#nrn

“Please! Don’t hurt my friend!”

Chase had acted on the spur of the moment, scared of what was happening to his friend. He had a firm grip on the other man’s arm, which didn’t seem to bother him as much as the pleading voice Chase used to talk to him. The stranger turned his head toward Chase, a mixture of sadness and anger in his eyes. His grip seemed to lessen on Andy’s shirt before he pushed him away from him. Chase scrambled to catch Andy to stop his fall.

“What are you doing here A̷͢n͏̵̷̨t̶̷͞͏͏í̷̴̡̛?”

Chase shook his head from left to right, rubbing his left ear. It was playing tricks on him. Sometimes, his ears would go deaf out of nowhere and it really bothered him. Andy had asked him a few times if he wanted to see a doctor for it, but Chase always refused. He feared them. He could remember clearly an appointment where his doctor had done some stupid things, trying to diagnose him with all the possible diseases or mental illnesses he could think of. The doctor had gone crazy by the end of it, even trying to strangle him. He wasn’t planning on going back soon.

“Chase? Come on, follow us buddy”, said Andy while nudging Chase’s side.

Snapping out of his mind, Chase followed the two other man, trailing behind them. They were talking in hushed voice between them and Chase felt very alone in this house. He felt like someone was looming over his shoulder, but no one was there. He didn’t know the other one, he did look similar but at this point, Chase never questioned this kind of thing. A damn cat reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t pinpoint who and it became more frustrating by the second. He stopped caring. He rubbed his arm together and looked around the house to keep his focus on something. The house seemed weird so far. Things were littering the floor in some room, like people were living here but had stop going in those room long ago. He only caught a glimpse of the kitchen, but it looked like some kind of fight happened there. A chill went up his spine at the thought. Maybe it was a drug dealer house. Why would Andy bring him to his dealer’s house? He tried to guess if the stranger was the drug dealer but even if he didn’t know him, he knew it wasn’t the kind of person he was. So, what was going on here? More importantly, why did Andy bring him here?

“Stop whining Jackie... I get Chase out of the picture like you asked me, you’re angry. I give you a villain to fight, you’re not happy. I make you look like the hero that’s going to save everyone and you decide to cry and get depressed. I bring Chase back and you’re still unhappy. Make up your damn mind for once!”

The man, named Jackie it seemed, stopped in his track and slammed Andy’s back to the wall, hissing in his face. Shocked, Chase was only able to look at what was happening, eyes wide. What was Andy talking about?

“I never, NEVER, wanted all of this to happen, do you hear me? You USED me when I was at my lowest, I felt like everything that was wrong in my life was because of OTHERS! And you USED MY WEAKNESS AGAINST MY FRIEND!”

“Boohoo, I’m weak. Boohoo, I’m a puppet.”, giggled Andy which prompted Jackie to punch him in the chin.

Andy went tumbling on the floor by the force of the punch and it scared Chase how strong Jackie had punched him. He shakily placed himself between Andy on the floor and the moving man in front of him, reaching a hand to stop Jackie from getting closer. He didn’t like how Andy had talked to Jackie, but he was his friend and he’d do anything for his friendś̷̡.

“Don’t...don’t you dare get closer to him”, whispered Chase, still shaking by fear.

Stunned, Jackie stopped walking and stared at him, frustration now the only emotion on his face. He gripped his hand by his side, like he was trying to stop himself for doing something he might regret.

“This man isn’t your friend, Chase! He’s a manipulator! The only thing he cares about is to mess with people. He’ll never have a friend and he’ll never be your friend. The only thing he knows how to do is to betray and use others. He’s alone and he’ll always be alone! He hurt people like he doesn’t care about...”

Chase had heard enough by now. The fear he felt before was soon replaced by anger. No one should talk like this to his friend. He stomped toward Jackie to close the distance between them and poked Jackie’s chest with his index finger.

“You don’t know anything about him! He’s not always the best at dealing with others, you’re right. Do you know why? He was abandoned and hated by his own family because of who he is. Can you imagine? He might have done something bad, by what I’ve tried to understand, something really bad, but have you ever thought about the fact that maybe, just maybe, acting this way is the only way he knows how to act?”

Jackie took a step back after hearing what Chase had to say about the whole situation. He looked shocked, more so than ever before, but Chase didn’t care. He turned his back to the other man and knelt down on the floor next to Andy.

“You OK, man?”

