

terror and horror in equal measure…

running from monsters in a maze of corridors…

Marvin shuddered at the images. Was Jack having nightmares? No matter, he had to continue. He could feel the others’ eyes on him. But…now what to do? There were spells to put someone to sleep…maybe he could reverse them… “Imreud, niam e vijel aoré facsi’atys…”

Go ahead… tr̛y to fall asleep̶…

Go ahead…try to w̵ake͢ hi̴̷͞m҉͏̕ up͢…

This was wrong this was wrong this was wrong. Static was crackling an overlay in front of his vision and there was an awful frantic beeping coming from somewhere. Somebody was laughing laughing laughing at him. The spell was being turned against him but he couldn’t stop it he could see the swathes of green and purple magic leaking from his hands but he couldn’t stop them—

Somebody grabbed his wrist, trying to break contact with Jack. Marvin looked away from his comatose friend to see who it was but there was only a vague outline made of static. Then, with a sudden, electric snap! his hand was wrenched away. Magic sprayed across the hotel room, painting the walls in dark green and purple. Marvin collapsed. He would’ve fallen to the floor if he wasn’t being held upright by whoever managed to stop the corrupted spell.

“No! No!” Three others were running around the room, but Marvin saw them only as shadowy figures. Someone was yelling something about vitals as if through a long tunnel. Someone else responded, saying something about blood…

As the scene became more clear, Marvin pushed away from whoever was holding him. He blinked away the darkness. Jackie was standing in the room’s doorway, peering outside, frantically looking left and right to see if anyone had noticed what went down. Schneep was standing nearby, reading the green text on a heart monitor. Chase was on the other side of the bed, looking like he very much wanted to grab Jack and shake him awake but was also scared he would break him apart if he did. Marvin looked down at the comatose man; Jack’s eyes were bleeding, red flowing like tears. He turned around and saw JJ staring at him, half-reaching out in case he collapsed again.

“Thanks,” Marvin mumbled. JJ smiled and wiggled his mustache.

Jackie closed the door to the room, turning to the others. “I don’t think anyone noticed.”

“Wh-what was that?” Chase asked. “Was that him?”

“Yeah, no fucking shit, Chase,” Marvin growled.

“But, I-I mean how’d he do that?”

“I think…” Marvin hesitated, getting his thoughts together. “I think he hijacked the coma somehow.”

“This isn’t time for puns, Marvin!” Jackie yelled, frustrated.

“I didn’t—” the magician sighed. “Look, it’s the best word for it. I saw into Jack’s mind when I was trying to wake him up. He was-was having terrible nightmares. And I heard his voice…he wanted Jack to stay in the coma.”

With a cry of frustration, Schneep pushed over the heart monitor. It crashed to the floor. “Is nothing safe anymore?!” he shouted, voice cracking. “Why must we always fall to An—to him and his…his sadistic tendencies?! One time I try and do something right and he takes it and ruins it an-and poisons it!”

“Henrik, no…” Jackie said in a soft voice. “This isn’t your fault.”

“You do not know that, my friend.” Schneep’s voice was raw. “If-if someone else had been there…if I had been able to fight him off…this wouldn’t be happening!”

“Doc, you can’t seriously be blaming yourself,” Chase said, shocked. “You’re not the same as him. You never tried to hurt Jack.”

Schneep was silent at that. His shoulders slumped, and he leaned heavily against the wall. Marvin, Jackie, and Chase all exchanged looks. They’d seen their friend despair before…they’d even seen him blame himself before, when a patient on the operating table was lost. But this? This was something else, a whole new level.

JJ, perhaps being the only stranger in the group when it came to Schneep, stepped forward. He put a hand on the doctor’s shoulder, intending to comfort him.

It had the opposite effect.

Schneep stiffened, then staggered away with a strange, strangled cry. He turned and faced Jameson. There was a burning in his eyes. A look of horror, betrayal…and recognition. “You,” he said breathlessly.

Jameson looked shocked. But not in a surprised way. More in a I-didn’t-expect-to-face-this way. But he wasn’t confused. Marvin shifted, hand straying towards his wand. “Schneep, what do you—”

“You!” Schneep scrambled away from Jameson, knocking over an IV and another monitor in the process. He looked around, frenzied, searching for something to defend himself as he continued to back away. “Did you not think I would remember!? Did you not think you would be discovered!?”

