#pwtimeline

JJ laughed. Hey, did you get a haircut? It looks shorter.

“No, that’s just ‘cause of the style.” Marvin’s hair was in a braid instead of its usual ponytail. “Where’s Jackie? I thought you were picking him up.”

“I did too,” Chase said. “But right before we got to his place he called and said he was going to be late. Something about a sudden meeting with his landlord.”

“Ugh.” Marvin shook his head. “I’m so glad I was able to buy my own house.”

Chase shrugged. “Jackie’s building isn’t too bad, yknow. I mean, they kept his apartment open even though he was missing for like a year. Not many places would do that.”

“True, true.” Marvin nodded. “Anyway, you guys can make yourselves at home. I got drinks and food in the kitchen, and if you guys want to set up a movie or game go ahead. I’m going to put this guy—” He scratched behind Ragamuffin’s ears. “—in my room with Luna so the two of them don’t get underfoot. I moved the terrarium there, too, which took forever.” He groaned. “Be right back.” With that, he disappeared down the hallway.

Chase walked over to the television, setting down the bag he’d brought. “Hey, Jay, did you want to do anything in particular first?” He rummaged through the bag’s contents. “Stacy let me borrow the family Switch for the weekend, so I can hook it up here.”

JJ shook his head. I don’t have anything in mind. But I think we should wait for everyone else to arrive first. He turned around and opened the front door again. I’m going to go get the cookies from the car.

“Ohhh right, you go ahead and do that.”

Jameson made an OK sign with his hands and left. He returned only a minute later with a plate of store bought sugar cookies. Heading down the hall, he arrived in the kitchen and put the plate down next to all the other food Marvin had bought for that evening. Snack foods, mostly: chips, pretzels, bowls of fun-sized candy bars, some 2-liter bottles of soda with accompanying red plastic cups. Marvin had offered to provide alcohol as well, but Chase requested that they leave that off the plan.

Marvin, walking by the kitchen doorway, stopped and leaned in. “Oh sweet, cookies!” He grinned. “You know you guys didn’t have to bring anything.”

I know, I know, JJ signed. But it’s the least I could do after you offered to do basically everything.

“Still.” Marvin’s grin faded a bit. Now he looked a bit anxious. “You, um...you think this is going to go well? I mean, Schneep is going to have doctors with him and everything, they’re not gonna shut this down or anything, are they?”

If they had any objections, I’m sure they would have brought them up when you and Chase asked if he could come, JJ said.

“Right, right.” Marvin took a deep breath, in and out. “And...Jack won’t have any problems with it, will he?”

“It’ll be fine, Marvin.” Chase, walking down the hall to join the two others, had just barely caught Marvin’s concerns. “I cleared everything with both hospitals, there’s no problem with anything. The only thing we have to worry about is that Jackie’s allergic to peanuts, and I can tell you’ve got everything there sorted out.” He gestured to the counter of snacks. Most of them were nut-free and the ones that weren’t had been carefully separated from the rest.

“Right,” Marvin said again, nervously playing with the hem of his shirt.

Chase checked the time on his phone. “Okay, it’s just about time to pick up Jack. Maybe Jackie will be done with his thing by then and I can swing by his place, too. I’ll be back in like twenty minutes.”

See you later, Chase, JJ said, smiling. Thanks again for the ride. You didn’t have to.

“Heh. No problem, really.” Chase made a finger gun, which he then slowly lowered in slight embarrassment. “See you guys later.”

—————— 

Only five minutes after Chase left, there was another knock at the front door. Marvin, who had been sitting on the sofa with JJ and talking, stood up and quickly walked over to open it.

“Marvin!” Instantly, Marvin was enveloped in a tight hug. “Oh!” The hug disappeared. “I should have asked first, sorry.”

“Hey, Schneep!” Marvin laughed. “No, it’s fine. Bring it in.”

Schneep smiled wide, and the two friends embraced. In just the two weeks since Marvin had last seen him, he’d already changed a lot. He looked almost like his old self again. Sure his hair was a bit longer, and the medical bracelet on his wrist wasn’t going away anytime soon, but he was wearing one of his old favorite sweaters and wasn’t nearly as pale as he used to be. “How’s it feel to be out of there for a little bit?” Marvin asked.

“Well, I now understand what they mean when they say something is a breath of fresh air.” Schneep took a step back. “Because it is literal for me.” He looked around the living room. “Your house has not changed that much.”

“Nope. Which is weird, considering I left it for a few months there.”

He only recently unpacked everything again, JJ signed from the sofa.

“Hey, I saw that!” Marvin said.

“Um...” A voice coughed awkwardly. “Is it alright if we come inside?”

“Oh!” Marvin had been so concerned with Schneep that he hadn’t noticed the two others with him. “Yeah, of course. Uh, hi, by the way! Mina, Dr. Laurens.”

“Hello again,” Mina said, stepping inside. “I hope you do not mind, but I brought a drink.” She held up a two-liter bottle of pink lemonade. “I have to drive home so I did not want anything—you know.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we don’t have any here,” Marvin assured her. “Did you guys all...drive together?”

Laurens smiled faintly. “No, Mina just happened to pull up to your house at the same time we did.” She indicated Schneep and herself.

“Oh, okay.” Marvin closed the door once everyone was inside, then turned to Mina. “Well, you can put that in the kitchen with all the rest of the drinks. It’s down the hall, there.”

“Got it.” Mina nodded, heading off in the direction he pointed.

“Jamie! Hello!” Schneep headed over to the sofa. JJ stood up, and the two of them hugged quickly. “I feel as though it has been forever. You do not visit that often, is everything okay?”

It’s all fine, don’t worry, JJ hurried to say. Nothing to do with you. It’s just I’ve been busy with personal stuff lately. You know...considering everything.

“Ah.” For a moment, Schneep’s expression fell. He glanced back at Laurens, who gave him an encouraging thumbs up. “Well, yes, I was busy with that sort of stuff, too.” He sighed. “But...let us not talk about that here. This is a celebration, yes?”

Jameson nodded, straightening and putting on a smile. You’re right. Your friend Jack has worked very hard to get out of the hospital, it deserves celebrating!

“‘Your’ friend? Ha, do not tell me Jack has not taken you into his friend fold yet, I know what that man is like.” Schneep chuckled.

JJ laughed a bit as well. No, you’re right. We’ve only met a few times, but he’s very insistent.

While the two of them talked, Marvin leaned over to Laurens and asked, “So is it just you?”

“As supervision? Yes.” Laurens nodded. “Normally it would have been an orderly, but I asked for special permission from Dr. Fells. Just this once. I thought it would, um...‘kill the vibe’ if there was one random stranger in this group of friends. At least you guys know me.”

“Y’know, I think we can be considered friendly by now,” Marvin said, smiling.

“Oh.” Laurens didn’t hide her surprise. “Really? I mean, we only got together a few times. And isn’t it a little weird? With my job and anything.”

“I don’t think it’s weird. And a few times is enough for some people. I’m sure Chase would go out of his way to assure you more, but uh, I’m not all that good at that sort of stuff.” Marvin shrugged. “But you’re cool with me.”

“Well...thank you,” Laurens said. Her voice was soft, but full of feeling.

At that moment, Mina returned from the kitchen, carrying a stack of red plastic cups and a permanent marker. “Alright everyone!” she announced. “I am establishing a rule now! If you grab a cup, you must write your name on it so there is no confusing! Alright?”

JJ frowned. I don’t think there’s enough of us to cause confusion.

“Well, we do it to be sure, then,” Mina insisted. “Just in case there are germs and such.”

Schneep nudged Jameson. “Yes, germs and such. I agree. As a doctor.”

JJ raised an eyebrow. Are you sure you’re not just taking your girlfriend’s side?

“What? Noooo. No, girlfriend? I—what do you mean?” Schneep stammered. “We are still being just friends.”

“Um, yes! Exactly!” Mina added. “That’s all.” Her face was turning a bit red.

Jameson nodded. Right. Just friends. He looked across the room, briefly locking eyes with Laurens and Marvin. They all exchanged identical expressions. Well, should we bring the drinks out here, then?

—————— 

About fifteen minutes later, Jackie finally arrived, knocking on the door like the others before him. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, walking in as soon as Marvin opened the door. “It was totally the bus’s fault, I swear, they were totally behind schedule—”

“It’s fine, Jackie,” Marvin said. “You’re not even the last to arrive.”

“Really?” Jackie scanned the room. “Oh, you’re right. Well, I feel a bit better now.”

“Jackie!” Schneep waved at him from across the room. “It is good to see you!”

“Schneep!” Jackie hurried over to him. As soon as he was within range, Schneep threw his arms around him. “Whoa! Little tight there.”

“Ah, sorry.” Schneep backed up, still smiling. “It just feels like so long. You got a haircut!”

“Yeah, I did.” Jackie ran a hand along his new, short length of hair. “I thought it was time, you know?”

I think it looks good on you, JJ said, appearing at Jackie’s other side.

“Oh hey JJ!” Jackie leaned over and gave Jameson a quick, tight hug. “How have you been?”

Pretty good, actually. I’ll be honest, I’m still on edge. Jameson’s signs were a bit smaller as he said that. But I’m being optimistic. Not going to let any of this keep me down.

“That’s the spirit!” Jackie grinned.

“Oh hey, Jackie,” Marvin called from over by the front door. “Are you gonna put your backpack down?”

“Nah, I think I’ll hold onto it for a bit,” Jackie said.

Marvin narrowed his eyes. “Did you pack it full of superhero movies? All the Spider-Mans again?”

“Mmmm I’m not telling.” Jackie tried to smother his smile.

“Godamnit Jackie, if I have to spend another two hours with you gushing over Andrew Garfield I am kicking you out of my house!” Marvin shook his head. “Anyway, there’s food in the kitchen, drinks on the coffee table. Make sure to write your name on your cup so it doesn’t get confused with anyone else’s. Laurens and Mina are in the kitchen, too, if you want to say hi.”

“Got it.” Jackie nodded, then headed over to the coffee table, grabbing a red plastic cup and the marker.

Knock, knock, knock. Someone was at the front door for the fourth time that night. Marvin brightened up. “Guys, it’s them!” he said, hurrying over to open the door.

“I’m back!” Chase announced, stepping into the house as soon as the door was open. “And guess who’s with me?” He then stepped to the side, revealing—

“Hey guys.” Jack smiled, a bit shyly, and waved.

“Jack!” everyone shouted in joyful unison.

Immediately, Jack was surrounded by friends, chattering and buzzing over each other for a solid thirty seconds. That came to an end when Marvin shouted, “Alright, alright! He needs space! You all back the fuck up!”

“Ah, sorry, Jack.” Jackie gave a little laugh. “It’s just so surprising to see you out, you know?”

“It’s surprising to be out, I can say that much.” For the first time in months, Jack was wearing normal street clothes—a black hoodie and jeans—and not hospital garb. That alone made him look much more lively, but he still wasn’t quite as lively as he might have been. The cane he was holding tight to was a clear enough indication. “Man, Marv, your house really hasn’t changed at all, has it?”

“Why are you the second person to say that?” Marvin groaned.

Is everything okay, Jack? JJ asked. How’s it gone so far?

“Been alright. I’m still gonna need some physical therapy, but I can walk, and they said that’s an important step forward. Literally.” Jack laughed at his own joke. Then, he spotted someone lingering at the edge of the group. “Schneep?” he said. “Is that you?”

“I...yes, it’s me,” Schneep said, shifting awkwardly on his feet.

“Wow. I almost didn’t recognize you—which is amazing, considering how we’re all clones,” Jack joked. “It’s like forgetting my own face.”

Schneep chuckled a bit, but still looked on edge. He hesitated, then stepped forward. “I—Jack, I—I know this is all my fault, but—but it is very good to see you.”

Jack tilted his head. “Hey. It’s alright.”

“But I am the one who—”

“Yeah, you are.” Jack reached out and grabbed Schneep’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “And I won’t lie, that...wasn’t good,” he said delicately. “And I do think we need to talk about that some time. But not right now. It’s really alright, Schneep. I promise.”

Schneep stared at him for a moment more. Then he let out a deep breath, blinking back sudden tears in his eyes. “Are we...still friends?” he asked, almost too quiet to be heard.

“I...I think we are, yeah,” Jack said.

“I...good. Good.” Schneep put on a smile. “I am glad you are okay.”

“Me too.” Jack returned the smile. “Now.” He looked around at everyone else, standing awkwardly nearby and trying to seem like they weren’t listening. “This is supposed to be a party, right? Let’s get it started!”

—————— 

Soon, everyone relaxed into the friendly atmosphere. Chase quickly asserted control over the TV and game systems, which led to a couple arguments with Marvin as he insisted on telling Chase how to set everything up. Mina and Laurens reappeared from the kitchen, greeting the others who had shown up in their absence. Jack sat down in one of the armchairs and, surprisingly, struck up a conversation with Jameson, the two of them getting to know each other a bit more.

After a while, Laurens left Mina talking with Schneep and looked around the room. She wasn’t usually the sociable type at parties, but then again, she didn’t really consider this a party. It was just a bunch of friends getting together, celebrating the fact that ‘getting together’ was possible for the first time in a long while. She couldn’t help but smile to herself.

By now, Chase, Marvin, Jack, and Jameson were all busy debating whether they should put on a movie or play a video game. The sides were evenly split into two vs. two, and Laurens didn’t really feel like becoming a tiebreaker for that matter. Mina and Schneep were talking in German, with Mina showing Schneep several pictures on her phone—probably of their daughter Elise. Jackie was the only person on his own, leaning against a wall and swirling a drink in a red plastic cup. Laurens made her way over to him. “Are you daydreaming again?” she asked.

“Hmm?” Jackie looked over at her, a bit startled. “Oh, uh, hi. Sorry. Was it that obvious?”

Laurens shrugged. “Not unless you’re looking for it. How have things been?”

Now it was Jackie’s turn to shrug. “Fine, I guess. Things are different now, and it’s just...even though a lot of bad stuff happened, it’s hard to get used to a difference, you know?”

“Well that’s completely normal,” Laurens reassured him. “Our brains tend to establish baselines, and when all we’re used to is terribleness, the lack of terribleness seems strange, simply because it’s not the baseline anymore.”

Jackie laughed. “You really are a psychiatrist, aren’t you, Laurens?”

“I—um, what did you call me?” Laurens asked, confused.

“What?” Jackie grinned. “Did I have your name wrong all this time?”

“No, it’s just...you’ve never called me by my last name,” Laurens said slowly. Even though everyone else here tended to use her surname, Jackie was the one exception, the one who had called her Rya from the start.

“Oh. Sorry. I thought it would be like—a funny thing. Um. Anyway.” Jackie quickly drained the remaining drink in his cup. “I’m gonna...go to the bathroom. Be right back.” He pushed away from the wall, heading to the hallway. As he passed the coffee table, he put his cup down. Not too carefully, as it tipped over the moment he let go. But he didn’t care to right it, disappearing down the hall. Laurens watched him, puzzled.

“Whoa.” Jack, sitting in his chair by the coffee table, leaned forward and picked up Jackie’s cup. “Hey, Jackie, be more careful, man!” he called after him. “That could’ve spilled!” He sighed, and happened to look down at the cup in his hands. It was a quick glance, but something seemed off, and he looked at the cup more closely.

Knock, knock.

The conversation lulled a bit. Marvin, sitting at the sofa, stood up. “It’s probably a solicitor,” he said to the room at large. “I’ll make sure they leave.” And he hurried to the front door.

“Hey Chase?” Jack said, leaning closer to where Chase was crouching on the floor, looking through the movies and games they’d all brought.

“Yeah?” Chase turned towards Jack. “What’s up?”

“This is going to sound weird, but...” Jack paused. “Did...Jackie’s handwriting get...messier? While I was in the hospital?” He held out the cup for Chase to look at, with Jackie’s name written in black on the red plastic.

Marvin opened the front door. “Hi, sorry, I can’t listen to some sales pitch right...now...” His voice trailed off, and he took a step backwards, his eyes wide in confused surprise.

Chase grabbed the cup from Jack’s hand to get a better look. “What the—” He shook his head. “That’s not Jackie’s handwriting.”

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.”

Everyone looked up at the sound of the voice. Jackie was stepping past Marvin and into the house. “That whole thing took way longer than it should have,” he said, rolling his eyes and closing the front door behind him. “Did you know there’s construction on Center Street? I didn’t, because they apparently decided to let the bus routes run right through it.” He stopped, noticing the stares and dead silence he’d walked into. “What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“...Jackie,” Schneep said slowly. “Did you...change your clothes? And...your hair?”

“What?” Jackie’s brows drew together. “I mean, I got a haircut, but what do you mean by changing my clothes?”

Most everyone glanced around at each other, too confused to move. But Jameson gasped, eyes widening in realization. He immediately shot to his feet and—

Click. “Please don’t do anything stupid, Jamie.”

There was a man standing in the hallway entrance. A man wearing the same kind of clothes Jackie wore, a man who looked quite a lot like Jackie, but whose stiff posture and cold expression told everyone he was not Jackie. One hand held a black handgun, loaded and pointed forward. The other hand reached up and used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe away the makeup covering half his face, revealing the scars underneath.

For a split second, everything was frozen.

Then there was a scream, and everyone burst into motion. Chase scrambled to his feet, stepping in front of Jack—who tried to stand but couldn’t get up. Jackie gasped and spun back towards the door, and Marvin did the same. Mina grabbed Schneep, who was still in shock, and shoved him behind her. Laurens dropped the cup she was holding and ran to duck behind the nearest chair. The only one who stayed still was Jameson.

“Everyone freeze!” Anti pointed the gun towards the front door. “You two step away from the door. Don’t think I won’t shoot you.”

Marvin, his hand on the front door’s handle, instinctively stopped. Jackie tried to discreetly gesture for him to keep going, but Marvin’s eyes were locked on the gun.

“Oh come on, Jackie, you’re smarter than that,” Anti said, grinning. “How far will you get with a bullet in your leg? Not to mention all the rest of these lovely people who weren’t lucky enough to be standing by an entrance. Do you want them to feel the consequences of your actions?”

Jackie hesitated. Then, slowly, he backed away from the front door, grabbing Marvin and pulling him back as well. He turned to the others in the room with an apologetic expression on his face.

“Good. Now.” Anti then pointed the gun towards Schneep and Mina. “Drop that phone, Ms. Pfieffer.”

Mina gasped, her phone falling from her hands. The number pad was visible on the screen, with a single 9 dialed.

Anti’s eyes darted around the room, landing on each person. “In fact, all of you. Take your phones out. Take them out and kick them away from you.”

“You—you can’t shoot all of us,” Chase said weakly.

“I can,” Anti replied calmly. “Do you think there’s too many of you? Well, I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken. My trigger finger is faster than any of you can run. Drop your phones. No sudden movements.”

Not everyone moved at once, but they all did as he said. First Mina, then Jackie, Chase, Jack, Laurens, Jameson, and finally Marvin. Anti glanced down at the pile of smartphones in the center of the living room floor, counting them. “Seven,” he muttered, and looked back up and counted the people in the room. “Eight.”

“I-I-I’m sorry, I—” Schneep stammered. “I do not have—I was not—”

Anti laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, Henrik, I know. I’m not stupid.”

Schneep relaxed, but only slightly. He was shaking visibly. Mina reached back and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly.

“What do you—” Laurens swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “What do you want, Anti?”

“Oh, not much,” Anti said casually. “Just for one of you to come with me. Can you guess who?”

Silence. Anti noticed the eyes darting about, almost everyone looking back and forth between two people. With some exceptions. Schneep inhaled sharply, but then blinked. His eyes locked on Jameson. And Jameson...he didn’t look at anyone. His eyes were locked on Anti, his posture stiff with his hands behind his back. Anti laughed. “You were always smart, Jamie.”

“Jamie?” Marvin repeated, confused for a moment before realizing what the nickname was short for. His head snapped towards Jameson. “JJ, no, you can’t—”

“He certainly can,” Anti interrupted. “Especially with the alternative.”

Jameson said nothing. His expression was unreadable.

“...why?” Jack whispered. “Why...Jameson?”

“Hmm.” Anti glanced at him. “I forget, you’re out of the loop. Though apparently not as out of the loop as you should be. That’s my fault, really. I didn’t expect you to remember what I said while you were a vegetable.”

Jack paled, shrinking back into the chair as he attempted to make himself as small as possible.

“But it’s quite simple, actually,” Anti continued, now pointing the gun towards the center of the room, where it could easily aim at anyone. “I have to leave this city. Fucking sucks, really, giving up everything I built, but what can you do when the coppers are onto you? And, well, now that I know my brother is alive...” He laughed. “I’m not letting him leave again.”

You really shouldn’t care this much, Anti, Jameson finally spoke, taking his hand out from behind his back to sign. We haven’t seen each other in years.

“And whose fault is that?!” Anti suddenly screamed, and Jameson’s carefully guarded expression broke into instinctive fear as he flinched. “Who made me think you’d killed yourself?!”

I never intended to— Jameson started.

