You Can Always Come Home
Paranormal Preteens: Episode 41 (END)
A JSE Fanfic
It's hard to believe this is the end. The plan was always for PNPT to be about forty chapters with about ten chapters per season, taking place over a year. But I can't believe it's here already. Maybe because Fantasy Masks also ended a few months ago. It just feels unreal that another one of my fics is ending right now. But it feels fitting that it happens in the last month of the year, doesn't it? An "end of an era" sort of deal. I really love these kids, and I would love to come back to them again in the future, but I gotta find a good idea for that, and I don't have any right now. For now, I think they've earned this ending after all they've gone through. They've really changed and grown, and I've changed with them. Funny how that works, isn't it?
In this final chapter, we skip around through time as the city settles down from the climactic events of the previous chapter. The kids turn their attention to Chase and his birthday party as things with the Circle are taken care of. And Anti? He has some things to heal from. But he'll be okay. They all will. And guys? Thank you for reading <3
Previous Episode | More of this AU | From the Start | Read on AO3 at CrystalNinjaPhoenix
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The next few weeks were pure chaos. The whole town of Hollewych had seen the way the sky unnaturally darkened that day, and the beam of greenlight shooting into the sky was visible for miles. As soon as Chase and his friends returned to school, they were quickly bombarded with questions from the other kids. The attention was pretty overwhelming, so they all talked to each other and agreed that they weren’t going to tell everyone about their greenlight adventures just yet.
The news about Iris and the Circle had gotten out, though. Jackie’s camera still had the whole conversation with Iris recorded, and he and his dad quickly made copies and shared the video with others. Half the town was in shock, and the other half was in an uproar. Chase didn’t go out of his way to watch the news or read newspapers, but even he heard that people were demanding Iris step down as mayor, and that there were a lot of investigations going on in a lot of places. The kids agreed that if anyone asked them about Iris and the Circle, they’d be honest and say that they’d figured out the Circle existed and told their parents. But they wouldn’t go into details. Just enough to explain why they were there the day the city hall lawn exploded—at the scene of what most news sources were calling “the Sky Beam Incident.”
It was only because of Mom, Jackie’s dad, and the rest of the group that news about the Circle and the Sky Beam Incident didn’t spread beyond Hollewych. Between all of them, they were able to... ask people to not talk about it, apparently? Chase didn’t really understand it, but apparently the group members had a lot of “rapport” and “social capital” that they used to try and keep things local. There was no chance of anyone in the city not knowing, but they didn’t want anyone higher up realizing what happened that day in that sleepy English town. Otherwise things might get bad. Which Chase understood. Teenage superheroes in cartoons were always trying to hide their secret identities or else organizations and the press might come after them. This was basically the same thing. Chase just wished that Mom wasn’t so busy all the time. She was always shut up in her bedroom making phone calls.
And on top of all this, they still had to deal with school exams!
“Yeah, I’ve basically given up on everything at this point,” Marvin said to Chase one day in school, when the two of them were walking between classes. “I’m probably gonna pass, but like, just fucking barely.”
“Yeahh... probably the same here,” Chase sighed. “I have no idea how Schneep can focus on stuff so easily!”
“I know, right?! Even JJ’s having trouble!” Marvin nodded.
“How are things going with him and your parents, by the way?” Chase asked. “Are they still trying to get him to talk to people about the whole incident thing?”
“Nah, they’ve given up on it.” Marvin grinned. “JJ told them that if they want him to study at all, they need to stop pushing him to talk to reporters and stuff. It’s dumb anyway cause most of them probably don’t know BSL.”
“It was dumb in the first place!” Chase insisted. “For all your parents know, you two were just in the right place at the right time! You don’t have anything special to say! I mean, you guys still haven’t told them about all the stuff, right?”
“Yeah, and we’re probably never going to,” Marvin said. “They just... wouldn’t get it. But that’s fine. Cause I called Granmam and told her everything and now she’s really proud of us.” He beamed happily. “Anyway, yeah, Mam and Dad are dumb about this shit. Like, I don’t think any journalists want to hear from any more witnesses to the Incident. And like hell we’re telling anyone anything more. JJ’s already tired of the attention we’re getting now.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Chase looked around. A lot of the kids around them stared at them as they passed. For a second, he caught sight of Heather, but she just sneered and looked away. Funny how she didn’t have any of her usual temporary friends around her these days. Guess people didn’t want to associate with Iris’s niece anymore now that they knew the truth about the Circle. “I’m feeling the same way.”
“It was nice at first that people were talking to me, but then I got that I was still... weird to them,” Marvin said slowly. “Just, like, in a more interesting way.”
“Well they’re dumb and they should feel dumb,” Chase said firmly.
“Hell yeah.” Marvin grinned. “Okay, I gotta go now, but before I do, do you have any idea what day you want your birthday party on?”
“Uh... no, not really.” Chase shook his head. “Maybe after exams?”
