Part Fifteen of the Switch AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of an ongoing fic series I started in April 2019. Marvin is under some stress lately. Not only are the kids still missing, and he feels as though he's not doing enough to help them, but he's been having strange dreams of memories lately.]
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Nothing could be better on a rainy day than lying in bed with a book and a cup of tea. Marvin adjusted the pillows behind him as he propped up the book. But before he could take in a sentence, he heard a faint mrrp? Glancing at the door to his room, he saw Mr. Fluffington squeeze his way through the gap in the doorway. “Hey, Mister,” he said, smiling. “You here to keep me company? I woul’ appreciate it.”

Fluffington wandered over to the bed. Marvin lowered his hand, dangling it over the side. After sniffing it for a bit, Fluffington butted his head against it and hopped up onto the mattress. Correction: nothing could be better on a rainy day than lying in bed with a book, a cup of tea, and a cat. “Normally I’d warn ye against sittin’ on me and trappin’ me on my bed,” Marvin said, idly stroking Fluffington’s back. “But I’m not goin’ anywhere today, so feel free.”

Though Marvin did have to be honest with himself: he couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that he should be doing something. After all, the kids were still missing. Schneep was out almost every night looking for them, JJ was studying any spells that could help—at this very moment, in fact—and Jackie and Anti were…well, they were doing their best. The stress of having their respective kids missing for two weeks now was wearing on them both. Everyone was involved except for Marvin, and he couldn’t help but feel that he should be helping right now.

“Ridiculous feeling,” Marvin muttered to himself. “‘M doin’ all I can.” Fluffington made another mrrp sound, stretching out across Marvin’s legs. “Ah, you’re lucky, Mister. You don’ have t’do anyt’ing at all. We even take care of food for you. Maybe I shoul’ve been born a cat, t’at sounds amazing.”

He leaned back against the pillows, looking up at the ceiling. So tired today. Some days he woke up and could feel the fatigue dragging down at him like an anchor pulling him into the ocean. Inevitably, the guilt would come with it, telling him that he shouldn’t just be lying in bed. He should be productive! Nevermind if he physically couldn’t walk that far! Marvin did his best to ignore that part of him, but sometimes he couldn’t help it.

And as he tried and failed to focus on the story in the book before him, he found that this was one of those times. That niggling feeling was growing quickly in intensity. Sighing, he picked up the bookmark from the nightstand, slid it between the pages, and slowly sat up straight, trying not to disturb Fluffington. He managed to gently nudge the cat away, pulling off the miracle of moving without making him run away. With not a small amount of effort, he walked down the hall, and with some more effort and a few breaks, he climbed the stairs to the second story.

Ever since Marvin had turned the office on the first floor into his bedroom, JJ had started using the second upstairs bedroom to practice spells. He’d moved all his spellbooks and any other materials there, and recently he’d been considering somehow padding or reinforcing the walls in case any spells backfired in an explosive way.

Marvin stopped outside the room’s door, breathing heavily and leaning against the wall. His legs were trembling, but he only took a moment before standing up straight and knocking on the door. Only a few seconds later, JJ opened it, looking surprised.

“Hey Jems,” Marvin said, smiling. “I came to check on you.”

JJ nodded slowly, still looking surprised, and walked further back into the room. Marvin poked his head through the doorway, scanning the shelves full of books, the desk with yet more books, and the simple wooden table in the center of the room, free of books. “I see your collection is growin’ fast,” he whistled, impressed.

“Oh, are you Marvin?” There was a woman in the room, red-haired and wearing a pale yellow hoodie. She waved, friendly. “Hello. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Aoife.”

“Ah, you’re t’at other magician,” Marvin recalled. “The one who came to rescue Jems when he left the city an’ ran into—I shoul’ say thank you for t’at. Thank you. It’s a pleasure t’meet you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Aoife said. “JJ’s told me a lot about you. Though I seem to have underestimated your Irish accent.”

Marvin laughed. “Well, I can pick up a trace o’the same in you. Especially your name, t’at’s a strong Irish name if I’ve ever heard one.”

JJ tapped the table, drawing Marvin’s attention back to him. He held up a notepad, which had apparently been left nearby, on which he’d written, 'I thought you were going to rest today.'

“It’s fine,” Marvin dismissed. “I jus’ wanted t’pop right in, see what you two were doin’, magic-wise.”

“Well, Jameson was just telling me about his attempts at animal transformation,” Aoife explained. “I’m impressed, in all honesty. It’s a very difficult spell.”

'I still haven’t done it,' JJ wrote, pouting a bit.

“But you’ve gotten close! Marvin, have you seen him?”

“Yes, apparently he’s s’posed to have someone t’ere when tryin’,” Marvin nodded. “T’ere was a lot of smoke. And feathers.” He paused, swaying on his feet for a moment. “Are you doin’ anyt’ing else? Is t’ere…t’ere anyt’ing I can do to help you?”

'Yes, you can go back to bed,' JJ said sternly.

“Aw, c’mon, Jems, don’ be like that.”

'I’m serious. You’ve gotten much paler in the last few minutes.'

“But—” Marvin wanted to protest, but saw JJ immediately writing again and stopped.

'I know you want to help. But you’re always telling me to take care of myself, shouldn’t you do the same for yourself?' JJ smiled. 'Hey, if you want something to do, are you up for practising some more sign? We still need to get the hang of it.'

“I s’pose I could,” Marvin mumbled. He took a step backwards, wobbling for a moment. “Hey, when you two are done with your magic, come tell me about it, alrigh’? It’s int’restin’.”

'Of course!'

Marvin waved goodbye awkwardly and headed back downstairs, thankfully finding it easier than heading up. He only had to stop twice: once on the stairs and once in the hallway. Entering his room again, he sighed and collapsed on the bed. Well. Looks like today was just going to be another one of those days.

A small cat face poked into his field of view and he chuckled. At least Mr. Fluffington was still here. Marvin patted him on the head, then reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a book. Not the one he had before. Instead, this one was titled: “Basics of BSL: Learn to Sign in Ten Chapters.” He opened to the spot he had marked and started to read intently.
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The room was freezing, bone-deep cold leeching the warmth from any exposed skin. He could see parts of the sky through the gaps in the boards across the window. It looked just as gray and cold as it was inside.

His breath rattled in his throat, and he coughed into the tattered pillowcase. Even though the door was ajar, he didn’t think he’d be able to make it off the bed and across the room. He was so…so tired. This was the sort of fatigue that left weakness in every limb, a fatigue that he was, unfortunately, all too familiar with. Sometimes when he felt like this, he couldn’t help but remember the first time: barely eight years old, lying in bed too tired to even move, terrified that it would stay that way for the rest of his life.

But at least back then, he had some family still there to stay with him. Now? He didn’t even know where he was or how he got here, and he’d much rather be alone than with this thing.

Speaking of which…he glanced over at the door again, just in time to see it start to creak open. A hand crept into the room, blackened and dead-looking. He immediately turned his head away, burying it in the pillow. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, it would go away. Doubtful, but it’s worth trying.

He didn’t hear the footsteps, but he felt the sudden weight settle down on the edge of the bed. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to keep his breathing slow and even, difficult as it was. The silence in the room weighed down on him. And then he felt the weight shift, getting closer to him. “Still sick, then?” said that voice, that eerie voice with absolutely nothing memorable about it. “/Aww./”

The blanket was pulled back. It was thin, but it was a layer of warmth, and without it, he started shivering. “/Hey./” A hand grabbed his shoulder and started shaking. “/I know you’re not asleep. /Look at me. /LOOK AT ME./”

He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t, so he lifted up his head and glanced over his shoulder. There it was. Black eyes dripping. Face always smiling. “Leave me alone,” he whispered, voice rasping from disuse.

“/But I’m here to help you./” It sounded upset, but of course, he didn’t believe it for a second. “/See?/” In its hand, it held a small purplish bottle with a white cap. It held it up and waved it. “/I got you medicine./”

“N-no…” He pushed himself upward, but wasn’t able to completely get into a sitting position, so he ended up awkwardly scooting back against the bed’s headboard. “No, I-I don’ want…”

“/Don’t want what?/” It crawled closer, and he flinched, unable to get farther away. “/You should accept help from your friends, you know./”

“You’re not my friend,” he mumbled, turning his head away. And besides, he didn’t want anything that it would give him. Past experiences have proved that it wouldn’t be anything good.

“/Now that’s just mean./” He glanced toward it just in time to see it unscrewing the lid of the bottle. “/I just want the best for you./” Quickly, its hand shot out and grabbed him by the chin, turning his face toward it. He tried to push it away, but in this condition it just turned into weak flailing. “/Now help me help you, or I’ll have to do something drastic./”
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Marvin woke up with a start, still shivering from the cold. It took a solid minute for him to look around and ground himself in his surroundings. It was just his room. Everything was fine. Everything was okay. Slowly, half-expecting something to grab him from the shadows, he reached out and turned on the lamp on his nightstand.

The light was comforting. Nothing could hide in the light. But even with that, his eyes kept scanning the area for anything. After a few searches of the room, he sighed, leaning back against the pillows.

Why could he only remember things in dreams? Marvin didn’t know much about memory, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t how it worked. It wasn’t how it worked for Jackie. HE remembered every moment of the nine months he spent with Distorter. Meanwhile, Marvin didn’t even know how long he was with that…creature. But given how many dreams he’d had, it must have been quite a while.

He lay back down, but his eyes felt glued open. It was some time before sleep came again.
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Good Owl Books was a quiet shop. True, it received a steady stream of customers, but there was always a hush in the air, like stepping into a library. Except you could actually keep the books you got here. The shop owners were a pair of elderly women who were understanding of their employees’ needs, and always forgiving of absences. Not to mention the shop’s collection was extensive, mostly fiction but with an impressive set of nonfiction as well. They even had a small area of the shop that was taken up by a coffee stand. And it was for all these reasons that Marvin had taken a job here.

He was working the register today. A simple enough task, so he was happy to take it whenever it was available. It was much easier than moving boxes of books from storage to the shelves. The manager allowed him to read when he wasn’t busy helping anyone, provided he keep an eye on his own book so it didn’t get mixed up with the wares. Also, they had chairs for the workers behind the registers. Now that was a definite improvement since Marvin’s own time.

The sound of soft footsteps on the shop carpet was familiar enough that Marvin instantly bookmarked his place and got ready to help the approaching customer. He slid the book under the counter and looked up. “Hello, how was your shoppi—wait.” Marvin blinked. “Miss Stacy?”

“Oh, so this is where you work.” Stacy looked mildly surprised at this. It was understandable, though. After all, she’d just run into an acquaintance in a place she wasn’t expecting at all. “Well, it, um…” She glanced around, clearly feeling awkward for once in her life. “It suits you.”

“T’ank you.” Marvin cleared his throat. “I haven’ seen you in here before. Just droppin’ by?”

“Yes, I figured if I’m going to be staying in town indefinitely, then I might as well get familiar with the area.” Stacy set a small stack of books on the counter. “And pick up some reading material while I’m here.”

“Great idea.” Marvin picked up the fancy scanner and started looking for the barcodes. “Ye much of a reader, Miss Stacy?”

“Just Stacy is fine,” she said. “And no, not really. My sister was always more into books than me.”

“Sister?” Marvin raised an eyebrow, curious, but then made his face blank as he decided not to push it. He wasn’t sure if the two of them were close enough to talk about that.

But nonetheless, Stacy WANTED to talk about it. “Yes, she lived here,” she explained. “Moved here for college, then decided to settle down with her boyfriend and get married. We visited each other as often as we could, but flights are expensive, unfortunately.”

Marvin nodded, trying to look understanding. He’d scanned about three of the books, and there were about five left.

“So…you like books, right?” Stacy asked.

“Woul’ I be workin’ here if I didn’?”

She chuckled a bit. “Well, I wasn’t sure. I thought maybe it was close enough by that your partner could drive you—”

“My what?” Marvin blinked, taken aback by the phrase.

“Your…partner,” Stacy said slowly. “You know, Jameson.”

It took a moment for ‘partner’ to register as something other than ‘for business,’ and the moment it did, he dropped the scanner in shock. “No! No, Jems and I aren’—not that way.”

“Oh my god I’m so sorry.” Stacy’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock. “I shouldn’t have assumed—”

“Well, a lot of people t’ink t’at, but no, we’re not—not together.” Marvin felt his face grow flushed.

“I shouldn’t have thought—just because you live together—”

“It’s alrigh’, don’ worry.” Marvin picked up the scanner again. “We’re close friends, t’at’s all. I’m not Jems’s type, anyway, and he’s not mine.” He coughed awkwardly, and scanned another book. “What were ye goin’ t’say? About books?”