“Oh, so—so the note wasn’t meant to sound like that, was it?” Anti growled. “It was—The goodbye wasn’t supposed to sound so final, was it?” He shifted, pointing the gun directly at Jameson. “And your jacket in the river—th-that was just an accident, wasn’t it? Wasn't it? Not meant to look like you’d jumped? You weren’t expecting—weren’t planning on me running all through town, trying to find you, being so, so afraid of what you were planning, only to find that—that bit of cloth in th-the water, the rapid water, caught on a t-tr-tree? You didn’t think about what I’d assume?”

Jameson took a slow step back. The others in the room were silent, statues holding their breaths afraid to interrupt this outburst.

“You didn’t think—” Anti laughed hysterically. The gun trembled in his shaking hands. “You didn’t think about how I’d be—how I’d sit by the river crying for an hour? You didn’t t-think about what it would mean, when my o-only family left me like that? The only thing that kept me g-going, growing up in those shit towns with those motherfuckers who w-wanted the—who pocketed the foster money and left the k-kids to kill each other in gangs—the only thing that kept me going in those hells, kn-knowing that when I was old enough, I had real family that I h-had to look after. You were the only fucking thing I had! And you fucking left me alone! You let me bleed, you let me die! You made me try to follow you! And now...” He stopped, breathing heavily for a moment. “Now...you pretend like none of it mattered. The least you could do...is come with me.”

Jameson couldn’t say anything, left completely speechless by Anti’s rant. He stared at him, gaping, for a solid few seconds. Then, slowly, his expression became stone again, and he put his hands behind his back once more.

“Refusing to say anything?” Anti laughed. “You never...would have done that...before.” Suddenly, his spun and pointed the gun in a different direction. “You don’t f-f-fucking move.”

Laurens, who was slowly standing back up after crouching behind a chair, stopped mid-movement, awkwardly bent over. “Anti,” she said slowly. “I’m sorry you went through all that. But you can’t...you can’t make one person into this beacon of everything you need. That’s not...fair. To him. O-or to yourself. You’re making yourself dependent on something that doesn’t exist.”

“If I wanted a shrink, I would have—I-I-I would have—” Anti stopped, panting. “Just fuck off. I didn’t ask you.”

Then, Schneep, whose eyes had remained locked on Jameson, finally looked at Anti and spoke. “If there is anything—a-anything we can do, in exchange for you—leaving Jameson alone—”

“Henrik, no,” Chase said softly, looking back at him. “You’ve been through enough.”

“I appreciate the o-offer, Schneep,” Anti said, grinning mockingly. “But as fun as you were, i-it’s too much trouble to t-take more than one person with me.”

“H-how are you expecting this to work?” Schneep asked, his voice shaking yet refusing to look away from Anti. Mina inched further in front of him, but he leaned around her. “If Jameson leaves with you, you must know it will not be long before the police are after you. Or—or what if we try to follow you?”

“So d-desparate,” Anti sighed. “But I should expe-ect as much from you. Did you think I wouldn’t h-have a plan...for that?” He reached up and took off the backpack he was wearing—the one he had refused to take off while he’d pretended to be Jackie. While still pointing the gun at the room, he clumsily unzipped it, then unceremoniously dropped it on the floor. With a swift kick, he pushed the backpack into the center of the room, right near the pile of phones. The inside of the backpack was filled with wires and electronic parts. An LED screen poked out from the mess, reading “ARMED” in big red letters.

Jackie inhaled sharply. “Is that a fucking bomb?!”

“C-can’t tell you how long it...it took to put it together,” Anti laughed. “But I-I’ll say it’s not nearly as long as you—as you think.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Marvin cried. “What if it went off while you were still here?!”

“Idiot,” Anti snapped. “I-I’m not stupid enough to mess with ex-explo-explos—with bombs that I don’t u-understand. Now listen up. This is how i-it’s going to w-work. Jamie and I are going to leave here. All of y-you are going to stay. If I see a-any of you come out of the house after us, I’ll t-trigger the bomb. Look at it closer for a moment. S-see the lens?” He gestured at the bomb, indicating a round glass lens amidst the wires. “Th-that’s a camera, it’s linked up to my phone. Even after I l-leave, I’ll be watching you. If any of you move from where y-you’re standing within the next...hour, then I’ll trigger i-it. Understa-and?”

Nobody said anything, but their expressions and tense posture was answer enough.

“Good.” Anti nodded. His hands were shaking, but his aim held steady. “Now. Jamie? The ch-choice is yours.”

Jameson stared at Anti. His stone expression had given way to pure fear, but he didn’t move.

“Leave him alone.” Schneep stepped forward. Anti immediately aimed the gun at him. He stopped, but didn’t back up. “You—you say the choice is his, but it is not really a choice, is it? You do not give people choices, you just pretend you do. When the alternative is to stand by and let people you care about be hurt, there is no real choice to be made.”

“You shut your—” Anti snarled.

“Nnno.”

Several gasps went around the room as Jameson spoke. Even Anti was surprised, looking back at Jameson with wide eyes.

Henrik is right, Jameson said. There was never a choice with you. There were only threats and lies. Your only desire is control, Aneirin. Control through any means possible. And I can understand why you want that, but you took it way too far too many years ago, and now you can’t stand when even the smallest thing refuses to go according to your desires.

“Jamie,” Anti said softly. “I—”

You can’t justify it, Jameson continued. You can’t say you just want to protect me. That went out of the window when you fucking kidnapped me all those months ago. In fact, it was out of the question from the moment you asked me to help hide a body. From the moment you said I had to stay, or else the police would catch me. Though, would you have minded if they did? It seems like a prison is just protection to you.

“I’m sorry—” Anti started.

No you’re not. Jameson shook his head. If you were, you wouldn’t continue to do it. You wouldn’t BE here if you were sorry, let alone bring a bomb with you. You’ve never given me any choice, Aneirin. And that’s why I had to leave. That’s why I had to be dead to you. I didn’t want it to look like a suicide. I thought it would seem like I fell into the river while running away. But the only way I could escape you is if you thought I couldn’t be reached. And the only way I couldn’t be reached—in your eyes, at least—was in death. Jameson stared directly at Anti, two pairs of blue eyes locked across a room. I’d ask you if you understand, but I don’t think you can anymore. It’s not an option for you. And because of that, we are no longer family. We haven’t been for years.

Anti’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. His hand was shaking significantly now, the muzzle of the gun pointing at anyone and everyone. “J-Ja-Jameson.” His voice was strangled. “You—you—y-you c-c-can’t—” Then his eyes shot wide open. He gasped. And like a puppet with its strings cut, he suddenly collapsed.

It was so sudden that most of the room remained where they were, confused and shocked. But two people burst into action. Jameson ran across the room, kneeling at Anti’s side. Quickly, he took the gun from his shaking hand, tossing it across the room and almost hitting Laurens, who instinctively ducked. Meanwhile, Schneep darted to the center of the room and gingerly grabbed the straps of the backpack with the bomb in it. He looked at Jameson. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Jameson gestured towards the front door. Schneep nodded, and broke into a run. He threw open the front door and dashed out to the street, carefully but swiftly dropping the backpack on the sidewalk before running back to the house. By the time he returned, some of the others had recovered. Jackie grabbed his phone from the pile and immediately dialed the  police. Mina ran around Jameson and Anti and blocked off the hallway with her body, preventing Anti from escaping down that way. Chase walked over to where the gun had fallen and picked it up. He turned it over in his hands, eyes widening as he recognized it.

“What—what just happened?” Marvin asked.

Jameson glanced back at him. Seizure, he signed, fast enough for the sign to be almost unrecognizable. Then he turned back to Anti, who was noticeably shaking, his arms and legs jerking. Jameson hesitated, assessing the situation, then looked at Chase. Give me your jacket, he said.

“Uh—what?—I mean, yeah.” Chase stammered, confused, but took his jacket off and handed it to him.

Jameson didn’t say thank you, merely balling up the jacket and putting it underneath Anti’s head.

“Wh...why is he seizing?” Laurens asked, inching closer.

He has them sometimes, Jameson explained. We were in a car accident as children, it did damage to both of us. The seizures used to be a lot more common, though. He stared down at Anti and sighed. Unlucky.

“I’d argue it’s extremely lucky,” Marvin muttered. “For us, I mean. I-I don’t know how we were...” He trailed off.

“You should not wish a seizing on someone,” Schneep said. “Shame on you.” Though his words rang a bit hollow, as he stared down at Anti and didn’t move.

This is a bad one, but it should be over in a minute or two, Jameson said. He glanced back at everyone else. So...what should we do?

Silence. Until Jack cleared his throat. “I mean, we shouldn’t—shouldn’t ignore it, but...we need to make sure he can’t...do anything. Maybe—maybe we can lock him in the closet?”

“Closet doesn’t have a lock,” Marvin said. “But we can move a chair in front.”

Meanwhile, Jackie was still on the phone. “I-I don’t know, we moved it outside,” he was saying. “Now the guy is having a seizure. I don’t—No, he seems alright. So far. What should we do?” He paused. Then he looked at the others. “Do we have handcuffs or something?”

“Jackie, really, this is my house,” Marvin said. “But—I can grab a scarf from my room or something. Oh, Mina, actually, you’re closer. It’s the last door down the hall, can you—?”

“On it,” Mina said, and turned to run down the hall.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Jackie said, returning to the phone conversation. “How close are you?” He paused. “Okay. Okay. Should I stay on the line?” Another pause. “Okay, I will, then.”

Anti had stopped shaking. Now the only movement was the rise and fall of his chest. Jameson reached over and rolled him onto his side. Anti still didn’t move. His eyes—one real, one glass—drifted upwards, landing on Jameson’s face. Jameson didn’t say anything. But he didn’t look away.

——————

It was a while before everything calmed down. As soon as Jameson said it was okay to move him, Mina and Marvin grabbed Anti and put him in the closet, tying his wrists behind his back with a scarf and shoving a chair in front of the door. They also took away his phone, recalling what he said about it linking up to the bomb.

The police arrived soon after that, with the bomb squad in tow. They quickly escorted Anti to a squad car and instructed everyone else to stay in the house, far away from the bomb. The whole group watched from the front windows, on edge and waiting for the sudden explosion. Luckily, a few minutes later, the police officer working on the bomb stepped back, it having been properly defused. They then took the bomb away, and a couple officers approached the house to ask what happened. It was a long story, but ended with the group telling the police to contact Detective Nix for more information, as this was related to a case he was working on.

After it all, everyone found themselves alone, sprawled on the floor and furniture of the living room. Nobody said anything for a long, long time.

Until someone started laughing.

“Who the fuck...?” Chase lifted his head, looking around. “Marvin?”

“Why d’you go to me?” Marvin grumbled.

“Because it’s a guy, but Jackie and Schneep are out of it and that’s not Jack’s laugh,” Chase said. “Oh...that really only...leaves one other, though.”

Everyone looked towards the corner. Sure enough, Jameson was laughing. Sitting on the floor, laughing hard enough that tears were coming from his eyes. Then those tears increased. The laughter turned uneven, and soon he was crying.

Schneep shook his head, returning to reality. He stood up from the chair he was sitting in, only to drop down to the floor next to Jameson. “Is everything okay?” he asked quietly.

Jameson nodded, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“Do you...need anything?” Schneep asked.

Jameson didn’t know how to answer that, so he just shrugged.

“Hmm.” Schneep scooted closer. After a moment, Jameson leaned against him, drained but still crying softly. “We will just be quiet then, yes? Unless you want to listen to voices speaking.”

I’m fine, thank you, Jameson signed shakily. He closed his eyes, utterly exhausted. One word echoed in his mind.

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, a lot,” Chase said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Even though I—”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, it’s all over, Jameson said.

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

“Really?” Schneep asked, surprised.

“Hell yeah, second time’s the charm.”

“Third time,” Chase corrected.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————— 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing, Jameson said shortly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There’s not going to be a next time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What are you doing?!” Anti shouted.

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

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

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

“JAMESON!” Anti screamed.

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

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

—————— 

“Hey.” Something nudged him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I deny everything, JJ said firmly.

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

“How’s it feel, Chase?” Jack asked.

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

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

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

—————— 

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

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

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

“I’ll knock.”

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

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

“It is fine,” Mina said neutrally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You should hold her,” Mina said.

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

“Really? Never?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Is it alright to bounce?”

“A little, yes.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Puh-puh,” Elise said.

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

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

“Pa-puh,” Elise said again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I—I mean, yeah? I guess I am,” Chase muttered.

“What happened?” Marvin repeated, now directing this question specifically at Chase. When he didn’t get an immediate response, he turned to Mina and Laurens. “Well? Was your idea right?”

Mina closed the front door with a soft click. She didn’t say anything, looking shaken. So Laurens answered, “Well, yes. But also...something more.”

Chase sat down heavily on the sofa. “We...we found them.”

“What?!” The video call was momentarily overcome by motion blur as Jackie dropped the iPad on their end. “Shit. Sorry! Jack, can you—yeah. Thanks.” The video steadied. Jackie and Jack were a bit closer to the screen now, listening intently.

“I—you—how?” Marvin stammered. “I thought you were just going to talk to that doctor lady and check out a building or something.”

Mina and Laurens rejoined the group. Laurens sat down in a chair, but Mina continued standing, her face drawn and worried.

“Yeah, they...I think they’re there. In that building,” Chase said slowly. “Or at least, Anti is.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed this fact. Then Marvin said, “Well, what are we waiting for?! We said we were gonna call the police, right?! Let’s call them!”

“N-no, I...I don’t think we can,” Chase said quietly.

Marvin paused, taken aback by the unexpected response. “Um...what?”

Chase quickly explained what happened. How they talked with Newson, then realized the possible connection between Anti’s symbol and the ‘graffiti’ her brother used to complain about. How they checked out the apartment building he lived in before his death at Anti’s hands and found the symbol right there. And finally, how Chase almost called the police, but was stopped by a call from an unknown number that turned out to be Anti himself.

“He said he...would hurt them if we called them,” Chase finished, his voice quiet. “I...we can’t let that happen.”

Another moment of silence. This time, Jackie broke it. “He could have been bluffing. I mean, I don’t think he’d really want to hurt Jameson...like, physically.”

Marvin nodded. “Yeah, and besides, how will he know if we call the police? He’s not gonna know they’re coming for him until they’re outside the building, and by then it’ll be too late.”

“They are on the third floor,” Mina said. “That is long enough for him to see them outside and follow through on what he threatened. Especially since he has a camera in the stairs.”

“But what’s the point in hurting them at that point?” Marvin argued. “He might as well use that time to try and get out of there.”

“There would be enough time to see them coming, I don’t know if it’d be long enough to get away entirely,” Chase said. “And by then, he might just decide to...do it anyway. To prove a point. I mean...” He looked at the laptop. “Jackie. You remember what happened with you, right?”

Jackie nodded slowly, reaching up to rub his upper arm. The ‘WARNING’ cut into his skin had almost healed by now, but it was certainly going to leave a scar.

Marvin fell silent. Then he let out a frustrated grunt. “Well we can’t just leave them there! We know where they are! We’re so close!”

“I don’t like it either!” Chase burst out. “But I don’t want to get them killed or worse by trying to help! We don’t even know if they’re in there or if it’s just another hideout for him! That camera in the stairwell could be streaming to any location, maybe he’s not even there and when he sees the cops coming he doesn’t even have to try and escape! We—we can’t risk it!”

“I know, I know, but being stuck there isn’t any better for them!” Marvin countered. “If he’s willing to—to fucking punish you by hurting them, then who knows what he’s doing to them on his own!”

Chase stared at Marvin. Marvin stared right back. Neither said anything, knowing the other was right. Then, after a moment, Laurens cleared her throat. “Um...well, do you remember what you said when you brought up this investigation idea to me?”

Marvin looked at her. “Actually, no. What?”

“You said something like, we’re not going to break into anywhere,” Laurens said. “I mean...maybe you...reconsider that?”

Jackie burst out laughing. “Oh my god, Rya! I had no idea you were such a rebel!”

“W-w-well I mean—it’s not a good idea,” she stammered. “I’m just trying to say there has to be something else we can do.”

Chase nodded, slowly at first, then gaining speed. “Right. Right. I—heh, I mean, the whole reason we started investigating was because we wanted to finally do something. We can’t give up now.”

“Of course!” Marvin smacked his hand with his fist. “His only condition was us calling the police! What if we do it ourselves?”

Jackie abruptly stopped laughing. “Are you guys serious?”

“Wait, yeah, I-I didn’t mean it literally,” Laurens said. “I just meant—I wanted to be inspiring, you know? I didn’t mean we should actually try and get them out.”

“And why not?” Marvin asked. “We can’t let them stay there, but we can’t call the police. It’s the perfect solution!”

“I agree with Marvin,” Mina said. “We will get nowhere without some drastic action.” She pressed a hand to her side, where her wallet full of photos was hidden in her pocket.

“...Marvin.” Jackie pressed his lips together. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am in the hospital. I am here because I decided to search for Schneep on my own, found him, and then proceeded to get fucking kidnapped. Anti is dangerous.”

“I know. And I-I don’t mean to...undermine what you went through,” Marvin said softly. “But he’s still just one guy, right? There’s six of us—well, you two are in the hospital, but we still outnumber him four to one.”

“I...you’re not wrong, but...” Jackie shifted uncomfortably.

“I...” Jack spoke up for the first time. His voice cracked, so he stopped, then started again. “I think...you sh-should...do it. We h-have to...to...finisshh this.”

Chase took a deep breath. “Jack is right. This keeps going on and on and on. Anti kidnaps someone, we get someone back. Anti kidnaps someone, we get them back. We’re going in fucking circles, and we have to break out of it. The only way to do that—or, the only way that ends up good for everyone—is to get everyone away from him. A-and if we can’t call the police...we have to find some other way to do that. I know it’s dangerous, but...I think it’s worth it.”

After a moment, Jackie sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he said slowly. “I can’t...I can’t stand to think of what Hen is going through, stuck there again. And Jameson, too. Just because Anti likes him doesn’t mean he’s having a good time. I know that.”

Laurens reluctantly nodded. “Well...if we’re safe about it, a-and if we call the police right after we’re sure they’re safe, then...I guess it’ll be fine.”

Marvin nodded. “Okay. Good. Glad we’re doing this.” He paused. “Now we just need to figure out how we’re doing this.”

“To start, we need to know what flat it is,” Mina said. “We know it is third floor, but not the number. We cannot rescue them if we do not know where they are.”

“Or if they’re even there,” Chase muttered. “But how do we find that out? I mean, Anti has at least one camera in that building. And he knows all of us. Even you, Mina. So we can’t exactly scout out the area without him knowing something’s up.”

“Maybe we ask that...Newson lady again?” Marvin’s expression was sour at the thought of it, but he offered the suggestion up anyway.

“I guess we can try, but I doubt it’ll work,” Laurens said. “We were lucky she remembered that one random detail about the building. I don’t think she’ll have any clue which apartment Anti would be in.” She paused. “Though...maybe I could ask someone else for help.”

—————— 

Someone was knocking at the door. This had never happened before. Or if it had, it hadn’t happened during the moments Jameson was out of the bedroom. The someone at the door was very persistent, knocking every thirty seconds or so. Jameson kept staring towards it, eyes locked on the old wood of the door. He wanted so badly to run towards the door, throw it open, and beg for help from whoever was on the other side. There was just one thing stopping him.

The moment the knocking had started, Anti had run from the kitchen into the living room where Jameson was. In seconds, he’d grabbed Jameson’s arm in a vice-like grip, hissing, “Don’t you dare say anything.” In his other hand, he held a knife—not a kitchen knife, but not a pocket knife either. This one looked somewhat...professional, if that was the right word. Six inches long and sharp on both sides.

Jameson didn’t think Anti would stab him. But he wasn’t so sure about Anti stabbing Schneep. He could very clearly picture the sequence of events in his mind. Jameson screamed for help, Anti hurried to open the door and persuaded the stranger that everything was fine, perhaps saying that his younger brother had some sort of disorder—that sounded like an excuse that would come from his shitty attitude. Once the stranger was satisfied, Anti would lock the door again, head to the bedroom, and—

He didn’t want that to happen. So, for now, the two of them were sitting on the apartment’s sofa, with Anti holding Jameson’s arm tight enough to hurt. The knocking had gone on for a solid two minutes, and Anti kept getting more annoyed. “Persistent fucker,” he muttered.

Jameson glanced at him, then down at the knife. He wouldn’t kill some random person who came to the door, would he? No, that didn’t seem like a smart idea. Even with Anti’s temper, everything he did was ultimately calculated.

There was another series of knocking, and Anti suddenly shot to his feet. “Stay,” he ordered, and headed over to the door, holding the knife behind his back. He took out a key from his pocket, unlocked the door, and...opened it.

For a moment, Jameson wanted to run. It was agony to just sit there when he could make a break for it. But it wasn’t safe. Not for him, and not for Schneep.

The window of opportunity didn’t last long enough, anyway. Anti opened the door, briefly glanced over the man who was standing there, then snapped, “Fuck off already!” and slammed the door again, locking it immediately after.