“But that’s gonna be forever!” Marvin groaned jokingly. “But okay. Don’t keep putting it off, though, or we’ll fucking choose a surprise day for you and you’ll have to deal with it when we’re suddenly in your house.”
Chase laughed. “Okay. Now go, get to class!”
++++++++++++++++++++
He also went to class, but he wasn’t joking about it being really hard to focus. He tried his best, since he’d done really badly on tests last year and probably had to make up for it, but his thoughts and feelings kept whirling around inside him. Mom said that she and the other grown-ups were taking care of the Circle, and he was pretty sure they were doing a good job at it, since the news kept talking about those investigations, but still... after so long being worried about them and trying to figure out more about them and how to stop them... it was hard to just go back to normal. He also couldn’t help but notice that a lot of teachers in the schools had substitutes right now. Including Ms. Karter, who they knew had been part of the Circle, so he could guess at the reason for all the others, too.
“You know, even if the Circle is taken care of, we probably still have to worry about the Fissures, right?” Stacy asked one day after school, while she was waiting with Chase and Schneep at the pick-up zone. “I mean, Anti might’ve closed up the big one, but the other ones still exist, right?”
Chase shrugged. “Yeah... but I don’t believe that the Circle was right about the whole blood sacrifice thing. I don’t think that really caused all the Fissures to stop spreading.”
“If anything, the Fissures that we know were being fed with blood, the ones under city hall and the hospital, were clearly much bigger than the ones that were not being fed,” Schneep reasoned. “Like the one in the pool, for example.”
“But then... was Iris lying about trying to stop the Fissures?” Chase wondered.
“I bet she and the other Circle guys thought that’s what they were doing,” Stacy said. “But deep down, they just wanted to control it. Like, subconsciously.”
“Do you guys think that more greenlight monsters are ever gonna appear?” Chase asked.
Schneep and Stacy both looked thoughtful. Then, they both shrugged at once. “I do not know,” Schneep said. “I think we can only be prepared for them if they do. Since the whole town knows about them from Jackie’s recording, someone can report it to the police now.”
“Yeah,” Chase agreed. “I think we’ll just have to figure it out.” A car honked, and he looked over to see Mom’s car at the back of a line. “Oh, Schneep, we gotta go now.”
“Bye, guys.” Stacy smiled. “Oh, and uh... before you two go. I’ve been thinking lately. And, uh... I wanna say thank you to you guys.”
“Huh?” Chase blinked. “For what?”
“Well, I... I think that if I kept being friends with Heather, I would’ve... probably... turned into someone not very nice,” Stacy said slowly. “But you guys showed up and you, like, welcomed me even though I was sort of butting into your secret monster hunting boy club. A-and you guys are a lot nicer than Heather, you know. So... thanks.” She smiled again. “I’ve just been thinking about this sort of stuff lately, so... I wanted to say it before I forgot.”
Chase felt a weird flippy-floppy feeling in his stomach. “Uh... y-you’re welcome.” He smiled. “You’re pretty great, Stacy, I’m glad we got to know you for real. Now, uh... see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow.” Stacy nodded. “Oh! And also, my parents said I can go to your birthday party when you have it, Chase. I’m so glad they’re over the whole greenlight thing by now.” Apparently, they hadn’t had the best reaction at first. But Stacy had managed to convince them that the guys were really important to her, and the adventures hadn’t been that dangerous, anyway.
“G-great! S-see you there!” Chase smiled, then he and Schneep hurried over to Mom’s car.
Schneep squinted at Chase. “Why is your face red? Did you have PE last period?”
“My face is red?” Chase blinked. “I didn’t know that. Uh, no, not PE. I guess I just... I don’t know, actually.” He paused. “Do you think... did you ever realize that Stacy has a nice smile?”
“I... suppose?” Schneep seemed very confused. “Why are you bringing this up now?”
“I... don’t know.” And really, Chase didn’t. But in a couple years, he’d figure it out.
++++++++++++++++++++
It was well into May by the time things started to calm down in Hollewych. The Sky Beam Incident wasn’t being covered by the news anymore, though a lot of people still talked about it, and still tried to talk to Chase about it since he was there that day. It was really distracting him from school, which sucked because exams were just getting closer and closer! After a while, he started trying to read textbooks during lunch time while he ate, because a lot of people left him alone if it looked like he was studying... though the busy noise of the lunchroom was still distracting, just in a different way.
You know, you can hang out in the school library during lunchtime, JJ said one day. He and Chase were the only ones at the table at the time, with everyone else in line to get food.
“Really?” Chase blinked in surprise. “I didn’t think that’d be allowed.”
Yeah, me and Marvin did it a lot before we met you guys, JJ said. As long as you eat lunch in here first so you don’t bring your food into the library. That’s not allowed.
