Part Nineteen of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Anti makes a move, leaving everyone in danger.]
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It was a bright morning outside, but Chase didn’t know that. He was inside, sitting at a hastily-done computer setup inside his closet. It was cramped and dark and honestly kind of dusty. But he hadn’t wanted to keep this setup out in the open. Because this was the computer he’d been using to access Anti’s website, and if he kept it out in any other room of the house, he knew he’d keep glancing towards the windows and doors, waiting for something to happen.

Though…nothing HAD happened in the past week or so since he’d first found the website. He’d told the police about it, contacting that detective, Nix, who was in charge of the search for Jackie and JJ. Nix had been really appreciative, saying that this was a helpful clue and the police would be right on it, but he’d warned Chase to not go looking at any websites like this again. “These are dangerous,” he’d said. “And many of them use trackers to gather information or worse.”

Yet here he was. First thing in the morning. Staring at a creepy hitman website while sitting in his closet.

Part of his mind was yelling at him to stop. That even though he’d waited a few days before accessing the site again, that didn’t mean anything. This was dangerous. But…he couldn’t help it. This was the first time he felt like he was doing something, like he was actually helping the search for his friends. So, he stayed there.

His study of the website mostly consisted of scrolling through the anonymous reviews and trying to find ways to look at the source code. Chase…wasn’t that good with computers. Despite the fact that recording videos and putting them on the Internet was his job. He’d basically absorbed all his knowledge from Jack and his editor and only knew how to do things like editing because of that. Anything beyond what was required for YouTube was a mystery to him. But he was trying.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he gasped, then felt silly. It was just a text notification. Sighing at his own jumpiness, he took out his phone and looked at the message on the screen. It was from Marvin. "Hey do you know any quick ways to get food? Other than ordering."

"Oh?" Chase responded. "Are you out of bed this early? Thats a 1st." And he didn’t just mean because Marvin was having trouble getting out of bed recently. Marvin never woke up before ten, even before JJ disappeared, so this was strange.

"Luna was yelling at me because i forgot to fill her bowl last night and i couldnt deal with it anymore so i got up and thought i might as well get breakfast."

"Thats great bro. As for food I bought you some microwave mac n cheese and noodles."

Marvin instantly replied, "I’m not eating fucking noodles for breakfast. That’s weird."

Chase laughed a bit. "Sorry, Marv. I know your sense of order is a big thing for you, but sometimes you need exceptions."

This time, the reply was slow. The typing bubbles appeared and disappeared a couple times before finally: "i just cant. maybe another time."

Ah. Of course, even if he was out of bed, Marvin was still struggling. Chase thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, Marvin. No problem. How bout toast and butter? It takes five to ten minutes depending on how much you want it burnt." That was a frequent go-to for him. "I know u have bread and butter, too."

"Alright. Thanks."

"No problem." Chase paused, then added, "Hey I was gonna go visit Jack again later today. Do u think youd be up for coming with?"

Another long pause. "I dunno. Ask me again when it’s closer to time."

"Got it." And with that, Chase set his phone down and returned his attention to the website.

About an hour later, he gave up. He couldn’t find any clues at all, and reading this was really starting to get to him. Carefully standing up, so as to not knock over the computer setup in the tiny closet, he turned off the monitor and CPU, then edged around to the closet door. He hesitated, feeling uneasy anxiety rolling in his stomach, then slowly opened the door.

Nobody was outside. Well, of course not. He took a deep breath, and stepped out into the hallway. It was time to get ready for the day.

But still, that anxiety followed him. And he couldn’t help but remember the notice that Anti had put at the top of the website. Something about business being closed until something was “taken care of.” That just…sounded very bad. And Chase couldn’t help but think about what might be happening to Jameson and Jackie.
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Nearly a month had passed since Anti had taken JJ. For nearly a month, Jameson had been stuck in this room with Jackie. And with no means of escape that he could see. He’d looked, of course. But even with Jackie’s help, they couldn’t find a way out of the room. The closest thing he could think of was somehow unscrewing the door hinges, and he’d actually spent about a week trying to do that, but without any tools, there was no way those hinges would budge.

The only opportunity that he could see was when Anti visited, which he did often. But even that would be difficult to pull off. Jameson and Jackie might have numbers on their side, but Jackie was pretty weak after almost a year of captivity, and JJ had never been that athletic. Still, he was starting to consider it. Maybe Anti wouldn’t be expecting it, if he could just convince Jackie that they could do it, and if they could find an opportunity…

But even if they were going to try, today would not be the day. Anti had come into the room for one of his visits, which were becoming worryingly frequent, and Jackie had decided to hide in the attached bathroom. Jameson refused to look at Anti, in the vain hope that he’d go away if he didn’t engage.

“Jamie.” Anti pulled a chair away from the table, and then indicated the one across from him. “Come s…sit down.”

Jameson shook his head. He folded his arms, and stayed where he was, standing next to the bunk bed.

Anti stared at him for a while, then sat down. It didn’t ease the tension at all. For some reason, Jameson still felt like he was looming over him. “Alright. F-fine.” He paused. Waiting. Watching him with his mismatched eyes. Today, the fake one was brown, not green. Odd, but it didn’t lessen the intensity of his gaze.

After a few silent moments, Jameson couldn’t take it anymore. He slowly walked over to the table and sat down. God damn it. Why was just the silence enough to get him to respond?

“Ah, there we are.” Anti smiled. “About time. You’re always so…so tense, Jamie, when you really shouldn’t be. I won’t h-hurt you.”

'What do you want this time?' Jameson signed stiffly.

“Why do you keep asking that? I don’t want…anything, I just want to…talk.” Anti leaned back in the chair. “I don’t understand th-this. You’re so…different. And I’m trying, you know. Know. You know—I know, by now, that this wasn’t the best starting point. But I’m trying to…to get everything back to the way it was. You want that, don’t you?” His voice was soft, like he was talking to an easily startled animal. Or a child.

'No, I don’t.' Jameson said firmly. 'I don’t want everything to go back to how it was, because back then, you were making me help you throw bodies in the river.'

“That was a mistake, okay? Oka-ay?” Anti sighed. “I shouldn’t…should never have gotten you involved in all this. So, I’m not going to, ever again.”

Jameson laughed. 'You’re a bit late for that! Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you kidnapped me!'

“That was another mistake, and I’m sorry that you f-f-feel I was out of line. I can see what you…what you mean. But you’d never talk to me otherwise, let alone go anywhere with me.” Anti’s fingers tapped an irregular rhythm on the table. “But I can pr-promise you, no more dead bodies. Ever. Ever again. You’ll be safe.”

He sounded genuine, and JJ had to admit that at least there was still a part of him that cared about—no! Jameson stiffened and pushed away that softening feeling. It didn’t change any of this. Anti still abducted him, and he was willing to bet that ‘safe’ to Anti wasn’t the same as ‘safe’ to him. It would be more of this, most likely. Trapped inside, unable to go anywhere, always under Anti’s watchful eye. Why was he even continuing this conversation? Jameson balled up his hands and shoved them under his arms, physically preventing him from saying anything more.

Anti’s expression shifted slightly. “You’re being so difficult, my god. We’ve been doing this for a-a-a month and gotten nowhere. If you would just li-listen, we could go—past—move past this.” The tapping rhythm increased slightly, nails on wood. “But alright—okay. Fine. Yes. I-I-I have a pro—” And then the tapping stopped. Anti’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh. That’s it.”

Jameson leaned back a bit, waiting for something. Those last words sounded like a threat. But—

Out of nowhere, Anti slumped forward onto the table. JJ gasped and stood up. In an instant, he was moving automatically, rolling Anti’s head to the side and looking for anything dangerous nearby. There was nothing. Could he breathe? Was this a good position, or should he move him? He should’ve recognized it, Anti was having difficulty with his words, he knew that was a sign—Wait, the watch. The watch he was wearing around his neck, the chain it was on had tightened a bit. JJ grabbed the chain and adjusted it so it was more loose.

A few seconds later, Anti gasped, and pushed JJ away. He stepped back.

“I…fuck.” Anti blinked, eyes glancing around the room. For a moment, he was confused. JJ could see the recognition slowly fade back into his expression. “Thwshnnbad.”

JJ watched anxiously. For a moment, he glanced over towards the door. But…he just couldn’t. Not now. Maybe he was too nice, but it just felt cruel to try and leave after that.

Anti took a few deep breaths, then looked over at JJ. “You helped.”

Jameson hesitated, then nodded.

“Hmm.” Anti didn’t say anything, but there was a look on his face that made Jameson squirm a bit. Almost smug. Almost. There was a fair share of gratitude that prevented it from being fully self-satisfied. Anti reached for his pocket, and after a few tries, pulled out his phone. “That was…not that long?”

'Just a few seconds. Maybe fifteen or so,' JJ said. 'No twitching or jerking.'

Nodding, Anti tapped on his phone for a bit. “It’s…been a while,” he said quietly. “They’re not that bad anymore, you know.”

Unsure what to say, Jameson just nodded again.

A few moments later, Anti took a deep breath, and returned his phone to his pocket. “Anyway. As…I was saying. I have a proposal.”

Immediately, all Jameson’s sympathy was gone, replaced by cold fear. 'What is it?' he asked warily.

Anti didn’t answer for a bit. Instead, he reached inside his jacket, and pulled out a small keycard. “Do you know what this is?”

'A card? Like…for a hotel?'

“No, not for a hotel.” Anti smiled a bit. “Though I guess…it’s sort of like it.” His eyes darted towards the bathroom door, slightly ajar. “He’s been telling you about what happened. With him and the doctor.” It wasn’t a question. So Jameson didn’t answer. But he didn’t have to. “Did you ever meet that doctor?”

Jameson started to shake his head, then reconsidered. 'Once,' he said. 'He thought I was you.'

“We do look similar. Even more so than all these…these doppelgangers do to each other.” Anti tried to twirl the keycard around his fingers, but failed. It fell to the table, and he quickly picked it up again. “So, you only met him once. Hmm…I expected you to interact with him more. You’re part of this…this friend group now. I thought, surely, they’d introduce you to each other. Well, I guess they tried. I’m assuming it didn’t go well.” He paused. “But still. You’re a good person, Jamie.”

'What are you saying?' Jameson almost didn’t want to ask.

“You wouldn’t want anything to happen to him, right?”

Anti fell silent, but Jameson didn’t dare to answer. He couldn’t.

“This keycard happens to give me…access to the hospital where he’s staying,” Anti continued. “I’ve already been there. I know how to get him out.”

'Don’t hurt him,' Jameson said, all color gone from his face. 'Please.'

“That depends on you. Well, and our friend in there.” Anti indicated the bathroom door again. “Originally, I was going to use him, but then I thought, that didn’t stop that doctor woman from leaving. But he might try to leave himself, especially with the two of you…here. Together. So I thought I’d use something that’ll affect both of you.”

'He hasn’t done anything to you. Leave him alone.'

“That doesn’t mean he’ll never do anything,” Anti suddenly snapped. “The cops know I exist now. It’s only a matter of time before they start to ask him questions.” The anger drained away. Now his face was still, unreadable. “Besides, that didn’t stop me before.”

'Why did you even take him in the first place?' Jameson asked. 'Why? It wasn’t for your…work. All of this could’ve been avoided.'

“I was…curious. He thought I was his friend Jack, you know. When I ran into him that night. And I thought to myself, this man is clearly delusional. But I figured it would be easier to play along. After he realized what happened, he explained his whole condition to me, and I wondered. I wondered how I could use that.” Anti’s smile was sharp. “It’s not every day an opportunity like that runs into you on the street.”

Jameson backed away, horrified. Too late, Anti noticed his reaction. And for a moment, he looked hurt. Then angry. Sad. And finally, determined. “Think about what I said.” He stood up, and headed towards the door. For a moment, Jameson considered following him. But he hesitated for a second too long, and Anti was gone, the door locked behind him.

The room was silent. Jameson stood there for what felt like forever. Then he moved, walking towards the bathroom. He slowly pushed open the door, peering inside. “Hmm?” he hummed.

“Down here.” Jackie was sitting on the tile floor, up against the shower in the corner of the room. The bathroom was sparse and small, containing only the necessities of a toilet, sink, and shower, along with a bonus medicine cabinet that was empty. There was nowhere to sit except the floor.

JJ stepped inside. 'Did you hear all of that?'

Jackie nodded silently. His hands were covering his head, fingers digging into his scalp. Tears threatened to spill out of his eyes, and judging by the tracks, a few already had. “H-he can’t—Schneep is going to—he won’t be able to—”

'It’s going to be fine,' JJ said, kneeling next to him. 'We won’t let anything happen to him.'

“The—the only way to make sure of that is—but you can’t—you could get away if you—but not if he’s—”

'It’s going to be fine,' Jameson repeated uncertainly. 'I’ll make sure that it’ll work out. Maybe I can get Anti to listen to me. We can find a way. The police would notice Henrik disappearing, they’ll find us.'