Jameson slumped. He’d tried to catch the visitor’s eye, but the man had only looked at him for a split second right before the door slammed again. Not enough time to get a silent message across.

Anti waited, standing at the door. But there wasn’t any more knocking. He let out a breath of relief, then turned back to look at Jameson. “You actually didn’t move?” he said, surprised.

Jameson didn’t say anything back. He kept looking at him, hoping that he was conveying the appropriate answer of You have a knife and a hostage and are much stronger than me, what the fuck did you think would happen?

Anti laughed. The sound was surprisingly lighthearted. “Thanks,” he said, his voice softer. “Hey. What about having dessert tonight? For your friend, too.”

Was that a bribe? No. Wait. It was a reward. For doing the ‘good’ thing. Jameson balls his fists, bundling up the fabric of his pants. Still, he nodded. Once. Had to choose which battles to pick, and all that.

“Great.” Anti brightened. “Why don’t you go tell him?” Then he turned and headed back into the kitchen.

As he passed, Jameson glanced down, remembering which pocket he put the front door key in and trying to seal it in his memory. Choose which battles. He had to save his energy for the definitive one, his opportunity to get himself and Schneep out of there once and for all. Anti always put the key in the same pocket. Maybe that could be useful.

Later. This wasn’t that battle.

—————— 

Later that night, Laurens was sitting at home, trying to relax with a book, when her phone started to ring. Immediately she lunged across the sofa and scooped it up from the end table. “Hello?”

“Hey doc, it’s me.” The voice on the other end belonged to Oliver. “I just got back from checking out those flats you told me to.”

“Oh good.” Laurens didn’t dare relax. “Did everything go okay? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her. “And, more importantly, I saw that guy you were looking for.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. Scars all over the left side of his face, one green eye that looked kinda fake. Hard to mistake him for anyone else. Even if I did only see him for, like, a second. He was in flat 309. I think the window had brown shutters.”

“And you’re okay?” Laurens asked again.

“Rya, I’m fine,” Oliver said seriously. “I know you said this was supposed to be dangerous, but nothing happened. I didn’t say anything to him, I doubt he even paid attention to what I looked like. Although...”

Laurens inhaled sharply. “‘Although’ what?”

“Well, there was one thing that happened. The flat door was only open for a second, like I said, but I think I saw some other guy inside. He looked a lot like...like Schneep.” Oliver paused. “I know you said to just trust you, and that this was to help find Schneep, but I gotta ask...are you trying to find him?”

Laurens paused. “Yeah,” she admitted, then hurriedly added, “But don’t call the police! I don’t want to distract them with things until we’re sure.”

“Alright, alright,” Oliver conceded. “Is there anything else I can do to help? I’m worried about the guy.”

“Thanks for the offer, Oliver, but—”

“Yeah, I know. It’s dangerous, and the less I know the better,” Oliver said, repeating the very thing she’d told him when first asking him for this favor. “But I’ll be on standby. Just call me, okay?”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks so much, Oliver.”

“No problem. Again, call me whenever.”

The call ended, and Laurens was immediately dialing another number. She had to tell the others they figured it out.

—————— 

Unfortunately, Jackie and Jack couldn’t make it this time. By the time the others were able to meet up that night—at Chase’s house for a third time—visiting hours at the hospital were over, and that apparently included video calls. Chase suggested they wait until tomorrow, but Marvin insisted they at least figure out a plan right now.

“Do I need to offer you guys, like, tea or something?” Chase said, looking around at the three others in his living room. “Since you keep showing up. Seems polite.”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Laurens said. Mina nodded. Marvin didn’t say anything, but he kept bouncing his leg while sitting, so clearly he was anxious to get on with it.

“Right. Okay then.” Chase cleared his throat. “So, doc. That guy you called managed to find them?”

“Oliver,” Marvin recalled. “I ran into him once. Good guy.”

“Are they in that building?” Mina asked, anxiously playing with the zipper on her jacket.

“Yeah. Room 309,” Laurens said. “A-Anti opened the door.”

“Is Oliver...okay?” Chase asked. “Did Anti think he was suspicious?”

“I don’t think so. Apparently he just opened the door long enough to tell him to go away. But, uh, Oliver did manage to catch a glimpse inside in that time, and he...he’s pretty sure he saw someone else in there. Someone who looked like Schneep.” Laurens goes quiet.

“That can be either of them,” Marvin said. “They look surprisingly alike. So at the very least, one of them is there now. JJ or Schneep.” He lets out a breath. “Okay. We gotta move quick, what if—what if he moves them?”

“I don’t think he’d do that,” Laurens said doubtfully.

“Still, just in case!”

“Marvin is right,” Mina jumped in. “We know what is happening now, we do not know what will happen in two days. Though, I will say, we should not move right in. If this Anti is as dangerous as everyone is saying—and I do not doubt he is—we would be out of our class in a fight.”

“We don’t have to fight,” Marvin pointed out. “I want to fucking kill Anti, but even if I could take him, we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. I also don’t want to go to jail for...I don’t know, whatever. Can they put you in jail for a beating? I feel like they can.”

“I think so?” Laurens said. “But that’s not really important right now. Do we need...do we need weapons?” She asked that last part in a hush.

Chase hesitated for a moment. “I...if we’re looking for something in case of a fight, I think I have something that can help. Wait a minute.” He turned around and disappeared down the hallway before anyone could ask him what he meant.

“Okay, so he’s getting that,” Marvin said. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk up to the apartment and try to get in while Anti’s still in there. Those things aren’t exactly big, we’d definitely run into him.”

“So we need to get him out,” Mina said. “How do we do that?”

At that moment, Chase returned. He was now holding a black rectangular box made of metal. A safe box. Setting it down on the coffee table, he looked at the others nervously. “Okay, so...promise you won’t say anything?”

“What do you mean?” Marvin asked.

“I...nevermind. I’ll just show you.” Chase was also holding a small key. He slid it into the safe box’s lock and twisted it. For a second, he paused, taking a deep breath. Then he opened the box and turned it around so the others could see inside.

If he was hoping for a discreet reaction, he didn’t get it. Marvin immediately jumped to his feet and shouted, “Why the fuck do you have a gun?!”

“Marvin, shh!” Chase hushed him. “You’re loud, the neighbors could probably hear you.”

“What the fuck?” Mina gasped. “I thought that was illegal here! Did they change the laws?”

“No, they didn’t.” Laurens glanced up at Chase. “How...how’d you get that? And why?”

“Oh my god, next thing you know, you’re gonna say you bought it from the boutique.” Marvin rubbed the sides of his head like a headache was beginning to form. “Chase, I swear to god, if you knew that place was a smuggling front before I did and you said nothing—”

“No no no, I didn’t know about that,” Chase hurried to say. “I—I do have a license, you know. Haven’t used it in a couple years, and it’s probably only valid in the US—”

“American,” Mina muttered.

“—but it’s totally legal. I got the gun on a trip there, too, a bit before the kids were born. I—I got scared for a while there,” Chase said. “That something might happen to them, like, someone could break in or something. I realized pretty soon that owning a gun in this country would probably cause more trouble than it was worth, but not soon enough, because I was already back here and I didn’t want to risk getting it through the airport again and—i-it was a whole mess. So it’s just been...locked in a box.”

Though Marvin and Mina seemed to accept this explanation—more or less—Laurens stared at Chase, the gears working in her mind. Chase avoided looking at her. This wasn’t the time to talk about it. After a while, Laurens also came to that conclusion, and said nothing.

“Well I guess that’ll be a great line of defense!” Marvin said, throwing his hands in the air. “Now it’s even more important that nobody calls the police! Chase, I swear to god, you better get rid of this afterward.”

“Y-yeah, I was planning on doing that for a while,” Chase said. “I just...don’t know how.”

“Drop it off in a bag somewhere and call the police anonymously,” Mina suggested, half-jokingly.

“Do you think we could get Anti out of the apartment if we threaten to shoot him?” Marvin asked.

“No, that wouldn’t work,” Laurens answered immediately. “He’d probably shout something like ‘oh my god this guy has a gun!’ and we’d have to deal with that.”

“We need to keep it secret,” Mina said. “Only take it out if we need to fight Anti.”

“Okay. Yeah. Um.” Chase closed the safe box lid again, making sure the lock clicked. “Let’s put that away for now, a-and sit down and actually figure this out. We have to get to business.”

They discussed plans of action for two hours, throwing around ideas trying to get one that was guaranteed success. Ultimately, they couldn’t come up with a guarantee, but they had an idea that was pretty good. It still made Chase nervous to think about, though. Still, it was their best shot. And they couldn’t wait much longer. As Marvin pointed out, Anti could move JJ and Schneep somewhere else at any moment.

In the end, they decided to talk the plan over with Jackie and Jack tomorrow, early in the morning. The two of them could help refine it. Then, immediately after that, they’d go over to the apartment building and...actually attempt a rescue. It was insane to think about. But it didn’t feel like they had any other options. So tomorrow it would be. Tomorrow, they would get their friends back.

—————— 

The fateful day dawned cold, with a lid of gray clouds stretched over the sky. As soon as visiting hours at the hospital opened up, Chase drove around, picking up the others, and they all went over to talk to Jackie and Jack in person. Jackie was still uneasy about the idea of direct confrontation, but he agreed that their plan was probably their best shot. He and Jack gave their own suggestions, and the group quickly disbanded. They didn’t want to risk a doctor walking in and hearing what they were talking about.

From there, the group headed back to the apartment building. Chase gripped the steering wheel tight as he drove down the streets, eyes constantly glancing around, lingering on the spaces where someone might hide. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Anti was watching them, even though there was no reason he would.

When they were about half a block away from the apartment building, Chase momentarily pulled to the side of the road, letting Laurens and Marvin climb out. “Okay, good luck,” he whispered. “Remember, he has to be out before—”

“We got it, Chase, don’t worry.” Marvin flashed a smile. He certainly seemed confident, which was more than could be said for Laurens, who looked more like she was jumping into the tiger exhibit at the zoo.

“Alright.” Chase let out a long breath. He turned around to face Mina, sitting in the passenger seat next to him. “You can still go with them, you know. O-or go back.”

Mina shook her head. “I know my part in this is not so big, but I need to be here.”

Chase nodded silently, understanding.

“We’ll meet you later,” Marvin said. “Good luck on your part.” Then he closed the car door, and he and Laurens headed off.

Chase pulled back onto the streets, slowly approaching the apartment building. Now here came one of the uncertain points in their plan. They needed to find the window for Room 309. Apparently it had brown shutters, but that wasn’t too descriptive. There was a chance there could be more than one window that fit that description.

 As Chase drove past the building, Mina scanned the windows for brown shutters. She shook her head. “None of the ones in front have shutters, only curtains,” she said. Chase nodded, and turned at the next street corner, circling around the block so they could look at the back of the building. 

The street behind the building was small, barely one lane. If they wanted to park here, they would completely block the road. Luckily, it didn’t seem like people came down here that often. The only sign that anyone had ever been here were piles of trash bags next to the occasional dumpster.

“Wait.” Mina tapped Chase’s arm. “I see one. Brown shutters on the third floor, yes?”

“Yeah,” Chase said.

“Right. Look up there.” Mina pointed, and Chase followed her gesture. There were two windows with brown shutters next to each other, right in the middle of what should be the third floor. “That pair must be part of one flat.”

Chase nodded, and parked the car. He took a deep breath. His stomach was doing backflips inside him, filled with nerves. Yet somehow, he still wasn’t as scared as he thought he would be. “Great. Let’s get started, then. Can you hand me the bearings?”

Mina nodded, and opened up the car’s glove compartment. Nestled among loose napkins and empty plastic bottles was a brown paper bag. She grabbed it and handed it to Chase. It made metallic clacking sounds as he took it. “You be careful. Try not to hit any other windows.”

“Ha. Well, luckily, my aim is slightly better than average,” Chase said with a faint grin. “Keep an eye out.” Then he opened the car door and stepped outside. Soon after he’d left, Mina awkwardly climbed over into the newly vacated driver’s seat. She then ducked so she was out of sight of the windows and grabbed a small bedsheet: gray, like the rest of the car’s interior. She carefully draped it over her, providing a rudimentary disguise that would stand up at a distance, if not up close. And she waited.

Chase stood on the cracked asphalt outside, looking upwards. He picked out the windows that Mina had pointed out. Indeed, they were the only ones on the back with brown shutters. But did that mean they were the right ones? They couldn’t drive around the sides of the apartment building since it was so close to its neighbors, what if there were ones there? He shook his head. No, this had to be right. If it wasn’t, they could check the sides later.

He reached into the bag and pulled out a small, metallic ball—one of many inside. Supposedly, these were ball bearings Mina had, but he wasn’t sure if that was the correct term for the one-inch diameter steel ball. Well, it didn’t matter. What mattered was they could be thrown.

Chase adjusted his grip on the ball. He looked up at the windows again. Raising his hand, he took a deep breath, aimed...and let it go.

—————— 

CRACK!

“What the fuck?!”

Jameson jumped, surprised both by the sudden sound and Anti’s reaction to it. Anti had dragged him out into the living room again, apparently wanting to ‘have a talk.’ But he hadn’t had the opportunity to say much before that sound interrupted him.

Anti glanced around, then looked back at Jameson. “Do you know what that was?”

Jameson shook his head. It sounded...sounded somewhat metallic, but not quite.

“Hmm.” Anti narrowed his eyes, giving Jameson a hard look. But Jameson’s confusion was just as real as his own. “Well. I guess it doesn’t matter. I wanted to—”

THUNK!

That one was a bit different. More solid, like stone. Anti stopped talking and immediately turned towards the sound. “It’s coming from here,” he muttered, vaguely indicating the back of the room. “Be quiet for a minute.”

Jameson folded his arms. What, exactly, was Anti expecting him to do that wouldn’t be quiet? Scream? Why? He knew Anti wouldn’t react well to that, so there was no real reason to.

CRACK!

Anti walked towards the back of the room for a few steps, then stopped. “What is it?” he said under his breath, more to himself than anything. “There was that guy at the door yesterday...and now this. Is it him?”

That was a good point. After weeks passing without much changing, there had been an interruption in the routine yesterday, and now one today as well. Maybe they were connected? If they were...was this the opportunity he’d been waiting for? Jameson felt a lightness rise up in his chest, but he put a lid on it. There was no guarantee. Still, he walked to the back of the room as well, stopping by Anti’s side. They waited.

Then...

CRASH! The sound of glass breaking filled the room. The closed wooden shutters jolted, the way something does when it was just hit by something small moving at great speeds. Jameson immediately ran to the window and threw them open.

Broken glass fell to the floor with a clatter, accompanied by a small metal ball. There was a hole in the window now. Just about an inch big. Jameson glanced outside, first looking at the sky and then directing his attention down to the street below. A car was parked there. And standing outside the car was a man wearing a jacket and snapback cap. Jameson’s eyes widened.

“What are you doing?!” Anti grabbed the back of Jameson’s shirt and pulled him away from the window, shoving him to the side. “What if someone sees you?!” he hissed. “I swear, if you—” Then he glanced down at the street. And stopped. His face twisted into some harsh expression as he also recognized the man standing outside. “That little—” He slammed the shutters closed, then turned on Jameson. “Looks like I have to take care of something.”

Before Jameson could react, Anti grabbed his arm and dragged him across the room. He stopped outside the bedroom door, unlocked it, then pushed Jameson inside with enough force to knock him to the ground. “Stay,” Anti ordered shortly, then slammed the bedroom door closed again, locking it behind him. Jameson heard his footsteps retreat, then the apartment’s front door open and close.

“Um...Jamie?” Schneep was sitting on the side of the bed. He’d been asleep when Anti had pulled Jameson into the living room for a talk, but apparently the noise had woken him up. “What was all that?”

Jameson stood up, staggered for a moment, then regained his balance and immediately started signing. Chase is outside. I think he knows we’re here. Anti went outside, he’s going to confront him.

“Wha—Chase?! Chase Brody?” Schneep gaped. “Am I understanding that correctly?”

Jameson nodded, then turned back around to look at the closed bedroom door. He tried to turn the knob. But, as expected, nothing happened.

“How did he get here?! H-how does he know where we are?” Schneep gasped sharply. “Jameson? Is—is Anti going to kill him?”

That thought froze Jameson to his core. He shook his head vehemently. No, he wouldn’t, he signed, even though he didn’t know that for sure. Let’s not wonder how Chase got here for the moment. He’s here, let’s accept that and move on. If we can get out of this place, we can meet up with him, and finally escape.

“Get—get out?” Schneep asked hesitantly. “I—no. No, what if Anti finds us? What if he realizes what we were trying?” His breath rose and fell quickly, accompanied by a frantic look in his eyes. “What if—what would he do to you? I-I cannot—I cannot let—again—not—” He pressed his hand to his chest.

Jameson had been looking over the bedroom door, trying to figure out a way to open it, but when he noticed Schneep’s panic he stopped and walked over to the bed, stopping in front of Schneep. He knelt so they could be eye level. Henrik, I understand. It’s a risk. But we will never get a better chance to get out of here. I’m going to take it. And I’d like for you to come with me.

“I-I cannot walk,” Schneep said, gesturing down at his ankles still bound together. “I-I cannot—cannot leave.”

I will carry you if I have to, Jameson said, determined. We can escape, Henrik. We can leave Anti and all the pain he causes. We can see the others again. Please...please come with me.

Schneep was silent for a few seconds, breathing heavily. Then he nodded. “Yes. Yes, you are right. We cannot live like this.”

Jameson smiled. Thank you, Henrik. He gave the other man a quick, tight hug before turning to look back at the bedroom door. Now. How do we get this open?

——————

“Ow!”

“Shhh!”

Something had hit the back of Marvin’s head. He couldn’t see what it was in the darkness, but he assumed it was a mop. That’s what it felt like, and it would make sense given he and Laurens were hiding in a janitor’s closet. He made a face at Laurens’ hushing, but didn’t blame her. It would be very inconvenient for someone to find them now.

Laurens had her face pressed to the crack of the door, scanning the hallway. The closet was right next to the building’s only stairwell and across from the elevator; anyone on the upper floors who wanted to get down to the first would show up here eventually. Which made it an ideal place to hide.

Speaking of people passing by...

The door to the stairwell opened. Laurens tensed.

And an unmistakable figure in a green jacket passed by the closet. Anti. His scarred right half was visible as he walked by, the green-irised glass eye blind to the way the door was slightly ajar. He didn’t look happy. Laurens reached back and squeezed Marvin’s arm. He stiffened.

They waited for a few more moments, making sure that Anti was well past them before Laurens eased the door open and the two of them stepped out. Laurens turned back to Marvin and pointed at the stairwell. He nodded, and the two of them headed over, climbing upwards as quickly and quietly as possible.

—————— 

Chase hadn’t expected the ball bearing to go through the window. Apparently, though his aim was only slightly better than average, the force of his throw was stronger than he thought. But breaking the window turned out to be a stroke of luck. He watched the shutters open, and caught a glimpse of—Jameson. Unmistakably him, though with a few minor differences. He was wearing different clothes than his usual style, and Chase could’ve sworn his hair and mustache were shorter, for some reason? But it was definitely him. They had the right window.

And then Jameson disappeared from view, and another man appeared. Chase had never seen him before, but he knew this man was Anti from the scars on his face. He saw Anti scowl, then slam the shutters closed.

Chase swallowed nervously. Though he was prepared to play his part, the thought of actually coming face to face with a killer was terrifying—for obvious reasons. He reached inside his jacket and felt the grip hidden against his side. He glanced back at the car, with Mina still semi-hidden in the driver’s seat. It would be fine. Then, slowly, he set the bag of ball bearings down on the street next to him and stood up straight and tense, ready for action. It would be fine. He could do this.

—————— 

“We are getting nowhere this way,” Schneep said. “We need to try something else.”

Jameson gritted his teeth. He threw his weight against the bedroom door one more time, but just like his previous attempts, it didn’t budge. He’d hoped it was flimsier than it looked, a lot of internal doors were like that. But nope. That wasn’t the case this time. He stepped back, giving it one more look over. I should’ve tried to take the key from him, he lamented. I knew he had it on him.

“Let’s not think on that. We should—we should go fast. He could come back a-at any time.” Schneep looked pale at the thought of it. “Can we unscrew the hinges, maybe?”

With what? Jameson asked. We don’t have any tools.

“We do not need a tool, we simply need something that can get a grip on them,” Schneep figured.

In unison, the two of them scanned the room. There wasn’t much that looked useful. Clothes in the wardrobe, pillows and blankets on the bed. The only thing of note was a small table lamp on the dresser, which Anti had given them after about a week of ‘good behavior.’ Otherwise, the bedroom got pretty dark with its dim overhead light.

“What type of screws are they?” Schneep asked.

Jameson looked at the hinges. The cross-shaped kind. There’s not much room for something to get purchase, he said. Then he paused. And instead of looking at the hinges, he looked at the doorknob. But these are flathead, he noticed. With a wide...indent, or whatever. If we can find something flat but sturdy, we might be able to take the handle off.

