Thanks so much for the reviews guys! I'm super excited that so many of you left me feed back and that even more put this story on alert! That's fairly awesome. So- I'm going to try and respond to all the reviews, I'll put that at the bottom. This chapter wasn't nearly as long as the first was, but I needed to sit down and have a long meaningful talk with myself about how much I want this to be like the movie. And then maybe I should go rent it... to yanno... remember that crap ending. I can, with uttermost certainty tell you the ending will NOT be the same. That was rancid. Anywho- enjoy, and thanks so much!
PS- I don't have a beta- but I write it half asleep and then go back over it the next day... That way is a) like reading a new story and b) not ingrained into my head so much I can't see mistakes! Hope it's cleaned up enough for you guys!
Summary: After having a serious accident, Derek looms around the house unseen, learning things about his family he never expected. [Eventual Dasey
Disclaimer: I own neither Life with Derek nor The Invisible. Included in my non-ownage, the shouting monolog in which Derek tries to tear the house down. That's nearly word for word from the movie. Don't own that.
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The Invisible
Invisible and Unable
Derek sat in the living room with his legs lazily crossed as he leaned back in his recliner and watched the kids for what seemed like hours. Lizzy and Edwin were silent for the most part, casting sideways glances at the door each time a car drove by on the street. Marti had become bored at least an hour ago, running off to find some sort of distraction from the tension in the house.
Derek felt horrible. In the past years, he had played countless pranks just to try and elicit this type of reaction from them, but he never once figured that this is what would happen if he disappeared. This was different; they had to know that this was different. He'd have never stayed gone for this long intentionally... 'I think.' Derek sighed.
He sat back and closed his eyes tightly, pressing his fists against them as he tried his hardest to remember anything past the first punches of the fight. Absolutely nothing came to him, and the thought that had been hanging over him since the scene in the kitchen finally escaped his lips. "What if I'm dead?" Derek asked the kids sitting on opposite ends of the couch.
The thought lingered around him, creating a feeling of dread, entrapment. Death was permanent. Derek didn't do permanent things often. Unable to keep his mind from floating to the 'I'll never get to,' and the 'What if' abyss, he got up and wandered into the kitchen once again.
Nora left George alone in the kitchen to his thoughts, presumably in their basement bedroom to occupy her mind. Derek idled up to the kitchen island and looked over his father's shoulder at a list. Several names and places were on that list, with Sam at the top and the hospital at the end. Over half of the large list were crossed off, and with the phonebook at his side, George picked up the cordless phone and dialed Ralph's parents' number.
Derek lifted himself up on the stool and listened to the negative responses from each number down the list, then followed the pen's ballpoint as it scribbled out another name. Four were left when Derek's father set down the phone and looked across the kitchen at nothing. Leaning in closer, Derek saw emotions swirling through his dad's eyes, and a feeling of guilt washed over him. "Dad," Derek started, watching as George thumbed through the phonebook to the London hospital. George picked up the phone and hesitated before dialing the first half of the number.
"I'm dead." Derek finished, a simple statement, as if he were telling his father that he was hungry, or ready to go to hockey practice.
George stopped mid-dial and hung up the phone, leaving the counter suddenly. Derek looked down at the last four numbers on the list; the hospital, urgent care, 9-1-1, and Derek's mom.
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Casey sat up in her room at her desk, trying in vain to carry on a light conversation with Emily over the internet. No more than ten minutes into it, she forced herself to ask her best friend if she had possibly seen Derek in the past day and a half. At Emily's negative but questioning response, Casey said goodbye and disconnected.
She hated herself more than ever right now. Every fiber in her being wanted her to believe that Derek was being an ass, staying out because she had told him she didn't want him around anymore. But in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder what had really happened. Casey knew that Derek kept his wallet with him wherever he went, so he had identification on him. The sarcastic side of her crooned that the morgue would have called by now.
Moving to sit on her bed with one leg folded under her, Casey grabbed a book and held it, closed, in both hands. She chewed her bottom lip and frowned. The feeling that Derek was about to walk in the room and disrupt her peace was so thick that she stared at the doorknob without blinking.
With a long, meaningful sigh, Casey opened her book and stared at the words, using the pages as a distraction rather than a form of entertainment. No more than two paragraphs in, a small, annoying tickle ran up her spine, giving her goose bumps and causing her eyes to dart back up to the door. Nothing happened for several seconds, and she returned her eyes to the book, forcing herself to read and take in every word.