Chase placed a careful hand on Andy’s shoulder who jumped at the touch. He looked at Chase and nodded before looking away. Chase was concerned for his friend. He never acted like that. Andy was always full of energy and had a sarcastic comment about everything. Why did Andy look so...guilty? Did he do or say something he shouldn’t have? The only answer he got was a pat on the back and a helping hand to straighten up after Andy had stood up. Andy and Jackie looked at each other for a few seconds, which looked more like minutes to the fidgeting Chase next to them.

“Let me see the others.”

Without another word shared, the three man continued their way down the hallway. It was eerily quiet now that the other two stopped whispering. But it didn’t stay quiet for long. Two faint voices could be heard down the hallway, two similar voices arguing with each other. The three man stopped before reaching the source of the voices. Jackie looked at Andy, then at Chase before opening the door. There, on the bed, was a man with a bloody nose laying on it, looking like he was asleep. Andy only took one step into the room, looked at the laying man and hummed. Jackie stiffed next to him but decided to let the two visitors in. Chase rushed to the man and brushed the stranger’s hair out of his closed eyes. He didn’t know him, as far as his memory goes, but he felt concerned and sad for him. Was he OK? He brushed his hand over the makeshift bandage, hoping that he was alright. He turned to look at Jackie and Andy, both already staring at him, surprised by his actions.

“What’s his name?”

Jackie’s eyes went wide by Chase’s question. He turned his head to glare at Andy, who only shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

“...his name’s Jamie... he...uh...had a friend he really liked to spend time with...but uh... he left.”

“Why did he leave?” asked Chase who lightly brushed his finger on the bowler hat on the nightstand. A small part of Chase felt calm around this man. He felt like he could spend hours with him, just playing silly card games. A sharp pain in his heart at the thought made him look up at Jackie who looked guilty.

“We had a fight. We uh...kind of kicked him out of the house because we’re stupid, I guess. I wish he would come back...like it was one big nightmare. His name was Ch-”

A loud noise stopped Jackie in his sentence. He turned to Andy, like he was expecting him to cut him off, but the other man was already looking back at him, still shrugging his shoulder. Jackie’s eyes went even wider than before and rushed out of the room, closely followed by Andy. It took Chase a couple more seconds to stand up and follow them, but not before holding Jamie’s hand in his and squeezing it.

“I promise we’ll find a way to help you... Jamie.”

He looked down at their hands, his shaking slightly. He felt like he should say something more. He couldn’t tell what, but he felt like he knew this man. Words were stuck in his throat. What did he wanted to say? He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and let them roll off his tongue.

“I swear we’ll go see this action movie you were so excited to see. We’ll drag everyone with us. We’ll make Hen...We’ll make all of them call sick, so we can go see it together...”

He didn’t know which movie he was talking about. He didn’t know who “everyone” was, but those words felt natural and easy to him, something he didn’t feel quite often lately. He removed his hand from Jamie’s and ran out the room to join the other two who were still standing before a door, talking to each other. The previous voices who were arguing were louder now that he was standing in front of it.

“Wow Jackie, I never thought you’d be smart enough to lock him up in your room.”

Jackie took a step toward Andy, fuming with anger but was stopped on his way by Chase who shot him a warning glance. No fighting. He sighs, mumbling something about Chase not taking the good side and pressed his hand against the door were the voice were speaking gibberish.

“I’m not letting you two see him.”

“Why? What do you mean ‘him’ ?”

“Marvin isn’t in his normal state. He’s kind of ...”

“Jackie Boy ~ Am I hearing...friends? Did you finally brought me some toys? ”

Banging on the door. Louder and louder after each hit.

“Come on! Come on! I wanna play with ‘em! Make ‘em float upside down until all the blood in their body goes to their tiny useless brain! Cut their limbs one by one with a dull blade! Bash their head open with a table leg! Oh! Oh I know! An idea no one thought of before!”

Nails scratching the door. High-pitched laughter. Marvin’s body slamming into the door.

“Cut their neck and make them choke on their own blood!”

Chase ran to the opposite wall and looked at the door, mortified. What was wrong with this person? What happened to the other one? He swears he heard two voices in there before. No way he’d go in this room, even if Jackie asked them. Andy walked toward the door and leaned his back against the door, looking at Jackie, smugly.

“Wow... I really surpassed myself.”

“Shut up for once.”

“No, seriously. I expected to make him feel paranoid and have nightmare. I didn’t want him to turn up crazy like...”