“I was…just going to ask if you had any suggestions,” Stacy muttered. “Based on these ones here.”

“Ah.” Marvin set down the book and looked over Stacy’s choices. Two biographies, one advice book, four realistic fiction novels, and one…well, that was odd. “Sorry to ask, but…did you mean t’get t’is picture book?”

“Oh. Um…yeah.” Stacy shifted awkwardly. “It’s stupid, it just reminded me of my niece.”

“T’at’s not stupid at all.” Marvin scanned the cover of the book. A simple drawing of three rabbits took up the cover, the art style soft and watery in pastel colors. “I t’ink it’s sweet t’at you’re t’inkin’ of her. She’d like it.”

“Oh…yeah, she did. It was her favorite.”

Marvin glanced up. He wasn’t all that great at judging tone of voice, but even he could hear the deep sadness in Stacy’s last sentence. Immediately, he felt bad for unknowingly bringing up something to cause that, so he cleared his throat again and moved on, scanning the picture book. “Well, I can’ really give you suggestions, t’be honest. I’m more of a fantasy type of reader. Maybe jus’ stick wit’ the section you found these in.”

“Right.” Stacy nodded.

Marvin finished scanning the rest of the books in silence. He hit a couple buttons on the cash register. “T’at’d be 147.25,” he said.

“Yes, yes.” Stacy took a wallet out of her purse and pulled out a debit card. As Marvin scanned it, she shifted awkwardly on her feet. As he handed her the receipt and a pen for her signature, she suddenly said, “Can I tell you something?”

Marvin looked up, surprised. “Ah…I s’pose so?”

“The reason I came to this country…wasn’t originally for a vacation,” she said slowly. “I come here every year, around the same date. Normally I don’t stay this long, but I was…I wanted to make sure everything worked out with you, after I found Jackie.”

“…Oh?” This felt deeply personal, and Marvin wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to hear it, but she seemed like she needed to say this.

“I come here to pay respects,” Stacy said, almost too quiet to even hear. “To…my sister. And her kids.”

“Oh.” Marvin’s stomach slowly sank. “My…my condolences, Miss Stacy.”

“It happened years ago, at this point, but I still remember them.” Stacy kept her eyes down at the counter. “They were my only family.”

“I…I’m so sorry.” Marvin shook his head slowly.

“Thank you.” Stacy took a deep breath, then picked up the pen and signed the receipt. She handed it back to Marvin, who put it into the appropriate slot in the cash register. “I’m sorry for suddenly bringing this up. I just…I’ve been thinking about them lately.”

“You had t’get it off your mind, it’s alrigh’,” Marvin nodded. “I just hope t’at you don’ do t’at wit’ every cashier.”

Stacy laughed suddenly. “No, don’t worry. I suppose that…because I recognized you, it just all came spilling out. I’m still so sorry. I promise I’m not usually like that.”

“It’s really alrigh’. Now, d’you need a bag?”

“Oh. Oh right. Yes, please.” Again, Stacy fell silent, watching as Marvin slid the books into a bag. “Thank you.” She took it from him, then cleared her throat. “Well…perhaps I’ll see you soon.”

“Perhaps. G’bye, Miss Stacy. Feel free to return anytime.”

Marvin turned to the cash register and pretended to mess with it while Stacy left. He didn’t move until he heard the bell at the store’s entrance chime merrily. Then he slumped. “Well.” It was all he could say. “Well.” That was…a very odd encounter. He wasn’t too familiar with Stacy, but he knew enough to know that was sort of out of character. It must have really been weighing on her. He couldn’t help but wonder if she had anyone she could talk to about this.

He shook his head. This wasn’t the time to think about this. He was at work, and in fact he could see another customer heading towards the till. Marvin straightened, put his best customer service smile on, and got back to work.
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The darkness was almost complete. Almost being the key word. There was a sliver of gray light coming from underneath the closet door. He pressed his face to the floor to peer out from under it. Why was everything in this place, even the light, tinted with gray? But gray was better than pure blackness, so he stayed close to the small bit of light.

It felt like the room was getting smaller. He knew it wasn’t, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling. And he could barely move as it was, his legs pressed against the wall. Maybe it was smaller than last time. Maybe that was why he thought it was shrinking.

Everything was cramped. His throat was dry, and his stomach clenched painfully. How long had it been? Must’ve been almost a day. A day since he…he couldn’t remember what he did, but he remembered that it got angry with him. “/If you’re going to be like that, then I’ll just leave you alone!/” It had shouted.

He didn’t want to be left alone anymore. Slowly, he reached up and knocked on the closet door. “Are you th…?” he asked, quieter than he wanted. He cleared his throat and hit the door again. “Are you here? Can you hear me? I…I’m sorry.” His voice broke on the last word. “Please, I’m sorry.”

There was no answer. He pushed himself into a sitting position, pausing for a moment as his head spun, and banged against the door as hard as he could. “Can you hear me?!” he yelled. “Please! I’m sorry, jus’…jus’ let me out!”

Long after his fists started to hurt, the voice came from the other side. “/Did I hear you asking for me?/”

He rested his forehead against the wood of the door. “Please…I-I’m sorry. Jus’ please, please let me out.”

“/Oh? /But didn’t you want to be alone?/” Its voice was mocking him. “/Didn’t you want me to go?/”

“No…” he whispered, slumping downward. “No, I don’ want t’at.”

“/Well, what do you want, then?/”

A sob escaped his throat. He wanted to know where he was and why he was here. He wanted to get out of this twisted house. He wanted his cards back. He wanted his life back. He wanted to see his friends and family again. He wanted to go home.

“/I’m sorry, I couldn’t quite catch that./”

But of course, it didn’t want to hear any of that. It only wanted to hear one thing. “I want…to be with you. Because…we’re friends.”

Silence. And then the door slowly opened. With his weight resting against it, he fell forward. Right into a pair of arms. He shuddered, but didn’t pull away. “/I’m glad you remembered that,/” the voice said cheerfully. “/We really shouldn’t fight like this, you know. B/ut you’re sorry, so it’s okay./”

He nodded, and closed his eyes.
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Marvin woke up, breathing hard. His throat hurt, like he’d been crying out without even knowing about it. Just like every other time he woke up, he turned on the light and scanned the bedroom.

“/Hello again./”

He tried to cry out, but it turned into a wheezy rasp. It was him. Distorter. Standing in the corner of his bedroom and grinning. Immediately, Marvin made to get away, scrambling out of bed and falling onto the floor. He grabbed the nightstand and pulled himself up, then ran for the door.

“/Ah ah ah./” Just as Marvin reached for the doorknob, a blackened hand grabbed his wrist, and then the other, pulling his arms back. “/I need a favor, Marvy./”

“Don’t call me—!”

He wasn’t able to finish the sentence. Distorter yanked him backwards and threw him to the ground, slamming him hard against the floor. While Marvin was still dazed, he wrapped his hand around his neck and pressed down. Marvin choked and instinctively grabbed Distorter’s hand to try and stop him. “/Now that I have your attention,/” Distorter said calmly. “/I want you to deliver a message. /Because he probably won’t listen to me, so I’ll ask you./”

Eyes wide, Marvin shook his head. “I’d never—”

“/It’s just a small favor. /Calm down./” Distorter pressed his other hand against Marvin’s mouth. “/You look so upset./ You should smile more./” He leaned closer, the blood from his eyes dripping onto Marvin’s face. “/Listen to me./ Only listen to me. /No room for anything else./”

Thoughts were becoming difficult. Marvin struggled to move, but he kept…kept forgetting. Forgetting…something. Did it really…did it really matter? What was happening…?

“/Listen to me./”
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There was a door. He knew it, recognized it, but the details couldn’t pierce the thick gray fog in his brain. His hand reached out, and he watched it, as if it wasn’t his at all, but someone else’s. And the hand knocked.

When nobody answered, he knocked again.

And again. Much harder.

That one finally got a response: “Alright, I’m fucking coming, don’t break the door down!”

Footsteps from the inside, and then the door opened. A man was standing there, brown hair and green-and-blue eyes, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with some sort of band logo on it. The man was familiar, very familiar, and he struggled to remember. But the gears of his mind were clogged up with gray cotton, and he fell back down into the fog. “Marvin?” The man asked, surprised. “What are you—your eyes!”

He took a step forward, staggered, and fell against the man, who stumbled in turn but caught him. “…hhhnntsseeeyuhh.” A garble of sounds fell out of his mouth.

“M-Marv? What…?” The man stepped backwards and awkwardly reached around to close the door. “It’s him, isn’t it? What did he do?”

He blinked, and the motion caused two streams of warm red liquid to slip from his eyes. Those eyes locked onto the man’s face. 'That’s him,' whispered a voice. 'Tell him what I told you.' A voice that didn’t stand out at all, yet he couldn’t stop listening to it. 'Give him the message.' The only thing in the gray fog that gave him a purpose, so he listened. He stared at the man, looking at him so worried, and said, “He wants to see you.”

The man was silent. “He does, huh? Well, he could’ve told me himself instead of…this.”

A light appeared in the corner of his vision. A green light. He glanced in that direction. A small green sphere was floating in the air, flicking a tail. An eyeball. It came closer, and the light was…piercing. Shining through the fog. He stared at it, transfixed.

“You don’t look so good. Here, sit down.” The man pulled him toward a sofa and set him down, crouching down across from him so their eyes were level. “Did this fucker have anything else to say to me?”

'The address.' The return of the voice made him look away from the green light from the eyeball. Strange, it sounded quieter when he was staring at the light. “68 Aspen Street,” he said, monotone. “Three days from now, at noon.”

“68 on Aspen?” The man repeated, confused. Then his eyes widened. “That’s the—Are you sure?”

“68 Aspen Street. Three days from now, at noon.”

“Goddammit, Marvin, snap out of this!” The man grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “He’s treating you like a fucking puppet, it’s sick! You’re so much more than that. Wake up!”

He blinked again. Those words…they were echoing through the fog, but muffled. Still, he felt like he should focus on them. On this man.

“C’mon, c’mon.” The man shook him again. “How’d you get here? Jackson couldn’t have driven you. Did you walk?”

Jackson? Jackson, Jackson…J…JJ? Did he walk here without him? He’d be upset about that…about him pushing himself.

That eyeball appeared in front of him again, shining even brighter. He heard the man—he knew him he knew him—gasp, but he was too focused on the light. It hurt his eyes, hurt his head—no, it hurt the fog inside his head. It was…burning it away.

Wait, where was he? He’d been here before. It was a friend’s home, wasn’t it? A friend…who was staring at him.

Something suddenly snapped. Marvin gasped. “Anti!”

“Oh thank god,” Anti sighed, relieved. The small eyeball—Sam, it was Sam—flew forward and bopped against Marvin’s forehead. “What happened?”

“I…don’t quite remember.” Marvin shook his head. “‘T’s all…foggy.”

“Well. That’s okay.” Anti leaned back. “Do you want me to call someone?”

“I…Jems. Can you call him?” Marvin’s voice sounded very small. “I want to go home.”

“Right. I’ll text him.” Anti took his phone out of his pocket and started typing.

“Right.” Marvin felt himself slowly listing to the side, and he let it happen, lying on the sofa. Sam flew down and settled on his head, their glow slowly pulsing. He didn’t really notice.

“So…you’re alright?” Anti asked.

Marvin didn’t answer for a while. Anti waited, but eventually got up and started to walk away. It was then that Marvin spoke up. “Why…do I never do enough?”

Anti turned back to him. “You do what you can. I mean, who would be Jackson’s best friend if you weren’t here? Who’d I go to the pub with? Who’d look after Mr. Flufflington?” He paused. “If you ask me, all that sounds like enough.”

Marvin stared at him. He nodded. “Alrigh’.”

“Alright.” Anti turned away again. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“T’anks.” Marvin let his eyes fall shut.

Maybe he should just rest. He was so tired. He should let himself rest.

Part Twenty of the Inverted AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a fic series I wrote from December 2018 to August 2021. Jack finds himself staying in a strange house, full of people who are also strange, but seem friendly and willing to help. Still, he's not sure he belongs there.]
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Waking up was a slow process. Jack first became aware of the soft, heavy blanket and the pillows his head was sinking into. Then the quiet silence, accompanied by the creaking you’d find in an old house. And the minute he registered that, Jack realized he didn’t know where he was.

His eyes shot open and he bolted upright. The movement was accompanied by a piercing pain in his abdomen and a sudden rush of wooziness. He doubled over briefly, but then immediately started flailing as he tried to get out of the bed.

