STRING

T E N

"I can't see you in you."

He teared down for a long time as seen from his pale skinned face. He looked weak. Jimmy gripped hard on something in his fist. It was his soul thread.

"Jimmy!" Charlie rushed toward Jimmy. He took a knee down in front of Jimmy to hug him tight. It was a relief. He planted his face on his little brother's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"I miss you, Charlie..." He whined, sobbed hard. "Take me home..."

"I will."

"Charlie... He's been hurting me..." Jimmy lifted his pointing finger to the boy not far from them. The swarthy boy was standing with anger painted on his glare.

"Listen, Jimmy, no matter what happens, never lose this thread from your finger. Never,"Charlie reminded him.

"I know," said Jimmy. "He told me he wanted this string, Charlie... He said he wanted my body."

"Never let him have it. I'll take you home. Come, stand," Charlie lifted Jimmy up, carried his weight yet he could not even stand.

The devil was already standing in front of them when they turned around. The boy roared loudly. He unleashed his whole rage and leaped closer to land his crooked legs on Charlie's chest, his hands throttled Charlie very tight until no breath went through his throat. The assault moved, pushed Charlie far away from his current spot, his back was thrown against the ground. He saw Jimmy bounce to another direction and then he fainted.

– – –

"Charlie, you're alive!"

He recognized the voice right before he opened his eyes. Camilo with his bright eyes watched him laying inside a cold room, plastered by creamy wallpaper all around the walls and also the ceiling. "W-where am I?"

"Hospital. Sandra called me to come here to take care of you both."

"Both?" Charlie asked. Cam pointed his glance to another bed inside the room. Isadora was there, laying and sleeping. The different condition was that her head was bandaged. There was blood on her left temple. "Isa... What happened to her?"

"Doctor said you guys are okay. She just needs to rest more since her head is wounded. Someone found you in the valley of Rattlesnake Point and brought you here. What are you doing on the hill, anyway?" Cam explained briefly with a question as an end.

"It's related to Jimmy," Charlie said. "Where is Sandra?"

"Well, about Jimmy, he's already awake. Sandra is with him," When Cam stated so, Charlie let his mouth be disclosed, surprised.

Without replying, he directly rushed to the other room nearby, in the hospital. Before he reached the door he heard his brother laughing loudly. He sounded very happy. He saw Jimmy sitting on his bed, looking comfortable while Sandra fed him with oatmeal. They both noticed his attendance, Sandra smiled bigger. But everything seemed wrong when the smile on Jimmy's face disappeared.

Charlie replaced his happiness by suspicion. They stared at each other, then Jimmy smirked.

"Charlie! Come in, see your brother, he's so happy!" Sandra welcomed him warmly, Charlie entered the room with doubt on his face. Every step he laid was unsure to get closer to bed but Jimmy bent his body to hug him.

"I miss you," Jimmy said. Charlie took a moment to rub Jimmy's hair. He did not respond.

"Doctor said he might take time to remember, so right now he probably tries hard to recognize things you both know. Don't go too hard." Sandra patted her palm on Charlie's shoulder. He went silent still. "He can go home tomorrow. So it's fine if you wanna stay here tonight. I'll clean the mess at home."

Charlie sat down, his hand held Jimmy's hand. It was very unusually cold.

"Charlie?" Sandra made sure he was fine. "You're listening?"

"Y-yeah. I'll stay tonight."

"Camilo will accompany you. Just don't do stupid things," Sandra kissed his head, she did to Jimmy as well before she left. They now were just both, staring at each other.

When the night came, Charlie went back to the room where he woke up. He was looking at Isa from the edge of her bed. She looked in a peaceful slumber, but he was sure it was just a sick sleep. He held her hand tight, "I need you."

It showed midnight. He left the room to go back to Jimmy's ward. Cam was there already, they replaced in charge. Before he entered the room, he snooped near the door.

Jimmy was singing. Cam was reading a magazine, but he soon disturbed the song, "Jimmy, you've been singing that creepy song four times, it's midnight, can't you stop?"

Jimmy gave a cold glare to him, "I love this song."

"Okay..." Cam triggered, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Camilo lied. He was about to meet Charlie to report the strange things that happened to his brother. When he went outside, Charlie was near.

"Charlie!" he whispered, "Your brother is so creepy! He's been singing The Hearse Song for a thousand times."

"It's not Jimmy," Charlie pulled his friend's hand to follow him back to Isa's room. "There is a demon boy and he took Jimmy's body. Isadora is the only one who can tell us what's going on."

"Is she in the same trouble that Jimmy had?" Cam stared at the sleeping girl. "Maybe you should kiss her."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Can you stop messing around?"

"Well, it works in many movies. Probably a warm action will pull a person back to their life," Cam shrugged, it was obvious he tried to not burst out laughter.

"Why don't you do it, then?" Charlie dared him, but Cam gladly accepted.

"My pleasure," Cam grinned wide to the exciting challenge. He went closer to Isa.

"Oh, shit," Charlie dashed to the other side of the bed. He placed his lips against hers before Cam did what he commanded.

"Woah, you're fast," Cam joked, letting them enjoy their moment.

In their kiss, Charlie could feel something move. Isadora opened her eyes. He soon released her lips, pulled himself away from her. They both went blushing.

"Voila, it truly worked!" Cam stood for applause.

Isa slowly sat up, rubbing her injured head. She was too embarrassed to raise her glance up to watch the people around her. Charlie took a seat on the chair beside the table. "You're alright?"

"I saw your brother in the valley," Isa started talking. "And someone else."

"Who?" Charlie asked.

"Josh Michael."

* * *