Pulled In

7

Johnny Ghost

I got out if the shower as quickly as possible and found everyone in the living room. Toast and Elizabeth were sat on the couch, and Grayson was sitting in the corner on the floor like he was in time out, wearing his pajamas he had landed in and the coat Jimmy had stolen for him for some reason. I didn't remember details about what Jimmy did as well as he remembers details about what I do.

Toast looked up from his phone when I came in, and I was suddenly aware that I was still shirtless.
"Oh good, you're back. The police have found six bodies in the past twenty minutes. Please tell me that's all they'll find."

I shrugged and looked to Grayson, who started doing that 'I'm totally innocent' whistle that people only do when they are very guilty and have no sense of subtlety. We all looked at him.
"Beats me, I lost count after ten."

Elizabeth and Toast both went paler than usual. Grayson didn't particularly care and just laughed some more. I sat down in a chair opposite the couch and relaxed a little, very tired from Jimmy's little adventure. Before I could doze off, Toast began the police style questioning (I can make that comparison because I've been arrested multiple times).

"So what did you do? Because someone decided they wouldn't tell us."
He pointed a thumb at Grayson.

I thought, trying my best to remember.
Alright Jimmy, what happened?

Silence for a minute.

Well, we talked for a little. Then I gave him Knifey. Then-

Wait. I cut him off. You GAVE him Knifey? You barely let me carry the stupid thing and I am YOU!

He ignored me and kept talking.

Then I got bored and we jumped out the window to do some murder because I lack self control and he does too.

So where do the jacket and boots come in?

Well, we got into town and I realized a teenager walking around in only his sock was a bit weird, even in this city, so after the first guy died I let the kid take his shoes, and then things were fine for a while. Until it started raining. I run around in the rain a lot so I'm used to it, but the kid was getting cold, so I told him to wait in an alley while I stole the jacket from the weird clothes store next to Taco Bell.

And then what happened?

Well, a few more people died and then we got bored and came back.

He seemed done, so I relayed all this to the others. Toast gave me a weird look at the mention of Jimmy's random kindness to this kid he had just met, but otherwise just nodded along. Elizabeth still seemed to be trying to understand everything around her so she wasn't talking much.

When I was done, everything was quiet.
"Well, I'm going to bed."
And I left before I passed out in my chair.

Sometime around midnight, I left my room. Being me (and also Jimmy), I had a hard time sleeping through most nights. So I decided to just roll with it and make myself some coffee.

I made my way to the kitchen, quiet so I didn't wake up Elizabeth and Grayson who were bunking in the living room.

I got to the kitchen and found someone was already there, pacing and mumbling to themselves.
"Jimmy?"

As soon as I said it, I realized it was actually Grayson. It was weird how alike they looked. He was still wearing the jacket over his pajamas.

"What are you doing up?"

"I don't sleep very well so I came in here so I wouldn't wake up Elizabeth."

I nodded and began searching through the cabinet for a coffee mug. When I turned back around I found Grayson chewing on his nails. I could practically smell blood from him biting at the tips of his fingers. I pulled his hands away from his mouth.
"Stop, you're hurting yourself."

His eyes focused on a random point behind me.
"Sorry, nervous habit. Usually I keep my nails cut so I don't do it as much, but I just haven't lately."

I nodded silently and looked down at his hands. It was hard to see much in the dim light, but I could see the tips of his fingers were raw and bleeding. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, fighting down Jimmy at the sight of blood. He had clearly been at this for a few hours, why hadn't I noticed when I came in? I stood up and went to the cabinet where we kept the first aid kit.

I had him sit at the kitchen table and sat across from him as I opened the kit.
"Here, Johnny used to do this when I was really bad about biting my nails."
I dabbed some peroxide on each one, then I took bandaids and wrapped one around the tips of his fingers.
"There."

He looked at them.
"Thanks."
His eyes wandered up to my face and he squinted like he was trying to understand something.
"How old are you exactly."

I shrugged.
"No one around here really knows, since no one here ages. If you go by age since I was created, maybe five. If you ask Jordan, he changes answers every time you ask. Technically speaking," I looked down at myself trying to think, "I think I'm about twenty-one or twenty-two. Going by what age my body seems perpetually stuck at. Jimmy though, I think he's about three."

He laughed a little, different than the way he had before, this one was quiet and was almost a hissing noise as he giggled through his teeth. He laughed even more when my own hand slapped me across the face. Jimmy's way of telling me to shut up. Usually this time of night is when he went out, but after his adventure earlier he seemed too tired to even actually yell at me, it seemed like the last of his strength went into that slap and now he was dozing peacefully.

"Well, since neither of us is probably sleeping any time soon, I was going to make coffee, want any?"

"Yes please," he laughed.