Jackie hurried to Schneep’s side. “Henrik, I don’t know what you’re—”

“It’s him!” Schneep practically screamed the words. “The silent man! He works for Ant—for him! And you all are just letting him be here! Oh, you have been fooled, my friends, so dangerously fooled!”

“What? No, doc, you’ve got it all wrong,” Chase came over too, stepping between Schneep and JJ. “He’s not what you think he is.”

“Is he not? Or has he tricked you?” Schneep hissed. “I remember. I saw him that day we lost Jack. He was in the hospital, and he was in the observing room. He came after me.” The doctor looked nothing short of murderous. There wasn’t anything even remotely resembling a weapon in the hospital room, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t about to try and fight against this perceived threat. He steadied himself, and took a step forward.

Marvin drew his wand and pointed it at him.

Everyone froze.

“Look, I’m not going to pretend you don’t have a reason for this,” the magician said slowly. “I actually think you’re kind of justified. But you don’t know everything. So we’re all going to calm down and talk about this like reasonable people, damn it.”

Schneep said nothing, staring at the wand with wide eyes. He glanced over at Jameson, who looked away. “…fine,” he grumbled.

Then he bolted for the door.

Taken by surprise, Marvin barely had time to shoot a immobilize spell and miss before Schneep was out the door. “Shit!” Jackie cried. Chase probably would’ve said something along the same lines, but he was already on his way out. Jackie hesitated, looking over at Marvin and JJ to see if they were alright. JJ nodded, then gestured for Jackie to follow Chase. He did so, sprinting out of the room.

Silence.

“JJ…” Marvin said quietly. “Are you okay?”

Jameson glanced at him. He crossed his arms, looked down at his feet, and blinked rapidly. Then he signed, 'I want to go home.'

Marvin hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll go with you. I think…” Deep breath. “I think we need to leave this part to them.”

A JSE Fanfic
Chapter Five: This is the Police
[This is part 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. The kids are for sure missing, and Chase is the number one suspect in the eyes of the police. The boys have to scramble to piece together a way to get the kids back.]
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“Are you two gonna head home anytime soon?” Jackie asked, exasperated.

Marvin, lounging on the beanbag, looked over at JJ. “I dunno, you ready to go back yet?”

JJ, who was standing near the window and staring out, shrugged. 'I’m good to go at any moment. Just waiting for you, my good man.'

“I’m comfortable, dude, might as well stay a bit longer.”

Jackie sighed. Marvin was a great friend, fun to be around and also one hundred percent ready to defend the others at any cost. But sometimes the hero thought he existed for the sole purpose of annoying the shit out of him.

A loud, banging knock came from the door, causing everyone to jump.

'Were you expecting anyone, Jackie?' JJ asked.

“I don’t think so…” Jackie frowned.

More banging. “Open up, police!”

“Are you fucking kidding?” Marvin sat straight up. “Did we do something? I don’t think we did anything. JJ, did we do anything?”

The silent man shook his head, but Jackie could see the doubt on his face. “Maybe they found my location?” Jackie suggested, knowing that wondering about doing crimes was not good for JJ’s health. “I mean, it’s not exactly legal to dress up in a red suit and beat up criminals.”

Bang bang bang. “This is your last warning. Open up, or we’re breaking down the door.”

“Oh, jesus. Hang on!” Jackie quickly crossed the room to the apartment’s front door, opening it to reveal three police officers. “What seems to be the problem, officer? It can’t be anything worth breaking the door down. That shit’s expensive to replace, you know.”

The cop in front, a tall, dark-skinned man, answered. “We need to come in, sir.”

“Uh, d’you have a warrant? Or probable cause?” Jackie knew a bit about police work, and he wasn’t about to let them in when there was reason to refuse.

A female cop in back spoke up. “He looks like the guy, Beaton. Just in better shape and longer hair.”

“Who do I look like?” Actually, Jackie knew of six other people he looked like, two of whom were still in his apartment, but he needed specifics.

“What’s your name, sir?” The first cop, Beaton, asked.

“Uh, Jackie. Jackie Parker. I have an ID, if you wanna check. But I would still like to know why you’re here.”

“Fifteen minutes ago, somebody in this apartment made a call,” Officer Beaton explained. “This call went to one Stacy Davidson, whose children went missing two days ago. The caller is a suspect in the case.”

“Wait…are you talking about Chase?” Jackie had to fight hard to keep his expression surprised and nothing more. So Bobby and Trevor really were missing? What happened? Actually, they all knew what probably happened. He got a sick feeling in his stomach just thinking about it.

