A JSE Fanfic
Part One: The Game
[This is the first 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. Jackie finds himself in the middle of a dangerous game, and his four friends are involved as well. In a matter of life or death, Jackie scrambles to keep up with this villain, desperate to protect the ones he cares about.]
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“Wake up Jackieboy. You have a busy night ahead of you.”

Most people, upon waking up to a strange voice calling their name after passing out in their apartment, would be understandably freaked out. Jackie not so much. Of course this was weird and suspicious and definitely not good news, but it was part of his life at this point. Now he just had to wonder who it was this time.

Jackie opened his eyes and saw he was lying on a bed, on top of red blankets. He noticed two things right away: one, he had a killer headache, and two, he was wearing his super suit, which he distinctively did not remember wearing before…before he got here. How did he get here? The last thing he did remember was heating up some leftover pizza after work and chowing down on it while he watched YouTube. It tasted a bit funny, and he did get pretty sleepy pretty quickly after eating it…oh.

He sat up, looking around the strange room. No windows, only one door. It reminded him a bit of a hotel room. He wasn’t sure why, it was something in the simple furniture: couch, long table against the wall, short coffee table, and armchair. None of the sitting furniture looked too comfortable to sit in. The walls were wallpapered red, to match the red and brown furniture. There was a screen mounted on the wall with speakers next to it.

“Ah, there you are. Right on time.” The screen flickered to life, showing static briefly before clearing to a red screen. “I was starting to worry I messed up my calculations for the dosage.”

“Who are you?” Jackie stood up and addressed his demands toward the screen. “Where am I? How did you get inside my apartment?”

“Uh, lockpicking. It’s a useful skill that most people overlook. As for your other questions…” A map of the city popped up on the screen, with a red dot blipping into being in the northeast part of the city. “You are here. And I’m definitely not going to tell you who I am. At least, not right away.”

“Ooookay…” Jackie’s eyes darted towards the room’s door. It was probably locked, but couldn’t hurt to try. He turned and walked towards it.

“Oh you do not want to leave yet.”

Jackie stopped in his tracks. That was…an odd thing to say. Well, it confirmed that this guy—male voice, higher pitch than his own, American accent—had visual on him as well as audio. Jackie turned back to the screen. “Why?”

“Well, I heard you were a fan of games.”

Jackie laughed. “Okay, Jigsaw, you want to play a game?” He folded his arms. “Let’s cut to the chase, why don’t we? What if I don’t play? Are you going to kill me?”

“I guess you’ve been threatened so much that situations like this don’t exactly phase you, then?” The voice sounded…intrigued. And slightly amused. “That makes sense. Anyway, no, I’m not going to kill you. But it’s in your best interest to play along. Or actually, your friends’ best interest.”

Jackie felt his heart stop, then resume, pumping ice through his veins. “…what?” The word was barely audible.

“Oh yeah.” The map on the screen vanished, four pictures replacing it. Jackie turned to stone as he realized who the pictures were of. Chase, Schneep, Marvin, and Jameson. All the pictures had the look of being taken candidly, capturing them as they went about their business in the city, photos from a distance, around corners, and through leaves. “I know where you live, Jackieboy. You think I don’t know who your friends are?”

“What did you do?” It came out as a whisper, so he repeated the words, louder with rage. “What did you do?! If you’ve done anything to them—”

“You won’t be able to do anything about it.”

Jackie growled and kicked the back of the armchair.

The voice laughed. “But don’t worry! They’re perfectly fine. Or, they are right now, at least. I can’t promise they will be later tonight.”

Jackie’s heart was pounding as if he’d just ran 30 meters in a dead sprint. His eyes flicked back and forth between the photos on the screen. His friends. This psycho had his friends. “What…what are you going to do? What do you want from me?”

“Well, it’s very simple.” The pictures on the screen disappeared, replaced by a white screen with bullet points. “First of all.” The bullet points filled in as the voice talked. “I’ll give you a series of puzzles to solve. These puzzles will lead you to locations where your friends are, and tell you which one is there. Second, you have six hours to solve these puzzles and get to all your friends.” A clock popped on screen, showing the time: 12:09am. “If you fail to get to anyone in time, you lose the game and…well, you won’t be seeing them again. And finally, if you get help from anyone, if you go to the police, you forfeit the game. Which is a form of losing. And again, you can say goodbye to anyone you’ve left behind if you lose. Any questions?”

By this point, Jackie had taken off his super suit’s glove so he could chew on his nails. Okay. Seemed simple enough, even if the stakes were high. He could do puzzles. Hopefully. “If—I mean, when I get my friends back, can I ask them for help or do they count for the third rule?”

“Of course. What else are friends for?”

Jackie exhaled, releasing tension he didn’t know he was holding.

“Are you ready to play?”

“I…uh…” Jackie hesitated, then nodded. “How do I start?”

“Look on the table by the wall. Do you see a flat package there?” An arrow appeared on the screen, pointing toward the table. There was indeed a flat cardboard box. “Inside it is a laptop. The first set of puzzles is on there, in the files.”

Jackie glared at the package. He didn’t know if he should trust anything this voice gave to him. But he didn’t think the guy would send the puzzles to his own personal laptop. He walked toward the table and snatched up the package.

“There will be four sets of puzzles,” the voice explained. “Increasing in difficulty, of course. Don’t worry, you can use Google, this is an open-book quiz. Just know I’ll be watching. And hurry up! It is currently ten minutes after midnight. You have until 6:10am to solve all the puzzles.” A timer popped up on screen, reading six hours. “The game starts now. Go!” The timer started ticking down.

Jackie didn’t even reply, just ran towards the door, threw it open, and came out into a run-down hallway, lined with doors with one at the end. He dashed towards the door at the end, pushed through it, and stumbled onto the street. He looked left, right, then ran toward the city center.

Six hours.

The game was on.

Part Six of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Dr. Newson decides to drop in on Laurens's session with Schneep, and things don't exactly go well from there.]
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Dr. Laurens sighed, rubbing her eyes. Okay, she was good to go for today. She had the case file, her notebook, and a pen, and she’d made sure to eat beforehand. She was…weirdly tired, but ready. Now, she stood from her spot on the break room couch and went to leave. She opened the door, and gasped. “O-oh, Dr. Newson, you surprised me,” she laughed. “I didn’t expect anyone to be right there.”

Dr. Newson smiled. “Sorry about that, Rya. But hey, this is perfect. I was just looking for you.”

“You were?” Laurens couldn’t help a jolt of anxiety. Was she doing something wrong? “What about?”

“Well, do you mind if I sit in on your session today?”

“Uh…can I ask why?”

“Oh, you know.” Dr. Newson shrugged. “As the head of the hospital, I can sit in on any of your sessions. You remember that? Think of it as a quality check.”

She DID remember that was a policy. But… “I-I thought—I mean, you’ve never done that before.”

“I have, actually, just not for you.” Dr. Newson gave a tight smile, pushing a length of blonde hair out of her face. “Now, shall we?”

“Um…okay.” Laurens started down the hall, Dr. Newson on her heels. As they walked in silence, Laurens couldn’t help but feel…well, she couldn’t quite place it. She just didn’t think this was a good idea. Maybe if this session had been with any other patient she would’ve felt alright about it, but she only had one patient right now, and he’d already met Dr. Newson. And he didn’t like her.

Laurens arrived at Room 1010, seeing Oliver waiting outside the door. She nodded at him. “Hi.”

“Hey, doc.” Oliver then noticed Dr. Newson, and hurriedly straightened. “Oh, Dr. Newson! Um, hello. Wha-what are—how are you doing? What are you doing here?”

“I’m doing great, thank you,” Dr. Newson said cheerfully. “Just sitting in on Rya’s session today.”

“Uh. Cool.” Oliver folded his arms, then unfolded them, then folded them again, clearly nervous. He looked at Laurens. “So, uh, should we start?”

“Just real quick, one thing,” Laurens said. “You delivered his medicine this morning, right? Did you see him take it?”

“Yeah, yeah I did.” Oliver nodded. “Learned my lesson from two weeks ago, stayed to make sure.”

“Okay, great.” Laurens exhaled quietly. Things were starting to get a little better again, since she’d switched up Schneep’s prescription. Still a little rough, but it might even out after the transition period. At least he wasn’t banging his head against the walls.

“Um, what happened two weeks ago?” Dr. Newson asked, looking down at Laurens.

“Nothing too important, we sorted it,” Laurens hurried to say. It…wasn’t really Dr. Newson’s place to know, was it? Sure, she was her boss, but it wasn’t a policy to share details about medication with other doctors. “We should get started now. Let’s go.”

The three of them entered Room 1010. Schneep was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He looked over when the door opened, lifting his head when he saw Laurens. But then he noticed Dr. Newson, and his expression darkened to a scowl. He sat up. “What is she doing here?”

Laurens swallowed. Yep, not going to go well. She forced a smile. “Hi, Schneep. You know Dr. Newson, I know. She’s just supervising today.”

“Why?”

“I-it’s just a routine check. This happens sometimes,” Laurens explained.

Dr. Newson hadn’t taken her eyes off Schneep since walking in the room. “Hello, Henrik.”

“Do not call me that,” Schneep growled. “In fact, do not talk to me.”

“She’ll just be watching.” Laurens jumped in before Dr. Newson could say anything in reply. “It’ll be fine. Dr. Newson, if you would just stand over there.”

“Oh, of course.” Dr. Newson flashed another smile, then went to stand by Oliver, who’d taken his normal position in the corner.