Schneep pointed at the lamp. “That.” When Jameson just gave him a confused look, he pointed again, more emphatically. “Not the lamp itself. It has a plug, yes? What do the prongs look like?”

Uncertain, but desperate to give anything a try, Jameson walked over to the table lamp and pulled the plug out of the socket. Though it had the typical three-prong design of the area, it looked a bit cheap, with the prongs being thinner and flimsier than usual. In fact...maybe they would fit?

Jameson nodded to himself. He stood up, grabbed the whole lamp, and took it back over to the doorway. The plug prongs almost fit into the indent of the flathead screws. Almost. They were just a bit too big. But if he held the plug at an angle, the corners could catch. And if he carefully applied enough force to get it to move without slipping—

“Can I help?” Schneep asked.

It took a few seconds for Jameson to respond, as he kept trying to twist the screw. He could feel it giving, but the prongs jumped out after a few seconds every time. Sighing, he looked back at Schneep and nodded.

“Help me get over there, then,” Schneep said.

Jameson dropped the plug, went back to the bedside, and half-carried, half dragged Schneep over to the door. Once there, Schneep managed to find his footing. The cuffs on his legs didn’t stop him from standing, only walking. He looked at what Jameson was trying to do with the prongs and the screws, and he nodded. “Okay. You twist it, I will apply pressure so it does not slip.”

Got it, Jameson said, angling the prong back into the screw.

It took longer than either of them wanted. Even with one of them steadying it, the prongs still wanted to slip out of the indent. But after a few solid moments of work, they managed to unscrew both of the bolts holding the doorknob in place. It fell to the ground, metallic parts clattering, and a soft thunk noise indicated that the knob on the other side of the door fell to the ground as well. Jameson looked at Schneep and grinned triumphantly. Schneep returned the look. Here we go, Jameson signed, and pushed open the door.

It opened easily, and they were out of the bedroom. Jameson immediately bent over and picked Schneep up, carrying him with both arms, running towards the front door. It was also going to be locked, but if they could get out of there, they could figure out what to do now—

Knock knock knock.

Jameson froze. Schneep instinctively grabbed him as someone knocked on the door. They looked at each other, both thinking Anti had returned. But then...why would he knock?

Knock knock knock. “Hello?” a voice called, familiar to both of them.

Schneep inhaled sharply. “M-M-Marvin?” he whispered. Then called, more confidently, “Marvin?!”

“Schneep!” Marvin cried. “Oh my god, you’re really in there!”

Jameson melted with relief, almost dropping Schneep. He tightened his grip on him, and stumbled towards the front door.

“It’s him!” Another voice on the other side gasped. A woman’s.

“What the—Dr. Laurens, is that you?” Schneep asked.

“Yes, it’s me,” she said. “And Marvin. We, uh, we came here with Chase, we’re here to get you out.”

Schneep glanced at Jameson, uncertainty in his eyes. Jameson nodded. He heard them too.

“Is JJ there?” Marvin asked.

“He is right here,” Schneep said. Jameson made a small noise to testify to this fact, nothing more than a simple ‘ah!’ “He—he saw Chase outside, a-and we broke out of our room. Is it...is it true? Are you here to...to help us?” His voice cracked.

“Of course we are, Schneep,” Laurens reassured him. “It’s all going to be fine.”

“I’m going to pick the lock,” Marvin announced.

“What?!” Schneep gasped. “Since when can you do that?” Jameson also raised an eyebrow at this idea.

“I’ve been practicing ever since I got into Silver Hills to see you,” Marvin explained. “I mean, that place used keycards, but the idea of breaking in inspired me. I’m not too good, but this looks like an easy enough lock.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Schneep asked.

“Just stay tight,” Marvin said. A few metallic noises started to come from the front door’s handle. “And try not to distract me.”

“Right.” Schneep nodded. He looked at Jameson and smiled, a mixture of relief and excitement. With nothing else to do, he hugged him tight. Jameson, in turn, held him closer, while also letting him down to stand on his own two feet. He had to save his strength for carrying him out of here. They were so close. Almost out. Just a couple more minutes.

——————

Not much time passed before Chase heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He stiffened, and spun around towards the noise. And there...was Anti. Anti himself had just rounded the corner of the building and had his eyes fixed on Chase as he walked closer. Immediately, Chase felt all his muscles lock up. Though Anti wasn’t running at him, he was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, like he was losing ground in a race against him.

Anti glanced around the street, taking note of how small and empty it was. He put his hands in the pockets of his green jacket, almost casually, and slowly got closer. Chase didn’t look away from him. He kept his hand inside his jacket, on the handle inside.

After what seemed like ages, Anti was standing only a few feet in front of him. He stopped walking. His mismatched eyes quickly flicked up, down, and up again. Then around the area once more. And finally, he asked, “What are you trying to do?”

“I-I-I...” Chase stammered, his throat suddenly closing up.

“I told you not to call the police.” Anti’s voice was steady.

“I didn’t!” Chase protested. “I—there are no police here, are they?”

“You’re right. There aren’t. I would have noticed them if there were. You know, most police are surprisingly bad at hiding. They always choose the same type of car.” Anti glanced at Chase’s car, but luckily, not long enough to notice Mina ducked beneath the windows.  “And that’s not it. Not to mention there’s nowhere to hide here. Unless they’re in the dumpsters.” He chuckled.

Chase swallowed nervously. Not only was his throat closing up, it was also suddenly dry.

“So what are you trying to do? If you didn’t come here without any backup, what’s your plan?”

“I...I-I’m going to get my friends back,” Chase said weakly.

A smile twisted Anti’s face. “Really? All by yourself?” he asked condescendingly. His hand in his pocket shifted. “Are you brave, desperate, or just a fool?”

“I’m not...not any of those,” Chase said. “Im...armed.” His grip tightened on the handle inside his jacket as he pulled it out, revealing the hidden handgun. He pointed it directly at Anti. “So...so you’re going to cooperate. Or I’ll shoot you.”

For a split second, Anti looked surprised. But then it faded, and he nodded, like something had finally clicked into place in his mind. “You’ll shoot me,” he repeated.

“Yeah!” Chase said, trying not to glance around the street. If anyone walked up on them at this moment, the whole plan would be ruined. He didn’t have to stall for that long, but even a few minutes was a substantial amount of time to be face-to-face with a murderer and a kidnapper.

Anti tilted his head, completely unconcerned. “Will you, though?”

Chase didn’t say anything. He was afraid his voice would tremble in the same way his hands were shaking.

“How’d you get that, anyway?” Anti asked. “It couldn’t have been easy to order it from America, lie about your current address, then pick it up when going there for a video convention. Or, maybe it was. But how’d you get it into the country? Airports there are a mess for a reason.”

“I—i-it’s not important,” Chase stuttered. How did Anti manage to guess his method of getting the gun in the first place? All that he said about ordering it and picking it up during a video con...that was all true. How did he know that? Lucky guess?

Anti grinned. “You’re wondering how I figured it out, huh? It wasn’t too hard. No records online are completely hidden—especially when you’re a big shot content creator on the biggest online video platform in the world. Your whole life is a book, for those who want to find it. And I did want to find it, Chase. Call it curiosity. You’re friends with my brother, after all.”

“Shut up about JJ!” Chase shouted, steadying his aim. “You don’t get to talk about him! He hates you!”

Anti’s expression darkened. “No. He doesn’t. He can’t.”

Chase blinked. ‘He can’t’? What was that supposed to mean?

“You want to know something else I found, Chase?” Anti asked, taking a few steps forward. Chase jumped, but kept his aim steady and stood his ground. “Something strange I noticed. After you got back from that convention, you made a video thanking all your fans for their support. Then you went quiet for exactly one day. And once you came back online, you deleted that video. Strange, huh? Why would you do that? It was a really touching message.”

Chase’s eyes widened. How did he know about that?! He’d gone to great lengths to make sure all copies of the video had been erased, using every possible measure available from reporting any ones he saw to personally asking—nicely and not-so-nicely—anyone who reuploaded it to delete it.

“Nothing is deleted online forever, Chase,” Anti said, smiling. “But it’s weird, isn’t it? That you made a thank-you video directly after purchasing a gun.” He took a few more steps forward. “A really strange video. A few people thought you were quitting your video career.”

“D-don’t,” Chase said, his voice strangled.

“Don’t what? Don’t get closer? Or don’t say anything?” Smirking, Anti got closer. “You’re not going to shoot me for it. You were never planning on shooting anyone. Well...anyone else.” And he got closer. He walked right past Chase’s outstretched arms, holding the gun in shivering hands. “They were right, weren’t they? You were going to stop making videos. Though they didn’t guess the real reason.”

Chase’s vision grew blurry. It took him a few seconds to realize there were tears in his eyes. He screamed at his body to do something about this. He couldn’t let Anti say this. Speaking it out loud...It made it real.

“Poor Chase Brody. Running two YouTube channels while his best friend was in a coma.” Anti sighed exaggeratedly. “One of his friends disappeared in August, another in December, and just recently, one of the last two left without any warning. Not to mention the first year anniversary of your divorce was coming up. It was a terrible March, wasn’t it? Nobody would have blamed you. Which is why you thought about it. What made you change your mind? I doubt it was because you found your way. There would have been psychiatric records.” Anti leaned close. His face was inches from Chase’s own. “No. You were scared. You couldn’t quite go through with it. You never had the nerve, and you never will.” Anti’s voice was soft and quiet as he smiled. “Which is why I know you won’t shoot me now.”

Chase blinked. He couldn’t look away from Anti’s mismatched eyes.

A moment passed in silence. The wind howled.

“But I’m not the same,” Anti said. And his hand shot out and grabbed the gun in Chase’s hands.

“No!” Chase gasped. The gun almost slipped from his fingers, but he tightened his grip at the last moment, pulling it back towards him.

Anti scowled. “Coward,” he muttered, grabbing one of Chase’s wrists with his other hands. He twisted, trying to wrench it away.

“Shut up!” Chase pulled the gun back towards him. Anti pulled it back the other way. They struggled in a warped game of tug-of-war for a few seconds as they each tried to take the gun from the other. Then Chase stomped on one of Anti’s feet. He gasped, and his grip loosened. Chase jumped backwards.

But he wasn’t fast enough. Anti recovered quickly and leapt forward, catching the barrel of the gun in one hand and pushing it to point towards the sky. His other hand shot out and grabbed Chase’s throat, starting to squeeze. Chase immediately choked, his windpipe beginning to close in. He looked at Anti’s face and saw it devoid of emotion. In that moment, he couldn’t tell which eye was glass.

His own eyes darted around. There was nobody in the street. One hand uncoiled from the gun, instinctively reaching for his throat. Anti pulled the gun further out of his grip, and Chase barely managed to hold onto it by the tips of his fingers. But as Anti’s hold on his throat grew tighter, his energy started to fade. Little by little, the gun was slipping out of his grasp. Black shapes swam across his vision. Finally, he lost his grip, and the gun was in Anti’s hand—

Then the car’s driver side door opened. There was a flash of brown paper, and the loud sound of metal hitting something hard. Anti gasped, and let go of Chase’s throat.

Immediately, Chase staggered backward, almost falling. But a hand caught his arm and pulled him forward, shoving him through the open car door, across the driver’s seat and into the passenger’s. Mina dove in after him, slamming the car door shut. She unparked the car and hit the gas, sending them roaring down the street and into the distance.

It took Chase a moment to realize what happened. “Did you...hit him?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

Mina nodded curtly. “You left the bag of bearings on the ground, i-it was the only thing even a little heavy. Not much, but with enough force—are you okay?” She looked at him with concern clear in her face.

“Eyes on the road,” he rasped. “I’m...I’m fine. Just...sore.” He rubbed his neck. Honestly, the physical pain was a mere shadow compared to how shaken he felt. He...he’d never told anyone about any of the stuff with the gun...why he really bought it. Anti figuring it out, and taunting him with that knowledge...it left him feeling exposed. Like his mind had been read by a computer and his thoughts displayed on a monitor for all to see.

Mina nodded, and reluctantly looked away. “We are going to have to circle around the block, to make him think we left. I do not want to come back and see him waiting to shoot us.”

“Good idea,” Chase said, nodding. “How...how much of that did you hear?”

“How much of what?” Mina asked.

“We were...talking,” Chase said carefully.

“Oh. Then none. I just barely saw the edge of you two standing across from each other. Then he got closer, and lunged, and when he grabbed your neck I-I knew I had to do something—” Mina stopped, taking a deep breath. “You are sure you are okay?”

“Fine,” Chase repeated.

Mina nodded again. “I...We should go fast around the block. I hope the others are having better luck.”

—————— 

This was taking too long. Marvin was pretty sure his practice lockpicking had gone much better. But now that the stakes were high, his skills were slipping. Laurens hovered anxiously nearby, trying not to look directly at him so he didn’t get distracted. Unfortunately, her very presence was a distraction that he couldn’t currently get rid of. Occasionally, he could hear shuffling movement from the other side of the door. Schneep had gone silent, and Jameson hadn’t said anything to begin with. They must have known how important this was.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Clack.

Marvin inhaled sharply. His face was so close to the door that his nose was practically touching the wood, so he leaned back for this last step. Slowly—slowly—he turned the pins he’d brought, acting as a key for the lock. And there came the unmistakable thunk of a latch pulling back. 

He wasted no time, grabbing the doorknob, pulling it outward, realizing he was in the way and standing up straight and walking to the side to allow a clear path, then finally flinging the door open.

The room beyond was nothing impressive. Kind of run-down actually. There was furniture, but Marvin didn’t spare the surroundings any more than a cursory glance. His attention was immediately caught by the pair standing just beyond the door. “JJ! Henrik!” he shouted, voice catching on a sob in his throat. “You—you’re—” He was too overwhelmed to form any words beyond that.

Jameson waved with one hand. The gesture was a bit awkward, but the tears welling in his eyes and relieved slump of his shoulders more than made up for it. Schneep also started crying immediately. “Marvin...?” he asked. His tone was uncertain but hopeful.

Marvin rushed forward and flung both his arms around the two of them. Silently, he squeezed them tight, shaking his head in disbelief. “I-I was...I was...so worried,” he choked out. ”I...I missed you.”

For a moment, the three of them just stood there, embracing each other and enjoying the feeling of seeing someone you loved after so long.

But then Laurens coughed awkwardly, and Marvin pulled away. “Uh, right,” he said, wiping his eyes.

“I’m sorry if I'm interrupting,” she said, “but, uh, opening the lock took a few minutes, a-and I don’t think Chase can distract Anti for too long.”

“Laurens!” Schneep said, smiling softly at her. “You came all the way here? You...you did not have to.”

“No, I did,” Laurens said firmly. “I-I needed to know you were alright. And Marvin needed a lookout while he concentrated on opening the door, so...”

“You are the best therapist,” Schneep laughed.

“Okay, but seriously, we should go,” Marvin said. At that moment, he glanced down. And frowned. “Um, Schneep? What’s that?” He pointed at the cuffs.

Anti did that, Jameson explained. For obvious reasons, he didn’t want us getting away.

“But...you don’t have anything,” Marvin said, confused.

Technically. But I couldn’t leave Henrik behind, could I? Jameson shook his head. It’s okay, I can carry him.

Marvin glanced at Schneep. “You’re okay with that?”

“Well we do not have much else choice, do we?” Schneep said, a bit dryly. “Now...” He glanced around the room, on edge once again. “...can we leave? Please?”

“Right.” Marvin nodded. “Let’s go.”

Jameson scooped Schneep up again and followed Marvin and Laurens out into the third floor hallway. He looked around as they hurried towards the stairwell. So this is what the building looked like outside of that little room. Somehow, it fit perfectly. Though, for a moment, he wondered if Anti really wanted to be in a place like this. Somehow, he doubted it. Anti had always wanted more.

They took the stairs a bit slower than they wanted to, as Jameson carrying Schneep meant he couldn’t quite see the steps beneath his feet. Laurens lent her arm as support, helping to steady him. But a couple minutes later, they left the stairwell behind and started down the next corridor.

As soon as they did, Marvin heard the distant sound of footsteps. He looked down the hall, which ended in a turn to the left, and saw a figure starting to turn the corner. A figure in a green jacket.

Marvin inhaled sharply. Thinking quickly, he glanced around to find the closet door they’d hidden in before. Once he saw it, he grabbed Jameson’s arm and Laurens’ hand and ran towards it, pulling open the door. Without explaining a thing, he shoved them inside before hiding there himself and shutting the door behind them.

The whole thing took about thirty seconds, and luckily, Anti had not been paying too much attention to the hallway. He seemed more concerned with something he was holding in his hands. But at the sound of the door closing, he glanced up, pausing.

“What was—” Laurens started to say.

Marvin shushed her, pointing over his shoulder at the closet door. “It’s him,” he whispered.

Though it was dark in the closet, Marvin could feel the others all tense up in unison. Someone—maybe Schneep—gasped before falling silent.

Anti scanned the hallway. Nobody was in sight. But doors did line the walls—it was an apartment building, after all. After a solid few seconds, he started walking again. Probably one of the neighbors. But that almost made it worse. Quickly, he hid the object he’d grabbed outside under his jacket, tucked in between his arm and torso. It would do no good for someone to catch him with a gun out in the open.

Marvin pressed his face to the gap in the door. It was really hard to see out of when the door wasn’t ajar, but he could make out light. And shadow. And they could all still hear the heavy footsteps slowly coming closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Someone grabbed Marvin’s arm, and he barely bit back a surprised shout. He did jump, though, and someone else gasped.

A shadow passed in front of the light from the gap. The footsteps stalled right outside the door. 

But for only a split second. They continued quickly. The door to the stairwell opened and closed. All traces of the footsteps faded away.

As soon as he was sure Anti was gone, Marvin opened the door. Glancing back, he was a bit surprised to see Jameson had been the one to grab him, almost dropping Schneep in the process. But honestly, Marvin didn’t blame him. He was as pale as a lost ghost, shaking with dread at the thought of this long-awaited escape attempt being foiled. Schneep didn’t look much better, clutching tightly to Jameson. And Laurens was in the same boat, long-forgotten shadows haunting her face as she held her arm where it had once broken.

Marvin made eye contact with each of them. “Fucking. Run.”

Instantly, every single one of them bolted.

Anti would know that something was off as soon as he got upstairs and noticed his door unlocked. He might take a moment to glance around the inside, but it wasn’t a big apartment, and it would be obvious what happened to Jameson and Schneep. Then he would go searching for them.

So they ran. Down the hallway in a dead sprint, only slowing for a moment to turn the corners, then picking up speed again once it straightened out. They burst out of the building’s front doors, out onto the empty street. Wind had picked up, giving the already cold winter air a sharper chill. The gray clouds overhead hung oppressively low.

Laurens glanced left and right, taking in the complete lack of anyone outside. “Where the hell are they?!”

“No time!” Marvin said. “Go go go go!”

They turned left and started running down the street. But as they did, Schneep glanced back, looking for any sign of Anti pursuing them. Instead, he shrieked, “Wait wait wait! Behind us! Car!”

Marvin looked back as well, and saw Chase’s car turning onto the street. “Nevermind, other way!” he shouted, and in almost comical unison, they all skidded to a halt and spun around, heading back the other way.

The car picked up speed the moment it saw them. Quickly, the distance closed, and the car pulled to the side of the street just as the group arrived to meet it. Laurens opened the back door. “Inside!” she said, gesturing. Marvin pushed Jameson a little to help him and Schneep get inside quickly, then hopped in himself. Laurens got in last, and the car peeled away before she had even fully closed the door.

They drove past the front entrance to the apartment building just as Anti slammed through the double doors, an expression of absolute fury on his face. “Duck!” shouted a voice from the passenger seat—Chase. The others saw Anti raise something in his hands and aim it. A gun. Then they all ducked.

But the shot they were anticipating never came. Instead, Anti continued to aim, following the car as it turned the opposite corner. And even after it had disappeared from sight, he kept the gun pointing in that direction, lowering it a solid minute after the car was long gone.

—————— 

The car ride was silent for a good while after they fled the apartment building. As they planned, they took unexpected, random twists and turns, just in case. Only once they were on the completely opposite side of the city—which took about ten minutes—did someone speak up.

“Okay...now we call the police,” Laurens breathed.

Marvin burst out laughing. He doubled over, hitting his head on the back of the car seat in front of him. His shoulders shook with the uncontrollable mirth created by utter relief.

“Yeah, I-I can do that now, if we want,” Chase said, pulling out his phone. “Though...I mean, what do I say? Just tell them where the location is? Say that we went there knowing how dangerous it was? Definitely shouldn’t mention how there are four of you in the three-person backseat of my car, none of you wearing seatbelts, haha.” He chuckled a bit, turning around to look at the others. But the laughter faded quickly, turning into soft crying as tears fell down his face.

Jameson, previously looking out the window, turned around and leaned forward. Chase? He asked, using his name sign of ‘C-friend.’ Are you okay?