“Huh.” Chase nodded slowly. “Uh... so, before I do that.” Chase put his textbook to the side. “I feel like we haven’t really been able to talk with just the two of us in a while. How are... things? You’re not... in trouble with your parents for not studying... right?”
JJ blinked. Why are you asking?
“Well, I-I don’t know, I just... I remember you said something about how they’re expecting you to do that, since you’re not going to talk about the Sky Beam stuff to people and get attention,” Chase said.
I... didn’t expect you to remember me saying that, JJ said honestly. They’re... well, they’re nagging me about it. And they’re saying that if my grades drop, I’m not going to get special treats or anything, like how they got me the camera last year. But I don’t really mind. I’ll pass anyway, and studying’s not fun. They’re just gonna have to deal with it. JJ grinned as he said that, a rebellious glimmer in his eyes.
“Heheh... yeah.” Chase smiled. “But like... they’re not going to ground you or anything, right?”
Maybe, JJ said. But Marvin said he’ll help me sneak out if they do. Because I’m okay with being grounded if it’s for a good reason, but I don’t think... I’ve ever... done anything that would be a good reason? To be grounded? Do you get that?
“No,” Chase admitted. He didn’t know why a parent would ground a kid for bad grades. “But... I get that it sucks for you, and that sucks.”
JJ smiled. That’s enough, really. By the way, have you heard anything from your mom about how the Circle stuff is going?
“She said that they’re probably never gonna find all the Circle members,” Chase said. “But they’re gonna make sure that the ones who did the worst stuff lose their jobs and go to jail, if it’s really bad.”
Really? Those are jail-level things they’ve been doing?
“I mean... some of them did admit to kidnapping kids and even some grown-ups,” Chase said. “And like... they were all in the group together so like... they’re all... accomplices, or something? I think it’s more complicated than that, there’s something about them, uh, knowing and stuff. But Mom says they’re all figuring it out, and like... there are lawyers doing stuff and stuff.”
JJ nodded. Good. I don’t want... I don’t want anyone else to get hurt by them.
“Yeah... me neither,” Chase whispered quietly.
Some more time passed after that day. Then, one day in the height of school exam season, Mom took Chase and Schneep in the car and took them to get fast food at McReynold’s, followed by ice cream at Zelly’s. It was great, and Chase was super happy to get a treat in the middle of all this stress... but Schneep was confused. Once they settled down at their table in Zelly’s, he finally worked up the nerve to say something. “Ah... Aunt Jess? Is this... a treat for any reason?” he asked. “W-we have not finished our exams yet, y-you do not know if we did well.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve both passed, don’t worry,” Mom chuckled. “But this is actually for another reason. Here, I think I put something in my purse...” She rummaged around in her bag for a bit, then pulled out a newspaper, setting it on the table. The headline read HOPKINS LEGAL BATTLE OVER: Former Mayor Sentenced to Prison.
“Iris is in jail?!” Chase gasped. “Since when?!”
“Well, since last night, but this paper is from this morning,” Mom laughed. “And that was the last big thing we really had to overcome with the Circle.” She leaned back against the back of the booth bench. “Iris really put up a fight. Despite all the evidence against her, she had some killer lawyers on her side. But now she’s finally given up and accepted a bargain. The article says she got a lesser sentence in return for handing over documents that list all the registered members of the Circle.”
“They had a list of that?” Schneep asked, puzzled.
“Only Iris did, apparently,” Mom explained. “Everyone else knew only a handful of other members, who knew a handful of different members, and so on.” She looked at the two boys. “I wasn’t sure if you two would want to... to celebrate, per se, but I know that I wanted to. So... this dinner and a treat situation has been mostly for me.”
“Are you kidding, Mom?! This is great news!” Chase grinned and kicked his legs excitedly. “That means the Circle’s basically done for!”
“J-ja!” Schneep smiled, too. “I am so glad that is all over with. And you and Mr. Mann have been working so hard on it with all your friends, so of course it is time for a treat for you! Do you think Jackie is also getting a treat with his dad right now?”
Mom laughed. “Probably. I know Richard is probably just as relieved as I am.” She lets out a long breath. “It’s a huge weight off my shoulders, really. A lot of hard work. But if it was to keep you two and all your friends safe, then I was glad to do it.”
“Thanks Mom.” Chase smiled. “I... I think we didn’t really know how to take care of the Circle. Even though Anti kept insisting that we should try. But this wasn’t like... a cartoon where we could just beat them up with our alien powers or anything. It was... different. And, uh... thanks.”
“Yes.” Schneep nodded. “Thank you, Mo—” He suddenly froze. “Ah... Aunt... Jess.”
Mom blinked. For a second, Chase thought her eyes looked a bit more reflective than usual. Then, she smiled. “You’re welcome, Henrik.”
“Y-you can... if you would like, ah... Chase and his friends call me Schneep... sometimes,” Schneep said slowly. “Y-y-you can call me that, i-if you would like.”