“Wḩoa͝, calm down, Jack.” A familiar hand reached out, making like it’s about to push him back down but instead stopping just before hitting his chest. “It’s okay. You’re fine.”

Jack stops, feeling his heart pounding. “Anti.” He looks over to see the glitch sitting in a chair next to the bed, his eye wide. Then he looks around the room. “Wh’re…where’re we?” It looked like a bedroom, but quite fancy. Sunlight filtered through wide windows with gauzy white curtains. Jack saw a clock—not an analog clock, but still rather old-fashioned—on the nightstand nearby reading 6:18pm. His hoodie was folded on top of the stand, with Sam resting on top of that, a pink bandaid wrapped around their nerve-tail.

“You know that address your friend Mark gave you? For the place called the House?” Anti shrugged. “Well. Here we are. It was the closest place that could offer help after you got stabbed.”

“…oh.” Jack fell back into the pillows as he remembered the incident at the bus station. “…how long’ve I been ‘sleep?”

“Four hours and six minutes,” Anti said immediately. “Blood loss combined with panic attack leads to bad things.”

Jack hummed and blinked slowly. Blood loss would explain the swimming feeling in his head. And why he was kinda chilly. “So…how—who fixed the—”

At that moment, a man opened the room to the door and poked his head through the gap. His eyes landed on Jack and he smiled, coming all the way into the room. “Oh, glad to see you’re awake. You’re Jack, right? Welcome to the House.”

Jack stared at the man for a moment. There was no way… “Mark?”

“My name is Edward, actually,” the man said. “But I know Mark, and I can see why you’d be confused. It’s nice to meet you.”

Upon looking closer, there were notable differences between him and Mark. Edward’s hair was shorter, and he was a bit thinner as well. His eyes seemed to be a darker shade of brown. “Yeah…nice t’meet you too,” Jack said. He tried to sit up further in the bed, only to lie back down as another head rush overcame him. He pressed a hand to his forehead. “You…you fixed the stab thing?”

“Yeah, I’m a doc—” Edward cut off when he saw the death glare Anti was giving him. “I mean, it’s what I do.” He rolled his eyes. “These guys get into all sorts of shit, I’m used to it.”

“Well…thanks.” Jack said.

“No problem. But I advise against making any sudden movements or standing up quickly. You still lost a lot of blood. I wanted to give you an IV with supplements but your, uh, friend advised against it. Also I had to stitch it shut, so try not to exert yourself too much or you might tear through the stitches, and that would REALLY hurt.”

Jack nodded. “Got it.” He was starting to relax a bit when he realized three things. One, Sam was out in plain view. Two, Anti was out in plain view, and he was also glitching, just slightly, enough to be noticeable. Three. Edward could one hundred percent see these things. He bolted upright. “I have an explanation for—aaah…” He started tilting sideways as the dizziness decided to assault him again. Anti pushed him back into position.

“I JUST said—” Edward sighed and shook his head. “If you’re worried about your eye friend and the…effects this guy has, don’t be. I’ve seen stuff just as weird.”

Jack’s brows furrowed. “Really.” It came out more as a disbelieving statement than a question.

“Really,” Edward confirmed. “If you’re going to stay here—which obviously, you don’t have to, but I really fucking think you should until your stab wound heals—then you’ll see.”

“I’ve already seen,” Anti mumbled. He turned to Jack. “These guys knew we were coming even before I̡͠ knew we were coming. The…person who first talked to me when I arrived had a really w͟e̶i͏rd͠ electric signature, and acted fucking strange. And there’s a mirror in the entrance that’s freaking me out.”

Jack laughed. “You? Freaked out? Normally people are freaked out by you.”

“E͠x͝ąctly̸.” Anti scowled and looked away. “I break the rules. I don’t like it when other things do too.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Edward said. “And G’s really not that bad once you get to know him.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Anti said. He looked back over to Jack. “I’m going to look around this place. Text me if you want anything.”

Jack’s eyes widened slightly. Anti was going to leave, while he was alone in a strange house with a strange man? Jack trampled down the rising anxiety. It was going to be fine, Anti was just a text away. And he really should get used to being on his own, he’s been doing good with that lately. “Alright,” he said. It came out a bit strangled. “While you do that, I…” Jack shook his head slowly. It felt like soup inside was swirling about. Just that simple motion was enough to make him fall back down into the pillow. “…’m gonna pass out again.”

Anti cracked a smile. “You do that. I’ll see you later.”

Jack might’ve mumbled a reply. He wasn’t sure, because inky darkness was already overcoming his vision and soon he was unconscious again.
.............................................................................................

Jack ended up staying in the bedroom in the House for the rest of the day, slowly recovering from the blood loss. He didn’t leave the bed, but Edward was very helpful in bringing him anything he needed. At one point Sam stopped resting, only to float over and curl up on the pillow next to his head. Anti showed up once more late at night, mumbling about the weirdness of this place. He stayed until Jack fell asleep for the night.

By the next day, he thought he felt well enough to get up and explore the House. Edward advised against it, but said, “I can’t really stop you. If you have to, be sure to take rests every so often and for the love of god, don’t do anything more than a walk, otherwise you’ll reopen the wound, which would be like being stabbed again and that’s gonna suck. So don’t do that.” Jack was starting to like this guy.

The bedroom was on the second floor. Jack knew this because he saw a pair of stairs leading down, but he never actually went down them. He explored the upper floor first. It was mostly bedrooms, and when he peeked inside the ones with open doors he saw most of them looked well-lived in. He…wasn’t actually sure how many there were. More than expected. They just kept popping up.

He started to understand why this place was so “weird” when he walked out onto a second-story balcony, looked over the view of the grounds and the small forest beyond, then came back inside to a hallway that he had most definitely not been the one he’d left from. He stared, spun around to look behind him, then said, “Sam? What just happened?”

Sam, hiding in his hoodie pocket, replied that they had no idea. This was a strange place, but maybe they needed to be here.

“…okay, guess we’re looking around this area now,” Jack mumbled. “Anti was right. This isn’t a normal place.” Anti, meanwhile, was gone for the day. Jack wasn’t sure where he was, but it wasn’t his business. Maybe he had glitch stuff to attend to.

Jack turned a corner and found a wide archway serving as a kitchen entrance. Two people were inside talking to each other. The taller one was a woman with her red hair in an undercut, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The shorter one also had red hair, but theirs was clearly dyed, and they wore a short pleated skirt.

“I just want to go for a walk on the grounds!” The shorter one was saying. “I don’t get why I need it!”

“Yan, trust me, you will thank me later,” the taller one said sternly. Jack frowned. Her voice sounded…somehow familiar… “Now.” The woman opened the nearest cupboard and pulled something out. She shoved it toward the shorter one—Yan, apparently. “Take it, and leave for your walk.” She smiled to soften the harsh tone of her voice. “I hope you do have fun.”

Yan seemed to lighten up at that. “Thank you, Voight-san. I’m looking forward to staying here.”

“We are looking forward to having you! There is a glass sliding door you can use right here, see?” The woman pointed toward said glass door.

“Oh thank you again! I’ll be back to help with dinner!” Yan smiled, then pulled open the door and left.

The woman laughed quietly, in that way you do when you’re fond of someone. She then turned around, and caught sight of Jack. Her face paled. Before Jack could say anything, she lunged over to the counter, grabbed the nearest item, a cutting board, and threw it at him.

“Whoa!” Jack ducked behind the archway, watching the cutting board fly past where he’d just been. “Hey! I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did, but I didn’t mean it!” He closed his eyes, covered his head, and braced himself for something else to be thrown.

Instead, there was silence. Jack opened his eyes just in time to catch the woman poking her head around the archway to look at him. She seemed…confused, but also relieved. “Oh, I am sorry, I thought you were someone else,” she explained. “I did not hit you?”

Jack relaxed. “No, it missed.” Her voice was REALLY familiar.

“Good, good.” She walked over to him. “I have not seen you before. Are you staying here, or are you a volunteer?”

“Uh…guess I’m staying here. I don’t know for how long, though.”

“I see. That is fine, many people come and go.” She stuck out her hand. “I am Gretchen Voight, I am a volunteer here. I do cleaning and work with their computer department.”

Jack didn’t shake her hand. The moment she said her name, he realized why her voice—her accent—sounded familiar. “I’m Jack,” he said. “And, uh, I think I know who you were confusing me for.”

Gretchen’s expression soured, and she lowered her hand. “Oh, you do?”

“Yeah, uh…” Jack coughed awkwardly. “I used to live with him. He, uh, mentioned you. A lot. Your ex-husband, right?”

He didn’t think Gretchen’s expression could get any more unpleasant. He was proven wrong when it started to resemble a storm cloud. “We did not officially divorce,” she said, folding her arms. “But I think leaving the country after he was arrested gets the same point across.” She stared him down. “You…knew him? Lived with him?”

“Yeah…” Jack nodded. “I didn’t…actually know about any of the things he did for the longest time. Thought he was just a regular doctor. I…left…the minute I found out.” That was sort of the truth.

“It seems we have similar stories then.” Gretchen smiled slightly, but it faded away. “I am so sorry.”

Jack couldn’t stop the surprise from crossing his face. “Th-thanks, I guess.” Why did that…why were his eyes tearing up?

“Well, we can discuss this at a later time, if you want to,” Gretchen continued. “Do you need any help with anything? I would offer to give you a tour, but that is not so applicable in the House.”

“Yeah, I,uh,” Jack turned around, looking behind him before turning back. “I was just on the upper floor. And I didn’t go down the stairs.”

“The House takes you where you need to be,” Gretchen said cryptically. “I have been volunteering here for a year now, and things get even stranger. You have not met the owners yet, I think?”

“No. Why, what’s up with them?”

“They are very…unusual.” Gretchen said the word like she wasn’t sure of a nicer one.

“I’m used to unusual,” Jack assured her. Of course he was, he literally had a living eyeball in his pocket right now. Sam peeked out, but Gretchen didn’t seem to notice.

“That is fantastic!” Gretchen grinned. “I hope you will enjoy your stay here, Jack. If you need anything, I am always available to talk. I can give you my phone, if you wish.”

“Uh…maybe later. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, it is fine.” Gretchen’s response honestly surprised Jack. He realized he’d been expecting her to insist. “You do not need anything else?”

“I’m good, thanks.” Jack smiled waveringly. “I’m just going to keep looking around. This place is interesting.”

“Oh! If you plan to go out on the grounds, you need to come back here first.” Gretchen gestured toward the sliding glass door. “There are some animals that live in the surrounding trees, and sometimes they come into the grounds. You need to pick up food to make sure they do not bother you.”

Jack narrowed his eyes warily. “What kind of animals?”

Gretchen chewed her lip. “I forget the word in English. Many Eichhörnchen. Small, brown, with big teeth and bush tails. They like nuts.”

“…squirrels?”

“Yes, that is it!” Gretchen clapped her hands. “I know they sound tiny and harmless, but these ones are very ready to fight. They like peanut butter, so if you see some, give some to them and they will leave you alone.”

Well. Even though everyone had been telling him how weird this place was, he wasn’t expecting…that. Jack had to take a moment to process this, understand it, and accept it before he could talk again. “Okay then. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Make sure you do. I will see you around, Jack?”

“Yeah…for a while, at least.” Jack tried not to shift uncomfortably. He turned to go. “Well. Goodbye, then.”

“Goodbye!” Gretchen waved at him as he left.
.............................................................................................

As the week progressed, Jack grew familiar with the House. Or, as familiar as someone could be when the layout seemed to change at will. As his wound healed, he ventured out more and more. Anti stuck around, appearing and disappearing at will just as he always had. He seemed…busy, somehow. But Jack didn’t ask about it.

The House seemed to run on a simple system. There were people who stayed here, and then there were people who worked here. The staff was mostly volunteers, who worked for little or no pay, and a small subsection of full-time workers. They kept the house in order, ran the business parts of the organization, provided food and tended the grounds, and generally helped out the people visiting. The residents would stay here for any number of days, from a single night to indefinitely. Edward, apparently one of the full-time workers, mentioned they had a couple people who stayed in the House permanently. He also explained that the House was owned and headed by a pair of men, who Jack had yet to see. In fact, he wasn’t even sure how many people worked or stayed here. The number seemed to shift as often as the House’s layout.

It was…a nice place. The residents were friendly, or at least civil, and the staff were happy to help with anything. Nobody asked any questions beyond how long he would stay, and they didn’t make any suggestions about how long that should be when he replied that he didn’t know. They always asked him if he needed anything, and always said they were available to talk.

It was so nice, that Jack wasn’t sure why he was uncomfortable here.