Laurens tried not to look visibly relieved as she took her normal seat in the room’s chair, placing her notebook on the table in front of her. “So. How are we doing today, Schneep?” She asked.

Schneep kept glaring in Dr. Newson’s direction for a few seconds more, then turned to look at Laurens. “Fine, I suppose. I am feeling a bit…tired.”

He’d been saying that for the past week. “That could be a side effect of your new prescription,” she said. “If it stays like that for another week, then we should probably change it. Nothing else?”

“Not that I can think of,” Schneep said slowly. “I am a little bored, if I am being honest.”

“I can bring you another book?” Laurens suggested.

“That would be wonderful.”

She made a note of that to herself. “Alright. Got it. So when we last left off—”

“Excuse me.”

Laurens started, looking back over to the corner. “Yes, Dr. Newson? I—you know I can’t conduct the session if I interrupt?” She hoped that was a polite way to put it.

“Yes, yes, I know, it’s just—one thing.” Dr. Newson started twirling a length of hair around her finger. “I’ve been looking at your reports, and I’ve noticed you haven’t really talked about any of the…incidents, you know? I’m just surprised. It’s been three months, after all.”

“Well…that hasn’t really been my top priority?” It came out sounding like a question.

“It’s just a little incredible, you know?” Dr Newson drawled. “It seems like understanding those would be important to understanding everything else.” She perked up. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you spend this session on one of those incidents? What about the Christmas one?”

Laurens was speechless for a moment. “Well, we had plans for today. Th-that seems a bit…counterproductive? And besides—”

“Dr. Laurens?” Schneep said quietly. “I-I do not mind.”

She looked back at him. “Are you sure? We don’t have to.”

Schneep pulled his legs up onto the bed, sitting cross-legged. He wasn’t looking at her. Or anyone in the room, really, his head turned to the side. “Is fine. It had to happen eventually, yes?” He sounded…resigned. “And I suppose if it will get her to stop her talking, we can talk about the Christmas one.”

“Ah…okay, um…” Laurens picked up the case file and flipped through it. She hadn’t prepared for this. She had no idea what to talk about, and…and she didn’t want to think about the Christmas incident. Because thinking about that reminded her about what she discovered last week. That Schneep’s friend Jackie had disappeared the same day. She still wasn’t sure if that correlation meant that…that Schneep had something to do with…it could just be a random turn of fate. But she definitely didn’t want anyone else putting those pieces together, in case they jumped to conclusions.

She finally found the report in the file, quickly scanning over it, refreshing her memory. “Alright. Let’s start with something simple.” She looked up at Schneep. “How much of this do you remember?”

“I…” Schneep was now facing her, but his eyes glanced to the side again. “I remember…walking around town. Late at night. There was a list of places to go, five of them. And there were times to be there. And…” He broke off.

That matched up with the police report. Five people had been taken during the previous few days, and on the 24th, the police had been sent a cryptic video message. It instructed them to puzzle out the locations where the five were being held, and if they didn’t reach the locations by a certain time, then they’d die. Of course, the police had immediately started the search, figuring out the hints in the video messages sent throughout the night. The entire department had stayed up overnight, keeping watch, but they still weren’t in time to save three. “I see…” Laurens said. “What about the messages? Can you tell me anything about them?”

“Those were made before,” Schneep muttered. “I just said what I was told to.”

“I see.” Laurens had never actually seen any of the video footage, but she knew what it contained. Among various imagery meant to freak viewers out, there were snippets of Schneep on the camera, sometimes giving clues for the next location, sometimes giving speeches that…well, quite frankly, didn’t sound like him at all. “Someone told you to say those things? Are you comfortable telling me who?”

Schneep flinched. “You know…” The two words were almost too quiet to hear.

Laurens nodded. “Alright, you don’t have to say anything else.” She turned to a page in her notebook, writing. She could figure who Schneep was referring to. This shadowy figure, who he felt controlled him. “Do you know why he would tell you to say that?”

Schneep shook his head silently. She recognized that she wasn’t going to get much more about the shadowy ‘him’ today. Honestly, she was lucky she got as much as she had so far, given how terrified Schneep was, saying that speaking about the shadow would give it power. Maybe she could ask again another time.

There was a dry cough. Laurens looked over to the corner of the room again. “Yes?”

“I’m so sorry to keep interrupting,” Dr. Newson said, not sounding apologetic at all. “But, well, you’re kind of tiptoeing around the subject, aren’t you?”

Laurens blinked. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“You’re talking about everything leading up to the incident, but not really the incident itself,” Dr. Newson explained. “You know?”

“I don’t know, actually.”

“The three people,” Dr. Newson explained. “The ones who were…” She stopped, uncharacteristically silent for a moment. “You know, those ones.”

Schneep had flinched again the moment Dr. Newson had mentioned ‘the three people,’ shrinking in on himself. He started shaking his head the moment she was finished. Laurens looked over at him. “We don’t have to talk about them. We can continue—”

“I mean,” Dr. Newson interrupted. “It seems pretty important. Did we ever really get a motive from him? Maybe knowing that would help you do your job.”

“Do not talk about me like I am not here,” Schneep suddenly said. His eyes locked on Laurens. “I-I can tell you anything else about that night, but not—not the—not…that part.”

“That’s fine, we can get to that another time,” Laurens reassured him. “Now—”

“So if you believe something else is in charge of you, do you think it’s the one who did it that night?” Dr. Newson butted in. She took a step forward. “Or was it something else?”

“Um, excuse me,” Laurens said, straightening in her seat. She glanced over at Oliver, who was looking at her, confused and unsure about what to do. Laurens could only shake her head in return. She’d never seen Dr. Newson act like this. So…aggressively. “Dr. Newson, this is not your session. I-it’s not really very helpful, since we have a lot to cover in an hour.”

“Well, if you’re not covering the right things, then I don’t see why I shouldn’t step in to help,” Dr Newson said. “I mean, isn’t that something we want to know about? I checked the court records, you know, there’s nothing very clear about why he killed so many people by—”

Schneep suddenly stood up, eyes alight. “I do not know your problem with me, but please tell me! Or else shut your mouth before I shut it for you! Come back another time when there is not more important things to do!”

“Are you threatening me?” Dr Newson asked in a low voice. “I’m sure you remember how well that went last time! Believe it or not, we do have more secure housing than this that we could transfer you to.”

Schneep laughed. “You think I am scared of what else you can do to me? I assure you, it is not the worst I can think of! Why don’t you? And I will scratch your throat out when you try!”

“If you keep going down this path, then I’ll have to! I mean, why not? If the court hadn’t decided to send you here, they would’ve sent you somewhere even worse. This is a lot better than you deserve, you should be—”

“Dr. Newson!” Laurens yelled. “You will leave this room right now!”

Everyone fell silent. Newson stared at Laurens, as if processing her words. “…I’m sorry?”

Laurens took a deep breath. “You will leave this room right now. You are disrupting what’s supposed to be a healing experience. We can’t continue if you’re going to keep on like this.”

The silence continued stretching. Newson didn’t look away from Laurens, who held her gaze. After what felt like ages, Newson took a step back. “Very well.” She turned on her heel, heading towards the door. But not before throwing out one last comment: “On second thought, I’m not sure I want to be in the same room as someone who killed his best friend.”

Schneep stiffened, backing up. He’d gone very pale. “Wh-what?”

Newson turned around. “Well, I don’t know if he was your BEST friend, but he was one of them, wasn’t he?”

“Who are you…?” Schneep croaked out.

Laurens wondered the same for a moment, but then her veins ran cold. No…Newson couldn’t have possibly figured out…but then again, she did have access to the case file as well…

“The investigator one. Jackie Donovan? I checked his missing person report; he disappeared on Christmas Eve, didn’t he?” Newson shook her head. “The very same day you were out wandering the streets, leaving behind videos for the police and killing innocent people.”

“You are lying,” Schneep said breathlessly. His hands were shaking. Laurens opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. “You—you are doing this on purpose! Trying to upset me!”

“You can throw any types of words at me, just don’t call me a liar. I can bring the report for you to see, if you really have to.” She sighed. “Guess you ran into each other that night. Maybe he saw what you were doing, and it wouldn’t surprise me if you decided it would be easiest to—”

Someone screamed, and Laurens suddenly found herself losing her balance and toppling to the floor as something shoved her. She caught herself with one hand, pushing herself to a kneeling position. Looking up, she realized Schneep had rushed past her, knocking her over to get to Newson. And Newson was now pressed against the wall, trying to cover her face in a futile attempt to defend herself. Schneep was on the attack, fists flying. And he kept screaming.

“Henrik, no!” Laurens shot to her feet, running over. “Oliver, help!”

Oliver was already on the move, trying to pull Schneep away. But Schneep was determined. He grabbed the collar of Newson’s coat, shaking her until her head slammed against the wall. Laurens grabbed his wrist in an attempt to break his hold, prying at his fingers. She didn’t succeed, but she distracted Schneep long enough for Oliver to grab his other arm, quickly inserting a needle and pressing down.

Schneep shrieked wordlessly, finally backing away, arms pinwheeling. It was too late, of course, the sedative was already in his system. He shook his head back and forth, covering his ears. “I did not kill him!” He screamed. “I did not kill him! No! No, I would never! It does not matter what happens to me, I would never!”

“Of course not, Henrik,” Laurens said in a soft voice. “I believe you.”