“Schneep?” Mom blinked. “Oh, like your last name.”
Chase looked at him. “Are you sure about this, bro?” he asked quietly.
Schneep nodded. “Th-thank you for worrying about me, Chase. I... I really like that you do that.” He smiled at him. “I... I-I really do. I-I am glad that I am here with you. And with Aunt Jess. So... I think she can use it, too.”
“Okay.” Chase leaned back, only now realizing that he’d immediately leaned forward and scooted closer to Schneep.
“Schneep,” Mom repeated. “Alright, if you want me to call you that, I can do that, Henrik... Schneep." She chuckled. “It might take me a while to get used to it, but I’ll remember that. And... if you ever want to call me something besides ‘Aunt Jess’... you can. If you want to, whenever you’re ready.”
Schneep was quiet for a long moment there. Then he nodded. “Y-yes. Yes. Th-thank you.” He looked down at the surface of the table, pushing up his glasses when they started to slide down his nose. “I-I think... I think I have never really said this much before. But I am very happy to be here now. I am... very happy.”
Chase leaned closer until their shoulders were touching. “Yeah, I’m happy you’re here too. And so is Mom.”
“Very happy.” Mom smiled, and again, her eyes looked a bit more reflective than usual. “Now. It looks like our celebration ice creams have arrived.” A waiter approached and dropped them off. “Dig in, boys.”
They did, and the ice cream had never tasted sweeter.
++++++++++++++++++++
Soon, exams were finally over with, and summer vacation would soon be approaching. Chase wasn’t so sure that he’d done well on the tests, exactly, but he was pretty sure it was fine. Now he just had to wait out the last couple weeks of school. It’d mostly be boring, but by now they’d decided on a solid date to hold his birthday party: the last day of school. So he had that to look forward to on top of vacation as well.
The day after the last exam, Chase walked out of school and began scanning the cars lined up there, looking for one in particular. Not his mom’s car, but a certain green hatchback... which he soon spotted easily, its familiar shape sticking out. He hurried over there, and the driver’s side door opened, with Jackie getting out and standing up, waving him over. “Hey, little man,” he said, beaming. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah!” Chase nodded. “I have my phone in case Mom needs to call me.”
“And you’re sure that Schneep doesn’t want to come?” Jackie asked. “Or any of the others?”
“They’re fine,” Chase said. “They already saw him once, and I think... I think that was enough for them. But, uh, I wanna... give him an update, I guess.”
“Good idea.” Jackie nodded. “Okay, you’re gonna have to get in the back seat. But I’ll let you pick the music.”
“Thanks!” Chase opened the door to the backseat and climbed in, setting his backpack on the seat next to him.
In the front passenger seat, Jack turned around to look back at him as Jackie climbed in. “Hey, Chase.” He smiled, though he looked a bit nervous under it. “Thanks for coming.” Sam was sitting in the cupholder, nestled into one of the cup-holding spots, but they jumped with excitement when they saw Chase.
"No problem," Chase said. "I... I wanna see him anyway.”
Jackie closed the driver’s side door and started the car. “Alright... pick out a CD to play on the way, Chase. Jack, put it in for him. I’m trying to beat traffic so we’re moving out.”
“Got it,” Chase and Jack said at the same time, and turned their attention to the music.
The Circle might’ve been taken care of, but there was still one dangling thread remaining... one that Chase had even less of an idea how to fix.
They drove to the hospital—not the same one where Marvin had gone after falling down the stairs, nobody Chase knew trusted that hospital anymore. But to the other one across town. It was smaller—in fact, Mom said it was actually more of a ‘clinic’ because it was so small—but it was a lot more... cozy, for lack of a better word. The white walls here were more of a... cream color? And there was wooden furniture instead of metal furniture. Chase reflected on how these little differences made the place feel so different as Jackie talked with the receptionist, and he and Jack wrote their names down on the sign-in sheet. “Chase?” Jackie prompted.
“Coming.” Chase hurried over to write down his name as well. Huh, he didn’t have to get on his tiptoes to write on the clipboard. When did he get so tall?
“Alright, so you boys know where to go, then?” The receptionist asked. “Right down that hallway there?”
“Yeah, we’ve been here a lot,” Jackie said, nodding. “Come on, guys.”
They headed down the hallway the receptionist indicated, all the way to the end. The door on the left had a bronze number 10 on it. Jackie reached forward and opened it up, leading the other two inside. “Heyyy, we’re here now,” he called gently.
Not that it actually meant anything, when you thought about it. After all, Anti was still asleep.
