distorted dreams

chapter six;

Jay leaned against a nearby telephone pole, their heart pounding in their chest. Hope didn't move for a few minutes, as she was observing the posters still. Maxwell, however, immediately turned to Jay.

"Your friend-" He said softly, as though Jay hadn't already understood that point.

Jay closed their eyes, taking deep breaths. What if Amelia was really alive, and with the other people who'd been taken? After all, she too was stolen via one of Jay's creatures. If so, why might the case have been so suddenly reopened? Did the police know about Jay's abilities?

The questions raced through Jay's mind, making them panic more than they thought was humanly possible. Even if someone didn't know, they could find out. Then what would happen to Jay? Would they be experimented on like they'd seen in all those sci-fi dramas? Would she be killed? Would Hope and Maxwell get hurt too?

Maxwell put his hand on Jay's shoulder, seeming incredibly concerned. "J-Jay?"

Hope spun around and, before Jay could even speak, began talking very quickly. "We have to get back to our research, we have to find a way to this realm-"

"Maybe we should just leave it to the authorities..." Maxwell mumbled, glancing at Jay.

"No- we can't-" Hope urged, her voice shaking a bit. "Jay could be in danger if we do so-"

Jay snapped back to reality, their eyes wide. "Hope is right."

Maxwell swiveled to face Jay. "No no, Hope is going to get us in trouble!"

Hope huffed, walking towards the two. "We just need to keep Jay safe, and get those people back!" She shot back at Maxwell.

Hope and Maxwell began bickering, their loud voices making Jay's ears ring. Jay covered their entire face with their hands, biting their lip hard enough to draw blood.

With the sound of their friend's argument blocked out, Jay peered between the gap where their fingers split. They began walking, not knowing whether Hope or Max had even noticed that they were leaving.

They didn't, in fact, and just continued back and forth until about five minutes later. Hope paused mid-sentence, knitting her brows together in confusion.

"Where's Jay..?"

Maxwell glanced around, pursing his lips into a thin line. "Shoot-"

Hope sighed in a mixture of frustration and panic. She was certainly angry at Maxwell, but another argument would just be a waste of time.

She began walking back down the street they'd came from, with Maxwell following behind silently. It was awkwardly tense, and neither one of them particularly enjoyed it, but they trekked on regardless in search of Jay.

--

Jay sat on the ground, pulling at the wispy strands of grass that surrounded them. Their heart ached as they looked around slowly at all the trees surrounding this tiny clearing.

Amelia used to love climbing the trees with Jay. Neither of them really cared when they fell and scraped their knees, because Amelia always seemed to have band-aids with her.

Jay missed those times, when they could be careless and free. When their definition of stress was the threat of missing their favorite TV program. Or a day could be only happy, with no anxiety or sadness to cloud up Jay's mind.

Jay missed Amelia more than most people could ever understand. They remembered when she'd bring her collection of pens and pencils, and the two of them would spend the entire day writing and drawing.

Jay didn't realize they were crying until they felt a gentle splash on their hand. They coughed, wiping their eyes just in case anyone could see. Jay refused to cry in front of people, for they didn't want anyone to see how weak they were.

Still, even as Jay wiped their eyes with their sleeve, trying desperately to keep their breathing steady, the tears continued to flow. Jay inhaled shakily, trying to hold back the sob that threatened to escape their lips.

Part of Jay knew that this whole escapade was silly. Even assuming this was Jay's fault, which may not even be true, how were they supposed to fix it?

Jay and their friends were just regular teenagers. They weren't heroes, they'd never be heroes. No matter how hard they tried, they would be powerless in the situation.

It had begun to feel useless.

Jay couldn't hold it back any longer. They let out a broken sob, pressing their face into their hands.

Often times, Jay made jokes about them self dying. It was normal, most people would just see it as a part of their personality. There were so many times, however, Jay was not kidding about what they said.

Jay knew it seemed selfish to say, since they knew people really would care, but it just felt so hard sometimes. They knew it was their fault Amelia was gone. They would never, ever feel the happiness they'd once felt with Amelia again.

Jay wiped their eyes, sighing heavily as the tears began to slow.

"I just want to be normal.." They muttered, calming their breathing.

"No one's normal.." Jay jumped at the sound of a voice behind them.

They turned, seeing Hope walking towards them slowly, and sighed in relief. Hope sat down in the grass beside Jay, pulling her knees up to her chest and staying quiet for a while.

"I'm sorry Jay." She said after a while, glancing over at Jay.

Jay shook their head, looking down. "For what? You didn't do anything."

Hope looked at Jay, frowning softly. "No. I haven't tried hard enough to find a solution to this. Neither has Max.." She gestured towards the trees, which led Jay to believe Maxwell was probably hiding there.

Jay glanced up. "Well neither have I-"

"But you're the one going through all of this, Jay. I don't blame you." Hope murmured.

The two fell quiet, staring at one another.

"We're going to figure this out." Hope said after a while, standing up.

Jay had their doubts, but they nodded regardless. They stood too, glancing at the trees.

"Is he just waiting for us in there?" They mumbled.

Hope laughed softly, then nodded."Yeah, he was nervous about talking to you for some reason, so I didn't wanna push it."

Jay laughed along with Hope, then shuffled towards the trees with a small smile upon their face.

There was something so odd about the way Hope and Maxwell could make Jay happy so quickly. It reminded Jay that there really was value in this life, and they truly should continue to live to their fullest.

Jay was terrified of losing the two of them, of course, but they had hope that they'd all be together forever. They were going to fix this, maybe they really would become heroes.