Jackie choked on a sob. He pulled his knees up to his chest and folded his arms on top of them. “They haven’t,” he said quietly. “They’re…not going to.” And he buried his face in his arms, shoulders shaking.

Jameson didn’t have anything to say to that. All he could do was stay close, and hold Jackie tight as he cried.
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It was a lovely day outside. For late-November-near-December, that is. Though the sun shone bright in a cloudless sky, there was still a chill to the air that forced people to wear jackets, or even coats. But Schneep didn’t mind. He hadn’t been outside in so long that anything would feel refreshing.

Silver Hills had itself a back garden where some patients could spend time. It was fenced in, for safety, but it was still quite large. Dr. Laurens had told him the news at the end of yesterday’s session: she’d gotten approval for some supervised time outside. Schneep had been hesitant at first. Some of his old paranoia and fear resurfacing. When he’d been with Anti, he hadn’t been allowed out without permission. And even when he had permission, Anti always found a way to keep an eye on him, either via cameras and GPS or by accompanying him himself. What if—what if this was another trick? A test? And if he failed the test—

No, of course not. Everything was alright here. There were other patients out and about, going on walks along the paths and stopping to look at flowers nearby. Schneep watched them from where he was sitting on one of the garden’s benches. He twirled his medical bracelet around his wrist. They’d also finally decided that he could wear clothes—besides the standard issue white shirt and pants—again. As long as they didn’t have any hard fastenings or dangly bits like strings, but that was understandable. So now the bracelet was the only sign that he was a patient here. Which was the same as everyone else. That…helped, actually. Somehow.

“Schneep? Is everything alright?”

“Hmm?” Schneep blinked, realizing he’d been gone for a while there. Oliver was nearby, as always. In this case, sitting at another bench nearby, far enough away to give Schneep his own space but close enough in case of an emergency. “Yes, I am fine. It is just a bit chilly.”

“Well…you’re not wrong there,” Oliver muttered. The orderly uniform was short-sleeved, and evidently, they weren’t allowed to wear anything over it. His arms were covered in raised goosebumps. “Anything else?”

“No, I was just thinking.” Schneep looked down at his lap. Laurens had given him one of her notebooks and a box of markers. He’d said that he wanted to try drawing, like they’d done in one of their sessions, and she’d been encouraging. So now he was trying to draw the gardens. It was hard. He wasn’t particularly artistic, and he was pretty sure a twelve-year-old could do better than him. But it was…nice. Focusing. Grounding.

Oliver nodded, and went silent. Schneep returned to his paper. The markers were a bit annoying, since they couldn’t be erased. But it was fine. He worked around the mistakes.

Quite a bit of time passed before he was ready to go inside. A few clouds had appeared in the clear sky. Schneep stood up, closing the notebook. Oliver looked over at him again. “Ready to go?”

“Yes, I’m going back to my room.”

“Alright, then.” Oliver stood up as well. “Let’s go.”

They made their way inside, winding through the halls and then up the stairs. It was so good to have his old room back, from before that tiny, featureless room on the first floor. Apparently those rooms weren’t supposed to be lived in for that long, a fact that the lovely Dr. Newson had neglected to mention. But that was in the past. Now he had a window! And some battery-powered lamps, and a bathroom joined to the room, and more furniture than a bed and a single table. It was amazing.

“Alright, here we are.” They stopped outside Room 309 and Oliver unlocked it with a swipe of the key card. It was only ever unlocked when nobody was inside; another difference between this one and the tiny first-floor room. “You remember to push the button if you need anything?”

“Yes, yes.” There was a call button on the wall inside. Pressing it would bring an orderly to the room, hopefully within minutes. “I remember.”

“Great. I’ll be around.”

“Thank you.” Schneep opened the door, adjusting his grip on the notebook and box of markers before heading inside. “I will be seeing you, then.”

Oliver smiled a bit. “Of course. See you.” He waved a bit, then walked off, disappearing down the hallway. Schneep waved after him, pulling the room door closed shortly before he started to turn the corner.

By now, it was solidly in the afternoon, and the sun was shining its beams directly into the window. Schneep blinked in the sudden brightness, then once his eyes adjusted, he walked over to the table and put down the notebook and markers. He opened up to the page with the garden drawing and considered it. Not bad, really. For someone who wasn’t an artist. Jackie and Marvin would’ve done much better. Maybe they could have given him advice, if they were here.

It would be some time before dinner. A little over an hour, judging by the numbers on the digital clock on the table. In the meantime, he could get some reading done. The room had a shelf, and Laurens had been providing him with some books for it. He was just barely starting a new novel, but it had already sucked him in. Yes, that was a good idea. Get through a few chapters of that.

Schneep headed over to the shelf, running his fingers over the spines of the books until he reached the one he was looking for. He was just about to pull it off the shelf when there was a movement in his peripheral vision.

He stiffened instinctually. Even though he’d been seeing strange movement in his vision for years now, he’d only been uneasy about it ever since his time with Anti. But he wasn’t supposed to acknowledge it. It was better that way. Just ignore it, just ignore it, just ignore—

There were footsteps behind him. And he couldn’t help but turn around. The first thing he saw as he turned was the door to the adjoining bathroom. It was open. Hadn’t he left it closed? Could he have not closed it all the way? Then some sort of shift in the air could’ve opened it, causing the movement he saw?

No, that theory was disproved when he saw the second thing of note in the room: a man. Who hadn’t been there before. He was wearing the orderly uniform, but Schneep didn’t recognize him.

No.

No, he DID recognize him.

His eyes were a different color, and his face wasn’t scarred, but there could be no mistaking him. Anti.

Schneep froze. No. No, it wasn’t real. He was just hallucinating. He’d done the same a few days ago, thought he’d seen Anti in the rec room. That couldn’t have been real. So this couldn’t be real. So it wasn’t. If he just ignored the hallucination, it couldn’t do anything to him. Slowly, he turned back around. He reached with trembling hands to take the book off the shelf.

More footstep sounds. He saw in the corner of his vision the image of Anti again. Anti was circling around him to his left, staring, watching, staring, watching—WHY IS EVERYONE ALWAYS WATCHING HIM?!—No, no, don’t let it get to him. It wasn’t real. He pulled the book off the shelf, and knocked down its two neighbors in the process, grabbing those as they fell. It was fine. Everything was fine.

He took a few deep breaths and turned away, taking the three books to an armchair near the window of the room. The image of Anti watched him, watched him with interest, curiosity. He always did that. He’d done it in the beginning, when he’d trapped Schneep in that house with him, always curious about how far he could push his limits.

“Es ist nicht real,” Schneep said to himself. Just a reminder. It couldn’t be real. How’d he get into the room? The front door hadn’t opened, and it was impossible for him to be inside beforehand. The room had been locked. Nobody could get in without unlocking it with a keycard. “Es ist nicht real. Es ist nicht real.” It was impossible.

Footstep sounds. Schneep could see the image of Anti approaching out of the corner of his vision. He didn’t turn his head, and focused on stacking the three books on the window sill. “Es ist nicht real, ist nicht real, ist nicht real, nicht real, nicht real,” he continued to whisper under his breath. “Nicht real, nicht real, nicht real.”

The image reached out and—

It grabbed his arm.

He felt a sharp pain.

Panic flooded his system. Schneep screamed and spun around, picking up one of the books and throwing it at the man. The book connected solidly, hitting with enough force to snap the man’s head back and cause him to let go. He yelled out in pain.

No, someone was here. It wasn’t a hallucination. Someone was here and THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE. Schneep ran across the room, heading for the door.

“You—!” The man recovered quickly, and ran to the door as well. He was faster, and Schneep skidded to a halt as the strange man who looked like Anti blocked the door.

Okay, no door then. Schneep’s eyes scanned the room, and—the call button! Of course! He lunged to the side. The man saw where he was going, and pounced.

Schneep’s hand landed on the button for a split second before the man grabbed his wrist. He started to yell for help, but the man covered his mouth. “Shush,” his voice hissed as he wrapped his other arm around Schneep’s torso.

No! Schneep immediately started struggling, kicking his legs and trying to wriggle free. For a moment, his right arm pulled away, and he hit the strange man in the face. But the man was quick, and recaptured the escaped hand before it could do any damage. “Calm down, you’re going to be asleep in a few moments anyway,” the man said. “Don’t make this hard on yourself.”

That voice—it was—but it couldn’t be. It was impossible—how would he get inside? That—no. Schneep’s thoughts swirled in broken fragments, unable or unwilling to finish and come to the natural conclusion. He shook his head and continued to struggle. The man’s grip was firm. Unbreakable. It was…a familiar feeling.

There was something on his hand. Something powdery, chalky. Like…some sort of makeup. Like…something that could be used to hide blemishes. Or scars. It was on his right hand, the one he’d used to hit the man’s face.

Where Anti’s scars would be.

No…it wasn’t possible. This couldn’t be happening! It wouldn’t be—was it all a trick? All of it? Was he always planning to come back? Or maybe it was all in his head—no. He refused to believe that one.

Strangely, the longer he struggled, the slower his movement became. Sluggish…weak. And Schneep recognized these effects immediately. A sedative? But when…oh. Oh, that sharp pain he’d felt when he had grabbed him…that was a needle, wasn’t it? It was too late, wasn’t it?

Too late…yes, his vision was starting to waver. Schneep gave up on the weak escape attempts. They weren’t doing any good, anyway. Maybe he’d managed to hit the call button, and someone would be coming. Maybe…maybe they could…stop this…help him…please…please…

He looked up into the eyes of his captor and the world faded away.

Part Nineteen of The Stitched AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a completed fanfic series of mine with 24 total chapters. I started this October of 2018 and finished it May of 2021. The boys hear that Jackie is alive and back, but when they go to meet him, something's...off. Unknown to them, something's wrong with Marvin, too.]
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Nine o’clock in the morning, and the day had already gone off the rails in multiple ways. The group gathered in the living room of Schneep’s apartment. Chase and Jack sat on one of the sofas, and Schneep and JJ sat on the other, opposite them. They’d brought in snacks, mainly chips and oven-made fries, but nobody was touching them in light of the discussion.

“Look, we have no reason to trust this stranger or his word,” Schneep was saying. “He could be lying.”

“Yeah, but why would anyone lie about something like this?” Chase countered. “‘Hi, your friend who died has come back to life and really wants to see you,’ what could possibly be gained from that?”

“And he’s not really a stranger,” Jack added. “I think I kinda remember Jackie mentioning him before. Said he was a detective, or something.”

Schneep rolled his eyes. “It does not matter in the end. He could still be lying.”

'But I have to agree with Chase,' JJ signed. 'Why would he do so?'

Chase looked at JJ, startled but relieved. He waited for Jack to translate Jameson’s signs for Schneep before continuing. “Yeah, and it’s not totally out of possibility, is it? When we thought we defeated Anti before, Jackie and Marvin reappeared. Maybe now that Anti is gone for good, they came back somehow.”

Schneep folded his arms. “If we say they have come back in some way, there is a high chance they will not be the same, given how…odd they were last time.”

Chase glanced back over at JJ. “Yeah, uh, we’ve…thought about that.” He waited for JJ to jump in, but there was nothing. “But…I mean, we should still check it out, right? Stacy gave me this guy’s number, I can call him to see what’s up.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Jack added. “See for ourselves what this guy’s like. Or, uh, hear. You know?”

“Yes yes, we can do that first.” Schneep nodded. “What was his name again?”

“Malcolm,” Chase said, picking up his phone and copying the number from his notes into the dialer. “I’ve never met him before, but then again, I don’t really know all of your guys’ friends either.” He could’ve been at the funeral, but then again, Chase didn’t think he would have remembered him if he was. He was a little…distracted at the time.

“Yeah, I think I’ve heard him mention that name before,” Jack said. “Or I’m just thinking about Marvin instead.”

'Speaking of which, where would Marvin be?' JJ asked. 'The two of them were, well, stuck together, weren’t they? But this stranger only called us to talk about Jackie.'

“Uh, maybe the two of them just…separated?” Jack suggested.

“Guys it’s ringing,” Chase shushed. Everyone else fell silent.

The other end clicked as it was picked up. “Hello?”

Chase swallowed a lump in his throat. “Hi, it’s Chase. Are you Malcolm? Uh, I think you called my, um, ex?”

“Oh yeah!” The man on the other end sounded friendly enough, if not at all familiar. “Yeah, that was me. Sorry about that, by the way. I have no idea why he remembered your ex’s number and not yours.”

“Right, ha,” Chase laughed nervously. “So, uh…did you really…I-I mean, did Ja—is he really, uh, is Jackie—”

“No I get it, it sounds insane,” Malcolm said. “But yeah, Jackie is…alive. I-I don’t know how, but he is. I can probably put him on, if you’d like.”

Chase felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. “Uh…yeah, you can do that.”

“Great. Hold on a minute.” On the other end he heard what sounded like a hardwood floor. A door opened, and Malcolm’s voice came through, the words muffled. A few seconds later, a different voice came through the line. “Chase? Chase?”

