Entry #12050104001305

Welcome To The Party

The silence from the small bathroom had drug on for hours, each minute stressing Tim out more than the last. What could possibly be going on in there? Why was Jay acting so weird? The lack of noise convinced him that Hoodie wasn't hurting Jay, but he still felt anxious. The door had only opened once, Hoodie leaving to get a notebook and pen before quickly returning. After that, it had been silent.

By the time the sun began to set, Tim was practically exhausted, having worn himself out worrying all day.

The sound of the bathroom door opening down the hall had Tim scrambling to get to his feet, allowing Jessica to help him up. The door closed again but Hoodie appeared at the end of the hall, approaching the two and setting the notebook he had borrowed on the coffee table. Tim leaned down and snatched it up, eyes scanning the page and then the following pages for something that could tell him what was going on. Most of it was unintelligible to him: numbers, binary code, letters and symbols that made no sense. However, there was one thing that caught Tim's eye; it resembled an actual word and the man immediately began trying to make sense of it.

Scribbled thickly in black ink was "5ku117". Flipping back several pages, Tim found the page where "h00d13" and "m45k13" had been written by Hoodie. Those had been the nicknames he had assigned to himself and Tim, so it made sense that this almost-word would be another name. Right?

"That kind of looks like 'Skully'," Jessica commented, looking over Tim's shoulder to see the writing as well. Glancing up, Tim saw Hoodie nod slightly.

"Can I talk to him?" Tim asked. The simple brown eyes of the mask stared at him blankly for a few seconds before Hoodie nodded. That was all Tim needed to grab his crutches and head down the hall. The bathroom door was closed but Tim felt like something about the room had changed and he hesitantly turned the knob, fearing what he would find.

Pushed up into the corner, Jay was exactly where Tim had left him. His legs were bent, one tucked under the other and his chin resting on the vertical one; as soon as Tim entered the room and closed the door behind him, Jay's eyes were trained on him, but he didn't seem quite as frightened as before. At least, he no longer looked like he was going to flee at any moment.

"Skully?" Tim asked, unsure what exactly he should call Jay at the moment. He wasn't responding to "Jay", so this was all Tim had.

Jay's eyes watched him carefully and he made no movement or acknowledgement to the question.

"Is that what I should call you?" Tim tried again, receiving another blank stare. "Come on, man. Help me out here."

Skully's thin fingers tapped the floor, glancing down to the tile before looking back up at Tim. The other man got the hint and awkwardly lowered himself to the ground, grabbing the edge of the sink tightly and letting out a pained groan when he finally made it to the ground. He would definitely be feeling that for a good while.

Holding his hand out, palm up, Skully stared intently at Tim, waiting for him to get the message. Tim copied the gesture, holding his hand out to Skully. The man resembled a frightened deer as he scooted a few inches closer, reaching out to gently take Tim's hand, tracing over his palm with two of his fingers. Tim instantly recognized the first letter traced against his skin - it was simply the letter "J". After that, three letters were traced across the expanse of Tim's palm and the man felt a sense of confusion and fear at the realization that the letters were "ARK".

"What does that mean?" Tim asked, looking up to Skully's face, desperately trying to figure out the message while also wishing Jay were there.

The letter "J" was traced against his palm again and then the two fingers tapped his palm twice, trying to make him understand.

"The ark," Tim said uncertainly, "has something to do with Jay?"

Skully wrote the word "ARK" again then tapped his own chest and traced the letter "J" against Tim's palm for the third time. Tim felt caught between "I've almost got it" and "What the hell does this mean?", making him more frustrated than before.

"Jay, ark, what?" Tim exasperatedly asked.

A slow sigh left Skully before he slowly pointed to himself, waiting for Tim to say something.

"You."

He traced the letter "J" into Tim's palm again.

"You, Jay. You're Jay?"

Skully shook his head then slowly traced the letters "A", "R", and "K" into Tim's palm.

"Ark."

Skully nodded then pointed to himself again.

"You and the ark."

Skully shook his head, his eyebrows pinched together in frustration and annoyance as he traced the letter "J" against Tim's hand for the umpteenth time.

"Jay and the ark," Tim suggested, earning a nod this time. Tim stared intently at Skully, trying to figure out just what he was supposed to understand. "Jay... Knows what the ark is?"

Tim jumped in surprise as Skully suddenly punched the edge of the tub, the force enough to shatter every bone in his hand. Sure enough, the knuckle looked out of place and immediately began to swell, but Skully didn't seem to care. He continued to punch the plaster edge of the tub in frustration until he was all punched out and he just sat there in defeat, his hands coming up to grasp his head between them, curling into himself.

"I'm sorry," Tim mumbled, unsure how to respond to the outburst. Skully waved him away with one hand, gesturing for him to leave. With a sigh, Tim grabbed onto the counter, awkwardly trying to pull himself up. It took several moments but after he got a secure hold on the counter's edge, he began pulling himself up with his arms, trying to push his good leg under himself. He was halfway up when his hand slipped and he fell back to the floor in a crumpled pile, yelping in pain.

An instant later, Skully was leaned over him where he laid on the bathroom floor, his brown eyes wide and searching Tim's face. His right leg hurt and his left leg throbbed from hitting the floor but he forced himself to take even breaths and tried to push himself to a sitting position.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," he grumbled, turning to get a better hold on the counter before trying again. Immediately, Skully's arms were wrapped around him, helping to ease him up off the floor. In one quick motion, Tim was pulled up from the bathroom floor, the arms around him holding him tight until he found his balance and could stand on his own. It was a sharp contrast to the fit of rage demonstrated moments before by Skully, but he wasn't about to question it. Quite frankly, Tim preferred calm and levelheaded Skully as opposed to violent and unpredictable Skully.

Tim's crutches were pushed under his arms and he stared blankly at Skully as the man backed away, returning to his corner. With a sigh, Tim realized that he would just have to wait this out; it wasn't like he could force Jay to come back. With one last glance at the man, Tim opened the bathroom door and entered the hall, closing the door behind him before returning to the living room.

"Well?" Jessica asked as Tim took a seat on the couch.

Tim sighed. "We've got another cryptic."