“No, you do not believe!” He laughed. “You never have, have you? You just say it so I stay under control. Like him. This is no different, is it? Nothing has changed. Nothing, nothing, nichts, nichts!” He staggered backwards, slumping against the bed. “I did not kill my friend. You could not make me, I would die before.” A shudder wracked his body. “No, I-I would know. If…if it was an accident, I-I would still know, and I would not. I would never. Please. Please…say I would never.” His voice cracked.

Laurens could see tears dripping from his eyes. She took a step forward. “You…you wouldn’t do that. Never.”

Schneep didn’t seem to hear her. He looked up at the ceiling, continuing to mutter and plead under his breath.

Behind her, Laurens heard a groan. She turned around to see Newson standing up straight, rubbing at a spot on her shoulder. “Jesus christ…” she muttered. “I…wasn’t expecting that.”

“Maybe you should’ve been,” Laurens mumbled.

“I heard that,” Newson snapped. She hissed as she moved her arm. “Wow. Hits hard for a…um. Anyway. Oliver, could you…?” She gestured vaguely at Schneep.

Oliver stared at her blankly for a moment before nodding, and crossing the room to stand next to Schneep. He leaned down, scooping him up. Schneep tried to resist, but the sedative was starting to kick in, so any struggles were reduced to small wiggles and loose gestures. His eyelids fluttered.

“Thanks,” Newson said. “I think he needs some time in the quiet room. You mind taking him there?”

“…sure,” Oliver said after a long hesitation. He glanced over at Laurens, and when she remained silent, he walked to the room’s door and left, carrying Schneep with him.

“And you. Dr. Laurens.” Newson turned her gaze on her. “You should go home.”

Oh shit. “Okay,” Laurens said quietly.

“Come in early tomorrow. I want to talk to you.”

“Okay.”

And without another word, Newson turned and left.

Laurens remained, standing in the center of the room, for a while longer. Her stomach sank as it really hit her what just happened. Well, she’d been right when she thought earlier that this wouldn’t end well. She’d never seen Newson so…god, she didn’t even know the words to describe it. Pushy. ANGRY. She’d seen Newson interact with other patients before, and she was totally different there. Actually helpful. Why did she hate Schneep so much?

And then Laurens had yelled at her to leave. She’d YELLED at her boss. It was starting to hit her that she might be fired. Which, maybe she would’ve been fine with under other circumstances, but now? She would be leaving behind a patient who needed her. Schneep trusted her, but it had taken three months to get to this point. He’d be alone, starting from square one with some other doctor. Maybe even Newson, and that would not be a pretty picture.

Laurens took a deep breath. Well, she’d have to argue her case really well tomorrow, then. She gathered her notebook and the case file, and left the room.

She picked up her things from her locker in the employees’ area, then headed towards the entrance. She was almost there when a familiar figure blocked her way. “Hi, Oliver,” she sighed. “Um…how did it go?”

“Good, I guess.” Oliver hesitated. “I-I just wanted to say that…that it was good that you stepped in when Dr. Newson was getting angry with him. That’s…that’s a decent thing. And I’m sorry I didn’t help much back there.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t even know I would be doing that,” Laurens said. “Hey, if…if anything happens to me, are you going to keep being the orderly for this case?”

Oliver looked down. “I mean, yeah, hopefully.”

“That’s good. You’re…you do a good job.” Laurens paused. If she got fired tomorrow, she’d like it if someone…she pulled out the keycard to Schneep’s room, then opened the case file and tucked it inside. She placed it on top of her notebook and held the pile out to Oliver. “Can you hold onto this?”

“Uh, sure?” Oliver looked confused, but he reached out to take it anyway, grabbing it. “Won’t you need it tomorrow, though?”

Laurens didn’t let go. She looked him in the eyes. “Could you. Hold on. To this?” She emphasized.

Oliver’s eyes widened, seeming to understand as he looked back and forth between the file and her face. He nodded vigorously. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

Laurens breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.” She let go of the file, letting Oliver take it. “I’ll…see you tomorrow, maybe.”

“See ya.”

And with that, she walked out, heading to her car.
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Ding.

The small sound was enough to wake Chase up. He sat up, wincing at a sudden shoot of pain in his neck. He must’ve fallen asleep on the couch…at around midday. Well, that was an unexpected nap, but it wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t like he’d had anything else planned. Rubbing his eyes, he picked up his phone from where it was sitting on the coffee table, checking the lock screen for a notification that would make that sound.

The first thing he saw was a text—from JJ. "Chase? I’m on break for an hour, do you want to meet up for lunch or anything like that?"

Chase smiled. It was nice of him to offer, but…his grin faded as he replied, "Nah, I dont really feel up 4 anything"

"If you’re sure." The first text was immediately followed by another. "Did you happen to leave your house at all this last week?"

"I went to go see Schneep on Friday."

"And now it’s Wednesday. "

"Dont judge me." Chase immediately winced after sending that one. "Sorry that came off rude I didnt mean it like that."

The little text bubble appeared and disappeared again for a while, as if JJ was trying to figure out what to say. "So, have you had anything proper to eat or just takeout and macaroni?"

Chase didn’t bother to answer that one. He squirmed where he was sitting. He knew this was all well-meaning, but…he couldn’t help but feel like he was doing something wrong. Like he was about to get a bad grade in ‘being a person.’ "Its just been a rough couple of weeks", he finally replied. "A low slump. It happens"

"Seems like a pretty low slump," JJ remarked. "Did you see the kids last weekend?"

"Yeah." It had been…exhausting. Four-year-olds had a lot of energy that he just couldn’t seem to keep up with recently.

"And that’s good, isn’t it? That’s a positive."

"Yeah, guess so." He paused. "Yknow I really appreciate you checking in on me, but you have other things to do, right? You dont have to keep doing this"

A long pause from JJ, as well. "I suppose you’re right, on some level. I do hope you know this isn’t an obligation, or anything. I check on you because I want to. But I suppose I can’t be there all the time. Which is why I’ve been wondering something…have you considered therapy?"

Chase bit his lip, thinking how to reply. Yeah, of course he had. But…he wasn’t that bad, right? He didn’t really need it. And besides…"Isnt that kinda expensive? I dont have $400 to spare when I need groceries and stuff. Not that he was buying those either, recently."

"Lol when will you catch on that all health care here costs a lot less? "

"Idk give me another year, well go for five. Anyway I dont even know where youd get a therapist"

"That’s what Google is for. Or I can give you mine’s number!"

Chase stared down at the text for a few moments before fully taking it in. "I didnt know you went to therapy"

"I do! Why do you think I’m never available Mondays at three?"

"I just kinda assumed you had work then, I dunno. "

"Well now you know."

That…surprised him. He wasn’t sure why, he just…wasn’t expecting that to come from JJ. He didn’t want to pry, though, so he changed the topic a bit. "Im still not sure, bro. It just doesnt seem like I…idk what Im saying"

"Well, at least consider it," JJ sent. "And even if you decide against it, there are a lot of tips that can help you, I’m sure. Even something as simple as walking around the house can help lift a funk."

"Really?" Chase looked at the clock on his phone. God, last time he’d checked the time it was nine, now it was closer to two. He’d really just sat down and spaced out for five hours before falling asleep. That probably wasn’t good. "Maybe Ill try that"

He stood up, stretching, rolling his neck to work out the kink. Just walk around for a few minutes, huh? Maybe he could open the curtains a bit more, wasn’t there supposed to be some benefit to sunlight? He crossed the room to the window, pulling said curtains out more. As he did so, he looked outside.

Wait…what was that?

Chase squinted. There was someone standing out on the street, right across from his window. From this distance, it looked like a man. But he couldn’t see the face, because this person was wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up. The man had his hand raised to the side of his face, and…was it just him, or was the man looking right at his window?

But Chase had barely registered this question when the man lowered his hand, showing he’d been holding a phone to his ear. The man turned and continued down the street. So…maybe he’d just stopped to take a phone call? That made sense, didn’t it? Still, Chase felt uneasy.

Another ding of a text notification from his phone. Chase looked down at the screen. "That’s the spirit! Tell me how it goes. :p"

Chase laughed a bit under his breath. "I will, bro," he replied. He turned away from the window. Maybe he’d go into the kitchen, make something to eat that wasn’t just a bag of chips.

But he hesitated, turning back to look out the window once more. Something felt…wrong.
.............................................................................................

Laurens pulled up the driveway of her house, parking her car and getting out. What a day. And tomorrow…well, she had to make sure she said all the right things. She’d start planning right away.

“Hello?”

She shrieked, falling back against the car and reaching inside her purse.

“Whoa, hey, didn’t mean to startle you! Uh, sorry for dropping by without notice, my phone died.”

Her breathing slowed, and she relaxed as she recognized the voice and face. “Hi, Chase,” she said. “You scared me.”

“Yeah, uh. Sorry.” Chase shrugged, shifting on his feet.

“It’s fine,” she waved away. “Um, how’d you get here?”

“I drove a bit, but I didn’t want to park in front of anyone’s house in case that was weird, so I walked from the gas station,” he explained. “And I uh, found your address in the phone book. Cause you gave me your number.”

“I see.” Laurens nodded. “So…what’s up? I mean, why did you show up at my house in person?”

“I know, it’s weird, and I probably should’ve met you at Silver Hills, but they said you already left by the time I got there,” Chase said. “Anyway, like I said, my phone died, I lost my charger, and I wanted to talk to you about Henrik.”

“Okay.” Laurens sighed internally. This day just kept getting worse. “Well, we can talk about it inside.” She was tired. If more stress-inducing things were going to happen, at least she could be sitting down while they did.

Chase flashed a sharp grin. “Sounds perfect.”