“Am I okay? Am I okay?! Am I—” Chase shook his head, but kept his eyes fixed on Jameson and Schneep. “I-I can’t believe you two are here. That we...we actually did it. A-and you’re safe, a-and you’re not hurt—I m-mean, I mean relatively—a-a-and I just—I j-just...” He shook his head again. “You’re...you’re here.”

After a moment, Jameson smiled. Yes. We’re here. All thanks to you guys. Thank you so, so much. I...I can hardly believe it. It’s finally over. He turned to look at Schneep, smiling. But Schneep wasn’t looking at him. Or at Chase. Is everything alright, Henrik?

“Um.” Schneep pointed at the driver’s seat. “What the fuck?”

Mina glanced back at him, giving him a small smile. “H-hallo, Schneep.”

Schneep stared at her. He blinked. Then he slapped himself.

“Schneep!” Laurens sat up straight. “Don’t—”

“This is a dream. This is a fucking dream, there is no way you are all here, and her?” Schneep muttered, shaking his head. He raised his hand to slap himself again, but Laurens’s hand darted out and grabbed his wrist before he could.

“It’s not a dream,” she said gently. “Mina is here. She helped us make the plan.”

“Hah. I-I-I—” Schneep glanced around the crowded car again. He twitched a bit, flinching as if expecting a blow to come that never did. His other hand started scratching his neck. “It just—seems unbelievable.”

“I know. But...try using something else,” Laurens suggested. “Do you remember what else you can do?”

Schneep went quiet for a moment. Then he nodded slowly. He leaned back against the car seat and crossed his arms: right hand on left upper arm, and left doing the same on right. Pulling his arms in, he muttered something under his breath. “Einhundert, dreiundneunzig...sechsundachtzig...neunundsiebzig...”

Mina shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and turned her eyes back to the road. “We...can talk more later, yes? Back at the house.”

Schneep didn’t stop mumbling, but he did nod.

Meanwhile, Marvin had stopped laughing. There was a hard light in his eyes, and he dug his phone out of his pocket. “I’m going to call nine nine nine on that fucker,” he said.

Oh, please do, Jameson said.

Chase grinned, though there were still tears in his eyes. “Y-yeah...we should do that now. And...and I’ll call Detective Nix once we get back home, too, so he knows what really went on.”

Marvin gave him a thumbs-up, then started dialing. “We’re gonna take him down. Once and for all.”

Though Chase, Laurens, and Mina all made sounds of agreement, Jameson hesitated. He rested a reassuring hand on Schneep’s shoulder and looked out the car window again. He knew Anti wouldn’t go down that easily. He’d probably started packing up the moment they got away, in anticipation of a police raid of some sort.

But for now...for now, he was out. Jameson and Schneep had finally left that apartment behind. And for once in over a year, Anti no longer had a hostage or any other form of leverage. He had no power over them.

The battle was won. The war would continue, but this was a decisive victory. It should be enjoyed.

Chase couldn’t help but think that the whole station was unusually quiet. And he could have sworn that half of the officers, detectives, and various other people doing their jobs were all staring at the four of them. It made the wait seem longer than it actually was, minutes dragging on. 

Until, finally, Detective Nix appeared. The four of them immediately jumped to attention. Chase sat up straight, Mina fidgeted with her sleeves, Laurens curled her hands into nervous fists, and Marvin put away his Rubix cube. Nix didn’t say anything, merely sliding into his seat on the other side of the desk. After a moment, he sighed, looked at each of them one at a time, and said, “Okay. So what did you do?”

Silence. Nobody wanted to say anything.

“I know the four of you did something.” Nix leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk and clasping his hands together. “You didn’t say much on the phone, but with two kidnapped persons suddenly with you, and us getting an anonymous call around the same time about where their kidnapper could be, it’s not hard to put the pieces together. So, what did you do?”

A few more moments of silence. Until Mina finally broke it. “Well, ah, you see...officer. We were...in a tight situation. And so we...did...what should be done.”

Nix nodded slowly. “So, you...figured out the location of a dangerous criminal. And proceeded to break in so you could rescue your friends. And didn’t call the police.”

“We got tired of waiting!” Marvin said defensively. “Something awful was clearly happening to them, and you guys weren’t exactly helping, so—”

“Marv, please.” Chase reached out and put a hand on Marvin’s arm, stopping him. It probably wasn’t a good idea to say this in front of a detective. They were in enough trouble without that.

“I understand, you were frustrated,” Nix said in an even tone. “And scared, and worried. Anyone would be. But charging into a situation like that could’ve gotten you or your captured friends killed. It would’ve been much smarter to call us.”

“We know,” Chase said quietly. “We, um...Originally, we just set out to figure out where they could be. Wh-where he could be keeping them, you know? That’s not...not illegal. But then, when we found the place, he—Anti—called my phone, a-and he said...he threatened to hurt JJ or Schneep if we called the police. And we...we couldn’t let that happen, but we couldn’t just leave them once we knew, and...and things happened...” His voice trailed off.

“Hmm.” Nix hummed. He glanced around, meeting each of their eyes once again. Chase shifted uncomfortably and also looked at the others. Laurens and Mina looked nervous, the former more than the latter, but Marvin stood strong. If anything, the eye contact made him more uncomfortable than the heavy environment.

“Have we...done anything wrong, detective?” Laurens asked tentatively.

Nix leaned back. “I’m not obligated to tell you, but I know you mean well, so I will. You did break into that flat, which is still illegal.”

“But what about Good Samaritans?” Mina blurted out. “There are laws for that case, yes?”

“Not officially,” Nix said. “Ah, Ms. Pfeiffer, right? Schneeplestein’s ex-wife?”

“Not ex,” Mina corrected. “There has never been a divorce.”

“Right. Well, like I said, there are no official Good Samaritan laws. Not in this country, at least. But there is...some legal precedence. For certain circumstances.” Nix sounded oddly uncertain. “Look, my advice is to get a lawyer, just in case. I don’t believe any of you will be charged with anything serious, at most you’ll get a couple fines, but you can never be too careful. Be prepared for the worst.”

Everyone nodded in unison, like bobbleheads in a car that just hit a bump. “Well, u-um...” Laurens said slowly. “Do we...need to stay here? Or can we go?”

“You can go,” Nix assured them. “Chase, you have my phone number. I’ll contact you when something comes up. And it will, make no mistake. I’ll need to talk to you about what exactly happened pretty soon. In the meantime, I’m sure you’re eager to catch up with your friends.”

Chase stood up, followed shortly by Mina. “Right. Yes. Thank you, detective,” he said. “I’ll...be waiting for that call.”

Nix nodded, and waved off the group as they headed out.

As soon as they were out of the police station, Marvin leaned closer to the others and asked quietly, “Um, aren’t they supposed to interrogate us about the rescue? Or something?”

“Yeah,” Chase replied, equally quietly. “But I think Nix is giving us an opportunity.”

Marvin blinked. “For what?”

Chase shrugged. “To see Schneep and JJ...and, probably, to make sure our story isn’t too bad.” He wasn’t sure about that second part, but his gut said it was true.

“W-well, um...” Laurens took a deep breath. “Let’s go to the hospital, then?”

“Let’s,” Chase agreed. “I’ll drive.”

——————

After calling Nix and having multiple police and paramedics show up at Chase’s house, the four of them had been separated from Schneep and Jameson. The paramedics had given both of them a quick check, but insisted that they go to the hospital to make sure they were alright. Jameson nodded and went along with this, but Schneep had been more than a bit nervous. “I know this is silly,” he’d whispered to Chase. “But...but what if Anti is there?”

“It’s not silly,” Chase reassured him. “I get it, really. Hmmm... Hey, Marvin? Can we borrow your phone?” Marvin, within earshot, immediately handed over his phone without a word. “Great. Here, Schneep, take his phone, and if anything happens, you can call me, alright?”

Schneep had nodded slowly. “A-alright. Marvin, I will need your...well, your password. To unlock it.”

In the forty minutes of waiting in the police station, Chase hadn’t received one call or message from Schneep. He chose to take that as a good sign. It meant there weren’t any problems, right? Schneep would have called him, right?

The hospital Schneep and Jameson were in wasn’t the one Chase was used to—the one where Jackie and Jack were staying, Southpoint General. This one was the smaller St. Dympthna’s Hospital, closer to the edge of town. It actually wasn’t too far from Silver Hills. He wondered if it had been built there for that reason.

The four of them walked right in and explained the situation to the nearest nurse. She nodded, and directed the group to a room on the second floor, which was the general ward. The nurse offered to take them there, but the group politely declined and took the stairs. They found the right place immediately.

This wasn’t a single-person room, which threw Chase off a bit. For the past year, most of his time in hospitals had been visiting Jack—and recently Jackie—who each had a room all to themselves, one of those for patients who needed an extended stay. Clearly, neither JJ or Schneep were going to be staying here for long. This room was long, holding six different beds, each with their own privacy curtain. Though despite all this extra space, there were only two people in the room.

Jameson noticed the group the moment they stepped into the room. He’d previously been staring absentmindedly towards the nearby window, looking out at the street below, but at the sound of the footsteps he immediately turned to look. And upon seeing them, he gasped. Chase! Marvin! he signed, a grin breaking out on his face. Over here!

Chase waved. “Hey! It’s us! Your favorite boys!”

 Marvin, who had initially frozen once JJ noticed them, broke into a run and sprinted across the room to the far end, where Jameson was sitting in a bed by the wall. “I—I—hi! You!” Though he was stammering, Marvin smiled wide. “You! I—I was—you’re—uh, hand?”

Jameson laughed. He held out his hand, and Marvin grabbed it, squeezing tight. Chase went over to join them—quickly, but not running like Marvin. “Yeah. Hi,” he said, a bit awkwardly. “I...we didn’t really get the chance to—uh—I dunno, talk? I mean, maybe we should’ve, at the house, but everything had just happened and it was a bit overwhelming. Uh...how are you doing?”

I’m perfectly fine, Jameson said, as Marvin adjusted his hold to his wrist so he could sign easier. Not a scratch on me. I don’t really know what all the fuss was about.

“You don’t know what the—Jameson.” Chase let out a little huff of breath, equal parts fondness, exasperation, and worry. “You got kidnapped. That’s...they have to make sure you’re okay.”

I’m fine, Jameson repeated, a little insistently. I mean...physically. I don’t think I need to say anything more, and quite frankly, I don’t want to talk about that right now. I’m just...I don’t remember if I said this before, but I’m so happy to see the both of you. His eyes were watering a bit. It feels like forever.

“It really does,” Chase muttered.

But, of course, Jameson wasn’t alone here. In the bed across from him, pushed against the opposite wall, was Schneep. He hadn’t said anything when the group came into the room, though he was watching them. In his hands was Marvin’s phone, which he kept turning over.

“Hey, bro,” Chase said, walking over to stand next to Schneep’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I am...” Schneep took a deep breath. “I am...handling things...rather well. I think.”

“That’s good to hear.” Chase gave him a soft smile. He reached out his hand, and after a small pause to make sure Schneep was okay with it, put it on his shoulder and squeezed. “I...I’m really glad to see you again, doc.”

Schneep let out a single, short laugh. “You do not need to call me that,” he said, a bit sadly.

“Well I want to. You’ll always be ‘Doc’ in my eyes,” Chase said lightheartedly.

Marvin looked over at Schneep, too. “I...I’m really happy that you’re...yes. Yes?” He made a vague gesture with his hand, waving it in the air.

“Yes,” Schneep said, nodding. “I...thank you. Very much. I—I missed the both of you...so, so much.” He blinked, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment before opening them wide again. And he looked at the other two in the room: Laurens and Mina. The two women had been lingering some ways away, not wanting to interrupt the moment between the friends. But Schneep couldn’t ignore them. Especially not Mina.

Chase followed his gaze. “Oh. Right.” He nodded. “Uh, you guys want to talk?”

Mina cleared her throat. “Ah...Henrik. If you...would like to, as he said, talk, I...have...something to tell you. That is important. To just the two of us.”

Schneep nodded slowly. “Yes, I...I have questions.”

Chase backed away. “Okay. We’ll leave you to it, then,” he said, giving Marvin, Laurens, and Jameson a significant look. “In fact, uh, why don’t you use these handy bed curtains? Give you some privacy.”

Schneep nodded again. Chase continued to back away, and Mina squared her shoulders and walked forward. She dragged a chair over from next to one of the empty beds, setting it next to Schneep’s, then drew the curtain along its rail all the way around the bed. Finally, she sat down.

The two of them said nothing for a while, just looking at each other. After a solid thirty seconds, Mina said, “Are you alright? Uninjured?” She asked the question in German.

“I have some cuts and bruises,” Schneep said, responding in the same language. “Though that was never the problem with...him. At least...not for me. Perhaps that would have changed, if Jameson and I had been trapped there longer.” He shook his head a little, clearing it of memories and returning to the present.

“Henrik, I...I am so sorry.” Mina’s voice was quiet. “I am so sorry I have not come to see you before this. I—I was worried. After what happened in August, a-and that awful mess in December, with those videos, I thought that—I understand, now, that it was that man who did it all, who made you—”

“Anti.”

“Y-yes, Anti. I know now that it is all his fault. But at the time, I...I was scared,” Mina admitted. “I thought that...you would...do something. I-I-I should not have thought that, I should have realized, I should have had faith a-and believed there was more to this story, but I did not, because I was scared, a-a-and I let that feeling control me, I let it convince me to leave the country altogether and not come back until—”

“You sound like Marvin,” Henrik muttered.

Mina stopped, and gave a small laugh. “Well, he is the one who said I should have stayed. But I am not saying this just because of him, I realized that I...I was wrong.” She paused. “I...have to admit something, Henrik. I had an idea in my head of how...people act. People like you, I mean, with your illness. I was so, so very wrong. Those ideas made it easier to be afraid, when I should not have been.”

“Mina,” Henrik said slowly. “I know this. I have known for a while, and I...I do not blame you. It is just how the world says things should be, and you are not the only one to believe.” He looked away, towards the window, which could be partially seen through a crack in the curtains. “I will not lie, it...has hurt. Still hurts. But you are trying. I can tell.” He paused. “I think, perhaps, we tried too fast to start things again. I think we should have both taken more time to ourselves. But I...would like you to...not leave. Even if we are not together.”

“Yes, well...” Mina shifted awkwardly in the chair. “About that...time when we wanted to be together again?” She reached into her pocket and took out her wallet. “This is the important thing I have to tell you.”

Henrik’s brows drew together in confusion. He leaned over a bit as Mina fumbled to get a hold of some photographs inside. When she pulled them out, each showing a baby getting progressively older, his eyes widened. The thought hadn’t fully formed yet, but the vaguest hints of an understanding were starting to take hold.

“This is Elise,” Mina said softly. “She is...our daughter.”

“...oh.” Henrik was at a loss for words. Every one of his mental functions had suddenly ground to a halt.

“You...remember? From last year, in July?” Mina’s voice was hesitant.

Henrik nodded. “I do. I do. But...but we were being careful. How...?”

“Well.” Mina laughed dryly. “Apparently nothing is a one-hundred-percent guarantee. I-I know we discussed not having any children for a long while, but once it happened, I changed my mind. I think in part because you were missing at the time. This was before those videos, of course. And even after those, when I still thought—well, you know. Even after that, I suppose I got attached to her.”

Henrik nodded slowly. He reached out, and Mina handed him the photographs. Slowly, he looked through them, scanning every detail.

Mina continued to talk, rambling as she grew increasingly nervous. “She is a wonderful child, you know. Very smart for her age. She will be twelve months old in February. Or, ah...one year. Same thing. Has not said words, but she makes baby sounds, a-and it is very cute, in her high voice. Her last name is mine, and she was born in Dussen—you know, where my parents live. Because I-I was living with them at the time. I am sorry about leaving you out, but—”

“No, no, it makes sense,” Henrik said quietly. “I am just...” He laughed. “I-I am having trouble with this. It’s so...I don’t know. But this happened. It happened. We...had a daughter. I had a daughter. That is so—so wonderful.” His smile faded. “And also...very terrible.”

“Terrible?!” Mina couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice. “I mean, it is fine, you do not have to help raise her if you don’t want to, but—”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Henrik said, leaning back. “It is just terrible timing. I...would like to be there for her. I had not considered being a parent before this, there were always more important things to do, but now that I am here...I would like to be there. But I cannot. Not with...” He gestured vaguely at the hospital surroundings, indicating the whole situation. “...everything going on out there, and also, with myself. Even if he—A-Anti—was to suddenly disappear right now, I...do not have the ability to look after a child.” Tears gather in his eyes, but he refuses to acknowledge them, blinking the wetness away.

Mina nodded. “I see.” She paused for a while. “But I could not just stay silent on this. Once I had returned, and once I realized what was happening, I...I had to at least tell you. I had to present the option. For Elise...a-and for you.”

“And I thank you very much.” Henrik handed the photographs back to her, then grasped her hand and gently squeezed it. “I think...I think I will love her very much. I think I might love her already. But...it cannot work right now.”

“Of course.” Mina squeezed his hand back. “But I think you will be a great father when you are ready.”

Schneep smiled softly. “Thank you.” He took a deep breath, and looked away from her.

“Do you want to talk with your friends now?” Mina asked.

“Yes, they are probably wondering what we are talking about right now.” He switched back to English. “Assholes.”

“Heyyyy!” Chase’s voice came from beyond the curtain. “You’re not talking about us, are you?”

Mina chuckled, and stood up, pulling the bed curtain open entirely. Back in the rest of the room, Chase and Marvin had found more chairs and were sitting next to JJ’s bedside. Laurens had left the room entirely, though no sooner had Schneep noticed her absence than she returned.

Is everything alright with you two? JJ asked.

“Everything is fine,” Schneep said. “It was just...a bit of a shock.”

“So she told you about the kid, right?” Marvin asked. “Elise?”

Schneep nodded, though he was a bit confused. “How did you know about that?”

“Oh, uhhh...” Marvin trailed off, stalling for a bit. “Okay, so, funny story. I was being a bit of a, uhhh dick to her. So she shut me up by explaining you guys had a kid and there was this whole situation going on between you, and uhhhh...”

Wait, you have a child?! JJ’s shocked expression was almost comical in its intensity. Since when?!!

“Since about, ah, ten months ago,” Schneep said. “Though if you are measuring it by how long I’ve known, since about five minutes ago. Oh, right, Jameson. This is Mina. You do not know her, but I might have brought her up?”

Mina waved. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said politely.

JJ nodded. Right. Yes, Henrik talked about you a couple times. He said he hadn’t seen you in a while.

“Well...yes,” Mina said slowly, looking a bit ashamed. “And that is my fault.”

“Um.” Laurens cleared her throat to get the others’ attention. “So, I talked to the doctor. Jameson, you’ll be free to go around five o’clock, but they want to keep Schneep overnight.”

“And then he’ll be free to go in the morning?” Chase asked.

“Not...exactly,” Laurens said slowly. She turned to look at Schneep. “You’ll have to come back to Silver Hills with me. Because, you know, you haven’t...been cleared yet.”

“I expected as much,” Schneep nodded, taking the news in stride. “If you said nothing, I would have asked about it.”

“Are you, uh, required to be there?” Marvin asked. “I’ve sort of been accepting it, but I don’t really get it. I mean, I know it was originally a legal thing because they thought you were the killer, but now that we know what really happened, do you have to finish the...term? Or whatever it’s called to be there.”

“No, it is not a ‘legal thing’ anymore,” Schneep said calmly. “Ah, Dr. Laurens, why don’t you explain?”

“Right.” Laurens coughed again. “You see, in order to be cleared to leave Silver Hills, you have to be approved by a psychiatrist. They have to say that you’re ready to function in the wider world again. Because that’s really what it is, you know, being able to...be alright out there.”

“Oh.” Marvin blinked, and glanced at Schneep. “And you’re...not...?”

Schneep shook his head slowly, his eyes distant. “I think things were getting better. But...” He took a deep breath. “I...did not enjoy...seeing him again. I think it—it has—has—” Then he stops abruptly. It didn’t really make a difference; his meaning was clear.

Jameson’s expression darkened. He looked out the window.

“Do you think...Anti’s still out there?” Chase asked quietly.

He’s going to be ‘out there’ until he’s locked up, Jameson said. Or dead, but I doubt there’s much out there that can kill him at this point. He’s had too much practice going into dangerous places and coming out alive. For a moment, Schneep’s face went pale. Jameson noticed, and his face softened in turn. I’m sorry, Henrik. I don’t mean to frighten you. I’m just...I suppose I’m just worried that he’ll do something.

“But Anti doesn’t have anything over any of you or us anymore,” Mina jumped in. “There are no people under his control.”

“We can leave it to the police now,” Chase said. “Now that everyone’s out of danger, we don’t have to be involved.”

“I mean, I still want to kill Anti,” Marvin added. “But I’m not going to go looking for him. Unless I have to.” Everyone gave him a sharp look, and he grinned. “Which I won’t. Because guess what? That asshole has just lost his most powerful bargaining chip. He hasn’t been able to do anything without having someone there he can threaten others with. I bet he’ll be stuck now.”