It took him a moment to respond. The others were all staring at him intensely, Jack actually leaning a bit closer as if he could hear what was happening in the call. “Uh…yeah,” Chase finally said. “It’s me. Is this—”

“It’s you!” Jackie’s familiar voice was bright. “It’s you, you! Where are you? I can’t find you.”

“Uh, y-yeah it’s me,” Chase said. “I’m, uh…I’m on my way.”

“Here?”

“Yeah, to wherever you are.”

“Hurry! Where are you? Tell me!” Jackie insisted.

“Um…can you hand the phone back to your friend?” Chase asked. “So he can tell me where you are.”

“Where are you?!” Jackie repeated.

“I’m going there, I just need to know where there is,” Chase persisted. “Can you tell me or hand the phone so your friend can tell me?”

Jackie groaned, sounding disappointed. There was a vague sort of shuffling sound. “Are you still there?” Malcolm asked.

“Yeah,” Chase said. He glanced around at the others. “So…I guess we’ll be stopping by.”

“That would be great,” Malcolm replied. “Jackie is, uh…he really wants to see you. I’m at 756 Windscape Lane, it’s on the west side. My roommate will be out all day, but I took the day off work so I’ll…be here. With Jackie.”

“756 Windscape Lane,” Chase repeated, giving the others a significant look. JJ immediately took out his phone and typed in the address. “We’ll be there soon.”

“Great. See you then.” Click. The call ended.

“So…” Schneep said slowly. “Was he telling the truth?”

Chase looked up. “Well…y-yeah, he put Jackie on the line, and…well it sounded like him. I’d know that voice anywhere.” He paused. “I…I guess it could have been a trick somehow, but it…sounded like him,” he repeated lamely.

JJ took a deep breath. 'Well, we should at least check it out, shouldn’t we?'

“Uh, yeah,” Chase said, giving JJ a slightly startled look. “The address isn’t that far from here, I think. But I don’t have my car so we can’t drive, and it’ll take a while on the bus—”

“I think I could get us there,” Schneep interrupted. “Or at least close.” The air seemed to shiver around him. “I have been practicing, after all.”

“Right, sounds like we’re all good, then,” Jack said. “Do we need anything? JJ, you want a scarf for your face?”

'That would be nice,' JJ said.

“Well let’s hurry, then,” Chase said. “I said we’d be there soon.” And he wanted to see what this was all about. See if there was anything to hope for.
.............................................................................................

“Stupid power outage,” Yvonne muttered. She was laying on the sofa, pointing her flashlight at the ceiling and making patterns with the circle of light. “Stupid crazy shit happening in the world.” She sighed, and looked over at the nearby armchair. “How’re you hanging on?”

Marvin was curled up in the chair, hugging his mask to himself. He didn’t respond. In fact, he hadn’t said anything at all since that weird comment about “puppets” an hour or so ago.

“Great, glad to hear it,” she commented, looking back at the ceiling. If she could just figure out what was up with his soul, and with those strange strings. She had the feeling they were connected with each other. Sighing, she turned to face the coffee table. Earlier, she’d grabbed a few books from her shop downstairs that she thought might help. Hadn’t had the…initiative to look at them yet. Now was as good a time as any. She reached over and grabbed one, flipping to the table of contents. “Hey, it’s Rituals for the Curious Soul Mage. Remember this?”

Marvin turned to look at her. Still didn’t say anything, just…staring.

“Course you do,” Yvonne mumbled. “You took a spell from it.” The book originally had a lock holding it shut, but one day, shortly after a visit from Marvin a few years ago, the one where he dropped off his mask at her apartment, the lock had suddenly disappeared. Recalling this, she flipped to one of the spells. There were a few pencil notes in the margins that weren’t in her handwriting. Yvonne scanned over the spell and the notes, and paused. “Wait a second.” She sat up straight. “Marvin, you didn’t…you didn’t actually do this, did you?”

He just kept staring at her.

“Look, I’m all for reading up the theory, but you didn’t ACTUALLY do it, right?” Yvonne repeated, maintaining eye contact. “You knew how dangerous this was, right? Tearing up a soul is—it’s just—” She stopped. “Oh my god, you actually did it,” she whispered. “That’s why your soul is—oh my holy fuck.” She read over the page once again, running her finger along the title: Transference Ritual. “Who’d you convince to be the other…” Slowly, she trailed off. “Your flatmate. Both of you died at the same time, you…shit. Fuck shit.” She snapped the book closed. “What happened to him? What happened to YOU? Why are you back now?”

Finally, Marvin shook his head slowly. “I don’t know where the other me is,” he said quietly.

Yvonne buried her face in her hands. “It’s fine. It’s—I’ll figure it out.”

Marvin tilted his head, then looked out the window. “Shards?” He asked. “Where did we go?”

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yvonne sighed. “But I’m closer. It’s fine. It’s going to be fine.” She picked up the book again and reopened it to the same page. Maybe she could learn something from this spell.
.............................................................................................

Meanwhile, on the west side of the city, the air seemed to shimmer, and all of a sudden, four men popped into existence on the sidewalk. One of them immediately bent over and covered his mouth. Another pressed his hands to his head. “Oh god, I don’t feel so well,” the last one muttered.

“What? You were all fine when I took you to the apartment!” Schneep protested.

“Maybe it’s like…you can’t do too many at once?” Jack asked, shaking his head. “But yeah, doesn’t matter, I still feel like my insides want to be on the outside.”

“Same,” Chase muttered, straightening. “And dizzy too.” He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them wide. “Okay, but it looks like we’re here. Uhh…what was the address again?”

JJ pulled his hands away from his head and signed '756 Windscape Lane.'

“Right, 756.” Chase nodded. “Looks like we’re already on Windscape Lane. Nice place, I guess. Quaint.”

'It’s an older section of the city,' JJ explained.

“Well, we’re at 740.” Jack pointed at the number on one of the nearby houses. “We’re close. Let’s go.”

It was just a couple blocks’ walk before they reached their destination. The town house labelled 756 looked just like any of the others on the street. Chase hurried up the short walkway to stand on the threshold. He glanced behind him. Schneep was clutching Jack’s arm for stability, and JJ was adjusting the scarf around the lower half of his face. Jack nodded for Chase to go ahead. Chase nodded back, and turned around, ringing the doorbell.

A few seconds later, the door was opened by a black-haired man in a purple hoodie. “Oh hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Chase said, recognizing the voice from the earlier phone call. “Sooo…I’m Chase.”

“Malcolm. Nice to meet you.” The other man held out his hand for a shake, but slowly withdrew it when Chase didn’t take it. “Uh…I wasn’t expecting a whole group. It’s fine, though. Come in, come in.”

The group entered, finding themselves in a dim hallway lit only by a couple candles on a table. “Man, it’s so dark in here,” Jack complained. “I can barely see anything.”

“Oh no, what a nightmare,” Schneep drawled.

“…sorry,” Jack muttered.

'Did you just quote Avatar?' JJ asked.

“I think he did,” Chase said.

“Uh…I think I’m missing context for this conversation.” Malcolm looked between the group. “Anyway, yeah. The power’s out. Sorry about that.”

“I think it’s a citywide thing,” Chase shrugged. “It was out at the last two places we were.” He hesitated. “So…where’s, uh…”

“Upstairs,” Malcolm said, anticipating the question. “He’s been hanging out in our spare room. Haven’t told my roommate yet, because honestly I don’t know what the fuck to say about this.” He pulled his phone out of the pocket and switched on the flashlight feature. Pointing it to the side, the beam landed on a staircase leading upward. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

A quick climb up the stairs and they were in another hallway. Malcolm led them all the way down to the last door on the left. He opened the door slowly, shining his flashlight inside. “Hello? Jackie? Your friends are here.” The room was dark, of course, the only light coming from a battery-powered digital clock. It was hard to even see the vague shapes of furniture. Malcolm glanced back at the others. “I’ll uh…open the window.” He darted inside. Curtains rattled on the rod and morning light flooded the room, landing on a figure sitting on a bed and looking downwards.

Chase and Jack exchanged looks, both reluctant to go inside. But after a bit, Chase took a deep breath and stepped inside first. “Hey, uh, Jackie?”

At the sound of his voice, Jackie’s head snapped up and whipped towards him. Chase stopped in his tracks. It was DEFINITELY Jackie. Wearing his favorite red hoodie and a pair of jeans, brown-haired and blue-eyed like he’d always been. Jackie smiled wide, the expression so familiar it ached, and ran right over.

“Ja—oof!” Chase stiffened as Jackie wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, momentarily at a loss for words. After the initial shock of seeing and feeling Jackie alive again, he was starting to feel the panic at the skin contact sinking in. He looked at the others with an expression of panic on his face, practically begging for them to tell him what to do about this.

Jack nodded, and walked inside the room, Schneep following behind, still gripping his arm. “Uh, hey Jackie. So…you’re back?”

“Hmm.” Jackie glanced over at Jack and Schneep, not letting go at Chase. “Others.”

“Uh…yeah, we’re the others,” Jack said slowly. “You, uh…you okay?”

Jackie didn’t answer. Chase started to squirm, pushing at Jackie’s arms. Malcolm, standing back over by the window, cleared his throat. “Yeah, so…he’s been acting weird like this ever since he showed up here.”

“Weird like what?” Schneep asked.

Malcolm waved vaguely at Jackie, still attached to Chase. “You know…he keeps talking weird and disconnected, or not talking at all. I think his memory’s fuzzy or something, he didn’t…didn’t remember his name at first. I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Can someone get him to stop?” Chase whisper-shouted at the others. “It’s—” He yelped. Jackie had suddenly grabbed his wrist. Sharply jerking it back, he stammered out, “Uh, Jackie, don’t—please don’t do—I-I mean I’m glad to see you too, but—but don’t—”

“Where’d they go?” Jackie asked, brows scrunching together in confusion.

“Where’d what go?” Chase asked, trying to lean back.

Jameson finally stepped into the room. 'I hate to ask this, but…he wasn’t like this before, was he?'

Jack shook his head, momentarily at a loss for words. “Not at all…I mean, he was always a touchy-feely kind of—actually no, that sounds wrong, I mean he liked to hug people a lot. But he’d stop if you didn’t want it. If he didn’t, Marvin never would’ve lived—”

“Marvin!” Jackie suddenly shouted, looking around as if he expected to see him nearby. “Where is me? Us? The missing parts.”

“He’s been doing a lot of that,” Malcolm muttered, rubbing his temple like he was getting a headache. “Lots of talk about me and us and something missing.”

“That is…odd,” Schneep said, narrowing his eyes. “Jackie, can you stop that? You are making Chase uncomfortable.”

Jackie growled. “No. He’s ours.” He squeezed Chase tighter, not noticing or not caring how his uncomfortable expression turned to one of genuine distress.

“Well that’s… unsettling,” Jack said.

'Jack.' Jameson stepped closer. 'Maybe you could use your soul vision on him?'

“Huh? Oh yeah.” He’d almost forgotten to try that. The weird soul vision was just normal to him now. With that reminder, he closed his left eye and watched the world turn monochrome. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Malcolm’s soul glowing a bright violet, but he was more concentrated on what he was seeing in front of him. Last time he’d looked at Jackie’s soul, it had been a random mess of red and blue shards. Now? Well, the soul was still broken, but the pieces were mostly red, and they seemed larger than before, almost holding together a shape. Almost. They still weren’t a solid light like all the other souls were, and about a fourth of them were still blue. “Okay, that’s…still concerning, but not as concerning as it was.”

“Uhh…once again, I’m missing something,” Malcolm said.

“It’s a long story,” Jack said. “What’s important is that…Chase, are you okay?”

Chase didn’t answer. He’d slowly gone very pale, shaking a bit and breathing faster and faster. Once again, Jackie paid no mind to this, content to keep hugging him tight.

“This does not seem good,” Schneep muttered, pushing away from Jack. He walked over to Jackie and Chase and slowly reached out. Once he made contact, grabbing Jackie’s arm, he started physically trying to separate them.

Jackie suddenly shrieked, turning his attention to Schneep. “No! You can’t!” He shoved Schneep away, sending him stumbling backwards. “Stupid usel̴e̡s͝s doctor! He’s ours!”

“Jackie!” Schneep gasped.

“Hey!” Jack stepped forward. “Just drop it, Jackie! And leave Chase alone! Look at him, can’t you see you’re freaking him out?” Chase was rapidly blinking back tears as he tried to keep from hyperventilating. “I get you’re excited to see him, but you can’t do this.”

“We can do anything,” Jackie said in a low voice. “He’s ơu͝r̡s̕.” Without warning, he grabbed Chase’s bandanna and started pulling. Chase made a startled squeak that turned into something more choked as the bandanna didn’t come undone.

A bright blue light suddenly burst in between Jackie and Chase, growing into a sphere made of lines of runes that slowly pushed them apart. Once they were separated, Jameson slowly lowered his hand. 'Chase, are you okay?' He asked.

Chase covered his mouth with his hands, breathing heavily. “I-I’m…gonna…” He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, saying nothing more.

“Um, okay!” Malcolm looked back and forth between JJ and the spot where the sphere had been. “Excuse me for interrupting the moment, but what the fuck’s going on here?!”