She turned around. For a moment, she thought that Chase’s right eye had looked…a little bit weird, in a way she couldn’t exactly place.

And then a set of hands reached around and grabbed her, covering her mouth.

She cried out, kicking at “Chase’s” legs, but to no avail. The hands slammed the back of her head against the side of her car, and everything went dark as she immediately blacked out.

Part Six 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. Schneep sees Chase and follows him, trying to get him back. Unfortunately, he walks right into a trap.]
.............................................................................................

“Hey doc. Just checking in. Everything good? Uh, your shift ends at midnight, right? Me and JJ will come pick you up. And Schneep, since I know you’re thinking something along the lines of ‘that’s stupid I can do what I want,’ this is not negotiable. You’re not walking home alone through the dark city at night. Emphasis on alone. I-I don’t…want a repeat of last time, or…Chase. So we’re getting you. Safety in numbers. Cool, see you then. Bye.” With a beep, the voicemail ended.

Schneep didn’t trust it. Not one bit. Anti had already proven himself able to influence technology, who’s to say this wasn’t a trick of his? Still, the question was, if this wasn’t a trick and Jack really had sent that voicemail, could he afford to ignore it? JJ and Chase had been alone when they were attacked. He’d been alone, that night in December. It wasn’t safe. But if the voicemail was fake, then it wasn’t safe either. Schneep continued to struggle with this dilemma all the way through his shift, even as he set bones and preformed heart surgery.

The clock ticked to twelve o’clock, and he checked out, still having not made a decision. He changed out of his scrubs and headed toward the exit. Quite honestly, he didn’t like walking down the hospital halls anymore, especially when they were fairly empty. He went out of his way to check that there were indeed other people in the building, to check that it actually was real.

By the time he got to the hospital entrance, he still wasn’t sure what to do. He stopped next to the reception desk. Shelly, the receptionist, glanced at him. “You ‘kay there, doc?” she asked cheerfully. “You look kinda confuzzled.”

Schneep shook his head. “My friend said he was going to come walk me home.”

“Oh, and you don’t see him, huh? Isn’t he the one that’s your clone or somethin’? ‘Cause someone like that came in and asked about you earlier.”

“Really?” Schneep asked.

“Uh-huh. I told him you were in the O.R., and he said he’d wait outside. Even after I told him it would be fine to wait here, it is the waiting room after all.” Shelly laughed. “But he was very insistent. It is a warm night, so I let him.”

“And…there was only one of him?” Jack said in the voicemail that JJ was going to come too. Had something happened?

“Yeah.”

“Can you…give a bit more of a description?”

“Oh, sure.” Shelly pursed her lips, remembering. “He didn’t look too good, really. Kinda sick. He was wearing a grey shirt and a grey scarf and he kept his hands tucked deep in his pockets. And he had a cap pulled down over his eyes.”

Schneep paled. That wasn’t Jack or JJ, that was…but it had been nearly three months since what happened back in May, why’d he show up now? True, sometimes the three of them would receive taunts from Anti about him, but Schneep got the feeling this was something more serious than mere mockery. “You—you said he was waiting outside?”

Shelly nodded. “Are you sure you’re okay, doc? You look…”

“I am fine,” Schneep insisted. “I-I am leaving now. Good night, Shelly.” He didn’t wait to hear her return his good night, just walked straight toward to hospital entrance and pushed outside.

The outside wasn’t exactly dark, per say. The hospital had lamps set up. But currently one was out and a few were dimming, and the hospital was short-staffed enough that replacing the bulbs was not high on the list of custodial priorities. There were patches of shadow all over the roundabout and the nearby parking lot. At first glance, nobody was outside. But then Schneep turned his head to the left and saw him. A familiar silhouette leaning against the wall, right in one of the dark patches. He turned his head toward the doctor with a sudden jerky movement.

Schneep inhaled sharply. “Chase?” he whispered.

There was no answer. For a moment, Chase just stood there. Then without warning, he pushed away from the wall and ran in the other direction.

“Wait!” Schneep knew that Chase wouldn’t respond, but he couldn’t stop himself from calling out. He started to follow him before stopping abruptly. This couldn’t be a good idea. But…it was Chase, for god’s sake. If there was a chance, he had to try. Though, just in case, he had to tell the others where he was going. He knew the phone wasn’t safe, but he texted Jack a quick summary anyway: "I saw Chase outside the hospital. He ran away and I know it is not best thing to do but I need to do this." After a moment’s hesitation, he added, "Jack, you know you are one of my best friends? I just want you to know. Tell JJ too. Thank you." Then he pocketed the phone and ran after Chase.

It soon became clear that Chase wasn’t trying to run away, he was trying to lead him somewhere. Whenever Schneep got too far behind, Chase would stop and wait for him to close the distance before taking off again. Schneep tried to look around and memorize his surroundings, where they were in the city. But it wasn’t too long before he didn’t recognize anything. Where could they be going?

They reached an office building that looked like it had been abandoned for years. The windows were boarded up, and the stone facade was cracked in places. Schneep watched as Chase walked up to the door, pulled it open, and went inside. After a short pause, Schneep went inside as well.

The door swung shut behind him. Schneep immediately spun back around and pushed on it, but it wasn’t locked. It opened fine. That was odd. He could leave if he wanted…

He stood there for a moment before letting the door swing shut again. Then, slowly, he turned around again.

The medium-sized room was devoid of furniture. There were bare lightbulbs dangling from the ceiling. The walls were ripped open, exposing pipes and a lot of electrical wires and equipment. On the far side of the room was a pair of elevator doors, and an empty door frame revealing a stairwell going up. Chase was standing in between the elevator and the stairs, hands in pockets, a scarf around his neck. Schneep couldn’t stop himself from noticing how pale and thin he was. His cap was tilted up, and the static film was visible even across the room.

“Chase?” Schneep asked hesitantly. No answer. “Chase, can you—can you hear me?”

“Ye̸s̨.”

Schneep shuddered, hearing the white noise breaking his voice. “Why are we here? Did you…did you want to see me?”

“The͠y̸ w̵ant͏ed t͠o̵ s̡ee y͝ou̵.͡”

“But what about you, Chase?” Schneep said softly. “What do you want?”

“I want͡ to ̸he̛l̡p the͝m.“ Chase pulled at the scarf around his neck and let it drop to the floor. “S͠ee̷?”

The sight of the green stitches made Schneep’s heart wrench. “That is not—Chase, that is not proof of good intentions. We just want you to come home, why can you not do that?”

“B̛eca̧uşȩ ̡I̛’m aļready ͢t̴hȩre͡.” The elevator doors opened. Without looking away from Schneep, Chase backed up and stepped inside.

“No—!” Schneep sprinted forward, but the elevator doors closed before he was even halfway across the room. Still, he would not be deterred. He ran through the empty doorway and into the stairwell. Looking up, the stairs extended in a rickety spiral. He didn’t know where Chase was going. He didn’t even have a guess. So he’d be forced to check each floor systematically. Fine. He’d do it.

First floor from the bottom. Nothing. More bare lightbulbs and exposed wiring. A few cables dangling from the ceiling. There was only one room, as the door into the next had been boarded up. Second floor from the bottom, same result. But on the third floor, things changed. The lightbulbs were red now. A few TVs were stacked in the corners of the room, showing static. There was no boarded-up door, because there wasn’t a door at all.

Schneep was just about to leave when there was a break in the hiss of the static from the TV screens. A laugh. “Do you en͏̸͏j̴o̶̴y͟ going in ç͟͠i̸͟rc̕le̶̕s͏̢̡?̴̨” There was no doubt about who was asking that question.

“Shut the fuck up,” Schneep growled. He went back out into the stairwell and slammed the door behind him.

The fourth floor was just like the third, but with the addition of more TVs. “Why so h̢͞o̧s͡t̛i̸͞lȩ, doctor?”

“You know exactly why!” When he returned to the stairwell again, the lights had gone red.

Fifth floor. There were wires on the floor and the TVs were mounted on the walls. “You’re blaming m̨̨e̷͟ for what happened t̵o̡̢ ̛͝y̨o̶̡̕u̕r̷͢ ̨f̵̧riend̛̛s̕? Those two ş̸e̴̢͠a̷͢l̷ed ̡̧͢t͟͝h̕ei̡ŗ̴ ͢o̴̧͞w̵͠n̶͞ ̸̛fa͠t̛͞e͟s̴.͞ I had nothing to do with it.”

“It’s not just about Jackie and Marvin and you know it!” Schneep realized he was just encouraging him. He resolved to not answer him any more, and concentrate on finding Chase.

As the stairwell rose higher and higher, it began to break down. Even more exposed wiring, holes in the drywall, even a few missing steps. Every floor got increasingly worse, the rooms getting smaller, but packed with more screens and wires. And something even more concerning: green string looped around the cables, strangely shimmering. Every time Schneep opened a door, Anti had a message for him.

Sixth floor. “You’re upset about th̸e̡ ͠o̶͡th̵͡er̛͠ş͡, then? I assure you, I never meant Jack any harm. Not p͏̡̛e̷͝r̴m̵̶͡an͞e̕nt̴̡l̵̨̛y͞.”

Seventh floor. “Or are you thinking of t̢he͟͞ ͠f͏͏a͟͞k̷̛e͏ m̷̢a̵g̢͡i͏cia̷n͏̕'͠s̴ silence? If he wasn’t casting spells, he didn’t r̶̸̕e̢͟͢al̵̢ly̴̕ ̨ne̸̴e̢͞d̷̢ to speak, did he?”