“And we can protect ourselves,” Laurens added. “Ask the police if we have to. Do whatever we can to make sure we’re safe.”

Chase nodded in agreement to all of this. “It’ll work out,” he said, looking at Jameson and Schneep in turn to reassure them.

Schneep nodded. He looked uncertain, but relieved. Jameson, meanwhile, was even less convinced. But maybe they were all right. They had some convincing points. So he dropped it for now. Maybe it would be okay.

——————

There weren’t many cars on the motorway at this time. This was ideal—the less people there were, the less likely it was that someone would remember the description of his car. Though there was the matter of the traffic worker at the toll booth out of town. He probably got a good look. So with that in mind, Anti decided he needed to ditch this car as soon as possible and get a new one.

The sun was setting, casting long shadows through the car’s back window. Anti gripped the steering wheel tight in white-knuckled hands: the only outward sign of the seething rage he felt.

Everything had been going great. Fantastic, even! He was sure he was making progress, and that Jamie would come around soon. Then he could start taking on jobs again, maybe do some work of his own on the side, and quietly fade away from the public eye as the case went cold. But it was all ruined now. 

And all because of one Chase Brody. True, there had been others involved in stealing Jameson and Schneep from him, but Brody was the one who annoyed him the most. He’d barely given that man a second thought through this whole ordeal. After all, what could he do? Brody wasn’t talented, had no stand-out qualities, and wasn’t even that interesting. Anti had done research on him, but simply didn’t care enough to go farther. And that annoyed him more than anything else.

After Brody and the others escaped his reach, his first instinct had been to follow them. Find them, take back what was his, eliminate anyone else. He almost did it. But then he forced himself to take a step back and reconsider. The risk was too great. Even if he succeeded, there was nowhere left for him to hide in the city. No more safehouses—the police had found most of them, and they would certainly find his secret apartment now. He’d be caught. And that wasn’t worth the short-term satisfaction.

He had to leave town altogether. Even though he didn’t want to. He gritted his teeth, frustrated at losing everything he’d taken years to build. Now he had to worry about finding contacts in a new city, getting a suitable location to hole up, integrating into the local underworld so that others would know not to fuck with him—it was going to be a whole ordeal. And he wouldn’t have to do this if Brody and the others hadn’t destroyed everything.

...No. He couldn’t leave forever. He couldn’t leave things unfinished. The very thought felt wrong. He would be back one day. Back to deliver consequences for their actions. Back to find what was rightfully his and take it again. Back to regain control over this spiraling situation.

This would take some time to figure out. He had to be sure nothing would go wrong.

“Hey, Jack’s holding it, not me,” Jackie said defensively. “What, you think he’s gonna drop it?”

“I got it,” Jack assured him.

“Ah, no I—I didn’t mean to accuse you guys of anything,” Marvin stammered. “I just—it’s technically my grandma’s, so...be careful.”

Jackie made an OK sign with his hand. “Got it. So, who opens up the meeting?”

“Uh...I guess I could,” Chase said. “Hang on, I’ll go get the stuff me and Marvin put together a few days ago.” He briefly left the room, grabbed the piles of paper he’d stored in his bedroom, then returned and put everything down on the coffee table next to the laptop. “Okay, so me and Marv already pooled everything we know about Anti. Let’s, uh, let’s go over that so we’re all on the same page.”

The review was short. Most of this was common knowledge to all of them by this point. Anti was a serial-killer-slash-assassin-for-hire who’d been meddling in all their lives for over a year now. He’d abducted Schneep last August and Jackie last December. JJ was his younger brother, though Jameson wasn’t happy about this fact. Anti currently had Jameson and Schneep captive in an unknown location, hence the investigation and the meeting today.

There were a few surprises, though. Mostly on the part of Dr. Laurens. “Anti stabbed you?!” she gasped, looking at Marvin. “When was that?!”

“Uhhh March,” Marvin recalled. “It wasn’t personal. The place I was working for was a cover for some shady people and they thought I knew too much, so they paid him to...” He drew his finger across his throat, then leaned against the arm of the chair. “Huh...y’know, maybe I should tell the police about that.”

“I dunno if you can, dude,” Chase said. “The boutique closed sometime in summer. I don’t think there’s any proof of shady dealings there anymore.”

“Ah, shit. Well...probably for the best. I’d just get on their bad side again.”

Laurens still looked shocked at this information. “That...doesn’t seem like the best idea. Th-they might—”

“We’re getting off topic here,” Marvin interrupted. “Maybe once the police catch Anti, they can figure out what happened on their own. Anyway, any other questions?”

“Um...yes,” Laurens said, raising her hand as if sitting in school. “Jack, I’m sorry if this is too personal, but...how did you know how to find Jackie and Schneep, again?”

“Well...” Jack furrowed his brow, thinking. “He...Anti...would...sshhow up. Sometimes. When I was...asleep.” It was unclear if his slow explanation was due to his difficulty speaking, or due to not wanting to talk about it. “I was...sometimes I remeb—rememer—sometimes I knew what was...happening. Aanti would...talk about things. He mensh—mentioned...that place.”

“Oh,” Laurens said quietly. “Why...why would he do that?”

Jack shook his head. “I tink—I think he...had a lot of things to...talk about. But...nobody to...to listen to him. Maybe ihwas—it was like...venting? Or something.”

Marvin rolled his eyes. “It was because he’s an evil TV show character who had to monologue to somebody about his eeevil plans. Clearly.” That got a chuckle from everyone.

“I don’t know if the why matters that much,” Jackie added. “Sorry, Rya. I know your whole livelihood is based on figuring people out, but it’s not really important right now.”

“Right, right.” Marvin nodded in agreement. “What’s important is figuring out where Anti is now.”

“What if he just...left?” Chase said. “Like, the police are looking for him here. Why not go to a different city? Or even leave the country? I don’t think it’d be hard to take JJ and Schneep with him, if he’s capable of having multiple safe houses in one town. He’s got the skill and connections.”

“No, I don’t think he would,” Laurens said. “From what we know about how Anti feels about Jameson, he tends to get...attached to things. Unhealthily so, even to his own detriment. It might be because he wants to stay in control, or maybe because it reminds him of a more positive time, or something else. But in any case, he’s probably just as attached to this city, since we think he’s been here for at least a few years. Long enough to build up those safe houses.”

“Huh.” Jackie whistled. “Well, I stand corrected. Getting into the criminal mind is really helpful.”

“Ha. Thanks.” Laurens smiled softly. “But keep in mind we don’t know this for sure. I’m just basing this on our current observations.”

“No, no, it makes sense,” Marvin said. “Anti has all his shit in the city, and he probably has lots of connections here, it would be hard to just leave.”

Chase let out a breath of relief. “Okay. Well, since that’s decided, let me show you what I learned from Detective Nix on Monday.” He pulled something out of the pile of papers. Unfolding it, he revealed it to be a street map, with some shapes drawn on it. “This is my best recreation of the map he showed me, of places where Anti’s hideouts are or might be.” He held it up, making sure Jackie and Jack could see it through the video call. “It’s not perfect, but I think it’s pretty good.”

“Shay—Chase?” Jack said. “Is...is that crayon?” He let out a breathless sort of laugh.

“Hey, give me a break, bro,” Chase said defensively. “I had to draw it quick before my memory faded, and all I had nearby were crayons for the kids.”

“It’s very good, Chase,” Jackie said, giving him a thumbs-up.

“What do these circles mean?” Marvin asked. “Why are some of them crossed out?”

“Oh yeah So the circles are places where the police think a hideout could be. If it’s crossed out, that means they raided it and found Anti’s stuff there, but no Anti. Those scribbled ones are ones where they couldn’t find anything. I thought I’d include them just in case.”

“So we’d want to focus on the ones that are still un-crossed,” Laurens summarized.

“Wait, Chase, can you bring it closer to the camera for a sec?” Jackie asked.

“Uhh sure.” Chase stood up, taking the map with him. He held the map in front of the laptop, waiting for it to focus before slowly moving it around so Jackie could get a good look at all the circled locations.

“...huh.” Jackie bit his lip. “None of the circles are in areas with flats.”

“Fla—? Oh, apartments, right,” Chase said, stepping back and looking over the map himself.

Marvin leaned over to look at the map as well. “How can you tell there are no apartment buildings near the circles?”

“I have a great idea of the city layout,” Jackie explained. “Comes with the job.”

Jack nodded. “‘T’s true. That’s why...you always ask Jackie for...for directions.”

“Well, this is only a rough recreation,” Chase said, somewhat embarrassed. “My memory isn’t perfect. I could’ve gotten some stuff totally wrong. I...I tried to remember the shape it made up, though. Like...connect the dots.”

“Okay, but the circles aren’t even close,” Jackie explained. “There are only a few designated flat neighborhoods in the city. Unless you totally guessed on some of the circles, which I’m guessing you didn’t because you said you remembered the shape, then the flat where I was kept twice isn’t on that map.”

“How did the police figure out these locations, anyway?” Laurens asked.

“Oh, that’s because Anti has this symbol that he puts up. Hang on, I have a drawing of it.” Chase folded up the map—not doing the best job of it, honestly—and set it down so he could look through the papers. He’s just found the drawing he was talking about when...

Ding-dong.

Everyone looked towards the sound of the doorbell. “Uh...were we expecting anyone else?” Jackie asked.

“No,” Chase said. He put the drawing back down, now on top of all the other papers. “Hang on, I’ll see who it is. Probably just some salesman or something, but just in case.” He walked over to the front door and, not bothering to look through the peephole, opened it.

“Ah..h-hello, Chase.”

“Mina?” Chase stared at her in blatant surprise. He hadn’t expected to see her again. After the way Marvin had spoken to her, he thought she’d avoid any of Schneep’s friends. But here she was. Shifting from side to side, and holding something in both hands. Was that her wallet?

Marvin immediately got to his feet. “Mina?! What is she doing here?”

Mina glanced past Chase into the living room. Her eyes widened. “I-I did not—I didn’t expect you to have company.”

“Yeah, uh, sorry,” Chase said. “We’re in the middle of something.”

For a moment, Mina leaned back, as if starting to step away. But then she hesitated, straightened her shoulders, and stayed where she was. “Well. I am sorry, but I really must talk to you about something. I suppose it is good that Marvin is here, too, actually. And is that...is that Henrik’s doctor?”

Laurens raised a hand and waved absentmindedly.

“No, no, we are not doing this,” Marvin said. “Not again.”

“I am sorry, but we have to,” Mina said firmly. “May I come inside?”

“No!” Marvin protested.

“Marvin, it’s my house,” Chase said pointedly. He stepped to the side. “Come on in, Mina.”

Mina nodded, stepping in.

“Chase!” Marvin spun to face him. “After what she’s done?!”

“I’m confused, what has she done?” Jackie said from the laptop screen.

“Oh!” Mina gasped a bit, walking up to the laptop. “You two, as well. You are...the Jacks, right?”

Jackie chuckled. “Yeah, I’m Jackie, this is Jack.” Jack raised a hand.

“No, don’t laugh,” Marvin said. “Jackie, maybe you don’t understand. She left. Up and left the country when Schneep was missing; she thought he was a killer because of his condition.”

“I see now that was a wrong assumption to make,” Mina said. Her voice was steady, but she kept glancing back at the front door. “It was based on unfair stereotypes, and I should not have buyed them.”

“But you did! Did it not matter that you knew Schneep? You should have realized!” Marvin started to walk up to Mina, but Chase held out an arm, physically stopping him from getting in her face.

“Marvin, you really shouldn’t, um, chastise her for this,” Laurens said gently. “We know that Schneep is innocent, but imagine seeing the news that he’d killed people without the context we have now. Wouldn’t you have thought the same?”

“No, because I stick by the people I care about!” Marvin continued. “Instead of just leaving them alone! I have faith that they’re good!”

“Well...sometimes that can get you killed,” Mina muttered. She’d opened up her wallet and was looking through it.

“Yeah, uh, Marvin?” Chase said. “Can you uh...think about it for a moment? It actually makes sense that—”

“Okay, fine, but that doesn’t explain why she didn’t come back once they figured out Schneep was being framed!” Marvin continued. “She threw away all the attempts to contact her, remember? It’s like she deliberately avoided him! This all could have been resolved sooner, if she hadn’t kept—”

“Here!” Mina pulled something out of her wallet, holding it up in front of her the same way someone might hold up a crucifix to ward off an angry vampire. “This is the reason I couldn’t return! This!”

For a moment, there was quiet. The three standing in the living room all leaned closer to see what Mina was holding, while the two still on the video call tried to get a good look. Chase broke the silence by saying, in a quiet voice, “Is...is that an ultrasound?”

Taking a deep breath, Mina pushed the picture at him. “Not just that,” she said quietly.

Chase carefully took the photo...no, photos. There were three. The ultrasound, a picture of a small, wrinkly baby swaddled in a pink blanket, and a picture of that same baby, now a few months older, wearing a yellow onesie and sitting on Mina’s lap.

“That is my daughter,” Mina said, her voice choked and near tears. “She was born this February, the 22nd. Her name is Elise. Henrik is the father.”

Marvin and Chase were too shocked to say anything. An equally stunned silence came from the laptop speakers. Laurens shot to her feet, immediately joining the others to look at the baby pictures. Finally, Marvin stuttered out, “That—thi-this doesn’t make sense. You and Henrik were—when did you—there was no time for you to—”

“Last July,” Mina explained softly. “We were starting to try again. I-it was his idea, he wanted to...he thought that, now that he was better, that we could try. We started seeing each other a couple times, starting in June, and in July we...I-it was an accident. We were using—but failure does happen, that statistics say so.” She paused. “We kept seeing each other, but he was acting a bit strange. I worried he had changed his mind. Then I found out, but before I could tell him, he...well. You remember what happened in August.”

“Why...why wouldn’t he tell us?” Marvin said, his voice distant.

“He said he wanted to be sure it would work before he did,” Mina said. “Maybe he was worried about your reactions. Still, I would think that after...after we...that he would—”

“Wait.” The voice came from the laptop, which everyone turned their attention towards. Jack was sitting up straight. “Wait wait wait,” he said, “I-I th-think he...I think he was...going to. I r’member, he said...something...something about big news, he...he was nervous, and then he...said that Mina and him...the two of you were meeting.”

“What?” Jackie stared at him. “And you just forgot about that?”

“It was...that same day.” Jack looked down at his lap. “I...fell asleep. And when I woke up, it slipped my mind. I r’memb’red a few times but I...I wondered if it was just his head. I mean...he did act...he...did that to me. He wasn’t...all there.” His voice trembled.

“I realize now,” Mina said, “that he was growing distant because his medication was failing. I recognize some of the same behavior.”

Laurens nodded. “That would line up,” she muttered.

“You...you had a kid.” Chase covered his mouth. “That’s why. You couldn’t risk it.”

Mina nodded slowly. “I did not leave the country until December, when there were those videos of him claiming to be behind the deaths. I know now that the...that awful man made him say that. But at the time, I was seven months along, and I was...I was scared. I panicked. I had to keep her safe. I...I still do. She is ten months old now. Almost a year.” She blinked back tears, but let out a short laugh. “When I finally learned the truth, I had to find Henrik again. So he could know about Elise. So he could meet her.”

Another moment of silence passed, as everyone processed this big news. Eventually, Marvin let out a long sigh. “I’m such a dick,” he muttered.

“Hey, bro, don’t talk about yourself that way—” Chase started.

“No, no, really, I’ve just been mean. I-I guess I was a bit defensive, and I let that one comment about Schneep’s condition get under my skin. Maybe I was even projecting a bit. Not a fan of people who just—who just abandon people.” Marvin laughed a bit, shakily. He looked Mina in the eyes. “I’m...sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off like that.”

Mina nodded. “Is fine. You...you care about Henrik a lot, and you were worried I would hurt him somehow. I understand.” Though she tried to keep steady, her posture loosened, clearly relieved. “Perhaps I should not have left.”

“No, are you kidding?” Chase jumped in. “You did the right thing. For your safety, and Elise’s.”

Marvin nodded. “Yeah.”

“Th...thank you for understanding,” Mina said tentatively.

“Hey,” Jackie said from the laptop speakers. “Can we see the pictures?”

“Oh! Yes, of course. Ah, Chase?” Mina held out her hand, and Chase returned the photos to her. She walked up to the laptop and, crouching down to be level, showed Jackie and Jack the pictures.

“Awww,” Jackie cooed.

“She’s fecking cute,” Jack added.

Mina laughed. “Thank you.”

“And Elise is such a pretty name!” Jackie said. “Good choice.”

“Thank you,” Mina said again, putting the photos away in her wallet. “I always liked it.” She stood up. As she did, she glanced at the papers strewn across the coffee table. “Ah...sorry for interrupting...whatever this is.” Her brows slowly drew together as she took in what exactly was on the papers. “What...is this?”

“Oh, we were...” Chase paused, glancing around at the others. Nobody raised an objection, so he coughed to clear his throat and continued. “Well, I guess you should know. We’re trying to find out where...where Schneep and our friend JJ are being kept.”

“...ah.” Mina said. “You have not gone to the police?”

“Of course we have!” Rya hurried to say.

“But we’re not gonna just sit around and wait,” Marvin said, folding his arms. “It took them forever to find Anti before, we need to help!”

“Yeah, we’re tired of waiting,” Jackie added.

Mina nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. What is this?” She picked up one of the papers, the one with the drawing. “I do not understand how this is related.”

“Oh, I was just talking about that, actually,” Chase said, stepping forward and gently taking the drawing from her. “This is Anti’s symbol. It’s uh, sort of like a calling card? He uses it to mark places that are his. Like, storage and safe houses and shit. It lets other criminals know who they’re messing with if they try to snoop around there. Or if they want to find him. Either, really.” He held the drawing in front of the laptop camera. “It’s been near all the hideouts the police have found so far. They’re looking for more places with this nearby.”

Mina nodded again, slowly. “So...it would look like...like graffiti, perhaps?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Chase looked over at her. “Why?”

“Wait a minute.” Marvin stared at Mina. “Have you...seen it before or something?”

“Well, I have not,” Mina said. “But I think I know someone who could have.”

—————— 

Someone was at the door again. That was twice in so many days. Newson was tempted to ignore it, but she couldn’t convince her curiosity that it wasn’t worth it. She peered through the door’s peephole, making sure that this was someone she actually wanted to talk to. And, surprisingly, she actually recognized the people at the door. In front was Mina—Henrik’s wife, the very same one who’d come over to visit on Monday—and behind her were Rya Laurens and one of Henrik’s friends. Not the ponytail one, the other one. What was his name? Chad, or something.

It was an unusual group to show up. Wondering what was going on, Newson opened the door just wide enough to show her face. “Uh...hi, Mina. Rya. What’s...what’re you doing here?”

“Hi, Jennifer,” Rya said, giving a little wave. “I, uh—we have a question for you.”

“If you do not mind, of course,” Mina added.

“Um...sure, I guess. Shoot.” Newson fully opened the door.

“Right. Chase, d’you have the thing?” Rya asked, looking at the last member of the group.

“Yeah, hang on.” The man—Chase, that was his name—dug through his jacket pockets, pulling out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and held it up for Newson to see. “Uh...do you recognize this symbol?”

“Huh?” Jennifer stared at the strange symbol. It looked a bit like an eye, but not quite. “I don’t think so, why?”

“Oh, well, we were thinking—or, I was thinking, really,” Mina said, “that you might have seen it before.”

“Why?”

“Because do you remember what you said when I was over a few days ago? Something about how your brother would complain about graffiti in his building?” Mina prompted.

“Yeah?” Newson tilted her head to the side. “Where are you going with this?”

“Maybe this was part of that graffiti?” Mina said, tapping the paper that Chase was still holding up (and causing him to pull it back.) “This symbol?”

“How would I...wait.” Newson narrowed her eyes, staring intently at the paper in Chase’s hand. “I...maybe? Maybe that was one of them?” She bit her lip, diving deep into her memory.

“Are you sure?” Rya asked. “I mean, you know how remembering is.”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m not one hundred percent sure. But...maybe.” Newson looked up towards the ceiling. “Hang on, I’m gonna talk out loud for a sec. I think I remember, like, going to visit Jeremy or pick him up or something. For some reason, I was in the stairwell, on the landing outside his floor. There were all these doodles on the wall by the door...he came out and said something like ‘Yeah, I hate these. Look at these eyeball ones, it’s like they’re staring at you,” and he, like, pointed them out. That...might have been one of the designs? I’m not sure.”

Rya and Chase glanced at each other. “Do you think we should check it out?” she asked.

Chase shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, I guess.”

“What’s all this about, anyway?” Newson asked. “Why do you need to know?”

Again, Rya and Chase exchanged glances. But Mina went on ahead. “That man, the one who kidnapped Henrik and killed many people? That is his symbol. He puts it up around places he’s been.”

Newson’s eyes widened as she snapped to attention. “What?! You mean—you mean he might’ve been living in the same place as my brother?!”