“Magic is real, that is what’s going on here,” Schneep said curtly. “Jackie, no.” He lunged forward and grabbed Jackie by the back of the hoodie, just in time to stop him from walking over to Chase. “At least I can feel him like normal,” Schneep muttered. “Not like last time. I know where he is.”

Jackie, very obviously upset at being grabbed, started to turn around. He was probably planning on hitting Schneep at the very least, but he stopped halfway through, staring at the window. His eyes widened, and he suddenly laughed.

“Uh…that does not sound like a happy laugh,” Schneep said. “That sounds a bit…evil.”

Jack, Jameson, and Malcolm looked over at the window in unison. There didn’t seem to be anything there, so Malcolm, standing closest, edged up to it and looked out the glass. “I don’t see—wait what the fuck?!” He jumped back, just in time for the others to see something green crawling up the side. “What is that, string?!”

“String?!” Jack ran over to the window. Bits of green string were climbing along the edges of the glass, wriggling like snakes. The sight made him a bit sick, memories of Anti flashing through his mind as he slowly backed up. “What is that?!”

“I thought we’d established that it’s string,” Malcolm said. “The real question is, what’s it doing here?” His eyes widened. “Wait, is it—?!”

The window swung open. Quickly, the bits of string climbed inside, dropping to the ground and inching their way across the floor.

“It’s me!” Jackie said, delighted. “Parts of missing pieces!” He started to walk towards the string, but Schneep grabbed him, pinning his arms to his side. Jackie scowled. “Stop it! I need it!”

“I do not know what’s going on,” Schneep said, “but it sounds bad! What is happening?!”

“It’s weird string!” Jack continued to back away from them. “A bunch of them! They’re—oh god, that’s creepy, they’re like little worms.” His head followed their movement. “And they’re heading for Jackie!”

Malcolm ran over and slammed the window shut, trapping a few strings on the other side. “Well I’m guessing we don’t want that, so what do we do?!” He looked over at Jameson. “Can’t you do the same sort of thing you did to separate them?!”

Jameson jumped in surprise, then nodded, throwing out his hand. A disc of blue sprang up in front of the strings’ path. When they tried to squirm around it, JJ curved the magic around them, until eventually trapping them in a dome of blue light. 'Problem solved,' he signed shakily.

“Okay but seriously, what IS this?” Jack asked, inching closer to the strings contained in their magic dome.

Jackie managed to shake free of Schneep’s hold and immediately lunged forward. Schneep cried out and tackled him. The two landed hard on the floor. After a few seconds of wrestling, Schneep managed to pin Jackie to the ground.

Chase, looking only slightly less pale, glanced over at the strings. “Hey, they look like, um…you know…” He laughed nervously. “You know, the last time, when Jack pulled the string out of Anti? They look like that did, but lots of them.”

“God, what have you guys been up to?” Malcolm muttered.

“Huh. Actually, they do,” Jack said to Chase. “What does that…?”

'I wonder,' Jameson signed, 'if it is the same string.'

“Wait, what?!” Jack whipped over to look at him. “JJ, that’s—is that possible? For this string to be the same? I mean, it wouldn’t have duplicated or anything, would it?”

“Hold on a moment.” Schneep paused. Jackie tried to take advantage of this and try to climb to his feet, but Schneep realized what he was trying and grabbed him again. “The—ach—the strings, I snipped them up, remember? Into many little pieces. I thought…I thought that would destroy him.” He hesitated again. “Maybe it…did not?”

Momentary silence filled the room. Then Chase said, in a voice quiet enough to be barely heard, “Maybe…in order for him to go away completely, we have to completely destroy these strings.”

Schneep nodded. “That…that would make sense.”

'But how do we do that?' Jameson asked. 'These aren’t normal pieces of sewing thread, they’re magic.'

“We can figure something out,” Jack said decisively. “In the meantime.” He looked over at Malcolm. “Do you have, like, a jar or something we can use?”

“Uh…I don’t know if we have a jar, but I’m sure there’s something in the kitchen.” Malcolm edged around the room, giving everyone else space. “I’ll just…go look.” And he hurried out of the room.

“Alright. Amazing,” Schneep said. “But also, what do we do about—ahk!“

Jackie had managed to shift around and punch him in the face, whipping his head to the side. Schneep, startled, momentarily loosened his grip enough for him to wriggle out and climb to his feet. He darted straight towards the spot the strings were imprisoned on the floor. His hand flung out like he was throwing something. And something did fly out of his hand, though he wasn’t holding anything. Bits of jagged red light sprayed outward, sharp edges scraping along the edge of the blue magic dome until it burst like a popped balloon, all the strings flying outward.

“Wait, what?!” Jack gasped.

Jameson staggered back, eyes wide, but then jumped into action, diving forward and once again knocking Jackie to the ground. Jackie cried out, surprised, but reached out. One of the strings crawled forward, making contact with his hand and wrapping around his fingers.

“No!” Chase suddenly dashed forward, pulling off his hoodie and throwing it over the strings. It covered them all, and he quickly swept them up, holding his hoodie in a ball close to his chest. “God, they’re still wriggling.” He shivered.

Jackie’s expression brightened. “Chase! Chase. Chase Chase Chase.” He held out his hand, the string now tightening around his wrist like a woven bracelet.

Chase stared at him, then without looking away, gestured for Jack to come closer. Jack hurried over, and Chase passed the hoodie to him, still balled up to prevent any of the string bits from falling out. “H-hey, Jackie,” Chase said, smiling nervously. “How…what’s up?”

“I…I don’t remember,” Jackie whispered. “But hey. Come here. Please?”

JJ looked up at Chase, alarm in his eyes. Chase swallowed nervously, then nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, Jameson backed away, letting Jackie sit up straight. Chase scooted a bit closer, and Jackie immediately snatched him, wrapping his arms tightly around him.

“Chase…” Jack said softly, gaping.

“It’s fine,” Chase said hoarsely, giving Jack a wavering smile. “Go down and find that Malcolm guy, give him the, uh…hoodie.”

Jack didn’t move for a long while. But slowly, he backed up, leaving the room.

Schneep slowly walked over, offering JJ a hand to help him up, which he took. “This is all wrong,” he muttered.

“Y-yeah, no shit,” Chase mumbled. “Jackie wasn’t magic.”

Schneep frowned. “I was not talking about THAT, but yes. Perhaps being stuck with Marvin for so long had some…effects?”

'That would make sense, I suppose,' JJ agreed.

“Maybe,” Chase said quietly. He was trying very hard to keep breathing at a regular pace. Jackie’s hug was…suffocating. But also, he got the feeling that Schneep and JJ were giving him these…strange looks. Well, obviously Schneep couldn’t look at him, but it was something in their expressions. “You, uh… you two okay?”

“Are YOU okay, Chase?” Schneep countered.

“Hey, I’ll… live.” By this point, Jackie seemed to have significantly relaxed, closing his eyes. For whatever reason, he’d been able to distract him from the weird string things, and that was all that mattered. Speaking of which…“Hey, weren’t there more of…those? That got stuck outside?”

The two others stiffened. Jameson glanced over, then walked up to the window and peered out. After a moment, he pushed it open and leaned out, looking down and to the side. Then he pulled back inside and shut it. Well for whatever reason, they’re gone now, he signed. And then he tapped on the glass, no doubt saying the same thing in Morse code for Schneep.

“What? Where did they go?” Schneep asked.

“Y’know at this moment I don’t really care about that,” Chase said plainly. “We can deal with that later.”

The other two shifted uncomfortably. JJ tried to exchange a look with Schneep before remembering he couldn’t respond in kind. Schneep folded his arms and went to stand by the door. Jameson stayed at the window. And Jackie didn’t seem at all eager to let Chase go, so they remained on the floor, waiting for Jack and Malcolm to return.
.............................................................................................

The power in the city didn’t come on for another few hours. When it did, it came back in patches, depending on which section had managed to repair the mysterious damage done at the junctions. Yvonne’s shop was fortunately close to one of the repaired sections. Around noon, she sighed in relief as the lamps in her living room came back on. She was getting tired of straining her eyes to read books by flashlight. “Well, guess now’s a good time to take a lunch break,” she said, setting a book aside. “You hungry, Marvin?”

“Hmm?” Marvin hadn’t moved much from his position. But he nodded slowly. “Yes. Food.”

“Food is good.” Yvonne stood up and stretched. “C’mon, to the kitchen.” She walked over and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. Together, they went into the apartment’s small kitchen. Marvin hovered in the corner, still holding his mask close, while she searched through the cabinets. “Don’t know if I have anything you’ll eat, you picky bastard,” she muttered. “Uh…I guess some pasta. You want some pasta?”

“Does it matter?” Marvin asked.

“Well not to me, but does it to you?”

“Does it?”

“Does it?”

“Does—”

“Okay, never mind, fuck, I’ll just make spaghetti,” Yvonne groaned. She grabbed the box and a pot, filling it up with water and setting the noodles on the stove.

After a moment, Marvin walked closer, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder. She glanced over at him. “Uh…you know what they say about watched pots and boiling,” she said, trying to make it a joke.

Marvin blinked. “…no? I don’t remember that one. I-I don’t remember…there are things missing, still, without the other half.”

“Uh…right.” Yvonne said slowly. “Well, I”m just saying, we don’t need to watch it. We can just…sit down. At the counter, here.” She took a seat on one of the stools, patting another to indicate Marvin to do the same.

He didn’t. Instead he turned around and walked back into the living room, probably going to wait in there.

“…well, you can do that, too,” Yvonne commented. She sighed, and leaned back against the counter. What did he mean about the other half? Perhaps…she’d seen the way his soul looked in the Lens, the way it was…broken. Was only half of his soul there? That would explain some of the weirdness with his memory. There was evidence that the memory and the soul were linked, though it wasn’t clear if the soul affected memories or vice versa. In fact, a lot of people, even soul magicians, were still unsure what the soul was. The common consensus so far was that souls were like summing up someone into a single entity, like compressing their memories, beliefs, personalities, and everything else into a small, magical something. But it was also something different from all that, different from the mind, which was evident in how mental magic and soul magic were completely unrelated branches.

She continued to think over this as she watched the pot of noodles boil, and eventually turned the stove off, grabbing the strainer. As she poured the spaghetti into the strainer, she wondered if everything strange about Marvin could be explained by the strange way his soul had been broken. And that, the breaking of the soul, was likely related to the failed transference ritual. Though…it still didn’t explain why Marvin had actually died, or why he was back now…

In the other room, Marvin started laughing.

Yvonne paused. That wouldn’t have sounded so weird, with the Marvin she’d known before. But this was a different Marvin. Though his laugh was the same, it was…she hesitated to admit it, but it was creepy hearing it now. Abandoning the pasta, she walked back into the living room.

Marvin was standing by the window. Which was now open. That was odd. She’d left it closed ever since those strange green—

She shrieked as she saw the bits of string wriggling into the room. Less of them than before, but still concerning. What did they want?! Getting over it, she straightened. A Sending had taken care of them last time, it will this time as well. “Marvin, get away from those!” she shouted, rushing forward.

Marvin glared at her, snarling. He made a sweeping motion with his hand. There was a blast of cobalt-colored light, and suddenly glowing blue strings were shooting out from his hands. Yvonne hesitated for just a moment, surprised, but it was long enough for the blue strings to wrap around her, pinning her legs together and her arms to her side. She gasped, and lost her balance, landing hard on her side. What was this?! This wasn’t a spell that Marvin knew! At least, not before the transference ritual must’ve gone wrong. She tried to fight against the magic, but it simply wound tighter, and she was panicking too much to get a good grip on a spell of her own. “Marvin!” She shouted. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t even look at her. The green bits of string were now inside. Marvin reached towards them, and the string crawled up his arms, wrapping around them, heading upwards until they reached his neck. They burrowed under the bandages Yvonne had wrapped there, loosening them until they fell. Marvin shivered, closed his eyes, and laughed again. “Missing, missing, more complete, complete!…nearly c͝o̵mplęt͞e.”

Yvonne managed to sit up, pushing herself against the wall. “Marvin…?” she asked softly.

Marvin’s eyes snapped open, his right eye now glowing bright green. Reaching up, he pulled off the bandages. The strings had woven into the cut on his neck, crudely stitching it closed. “We…I found more missing pieces,” he said, voice tinged with static. “And yes, yes, I remember. All the others, all the pu͡p͠pe̢t͢s.” He clenched his fists, trembling slightly—but not with fear, with anger. “We hate them so…s̕o̢͡ much. Why? That’s still missing. I need to find that, too. But I…I know that now.” He laughed. “Which do we find first? The puppets or the shards?”

“Marvin…” Yvonne repeated softly. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re his friend,” Marvin said, tilting his head. “He came here often, he…his mask.” He looked back over at the sofa, the ceramic cat-shaped mask discarded on it. Slowly, he reached over and picked it up, turning it over in his hands. He gripped it firmly, and—

CRACK!