“Chase Brody was the name, yes. He a friend of yours?”

“Yeah, he was here not too long ago. But he’s gone now.”

“We still have to check, Mr. Parker. And we have to search for the children as well. If you don’t mind…”

“Uh, yeah. Sure, okay.” Jackie stepped aside, and the cops entered the apartment. Marvin and JJ, who had certainly heard every word, had moved to standing beside the couch, and observed the proceedings with wide eyes.

“What are you, triplets?” muttered one of the cops.

“This is no time for jokes, Alvirez,” Officer Beaton reprimanded. “You and Cameron search the place. I’ll talk to these two.”

The two cops nodded, splitting off into the bedroom and bathroom. Jackie sidled over so he was standing between his friends and Beaton. He didn’t really think the policeman would hurt them, but you never knew. Crooked cops were everywhere, and it was better to be safe. Marvin and JJ subtly shifted so they were standing even closer to each other.

“Alright,” Officer Beaton said. “I’m going to assume neither of you are Mr. Brody, but considering how all three of you look eerily similar to him, I’m going to need some sort of identification.”

“That’s stupid,” Marvin muttered. JJ and Jackie gave him discreet looks of 'are you crazy do you want to get arrested?' and the magician sighed. “But okay.” He reached into his jean pocket and withdrew a wallet, taking out a driver’s license and handing it over. Jackie did the same, using his work ID.

“This driver’s license is very expired,” Officer Beaton said. “But you’re clearly the guy in the picture. Marvin Moore, huh? Sounds familiar…”

“Yeah, I had my fucking fifteen minutes of fame a while ago,” Marvin drawled, rolling his eyes.

“Whatever. And you,” Beaton looked at Jackie, “seem to be who you say you are.” He turned to JJ. “Your turn, sir.”

Problem. JJ had absolutely no legal documents. Kinda hard to get identification for a man from the 1920′s. Swallowing nervously, JJ signed, 'I must’ve forgotten my ID at home.'

“What the…?”

“Jameson can’t talk,” Jackie hastily explained. “He’s saying he left his ID at home. That’s okay, right?”

“Assuming he didn’t drive here,” Officer Beaton muttered. “I think I could let this one slide.”

The other two cops reemerged. “Nothing, Beaton.” “Big negative here, boss.”

“Okay, looks like you three are off the hook.” Officer Beaton gave Jackie and Marvin their IDs back. “I’d be careful around your Brody friend, though. It’s never a good sign when the guy you’re hanging out with is suspected of kidnapping.”

“Chase is the nicest, funniest, most kind-hearted guy ever,” Jackie defended. “Whatever’s going on, I’m one hundred percent sure he’d never take his own kids by force.”

“Still, be careful. We’ll be on our way now.” The three cops left, closing the door behind them.

The three exchanged worried looks. “I think we should check on Chase,” Marvin suggested.
.............................................................................................

Currently, Chase was freaking out. Not only were his kids missing, not only were they under the control of a murderous glitch demon, not only were they being used to blackmail him into killing his best friend, but just to rub salt in the wound, he was the number one suspect for their disappearance. It wasn’t like he could tell the police “hey, I didn’t kidnap Bobby and Trevor, this weirdo reality-breaking doppelganger did!” Actually, that would probably make them even more suspicious of him. He’d end up in a psych ward.

So there was nothing he could do except let the detectives into his house, wait for them to get comfortable, then sit down and try not to look like his insides were being squeezed by an invisible fist of anxiety. Schneep hovered awkwardly in the corner, looking back and forth between Chase and the detectives.

“So, uh, you dudes gonna question me? Or something?” Chase asked.

“That is our job, after all,” said the taller one, Detective Bowman. “But you don’t have to worry.” That did not stop Chase from being worried. “When was the last time you saw your kids?”

“Uh, the 27th, 28th, and 29th. They were over for custody weekend. Their mom came over and picked them up Sunday night, and I haven’t heard from them since.”

Detective Akela jotted something down in his notebook. “And you didn’t see them at all during the week?”

“No, sir.”

“Hmm…” the detectives didn’t look convinced. Akela continued, “The mother, Stacy, told us that the kids had been staying up late at night, talking to someone. When she asked them about it, the daughter refused to answer, while the younger son admitted they’d been talking with their father. You.”

Shit. “Well, I dunno what to tell you. I mean, Trevor does have quite an imagination. Maybe he was just missing me?” Or maybe the two of them had actually been chatting with someone who looked eerily similar to Chase.