Eighth floor. “But I’m a fool for forgetting our fa̸͞v̵͡or̡i͡t̶̶͡e̢͝ ̵̕bo͞y̛̛. He made his c̕͞h̨͢o̡͟įc̨e͞͡. He did it t̛o̢͢ ̶͡h͏̶͝im̵s͢el̕͟f͏͠͞. I simply gave him the right i̢͞͝n̛͞cen͟͏̸t͝͠iv̴͠ȩ.”

Ninth floor. “Oh, doctor. It’s no f̡̢͞u̶̸n if you don’t respond. Have you given up so e͟͞ą̧si̢̨l̴̶̨y͠? No, you just won’t give me the sa̢t͠is͡f̧a̡c͠t̵͝i̷̵͢on̵. But how do you know this isn’t exactly w̶hąt̸ ̧I ̶̛w̨ant̷ed̵? You, with nothing to do but have all the times you fai̴ļ͡e̷͞d̷͡ yo̡u̵̢̧r̷͏͡ ̸f̴̷r̴ie̸͟n̶ḑs͠͝ rattle about your brain.”

The stairs ended at the tenth floor. The highest he could go. If Chase wasn’t on this floor, Schneep didn’t know what he would do. He didn’t feel like going back down, searching, while those words hissed in his ear. Taking a deep breath, Schneep opened the door to this floor.

It opened into a room, just like all the other floors below. But unlike the others, this room had a door, and it was ajar. Giving a quick glance to all the screens in this room, Schneep half-ran over to the door and pushed through it. There was a long hallway beyond, in equally bad repair as the rooms and the stairwell. Green string was intertwined with sparking wires. The red lightbulbs overhead were few and far between, leaving long stretches of darkness between them. There was one door all the way at the end of the hall, one on the left side, and one on the right. There were more TV monitors, sitting on the floor and mocking him with their white noise. He was really starting to get sick of that static.

The door to the left was the closest, so he decided to start there. It led to a small room, completely empty except for more screens and a set of elevator doors, which Schneep immediately walked over to. As he passed the screens, they whispered to him…worthless…useless…you almost lost Jack on Halloween…you couldn’t remove Jameson’s stitches…you lost Chase to this demon…why can’t you do anything right?…why do you always fail them?…

The elevator was empty, and there was nowhere to hide in the room. Well, that was one option down. Now to check the room on the right.

This one had less monitors, but more green string draped across every square inch of the place. And there was a table in the middle. Square, wooden. Nothing out of the ordinary. Schneep considered backing away, but when he thought about it, there could be clues on the table. Clues as to what this glitch is, and how to get rid of him. So he crept toward it.

There were six objects on the table. Five of them were dolls. Cloth dolls, with yarn for hair and fabric for simple clothes. But Schneep could tell who they were modeled after. The dolls were them. But…broken. A doll in a black hoodie had the cloth of its throat cut, with stuffing spilling out. Another in a vest and with a mustache had green stitches across the small black line that represented its mouth. One with a snapback cap had strings sewn into its wrists and neck. And one wearing a white coat had its little button eyes missing.

Schneep picked that one up, examining it further. The eyes weren’t just missing, they were ripped off, with remnants of string where the buttons would’ve been sewn. He shivered, and put it back on the table. There was still one more doll. This one was…different. It looked like someone had taken apart two other dolls, then stitched them together in a twisted way. The limbs were loosely connected to the torso, which was bleeding stuffing. The little head had a tear right down the middle of its face. And the doll was wearing a cape, a hood, and two masks: blue and white.

“Mein Gott,” Schneep muttered. He was tempted to pick up the broken doll, but it looked like it could fall apart at any moment. And maybe that would have consequences for the two who the doll represented. Because there was no doubt about who that was. What was Anti doing to Jackie and Marvin? He almost didn’t want to think about it. Schneep forced himself to look away from the dolls and toward the last item on the table.

He recognized it. Chase’s gun. How it got here, he didn’t know. But it was loaded. Schneep hesitated, then picked it up. It was heavier than he expected. He had no idea how to use it, other than the general “point and shoot” method, and maybe it wouldn’t even work on Anti, but it made him feel safer.

The last room was at the end of the hall. Schneep had to be honest with himself; he was afraid to check it. But he had to. If Chase was there, if he could…Schneep steeled himself and started walking forward. Every step brought new static from the TV monitors, hiding words inside…You could have talked them out of this…you could have tried harder…you could have spent more time with them…none of this would have happened if you weren’t such a failure…if you weren’t so hopeless…you could have stopped this but you didn’t…

The room at the end of the hall was empty. There were no lights overhead, no strings anywhere. The room was so large and dark that Schneep couldn’t even see the walls. Piles of old TVs were scattered around, their endless static giving off a white glow. “Chase?” Schneep called. His voice echoed.

Of course there wouldn’t be an answer. Schneep clutched Chase’s gun tighter, and started his search. The TV piles weren’t ordered, just stacked at random. But he could remember where he’d been, couldn’t he? Or maybe he could find one of the walls, and walk around the edge of the room. He had to do something.

What was there to do?…did he really think he could do anything good?…he was a failure, an idiot…he couldn’t save his friends…he would do better to just give up…

“Stop!” Schneep shouted. He firmly planted his feet on the ground, not walking anymore. “I know it is you doing that! I know it! And you are doing no good, so stop!”

It was silent except for the static. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shadow of a figure run past in the white glow of the screen. He spun toward it, instinctively raising Chase’s gun, but he lost it. Laughter echoed through the room. “If you’re so ç͢͝onc̶͝e̶rne͟͟d͞ about my whispers, that means they’re doing their jo̸b͟͢͞, and they’re doing it w͟͟ę͡l̡͡l.”

“I—I am not concerned!” Schneep’s eyes darted about. “It is just very annoying, having to listen to them for this long.”

“Li̕͟a͞r,̸” Anti hissed. “You’re in d̴e̢ni̵al͟, Henrik. Denial of t̶h͏̢̧e͠ t̸r̢ut̶̛h̸̛.”

Another shadowy figure darted past, almost too fast for Schneep to catch. “You do not call me that!” Schneep yelled. “That is for my friends to call me, not—not monsters!”

“How do you know they’re not o̴n̴e̢̕̕ ͡an̢̨d̕ ̨͏th͞͠e s͢͟a̶͏m̧e?” Anti asked.

“Shut up! Shut up!” He spun around, watching the figure rush past him yet again. “I will not have such fucking slander to my friends!”

Anti laughed. “Are they your friends if you’ve tą̧k͝e͢n more from them than g̡iv̸e͢n̷ to them in turn? Are they your f̶̢ri̵̡e͟n͢d̛͡s if you’ve never helped them o̕͞n̡c̸͠͝e in the moment it matters? Are they y͡͠ơu͠r̶̨͠ ̴f͞͏r̡i͢͝en̡d̸s̶ if you di̸̵d͟n͏͢'̴t̨ ̵͞s̕a̶v̧e̶͢ ̷̨͡t̨͟ḩ̕e͢m?”

“You know nothing about this.” Schneep glared into the darkness. He’d find him, he would.

“Avoiding the qu͠e͠͡s̵̶tio͟͞n I see! Are you t̵o̶͞o̸ af̸̨ra͡i͟d̸̛̛ to answer? T͠o͟͠o͞͡ ̶̢a͏f͏̷̵r̸ai͏͢d̴̢, because you know the answer… i̡͞s̸ n̴̨̛ơ̵?”

“You know nothing!” Schneep repeated, screaming. The figure ran past him, and again, and again, while Anti laughed.

“W͏̕͏e̡͟aķ̵̴!̵” he shouted. “W͢o̷̵̸r͞ţ͢h͏l̵̢e̵̵s̨s!̷ Fa̷i̛͏l̶҉ure̛͞!̨͢ You͡'҉ve ne̸ve̵r̛ h̶elpe͝d an̢yǫnȩ aņd̕ y̧ou̧ ̵ n͏̜͎̹e̹̕v̵͖̼̳e̯r̰̥͡ ̡̰̼͓̟͔w̯̙̼ͅi̜̘̲̞̪͇̤l̗͇̟̯l̪̭̮!”

“Get away from me!” Schneep screamed.

Something moved in the corner of his eye. Quickly, Schneep spun around, raised Chase’s gun, and fired. The kickback made him stumble, and he instinctively closed his eyes as the loud bang from the gun drowned out everything else in the room, leaving a ringing in his ears.

Even the static seemed reduced. Schneep opened his eyes and looked at a body sprawled on the ground. Had he done it? Schneep edged forward, staring down at the body.

It started slowly, then built up. A mad laughter, crackling with white noise. “Y͏̶҉̭̟͉̳̪͖o̻͡u̷̢̯̜͔͖͓̦̕ ̩̦̝͕͖̻͞m̨̖͕͔̖̳̕į̝̘͝ͅs̘͖̙̗̰͞ṣ͍e̡҉̗̯͎̰d͓͖͔͢!̱͍̞͍̥͉ͅ”

The light from the TV screens intensified, allowing for better sight. Schneep gasped. “Chase!” he shouted. “No no no no no!”

He threw the gun to the side, then scrambled forward, kneeling by Chase’s side. The bullet had hit him in the chest, and he was losing a lot of blood. Schneep tried to remember what could have been hit…what he could have…

“Chase please answer me!” Schneep shook his friend’s shoulders. There was no reaction, but now Schneep’s training was kicking in. He pressed two fingers to Chase’s wrist, checking for a pulse beneath the stitching. He found nothing. He repeated the process with Chase’s neck, but still nothing. “Chase no you can’t be—!”