One half of the mask fell back to the sofa. Still holding the other half, Marvin pulled out the ribbon that would’ve held the mask in place. He put it up to his face, covering the left upper half. One of the strings from his throat unstitched itself and crawled upward, becoming the new ribbon holding it in place. “And the sho͟w ͢goe͞s̴ o͏n,” he whispered, running a hand along the ceramic, magic slowly staining it blue instead of white. A smile twisted his face.

Yvonne stared in shock. What…what had those strings done? Mentally, she finally started running through some spells, looking for one that’ll help.

Marvin stared right back at her, and after a moment, approached. Yvonne tried backing up, but she was already backed against the wall. Slowly, Marvin bent over, his face inches from hers. “Hold tight to everything,” he whispered. “Before it fades away. There will be nothing left but a bleeding hole inside your chest.” And with a final flash of a grin, he disappeared in a flurry of white noise.

The blue strings of magic disappeared, and Yvonne hurried to her feet, looking around. She ran a quick detection spell, finding no other soul in her apartment. Once she was sure of that, she hurried over to the sofa, grabbing the other half of the mask.

What happened to Marvin? What had he become?
.............................................................................................

It had taken a few hours to convince Jackie that holding Chase’s hand was just as good as hugging him. Now, with the group gathered in the town house’s parlor room, Jackie and Chase were sitting on the sofa, with Jackie holding tight to Chase’s arm and leaning his head on his shoulder. With the strings out of sight, he seemed content to just hang around. Still, the others kept giving him uneasy glances, especially Jameson, standing in the corner. Jack and Schneep had taken the two armchairs, and Malcolm was pacing the length of the room, thinking over the very brief explanation the others had given him.

“Do you think that maybe we need to cut them up further?” Schneep asked. His scissors had appeared in his hands at some point, and he was now turning them over.

“No, I don’t think so,” Jack said. In his lap was a metal water bottle, its lid duct-taped closed. He gripped it tight, feeling the strings moving inside. “I think if we cut them up further, it’ll just be harder to keep track of them.”

“Ah. I suppose that makes sense.” Schneep frowned. “What will they even do?”

“Well…there’s this one around his wrist,” Chase said tentatively, holding up Jackie’s hand so the others could see the tight string bracelet. “They, uh, were all moving towards him. And he wanted to get to them. A lot like last time.”

'Perhaps if they all get to him, Anti will somehow return again?' JJ speculated.

Jackie giggled. “I have no idea what you’re saying. Do I know this language? Did I forget it?”

“I don’t think you did, buddy,” Jack muttered.

“Okay, so.” Malcolm stopped pacing, turning to look at the others. “Can we burn the crazy magic string? Is that possible?”

“I do not think so,” Schneep shrugged. “But I suppose we could try.”

“What happens when we do get rid of them?” Chase asked. “Will, uh...he…” He tried to push Jackie’s head away, only for it to land right back on his shoulder. “Stay like this or change or…?”

Nobody answered that question, the silence filling the air. Until it was interrupted by a doorbell. Malcolm groaned in frustration. “God I swear if any other crazy shit happens to make me question reality I’m going to go straight to bed, I don’t care anymore,” he muttered as he headed out to the front door.

“Uh, okay, so,” Jack said. “Back to JJ’s question. If the string get to him, will Anti return?”

“But I’m a͟lready͝ ͝ḩer̕ȩ.”

Silence once again. Everyone looked over at Jackie. They had to let it sink in that yes, he had just said that. Chase leaned away, looking suddenly sick. Jameson adjusted the scarf around his mouth and stared at the ground. “Well that was the creepiest thing you have ever said,” Schneep mumbled, gripping his scissors.

“Um…Jackie.” Jack inched his chair a bit closer. “You’re not…you’re Jackie, not anyone else.”

“No, we are someone else, too,” Jackie insisted.

In the third silence that ensued, the group could hear talking, coming from the direction of the front door. And it was getting closer. Malcolm poked his head into the room. “Hey, uh, someone’s here to see all of you,” he said.

“What?” Schneep asked.

Who could that be? Jameson asked.

“Yeah, I agree with JJ, who is it?” Jack asked.

A figure stepped out from around Malcolm. An older woman, with a dark braid of hair down her back and her eyes glowing a slight purple. “Sorry for dropping in on all of you like this,” said Delyth Mae, magician. “But we really need to talk.”

Part Four of the Switch AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of an ongoing fic series I started in April 2019. Anti finds himself suffering from a series of strange nightmares, which may be connected to the earlier incidents his friends went through.]
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The phone was ringing. Or actually, not ringing, Anti kept his cell on vibrate. But the buzzing was loud enough to get Anti to look away from the computer screen where he was editing a video. He checked the caller ID, then after a moment of considering, he answered. “Why the fuck are you calling me at two in the morning?”

Schneep was unfazed by the lack of a greeting. “Why the fuck are you still awake at two in the morning?”

“Hypocrite,” Anti said, voice monotone. “I’m editing. Sleep is for the weak, all that. Uhhh, answer to my question? Now please.”

There was a muffled huff on the other side. “I just remembered that I have to ask you something. On Wednesday, Jackie has a free shift, so we were planning on meeting at Waffle Cone around noon. Do you want to come?”

“Two questions.” Anti turned back to the computer, clicking automatically as he cut out marked sections of footage. “One, I thought you had work on Wednesdays? Did Latte Lake finally fire you?”

“I traded my hours.” Schneep sounded like he did not appreciate the slight at his ability to do his day job. “What else?”

“Is anyone else coming?”

“Ah…” Schneep hesitated. “Yes…Jameson and Marvin will be there.”

“I’m good.”

“You need more than two friends, Anti!” Schneep snapped. “It did not go so bad with them last time, did it? Until you left early.” The last statement sounded slightly accusatory.

“I’m fine, really,” Anti said, shrugging even though Schneep couldn’t see him. “I’m not lonely.”

“Maybe so, but it is not healthy. For your mind! Humans are social, we need interaction.”

“Volt, please, I double-majored in psychology, don’t try to pull shit like that on me.” He’d tried to diagnose himself often enough.

For a moment, there was silence on the other end. Well, actually, there were some muttered words, but Anti wasn’t sure they were in English. “Anti, for the love of god, you are going to come to this thing and talk to people other than Jackie or me.”

“Or what?” Anti grinned.

Another silence. And then: “Or I will teach William how to say swear words.”

Anti froze. “You motherfucker.”

Laughter on the other end. “Honestly I am surprised he doesn’t already—”

“I soundproof my walls for a reason, bitch!” Anti sighed. “Okay, fine, Wednesday at twelve?” Three days from now. He didn’t have anything going on that day. Well, to be fair, he never really had much going on.

“Yes. We will see you then.”

“Cool. I’m hanging up now.” And he did. He opened up the calendar on his phone and made a note: Wednesday 12pm: Blackmailed into lunch.

Turned out that the call had ended at an opportune time. There was a small knock on his recording room door. Anti spun around in his chair and walked over, opening it and revealing a small, redheaded boy in dinosaur pajamas, clutching a pink sheep plushie. “Hey Will,” Anti said softly. “What’re you doing up? Tomorrow’s Monday, you have school.”

Will looked down, scuffing his feet on the carpet. “I had a bad dream.”

“Oh, that sucks.” Anti kneeled down on the carpet so he’d be level with Will. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah…” Will hugged the sheep plushie closer. “I’ve, uh, been having pretty weird dreams sometimes. But this one went bad. In the dream, I was with this strange man, and he was really gray and crying but he was really nice. We were in a house, but I dunno where it was. I was exploring for a while, but then I got to the basement. The guy was there again, but he was different. He looked happy, but I don’t think he was. He said he’d leave me alone for a while, and that he was gonna visit you.”

“Me?” Anti asked.

“He said, ‘your dad.’ He had a nasty smile, Dad. I told him to leave you alone, but he laughed. Things got very dark, and he said that when you weren’t around anymore I could stay with him, but I didn’t want to! He was scary…an’ I don’t want you to go away…” Will rubbed his teary eyes on the sheep plushie.

“Hey.” Anti pulled Will closer. Will closed the rest of the distance, hesitantly leaning into him. It was a silent ask for a hug, since Will knew Anti wasn’t always comfortable with that. But he was this time. Anti wrapped Will up in a warm hug, feeling his head burrow into his shoulder. “Maybe it was scary, but it was just a dream. It’s over now, and it’s not gonna come back. And I’m not going anywhere.”

“…promise?” The plea was a bit muffled.

“Of course I promise.” Anti rubbed Will’s back reassuringly. “Hey, if you want, you can stay with me on the sleeper sofa for the rest of the night. I was just going to bed.”

“You should go to sleep earlier, Dad.”

Anti laughed. “Maybe. But do you want to?”

“Yeah…”

“Alright.” Anti pulled away from the hug. “Let’s go then.” The editing could wait. He saved the project, it wouldn’t do any harm to let his computer go to sleep. And he was happy he’d taken the time to change into pajamas earlier, he wouldn’t want Will to wait and probably get even more scared.

So it was only a few minutes later when both of them were asleep, Will snuggled up to Anti’s side on the mattress that folded out of the couch. Though the apartment had two bedrooms, Anti had turned one into his recording room and slept in the main living area instead. He gave the other to Will, of course. Kids need their own space.

Since both of them were asleep, neither of them noticed the person sitting on the foot of the mattress, watching them.
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It’s windy. Gusts are blowing his hair in front of his face. Frequently. He can hardly see where he’s going. But between the moments of obscured vision, he’s walking against the wind, through empty city streets. This is not the city he’s come to know in recent years. But it’s familiar.

There is nothing. The buildings are hollow shells with glassless windows, and any cars are abandoned. He doesn’t know where he’s going, just that it’s important that he gets there. He’s been walking for a long time. There is blood in his mouth.

The city is overtaken by a gray fog, hiding everything from view. He stops walking, only to find that his heart stops when he does and suddenly he can’t breathe. The only way to keep that from happening is to keep going through the motions, even though there is nothing ahead. Some parts of him want to look behind him. But other parts warn him that there is nothing there. Or worse, there is something.

Movements are slowing. Something has grabbed his legs, but he is scared to look down at whatever’s dragging him. It feels bony and cold, and so very, very heavy. He thinks he knows what it is. Or who it was.

The fog clears, and the city drops. Sidewalks, buildings, roads, everything, all ending at a sudden cliff, like someone cut a part of the city out. There is not darkness at the bottom, instead, more gray fog. He can’t go forward. But the weight is gone. So he turns around.

There is someone there. Standing in the quiet. They stare at each other. Until there is a feather-light whisper falling in his mind.

“/You deserve this./”

The bony weight returns and pulls him into the depths.
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When Anti woke up, he found he was standing at the window. There were only two in the apartment, and this one was located in the main area. It was open. His hand was on the sill. He quickly jerked it backwards.

He blinked and shook his head to clear it. How did he get here…? Did he sleepwalk? And…open the window in his sleep? He rushed to close it again, firmly. The sky outside was the type of blue between the usual daytime color and the midnight variety. He glanced at the clock. Five thirty. He glanced at the sofa. Will was still asleep, the sheep plushie flung across the mattress. The plushie was named Brian, which Anti had always found funny.

Anti sighed, smiling slightly. There were a couple more hours before Will had to wake up for school, and therefore before he had to wake up to walk him to the school bus. He could put aside one instance of sleepwalking, wait to see if it happened again. He quickly crossed the room, put Brian the sheep plushie back in Will’s arms, and climbed into bed again.

Yet, even though he promised himself he’d forget it, an uneasy feeling lingered, and he didn’t actually sleep for the couple hours he had left.
.............................................................................................

Three days later, Anti walked into the establishment known as The Waffle Cone and immediately wanted to leave again. Why did he agree to this? Why didn’t he break that agreement? He yawned, then looked around the main room. It was pretty empty on weekdays, so it was easy to see the group of four sitting at a table by a window. Also Jackie was waving at him and shouting “Hey Anti over here! Over here!” Anti inhaled deeply, braced himself, and walked over.

“You made it!” Jackie stood up, hesitantly reaching out, waiting for the signal to continue. Anti shook his head. This wasn’t a good day for contact. Jackie withdrew, continuing to talk like nothing happened. “I told them you would come. I mean, free food and ice cream, what’s not to like?”

Anti mumbled a response, pulling a chair over from one of the other four-chair tables and sitting down with the others. Jackie was wearing his hoodie and round glasses, like always. His hair was tied back with a sparkly red clip that he’d probably bought for his daughter, since it wasn’t his normal style. Sitting next to him was Schneep, wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt and his blue scarf. He greeted Anti with a single wave.

Then there were the two other people, JJ and Marvin. Anti had seen them a total of three times before, but they were memorable. JJ with his thick mustache and posh accent, Marvin with his thick accent and posh clothes. Not to mention the last time Anti had seen these two, they’d been in the middle of a…strange situation, one neither of them was discussing with anyone else, apparently. The two of them were sitting opposite Jackie and Schneep, currently having a discussion between the two of them.