Mr. Mann had taken him here the day of the Sky Beam Incident, all the other kids and their respective parents (Mom and Stacy’s parents and sister, really, though the twins’ parents showed up later) trailing after him to make sure everything went alright. They spent most of the rest of the day in the clinic’s tiny but comfortable waiting room while the doctors examined Anti. Occasionally one of them, who Chase assumed was the head doctor, would pop back in to talk to Mr. Mann about some stuff. It seemed that since Anti’s parents weren’t here and couldn’t be contacted, Mr. Mann was taking responsibility for him. Jack was, too—since he was eighteen and Anti’s only relative there. But there was only so much he could do as a brother and not a guardian, so he mostly ended up pacing back and forth.
By the time it was all over, the doctors had stitched up the injury on Anti’s throat, saying that it was a good thing they got him here so fast, otherwise the worst could’ve happened. Even so, Anti had lost a lot of blood and needed it to be replaced, and more importantly... he wasn’t waking up. The doctors had done some special scans, with Mr. Mann and Jack’s permission, and concluded that his brain activity was similar to that of a deep sleep—the type where you don’t dream. Usual methods of trying to wake him up weren’t working, but he didn’t seem to be in any danger beside that. He was just... sleeping.
And now, he was still sleeping, lying in the bed in the middle of the room. It was a nice room, with a sofa for visitors and a window looking outside and a new-looking TV. But Anti wasn’t awake to enjoy any of that. He just laid there, with a couple different machines around that scanned his brain and stuff. You would expect someone who’s been asleep for over a month to start looking different, getting paler and thinner while their hair grew longer, but Anti looked exactly the same. That was a little weird. But a lot of stuff about Anti was a little weird.
There was an armchair next to the bed, which Jack immediately claimed, hurrying over to sit down in. Sam bounced out of his pocket and onto the bed, landing on Anti’s torso, right at the spot where his sternum ended. “Hey, it’s me, I’m back again,” Jack said, talking even though they all knew it wouldn’t change anything. “Jackie’s here too, you heard him earlier. And Chase came to see you too.”
“Yeah.” Chase nodded, and walked over to the bed, standing next to Jack. “I, uh... I know it’s been a while, and uh... I dunno. I just wanted to see you. You look... pretty much the same. I mean, not really. You’re not all... shadowy.”
The kids had talked about it for a while, and they came up with two possible explanations for this. Either closing the big Fissure had some effect on Anti—it was the same one he’d been thrown into, after all, maybe that was significant?—or he’d used up all the greenlight in his body. Chase was leaning towards the second one. When they drained greenlight from the monster dog and the paperpillar they’d become less powerful, and the weird doll haunting JJ had to use its greenlight to repair itself. Chase thought this was similar to those two situations. Nothing had endless amounts of greenlight. Not even Anti.
“Mam and Dad keep calling me,” Jack said. “I still haven’t told them everything, but I talked to them about the Circle some more. I told them that it was taken care of and that the Circle was gone. I... also told them I remembered what happened to you. They... basically confirmed a lot of stuff I guessed. Like how they wanted to protect me. But that’s just... that’s just bullshit, isn’t it?”
Jackie nodded. “The memory thing is bullshit,” he agreed.
“Yeah, they shouldn’t have made you forget,” Chase added.
Jack sighed. “They really shouldn’t have. I might’ve been able to do something sooner if I knew about you. I mean, Chase and the others are pretty capable.” He smiled at Chase, who grinned back.
“Did you decide if you want to go home yet?” Jackie asked Jack gently.
“I did, and I think I don’t,” Jack said firmly. “I’m eighteen, I can live on my own. It’s actually kind of expected that I do, even. I-I don’t think I could... go to university or anything just yet, but I-I have some in mind that aren’t too far away. So I can stay in case Anti needs help.” Jack sighed. “But, well... that’s for next year, I think.”
“Did you ever figure out college stuff, Jackie?” Chase asked.
Jackie smiled softly. “I... I’m starting to choose some, I think. But I’m not thinking about it too hard. I don’t have to apply just yet, right?”
“Well... when it’s time, you gotta choose a good place,” Chase insisted. “You like art stuff, right? Like music and pictures and comics. You gotta go somewhere where you can do all that.”
Jackie blinked. He seemed surprised. But after a moment, he relaxed and nodded, smiling. “Thanks, Chase. That’s... that’s a good idea.” He looked out the window thoughtfully. “Yeah. A good idea.”
Chase tilted his head. He wasn’t sure he really understood Jackie’s university struggles, but he probably would one day, wouldn’t he? Hopefully he could go to him for advice when that happened. Then Chase looked back at Anti. “Um... so... my birthday party is happening in two weeks. I-I don’t know how you’d, uh, feel about that. I get the feeling you don’t like birthdays... no, wait, you asked JJ and Marvin to wish you happy birthday once. Maybe you don’t really understand them, though, cause you forgot about them for so long? But, uh... I-I’m excited. I think. I’m gonna be thirteen.” He smiled a little. “Officially a teenager, I guess.”
“Hey don’t go that far,” Jackie said jokingly.