Chase’s eyes were still clouded with static, still dull and lifeless. Schneep could feel tears running down his face. “Please, I did not mean—I did not mean—I am sorry, I did not—! Chase, please!”

Schneep felt a hand on his shoulder, but he barely registered it through the panic and the shocked grief. “It doesn’t matter w̕h͠a̵t͠ ̴͠y̡͡ou͝ ̴͟m̸̨e̵͞an̸̨͡t̵̵,” a voice said. “What matters is w̴h̕a͠t ̡̨y̸o̡͡u ̴d̵̕id. And what did you do, He̷n̵̷͢ri̴̛k̸?”

Someone was pulling him away from Chase. He tried to stay with him, he had to, he had to let him know he was sorry, but he was being pulled away. He fought against it, clawing at the ground, legs flailing, but it was not use. He was being taken away, Chase was being taken away, he was sorry, it was his fault, he never does anything right, he was sorry Chase, Chase please wake up, please be fine, please—

A hand grabbed his head and pushed it back, pushed it until the back of his head hit something hard. A warm, prickling sensation started to fill his mind, pulling him down…down…down…and the last thing he saw before the static blocked his vision was Chase’s body…his fault…

Anti watched as the static from the TV crossed through the screen, latching onto the doctor’s head. Schneep slowly stopped struggling, and his eyes filled up with white noise. Not like Chase’s had, where it was a film that you could still see the eyes through. No, they were completely blocked out by static, which then spilled down his cheeks in trails of tears. In the white noise given off by the television, you could hear a voice, crying and shrieking. “ ̵ ̡ ͢͢ ̸̨ ͞ ̸͟ ̛͞ ̧͝ ̸̴ ̴̷̕ ̵ ̸͟ ͟ ̴ ̷̢ ̷͢͡ ̧ ̶̸̡ ̶ ̨ ͢ ̛̕ ̶͞ ̵ ͞ ͏ ̶̡ ͟͝ ̷ ͟ ͡ ͏͠ ̡̧ ͏̴̵ ̸.”

Anti smiled. Perfect. “You can ̵g͏̧et ̴̶͡ųp now,” he said.

The body stirred. Chase sat up, acting perfectly fine despite the bullet lodged in his chest. Anti eyed the bleeding wound. Maybe he should fix that soon. Wouldn’t want his dear friend to bleed to death. But he could handle it a bit longer. “Didn’t I t̢e̕͢l̸̛l y̛o͡u͏̷ the bullet wouldn’t h̢u̵͝r͏t you?” Anti asked, smirking. “And I was r̵̶͢i̴̡̧gh͢͠t̴̨. This is why you tr͏͡u͟s̡̨t̶̸̴ ̢m̨̧e͠͏.”

Chase nodded. “Y̡e͢s͢.͞ ̡I d͏ơn'̧t̡ kn̨ow why I̕ ̴doubted y̕o͢u. I'm͝ ̡so͢r͡r̕y.”

“You’ve realized your m̛iş͡tak̛̕e, so I’ll a̢c͞c̡̕͡e̷p̶t̵͡ ͢͠yo͟͞u̢r ̧a̢͝p̨o͝lo̢g̷̛y̛͞.͟” Anti stood up, then reached down and pulled Chase up as well. He held him tight by the wrist, enjoying the texture of stitches on skin. “Now…we have to drop it off, d̢on͟'̷t̛͡ w̡͡e̵͢͝?͝”

Chase looked down at the empty body. “Y̵e͠s͝.̵” Then a look of confusion managed to make its way onto his expression. “B͏ut...̵w̡hy̶ di̴dn̡'t ̢w̶e͏ ju͞s̡t.͏..͡”

“Why isn’t he l̸̴͞i̡ke̷͡ ̡yo͏̢͝u̸?” Anti leaned closer to Chase, keeping one hand around his wrist and wrapping the other around his neck. Chase showed no reaction. “It͏̶'ş͞ ̵s̷i̕͠mp̨ļ͞e̶,̶̡͟ Chase. He wouldn’t ļe̵̸t̶ ̸̴m̡e̵. You heard how a̸͞͡ng̢r̷̕͝y̵̨ he was. He would have rather b̵̨r̷̡o̵k̶̨e̢̕n than seen the light. So, we had to ge͞t͢͞ ̵r͡į̵d ̶̸o̶f͟ ̵͠hi͞m̡͞, understand?”

I͠ u͡nde͠rst̡a̢nd,” Chase repeated. “W͢hat̛ ḩappene̴d͞?”

Anti walked toward Schneep’s body, kneeling beside it once more. “Don’t worry, he’s still a̢l͠i̶ve. You can check for a heartbeat if you want. I’ve just separated his ş̶̴ou̶̷l͠ from his b̵͠͠o̸̧̨d̷̢y̶̢. For all intents and purposes, this is a coma.”

Anti paused, letting the static fill the air. And with it, the voice trapped inside: “ ̵ ̡ ͢͢ ̸̨ ͞ ̸͟ ̛͞ ̧͝ ̸̴? ̴̷̕ ̵ ̸͟ ͟ ̴ ̷̢ ̷͢͡ ̧ ̶̸̡ ̶ ̨ ͢ ̛̕ ̶͞ ̵ ͞ ͏ ̶̡! ͟͝ ̷ ͟ ͡ ͏͠ ̡̧ ͏̴̵ ̸!”

He smiled. “S͠w̶ee̷t̶̨͢ d̛̕re̛a̵͡m̢͢s͠͝͏, He̛͝n͝͡r͏i̴̸k̶̢͠,” he whispered, though he knew they would be anything but.
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“Look, it’s probably fine, he just…” Jack trailed off. “Okay, no, you’re right, it’s bad.”

JJ nodded firmly, adjusting his mask. It was a recent acquisition, one of those fashionable surgical masks you can order online. This one was blue with a black mustache on it. Jack had gotten it for him, so he could go out without having to show off the stitching.

Jack reread the text Schneep had sent him once again. “Maybe I would’ve done the same thing,” he muttered. “I don’t know. But I think he should’ve at least waited for my reply. When did he get so…impulsive?”

They’d looked everywhere for him. Or at least, everywhere around the hospital. He couldn’t have gotten far. Now, it was four a.m., and they hadn’t seen any sign of Schneep at all. JJ insisted they head back to Jack’s apartment, presumably to get some sleep and continue in the morning. It was hard to tell, as Jack and JJ were still only beginning to learn sign language so most of the time they had to resort to vague gestures.

When they finally got back to Jack’s apartment, it was eerily quiet. Jack noticed. “My neighbors in this apartment usually have their TV on all the time,” he explained to JJ. “No break. I once woke up at five and still heard it. Why stop now?”

JJ didn’t even try to say anything, just grabbed Jack’s forearm nervously.

“And here we are, home sweet home.” Jack stopped in front of his apartment door and fished out the keys. It unlocked with a click. The two of them entered the apartment, shut the door behind them, and then Jack reached over and flipped on the lights.

Schneep was sitting in one of the chairs.

Jack jumped. JJ ducked behind him. “Dude, it’s fine, Schneep is just…back.”

JJ shook his head vigorously. He clearly thought something was up.

“Okay, fine, look, we’ll…talk to him.” Jack cautiously approached. He was having flashbacks to May, and what happened with Chase. But he had to know. “Schneep? Doc?” Jack reached out and touched his shoulder. There was no response, so Jack walked around to get a look at his face…and gasped upon seeing the empty eyes of static and tears.

“What the fuck?” Jack said gently. “JJ? You want to look at this?” JJ, pressed firmly against the wall, shook his head. “I think it’s fine. It’s, like, a different thing. His eyes are…and I don’t see any stitches…” JJ took a couple tentative steps, and when nothing happened he walked right over, though he kept his distance.

“He’s breathing, but he’s not…there…” Jack waved his hand in front of Schneep’s eyes. He shook his shoulders. He punched him lightly in the chest. Nothing. Jack swallowed. “I don’t know if this is worse.”

JJ sat on the sofa, then reached over and grabbed a pen and pad of paper from a nearby end table. He scribbled down, 'Do you think we should wait? To see if something happens?'

“Yeah…yeah, good idea.” Jack sat down next to him.

An hour passed. More. The sun began to rise. Nothing. JJ seemed keen to watch for a while longer, or perhaps he was just too scared to take his eyes away. Jack was…tired. Not just physically from staying up all night, but…mentally. Was being okay just, not a thing that could happen anymore? Was there any way to stop this all? Anti wouldn’t stop by himself. Not until everyone was hurt, everyone was suffering.

And Jack made a decision. His friends wouldn’t be victims anymore. They wouldn’t be in pain anymore. He refused to let it happen. He refused to let Anti win.

He’d do anything for them.

A JSE Fanfic
Chapter Seventeen: Dabbling in Magic
[This is the LATEST part of an INCOMPLETE SERIES that I wrote in about 2018-2019. For now, this is all there is. 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. Chase, Schneep, and JJ’s search for Marvin brings them to some magical places.]
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“Alright. So we think we’ve found one of these secret magic shops. Now…how do we get in?” Chase stood with his hands on his hips, looking over the shop window. It looked just like a closed-down clothing store, with dusty mannequins wearing outdated fashion. If JJ hadn’t identified one of the symbols on its awning as a rune, they probably would’ve walked right past it.

'Well, the door should be open,' JJ remarked.