“We already ordered food, but we have free orders of fries!” Jackie said, pushing a basket toward Anti. Even though The Waffle Cone was technically an ice cream place, they sold food as well. “You can get something when the server comes back, if you want.”

“…sure, yeah.” Anti pulled the basket the rest of the way towards him, picking through the fries absentmindedly. He blinked slowly. Every time he closed his eyes, he was tempted to just keep them that way and pass out. His head felt heavy…

“Anti!”

Anti shot upward at the sound of Jackie’s shout. “Hmm, what?”

“Are…you okay?” Jackie asked, brows lowered in concern. “You were zoning out.”

“’M just tired,” Anti mumbled. “Haven’ been sleeping well lately.” Kind of true. When he actually went to sleep, he slept like a log. Except for the dreams. The strange, vivid yet surreal dreams that happened every night, every time he slept. They were…disconcerting, but they wouldn’t be such a problem if it wasn’t what happened when he woke up. One time when he woke up he was in the kitchenette area of his apartment, his hand resting on the knife block. Another time he was leaning over the bathroom sink full of water, his face close to the water and getting closer. The most recent dream ended with him waking up in his recording room with his gun in his hand. Which was especially worrying since he kept that in a locked box whenever it wasn’t with him.

Because of these strange wake up calls, he tried to not sleep at all. He passed out eventually, but he set an alarm on his phone for every fifteen minutes to help wake him up. He was sleeping through it more and more often, though. It got to the point where he scheduled an appointment with a therapist yesterday, but it wouldn’t happen until next week. Hopefully he wouldn’t do anything bad while sleepwalking.

Schneep looked over at him. “You look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks.” Anti threw a fry at him. It missed.

“I think your sleep cycle has been thrown off,” Schneep continued, undeterred. “It is important to have a regular one. Right, Jackie?”

“Right,” Jackie agreed. “If you have to, you can stay up late, but just make sure to do it at the same time every night. Oh, and Volt?” Jackie glared at him. “You know the expression ‘the pot calling the kettle black’? This is it, you’ve just made a prime example of that expression.”

Schneep made a face at him.

Meanwhile, JJ and Marvin had finished talking about whatever they were talking about. JJ glanced over at Anti. “Oh goodness, are you alright?”

“Fine,” Anti said firmly.

“Oh I see.” JJ was clearly not convinced.

“He’s been having trouble sleeping,” Jackie explained.

“Fuck off with that!” Anti threw a fry at Jackie. It missed again. “You don’t get to say the thing, I get to say the thing and I don’t want to.”

“Well, I’m sorry about that,” JJ said patiently. “Obviously you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but there are some types of tea that are supposed to help with that. If you don’t want to use pills or the like. I have some boxes I can give to you.”

“No, I’m good.” First off, he wasn’t in the habit of taking free things from people, they always wanted something back even if they said they didn’t. Second off, he was trying to avoid sleep. “I prefer coffee anyway.”

“Ah, a man after m’own heart,” Marvin popped in. Schneep nodded.

“Y’know, maybe that’s your problem,” Jackie said. “Too much caffeine.”

“Can we drop it, please?!” Anti hoped he was imagining the pleading note in his voice. “Let’s talk about something else. You two!” He pointed at JJ and Marvin. “Talk about something.”

Marvin raised an eyebrow. “A bit upstage, aren’ ye?”

“Oh yea, far shure I am,” Anti drawled, thickening his own Irish accent to an absurd degree. "Yer real bang on there, now feck off.”

Marvin grinned, which was the opposite effect Anti had intended. He leaned back in his chair, grabbing the cane that was always by his side and twirling it loosely. “Well, if y’want somethin’ to talk about, I’m still fairly new to this city, in a way. Anythin’ locals would know?”

“‘New in a way’?” Anti repeated.

“I’ve been here before, but ‘t was a long time ago,” Marvin admitted. “T’ings have changed. Jems has been a help, but more t’oughts and opinions is always a good t’ing, nobody knows everythin’, after all.”

Anti smiled. “Oh yeah, I can give you a grand tour. We can go down to the Kelly Bridge—”

“Anti, for the love of god,” Schneep muttered. Meanwhile, Jackie had flopped face-first on the table.

“—maybe drive down past the house on Aspen Street—”

Jackie popped back up again. “Nooooooooo!”

JJ’s head whipped over toward Anti. “Don’t you even joke about that.”

“Oh, wow, okay.” Anti raised his hands. “Just making a suggestion.” The corner of his mouth was twitching.

“The Kelly Bridge is s’posed to be haunted, right?” Marvin asked. “I r’member that one. About the bride and groom? Is this…house in the same vein? Are you plannin’ t’get me haunted?”

“No, I don’t think you’d get haunted. Just freaked out,” Anti shrugged. “This city actually has a lot of urban legends. The house on Aspen Street is probably the most well-known—”

“Because it’s freaky!” Jackie half-yelled. “Dr. Orwell, at my work, her cousin moved into that house and then died two weeks later. Nobody lives there NOW because everyone who has somehow died in under a month!”

“Not everyone.” Anti leaned on the table, grinning. He was relishing this, the way everyone was captivated by his story. Finally, a high in the last few days of just low moments. “It all started with that case about four years ago…”

“Oh god, I remember that.” JJ covered his mouth. “That was terrible.”

“What case?” Schneep asked, suddenly paying attention. “You’ve told me the creep story about the house, but never mentioned a case.”

“Really? Guess it never really occurred to me…” Anti frowned. “It happened about a year before you moved here, so you wouldn’t have heard it on the news like the rest of us.” Anti, Jackie, and apparently JJ had all been living in the city at the time. “I must’ve just assumed someone told you.”

“No, nobody talks about it,” JJ said firmly. “Because it’s bad enough that it happened, we don’t need to keep reviving it.”

“…but what if we do?”

“Anti, stop, please, the food’s going to be arriving soon and I don’t want to think about this while eating.” Jackie sounded tired of these antics.

“No, t’is sounds int’resting, keep goin’,” Marvin was leaning forward, clearly intrigued.

“Nah, I don’t want to push Jackie too far,” Anti waved it away. “Otherwise Schneep’ll punch me with his zappy gloves.”

“I don’t have them,” Schneep piped up. His eyes narrowed. “…right now.”

“Yeah, see? We can talk about something else. Like, uhh…” Anti trailed off. “Fuck, I dunno.” His brain was still a bit full of mush. Couldn’t come up with anything new.

Luckily, he didn’t have to. Food arrived at that very moment, and he had to admit that the rest of the time spent there was pretty fun. He probably would’ve enjoyed it more if he wasn’t fighting to keep his eyes open.

Still, he half-wished it lasted longer. Social engagement gave him some form of stimulus to keep him awake. Once he returned home, he put on loud music, tried playing more games, turned up the volume of his alarms, walked in circles around the main area, and it was still barely enough to keep him up long enough to pick up Will from the school bus stop.

The next few hours were an exhausted, lengthy blur. He tried his best, he really did. He managed to get all the way through dinner with Will. But soon after he sent Will to bed, he realized he was going to pass out, and there was nothing he could do about it. And that was the last thing he remembered.
.............................................................................................

He’s in a dark room. There is no sign of light, not even aimless drifting in from windows or under door cracks. Someone is laughing. He walks forward, and runs into a table. His hands search the surface, grabbing a small rectangular object. It flickers, and lights. He still can’t see enough, but he can’t lose the small sphere of safety he gained.

There is a doorway, leading to a hallway. He walks through it. Somehow, even in the dark, he knows that this place is run down, that the family pictures on the walls have faces that have faded to gray.

Is that what will happen to him? Will he fade? He doesn’t think anyone would take care to keep him around. It was only a matter of time, wasn’t it?

He doesn’t like thinking about that fact—because he knows it is a fact—and so he concentrates on the solid here and now. There is still laughter. It sounds like a child, or perhaps children. He can pick out a familiar giggle, and he speeds up. He can’t leave him behind.

“/But you will./”

The hallway doesn’t end. It just changes. Now there is the smell of copper, thick and cloying. It’s on him, it’s on his hands, and it won’t come off. He still walks forward.

And he is sure there is someone here.

There’s a movement, a gust of wind, and his light flickers out. He can’t get it back on, though he tries. He looks around the dark. “Where are you?! What do you want from me?!”

Someone touches his shoulder. He gasps, and flails away, hitting the wall of the hallway. He presses his back to it and looks and looks and looks and looks and

“/You’re going to die, you know./”

It’s a statement of fact. But it sounds like someone is very happy this fact exists.

“I-I-I’m not—”

“/I’ll tell your kid that daddy loves him. /Now goodbye./”

The voice is gone. But there’s light—light in the distance, faint yellow, he can see it. He walks toward it—

Someone screamed.

He blinked.

“ANTI!”

The light is coming closer—there’s a loud deep noise and a screeching sound—the lights are in front of him—they’re very…nice—

Someone tackled him with oof-inducing force. Suddenly he was rolling against a rough, hard surface that scratches at him through his clothes. The world became streaks of black and gray and blue until the motion stopped, and he was looking up at the night sky.

“What were you thinking?!”

That’s a familiar voice. Familiar…yeah. Who was it again?

“Anti! Fucking answer me!” A face, half-covered by a black mask. A man wearing a gray coat with glowing blue spots. The man grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him.

“I…” Anti closed his eyes slowly. He was really, really tired…

“Scheiße—Anti, no!” More shaking.

Anti opened his eyes to look at the man again. He hummed. “…Volt,” he said after a while, and started closing his eyes again. He was so tired that the spots where he hit the hard, rough surface only dully ached, when they should’ve really hurt, even burned.

“Yes! Yes, that’s me! Anti, what happened?! Can you tell me that? Tell me!”

“I was…it was dark…was looking for Will…in the hallway…” The words sound a bit slurred.

“What? What hallway?!”

“…dunno…” He could feel himself falling into the deep waters of sleep again.

“Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong, isn’t it? Anti, hang on, don’t fall asleep, I have to—I have to take you somewhere. Do not fall asleep!”

But it was too late. He was falling already. His head tilted sideways, and the last thing he saw was a man in gray.
.............................................................................................

“I think he’s awake?”

“Why is that a question? Is he or is he not?”

“I don’t know. He’s kind of responding?”

“Maybe you shoul’ just slap him.”

“I actually tried that, he didn’t even seem to notice.”

“May I ask what happened?”

“I do not know how to explain it to you…”

“Try your best, ‘m sure we’d understan’.”

Anti opened his eyes just a little. Even that was a tremendous effort, so instead of going all the way, he stopped halfway through. He was lying on his side on a bed, underneath the covers. It was…really soft…he could sink into this…but he kept his eyes half-open. There were three people in the room. They all looked vaguely the same, and it took him a while to recognize them. JJ was standing nearest to him, recognizable by his mustache. Though Anti was a bit confused by the bluish glow around his hand, especially when said hand was grabbing his own. Schneep was also nearby, wearing his super suit but with the mask pulled down. He was pacing. Marvin was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, legs crossed and cane in lap.

And then Anti realized he didn’t know where he was, or why these people were with him. And he was probably asleep in from of them. That jolted him just a bit more awake. No, he couldn’t—why were they here? What did they want? What did they do while he was sleeping? He tried to get up but…god, he was so tired.

“Well…” Schneep contemplated his words. “There is…someone who I’ve fought a couple of times, when I go out on patrol.”

“The hero has a villain?” JJ sounded mildly amused.

“Yes, I suppose you could say that. Anyway, he showed up tonight. He…led me to a place.” Schneep stopped his pacing. “He laughed, and asked me if I was ‘fast enough to save him.’ His exact words. And it is lucky I looked around at that moment, because I saw—I saw Anti, he was standing in the middle of the road. I ran there, and I saw there was a car coming, and I…”

The lights. Anti remembered the lights. Headlights. They’d been coming closer. And the words in…that was a dream, wasn’t it? 'You’re going to die, you know.'

“Well…’t least you were fast enough,” Marvin said, sounding like he was offering up a silver lining.

“Yes, but Anti…he was acting very strange. I think this someone might have done something to him, then tried to kill him.” Schneep looked troubled. “He tried to do the same thing to Jackie.”

“Someone tried to kill Jackie?!” Marvin repeated, anger evident.

“Yes, three weeks ago,” Schneep confirmed. “He tried to pull him out a window.”

“Terrible,” JJ muttered. He adjusted his hold on Anti’s hand, and a little bit of the blue glow flowed down over Anti’s arm. Anti flinched a bit, eyes fluttering. “Why did you come here?”

Schneep shrugged. “You were…close. But also, your magic…it is real. And this someone, he has…he does strange things. I am not sure he is human. I thought it would be a good idea.”

Anti took a deep breath, and coughed. He’d meant to say something, but it hadn’t come out right. Nevertheless, everyone was instantly on alert. And suddenly Schneep was leaning over him. “Anti? Anti? Are you awake? Can you say anything?”

Another deep breath. “…helicopter,” Anti mumbled.

Schneep looked confused. “What?”

“You. You’re helicoptering…” Anti explained. “Close…and he’s touching…” he tried to shake his head.