He kept telling himself that he really shouldn’t be. If anything, this was an upgrade from the hotel he’d been staying in. And apparently safer too, as everyone kept repeating the place couldn’t be found without the address. Maybe because of more weirdness. But…well, he didn’t know. All he knew was that the idea of everyone being so eager to help…the idea of help itself…didn’t quite sit well with him.

Seven days passed, and Jack was starting to think he should leave. He could do it at any moment. All he had to do was wear the same outfit he wore the day he got here instead of any of the clothes the House had been providing him, grab his phone and Sam, and walk right out. No one would stop him, or ask him where he was going, which…he was honestly still getting used to. Maybe he should.

That morning, while sitting in the bedroom he’d almost started to consider his, Jack texted Anti. "Where are you?"

The reply was immediate. "Som̸e͞wher̢e͟ ͞i͠n̨ ̢t̕h͏i͟s͢ f͝u̢c͝ki͡nģ ͢ma͏ze o̷f a h͏ou͞se. Why,͞ ̨you nee͢d somethi̢ng?"

That’s right, Anti had been hanging around today. He was still endlessly frustrated with the strangeness of the House, and doing his best to learn how it works. Honestly? Jack was half-convinced that the House liked to mess with Anti, and would purposefully mix up the rooms just for him. "I’m thinking about leaving today," Jack texted.

"Is̵ ͏tha͡t͝ ̛what͢ y̵o̶u̸ want?"

Jack hesitated. "I don’t know."

"T̶ry lea͡ving ̧for ͢a͝ l͏i̢t͠tle, s̢e͟e̡ if͞ y̕o̡u̴ w͠an͞t ţo come̸ ̧back.̷ ̛I'l͢l͢ ̡mee͟t u̢p ̸with y̵o̕u in̴ a ͢bit."

That seemed like a good idea. Jack put his phone away, let Sam know he was about to leave so they could fly over and perch on his shoulder, and walked out the bedroom door and into a hallway. Not the hallway the bedroom was attached to. He sighed. Looked like he’d have to wander for the entrance today.

A few moments of trying to find the entrance later, Jack stopped. He could hear…he could hear piano music. Notes drifting through the air, sounding a bit muffled. He’d never heard music before. Was there even a piano here? Apparently there was. But maybe the House hadn’t wanted him to find it yet.

He turned toward the nearest door and creaked it open, peering inside. The room beyond looked a bit like a lounge, or maybe a parlor, he wasn’t sure what the difference was. In the center of this room was a piano. And at the piano, a woman was playing.

Jack stepped fully into the room. The notes filled the air, dancing around and across every surface. The woman playing had short dark hair and dark eyes as well, and she wore a simple black suit. Her delicate fingers drifted across the ivory keys with ease. The song was beautiful, a melancholy melody. Though there was a ring of hope buried in there somewhere.

The woman played for a couple minutes more, and Jack stood in the doorway and listened until it slowed to a stop and the last note faded, leaving just a faint feeling behind. Without looking away from the piano, the woman said, “Did you enjoy it?”

Jack jumped. “Oh, sorry, it’s just—just the door was open, and it was very pretty, but I-I should’ve realized you wanted to be alone, I’ll just—”

“I didn’t say that.” The woman looked toward him. “I asked you if you enjoyed it.”

Jack hesitated. “…yeah. I did.”

She chuckled, standing up. “If I didn’t want anyone to listen to it, I would’ve played in my room. It’s open for anyone who happens to pass by.” She began folding up the sheet music on the stand. Maybe it was the dull lighting in the room, but her skin looked oddly gray… “I think I know you. You’re a friend of Mark’s, correct?”

“Yeah.” Jack nodded.

“He’s a good man,” she mused. Then she turned to face Jack fully for the first time. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Jack tensed at that phrase. He’d been hearing it everywhere, all the time from the House’s staff. “No, I’m fine—I mean, I’m okay.”

She stared at him. Her eyes really were very dark. “Do you mind if I talk with you?”

“I-I mean, I guess not.”

“Perfect.” She leaned over to the side of the piano and grabbed a cane that leaned there. Black, with a silver topper. “Come on, follow me.” She spun around and walked over to the perimeter of the room, where a glass door could be seen set in the wall. She swung it open, and went outside. Jack followed.

The light blinded him at first, and when he blinked it out of his eyes he saw they were out on the back patio of the House. He looked around for the woman, but couldn’t see her. Instead, he saw a man leaning on the wall dividing the patio from the grounds, looking out over the gardens. He had dark hair and dark eyes as well, and he wore a simple black suit. His skin looked oddly gray, and he held a black cane with a silver topper in one hand. The man looked back over his shoulder toward Jack, and said, “Well?”

Jack walked right up next to the man, leaning on the wall as well. “So, uh…” he said awkwardly. “You were that woman, huh? And…now you look like…”

“Like your friend Mark, I’m aware.” The man nodded. “He’s a friend of mine as well. He told me about you, you know. Not too much, just mentioned in passing that he gave you the address for the House.”

“Ah, I get it,” said Jack, only really sort of getting it. He turned to face the gardens. They were quite nice. Empty, as of right now. “So…this might be a little rude, but…you’re not human?”

“I was, a long time ago,” the man said, looking up towards the sky. For a moment, his eyes seemed to catch the light, bits of red and blue skimming along the edge of his dark iris. “But not anymore, due to one night a long, long time ago. This doesn’t seem strange to you?”

“Well, yeah, but I’ve seen a lot of weird things,” Jack shrugged. “My two best friends aren’t human either, and my housemates—” He stopped.

“Do you want to talk about your housemates, Jack?” The man asked gently.

Jack didn’t say anything, just shook his head.

“I see.” He paused. “Then, perhaps you would like to explain why you were planning on leaving.”

Jack jumped, looking over at him. “How did you—”

“The House told me. They’re an old friend of mine. And we’ve been…connected ever since that night I mentioned. If you ever wish to talk to them yourself, you only need to visit the mirror in the foyer.” Another pause. A breeze has started up, gently swaying the trees and flowers of the gardens. “So? Would you like to talk about it?”

Jack watched the movement of the trees for a while. Sam, sitting on his shoulder, edged a bit closer to his neck, offering silent support. “I…I guess. But I can’t. Can’t explain, I mean. Because I…I don’t know why. I hadn’t even really decided…I might’ve, though.”

“Hmm…” The man’s fingers tapped a pattern on the top of the cane. “Do you not like it here? Has anyone been unkind?”

“No! No, that’s not what I mean at all,” Jack hurried to say. “Everyone’s great. The people are nice, the workers—not that they’re not people, but you know, the ones who aren’t staying here, they’re…they’re so helpful.” He fell silent for a moment. “And…and I think that’s what’s wrong.”

“That we wish to help?”

“I guess. Sort of. It’s just…” He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Everyone wants to help, you’re right. But…I don’t think you can help some things.”

The man said nothing, but made a small gesture as if asking Jack to continue.

“I…I’ve seen some things,” Jack said softly. “I know that sounds like a cliche line from a movie, but I have. And I…I forgot those things. People made me forget those things. They tried to control me, and I thought they were my friends for—for so long, but—” He took a deep breath. “And I’ve been trying to go back to normal. To how I was before. But…I don’t know if I remember how it was before. I’ve been doing as good as I can but…” There were warm tears welling in his eyes. “…but I think maybe a part of me will always be—”

“Broken.”

Jack looked over at the man, blinking away the tears. The man, in turn, looked at him.

“That may not be the exact word you were going to say, but it conveys the idea, doesn’t it?” The man nodded. “It’s a reasonable fear, Jack. After anything that has hurt you as deeply as you are describing, how can you pick up the pieces and continue on as usual? How can you put yourself back together? It may seem impossible.”

Jack wiped at his eyes. “But it’s all going to work out, isn’t it? All going to go back to usual?”

“Oh, no. Not exactly.”

Jack looked back up, startled.

“A vase that’s been shattered will never look the same, even if all the shards are found and glued back together. But it is still a beautiful vase. It is still a functional vase worthy of being cared for. It’s been changed. There are marks left, some invisible to the naked eye. And that doesn’t make it any less of what it is.” The man paused. “Some things can’t be fixed,” he said softly. “And that’s okay.”

For a long moment, Jack couldn’t say anything. He noticed the tears slowly falling down his face, but he paid them no mind. “So…is it going to be alright?”

“Of course it is. You say you don’t know if you can go back to normal. But the normal you had before has now changed. You can make a new normal, one that embraces the changes and pain you’ve gone through. And it will be just as good, as beautiful, as life was before.” The man tilted his head. “Of course…you can’t remake a whole without trying to place the pieces together again.”

“No…no, you can’t.” Jack looked up at the sky. The sky that had been there for so long, that had seen so much change and disaster. The saying was that time healed all wounds. There might be a scar, but who said that was a bad thing? “Thanks,” he said. “I needed that, uh…” His face turned a bit red. “I just realized I never got your name.”

The man chuckled. “You can call me Dark. Most people do.”

“Dark…” Jack tried out the name. It was sort of fitting, with the man’s appearance, but…also not, in other ways. “Thanks, Dark.”

“You’re welcome.” Dark then frowned. “I have the strangest feeling…” He turned around.

Jack did too. “Oh. Hi, Anti. How long have you been standing there?”

Anti was standing in the middle of the patio, arms folded. “Not long,” he said. “I just heard that thing about remaking a whole.” His form shimmered like he was about to glitch, but then he stopped and simply walked up to Jack. “You…still want to leave?”

Jack thought about it. “No, I…I think I’ll stay. You, uh, you wouldn’t mind getting my stuff from the hotel over to here, would you?”

“Sure. I’ll check you out too, probably for the best.” Anti then looked over to Dark. “So, you’re the guy who runs this place?”

“I am one of them, yes,” Dark said.

“Ah. So the other one’s your boyfriend, then?”

“Wil is NOT my boyfriend,” Dark said firmly. “And he never was.”

Anti raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

“Yes, I am sure.” He sighed. “Why do I expect you to know the difference between romance and close friendship? When you’ve never felt the former, as far as I know?”

“Wait.” Jack took a step back, looking in between the two of them. “You guys know each other?!”

“Yes,” Anti said bluntly.

“We’ve had a few encounters over the years…” Dark mused. “You’re still as inelegant and irreverent as always.”

“Thank you.” Anti grinned. “You’re still as fancy and oh-so-clever as always.”

Dark smiled, and tipped his head.

Jack looked at Anti. “You are going to explain this to me later.”

“Alright, alright, but I make no promises to go into detail.” Anti glitched back over to the patio entrance. “You coming inside?” he called.

Jack took a slight step backwards, looking over the silhouette of the House. It felt like it was watching him. But with a fond eye. “Yeah, I’m coming.” And he hurried to catch up as Anti went back into the house, Sam still perched on his shoulder happily.

Part Nineteen of the Inverted AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a fic series I wrote from December 2018 to August 2021. Jackie, determinedly fed-up with Marvin and Jameson's attempts to find Jack, starts enacting his own plan. Meanwhile, Jack tries to go out on a small trip for fun. Unfortunately, it takes a sharp turn.]
.............................................................................................

Jackie was already regretting this idea. It seemed like a good plan two days ago when he came up with it. But now, standing in the bedroom doorway and making uncomfortable eye contact with Jameson standing on the other side, he was having second thoughts. But he couldn’t back away now. “Sorry for, uh, interrupting you,” Jackie said, shifting on his feet. “I just…wanted to talk to you.”

{Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,} Jameson said. {Please, come inside.} He moved out of the doorway so Jackie could get past him.

Jackie tried his best to trample his nerves as he stepped inside. The house had four bedrooms, so some of the boys had to double up. Jameson shared with Schneep, and Jackie had previously shared with Jack, leaving Chase and Marvin with their own. Jackie had been inside Jameson and Schneep’s joint room before, but never alone with Jameson. And because of that, he was SUPER on edge right now. His eyes kept unintentionally darting back towards the door, expecting it to close at any minute.

“So…I’ve been thinking about the situation with Jack.” Jackie was very proud of how steady his voice was.

Jameson didn’t say anything, merely raising an eyebrow. Wait, did that mean he was listening in on what Jackie was thinking? What if he was slowly changing his mind on what he had to say? What if he already knew about the plan?

Jackie shook himself internally to get rid of the paranoia. “And I’ve…decided that…maybe it would be a good idea to get him back.”

Jameson folded his arms and leaned against the nearest wall. {Well, that’s a sudden change of mind. Any particular reason?}

“Uh…a couple.” Thank god he’d come up with reasons beforehand. “I’m, uh, kind of tired of fighting you two. I’m honestly half-expecting Marvin to murder me in my sleep one day.”