Chase rolled his eyes, but tried pulling on the the shop’s door. Then he tried pushing. “No, it’s not open,” he said, stepping back.

“Maybe it is just because we are not magic,” Schneep speculated.

JJ tried the door as well, finding it just as stuck. He stepped back, puzzled. 'Maybe,' he said slowly. 'But I’ve never heard of one that’s not accessible to non-magicians.'

There was a sign hanging in the door, reading “CLOSED.” Shortly after JJ tried opening the door, it flipped over to the “OPEN” side. Something clicked in the door. The three looked at each other.

“Well. I suppose it was just delayed,” Schneep tried to shrug it off. He walked past the other two and pulled the door open. The three of them vanished inside, the door shutting behind them on its own. The sign flipped back to “CLOSED.”

The shop inside was much smaller than the outside of the building would have you believe. Or maybe that was just because of the clutter inside. Tables and shelves were dotted across the wooden floor at random, piled high with crystals, jewelry, and some strange, mechanical-looking devices. Bookshelves were overflowing with leather-bound spellbooks. There was a counter at the back of the shop, made of dark wood. It had a cash register and what looked like a chemistry set on top of it. Hanging lamps overhead cast the whole store in yellow light.

“I don’t know what I was expecting,” Chase commented, looking around.

“What is this even for?” Schneep muttered. He picked up a silver hand mirror from the nearest table, turning it over in his hands.

'It may be best to not touch anything,' JJ said, proceeding to take the mirror from Schneep and put it back. 'This place is hidden because it, for some reason, doesn’t follow the magician’s regulations.'

“Magicians have regulations?” Chase snorted. “What, is there a Ministry of Magic?”

“Actually, it’s called the ABIM,” said a strange voice.

Schneep suddenly yelped. Chase jumped, nearly knocking over a rack of necklaces, which JJ steadied. “Who said that?!” Schneep hissed.

“Hello!” There was now a woman standing behind the counter. How she got there so quickly wasn’t clear. Her hair was dyed blue and purple, cut in a style between an undercut and a mohawk. “Looking for something?” She flashed a smile.

“Um…” Chase was the only one to say anything. “Is…this your place?”

“Indeed it is.” The woman spread her arms wide. “Welcome! The name’s Yvonne. Come to buy something? I’m not quite picking up a magic signature from any of you, but I’m not one to poke at that. I sell a lot of witchcraft items as well as magic ones!”

JJ coughed awkwardly. 'We’re actually looking for someone. We were wondering if you’d seen him?'

“Hmm.” Yvonne leaned against the counter. “Sorry, I’m a bit rusty, am I getting this correct? You’re looking for someone, you think I’ve seen them?”

JJ nodded, surprise and relief flashing across his face.

“Well, obviously, I’d have to know more about this person in question.” Yvonne shrugged.

“He looks like us,” Schneep jumped in. “But he is a magician. He likes to wear a mask, white and shaped like a cat’s face?”

Yvonne’s eyes lit up. “Goes by the name of Marvin?”

“So you know him,” Chase said.

“Haven’t seen him in a while, but yeah, he’s come in once or twice.”

The three exchanged looks. 'Do you know where he might be?' JJ asked.

“Dunno where he is, but…” She grinned. “I can help you find him. It’ll cost you, though.”

Schneep narrowed his eyes. “Cost in what way?”

“I have money,” Chase said, digging into his pocket.

“No, don’t worry about cash. Your friend in the glasses asked the right question.” Yvonne snapped her fingers, muttering something under her breath. Her eyes started to glow blue, and a wisp of smokey magic slithered away from her fingers, mostly blue with yellow at the end. “My specialty is soul magic. Unfortunately, it’s a magic that requires materials.”

“Okay, no, we’re leaving.” Chase turned around and started heading for the door. “This isn’t worth selling our souls. We can find another way.”

“Hey, I’m not asking you to give me your souls,” Yvonne hurried to say. “Honestly, I don’t think there are spells to do that.” She paused. “I mean, there are spells to send someone’s soul to a nightmare dimension, but it’s not like I get to keep them when I do that.”

“This is NOT encouraging,” Chase said. Nevertheless, he stopped walking and turned around.

“All I’m going to ask for is a little bit of soul essence from one of you.” Yvonne reached underneath the counter, withdrawing what looked like a test tube full of a clear liquid, blocked with a cork, and a needle the length of a pencil.

“And that is REALLY not encouraging.” Chase took a few steps backwards. Schneep and JJ didn’t move, but they didn’t exactly look excited about that needle.

“Okay, I understand how this looks.” Yvonne put the needle and glass tube down on the counter. “But it won’t hurt, other than a slight pinch, and I can’t use your essence for anything specific to you.”

Schneep started to laugh. “We would need more than your word for that! We do not know if you are lying!”

Yvonne paused. “Alright, that’s fair. But really, the most I can do is apply a tracking spell. And besides, even if I could do more, why would I want to?”

“I don’t know, this sounds like something that can be used to make some kind of voodoo doll,” Chase remarked.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I don’t practice that,” Yvonne said dismissively. “Look, if you want to find Marvin, I need something in exchange, and this seems fair to me.”

“Does not seem fair to us,” Schneep muttered.

“Well, I only need it from one of you.” Yvonne raised an eyebrow. “And your friend with the mustache has been pretty quiet about this whole thing.”

Chase and Schneep looked over at JJ. “You’re not actually considering this, are you?” Chase asked.

Jameson didn’t say anything. He folded his arms, shifting in place.

Schneep blinked. “No. You are NOT.”

Jameson sighed. 'Well…'

“Dude?!” Chase stared at him, mouth gaping. “This sounds shady as all hell!”

'We need to find Marvin fast,' Jameson explained. 'Before…anything happens to him. And with what’s been going on these past few days…there’s a chance that something bad could, indeed, happen. '

“You cannot seriously be—!” Schneep seemed to be at a lost for words.

'Well, it’s not your choice to make, is it?' Jameson walked up to the counter. He nodded at Yvonne. 'I’m willing to trade.'

Yvonne smiled. She picked up the needle, and took Jameson’s hand. “This’ll hurt just a bit more than a flu shot,” she said. And then she stuck the needle in Jameson’s wrist. He gasped. Yvonne made a shushing sound. The needle stayed there for a few seconds more before she withdrew it, holding it point-up. Red trickled down the length of the needle. She picked up the glass tube, pulling the cork out with her teeth, and dropped the needle inside. The blood inside mixed with the clear liquid, and then she withdrew the needle again. “See, not so hard,” she said, setting it down.

Jameson grasped his wrist, covering the spot where she’d stuck the needle. He seemed very stiff, eyes suddenly distant.

Yvonne didn’t notice. She recapped the glass tube, swirling around its contents. Her eyes turned blue again. “Entruvum le vériat dein alima,” she muttered. Wisps of blue and yellow magic spun around the outside of the tube, covering the inside from view. “Haz facorm i en réa.” The magic faded away. The substance inside had turned opaque, the color now a pale blue. She smiled. “Right. Now, I promised to find your friend.”

“…yes, you did.” Schneep walked up to JJ. He gently placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him behind him. Jameson didn’t seem to notice.

“Right.” Yvonne picked up the glass tube and needle, then bent over, replacing it under the counter. When she straightened, she was holding a different tube. This one filled with a pale green liquid. “Alright, as I told you earlier, this essence can be used…for a tracking spell.”

“Wait…” Chase’s eyes widened. “Is that—is that Marvin’s?!”

She chuckled. “I told you I knew him.” She walked over to the chemistry set, which, upon further inspection, looked a bit…odd. For one, there was a crystal ball in the center, supported in a ring of silvery metal. The inside of the sphere was swirling with off-white mist. Yvonne uncapped the glass tube with Marvin’s soul essence, and poured a few drops on top of the sphere. The mist inside suddenly exploded into bright green sparks, a raging fire. “Little bit on the soul seeker,” Yvonne muttered, placing her hands on top of the sphere. “And…” she shuddered. Her eyes glazed over, turning all blue.

The sphere was engulfed in a tornado of blue mist. She fiddled with other parts of the chemistry set, adjusting some of the instruments, then reached down and pulled a thin wire contraption out from under the counter. She tapped one end of the contraption to the sphere. The blue mist was suddenly sucked off the sphere and swirled around the wire before sinking into the metal. Yvonne’s eyes faded to normal. “Here,” she said, handing the wire contraption to the boys. “This should function as a dowsing rod now.”

Schneep ended up taking the newly-formed dowsing rod. “How?” He asked, looking down at the wire dubiously.

Yvonne sighed. There were dark circles under her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Just point it around, you’ll feel it pulling you when you get it facing the right direction.”

“Huh.” Schneep still looked skeptical, but he also looked like he wanted to get out of this shop. “Well, ah…thank you.”

“Pleasure doing business with you!” Yvonne wiggled her fingers, waving goodbye as the three of them left the shop.
.............................................................................................

“So, I just hold these two bits and turn around?” Chase asked, looking the dowsing rod over.

“There has to be a better word for it than just ‘these two bits,’" Schneep muttered.

“Well, what else am I supposed to call it? It looks like a wishbone, what do you call the two bits on the wishbone? The feet or something?” Chase shook his head. “So I just spin in a circle?”

“Apparently.” Schneep shrugged.

While Chase proceeded to spin around in the middle of the sidewalk, Schneep went down to sit on the curb, next to Jameson. The other man was staring into the middle distance, looking at nothing. “Are you okay?” Schneep asked, voice soft.

Jameson jumped, and shook himself out of his trance-like state. 'Yes, I’m alright.'