Schneep leaned back, now slightly embarrassed. “Ah. I see. Unfortunately he has to touch you for his magic to work, he is trying to wake you up.”

Anti groaned. “Don’ like…but fine…”

“Are…are you okay?” Schneep asked hesitantly.

“Mm…tired…” Anti closed his eyes for a bit. “I…h’vn’t slept…at least a day. Bad things…sleepwalk…”

“Oh, this is natural exhaustion, then.” JJ slumped in relief. He turned to Henrik. “Nothing bad’s going to happen if we let him sleep. Provided we keep an eye on him.”

“Alright…but one moment.” Schneep leaned just a bit closer. “Anti…can you tell us what happened?”

“Bad dreams…sleepwalk…bad things…” Anti’s head fell a bit more into the pillow.

“What kind of bad things?” JJ asked.

“…wake up, an’ like…one time, I woke up holding…knife…” He was trying to explain, but everything is a bit disconnected when you’re tired. “Dreams said…w’s gonna die…”

JJ and Schneep exchanged glances. “What happened tonight?” Schneep asked softly.

“Will went asleep an’ then…I did…din’ wanna…” He wanted to now, though. Just a little longer. “Bad dream…dark…someone there…woke up an’…lights coming closer…” His eyes opened a bit wider. “Saw a guy.”

“…who?” Schneep sounded like he already knew the answer.

“Gray…cap…smile…can’ ‘member all…”

Suddenly Marvin was right behind the other two. “Was t’ere blood comin’ from his eyes?” The other two looked at him, startled. He continued anyway. “Black eyes? Kinda dead-lookin’ arms? Blood on his head?”

“Mm-hmm,” Anti mumbled. His eyelids were drooping again.

“Marvin…how did you know that?” Schneep asked.

Marvin looked at him. “Because I’ve seen him before.”

“So have I,” Schneep said. “He’s the one I’ve been mentioning, who tried to kill Jackie, who I have been trying to fight and find out more about.”

Marvin stared at him. “I t’ink we have t’ings to talk about.”

Anti squeezed JJ’s hand, which was still holding his. “C’n I…?”

“Oh!” JJ let go. Immediately, Anti was hit with a wave of exhaustion. “Yes, go to sleep. We can talk more in the morning.”

Anti didn’t even respond, just drifted off. It was a relief to finally do so without worry.

He wasn’t aware of the worries that were to come.

Part Seven of the Inverted AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a fic series I wrote from December 2018 to August 2021. A series of flashbacks Jack had one day, revealing how he met the five others who would eventually become his housemates, as well as how he met his otherworldly friend.]
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{Jack?} As always, Jack was startled by the voice that wasn’t really a voice. But when he poked his head out of the dining room where he was sitting alone, he didn’t see Jameson in the living room. Just as he was starting to get confused, the answer for the question he never asked came. {I’m in the basement. Can you come down here for a moment? I need another set of hands and you’re the only one home.} “Oh, yeah sure,” Jack said out loud. Of course there was no answer, Jameson told him he couldn’t read minds, only project.

He didn’t like the basement. Every time he stared down the side hall to the stairs at the end he got a crawly, wary feeling across his skin. The place creeped him out, which was why he never went down there. But this past week, he’d been sort of getting used to it. The feeling had been fading. So when he walked down the stairs, he only felt a little uneasy.

At the bottom of the stairs was a long hall with a couple doors to either side, and one at the end. The first one on the left was ajar, so Jack leaned over and peeked inside. He stopped in the doorway and gaped at an entire library, with a sitting area of armchairs, two desks, and a whole lotta bookshelves. Jameson was standing on one of those rolling ladders attached to a bookshelf.

“Jesus fuck,” Jack muttered.

Jameson looked over with a frown. {Language, master McLoughlin.}

“Uh, sorry. But why didn’t anyone tell me this was down here? It’s a pretty big secret to hide!”

{Marvin told you about it, remember? What did you think he did down here all day?}

“He did?” Jack cursed his poor memory. “Shi—shoot, man, I’m sorry. And I guess I always sorta assumed he was doing his magic stuff down here, but I didn’t think there was, you know, an entire library.”

{Technically, it wasn’t so much a library as a room full of books before I joined your cohort. Marvin has some style and reasonable standards, but no organization.}

“I see, I see,” Jack nodded. “So, uh, what was it you needed me for?”

{Ah yes. Come on in, don’t be shy.} Jameson made a vague sort of gesture to the area around him, indicating Jack should walk over to him, which he did. {I’m planning on taking quite a few of these books upstairs, and I need your help carrying them.}

“Oh. Okay.” Jack was puzzled as to why Jameson was taking the books upstairs, but it wasn’t his business to ask…was it? “Uh…what for? Sorry.”

Jameson gave Jack an odd look, almost like worry. {A friend is coming over to borrow some, but she’s not quite sure which ones she wants. So she gave me a list of items to look for. This library is a rather private place, and Marvin doesn’t want her down here.} Jack opened his mouth to ask another question. {You understand, right? You understand the reasoning. That’s all you need, right?}

Jack blinked spirals out of his vision. “Yeah, I understand. What did you want me to carry?”

{Here, take these.} Jameson pulled a few books off the shelves and piled them into Jack’s waiting arms. {And you might as well take this, too. Chain keeps getting caught. Keep a careful eye on it.} He placed his silver pocket watch on top of the books.

“Keep an eye on it? You mean WATCH it? Okay.” Jack laughed at his own joke and looked down at the watch. It was very well-made, and it glinted beautifully in the light from the lamps. It was emitting a ticking sound, but the sound wasn’t as long as a second. Nor did the ticks match the movement of the second hand. It just kept ticking steadily…tick…tick…tick…tick…

He didn’t register the thumps when his arms went limp and the books crashed to the floor. He didn’t notice when Jameson grabbed the watch chain just in time to keep it from falling too. He just kept staring…listening…the watch was swaying…swaying…silver on a sea of purple…he couldn’t look away…why would he want to?…

{Do you remember how we met, Jack?}
.............................................................................................

“Hey, Jack.”

Jack looked up from his cup of coffee. “Oh, hey Marv,” he yawned. “How’re’ya?”

“Pretty good,” Marvin said from where he was leaning in the dining room doorway. “Hey, I want you to meet someone.”

“Really? Who—” Jack blinked. The newcomer looked exactly like him (and all the rest of them, honestly) but with a mustache and a snazzy outfit. He waved at Jack, beaming.

“This is Jameson,” Marvin explained. “James, this is Jack. Jameson is a friend of mine from work, and since he recently lost his house I offered to let him stay with us. We needed more rent help, anyway.”

{It’s so good to meet you! Marvin’s told me all about you.}

“What the fuck?!” Jack nearly knocked over his coffee mug in shock.

“Oh, ah, Jameson’s mute,” Marvin winced, awkward. “But it’s okay, ‘cause he taught himself telepathy. So…you should get used to that.”

“Oh. Okay. I get it. Yeah.” Jack laughed nervously. “Your work is magic, so there’s some-some magic involved here. Okay.”

“I’m goin’ downstairs to the library now.” Marvin turned around. “I’ll let you two get to know each other.”
.............................................................................................

{We had a nice, pleasant chat. Remember that? Yes, I see you nodding. The details escape you, but that’s okay. It’s to be expected with your memory problems. We warmed up to each other immediately. That’s all that matters. What about Marvin? How did you meet him?}
.............................................................................................

“You have ANOTHER new roommate?” Jack raised his eyebrow. “Aren’t two enough?”

“Yes, well, unfortunately the house is undergoing…ah, I do not remember the word.” Schneep set his drink down with one hand and snapped the fingers on the other. “The—where your living space is getting fixed up. Not repairs, but there is another R to start…”

Jack’s brows furrowed. “Renovations?”

“That’s the one!” Schneep pointed at him triumphantly. “Also, Jackie has lost his job, and there is less money. We will need more rent anyway.”

“And…you want me to meet this new roommate. So we’re going out for drinks. Not, like, alcohol or anything. Like soda.” Jack shook his cup, rattling the ice. “And at night.”

Schneep made an unusual huffing sound. “It was not my idea. But I do not mind so much, I think. This place is empty at night, and that is…a good thing in this case.”

Jack’s question died on his tongue when the door to the restaurant opened and a strange man walked in. He was wearing a black cape, and a black mask shaped like a cat with the card suits on its forehead. His blue-green eyes locked on the table where Jack and Schneep were sitting, and he grabbed a chair from another table, dragging it over to them. He sat down, arms folded on the table, staring at. “You must be Jack,” he said coolly. “I’m Marvin.”

“O-oh. Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” Something about this guy was putting Jack on edge. It was like an electric sort of feeling, something similar to what he felt around {/ / / /}. But more…hostile. The edges of scars peeking out from under the mask did not help this impression at all.

“Yeah, same. Did you guys already order?”

“Yes, yes we did. It is serve-yourself here.” Schneep pointed over to the machines. “After you buy, of course.”

“Fuck. Fine, I guess I’ll be right back.” Marvin grumbled, standing up. With an over-dramatic swish of the cape, he stalked away.

Jack stared after him, then slowly turned to Schneep. “What’s the deal with him?”

Schneep took a sip of his drink through the straw. “You mean the mask and cape? He is a magician of some sort, and he likes the attention, I think. I have not seen him take those off yet.”

“…ah.” Jack turned his attention to the counter where Marvin was ordering. Or, uh, actually it looked like he was snapping at the serving girl, who looked kind of scared. After a while there was an exchange of money, then Marvin walked back over to the table, landing in the chair once more. “You forgot your drink,” Jack said tentatively.

Marvin glared at him, then snapped his fingers. A cup appeared in front of him in a puff of lavender smoke. “That drink, you mean?”

Jack gaped. He’d seen {/ / / /} summon objects before, but that was different. {/ /} wasn’t {/ / / / /}, and Marvin clearly was. “S-so…Henrik said you were a magician, but I was picturing, like, card tricks.”

“Tried those. Sucked at them. But they helped me realize my true potential, so I’m glad I took them up.”

A few moments of silence passed. Jack kept watching Marvin, who was still making him a bit…mildly freaked out. “And, uh, how did you meet the other guys?” he finally asked.

Marvin snorted. “Went to a party. That gun-toting idiot was causing a scene there. Caught my attention. That’s the gist of it.”

Jack stared at him. “What gun-toting idiot?”
.............................................................................................

{That didn’t happen. No, no, listen to me, your memory is fading again, friend. There was nothing said about a gun, he just mentioned Chase. There was no awkward conversation afterward. Marvin seemed angry and antisocial, I’ll give you that. But he didn’t scare the serving girl, you were just projecting your own uneasiness. See, let’s go over it again…yes, you know I’m right. Now, let’s talk about the doctor. Do you recall your first encounter?}
.............................................................................................

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited someone else over,” Jackie said.

Jack looked up from where he was busy setting up the Xbox. {/ / / /} was also helping; the console had a {/ / / / / /} recently and needed to be fixed. But Jackie, of course, didn’t know about {/ / / /}. “The way you say that makes me think it’s not Chase,” Jack replied.

“Uh…no…” Jackie smiled nervously. “But I think you’ll like him. His name’s Henrik, he’s the one who helped me out after I got injured on the job.”

“Oh yeah. That, uh, clinic doctor, right? Still think you should’ve gone to the hospital.”

“They don’t offer health insurance, I couldn’t afford a visit there.”

“That’s ridiculous. What are we, in America?”

Before Jackie could laugh or sigh in disappointment, there was a knock at the apartment door. Jackie sprang to action, jumping off the couch. “I got it,” he said, crossing the room and pulling open the door.

“Hello!” A cheerful man in a blue sweater and glasses entered the room. “You must be the Jack that Jackie has told me about? You are very nice to meet!”

Jack stared. This was the fourth person he’d ever met who looked weirdly like him, though he wasn’t sure {/ / / /} counted, so technically he was the third. Then he realized he was letting the pause stretch uncomfortable long, so he smiled warmly. “Yeah, man, it’s nice to meet you too.” He took the hand Henrik was offering and shook it. “You’re Henrik, right?”

“Indeed, I am the doctor Henrik von Schneeplestein, though if you wish you can call me Schneep, some of my friends do.” Schneep was smiling pretty wide, clearly excited. He also smelled of a strong cologne…though Jack could’ve sworn there was an undercurrent of something fouler.

“Well, then that’s what I’ll do. A friend of Jackie’s is a friend of mine.” Jack let go of Schneep’s hand—or more like he extracted it from his grip—and gestured toward the Xbox. “We were just setting up. You hungry or anything? I can get snacks.”

“No, no, I am fine.” Schneep seemed too full of energy to stand still, constantly bouncing on his feet and tugging on the edge of his sleeves. “Unless you have any coffee, then I would enjoy some.”

Having just noted the excitable energy the doctor was giving off, Jack laughed a little. “You, uh, you sure that’s a good idea? You seem kind of hyper.”

“Nonsense, I am perfectly okay!”

Jackie cut in. “Hey Jack, I advise you to not give him coffee in this mood. Unless you want him to break your controller by pushing the buttons too hard.”