{Don’t be ridiculous, he wouldn’t kill you in your sleep,} Jameson said casually. {If he ever gets to the point where he wants to get rid of you, he’d want you to know exactly what was happening.}

“…right. Well, thanks for that.” Jackie swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “Anyway, the other reason is that I’ve been thinking, and I really don’t want to get arrested. And Jack…Jack could tell the police any day. So…yeah…”

Silence for a while. Jackie continued to awkwardly shift on his feet while Jameson took out his phone and checked a text message. He started to type a reply, then said, {That never seemed to bother you before. Did something happen?}

Jackie felt a lurch in his stomach. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said simply, folding his arms and looking away. Then quickly he added, “Suffice to say that I had a close call last night.” All of this was utter bullshit. But hopefully if he said it with enough confidence, then Jameson wouldn’t get suspicious, and therefore wouldn’t see a need to look inside his mind.

Apparently it worked, because Jameson shrugged and replied, {Very well, that’s your own business. It would be very helpful to have your aid. You’ve said before that you’re able to hack with some skill, do you think you could apply those abilities to our search?}

He tried not to wilt in relief. “I mean, maybe. But I don’t know how much I could do against the bitch. I’m sure I can get information…somehow.”

Jameson smiled at him. {Well, either way, it’s always good to have more hands on deck. If you find anything, please come to me. I’ll not ask you to talk to Marvin.}

“Probably a good idea. Anyway, uh, thanks. That’s all I wanted to say.” Jackie turned around to leave and ran straight into Schneep.

“Ahk!” Schneep took a step back. “Jackie, you startled me. What are you doing inside my room?”

“I was talking to Jameson,” Jackie explained calmly. “Oh hey, by the way, are we still on for the coffee run later today? Or are you going to crash after an all-nighter again?”

Schneep chuckled. “I will be fine, I came home early last night. I wanted to take one of the naps, but you can wake me up when you are ready.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later, then.” Jackie sidled past and down the hall towards his own room, disappearing inside.

It seemed that so far the plan was going well. Assuming Jameson didn’t find out about it, he was sure he could carry it through.

Step one: convince Jameson and Marvin he agreed with their goal of getting Jack back. Step two: somehow convince Schneep that it would be better to let Jack go, thus bringing him over to his side. Step three: “help” the others get Jack, though maybe it would be a good idea to feed some misinformation. He was still considering that part. Step four: once they’ve managed to find Jack, get Schneep’s help to get him the hell away from these two, and maybe leave themselves as well. Actually, definitely leave themselves, and take Chase with him. Also try to find a way to wake him up.

It was a simple plan, or so Jackie thought. But it was made extra complicated with the addition of a telepath. He’d just have to make sure he wasn’t giving Jameson a reason to be suspicious, and hopefully that would be enough.
.............................................................................................

A week had passed, and Jack was finally starting to calm down a bit. He didn’t lower his guard, but he stopped expecting the others to pop up at any minute. According to Anti, they’d been running a few online searches, but he blocked every attempt. Jack was half-convinced that they wouldn’t even get close anyway, but Anti was messing with them out of some sort of spiteful vindication. Which, Jack had to admit, was sort of justified.

With the gradual relaxation, Jack had started exploring more or the American city. Though he took Mark’s advice and only explored during the daytime; he wasn’t currently keen on seeing how “weird” the city got. He started with the tourist spots and as the week progressed he grew more familiar with the layout and locations. He wasn’t up to the level of the locals, but he was confident. Confident enough to begin to wonder about what was more on the outskirts of the town.

He decided to bring up the subject one night in the hotel room. He was sitting on the bed, skimming through one of the brochures the front desk kept when he said, “Anti…how do you feel about going out a little ways out of town?”

The television flickered red, green, and blue, and suddenly Anti was sitting across from him, cross-legged. “I don’t know, how do YOU feel?”

“I…want to go see,” Jack answered. “I think it would be fun. And probably helpful, if we ever needed to flee in the night like outlaws. But do you want to…come with me?” Anti had been coming with him on most of his explorations of the city, usually in a solid form, sometimes as bursts of static inside his phone. To make sure he was being safe. But occasionally he let Jack go out on his own—no, “let” wasn’t the right word. That implied that Anti had the final say, when it had always been Jack. Rather, he didn’t come with him on his explorations. And it was nice to be alone sometimes.

Anti shrugged. “Sure. Where were you thinking of going?”

“I…didn’t think that far,” Jack admitted. “I don’t know, maybe we could rent a car and go travel the roads.”

“Jack.” Anti raised an eyebrow. “You can’t drive.”

“Well, yeah, but I was kind of assuming you could.” Jack stared at him. “Can you?”

“Do I look like I know how to fucking drive?”

“I don’t know! You have like, the entire Internet at your fingertips, I bet there’s a ‘how to drive’ video on YouTube. There are ‘how to’ videos on YouTube for everything.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to gain the experience needed to be a good driver. I’d probably crash the car in the parking lot.” Anti fuzzed out for a moment, glitching holographically. “There are a few bus routes that go beyond the city, we can take that.”

“Alright, that sounds like it could work.” Jack twisted where he was sitting and looked over to the room’s desk. “Hey Sam! Do you want to come?”

Sam peeked out from the nest they’d made from one of Jack’s hoodie. Their nerve-tail wagged as they said they really wanted to come, that sounded exciting!

Jack laughed. “Alright. Now let’s talk about these bus routes, find one that works.”
.............................................................................................

It was about ten o’clock the next morning when Jack embarked on his next adventure. It may have seen a small thing, taking a bus and following it wherever it would go, but Jack hadn’t been able to wander aimlessly for a long time, so even this small thing was something he enjoyed. He liked planning his own schedule for the route, he liked looking out the window at the new landscape, he liked listening to the prerecorded voice on the bus calling out the stops. As if he knew this, Anti was quiet for pretty much the whole of the trip, only sometimes taking a solid form and preferring to remain electricity in the air. Sam had to stay hidden in his pocket, of course, but they peeked out every so often and swished their nerve-tail.

The landscape outside the bus windows changed from tall, modern skyscrapers to smaller clusters of shorter buildings, and from there as the bus traveled down long roads to what must’ve been the suburbs of the city. Jack didn’t even know Los Angeles had suburbs, but apparently it did. He then made a transfer to an outbound bus from the city, and watched as the buildings faded into long stretches of flat, dry land.

Jack got off the bus around two, and that was because he was starting to get hungry. The bus stop he chose to stop at was alone on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, except for a gas station and a convenience store. Was this really how things worked in this country? Seemed a bit odd to have something like this just by itself. But there was an intersection nearby, so maybe this was somehow a transfer point for buses. Not that there were a lot of those. Or many cars, even. Aside from a few in the attached parking lot, the road was empty.

With a slight buzz, Anti materialized next to him. “When were you thinking of heading back? Or are we just moving on entirely? Could’ve let me checked out first.”

“No, we’re going back. Probably soon.” Jack checked the time on his phone, coordinating it with the bus routes he’d looked up. Or trying to, at least. “God, the wifi here sucks.”

“T͠el͏l ̸me̴ ab̷out it,” Anti muttered.

Jack waited for the bus schedule to load up. “Okay, uh, the bus back should come in a half an hour, if it’s on time. Meanwhile, I’m going to go buy snacks. I know you don’t eat, but do you want me to get you anything else?”

“I’ll pass.” Anti turned to look around the small patch of asphalt. “I’m going to try and find a stronger signal anywhere. Just in case something happens.”

“Well, good luck,” Jack shrugged. “I’ll meet you back here. Or you can meet me in the store.”

“Mm-hmm.” Anti made an OK sign with his fingers before fizzling away.

Jack reached inside his hoodie pocket to check on Sam. At some point, the long, flat landscape must’ve bored them. They were currently resting. Once he was sure they were secure, he took a deep breath, and walked inside the store.

Turns out the store was air-conditioned, like ever other building in America. Jack took a moment to adjust to the sudden temperature change and look around. Fluorescent lights, aisles lined with various packaged foods and other small items for road trips, and coolers in the back. There was one bored-looking employee standing behind a counter and checking his phone, and one customer browsing the rows who glanced over at Jack as he entered, then looked away.

Jack headed over to the nearest aisle, looking over the snacks for sale. He didn’t have too much American cash on him, and didn’t want to risk using a card of any sort, regardless of Anti supposedly protecting his whereabouts from being tracked. How much could he get?

“Hi.”

Jack jumped, and looked over to see the customer from before had entered his aisle. She was smiling at him. “Hi,” he said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just kinda bored. See, I’m supposed to meet my friends here, but they’re late.” The woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and sighed.

“Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry.” Jack grabbed a bag of chips and continued down the aisle, looking to see if there was anything else. The woman followed him. He looked over at her. “You, uh, from around here?”

“Yes, we all are. We make this trip all the time, it’s practically our job now.” She laughed. “Anyway, YOU'RE not from around here, are you? I can tell by your accent. Are you Scottish?”

“Irish, actually. I get that a lot, though, so don’t worry.” She seemed friendly enough. But he was still a bit uneasy. She apparently didn’t recognize him, which was good, but you never know what might end up online.

“Oh cool! What brings you to the US?”

“I’m visiting a friend.” Jack picked up a pack of cookies and kept heading toward the back.

“Nice, we’re friend-meeting buddies. So, you’re going to visit this friend now? Or did they come with you?”

“Uh, no, he didn’t come with me. And I didn’t actually tell him I was…taking this trip.” Jack shrugged. “I mean, he knows I’m here, but I wanted to go on a bus ride, see the local sights, you know?”

“Got a bit carried away, if you’re all the way out here.” The woman laughed again.

“Yeah maybe, but it was nice.” By this point, Jack had picked up a soda to go with the cookies and chips. Not the healthiest treats, but what else were you going to find in a convenience store? “Well, I’m gonna…go buy this now.”

“Cool, cool. I should probably text my friends, see what’s keeping them. You have fun.”

“Thanks.”

As he was paying for the snacks, Jack couldn’t help but glance over at the woman a few times. She was…maybe a little too friendly, but she seemed harmless, fiddling with her phone. Hopefully she wouldn’t post this on Twitter or anything.

Outside, he took a seat on the bench by the bus stop, setting the snacks next to him. Anti still wasn’t back. Or maybe he was and was just staying in a more intangible form. The road was still empty. Jack checked the time. The bus should arrive in about twenty minutes. He sighed, looking down at the pavement.

“Excuse me.”

Jack looked up again to see a group of three approaching him. Two men and a woman. “Hi?”

“Hello!” The man in front smiled. “Sorry, I’m just wondering if you’ve seen my sister around? Long brown hair, brown eyes? She said she’d be wearing a purple top.”

“Oh…oh yeah, I saw her just inside the store.” Jack pointed. “She said she was waiting for friends, guess that’s you.”

“Great.” The man began digging around in his pocket. “Actually, I was wondering if you could do one more thing for me, that is, uh—” He pulled something out, and when he flipped it open Jack could feel his heart stop. “—if you’d just give me your wallet, that would be nice.”

Jack kept his eyes on the switchblade and slowly raised his hands, instinctively shrinking back and flattening against the back of the bench. “I—I don’t have a lot of American money,” he said slowly.

“Well, currency exchanges exist.” Jack didn’t like the way the man was still smiling. Or the way his two companions were edging around to the left and right. “And I’m sure you have credit cards or something you can hand over too.”

“You want my—I can’t give you my bank card!”

“No, I think you can.” The man walked closer. Jack leaned back further as the point of his blade drew near, as it pointed right at his throat. To the left and the right, the other two were pulling out items as well, but Jack was preoccupied with the imminent danger. “Because I have no problem just taking it from you and leaving a body for the cops to find.”

Given the choice between death or the possibility of the others finding him, Jack decided that death was the worse option. “Alright…fine…” he breathed. “I-I need to get it, it’s in my pocket.”

“Alright, stand up.” When Jack balked, the man gestured with the switchblade, the first hint of impatience. Jack slowly stood up from the bench, in the process getting even closer to the man and his knife. He started searching through his pocket one-handed. The blade point was inches from his throat. He was scared to move too much, scared to even breathe, in case that caused the blade to nick.

When he managed to pull out his wallet, the man snatched it away immediately, then backed off. Jack exhaled, but quickly tensed again as he realized there were still two others pointing deadly weapons at him. He glanced at them as the man in front flipped through his wallet. The woman to the left had another knife, a bigger one, and the man to the right had—he had a GUN. Jack’s eyes locked onto the barrel. Somewhere in the distance, he was hearing a deafening bang, feeling the kickback and the terrible mental fog that had suddenly caused everything to shut down—

“What’s in it?!”

It was the voice of the woman from before. Jack didn’t look away from the gun, but he heard her footsteps approaching and saw her walk up to the man with the blade out of the corner of his eye.