The banging on the door slowly lost intensity. When before it sounded like angry fist, now it sounded more like open palm sliding on the wooden door in desperation. Sobs soon replaced the laughs and Andy took a step sideway, looking at Jackie in confusion. The crying got stronger and the three man could faintly hear Marvin mumbling between each sob.

“I’m...i’m so sorry... I... I didn’t mean...it. I just want things to go back to normal... Why can’t we just live...live all together in peace...Forget everything that...went wrong and just...start over...”

Andy’s breath hitched in his throat. He looked away, his brow furrowed and shifted his weight from one leg to the other, looking very uncomfortable. Chase didn’t understand why he looked like that. Didn’t Andy want this man, Marvin, to be happy? Nothing in what he said should have make Andy react like that. He turned his attention to Jackie who was looking at his feet, squeezing and releasing his fist. He seemed deep in thought. The sobs had quieted down by now, only sniffed and ragged breath could be heard. He understood. This man was in war with himself. And he was hyperventilating. Chase got closer to the door and laid his palm on the door. He took a deep breath.

“Hey, listen to me, OK? I want you to calm down. We’re going to breathe in and out together.”

“I can’t... Chase I can’t...breathe...please...”

He was surprised for a split second. How...did he know his name? But the moment the question popped into his head, a whimper brought him back to what was happening. He clenched his fist on the door, his body screaming at him to open the damn door and hold the other man in his arm. He didn’t care about the way Jackie and Andy were looking at him. The crying man was his priority. He wouldn’t let himself live knowing that he didn’t help him.

“Just...listen. Close your eyes and focus on my voice. I need you to take the deep breath, the best you can right now. For now, they won’t be very deep. But you have to start somewhere. I don’t want you to be frustrated with yourself because you can’t breathe properly, because I know you’ll be. After each breath, it’ll be easier for you. Just trust me. Do you trust me?”

Saying these things were like a second nature for Chase. He didn’t know where this speech came from, but he was glad that Marvin followed his advice and tried breathing with him. It wasn’t hard to hear him breathe at the start, his breathing was mixed with tears and hiccups until it was back to normal. Chase sighed and rested his forehead on the door, the presence over his shoulder leaving. He turned back to Andy and Jackie who stayed behind and smiled at them. He opened his mouth but a body slamming against the door made him, and the other two, jump backward.

“Chase! Oh my god! Chase! Chase... Chase... oh my god... is it you? Chase, is it you? Is it really you? Are you back? Are you really back? I can’t believe it. Chase! Chase, I missed you so much.”

The crying was back, but now a kind of desperation was laced in his voice. Chase was stunned. He “came back”? He knew Marvin? He turned back to Jackie who was already looking back at him. When they met eyes, Jackie turned his glance to the wall, his lips tightly shut. Chase then turned to Andy who had his back turned to him. No one was helping him? He got closer to the door and laid his hand once again on the door.

“I...I’m sorry Marvin? I’m...not the Chase you’re looking for... I wish I could help you but... I’m not...that Chase. I hope he...comes back soon.”

The crying soon mixed with a bitter laugh, which broke Chase’s heart in half. He wished he could help Marvin find this “Chase”.

“Why Chase... You wanted me to trust you. I TRUSTED you! When I have no one left to trust, why did you betray me too! I believed you were back...why...”

Soon enough, the banging was back on the door and each hit on the door was like a hit on Chase’s heart. He tried hard not to cry in front of the other two. He stood up, feeling more defeated than ever. He tried to help him, but it only made him go deeper into his crazy mind. Jackie shook his head and sighed, a part of him had hope it would have worked. He signed them to follow him away from Marvin’s door and they all followed suit, no one daring to talk about what happened. They were in line, Chase walking behind Jackie who had his shoulder slumped and in front of Andy who, when Chase looked back at him, still looked uncomfortable. Jackie stopped in front of another door and turned back to Andy and Chase.

“You might be able to tell me what’s wrong with Henrik. I don’t expect you to help me. I just...want to know what happened.”

Andy shrugged his shoulder and hummed, kind of agreeing with Jackie. He placed his hand on the door handle, took a deep breath and opened the door. He took a step in the room, followed closely by Chase and Andy who slammed into his back when he stopped in his track. Chase looked past Jackie and saw a man standing up in the messy room, his back turned to them and wiping black ink on his scrubs. He picked up a broken mug on the floor and turned his attention to the three new people in the room. He seemed surprised before smiling at them

“The good doctor is back.”

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