Chase laughed, then trailed off. “Uh... if you’re awake by then... maybe you can come stop by. I-I don’t think I’ll have time to see you on the day of the party, but... maybe if you’re awake, I can... take you some cake after. If you can... eat? I-I don’t know... how that... works, really. Are you still going to be not quite human? And how are they getting you food while you’re sleeping?”
“It’s, uh... it’s something called supplements.” Jack pointed at an IV bag nearby. “It’s through that.”
“Whoa.” Chase whistled. “A-anyway. I just wanted to check on you and... say that it’s okay now. The city is all better, even though there’s still a big hole in front of city hall, and no one’s mad at you. Marvin and JJ are, uh, kinda annoyed still cause you really messed with them, but I told them that you were alright now and they said that if you said sorry again when you woke up, they’ll forgive you. Schneep and Stacy have already forgiven you, I think, a-and me too—and I bet Jackie and Jack have already told you that they have, too.”
Jackie nodded. “It’s kind of hard not to, now that I know the whole story. I mean, you still shouldn’t have done those things, but... I think you feel bad about it. And you’re not... evil, or anything. You were just scared. So... it’s fine. Fine enough, I guess.”
“Yeah, fine enough,” Jack agreed. “I mean... you’re my brother. A-and I’m remembering a lot of stuff now. So... it’s fine enough.”
Chase smiled a little. Anti hadn’t moved or reacted much at all during these talks—other than his chest moving up and down. He was breathing now. Did he breathe while he was all shadowy? Chase couldn’t remember. But he was breathing now, and that was what was important. “Uh... I don’t... really know what you do on a hospital visit where the person’s asleep,” he said. “Should we turn on the TV or something?”
“I usually just read or do homework,” Jackie said.
“I talk about whatever,” Jack said. “Dumb stuff, really. Like... beating video games and stuff like that. I-I guess it felt weird to turn on the TV.”
“Maybe you should do that, actually,” Chase said. “Anti was all electrical, yeah? And if he’s still electrical, maybe it’ll... help, or something?”
Jackie and Jack looked at each other, and Jackie shrugged. “Up to you, man, he’s your brother.”
“I guess it’s worth a shot,” Jack said. He stood up and walked over to the TV, pressing some buttons to turn it on. “I wonder what channels they get here.”
They kept the TV on a kids’ station for the rest of the visit, but none of them really watched it. It was just nice to have it as background noise, and Chase definitely felt a lot less awkward about talking while it was playing. They chatted with each other about a bunch of things that didn’t really matter. It was nice. And Chase couldn’t help but think that Anti was enjoying the talking, too. Maybe he could hear them, on some level.
After a bit, they all had to go. Jackie was the first to head out, since he had the car keys and had to get everything ready. Chase and Jack got up to follow him a second later. Chase looked at the TV. “Maybe we should leave that on.”
‘I... don’t want to drive up the hospital’s electricity bills,” Jack admitted, securing Sam in his pocket again. “But what you said about the electricity might help. So... when I come visit him from now on, I’ll turn it on.”
Chase nodded. “That’s good enough, I guess. Do you really go see him every day?”
“Yeah, but sometimes it’s just for a couple minutes,” Jack said. “Sam likes to visit, too.” Sam wriggled around the pocket in agreement. “I think maybe, since they’re both greenlight—or, uh, were greenlight? Uh, anyway, I think they might... resonate with each other. Or something.”
“What’s that mean?” Chase asked.
“Resonate? Uhhh... sort of...” Jack gestured vaguely. “Get... along? I guess?” He shrugged, and turned the TV off. “I dunno, go ask Jackie.”
“Yeah, he’s probably waiting for us anyway.” Chase nodded. “Bye, Anti.” He hurried out of the room.
Jack looked at the sleeping boy. “Bye, Aodhan.” He smiled. “The anti-me. I’ll see you later.” And then he turned and headed out, too, closing the door behind them.
A minute after they’d left, Anti’s breathing shifted slightly. His body glowed green for a second, but then it dissipated, leaving his body and dissolving into the air.
++++++++++++++++++++
The last day of school was only a half day, mostly meant for everyone to say goodbye to each other. Chase said some stuff to some of his classmates, but not to his really good friends. He’d be seeing them all in just a little bit.
Mom picked up him and Schneep. Once they got home, she hurried to the door, opening it for them. “Surprise!” she said, smiling. While they’d been at school, she’d been busy setting up the decorations. Streamers in orange and yellow, Chase’s favorite colors, with the occasional blue to make it pop. And speaking of popping, there were party poppers on all the tables, as well as confetti and party hats. There were presents in orange paper in front of the TV. The cake sat in the middle of the kitchen island, frosted blue and yellow, with two candles shaped like a 1 and a 3.
“Whoa!” Chase gasped. “You even did confetti! I thought you hated cleaning that up!”
Mom laughed. “I usually do, but this is a special occasion. Appreciate it, though, because you won’t be getting confetti or party poppers again until you turn 16.”