“That was one time I broke your remote and it was one button only!”

“Hmmm, yeah, I’ll not take a chance. Anyway, lemme finish this up real quick.” Jack turned his attention back to the Xbox. The ring was blinking rapidly, probably a sign of {/ / / /} being annoyed. He swatted at the box to remind {/ / /} that they needed to fix it and not worry about the new guy. While he worked, Jack decided to make conversation. “So, you’re a doctor, huh?”

“That is correct! I am the best doctor, the best in the business!”

“Nice confidence. Why’d you choose that career? Doesn’t it take, like, a shit ton of work?”

“Oh, yes it did. But I think it was worth it.” Schneep finally settled down on the couch, though his legs continued to bounce restlessly. “I am very curious man, I always have been, I know this. And so I thought, what is there to learn more about than ourselves? Nothing, nothing! There are so many things that we cannot cure yet, so many we can treat but not eliminate! But there is nothing we cannot do if we are willing to take the needed steps and I think that is great value of humanity. I am perhaps a bit more willing than some of my colleagues back home were, ha! I will show them here. I think being the world’s best doctor is also something I just enjoy to do, you understand? Not only to know we are helping people, but also the process of the doing itself.”

“If you say so, man. Personally, I don’t think I could do all the surgeries and stuff like that.” Jack powered on the console. “Hey, I think I fixed it.”

Schneep tilted his head curiously. “I think the surgeries are my favorite part, you see—”

“Great, now that it’s fixed we can finally get started.” Jackie seemed to be in a hurry to interrupt. “Jack, toss me that controller.”
.............................................................................................

{Your memory is quite good on this occasion. But I think you’re misremembering the smell of the doctor’s cologne. There was nothing foul there at all. And Jackie was not in a hurry to interrupt, merely eager. Speaking of him, I’m sure you can tell me about your first meeting.}
.............................................................................................

“Chase, I swear to god, if you keep doing this you’re going to die before you turn thirty.” Jack’s patience was starting to fray. “And what about Stacy and the kids? What do they think of this?”

“Th’ kids don’ think anything, they’re one ‘n’ three.” Chase’s eyes were a bit fogged over. He was leaning heavily on Jack as they sat on a bench in the city park. “An’ Stacy’sss fine, it’s fine. She knows I l’ve her.”

“Right, well,” Jack said skeptically. “Be that as it may, I don’t think she’ll be happy to have you show up drunk on her doorstep. And I’m sure as hell not taking you to my place.”

“Wh’not?”

Because {/ / / /} would throw another hissy fit. “Because it’s fucking far, man. I’m not paying for an hour in a cab with your drunk ass when you probably have friends in the city. Also I have an exam tomorrow.”

“Jus’ drop ou’, ‘s easier.” Chase burrowed his face in Jack’s jacket. “I turned ou’ fine.”

“Hmm, that’s debatable.” Early twenties, already married with two kids and an alcohol problem. Jack had offered to sign Chase up for multiple help programs, but he always refused. Maybe he should do it anyway. “Anyway, you have friends in the city, right?”

Chase seemed to think for a minute, then pulled out his phone and slapped it in Jack’s hand. “Call the one lab’led Discoun’ Spider-Man,” he mumbled.

Jack had to snirk a little bit at the name. He dialed the number from the contacts, and the other side picked up on the first ring. “Hi, we’ve never met, but my friend Chase told me to call you…”

Ten minutes later, a young man in a red hoodie pulled up in an old car, slamming the door shut when he got out. He spotted the two on the bench easily, marching straight over. When he got there, Jack and him just stared at each other for a while. Then the other guy broke the silence by saying, “Were the three of us clones this whole time and never knew?”

Jack laughed. “Nah, I don’t think so. I’m Jack, what about you?”

The other man gasped. “My name’s Jackie.”

“Whoa, wait really? Are you me?”

“Yes, I’m you from a parallel universe.”

“Hi Jackie!” Chase piped up. “I’m…ffffffine.”

Jackie looked him over. “No, you’re not. C’mon dude, I’m gonna get you to a bed as soon as possible.” Jack stood up and passed Chase over to Jackie, who draped his arm over his shoulder. “Hey, doppelganger, want to come with? I can give you a ride anywhere in the city.”

“Too bad I live outside it then,” Jack remarked wryly. “But I want to make sure Chase is alright, so I’ll just ride with you for a while if you don’t mind.”

The car ride passed quickly, with the two ‘Jacks’ in front and Chase in the back. “So, how does Chase know you?” Jack asked. “He’s never mentioned you before this, and I don’t remember seeing you on campus.”

“Yeah, I graduated early,” Jackie explained. “I’m tryin’ to become a cop as soon as possible, so I pushed myself pretty hard. Kinda…fucking sucked.”

“Yikes.” Jack winced.

“Yeah, don’t take more than like five classes per semester. Maybe six if they’re small. Anyway, I may have ran into Chase…while training.”

“Uh…did he get arrested and never tell me?”

“No, but he got pretty damn close. I covered for him because he just…seems to be making mistakes, he’s not bad. And he gave me my phone number, and we started talking, and now apparently he has me saved in his contacts under ‘Discount Spider-Man.’”

Jack chuckled. “I think I’m under ‘Mr. Septic Guy,’ so you’re lucky.”

Jackie gave him a weird look. “There has got to be a story there.”

“Maybe I’ll tell it to you someday.”
.............................................................................................

{Jackie’s always been friendly, hasn’t he? So determined to rid the city of crime and evil. You’ve gotten these details pretty much accurate. But we still have some way to go. When did you first meet Chase?}
.............................................................................................

“So, you’re my new roomie, huh? Well, come in, no use standing in the hall…way…” the other guy trailed off the moment he looked away from the poster he was holding and up at Jack.

Jack couldn’t say anything either. The resemblance was uncanny. “…Hi,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Jack.”

His new roommate took his hand and shook it. “Chase. Why don’t you…uh…y’know.” He stood to the side of the door so Jack could walk past. “I’m still decorating my side of the room.”

“Hmm. It’s a bit smaller than what I’m used to,” Jack said, scanning the dorm room. “But I only have to share it with one other person, so that’s a plus.”

“Siblings?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Nah, dude.” Chase took a length of tape and stuck the poster he was holding up on the wall. “You from close by? Your accent sounds local.”

“Yeah, I live just an hour away, but I wanted to try living somewhere else, at least for my first year. You American?” Jack sat on the edge of the bed. The one on the half of the room Chase hadn’t already claimed.

“My dad is. Mom, not so much. Spent a lot of time in my childhood flipping back and forth between countries.” Chase sat cross-legged on his own. “So. Now here’s the important question. What’re you here for?”

“What?”

“Like, college. What’re you here for?”

“Um…” Jack wasn’t sure he understood the question. “Because I have to have a degree to get a job?”

“Valid point, fair,” Chase shrugged. “But, is there anything else?”

Jack thought about it. “I guess I want to make friends.”

“Dude, same! That and, maybe, meet some girls. But friends are priorities. I’ve left basically everyone behind at this point. Starting a new posse. But you’re from around here, I bet you still can keep in touch with yours.”

The lights overhead flickered. Jack looked up at them. “I’ve only ever really had one friend. But yeah, we keep in contact.”
.............................................................................................

{I’m so sorry, but that last part is very wrong. You got it all wrong. Jack, trust me on this, I know things about memories that you don’t. And I’m your friend, aren’t I? I can see you’re being difficult. So, in order for us to fix this, I need to see the beginning. Show me how you met him.}
.............................................................................................

He couldn’t remember how old he was. Thirteen or fourteen, maybe? All his life, his family lived in the same cabin in the woods, the one his parents would later give to him. There was a rule about living there. You weren’t supposed to go into the woods after dark. Naturally, just starting to go through his rebellious phase, this was a rule he broke.

He kicked a rock into the nearest tree trunk. He had to be honest, this was boring. Aside from the secret thrill of knowing he was getting away with something, there wasn’t much to do. He’d already climbed all the climbable trees in the area. Maybe there were more things further in. So he set off, the evening light growing dimmer through the trees.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye. Something moved. He froze for a moment, then looked toward it. He saw a shadow retreat across the ground. For a moment, in the dark with just a flashlight and no weapon, he was scared. Maybe there was a good reason he wasn’t supposed to go into the woods. Maybe there were big, hungry animals there. Like wolves. Or bears.

Well, he wouldn’t know unless he saw them. So, like an idiot, he set off in the direction the shadow had vanished. But then something moved to his left. Then behind him. Then his right. Something was circling him. He twirled around, trying to capture it in the yellow cone of his flashlight beam. Until he turned around, and there was a thing there.

He remembered screaming and trying to step backwards, ending up tripping over a branch and falling flat on his back. He hadn’t caught a good look at it between the moment it was in the light and the moment his wild flailing sent the flashlight flying. It looked vaguely human, but…almost made out of shadow. Shadow and a bit of green. It hadn’t looked entirely there. Like how if you were leaning on the edge of a riverbank with your legs in the river, you weren’t quite in the water, but you weren’t quite on the land. The visual version of being only half real.

Jack had scrambled back, feeling with his hands desperately for the flashlight, until finally his fingers brushed it. He turned it back on in a hurry, expecting to see either a nightmare or nothing, and was surprised to see…a someone. Offering a hand.

“A͢r͏e ͏you ͝hu͝rt̷?” A broken, half-there voice.

The someone looked…like him. Brown haired, blue eyed, naturally pale. It was even wearing darker versions of his clothes. An eye-patch hid its right eye from view.

Jack stared up at it. “N-no.”

“Yo͠u can gr͡ab͝ ͟t̸ḩe h͏and,̸ ̢it̛ w͏o͡n’t ̡ḩurt ͠yoų if̷ ̷I di̕d t̴his͞ ̢şolįd t̡hi̕ng͢ righ͟t̶. ͢It͏'s͡ ̸been͞ ̨a̢ whil̸e.̨”

Jack hesitated for a moment later, then grabbed the hand and let the someone pull him to his feet.

“You fell. Di̷d ͝I s͞care y͢ou?” The tone of voice was bland, expressionless. The face was mildly curious.

“I mean, if that shadow thing was you, then yeah, you scared the shit outta me dude!”

“I ̛di̕dņ’t m̴ean̨ to͟.”

There was a silence. Then Jack said, “Cool, apology accepted. Why do you look like me?”

The someone shrugged. “You͏’re ̷t̡he̶ first o͞ne t͞o̶ ̡f͢in̡d m̨e i̕n ̸a̴ lo͡n̨g t̨i͢me.͠ ̴I need͟ed t͢o.”

Jack scanned the someone up and down. It was a perfect copy. “What…are you? Are you a shapeshifter? Are there more of you in the woods?”

“ No͝, I'͠m͏ ̧n̸o͏t ͡a s̛hapesh͝if̨ter,” the someone said. “A̷nd̸.̴..͠there’s ͟n̕o͡ ̧o̵ne ̵els͏e her͞e. C̵e̡rt͝ainly̴ no on̛e̶ lik͠e͠ ̕me͏.”

Jack felt his heart sink at that. This someone had been out here, all alone, for who knows how long. He must be incredibly lonely. “I’m…sorry about that,” Jack said. “You don’t…have to stay in the woods if you don’t have to. I mean, my family’s back at the cabin and they could see you easily, but you can come.”

The someone blinked for the first time, mouth opening a little. “Su͡re̶,” he said, surprise entering his voice.

“I’m Jack. What’s your name?”

“I’m {/ / / / / / / / / / / / /}.”
.............................................................................................

{This is where you’re wrong, Jack. You know this is false. We’ve told you the truth many times. You remember the truth, don’t you? This creature is a monster. He tried to kill you, and now he’s trying to turn you by planting false memories. He doesn’t need a reason. He’s chaos. Do I need to tell you everything he’s done once again? I do? Then calm down, Jack, and listen. Listen. Listen.}
.............................................................................................

Jack woke up on the sofa in the living room. God, he’d promised he’d only lay down for one minute, and then he completely fell asleep. That sucked. He sat up and stretched.

A bonking sound came from the corner of the living room. Jack looked over to see Sam ramming into the glass of the tank, iris wide and full of concern. He stood up and walked over to them. “Hey, bud. What’s wrong?”

Sam wanted to know if Jack was okay.

“Course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Sam wondered if Jack was certain.

“Yeah. I just fell asleep for a moment. Everything is fine.”

Sam wasn’t so sure. Sam thinks Jack needs help.

“Help with what?”

Sam didn’t say anything for a while. Then they pushed it away. Never mind. Jack was right, he’s fine.

“Atta-eye! You want to get out for a while?”

Sam did not.

“Alright, if you’re sure. I’m gonna go back upstairs now. If I fell asleep, maybe it’s time for bed.

After Jack had gone upstairs, Sam sank to the bottom of the tank and curled up. They knew. And they wanted to help him, He was their family. But at the same time, things were getting dangerous here. The doctor and the magician were giving them increasingly weird looks. They decided they’d give it another week. If they couldn’t reach Jack by then…they’d need to call for help.