“Well, not a lot of dollar bills, but we have a couple of cards. No driver’s license.”

Laughter. “Europeans don’t DRIVE. Why do you think he took the bus?”

“Well, good point. Either way, still not a lot. What do you think? Should we take him?”

Jack’s head whipped around. “What?”

“I mean, might as well.” The woman shrugged. “Didn’t sound like anyone was expecting him back.”

“You—no, you can’t do that!” Jack nearly tripped over the bench in his haste to back away. The woman with the knife and the man with the gun closed in. His heart froze as his eyes flashed between the two of them.

“Well if that’s the case,” the man said idly, “you’re right, might as well.”

“No!” Jack darted toward a small gap in the group, only to be yanked backwards by the back of his hoodie. Still, he tried to pull away. But the man with the gun just wrapped one arm around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides, and pressing the gun barrel to the side of his head. Jack froze immediately. Tears were threatening to spill over, and he could barely get enough air from how quickly he was breathing. He couldn’t—he just got out of a situation like this, he couldn’t go back to one!

“Alright, back to the car!” The man said. “Bring him with us.”

Jack yanked his head away, doing his best to stomp on the man’s feet as he was dragged away. It was a few steps before he landed a hard enough hit to make the man yell and let go. Jack lunged forward, only to end up directly in front of the woman with the knife. He tried to push her out of the way, and the two of them struggled for a moment, until—

He thought he’d been punched at first. But then there was a sudden flare of pain as a spot on his stomach started to feel rather wet. It shocked him enough to stop fighting, just long enough for the man with the gun to grab him again.

“Oh my god, again?” The woman from before sighed. “This is the last time you use a knife, Catherine.”

“Sorry…” the woman with the knife mumbled.

“Whatever, it’s fine, we can fix it in the car,” the other sighed. “Let’s hurry, they might have fixed the security cam—”

She was cut off by a sudden electric screech. Like the sound of lightning striking a metal sheet and sheering it in two. The criminals froze, looking around. And that was all they had time to do.

The first man was thrown to the ground, dropping his switchblade and Jack’s wallet. The air shivered brokenly and the light seemed to turn a bit red. The black-green shadow of a man burst into existence, lunging at the woman with the knife. She shrieked, throwing up her blade to defend herself, but then it wasn’t in her hand, it was in the shadow’s, and there was a thin line of red dripping across her face. Even before she had finished stumbling back the knife was in the air again, barely able to be seen as a silver fan cut through the air and landed in the wrist of the man with the gun. He once again yelled and let go of Jack, who slid to the ground quietly. The first woman had barely processed the scene when the shadow of pixels was in her face, grabbing her by the shirt and pulling her close as it growled. Or, not growled. The sound came out as a series of static-laced electric bursts that could’ve been a growl, or could’ve been low, threatening laughter. The shadow threw her on top of the first man, and followed her over. The shadow’s hand fell apart into distortion, and then it plunged the hand right through the woman and man’s chests. They screamed simultaneously.

The shadow withdrew, crouching by the fallen Jack. It stared at the group, then reached up to its face and seemed to remove something for just a moment. There was a flash of green, and all the criminals watching felt icy terror run through their veins. They scrambled to stand up and sprinted away. A few minutes later, a single white car screeched away from the parking lot, leaving the smell of burning rubber behind.

Anti settled into a solid form, smiling. Maybe he went overboard with that, but he was on high guard, maybe even a little paranoid. Had been ever since they arrived in this city. Well, enough of that. Anti turned his attention to the man lying on the pavement. “Jack? Jack, are you alright?”

Jack didn’t answer. He didn’t even look at Anti. He was shaking slightly, eyes closed, arms pulled close to him. There was a small movement in his pocket, and Sam emerged. They flicked their nerve-tail, showing Anti the small nick in it that was leaking glowing green fluid. They then used it to point at a spot on Jack’s hoodie that hadn’t been that dark before.

“Fu̸c̨k̡!” Anti reached to turn Jack over so he could see the problem better, but Jack curled up tighter, shaking his head. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, tears travelling down his face. Alright, fine, Anti had seen enough of what happened to know what was happening. He should never have left.

“Sam?” The little eye jolted to attention, flying crookedly up to Anti’s eye level. They were having trouble keeping balance with the small injury. “What do we do?”

Sam hesitated, then flicked their tail nerve-three times. The symbol for ‘I don’t know.’

“Alright, alright.” Anti reached over and grabbed one of Jack’s hands. Jack clung to it, but he didn’t seem to be getting any calmer. “He’s having a panic attack, and he’s been stabbed. We need to get help, but we’re in the middle of nowhere.” Anti bit his lip as he thought. “I can’t glitch living organisms, so we can’t get there instantaneously. I can maybe open a shortcut. But there’s still a problem there. That being the longer the distance the shortcut covers, the more difficult it is to open.” He sighed. “But I guess we don’t have a choice, huh? I can open a shortcut to the hospital.”

“N-n-no!” Jack opened his eyes wide. “No, no no, no hospitals. No d-doctors. Please. Please? Please?”

“Okay, no doctors,” Anti promised. “But we have to do something! I can’t fix this!” The stain on Jack’s hoodie was spreading fast. Dangerously fast.

Sam perked up. They flew down, disappearing back inside Jack’s hoodie pocket for a second. They emerged holding a small card in their nerve-tail. They petered over to Anti and dropped the card in his lap. He hurriedly picked it up.

“This…this is the card that Jack’s friend gave him. Mark, right?” Anti read the address, coordinating it with the maps he’d found online of their location. “It is closer…but do you really think they can help?”

Sam flicked their nerve-tail once, decisively.

Anti narrowed his eye at them. “This is one of your ‘feelings,’ isn’t it? The ones that are usually right about what we should do?” Sam flicked it again. “Alright, it’s a plan.”

He glitched to a standing position, reaching up and pulling off his eye-patch. He needed full power for a shortcut. Then he bent over and carefully picked up Jack. He wasn’t usually fond of touching humans, with the way their bones creaked and their blood flowed. He didn’t know how they could stand it. But Jack clearly couldn’t walk on his own. Anti could feel his trembling even through his hoodie. “Close your eyes, Jack,” he said, shifting Jack in his arms so his eyes were facing away from the outside, just in case he didn’t. Sam settled down on Anti’s shoulder.

And Anti took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
.............................................................................................

A few miles away, a little over a minute later, a man seemed to step out of nowhere and onto the front steps of a large house. Almost a manor. The man looked around, and suddenly there was a glitch in reality and the man was wearing an eye-patch. He looked down at the other man he was holding in his arms. His eyes were fluttering, and he seemed to be on the verge of unconsciousness. Though it was unclear if that was because of the blood loss on its own or if the panic attack had helped it along.

The House opened its front door, and the glitch on the steps tensed, static distortion running along his body. There was another man on the other side of the door. One with black hair, and electric blue eyes hidden behind glasses. He looked eerily similar to someone the glitch had seen before, someone who had identified himself as a friend. And he seemed totally unfazed by the strange sight before him.

The man inside said calmly, “Welcome to the House. We were notified of your arrival. How may I be of assistance?”

The glitch narrowed his eye. And silently, he gestured his head to the man in his arms.

The man’s electric blue eyes widened as he took in the situation, yet still his voice was calm. “That seems to be a problem. Please step inside.”

After a moment of hesitation, the glitch did so. And the House closed its door, waiting until it needed to be open once again.

Part Thirty of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is THE FINAL part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Everyone wraps up unfinished business. Jameson, especially, has someone he needs to see. Meanwhile, Schneep has a very important visit.]
[It’s here: the final part of the PW Timeline. I'm amazed that I’m finishing my third AU series. PW started as a one-shot based on the idea of an outsider’s perspective on what the septics go through, but over time I got more and more ideas that I just had to expand on. In the beginning, it was a sort of mystery, wondering if Anti was even real, and then over time it became this sort of—I don’t know. Thriller? Crime drama? Both? Either way, I’m so happy how it turned out ^-^ I’ve loved writing it and I appreciate all of you guys for coming along with me on this ride <3]
.............................................................................................

“Are we allowed to have this many people here at once?” Marvin glanced around the room, bouncing on his feet. “I mean, there’s got to be some sort of regulation for visitors, right?”

“I checked online,” Chase said. “And I asked Laurens. She says that there are some limits depending on, like, security or whatever, but Schneep is fine.” He finished signing his name on the check-in list and held it out to the others. “Who’s next?”

“I’ll do it.” Jackie stepped forward, taking the clipboard and a pen from the cup on the desk. “You know, I’m still not used to this place. Different than I expected. More like a hospital.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Well, what were you expecting? It is a hospital, just not one for physical injuries.”

“I don’t know, I guess I was thinking, like…something like a retirement home or something?”

Laughter. Jack, sitting in one of the waiting chairs by the wall, leaned forward, grinning. “I don’t think Schneep would appreciate you comparing this place to a retirement home.”

“Hey, I know he’s technically the second youngest, but sometimes he really acts like an old man.” Jackie walked over to Jack and handed him the sign-in sheet and the pen. After he finished signing, he handed it back to Jackie, who passed it to Marvin.

“Oh, hey.” Chase turned back to the front desk, addressing the staff member behind it. “We have another person coming, but he’s going to be a bit later. Is that okay or do we need to, like, leave and come back?”

“That should be fine.” The staff member didn’t even bother to look away from her computer. “Have you been here before, sir?”

“Yeah, a lot,” Chase said.

“Great, then.” She gestured down the hall. “In that case, just return the sign-in board and head down there. You should remember the way.”

“Thanks.” Chase gave her a thumbs-up—which he regretted immediately afterwards for how awkward it felt—and turned around to face the others. “Alright, guys, we’re good to go.”

Marvin put the sign-in sheet back on the desk where it belonged. Jackie reached down and helped pull Jack to his feet. Once everyone was ready, Chase led the way, heading down the familiar route to the Silver Hills visitor’s room.

About ten minutes passed, with the group of four waiting patiently. “Damn, they need to get better reading material,” Marvin muttered, flipping through one of the provided magazines.

“What’re all these crayons and stuff for?” Jack asked, looking over one of the crayons in question.

“Oh, that’s for if kids come visit,” Chase explained. “I brought Sophie and Nick last month, they loved them.”

“Marvin, if you’re so bored by the magazines, just use your phone like a normal person,” Jackie said.

“Hey I can look at whatever I want to,” Marvin said defensively.

Before the banter could escalate into a mild argument, the other door to the visitor’s room opened. Chase stood up, anticipating what was about to come.

“Ah, my friends!” No sooner had Chase got to his feet than he was wrapped in a tight, squeezing hug. “It is so good to see you!”

“Oof! H-hey Schneep, good to see you too,” Chase laughed, returning the hug before pulling away. “Yeah, the gang’s all here.”

Schneep stepped back, looking at the others. “Ah, yes, the entire ‘gang.’ Hello, Jackie! And, ah…Marvin, Jack. How are you two? I have not seen you since…well, you know.”

“Hi, Schneep.” Marvin waved from where he was sitting on the sofa. “I’m fine. Changed all my locks, got one for the side door, uh…that sort of stuff. But I’m fine.”

“Hmm.” Schneep pursed his lips. “Well, if you are ever…not-so-fine, then I am sure there are people who—”

“Yeah, we all need therapy, I know.” Marvin rolled his eyes, but his tone wasn’t hostile. He leaned to the side, noticing someone else lingering in the doorway. “Hey, Laurens, do you have any suggestions?”

“Oh. Um.” Dr. Laurens clearly hadn’t been expecting that question—or to be acknowledged at all. “Well, I know a few agencies. If you’re really asking, you can talk to me afterwards.” She stepped into the room, closed the door behind her, and took a seat in the farthest chair from the group. “Don’t mind me, I-I’m just here because it’s a requirement. This is for you guys.”

“Aww, how could we forget you, Rya?” Jackie grinned. “You’we ouw fwiend!”

Laurens laughed. “Thank you. But really, I don’t want to interrupt. I’ll just be over here.” She was holding a clipboard as well as a paperback book, and put the clipboard down on the nearby table in favor of opening up the book. Soon, she was completely immersed.

Schneep sighed, smiling a bit. “Well in that case.” He sat down in a nearby armchair, leaving Chase to sit on the sofa next to Marvin. Now, all the friends were in a circle. “I cannot help but notice there is one of the ‘gang’ missing. Is Jameson…alright?”

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Chase assured him, noticing the anxious edge in his voice. “He just had…something to do today. He’ll be late, but he’ll be here.” He hesitated, then blurted out, “So did you hear about the trial?”