Derek sat down next to Casey on her bed, not having to turn around to see that the door he had left opened when he entered was closed as if he hadn't touched it. He watched her closely while she read, leaning forward slightly to follow the pattern her eyes took. They would dart back and forth for a few seconds before stopping, seemingly staring right through the book. Casey would blink and raise her eyebrows, annoyed, before going back to actually reading.
Nearly ten minutes of sitting under Derek's scrutinizing stare, the goose bumps ran back up her skin again and Casey huffed after visibly shivering and slamming the book down on the bed next to her. Derek's eyebrows shot up, toying with the idea that she could feel him there.
"Damn it, Derek." Casey muttered crossing her arms in a pout. "What the hell did you do?"
"Hey whoa whoa whoa," Derek defended, holding a hand out towards her as if to hold her back. "I didn't do anything."
"He's doing this to annoy me," she tried to convince herself, standing up from her seat and moving to look out the window.
"I am not!" Derek stood as well, and took a moment to think that over. "Though it is totally something I would consider doing. But that doesn't mean I did!"
Several long minutes passed, and Derek surveyed the room, thinking about trying to find a diary he knew she kept. His eyes snapped back to her when he heard a sniffle, and seeing the tears, he crossed his arms.
"Why do you care?" He asked, knowing the answer. The girl had a knack for making herself feel guilty, usually to the point of making herself ill. He always figured it was another way to make herself the center of attention. It wasn't that Derek was missing... it was that she had told him to get lost and he did.
"You have got to be the most complicated person in this house, Casey." Derek accused, uncrossing his arms and moving to sit on her bed. He threw one leg up onto the comforter and laid a hand over his bent knee. "You always have to know everything that's going on in this place, yanno that?"
Casey wiped the few stray tears off of her cheeks with the back of a hand and then transferred the salty water to the side of her jeans. Sitting down in her desk chair, she picked up a math text book, running her fingers over the raised lettering of the cover.
"You've always had your fingers in everything." Derek started, raising easily off the bed and coming to stand next to her, bending at the waist to hover. "Fingering through this house," Derek jabbed a finger at the desktop to punctuate himself, feeling anger boil in his chest. "And me, my room." He placed both hands on the arms of her chair, turning her to face him completely as his tone rose to the level of shouting. "But whenever anything happens, you have to put up your walls! DON'T! Don't feel a thing, Casey, you don't wanna ruin your face! Your 'pretty' face!"
Casey let out a pitiful squeak and held onto his shoulders when his hands snapped up to hold either side of her head while he screamed in her face. "I'm out there, Casey, probably somewhere in the mud! I am DEAD, Case! And you're sitting here!" He grabbed the textbook that had fallen into her lap and threw it across the room, hitting her tall shelves near the door and causing an avalanche of papers. "Sitting here with your projects, and your herbal tea, and your books!" Using both hands, he shoved all the text books and her laptop off the top of the desk, sending them all smashing to the ground.
Derek watched as Casey stared at him, silent and wide-eyed as his face was burning hot, his heart pounding in his chest, his throat becoming raw from screaming. "I wish you could see me right now, Case!" He knew that she couldn't. This was just a figment of what was now his supernatural world. "So you know how SICK I am of you! I am SICK of you- and your perfect world! I am sick of you 'cause it's NOT perfect!" Derek grabbed the desk lamp and hurled it towards her window, smashing it out and letting the cold Canadian air in the house as he yelled, "You hear me?"
Derek finally stilled, huffing after his tantrum, and let his wild eyes scan across the ravaged room. As his eyes connected with the window once again, he saw it was perfectly intact, the lamp was once again in its rightful spot, and Casey was still staring at her text with glazed eyes, unaffected by the one-sided fight.
He shook his head and turned to leave, trying his hardest to slam the door loud enough for her to hear. Derek bound down the stairs and all but jogged back into the living room.
Edwin was still sitting on the couch, but Lizzy had disappeared. He was obviously staring right through the television instead of taking in the weekend cartoons. Derek sighed, trying to calm himself from both his anger, and his fear.
It was odd for his brother to be inside on a nice Sunday like today, he was usually out back or running around scheming and plotting with Lizzy. Today, they were both subdued and Derek knew why. He sat down in his recliner and stared intently at the sliding glass doors to the kitchen across the house.
"Has George said anything else yet?" Lizzy quietly asked as she appeared down the stairs, and Derek realized they had both actually been trying to eavesdrop rather than watching TV.