“We don’t know that!” Rya hastily said. “You said you aren’t sure—”

“Oh my god.” Newson covered her face with her hands, dragging them downward until her eyes showed. “Jeremy always said he wanted to find who kept vandalizing the walls. If he figured it out, and it was that crazy guy behind it all, that explains—tha-that explains why—”

“We don’t know for sure,” Rya said, trying to reassure her. “I-it could be just a case of a false memory—”

“No, I need to know this for sure.” Newson shook her head. “You said you wanted to check out the building?”

“Uhh...yeah, I guess, if you’re okay with that,” Chase said slowly.

“Well you don’t really need my permission, but you do need the address. It’s—no, wait. Let me get my boots on and I’ll drive you guys there.”

“Oh, that is fine,” Mina said. “I drove everyone here, you do not have to—”

“No, I do. I...really, really do.” Newson turned around, heading back into her house. “Give me a moment. We can go there right now.”

—————— 

The drive to the apartment building wasn’t too long. Long enough for Chase to text Marvin and explain where they were going, as well as ask him if he wanted to come. Marvin turned him down immediately. Mina mightve turned out to be alright, but I still dont like that doctor lady, he messaged. Theres no doubt that SHE was awful to Schneep.

Fair enough. Ill tell u what we find, Chase replied. He wasn’t sure why he expected differently. After all, Marvin had turned down going to Newson’s house to ask her about the symbol specifically because he didn’t like her. He should have known Marvin would turn down doing anything with her involved.

Mina drove, following Newson’s car along the streets until it stopped on the side of the street in front of an apartment complex. The building wasn’t...nice. This wasn’t exactly a nice part of the city. Mina parked the car, everyone got out, and Laurens asked, “Hey, Jennifer? Why would your brother live in this area? I mean, your house is, uh...cleaner.”

“Less shady, you mean?” Newson asked, slamming her car door closed. “Yeah, I know. I offered to let him move in multiple times, but he was stubborn. He, uh, did some volunteer work around here. Said it was better to be closer to the problem.”

“Huh.” Laurens folded her arms. “Why...why didn’t you talk about him? At work, I mean?”

Newson paused. “I...I did. I guess you forgot? I mean, you did have that couple-year gap where you left Silver Hills to do private therapy. That’s probably enough time for you to forget most of the work chatter.”

“But...when I came back...” Laurens trailed off. “Oh. I came back after he was...gone.”

“Yeah,” Newson muttered. “I...I didn’t really want to talk about it. Probably a bad idea, in hindsight. A bit hypocritical. I should’ve expected that bottle to blow, eventually.” She paused. Then, pulling her coat tighter, she said, “Anyway, let’s go inside. If I remember correctly, the graffiti was in the stairwell.”

The inside of the apartment building was about what Chase expected. Worn carpet, stains from water damage on the walls and ceiling, dim lightbulbs. Newson led the three others to the building’s stairwell, and the group marched up the metal stairs until they reached the landing for the third floor.

“Ah, this is it, then?” Mina gestured at the door that led onto the third floor. Or, more specifically, the wall where it was set. All around the door were scribbles and symbols, done in various shades of black, blue, brown, and green, with the occasional splash of other colors. Most of it was in pen or permanent marker, but there were a few large designs done in spray paint. In addition to various writings—most of it rude—there were also little pictures drawn.

“Yeah. I think there’s more of it.” Newson stood in front of the door, taking it all in.

“Man, some of this is just sad,” Chase muttered. He was staring at a bit near the edge of the graffiti that simply read Jennifer dumped me. “Heh. Hey, is that you?”

Newson glanced at the phrase. “No, I don’t think so. Who added the L-O-L after it? That’s not a joke.”

Mina chuckled a bit. The others looked at her. “Ah, sorry. I was thinking of this thing from an online video—a-anyway, we are looking for the symbol, yes?”

“Yeah.” Chase pulled out the paper with the drawing and started scanning the mess of writing and drawing. There were a few designs that looked like eyes, but nothing like the ‘sideways eye inside a square’ symbol. Well...it sucked that this was a dead end, but at least they eliminated one possibility—

“Is...is this it?” Laurens reached out and tapped a bit of graffiti drawn in green marker. It was near the doorframe, and a bit smaller than expected, only about the size of someone’s palm. If that someone had smaller than average hands. But, unmistakably, it was the sideways eye symbol. The circle in a diamond in a square that Schneep had seen from a distance, that had led them to find Jackie.

“Holy shit,” Chase breathed.

“So...that’s really how it happened,” Newson muttered. “I-it wasn’t just...random. It was planned.” She paused. And then, she chuckled. “Somehow...that feels better.”

“We call the police now, yes?” Mina asked in a hushed voice, as if afraid someone would overhear her.

“Yeah, yeah we do.” Chase took his phone out of his pocket. “Wh-what do I even say? Hey, I just so happened to stumble upon a place where I think—where I think two of my best friends are being held?” His voice cracked a bit on that last part.

“Just tell them the truth,” Laurens suggested. “We haven’t done anything illegal.”

“I...yeah. That makes sense.” Chase took a deep breath. He was still a bit nervous. He wasn’t sure why; as Laurens said, they hadn’t broken any laws. Maybe he was afraid of getting in trouble somehow, anyway.

But at that moment, his nerves were overtaken by a stronger feeling. Worry. For all he knew, Schneep and JJ could be just a couple rooms away. He couldn’t leave them there. He had to take the opportunity to get them out of there. So, he started to dial. 9-9-—

Before he could enter the final 9, a text message popped up on his screen. The sender was labeled as ‘Unknown.’ It simply read, I can see you.

Chase stopped. “What the fuck...?” he whispered. Mina and Laurens leaned over his shoulders to look at the text.

A second message arrived. Don’t you dare call the police.

“What the fuck?!” Chase repeated, louder. Newson also turned around to look at the message.

“How did they know what we were doing?” Mina said in a low, worried voice.

“Can they see us?” Laurens speculated. “Is there a camera somewhere?” Everyone glanced around. There wasn’t a camera visible, but that didn’t do much good, considering how small modern video cameras could be.

Chase’s phone started ringing. The unknown number was calling him. He glanced around at the others. “What do I do? Do I answer it?!”

“Do it,” Newson urged him. “We gotta know what’s going on.”

“R-right.” Chase hesitated, then picked up the call. He pressed his phone to his ear and said, “Um...hello?”

“Hello, Chase,” a voice said. Chase had never heard this voice before, but somehow, it seemed familiar. It belonged to a man, a bit high and hoarse, with a strange accent that Chase recognized as being a mix of Irish and British. “We’ve never spoken, but I think you know who I am.”

Chase shivered. “You’re...you’re Anti.”

“Exactly.”

“H-how’d you get this number?” Chase asked, glancing around at Laurens, Mina, and Newson, all of whom looked suddenly fearful, yet intrigued.

“It’s not that hard to find, really. You just have to do a little digging online. That’s especially easy for you, Mr. BroAverage. Or should I call you Mr.jacksepticeye? Last I checked, you were running both channels, even if that second one belongs to your comatose friend.”

“Wh...” Chase’s words were stuck in his throat. But, after a minute, he managed to push them out. “Wh-what do you want?”

“I want you to walk away,” Anti’s words were steady. Unbothered, but firm. “Turn around, walk away, forget what you found. Don’t call the police. Don’t even think about it. Same goes for your gaggle of girlfriends, there.”

“I...y-yeah.” Chase nodded, glancing around. “I’ll do that.”

“You can say that. But that’s no guarantee,” Anti said in a low voice. “Unless there are consequences.”

“Consequences?” Chase repeated quietly.

“You know what I mean. I have two people with me right now. Two people you know and care about. And while I would really prefer not to do this, I can and will punish them for any actions of yours.”

Chase couldn’t say anything. He felt like he’d just been punched in the gut. Schneep. JJ. They could...they could be hurt.

“Do you understand?” Anti hissed.

“Y...yeah,” Chase said.

“Good. Tell your girlfriends too.” Anti laughed. “Well, I know that’s not what you are. You’re already married. Or, you were, at least. No, they’re different. There’s the fair Miss Rya again, and that’s the Dr. Newson who was so mean to Henrik. And if I’m not mistaken, that last one is his ex-wife. Is it Nina?”

“I-I-I’m not gonna tell—”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Make sure they know the consequences as well.” Anti’s voice dropped. “Don’t disappoint me, Chase. Or your friends.” And with that, the call dropped.

Chase lowered the phone, staring at the others. Though they could only hear half of the conversation, the general tone was well understood. “What...what happened?” Laurens asked in a trembling voice.

“Let’s...let’s get out of here,” Chase muttered.

It pained him to turn his back on the building. He didn’t want to leave. Not when he was sure JJ and Schneep were here. So close...but he couldn’t reach them. He couldn’t do anything. Not if he wanted to keep them safe.

But was this safe? Wasn’t he basically ensuring that no one would find them? That they’d be trapped with that—that monster of a man? How could he do that? He’d said he wanted to do something, but in the end, he was doing nothing.

No. No, there had to be something he could do. He had to have some way of helping them. He just...didn’t know it yet.

He would figure it out. They would. All of them involved. They’d get their friends back, one way or another.

“Why are you asking?” Newson narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She’d instantly known where she heard that accent before, and her mind was already forming connections. Could this woman know Henrik von Schneeplestein? A friend, perhaps? If she was, there could only be unpleasant reasons for this visit.

“I wanted to talk to you,” the woman said. “My name is Mina Pfeiffer—”

“You’re his ex?!” Newson blurted out.

“No! No, we are not exes,” Mina said. “We may have separated, but we did not get a divorce. It is different, a-and for different reasons. Anyway, can I talk to you?”

Newson was too shocked to say anything at first. What was Henrik’s ex-wife—or separated wife, whatever—doing here? Again, Newson was struck by the thought that nothing good could come from this. “I’m sorry, I’m actually uhhhh busy right now.” She started to slowly close the door. “You know how it is. Sorry.”

“Wait!” Mina hurriedly put her foot in the door, just in time to prevent it from closing. “This is not what you think! I am not angry with you.”

...That was even more unexpected than her appearance in the first place. Newson was stunned into silence again, for a significantly longer period of time, as she processed the possibility that someone so close to Henrik wasn’t angry at her. Was this...a trick?

Mina tried to fill the silence. “I know, I probably should be. And I have to be honest: I cannot say I...like you. But I need to—I-I need to know everything that happened. I have seen the news stories, and I’ve talked to the other doctor at the hospital, but...I-I don’t know. I do not know. I think you could help.”

Newson couldn’t help but laugh. Without opening the door any further, she said, “If you saw the trial, you know I was fucking awful to your husband. Why would you want my help for anything?”

“Because nobody will talk to me!” Mina’s voice cracked. “His friends hate me, Dr. Laurens was nice but I know she cannot discuss details. I even tried to find some of Henrik’s coworkers, but they were all busy and awkward and didn’t want to talk to me. I-I have—” She let out a small breath, heavy with exhaustion, and ran her hand through her hair. “I have been trying so hard to make up for the lost time. I-I need to talk to him so badly. But then, Dr. Laurens says he is...gone. Again. That he has been taken. So I cannot do that, a-and I...might not be able to ever again.” She pauses, blinking.

Unconsciously, Newson has opened the door a bit. It was...scary. Having someone so close to you disappear. She knew that. “You never know. The police could find him,” she said gently.

“But if they do not, I am missing this time,” Mina said quietly. “I need...I need to know what happened to him while I was gone. So that I can...” She pauses significantly, hesitating to finish that sentence. “I just need to know. Everything. You are the last person I can talk to.”

Newson laughed again, grimly. “Things must be really bad, then.”

Mina didn’t say anything more. She just...looked at her.

After a few moments, Newson sighed, and opened the door. “Alright. I can talk to you about him. It’ll put me in a horrible light, but I’ll help.”

Mina brightened up immediately. She started to step forward, but then hesitated. “You will tell me...everything you know? Even though it will make you look bad?”

“Yeah. I mean, I can’t hide from it, you know? I was...terrible. Can’t pretend I wasn’t, that’s how you stay stuck.” Newson sighed. “At least, that’s what Tom says.”

“Who?”

“My, uh...counselor,” Newson said awkwardly. “I should have gone to see someone sooner, but—a-anyway, I get it. You’re missing someone, so you’re trying to do what you can to make up for that. Seeking out information is pretty harmless.” At least compared to what she herself did in that same situation. “So...yeah, you can come on in. You don’t have to stay, though. If you decide you actually do hate me.”

A pause. “Thank you very much,” Mina said, her voice almost a whisper.

“You’re welcome, I guess.” Newson stepped aside so Mina could come in. She really hoped this wouldn’t turn out to be a mistake.

But...somehow, she didn’t think it would be. Maybe it was because...for the first time in a while, she felt there was someone who knew, if only a little.

——————

“I must say, I’m surprised to see you, Mr. Brody. Is everything okay? People don’t usually just drop by the police station.”

Chase laughed awkwardly, shifting in his chair. For some reason, he was flashing back to the couple times he’d gotten in trouble in elementary school. Probably because it was the same setup, with him sitting across from an authority figure sitting at a desk. But this was different. Detective Nix was much nicer than his school principal. Of course, he also had the power to get him in much more trouble. So maybe that was why he was a bit nervous. “No, everything’s fine. I was heading somewhere else and this was on the way. I, um...I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Oh?” Detective Nix idly straightened some of the papers on his desk. “And what is it?” He sounded like he already had a good idea.

“Well...” Chase hesitated. “I just wanted to know if you could...like...tell me how the case is coming along. With the search. And stuff.”

Nix nodded, his expectations fulfilled. “You know you could have called me. You still have the number I gave you, right?”

“Yeah. But, uh, like I said, it was on the way.” Chase laughed again. God, why was he laughing? That didn’t sound suspicious at all. Not that there was any reason to suspect him of anything illegal. Nope. Just nerves. “Anyway...do you guys have anything new? Figured out?”

A pause. Then, Nix sighed. “Mr. Brody. If you’re worried about us being able to find Anti and your friends, you don’t have to. The police force is very capable, after all.”

“You didn’t manage to track down Anti or Schneep during those nine months.” Chase immediately regretted saying that the moment the words left his mouth. He hadn’t meant to; it was just a knee jerk sort of reaction.

But, surprisingly, Nix gave him a small smile. “Well. That’s true. But that was because this Anti was well-supplied, with various stashes and safe houses across the city, and probably outside of it as well. Now, we know about his existence, we’ve found many of those safe houses and confiscated their contents. And, with your help, we’ve even uncovered his website on the dark web. He’s running out of places to hide, and it’s really only a matter of time before we corner him.”

Chase nodded. “I know, I know. I’m not doubting you guys or anything. I don’t know why I said that, really. Sorry.” He took a deep breath. “But...even knowing you guys are on the case, I’m still worried. A bit less worried, but...still. That doesn’t just go away. And I’d really like to get updated on what’s happening. Preferably...frequently? If it’s not too much trouble.”

Nix stared at him. The silence that followed could not have been longer than a few seconds, but it felt like minutes to Chase. What he said, about being worried, that was true. But he and Marvin had decided they would no longer sit on the sidelines and wait for something to happen. They were going to look into this on their own. Which required information. And that was the true main purpose of his stop by the police station.

It was also why he was so nervous. Sure, doing an investigation on their own time wasn’t illegal. There was nothing saying that only the police could look into cases. Private investigators existed, after all. Not to mention true crime shows and podcasts did their own amateur investigations anyway, and those weren’t against the law.

But still. He was nervous. If Nix, an experienced detective, figured out what they were planning and tried to talk them out of it, Chase was worried he would cave easily and give up. And that meant going back to just watching...and waiting...and worrying. And he was so tired of that. He so badly wanted to help, and this was what he could think of doing.

“Alright, I can tell you a couple details,” Nix finally said, breaking the silence. He leaned back in his chair and pulled open one of his desk drawers. “Just so you know we’re on the case.”

Chase slumped in relief. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” After a short moment, Nix pulled out a file and set it on the desk, opening up to a printed street map of the city. “Here’s an example of our progress.” He pushed the map towards Chase, which had circles and dots on it in pen. “Those circles are where we suspect Anti has safe houses and weapon stashes. If it’s crossed out, that means we’ve found something there. Those two scribbles were mistaken locations.”

Chase looked over the map. “That’s a lot of X’s,” he muttered. There were about ten circles drawn on the map, and only three remained un-crossed out.

“Exactly.”

“How’d you find all these places?”

“Well, it appears that Anti has himself a symbol. Hang on.” Nix pulled a loose piece of notebook paper out of the stack on his desk, then grabbed a pen from the nearby cup and started drawing. “It’s a semi-common practice, often used in gangs. It signals to other gangs, as well as anyone deep in the black market or various criminal enterprises, that this territory belongs to them. Anti seems to be using it for a similar purpose. Possibly to either attract his ‘customers’ or warn off threats.” And Nix slid the drawing across the table to Chase.

At first, the symbol appeared simple. A circle, inside a diamond, inside a square. But in actuality, it was a bit different. The ‘circle’ was actually a dot inside a hollow circle, and the left and right corners of the diamond were curved. The overall impression was that of an eye tilted ninety degrees so it was vertical instead of horizontal. “Huh.” Chase furrowed his brow. “Isn’t that...the one...?”

“That your friend Henrik saw, that led us to finding the first safe house with your friend Jackie inside,” Nix nodded. “It was painted on the street sign, but we’ve also found it scratched on fences and spray-painted on building walls. Never any bigger than hand-sized. It always means that Anti has something nearby.”

“That seems...kinda stupid, honestly,” Chase muttered. “If someone figures it out, it’s all over.”

Nix shrugged. “Gangs usually bank on the safety of numbers, thinking we’d be too scared to get in a fight with them. But in this case, we know it’s just one person. Not as much risk.”

Chase nodded slowly. “Um...can I keep this?”

“Sure.” Nix shrugged.

“Thanks.” Chase folded up the paper and put it in his coat pocket. “Uh...do you have any ideas...where Anti himself could be?”

“Hopefully, at one of these remaining locations,” Nix said, gesturing at the map again. “We haven’t found the symbol at any of these places yet, but we’re looking. And if he’s not in any of those, well, there’s only so many places in one city someone can hide.”

Again, Chase nodded. But what if...what if they weren’t in the city? What if Anti had fled, taking Jameson and Schneep with him? He pushed the thought out of his head. No, he shouldn’t assume things that they had no proof of. That wasn’t good for his mental state, he knew. “Thanks, Detective,” he said, standing up. “Can you...You have my number, right?”

“I’ll call you with any updates,” Nix assured him.

“Thanks.”

Nix tilted his head. “You have a good day.”

“Yeah, you too. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Chase turned around, trying not to walk too fast as he left the police station. He came for information, and he was walking away with some. Not as much as he would have liked. But it was a start.

——————

Marvin took a deep breath as he stood outside the door. It was cool. Everything was okay. Nothing to worry about. In fact, shouldn’t he be happy? He was visiting a friend, one they had feared they’d never see again. That was great. He was just anxious. That’s all.

He cleared his throat, and stepped inside the room.

Jackie yelped, sitting straight up in bed and wildly looking around. He calmed down when he noticed Marvin, but still looked a bit shaken. “By jesus! Marvin!” He leaned forward, breathing out. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry, I thought you’d noticed me. I mean...the door is open. I was standing right there.” Marvin shifted awkwardly on his feet.

“You were. I was just, uhh...not paying attention,” Jackie said.

Marvin narrowed his eyes. The TV wasn’t on. Jackie didn’t have a book or a phone or computer. When Marvin had approached the doorway—and stood there for quite a while—Jackie had just been staring at nothing. Marvin assumed he didn’t say anything for some other reason, but...“Daydreaming again?”

“Yeah,” Jackie mumbled. “But hey. You’re here now. C’mon, sit down.” He gestured to a nearby chair.

Walking closer to the hospital bed, Marvin grabbed said chair and pulled it over. He sat down slowly. “So...How are you?”

“Uhhhh good, I guess. I mean, all things considered.” Jackie shrugged. “I can, like, walk better. But apparently I still have to stay in bed most of the time, unless it’s for physical therapy. Kind of boring. But that’s fine.”

“You’re...impatient, right?” Marvin asked. “It’s only been like two weeks, you know. This kind of thing doesn’t just fix itself overnight.”

“No, no, I know that.” Jackie waved off Marvin’s comment. “Doesn’t make it better, though.”

“Yeah.” Marvin nodded understandingly.

“Especially since...” Jackie hesitated. Then he scooted a bit closer to Marvin. “I met up with Jack a few days ago. He told me...he told me that Anti got Schneep again.” His voice cracked.

“...he did,” Marvin growled. “Fucking freak.”

Jackie was gripping the edge of the hospital blankets. He squeezed them tight, wringing them back and forth. “I—I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said quietly. “Schneep...Hen. The thought of—Anti—and Hen being stuck there again, it’s—it’s just awful.”

Marvin nodded awkwardly. He wasn’t sure if Jackie was looking for reassurance or just venting his anxieties. “Do you...want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

“I—I don’t know. Why it’s so awful, I guess.”