Schneep froze. Marvin turned and gave Chase a sharp look. Jackie shifted awkwardly.

“I-I mean…you don’t…have to talk about it, I just…thought you should…know. If you didn’t…already…” Chase trailed off.

“I…was told about it,” Schneep said slowly. “I was asked to write a statement, and—a-and I tried my best. It sounds as though…it worked.”

Jackie nodded slowly. “I had to do that, too,” he mumbled. “I’m surprised they didn’t ask us to…show up.”

“I think when there was that much evidence, they didn’t really need it?” Marvin speculated. “The prosecutor must’ve had a real open-and-shut case.”

For a moment, everyone was quiet. The tension in the room was almost a physical force.

“Let’s stop talking about this,” Jack finally said, speaking up for the first time in a while. “It’s just depressing everyone. And god, we’ve had enough of that.” He turned to Schneep and smiled. “Sorry, you asked me earlier how I was doing and I didn’t answer. I’m pretty good. I’ve finally taken my channel back.”

“Hey, I took good care of it!” Chase protested.

“I know you did.” Jack leaned over and patted Chase’s hand. “And thanks for that. Can’t imagine running two at the same time, let alone while keeping up with my old upload schedule.”

“Old schedule?” Jackie asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you know, I’ve been thinking a lot about health recently,” Jack said. “For obvious reasons.” He still had to use a cane while walking; It was possible no amount of physical therapy would fix that. “And I really need to take better care of myself. I don’t think uploading twice a day would be the best move anymore.”

Chase laughed. “Honestly, I can’t blame you. I don’t know how the fuck you did it in the first place.”

“Neither do I, really.” Jack chuckled. He glanced back at Schneep again. “Hey. You okay, man?”

“I…” Schneep coughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Jack. “I…Jack, have I said sorry yet? Be-because I am, I am truly, deeply sorry, I-I never should have—I should have recognized the signs and never—it is all because of me that—”

“Henrik.” Jack’s tone shifted to one more serious. “It’s alright. I promise you. I know there was more to it. It’s forgiven. I mean, you’re never going to be my doctor again—”

“I am probably never going to be ANYONE’S doctor again,” Schneep muttered.

“No. Stop that,” Jack said firmly. “You’re the most capable person I know.”

“Even though I—”

“Even though you put me in a coma.” Jack nodded.

“That was my fault,” Schneep said weakly. “You lost an entire year.”

“It was. And I did. But like I said, I know there was more to it. I don’t…blame you,” Jack said carefully. “I know you were responsible, but I don’t blame you. That’s a different thing. And…you’re still my friend, Schneep. Despite it all, I still care about you. So…don’t put it all on you, okay? It happened. It was a terrible, awful mistake with horrible consequences. But don’t blame yourself. Cause none of us do.”

Schneep blinked rapidly. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater, but that didn’t stop a few tears from trickling free. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry,” Jack whispered back. Then he cleared his throat and looked at the others, who were trying to pretend they weren’t paying attention. “Wow, I thought I JUST said we shouldn’t talk about depressing stuff anymore.”

Everyone laughed. “Well, you know,” Jackie said. “It’s got to be a sign of a good friendship, if we can talk about depressing things together. Means we trust each other. Or some other corny shit like that.”

Before anyone could reply, there was a knocking sound. Laurens stood up and instinctively walked towards the door at the back of the visitor’s room—the one she and Schneep came through—before realizing it came from the door at the front. She quickly crossed the room and opened it. “Oh! Hello,” she said, opening it wide.

JJ leaned into the room, eyes quickly scanning it and taking in the others. He waved. 'Sorry I’m late,' he signed.

“It’s fine, bro,” Chase said. “Honestly you’re earlier than I thought you would be.” He paused. “Did the, uh…thing…go well?”

Jameson walked in. Laurens quickly closed the door behind him and returned to her chair at the edge of the room. Meanwhile, JJ took the final spot on the sofa, sandwiching Chase in between him and Marvin. It went well, yes, he said with a slight smile. Thank you for asking.

“Sooo…” Marvin cleared his throat. “It’s all taken care of? And, like…over?”

'Yes, it’s all over,' Jameson said.

“Good. Great.” Marvin let out a long breath. He muttered something under his breath—something that sounded suspiciously like “fucker deserved it”—and then moved on. “Okay, so I was thinking. We need to try again with the party.”

“Really?” Schneep asked, surprised.

“Hell yeah, second time’s the charm.”

“Third time,” Chase corrected.

Marvin nudged him. “I KNOW, but that ruins it.”

“I’d be down for another party,” Jackie said. “I went to all the trouble of bringing all the Spider-Man movies and I never even got to take them out of my bag.”

“Oh my god.” Marvin groaned. “I am not going to spend the whole night listening to you drooling over Andrew Garfield.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Jackie said defensively. “Emma Stone is also very cute and cool in those movies, I give both of them equal attention!”

Jack chuckled. “Well if we’re going to do it, we need a good day. I’d rather have it sooner instead of later, but I have more movement therapy stuff tomorrow and on Thursday this week.”

“Well I can’t do Wednesday,” Chase said. “I have an, uh, appointment.”

'Friday, then?' Jameson suggested. 'I’m pretty sure we’re all free.'

Schneep shook his head. “No, unfortunately. I have an outing on Friday.”

“You do?” Marvin asked. He whistled. “I’m impressed, a man out on the town once more.”

Schneep chuckled and looked away. A small blush bloomed on his face. “Well, i-it is not a big deal. I am just…Mina wanted me to come visit…her. A-and I still can go leave with supervision, so Laurens and I will head out.” Over by the edge, Laurens briefly raised her head from her book to nod, confirming Schneep’s words.

“Oh that’s so cool, man!” Jackie leaned over and gave Schneep a playful shove. “Hey, good luck with that. Really.”

“Th-thank you.” Schneep’s face was growing steadily more red. “I-I am nervous about it, really. About meeting…her.”

“You’ll do great, doc,” Chase reassured him. “She’ll love you.”

“Hmm.” Schneep was fidgeting, playing with his fingers. “If you say so. I-I think you would know.”

“Wait, I’m confused.” Marvin looked around at everyone else. “Isn’t ‘her’ just…Mina? Why are you all saying it so significantly?”

'We’ll tell you about it when you’re older, Marvin,' JJ joked. 'You see, when two people love each other very much—'

“Ohhhh!” Marvin’s eyes widened, and he laughed. “Right, I forgot about that part. Yeah, you’ll do great, Schneep. Trust us.”

Schneep smiled softly. “Well, it is good to hear you all say that.”

“Yeah, bro.” Chase nodded. “Anyway, on a related note, I can’t do anything this weekend cause I have the kids over. What about Monday or Tuesday?”

The group continued planning. But JJ went quiet, the others’ voices fading into chatter. They weren’t talking about why he was late. Which he was relieved about. But noticing the absence of questions…it just made him think about it. About where he’d been all day.
.............................................................................................

It had been a long bus ride to get there. Jameson got up early in the morning just to make sure he had enough time. Not that he would need that much. Ideally, this would all be over in less than five minutes.

The bus didn’t drop him off right outside. He had to walk for another fifteen minutes. It was inconvenient, but it made sense. Putting a bus stop right outside a maximum security prison seemed like a major security risk. Luckily, the weather was good.

Actually getting inside the building proved to be the most time-consuming part of the visit. Once Jameson arrived at the central building—it probably had a proper name, but he wasn’t aware of it, since there were no signs—he quickly explained who he was, writing it down on a notepad he’d brought. Luckily, he’d emailed in to schedule his visit beforehand, because most of the guards and other workers were suspicious of him. Again, understandably so. He would be suspicious, too. It was only three days since the transfer, who would visit a killer so soon afterwards?

Jameson would. He wanted this done as soon as possible.

The security checks were thorough, and surprisingly boring. There was a lot of waiting in between procedures, and Jameson couldn’t even browse his phone to pass the time because he wasn’t allowed to bring it past a certain point. Eventually, it was over, and a guard appeared to escort Jameson to the visiting room.

Given all the precautions, Jameson wasn’t surprised to see the visiting room was entirely empty. Just a concrete box with a wall of bulletproof glass dividing it in half. The guard explained that there was an intercom system connecting the two halves so the visitor and the prisoner could communicate. Jameson wanted to comment that they should just leave it off for this particular occasion, but the guard didn’t understand sign and it wasn’t worth writing it down.

Even though everything up to this point had taken much longer, the wait dragged on the most. Jameson stood there, fidgeting, eyes fixed on the door on the other side of the glass, as his stomach slowly tied itself in knots. Was this a mistake? Maybe he should have just left it alone. But when he thought about turning and leaving, something wouldn’t let him.

When the door opened, there was no sound through the glass, but Jameson could practically hear the heavy ka-chunk it no doubt made. Another guard stepped inside first, followed closely by a familiar figure in a gray jumpsuit, then another guard.

Anti’s eye instantly locked onto Jameson. He grinned, and almost too quickly to follow, he darted up to the glass, pressing his hands against it. Jameson automatically took a step backwards. “It’s you!” Anti laughed. “I can’t believe it’s—”

The two guards were there in a split second, pulling Anti away from the glass. He glanced back at them and scowled, but didn’t resist. Anti looked the same as he always had. Mostly. For some reason, he was missing his glass eye, leaving only a dark socket on the right side of his face. The scars hadn’t changed, but they…stood out more, somehow. Probably because there was no makeup to soften their appearance in prison.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” Anti repeated. His voice sounded tinny and artificial through the intercom. “But I should’ve known you would come. I really appreciate it, Jamie. What—”

'Don’t get excited,' Jameson interrupted, carefully keeping his expression neutral despite the way his heart was jumping in his chest. 'I just wanted to make sure it was real.'

“Real? Who are you, Henrik?” Anti laughed again. “Of course it’s real. Let me tell you, it is shockingly boring in here. I can’t do anything to keep busy! And I haven’t really seen anyone,, either, I think I’m not allowed in common areas yet. Anyway. What have you been up to?”

'Nothing,' Jameson said shortly.

Anti tilted his head. “Nothing? Oh, come on.”

'Nothing that you need to know about,' Jameson said firmly.

He’d actually been rather busy lately. Even though he’d decided not to move out of his apartment, he’d still packed up a lot of his stuff, and had to spend time unpacking everything. That started a week of organization, getting rid of things he didn’t want anymore. And that was in between his normal work schedule, not to mention therapy. But he wasn’t going to tell Anti about all that. He didn’t deserve that—or anything else from him.

“Well if you don’t want to talk about anything, then why are you here?” Anti asked, folding his arms. He sighed, pretending to be disappointed. “Can I ask you a question, then? What did they do with all my stuff? I know they probably confiscated a lot of it, but not everything I own is illegal. They can’t possibly have taken all my clothes and shit.”

'I don’t know,' Jameson lied. 'Probably auctioned it off.'

“Really?” Anti looked sad, but he might’ve been faking it. “I thought they would’ve given it to you.”

In truth, the police had offered some of Anti’s stuff to him—after it had all been thoroughly inspected. Jameson had turned down most of it…except for one item. The old, broken pocket watch on the rusted chain. The one Anti had worn around his neck. He wasn’t sure why he took it, or what he was going to do with it. Eventually, he might just throw it away. But…it felt right to take it, at least for a little bit. After all, it had been JJ’s first. Anti had bought it for him, but it was his. He’d always meant to take it with him the night he ran away, but paranoia had taken hold that night and he left it behind, in case Anti could use it to find him. Right now, it was sitting in a box under his bed. He might leave it there.

Jameson shook his head. 'I don’t know what happened. Don’t ask me.'

“Hmm.” Anti narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure?”

'Of course.' Jameson didn’t back down from that glare.

“Well, shit, then.” Anti sighed. “I was going to ask you about that old pocket watch. I don’t know if they’ll let me receive packages, but maybe you could have brought it the next time you visited. Just so I could see it.”

'There’s not going to be a next time.'

Anti froze. His eyes widened, pure disbelief on his face. “What did you say?”

'I’m not coming back.' Jameson kept an eye on his hands as he signed, making sure they weren’t shaking.

“…what?” Anti whispered harshly. “What do you mean?”

'I just said what I mean. I’m not coming back.' He could feel his pulse in his neck.

“…Heh. Very funny, Jamie.” Anti smiled. Not out of happiness. Muscles clenched in his jaw. “What would be the point of coming once if you’re not coming again?”

'I had to see you here,' Jameson simply said. He hadn’t been sure about the visit at first. But after spending a whole session talking with his therapist about it, he made up his mind. She’d said it would probably help with closure, but reminded him to be safe. He promised her he would be, and said he would only be going once. Just to finish things off.