It wasn’t long before the others all arrived, too, since they all headed over here right after school ended. Stacy’s sister tried to stay so she can “have some cake too! Pretty please!” but Stacy was firm in having her go home. Then Mr. and Mrs. Jackson tried to give Mom a whole list of things that JJ (and Marvin, they added after a bit) could and couldn’t do and how they would be here at eight to pick the twins up, no matter what. Mom just smiled and nodded to get them to leave.
Jackie was the last to arrive. “My dad’s going to drop off Jack here later,” he said to the kids. “He wanted to go see Anti first. Hopefully he won’t lose track of time.”
“It’s okay, as long as he gets here eventually,” Chase said.
“He will, I promise,” Jackie said. “Anyway... happy late birthday, little man!” He handed Chase a box wrapped in shiny red paper.
“Yeah! Happy fucking birthday, whooooo!” Marvin clapped while JJ picked up a noisemaker and repeatedly blew into it, making a loud honking sound that went a bit like HOOONK HONK HONK HOOOONK!!
Schneep flinched. “Verdammt, you two,” he muttered.
“Do you want to open presents first, Chase?” Stacy asked excitedly, glancing at where she’d put her yellow bag of a present. “Or do you want to have cake or something?”
Do whatever you want! It’s your birthday! JJ said, adding another loud honk with the noisemaker for emphasis.
Chase laughed. “Uh... I don’t know! Maybe we can just... play games or something first?”
“We always play games while we’re over here,” Jackie laughed.
“Well... yeah, but... it’s different when it’s a birthday,” Chase said slowly. “A-and besides! I really want to show you guys Sonic Adventure 2, since we finished the other game. Oh! Or maybe we could all play something together? Like, uh, Mario Party or Mario Kart? Yeah, that’d be fun, but we might all need to team up or take turns.”
Mom chuckled. “Are you sure about that? When you and Schneep played Mario Party, I thought for a second you were going to throw the controller at the screen. That’s not exactly good atmosphere for a birthday party.”
“Well... that only happened because the game was being unfair!” Chase insisted.
“It felt fair to me,” Schneep said, grinning mischievously.
“Shut up,” Chase grumbled. “Anyway, I don’t really care too much what game we play. I just... want to spend time with all of you. And you know... make memories and stuff.”
Stacy smiled. “Hah, I get that. Okay, we can play some games. Is Amy in the Sonic one? I wanted to see more of her!”
“Did you know that JJ and I have never played a Mario game?” Marvin asked.
“What?” Jackie gasped in shock. “You two have a Wii! It’s made by the same company!”
Yeah, but we just don’t have any, JJ said, shrugging. We mostly have games that use Miis. And LEGO ones. And some other ones that are kinda boring.
“You gotta be careful with the games you pick, some are boring,” Chase agreed.
“What if we play one of the Mario games, and then after that if people get mad, we switch to Sonic?” Schneep said. “It is more relaxing to watch people play a single player game sometimes.”
Chase smiled. “Sounds like a plan! Then cake and dinner, then presents.”
The party activities didn’t really matter. They were fun, of course, and Chase was thrilled that he got to share some of his favorite games with his friends who hadn’t heard of them. But he would’ve had fun doing whatever with these guys. Even tough stuff. Even scary stuff. He could do anything, as long as these guys were here. Which was a cheesy thought to have... but it was true. He never thought he’d feel this way about anyone. Friends he’d had before, like Chad, were fun to hang out with, but... these guys were different. He was so glad that they knew each other. If he went back in time to tell his past self that his best friends would be his quiet cousin, the Jackson twins, the teenager who’d babysat him, and a girl with pink glasses, he definitely wouldn’t have believed his future self. But it was all true. These people were all amazing, and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was that they’d all made it through the past year together.
They had dinner around six: pizza from a fancier place than their usual Queen Cleo’s. After that, Mom moved the cake to the center of the dining room table, where everyone was sitting. “Alright, are you ready for candles, Chase?”
“Hmm... is Jack still not here?” Chase asked, looking around. “I don’t want him to miss this.”
“I texted him before dinner,” Jackie said. “He said that he was really sorry, but that something came up. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Chase nodded. “We can wait until then.”
So they played video games for a bit longer, until Jack finally appeared ten minutes later. “Sorry! I-I’m so sorry!” he gasped as he ran into the house. “There was—there was so much! So much.”
“Are you okay, Jack?” Marvin asked. “Your eyes are all red.”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Jack nodded. “I’ll... I’ll tell you guys about it after cake and ice cream, huh? I’ve kept you waiting long enough.”
Chase tilted his head. He believed that everything was okay with Jack. After all, despite his red eyes... he was smiling. “Alright, let’s hurry so you can tell us, then!” He paused the game again and got up, hurrying over to the table once more. The others all followed him.