Jackie looked at Marvin directly in the eyes—something that his friends rarely did, since they knew how Marvin wasn’t comfortable with eye contact. “Because Anti is fucking terrible,” Jackie said, dead serious. “Nobody else was there. I know how he interacted with Schneep. I-it was...” Jackie took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to hear about this?”

“If you want to talk about it,” Marvin said evenly.

“I-it was just—the things he did, Marvin. It was like the whole thing was a game for Anti. I mean, I wasn’t there for all of it. Hen and I were separated a lot, I was stuck in the basement most of the time and he was upstairs. But what I did see a-and experience...fuck, man. I’d go a few days without seeing Schneep, maybe even a week or two, and then he’d show up again, a-and he’d just be a wreck. Half the time, he’d be sobbing because of what Anti made him help with. The other half, he wouldn’t even know where he was, o-or what he was doing there, because Anti would feed him a bunch of these lies, fucking...deliberately twisting his delusions.” Jackie shuddered, his tone disgusted. “Fucking...evil. Evil is the only word I can say.”

He paused, but then continued. “I-I remember one time, Schneep came down the stairs, and I had to just sit with him because he was terrified. He kept saying ‘Anti gets power from speaking his name,’ over and over, in English and German, too. Crying about Anti’s eyes being in the ceiling, or something. Calling him some sort of shadow monster. A-and I had to—I had to help him. He was having another panic attack, and I had to ground him.” Jackie’s eyes grew distant. “It...it hardly ever worked. Usually he just wore himself out and eventually fell asleep. I wonder if Anti was drugging him or something. Using some sort of substance to make it all worse. Because...it never worked. It never worked. He was just so...so scared of it all.”

Marvin couldn’t say anything. He was stunned, shocked speechless. Even if he could put the horror he felt into words, his throat had closed up. All he did was shake his head.

Jackie buried his face in his hands. He took a few more deep breaths, until the shakiness eventually subsided. “Sorry, Marv,” he mumbled. “You didn’t come here to hear all my trauma.”

“U-uh a-act—” Marvin struggled on his words for a bit before giving up and turning to sign language. Actually...I did come here to talk about something serious. I guess it’s related.

Jackie looked up at him. “What d’you mean?” he asked cautiously.

Chase and I are going to investigate, Marvin said. We’re going to find out where Anti is, and where Schneep and JJ are.

“...what.” Jackie blinked. “You...are going to...Marvin. I’m not sure if you know this, but that’s exactly how I got kidnapped. And I have experience in investigation.”

We’re not going to confront him or anything. Might not even go to any physical places. But we have to do SOMETHING, Marvin emphasized. So, if we can at least figure that out, we can tell the police and they can do all the dangerous shit.

“...okay.”

Marvin made a strange choking sound. “Y-you—just—like that?!”

Jackie smiled sadly. “I told you, right? I can’t stop thinking about Schneep being back there. And JJ, too, fuck. Anti was pulling every trick in the manipulation book on him, and it’s probably even worse now. So. Yeah. What can I do to help?”

Honestly, Marvin hadn’t expected it to be this easy. He didn’t know if Jackie would want to talk about the serious stuff. But apparently, he did. So...might as well. “Um...just talk about what you remember, I guess. Like, any details that might help find him.”

Jackie nodded. “Right. Of course. This detective came by a while ago, asked about the same thing. Only fair that you guys know too. Apparently the police have found a whole bunch of locations, including the first house.”

“First house?”

“The one Schneep and I were trapped in,” Jackie explained. “And Rya, too—er, Dr. Laurens. You know her?” He waited for Marvin to nod. “Yeah. She was there for a bit, but she escaped. And after that happened, Anti moved me back to that second house, where the police eventually found me. Well.” He paused, thinking about it. “Actually, I was in that flat for a while.”

“...you were in an apartment?” Marvin asked, confused. “Do the police know about that?”

“Yeah, yeah, I told them, too. It was—okay, let me start over.” Jackie sat up straight, holding his hands out in front of him as if indicating the length of something. He gestured vaguely along this imaginary length, silently getting his thoughts in order. Putting together a timeline. “Okay. I track down Schneep. He’s in this house with Anti, and I get caught and also kept there. That’s the first house. After months, Anti abandons Schneep or something, and for some reason takes me to this flat. I don’t remember much of that trip, I was drugged for most of it. But eventually, we go back to the first house. Rya—Dr. Laurens—is there for a while, then she escapes, and Anti takes me back to the flat. I think he was out of sedatives, because I was conscious for this. Then JJ gets caught, and Anti takes us to a second house, where we stay until he decides to take just JJ...and Schneep, apparently. And leaves me behind.”

Marvin nods. “So, those two trips to an apartment. You’re sure it was the same place both times?”

“Uh-huh. I recognized the wallpaper and stuff.” Jackie shrugged. “Probably not all that reliable, considering the drugging I mentioned before, but I’m like 90% sure.”

“Huh.” Marvin pulled his fingers. “Sounds like he retreats to this apartment or wherever when things get tight for him. It sounds like the two times he brought you there, he was worried about information about him getting out through Schneep or Dr. Laurens.”

“I thought so, too,” Jackie muttered.

“Do you think he’s there now?”

Jackie blinked. “Huh?”

“I mean...if he goes there when shit gets rough, and the last times he did was because he lost a hostage or whatever, wouldn’t he do it now?” Marvin reasoned. “After all, you could tell the police information same as Schneep or Laurens.”

“...huh. I...hadn’t thought of that.” Jackie sat back, and considered it. “But...I know about this flat. Would he risk going there?”

“You don’t know anything about what’s outside, though, right? And that’s what’s important.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” Jackie looked at Marvin, impressed. “Good job, man. I didn’t catch that possibility. You ever think about being an investigator?”

“Nope. Sounds like too much pressure.” Marvin shrugged.

“But...you’re doing investigator stuff right now.”

“Yeah, but only for JJ and Schneep. I can’t imagine doing it for strangers like you do. Seems...overwhelming,” Marvin said carefully.

Jackie gave him a small smile. “Well...if you ever change your mind.”

“I’ll make a note of that.” Marvin returned the smile, then dropped it, going back to the serious matter at hand. “Now. Is there anything else you remember?”

——————

Laurens wasn’t sure why she continued to come in to work. She hadn’t had anything to do for the past two weeks. Dr. Fells didn’t want to assign her any more patients because of the “pressure she must be under,” and without patients, there was nothing for a psychiatrist to do.

Yet, it seemed a good thing that she kept clocking in. Because visitors kept coming here looking for her.

She was working the front desk today. Technically, she didn’t have to, but again, there was practically no job for her without anyone to work with. So, she volunteered to take over the desk during her shift so that busier people could do their duties. She was idly playing solitaire on the desktop computer when the front door opened. And when she looked up, she saw a pair of familiar faces.

“Oh cool, you’re just right here.” Chase smiled and waved at her, quickly closing the distance between them as Marvin followed.

Laurens nodded at them, faintly surprised. “Um...hello. What are you two doing here? You know, now that...” She hesitated to say it. “Well, there’s no reason to.”

“We, uh, wanted to talk to you, actually.” Chase fidgets with the zipper on his jacket. “See...we had this idea. We really wanted to, like, do something to help. You know? A-and we thought...you might want to help, too?”

Laurens stared at him over the edge of the desk. “Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Help what?”

“Uh—”

“So you remember how I broke in here?” Marvin asked. “To do some investigating? We’re gonna do more of that.”

“Breaking and entering?!” Laurens asked, alarmed.

“No, investigating!” Marvin hurried to correct. “We’re probably not gonna break into anywhere.”

“He means we’re definitely not going to do that!” Chase added, somewhat panicked. “Because that’ll be illegal and dangerous!”

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to be so loud about it.” Laurens was still unsure what the two of them were proposing. “What do you mean by investigating?”

Chase coughed, clearing his throat. He leaned closer to Laurens, across the front desk. “We’re going to try and find Schneep and JJ.”

Laurens blinked. “...wait. You mean...like vigilantes?”

“We were thinking more like private eyes,” Marvin said.

“But...don’t you need a license for that?”

“Actually, no,” Chase said. “I mean, you can get one. It gives you some credibility. But it’s not required by law, according to Jackie. At least, not in the UK.” He paused. “He has one, though. Says it makes it a lot easier. But, uh...we’re not becoming investigators. We’re just...looking for them. On our own. And...we wondered if you wanted to help.”

“I...” Laurens had to process this. Honestly, it seemed like a very dumb idea. Because...what if, in the course of looking for their friends...they found them? And, therefore, found Anti? What would he do if he knew they were searching for them? “Ar-aren’t the police handling this? You two really don’t need to—”

“We’re not going to just wait,” Marvin interrupted, frustrated.

“Well, why not?” Laurens stood up from her seat at the desk. “Yes, it’s terrible waiting, but it’s a lot less dangerous than looking for a serial killer!”

“Look, we might be in danger anyway,” Marvin said. “We’re friends with the two guys who Anti seems to be obsessed with. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to kidnap or murder us one day.”

“Grim, much?” Chase muttered.

“Grim, but possible,” Marvin insisted. “So, might as well try to do something along the way.”

Laurens started to protest again, but then stopped. Didn’t Marvin have a point? After all, Anti had...taken her, as well. Just because she was assigned to Schneep’s case. She didn’t like reflecting on the month she’d spent in captivity with Jackie, but that didn’t erase it from the past. Or erase the possibility that Anti could, once again, try to find her. She shuddered. “...alright. I guess...I can help a bit. I don’t really have much else going on, anyway.”

Chase and Marvin exchanged a look. Happy that she agreed, but also not forgetting the seriousness of what they were doing. “Thanks,” Chase said softly. “Is there...a time we can get together to talk, or...?”

“I have a pretty regular schedule. My shifts are around ten to three each day,” Laurens said.

“Great. Neither of us have anything to do, really. My only thing is when I have the kids over for the weekend, and it’s Monday so they’re already back with Stacy.”

“Yeah I got nothing. Sooner the better,” Marvin added.

The three of them talked for a few minutes before agreeing to meet tomorrow at 3:30, with Chase’s house as the designated meeting spot. Once they decided on that, the two men quickly left the hospital, with Chase once again thanking Laurens for agreeing to help them. Marvin didn’t say anything, but he nodded every time Chase thanked her.

Now alone again, Laurens sat back down, leaned back in her chair, and let out a long, slow breath. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Her every instinct was screaming “Danger! Danger! You’re going to get killed!” But...Anti had already planned to do that. So, really, what was stopping him from doing that on his own? Marvin was right. Might as well try to fix this mess on the way. So, even if she was still uneasy about it, she would try. She would try.

——————

It had been two weeks exactly. JJ could tell that Anti was going crazy being stuck in the tiny apartment. He was spending more and more time pacing about randomly, or muttering to himself angrily while on the computer. When not doing either of those two things, he was either messing with Schneep—he tried to do it when Jameson wasn’t paying attention, but JJ could still hear the things he was saying to Henrik—or pretending everything was normal.

That seemed to be his new strategy for dealing with Jameson. Pretend everything was normal. Like they were a normal family, and not, in fact, an assassin/serial killer and his estranged brother who he’d kidnapped. At first, Jameson tried to resist this strange new change. It was...weird. But that only led to Anti’s mask cracking, giving in to threatening him and Schneep. So, now? Jameson just went along with it. Not to say he cooperated. But he didn’t cause any trouble. Maybe, if Anti slowly lowered his guard enough, JJ and Schneep could find some way to escape.

Part of the “normalcy” strategy was dinner. For the past five nights, Anti had dragged Jameson over to the apartment’s kitchen, where there was a small square table set up, and made him eat dinner with him. As if that could convince Jameson to be friendly again.

Either way, Jameson refused to participate. Every night, he would just sit there quietly, listening to Anti talk. Afterwards, he would go back to the bedroom to bring Schneep some food, since he wasn’t allowed out. He’d stay there, talk with Schneep some more, and eventually fall asleep, waiting to see if the next day would bring an opportunity to get out of here.

This night was no different. At around 6:00, according to the living room’s wall clock, Anti put away his computer and silently appeared in the bedroom doorway, staring at Jameson until he stood up and followed him into the kitchen. Tonight was soup. Not that it mattered. The same thing happened anyway, they sat down, and Anti started talking about something or other.

It was always the same. Why? Didn’t Anti know by now that this wasn’t going to get Jameson to like him again?

Maybe he knew. But maybe, he just wanted to pretend.

“—swear to god, it’s like they’re trying to be as annoying as possible.”

Anti sounded irritated. Jameson briefly snapped out of his internal reflection on the fruitlessness of this exercise, wondering what he was going on about tonight.

“Maybe I just never noticed it because I never spent this long in this place,” Anti was saying. He scowled. “But I don’t think that’s it. I think they’re new in the building. Fucking hell, though, I swear they’re tap dancing up there. Have you noticed it?”

Jameson blinked, and said nothing.

“Of course you have, not sure how you couldn’t,” Anti continued. “It’s at like three a.m., too, fuck.”

Wait a minute. Jameson actually knew what he was talking about. A couple times the past few nights, when he couldn’t sleep, he could hear the sound of heavy footsteps from upstairs. It didn’t help the sleeping matter. Partially because of the noise, partially because it was really bizarre to think about other people, going about their lives, completely unaware of what was happening literally beneath their feet.

“I don’t want to talk to them or anything,” Anti muttered. “Don’t want to show my face to anyone around here. It’s very identifiable.” His tone sounded bitter as he unconsciously reached up to touch the scars on his face. “And I don’t even have anything here to make a proper disguise. Shit sucks.”

Jameson started to space out again. This wasn’t anything important. He looked down at the table, stirring his soup with a spoon. He wondered where all the utensils were. He hadn’t seen any in the two weeks he and Schneep had been stuck here.

“Luckily, nobody here cares. Which is good, that’s why I picked it out. This neighborhood sucks, most people know not to poke their heads into places where they might lose it.” Anti chuckled, but then his expression darkened. “Although...there was this one guy. A real fucking pox. He’d show up at everyone’s doors asking them to keep the place neat. Shut the fuck up, nobody cares about neatness in a place like this.”

Where was this apartment located, anyway? That bit about the neighborhood sucking was the first hint Jameson had gotten about that. Huh. Maybe, if he figured it out, he could then find some way to get a message about where they were to...someone? The police, maybe?

“He might’ve just been annoying if he hadn’t gotten all hot about the graffiti.” Anti leaned back in the chair. “Wanted to find out who in the building was doing it. And at that point, he crossed the line. Can’t have anyone paying too close attention to that.” A smile twisted his face. “Well. Doesn’t matter now. That guy’s been taken care of.”

He said it so casually. Jameson tried to keep his expression neutral. It didn’t matter. He already knew what sort of person Anti was. Anti had made that abundantly clear two weeks ago, when he’d left Jackie behind.

Was he still talking? He was. Jameson gave up on paying attention and let his mind wander. He wondered if Schneep would be awake when he went back to the bedroom. Wondered if he’d ask him about how dinner went. Wondered if...if Anti would follow through on any of his threats he’d made towards Schneep.

Well. According to Anti, that depended on Jameson. 

And he knew he couldn’t let that happen.

So, for now, he sat at the table and pretended to listen to Anti. Pretended Anti was right, in thinking everything would go back to normal.

——————

It was late into the night by now. Newson could see the moon through the gap in her curtains. She couldn’t remember the last time she spent so much time with someone. And of all the people, it was Henrik’s ex-wife. Neither of them had meant this to happen. But somehow, they were here now. Honestly? Newson strongly suspected the half-empty bottle of wine on her coffee table had something to do with it. But she didn’t care.

“It’s the chance that...that we could have missed this, you know?” Mina was saying, half-lying and half-sitting on Newson’s sofa. “I think we never should have took a break in the first place. That everyone was right, I should have stayed by him both times.”

Newson leaned back in her chair, settling against the upholstery. “What was the deal in the first place? Why’d you take that break? Fighting or something?”

“He started to act strange,” Mina said. Her eyes glazed over with recollection. “Looking back now, I recognize the symptoms. But at the time, I just thought he was having weird mood swings from stress. I did worry he was depressed. But he did not want to talk about it. Eventually, out of nowhere, he accused me of...of...ah, what’s the word? Being...unfaithful.”

“He thought you cheated on him?” Newson repeated, surprised. “You seem really nice, though.”

“Danke. I mean, Thank you. But see, this is the strange part. He thought the other man was my tennis instructor. But...I do not have one. I like playing, but only with friends, for fun. Why would I have an instructor? And I think, at the time I think, I think...” Mina stumbled over her words for a bit. “I think he is wanting me out of the picture for some reason, and making up an excuse. So I say, ‘we take a break.’ And we do, and then about a month later he realizes the truth. This disorder that he has.”

“But you said you wanted to get back together, right?”

“Well, this is the thing. We were starting to. Around in...last June...ish.” Mina shrugged. “His idea. But he was not quite sure, so he didn’t want to be public about it in case we didn’t fit anymore. I say, yes. I want this. And...and things were all going great. Until that August.” Her eyes started to tear up. “And then I left. And I never should have done that.”

“Hey, I mean, it’s not your fault, is it?” Newson shrugged, mirroring Mina exactly. “Everyone was fooled. That other guy, uhhhh I’ve forgot his name, but the real bad guy. He did a good job of setting him up. We all thought he did it.”

“His friends hate me now,” Mina muttered. “Because I left.”

“Tell them to fuck off next time you see them. I bet they thought he did it, too.”

“I should have come back sooner.” Mina leaned forward, rubbing the sides of her head. “Before he was taken again. Because now...now I may not see him again. I may not get to tell him I’m sorry, or that I really...I really still love him. Or that...” She trailed off. “They’ll never meet. A-and I cannot bear to think of that. I should have come back sooner. Should have kept up with the news. But I did not. And now I’ve missed him. I-I cannot see him again. It’s too late.”

Newson fell quiet. Then, she nodded. “It sucks, doesn’t it? It’s like having a hole inside you.”

“You understand?” Mina asked, looking up.

“Kinda. It’s not exactly the same thing, but...kinda.” Newson paused. “I had a brother, you know. Jeremy. We were twins, each other’s only family. But he’s gone now. I thought Henrik killed him, but apparently it’s that other guy who did it.” She blinked. “That lost time...I hate it. I hate that we’ll never celebrate our birthday again. Or that I can’t text him and ask if he wants to go to dinner at that new shop that opened recently. Even the little things, you know? Like, he used to constantly complain about people vandalizing the building he lived in, talked about all this little graffiti. It was annoying, sometimes, but...now I miss it. He was determined to find the culprit. But he never did.”

Mina nodded. “The little things. Henrik and I would watch TV together. Only with each other.” She giggled a bit. “He would always complain when a character was injured and then instantly got back up. He said it was inaccurate and no fun, anyway.”

It was strange to hear these things about Henrik. And, really, it made Newson feel even worse than she already did about how she treated him. For the longest time, he was just the bad guy in her mind. The one who killed Jeremy. Not someone who had friends and a job and a partner. Not someone who did things like complain about TV shows. Maybe that was why she didn’t have any problem doing those things. Hard to be cruel to someone you knew was a person.

“...Mina. Listen.” Newson sat straight up. “You have a chance.”

“Huh?” Mina glanced at her, confused.

“Henrik isn’t dead. I don’t think this bad guy would hurt him. Er...at least not permanently. You have a chance to talk to him a-and watch TV shows together again.”

“Jennifer, they can’t find him,” Mina said softly.

“Well, then, you fucking do it. I don’t know.” Newson shook her head. “And if you can’t, get help. Henrik had friends, they’re probably as upset as you are.”

“Did you hear me? I said they probably hate me now.”

“I dunno,” Newson said vaguely. “Maybe they’ll put that aside if you’re real with them. Like you have been with me. I mean, seriously. How did this happen?”

Mina didn’t say anything, but she still looked unsure.

“Hate is a product of love,” Newson said quietly. “If you love someone, you hate those that hurt them. Even if it was an accident or misunderstanding or you only thought you knew what was going on. Henrik’s friends love him a lot. He’s lucky like that. Not everyone has that. So it makes sense they’re defensive of him. It’s not really your fault. After all, you didn’t mean any harm. So you have that going for you.”

“It is getting them to listen that’s the problem,” Mina mumbled.

“Well they can’t listen if you don’t talk,” Newson pointed out. “You gotta try, at least. Maybe you start out with the big news. You know. Come right out and say it. That’ll get them to think about it further.”

“I think...you are right,” Mina said tentatively. “It will be tough. But I have to try.”

“You have to,” Newson repeated. “Oh. And, uh, if I can give you any other advice? Just...about life in general? Don’t...hate. Even if it seems right. It’s just poison.” Her voice fell quiet. “It’s just poison.”

Mina stood up, staying surprisingly steady. She walked over to Newson, and took her hand, squeezing it tight. “Thank you,” she said softly.

Newson rolled her eyes. “It’s still weird to me that you showed up. But...well. You’re welcome, I guess.” Her voice softened. “I should be thanking you, actually. So...thank you. You’re a good person.”

Mina smiled a bit. “I will be seeing you, then.” And without another word, she left, heading out into the hall. The front door opened and slowly closed.