“Ha. Haha.” Anti began to laugh again, forcing it out. “You’re so funny, Jameson. Pretending like—like it doesn’t matter to you.”

Jameson shook his head. 'It doesn’t matter to me.'

“Don’t be fucking ridiculous!” Anti snapped. “Of course it does! Because you care! Don’t shake your head again, I know you do! If you didn’t, then why the fuck did you bother with the seizure? You could have ran as soon as I dropped the gun, but you went right up to me. You helped! Why did you do that if you don’t care?!”

'Because I’m not a terrible person.' Jameson almost added ‘like you,’ but he thought better of it. 'If someone collapses in front of me, I’m going to help. I wouldn’t want them to be hurt.'

“Right, right.” Anti’s fists were clenched. “Because you’re all soft and sweet. But it’s different when it’s me. You know what I’ve done to you and your friends, and you helped anyway! You—you could only have done that if you care!”

Jameson raised his eyebrow at the indirect confession buried in there. ‘What I’ve done to you.’ So. He admitted it. 'I care very much about people,' he said slowly. 'But you’re not special. You stopped being special a long time ago. I keep telling you, we’re not family anymore.'

“Don’t you fucking say that,” Anti hissed. “You know nothing will change. You know it! You—you—What are you doing?!”

Jameson had turned around. He looked at the guard, and held up his notepad. Written on the page was ‘I would like to leave now.’ The guard nodded, and opened the door to the visiting room.

“What are you doing?!” Anti shouted.

Not looking back at him, Jameson began walking, heading out of the room.

“Jameson! You can’t just leave! Jameson!” THUD! Anti punched the glass wall.

Jameson flinched. Immediately, shame pooled in his stomach at that. But he pushed it away. It was okay that he did that. It was normal to flinch at a sudden loud noise and a scream. Especially in this situation. Nothing to be ashamed about. He took a deep breath and kept walking.

“JAMESON!” Anti screamed.

The door was still open. The guard gave him a sympathetic look as he walked through it, leaving the room behind. A wordless scream echoed from the intercom. As Jameson turned to head down the hall, he naturally caught a glimpse of the room one more time. The two guards were trying again to pull Anti back, but Anti was fighting against them this time, trying to stay as close to the glass wall as possible. His expression was inhuman in its anger.

'Goodbye, Aneirin,' Jameson signed. It was too small for Anti to see from this distance, especially as the guard was closing the door. But it wasn’t for Anti. It wasn’t for him at all.
.............................................................................................

“Hey.” Something nudged him.

JJ blinked, and looked over to see Marvin, who had reached around and behind Chase to nudge Jameson, staring at him. 'Are you okay?' he signed.

'I’m fine,' JJ replied, smiling faintly. 'I think I’m just overwhelmed.'

'Well, you’ve been busy,' Marvin said. 'Emotionally, physically. It makes sense. Is there anything you need?'

JJ shook his head. 'No. But…thank you.'

Marvin smiled. 'No problem. Just tell me if you do need something, okay? Or any of these guys.' He gestured to the rest of the room.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Jackie looked over at the sofa and narrowed his eyes. “Are you two having a secret sign language conversation? Without us?! How dare you.”

“Yes, it is a secret exclusively from you, Jackie,” Marvin said, turning to face him. “Everyone else has got it.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” Jackie rolled his eyes.

“Oh, wait a minute,” Chase said. “You guys were talking about the thing, right?”

“Yes, the thing,” Marvin said. “Are you still in?”

“Of course I am!” Chase had no idea what was going on, but he jumped in ready to commit anyway. “I’ll bring the smoothies.”

“Wait, what?” Jackie looked back and forth between them, confused. “What’s going on?”

“Ah, right, you don’t know,” Jack said, also jumping in. “Well, we can’t tell you now. You have to figure it out for yourself.”

“This isn’t actually a thing, is it?” Jackie asked, uncertain. “You’re just messing with me and Schneep, right?”

“Ah, I am sorry, Jackie,” Schneep said. “But you have not watched the video, so you will not understand what we are talking about anyway.”

“What video?!” Jackie cried. “I thought you weren’t allowed to watch YouTube in here!”

“Ah, no, see, I showed him cause it wasn’t fair for him to have to find it,” Marvin sighed. “He’s the one exception, you are not.”

“This is a terrible prank! You’re all awful people!” Jackie looked at JJ. “This is a bit, right? You guys were talking about something different.”

JJ said nothing for a while. Until he raised his hands and signed, 'I’m sorry, Jackie, but it’s no fun if you don’t find the video yourself. Then you can get a smoothie with us.'

“Oh come on!” Jackie threw his hands in the air.

At that point, it was too much for the others, and they all burst out laughing in unison. Jackie folded his arms, glaring at them until they all stopped. “God. Sorry, Jackie, it was just too good to stop,” Marvin said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eyes. “We should’ve kept going with it, guys.”

“You’re all stupid,” Jackie said grumpily. “That was so dumb.”

“Hey. Jackie. Bro.” Chase pointed a finger gun at him. “Kettle pot black.”

“Yeah, don’t pretend like you wouldn’t do the same thing,” Jack chuckled.

“Well…alright, you got me.” Jackie looked at Schneep and JJ. “I can’t believe you two did it, too. I thought you were the serious ones.”

“Yes, I am totally serious, one hundred percent,” Schneep said, completely dead-pan. “I am serious man. I think only of serious things like paperwork and dictionaries.”

Jackie made a snrk sound as he kept himself from laugh. “When—when you said dictionaries, I-I thought you were going to say something else, I-I thought you were gonna stop after the first sylla—”

'Oh my, Jackie!' JJ pressed a hand to his chest and pretended to look scandalized. 'I can’t believe you’d say that in front of someone so much younger than you! I’ll be complaining about you on social media.'

“Hey, you’re only one year younger than us and you don’t have anything online!” Jackie protested.

“Also you were smiling,” Marvin pointed out. “You were expecting the same thing, weren’t you?”

'I deny everything,' JJ said firmly.

“Oh my god, you two,” Chase snickered. “I can’t believe I was the mature one here.”

“How’s it feel, Chase?” Jack asked.

“Oh, it’s so strange and new, bro. I kinda…I kinda hate it.”

And again, everyone burst into laughter. There was no real reason. It wasn’t an incredibly funny comment. But it was that sort of mood, the sort where the slightest thing could set off a burst of giggles. The sort that only happens when you are around friends you share everything with, people who you know well, who you understand and who understand you in turn.

And in that moment, everyone was truly, fully happy.
.............................................................................................

The townhouse was unassuming, one in a line of identical houses with the same two-story design and the same brown-brick walls. Laurens double-checked the address to make sure they didn’t knock on the wrong door. Number 14. Good, the bus had dropped them off right outside. “This is it,” she said out loud. “How are you doing?”

“Laurens, please, I am fine.” Despite saying that confidently, Schneep kept fidgeting nervously. “There is nothing to worry about.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Laurens gave him a reassuring smile. “But let me know if you need anything. Do you want to knock or should I?”

“I’ll knock.”

The two of them walked up the two steps to the front door. Schneep took a deep breath, then reached forward and knocked solidly. Hardly ten seconds passed before the door opened, revealing Mina inside. “You are here! Right on time.” She smiled. Her dark hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore her brown jacket. “Come in, come in. Both of you.”

The two of them stepped inside and Mina closed the door behind them. “Hi, Mina,” Laurens said, looking around the small front hall. “Uh…nice place.”

“It is fine,” Mina said neutrally.

“This is different, yes?” Schneep said. “I could have sworn you lived somewhere that did not share walls with the neighbors.”

Mina chuckled. “Well, my lease expired with that place, so we are here now. It is not so bad.”

“You did not sound so happy just a few seconds ago,” Schneep teased.

“Ah, you caught me.” Mina laughed again. “Trust me, this will be just temporary. I am saving up for someone bigger, out on the edge of town. Hopefully with a yard of some kind, though I doubt something like that will be available.” She stepped to the side, opening the nearest door. “Anyway, this is the living room. Come on. Both of you.” And she disappeared into the other room.

Schneep hesitated. He glanced at Laurens, who gave him a quick thumbs up, and then looked away again. Taking a few deep, even breaths, he stepped through the door. Laurens followed, slightly behind.

The living room was much nicer than the tiny entrance hall. Maybe the yellow wallpaper lended it a warm look, or maybe the window framed by pink curtains let in just enough sunlight, but whatever it was, it made the room feel cozy. There was a single sofa and an armchair, as well as two end tables and a floor lamp in the corner, but Schneep was not looking around at the furniture. His attention was fixed on the wooden cradle in the center of the room.

“Here she is, der kleine Schatz.” Mina leaned over and picked up a small bundle in pastel pink blankets. She kissed the small round head peeking out of the blankets, then turned to Schneep and smiled. “You look scared.”

“I am not scared,” Schneep reflexively denied. “It is just…she is so much smaller than I thought.”

“She is a tiny baby,” Mina agreed, adjusting her hold. “But the doctors say it is not a problem. She is much bigger than she was when she was born. And now she could stand if she wanted to. But she likes being held more, doesn’t she?” She cooed at the baby for a moment, then looked up at Schneep. “Well? If you are not scared, why are you standing all the way over there?”

Schneep straightened the hem of his sweater, then slowly walked over until he was standing next to Mina. He leaned down to look at the baby. “Hello, Elise,” he whispered, his voice already full of fondness. “It is good to see you finally.”

“You should hold her,” Mina said.

“I—I have never held a baby before,” Schneep admitted.

“Really? Never?”

“Well maybe when I was younger, but not in years.”

“It is alright. Here, I will help.” Mina slowly pushed Elise towards Schneep, who hesitated before taking her. “She is older, but you still must support the head—put your hand here. Yes. Now adjust your arms like this.”

Laurens stayed in her spot by the doorway, watching. She knew that she had to be here, but it felt like this was a private moment, so she chose not to go any farther into the room.

“Oh. Oh, you woke her up,” Schneep gasped softly. “Hello, there. You really are der kleine Schatz, ja?”

“She is going to stare at you with bug eyes for a little bit,” Mina said. “But that is okay, she just does not know you yet. Let her get used to you.”

“Is it alright to bounce?”

“A little, yes.”

Despite asking that, Schneep paused for a moment before beginning to slowly bounce the baby, being very careful. “Hello, Elise.” He smiled gently. “I am your papa. I-I am sorry we did not meet sooner. But…at least I am here now. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag. Happy birthday.”

“Alles Gute zum Geburtstag,” Mina repeated. “Oh, watch this.” She held up her hand near Elise. After a moment, the baby managed to get her own hand out from the blankets and clumsily slapped her mother’s palm. “She does high-fives.”

“Oh! You are a very talented little girl, aren’t you?” Schneep laughed.

Elise grabbed onto one of Mina’s fingers. “Mama,” she gurgled.

“Mama,” Mina repeated happily. She reached out and gently angled Elise’s head to look ast Schneep. “And this is Papa. Say ‘Papa.’ Papa?”

“Puh-puh,” Elise said.

“Oh, not quite,” Mina grinned. “But you are close. Isn’t she, Mr. Papa?”

“I…” Schneep blinked furiously, but a single tear still slipped out. “Ja. Papa.”

“Pa-puh,” Elise said again.

“I think we should sit down,” Mina suggested. “You can put her on the sofa and she will sit.”

“I-I remember, you showed me pictures.” Schneep smiled down at Elise. “Come on, kleine süße. We can sit and play.”

As the two of them sat down on the sofa, Laurens slowly backed out of the room. She was confident that nothing was going to happen while she was gone. And at this point, she just felt bad for intruding. Besides, she could still hear what was going on.

Laurens went over to the front door and opened it, letting in a cold breeze. The townhouse was a bit stuffy, so it felt good. She closed her eyes, feeling the snap of the cold February air. Then she opened them again to stare at the cotton clouds drifting across the sky.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a turquoise notebook. Her notebook, the one that had gone missing months ago. Somehow, that monster of a man had gotten hold of it, and the police had returned it to her once they realized it was her property. Idly, she opened it up, scanning her early notes. Reading her old thoughts caused her to wince. She had been mistaken about a lot. Schneep was not the threat everyone had thought he was—including her. It had all been someone else.

And yet…Laurens was also proud as she read. Proud of Schneep, of Henrik. As the sounds of quiet talking and baby babble drifted from the living room, she reflected how much had changed. She was glad he was better now. It wouldn’t be long before he didn’t need her anymore. And though that made her strangely sad, the feeling was overwhelmed by the happiness and relief she felt as well.

Laurens shut the old notebook and put it back into her bag. She watched the clouds for a moment more, then finally closed the door.