“According to Stacy, this had been going on for about two months, but increasing lately,” Bowman added. “You’ve had no contact with your kids during that time period?”

“Apart from custody weekends, no.”

Akela made another note. “Can you explain why you and your wife had a divorce?”

Chase felt a jolt somewhere deep in his stomach. “Uh, w-well, um…” he cleared his throat. “It-it was her decision. I can’t know what was in her head, but, I think she didn’t…she wasn’t…she didn’t like my job. And I mean, uh, we did kinda get married young. Maybe she thought she was…” Wasting her life. “…missing out.” And she didn’t want to be stuck with a useless, drunk bastard who couldn’t do anything for her or the kids even though he loved them more than life itself.

The detectives exchanged glances, having some sort of silent conversation. “Did you feel cheated, at all, when the court decided you could only see Roberta and Trevor on the weekends?” Bowman asked.

“I mean, yeah, it sucked, but I couldn’t do anything about it. And I’m glad I still get to see them at all.” Chase swallowed nervously. “But you have to believe me when I say I’d never try and—and steal them. I’m not that kind of person.”

“If you say so, Mr. Brody,” Bowman said. She did not sound convinced at all.

“Ihr wisst nichts über elternschaft.”

Chase jumped. He’d completely forgotten Schneep was in the room until he heard that muttered phrase. The detectives had apparently forgotten too, as they turned to look at him. “And who might you be?” Bowman asked, a little rudely. She’d apparently picked up on Schneep’s impertinent tone.

“I am Doctor Henrik von Schneeplestein, a good friend of Chase,” he explained. “And you are being very rude to a person you know nothing about.”

“We’re merely doing our job, sir,” Akela sounded like he was trying to stop the conversation before it could go any further.

“Then you are doing it badly. You should know no parent in their right mind would take their own child when they are perfectly happy where they are. Why are you even having this conversation? Chase shouldn’t even be an option for suspect.”

“We have to consider everyone,” Bowman said, gritting her teeth. “You’d be surprised what people are capable of.”

“I very much doubt that. But Chase is not able to do anything you think he is capable of doing. Maybe you should find more about your suspicion people before you blame them for things they would never do.”

“I think we’ve found out everything we need to.” Akela stood up, giving his partner a significant look. Bowman glared at Schneep one last time before also getting to her feet.

“Well, uh, thanks for coming over and…letting me know about Bobby and Trevor,” Chase said. “Can you keep me in the loop? I want to know when they’re safe.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Brody, we will,” Akela assured him. “We’ll be on our way now.”

“Good day,” Bowman said curtly.

As soon as the door shut behind the detectives, Chase stood up and turned to Schneep. “Well, there’s no denying it now,” he said. “He has them.”

The doctor sighed, and leaned against the wall. It was like his anger at the detective had given him temporary strength, which drained away the moment they were gone. “Yes, it would seem so. He may not hurt them, Chase. Not unless he finds out you are not doing what he wants you to.”

“Doc…I can’t take that chance. You know that. What should we do?”

“I…maybe…”

Chase jumped as his phone rang. Fumbling with his pocket, he pulled it out and saw Jackie’s name on the caller ID. He put the call on speaker and answered, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Hi Chase,” Jackie sounded slightly panicked. “This is, uh, this is going to sound weird but a couple cops just showed up at my apartment looking for you—”

“Wait, really? A couple detectives were at my house. They said Bobby and Trevor were missing.”

“Yeah, the cops here said the same thing. They…uh, I guess you know they think you did it?”

“Said as much.” Chase took a deep breath. “What are we going to do?”

Silence for a bit. Then, “Okay, JJ just suggested he and Marvin do the scrying thing they mentioned earlier as soon as possible. Just see where they are, so we can try to get them back.”

“Sounds good—”

“Chase, wait.” Schneep jumped in. “Your kids are not the only ones in danger.”

Chase felt his stomach sink. “You mean Jack.”

Schneep nodded. “I think we need to wake him up, so he is able to defend himself.”

“You know how to do that?”

“Of course I do. I am qualified doctor.”

“We can split into teams,” Jackie said on the other end of the line. “Marvin, JJ, and me are gonna head to the new house, try to find the kids. You two go back to the hospital, try to wake Jack up.”

“Sounds like a plan. Call you on any updates?”

“Yep. Good luck.”

“You too, dude.” The phone call ended, leaving a dial tone in its wake. Chase sighed. He hoped this would work. He didn’t want to think of the consequences of failure.