“Are you sure?” Schneep persisted. “You…you went sort of…distant.”

Jameson hunched his shoulders. 'Yes, I tend to do that sometimes. You just haven’t seen it yet. '

“Ah.” Schneep fell silent. He mentally went over what had happened in the shop. The magician, Yvonne, had grabbed Jameson’s hand and stuck him with a needle. His left hand. The one covered in scars. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together from there. “I am…sorry that upset you.”

'Thank you,' Jameson signed. He fell silent. Schneep didn’t say anything either. After a while, Jameson reached over and grabbed Schneep’s hand. He squeezed it. Schneep squeezed back.

“I think I got it,” Chase said. The other two looked over at him, seeing him holding the dowsing rod pointed in a direction down the street. “It kind of feels like a tug-of-war, except the other person isn’t trying too hard.” He chuckled.

“Ah, good.” Schneep stood up, Jameson following soon after. “Let’s head in that direction, then.”

Chase groaned. “I’m tired of walking. Can we just take the bus, or something? Or stop by my house so I can get my car?”

'You haven’t used that auto in months, I don’t trust it to start correctly,' JJ remarked.

“Alright, fine. But, bus? Please? We don’t know how far away this…this thing we’re looking for…” Confusion momentarily clouded his face. Then he blinked, and it was gone. “I mean, Marvin. We don’t know how far he’s gone.”

“He cannot have gone that far. He has only been gone a day or so.” Schneep looked up into the afternoon sky. “Not even that.”

“So. Bus, then. Look, there’s a stop right there, let’s go.” Chase headed towards the bus stop on the side of the street. Jameson and Schneep looked at each other, shrugged, then followed.
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They did have to eventually get off of the bus, as the dowsing rod started pulling them in a different direction. They also had to backtrack a couple times, as Chase lost track of where the pull was coming from. Apparently Marvin was wandering around. But eventually, they came across a small courtyard, barely the size of a house and fenced-off. There were a few trees and bushes and not much else. It didn’t look remarkable at first, until—

“That bush is burning,” Schneep noticed. It wasn’t actually too big a blaze, though it did look like it once might have been, given the state of some of the nearby vegetation.

“And the fire is…green?” Chase added.

'Well, I suppose Marvin is definitely here, then,' JJ commented. 'Chase, is it still pulling?'

“Yeah, right into here.” Chase opened the courtyard’s gate, stepping inside. “Let’s go.”

The courtyard was oddly quiet. And empty of any people, which was odd. The dowsing rod guided them to the back, where a pair of aspen trees stood side by side.

“That looks like a gate to the fairy world,” Schneep said. “Look, you can fit a door in between the trunks.”

“Do fairies exist?” Chase wondered.

'I haven’t seen one,' JJ said.

“Well, anyway. Maybe it’s magic. Because this can’t have led us to a wrong place.” Chase shook the dowsing rod.

“Unless she lied about what it does,” Schneep muttered.

“A possibility. But who knows?” Chase walked forward, looking over the two trees. And then he stepped in between them. And disappeared.

Schneep made a strangled, choking sound. He looked at JJ, who stared back, baffled. And the two of them also stepped between the trees.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by trees, trees much taller than the ones in the courtyard. And some of the trees were burning, green fire eating at their branches. Others were covered in blue ice, and the forest floor was dotted with crystal stalagmites. Chase was already through. He waved at Schneep and JJ when they appeared, and pointed through the trees.

There were four people standing there. Marvin was one of them. He was facing a group of three, all of whom were dressed in rather nice clothes. One of them was talking, an older woman with dark hair and eyes.

“—if you drop by there, it’ll all be good,” she was saying. “I’m there all the time.”

Marvin didn’t say anything. He looked down and kicked at the ground. There was a strange book clutched in his arms.

“Do you got that?” The woman emphasized.

“Yeah,” Marvin muttered. “I fucking got it.”

The woman didn’t seem too happy with Marvin’s attitude, but she let it slide. “Remember, my name is Delyth. Delyth Mae. Tell them I sent you.”

“I got it!” Marvin snapped. “I got it the first time you said it!”

Delyth’s eyes flashed. “Watch it, elemental, you’re being let off the hook because you’ve been ignorant for so long. It won’t be the same next time you meet some of us.”

“I guess they’re right, then, ignorance is bliss,” Marvin said, chuckling.

Delyth sighed irritably. She looked around the forest, probably looking at the damage done to the trees, but then she spotted Chase, Schneep and JJ. She looked back at Marvin. “Friends of yours?”

Marvin glanced over to where she was looking. When he saw who was there, he stiffened like a deer in the headlights. He didn’t say anything.

“Um…hi?” Chase waved awkwardly. “Hi, Marv. Found you.”

Marvin still didn’t say anything. He clutched the book tighter.

“Well,” Delyth sighed again. “All of you, back through the gate. We’ll send someone to fix this mess.”

The entire group retreated back through the “gate,” which was another pair of close trees on this end. Once back in the courtyard, the group of three strangers disappeared down the street, leaving Marvin with the other three.

'Well…'JJ said, shifting awkwardly. 'That was—'

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Schneep shouted. “You leave?! Just when we’d lost another?! What the fuck?! Do you even realize what you’ve done?!”

“I left you a note,” Marvin mumbled.

“That note was bullshit!” Schneep yelled. “You said we would be safer without you! What would even cause you to think that?! Have you not heard safety in numbers?!”

“So how’d you guys find me, anyway?” Marvin asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

Schneep looked like he kept wanting to yell, but Chase started talking first. “We went to this crazy magic store and this lady with blue and purple hair said she could help us find you, if we gave her our souls.”

'That’s not what she said,' JJ added. 'She wanted soul essence.'

“Yeah, well.” Chase rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to agree to it. But anyway, she gave us this thing—” He waved the dowsing rod. “—and it led us to you.”

“Oh. Yeah, I know who you’re talking about,” Marvin said. “JJ did you…did you actually give her some soul essence?”

JJ nodded. 'It seemed the quickest way to get to you. Though I don’t think any of us were expecting to find you…here. He waved at the tree gate.'

“Yeah, uh.” Marvin bit his lip. “Apparently there are other magicians out there. I…I wasn’t expecting that.”

“You really thought you were the only one with magic in the world?” Schneep drawled. “Where do you think all the spells come from?”

“I don’t know! I guess it just didn’t occur to me!” Marvin said defensively. He shook his head. “Anyway, the magic police tracked me down, and I maaaay have responded…aggressively.”

“Dude,” Chase said.

“Shut up, I know!” Marvin snapped. “Anyway, we all got teleported to this forest through this gate thing, and I mean, I eventually um. Realized they didn’t want to arrest me. So there’s that. They’re still kind of pricks, though. They want me to write a book or something.” Marvin took a step back from the other three. “Well, it was fun to see you. I gotta go now.”

“Wait, what?! No!” Schneep snapped. “We took all morning to find you, we did not do that just for you to leave again!”

“Look, I just have stuff to do.” Marvin wasn’t looking at any of them. Well, he didn’t usually make eye contact, but this was clear avoidance. “Gotta fucking…study these dimensional spells, you know?”

“You were doing fine with that back in the apartment,” Schneep said.

“Yeah, dude, you are not disappearing again, that’s a dick move,” Chase added.

“Well, maybe I’m a dick, then!” Marvin snapped.

'No you’re not,' JJ signed. 'You shouldn’t say things like that.'

Marvin softened a bit at that. “Alright. I’m not a dick. But I stand by wh-what I said.”

'You mean that we’d be safer without you? How could you say that?' JJ shook his head. 'We’d be so worried.'

“Well…I can take care of myself,” Marvin said.

'We know you can, but that’s not going to stop us from being worried anyway,' JJ said. 'You’re our friend, Marvin. We don’t want anything to happen to you.'

“Exactly!” Schneep nodded in agreement. “And how can we know nothing happens to you if you leave and do not tell us where you are going?!”

“Yeah, dude,” Chase piped up.

Marvin took a step back from the group. His mouth opened and closed, like he was trying to get the words together in his head. “I—I just—I was with Jackie when he took him, so maybe if I left—”

'Maybe if you left, he’d leave us alone?' JJ finished. 'Marvin, it was a coincidence that you were there. Nothing there was your fault. You just believe it is, I believe it’s called survivor’s guilt. His face darkened. And besides, even if you did have something to do with it, Anti is not the type of person to leave someone alone.'

Everyone flinched when JJ signed the same.

“Besides, w-we…” Schneep took a deep breath, steadying himself. “We saw him even after you left.”

Marvin paled. “…what?”

Schneep nodded. “So you see…you see it will happen anyway. I—we would hate for him to find you when you are along.”

“Safety in numbers, as they say,” Chase said, smiling.

Marvin fell silent. He looked down at the ground, kicking at the grass. He blinked furiously. Taking a deep breath, he looked back up at the others. “I don’t exactly have a place to stay, you know. I can’t stay with Chase, that’s gonna look suspicious since, you know, the police are still after me.”

'You can stay with me,' JJ said. 'They don’t even know I’m there!'

Marvin laughed. “We do need to get you some public records some time.”

'But not today!'

Another laugh, which quickly faded. “Alright,” Marvin said quietly. “I…I guess I won’t leave.”

“Woohoo!” Chase threw his hands in the air. Schneep smiled. JJ whistled, and went in for a hug before pausing, checking to see if it was alright. Marvin rolled his eyes, and leaned up against JJ.

'Let’s go home, then.'

“You said it.”