"Nobody's talking in there, guys." Derek said, watching Edwin shake his head slightly. "They're sulking pretty hardcore."
"Do you think he'll call the cops?"
"I don't think know." Derek's interest peaked, and before he could question why, Edwin answered. "Dad thinks that Derek is just playing tricks again."
"Again!?" Derek blurted out, leaning forward in his chair to better see his siblings. "I've never done anything like this," He reasoned and raised an eyebrow to reason. "I don't know why you people think I would."
That was a lie. Derek knew it was futile to try and defend that point due to fact that he would actually consider doing this on purpose, and actually had in one way or another on more than one occasion.
His eyes slid across the room to watch as Marti scooted across the hardwood floors, absently steering a small, plastic dump truck. The only place he had seen her this entire weekend as sitting quietly on the floor. Friday night, she had been playing with string, and earlier today she was messing with the coffee table. Now, she was playing quietly, wearing a tutu and a tiara matching the pink scarf wrapped around her neck and shoulders. Derek noted that she was being painfully quiet and realized with a sick feeling in his stomach that her bright eyes looked completely clouded with grief and confusion even as she played. He berated himself for being the reason she was feeling that way.
Derek stood, considered using the sole of his shoes to try and break the coffee table in half, but turned and walked to the front door and left the house. It was now about noon, and in nine hours, he'd have been gone for 48 hours. A missing person's report could officially be submitted, but from the looks of things, Derek's dad trusted him so little that he was going to forego that option.
That was not acceptable. Derek wasn't entirely sure, but a nagging feeling told him he was dead- or dying. In the movies, things like this only happened when people were dead. There was no other explanation for him to be walking around his house, invisible and unable to make any sort of impact on his family.
Taking a lazy stroll around the block, Derek observed each house, wondering if he'd ever really talk to anyone that lived in them again. Most of them held adult families that he didn't remember, but several held students that he had grown up with, that all knew him even if he didn't know them.
Derek finished his walk and decided nothing could be done except to try to figure some things out. He idled up to the porch and sat down on the stairs, leaning back on his elbows to watch the world beyond his family.
His blended family was a curious monster, and he would love nothing more than to be able to get into the heads of those around him. Derek ran his hand over his hair a few times, annoyed that it was in his face while he was trying to think, and let out a long breath. He knew he had to figure out what happened. The only thing left to do now was to go to Warwick.
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Alrighty, guys, there's chapter 2. The shouting scene was shamelessly stolen almost word for word from the movie... thank you to YouTube...
Alpha K9- Thanks for begging! I wasn't going to update this for about a week or so, but I definitely decided it needed to have more soon! Good luck with the internet.
Fairiekween13- Thanks so much! I wasn't planning on ending it exactly there, but then when I read the last sentence I was a) exhausted and b) thinking 'that's dope!' :-D
Kallie Lynne- Aww thanks! I'm really glad you liked- and stoked that I'm on your alerts! Look forward to an email about every week! ;-)
finktivication-Hah thanks! You have NO IDEA how many times I picture myself going hog-wild at work and just throwing things around and flipping out. I wish I could burst like that and just have it all fix itself!
Redrose08- I personally don't recommend the movie, LOL. Apparently somewhere in my head I thought it was actually good, since it stuck around long enough to nag me into writing a fanfic based on it! Gawd, sometimes I think I'm pathetic. :-D thanks tons!
Coolbeanie- Thanks dude! I am loving all the fics on this site, but really they're seeming so formula after reading so many at once. They fight, then love, then get caught/dread telling the family... other writers hit it out of the park but I just can't get it down. And since I'm such a lush for anything supernatural- what better way to get Dasey accomplished than some good 'ol invisible spying from Derek! Thanks again, love!
Ghostwriter- thanks, I'll catch you on the flip side. ;-)
Molly- what did you think of the movie? I'm struggling with how close to keep this to it... Thanks so much for the review!
Sydmoonlight- Word up, it TOTALLY sucked! Thanks so much for the review- I was pretty nervous about doing justice to the idea... that and writing a good story when I hate the idea... wow that's complicated. I am MOST DEFINITELY not keeping the ending the same... that's lame and I am 100 percent all for getting the girl in the end. Who isn't?! So I'll mull it over this week, how close to run this plot to the movie... I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't like it!
CiaoEdie- heck yes he is! Thanks for the review, I shall update ASAP!