“Alright, here we go.” Mom held up a lighter, clicking it a couple times to get it working, and then lit the two candles with it. Schneep turned off the light in the meantime, and Jackie took out his camera, pointing it at Chase and the cake. Stacy and the twins crowded around Chase at first, but Marvin gestured for the other two to lean back once he realized Jackie was taking pictures. Upon seeing Jackie’s camera, JJ gasped and took out a camera of his own: the same video camera they’d used in the library, almost a year ago.
“On three, start singing,” Mom said. “One... two... three!”
The whole group broke into the happy birthday song, singing for Chase. Some of them were a bit off-key, and of course JJ wasn’t singing at all, but the sound and sight of it made Chase’s chest feel warm. His vision got a bit blurry. As the song wound down, he leaned forward in anticipation, and once the final note rang out, Chase blew out the candles in one strong breath. The others cheered, and Chase beamed.
In the moment he’d blown out the candles, he’d made a wish. A wish that they would always be friends.
But if something happened, if something changed, he at least wanted to remember this moment forever. He wanted to never forget this feeling.
It had meant something. It had all meant something. He wished to always remember that.
++++++++++++++++++++
Earlier that day, Jack sat in a hospital room by himself. Just him and Anti. The TV was on, as it had been for the past two weeks’ worth of visits, but the volume was muted. Sam was sitting on their usual spot on Anti’s torso, nestled against the blanket.
“He’s turning thirteen today, isn’t that crazy?” Jack muttered. “I don’t think I did anything special for my thirteenth birthday. I think by that point, I was starting to get kind of over birthday parties. I mean, I had some friends over, and we’d go out for a movie at the cinema or something, but... I dunno. It stopped feeling like a big thing at that point. But maybe... maybe I just always felt there was something missing.” He sighed, and looked at Anti. “You probably didn’t even really have a thirteenth birthday, huh? I don’t think time passed normally in that place.”
Anti didn’t answer. He just continued to breathe.
“I probably should’ve left to go there a while ago,” Jack continued. “But I... I don’t know. Maybe it would feel weird. I-I really do like the kids, don’t get me wrong, and I’m so glad I met them, it’s just... birthdays are weird. Time is... weird. It just... keeps on going on. But then at the same time, a lot of things just... stop going on.” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Still no answer.
Jack sighed. “I still feel bad for forgetting you. Ms. Walker gave me the number of a, uh... therapist, though? And he talked about guilt a lot and helped me sort through it. I mean... it’s all in the past now. And there wasn’t anything I could’ve done to stop things from happening. I mean, I was nine years old. And there were a lot of adults around making the decisions and stuff. And they didn’t want to listen to me. So... there wasn’t really anything I could do. It’s not my fault. And it’s not... not your fault, either.”
Some lines on the machines’ screens changed a bit, but Jack wasn’t facing that way, so he didn’t see them.
“So in the end, I think I just... I just miss you,” Jack said quietly. “I miss you, and I-I’m worried about you, and I... I feel so... so sorry for you. It’s like... there’s a hole, right here in my ribs.” He patted his chest. “And all that’s in there is a bunch of... dripping, black... ‘sorry for you’. It... it should have been different. Even if there wasn’t anything I could do, it shouldn’t have happened. And... I’m sorry about that.”
The lines on the screens shifted more. Some static ran across the TV.
“But... hey, maybe once you wake up... we can try to... make something new, I guess,” Jack said, feeling his eyes getting hot with tears. “We can try to... I-I don’t want to say ‘fix’ all this, cause you can’t really fix stuff so easily, but... it’ll... change. And we can try to make it change in the good way. And maybe... maybe years from now, this will all be so far in the past that it doesn’t even matter anymore. It... won’t go away. But it’s like... how scars work. One day, that cut on your throat will fully heal, and one day far away after that, it’ll fade so much that we’ll barely be able to see it.”
The TV became all static. But Jack wasn’t looking that way. He was looking at Anti.
After a minute, he sighed and stood up. “Alright. I... I shouldn’t keep them waiting. I’ll see you tomorrow, anti-me.” He started to turn away—
Suddenly, Sam started jumping up and down in place, looking down at Anti. Jack paused, confused. He stared at Sam... and then realized. They weren’t the only green thing in the room.
Anti’s body was glowing green. Jack’s eyes widened, and he took a step back as Sam jumped off Anti and onto the arm of the chair by the bed. The green glow was weak, but Jack could see it clearly. He watched as it slowly faded from the inside out, as if it was leaving Anti’s body. No. That’s definitely what it was doing. Jack’s head turned, watching as the faintest of green glow moved towards the TV like smoke from a fire, reaching it and then disappearing.
Then the TV shut off. And the room was silent for a moment.
Until two blue eyes opened, and a weak voice called out.
“...Jack?”
Two pairs of eyes overflowed with tears. One twin rushed to the other.
“Jack?”
“I’m here.” A sob broke the words. “It’s okay. You’re home now.”
