sorry for the hiatus/delay in stories. as i mentioned on some other stories, we had a bad hurricane come through here so things have been chaotic out the wazoo. i have to drive an hour to work every day instead of 15m due to the office being damaged and it's like an extra 66 miles further i have to travel to start my routes and stuff so i've been being kicked in the ass as of late. either way, i'm trying to get things done. this chapter took all week because i kept falling asleep. please bear with me!


"You're such a clever girl, Cynthia Vortex. If that is your belief then please find me soon. I'll be waiting..."

I felt a chill go down my spine and the door opened and closed. The way he said that sounded so final... like what I said was really true... I mean... is it? If it is, then I need to work a little faster at finding him. But that also confirmed the fact that Jimmy's not dead. Dead people can't commit suicide... or can they? What would that be? Ectocide? Or is that called a self-exorcism? I shook my head. The issue was finding out how Jimmy ended up being stuck in this house and why he couldn't (or wouldn't) leave. I will get to the bottom of this... but first, a plan for the talent show...


"He's a good time cowboy Casanova leaning up against the record machine~! Looks like a cool drink of water-"

"But he's candy coated misery~ He's a devil in disguise a snake with blue eyes-" I turned off the music. "Hey, what gives?"

"This is my talent show, not yours."

"You're just angry I sound ten times better than you."

"You have a great voice but I can't hear mine when you're singing, you Broadway belter." I growled.

The loudest laugh came from the corner of the room and I saw my bed sink down where Jimmy was sitting or rather, laying down.

"You're bed's uber comfy…"

"Get off of it. Don't you have better things to do with your time?"

"I have all the time in the world. No one's expecting me."

"Are you sure? I can help you cross over to the other side if you need to."

"What other side? You mean heaven? I don't believe in that. When you're dead you're dead. It's a nice thought that something else goes into the ether or whatever but there's really no proof on the matter."

"I didn't ask for theocratic philosophy, Jimmy. Just stop singing while I am. God..."

"He-"

"If you dare..." I threatened.

Jimmy laughed. "Fine, fine... Besides, why this song? I didn't take you as the country type. More like pop or something stupid."

"I've gotten many compliments when I sing this song."

"Your voice ain't bad at all, Ms. Vortex, not by a long shot; I just meant that it doesn't suit you. I mean, I can sing Eminem pretty well but it doesn't suit me."

"Then what do you think I should sing?"

"That's the other thing..." I looked over at the bed and turned my head a little. I just barely saw a shape in the rays of the sun. At an angle, it looked like a form was shimmering into view. But I blinked and it was gone. "Ya know?" He said.

"What?"

"You toned me out? Seriously? I know I can drone on…"

"No, it's not that at all… sorry… what were you saying?"

"Only because it's you Cynthia Vortex will I repeat myself... I said that your problem isn't just the song but a lack of anything else. No offense, but you have horrid stage presence."

"What?"

"Stage presence? Aren't you in drama and you don't know what stage presence is?" I shook my head. I mean, we didn't get that far yet… "Ugh! It means that you need something else to do besides singing. Some people can sing a song on stage and it's like they take up all of the stage. They don't need to dance or have props… you dear girl, are the opposite. You need to be doing something or people will be bored with you."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry, I have horrible stage presence too." I heard right behind me. I felt like his hand was hovering over my shoulder but the feeling went away and I felt him leave my bubble. "Why do you think I had such theatrics?"

"Makes sense..." I said, feeling my cheeks getting flushed. "S-so what do I do?"

"Either you need to do some theatrics with this song or pick another song that has theatrics built in."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Because that's friggin easy." I growled, crossing my arms in the computer chair.

"If you asked me nicely, I would help you." Jimmy said, moving my chair.

I think he's looking at me from behind and I reached up, but the chair jerked and I know he's not near. "Don't..."

"Why? I'm confused..."

"You haven't found me yet. Right now... right now trying to touch me is intimate to me."

"Intimate?"

"Imagine not feeling human contact for three years... it's sacred, a privilege... feeling someone's touch would make me so happy... but knowing I could never be seen by them, consistently feel them... it's just a torture."

I breathed in and held out my hand in the air.

"I told you I would find you but you have to trust me. I know you've been treated like a ghostly pest and everything but I can't help you if you don't let me. Let me help you, James."

I left my hand out but I had a feeling he wasn't going to oblige when I felt a slightly dense feeling near my palm. I swallowed and then I felt it: a hand. I smiled and even though I couldn't see him, I knew Jimmy was smiling too.

"It's like looking at you through a glass wall." Jimmy said softly. "So close and yet so far away... nothing but a thin piece of glass to keep us apart."

"Glass breaks, Jimmy. I want to help you but if you don't trust me more, I can't do what I need to do. Your friends are willing to help me out but I need some cooperation from you. I need a start..."

His hand left mine and I yearned to feel it again.

"A start?"

"A starting point, rather. Retrace your steps. If you're not dead, you're alive and the only plausible explanation is invisibility but it's not a normal type... or astral planes, multi-universes, and time rifts..."

Jimmy chuckled. "Starting points indeed."

"I can't tell if you're making fun of me sometimes."

"I swear, I'm not. I just find it funny that we are quite alike in our thinking tangents. No one else would even think of coming to any other conclusions other than invisibility and yet here you are, thinking about multiverses and wrinkles in time."

"I only think about them in the first place because your invisibility isn't the same as regular invisibility. Regular invisibility is as ghost-like as you can get and you can go wherever you want with it. For some reason, you can't leave the house; you're bound here."

"It's actually a little more simpler than you think but you're cute when you're brainstorming, so I'll let you continue."

"Now you're mocking me."

"Never, Cynthia Vortex."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Call me by my full name. Cindy is just fine."

"I don't like calling you Cindy. It makes me feel like I'm talking to a five year old. Cynthia sounds more grown up and mature, as you are; but if you don't like me doing that then I can call you regular old "Cindy"."

"Well I mean…"

"It's a joke, Cindy, don't be so serious all the time. You'll wrinkle up your pretty face and that just won't do."

I made a face and looked back at my computer.

"Seriously, back to the issue at hand? How am I supposed to find a 'stage presence' song or whatever you said earlier?"

"Scroll through your songs and let me take a look."

I turned to the computer and went to all of my songs. I began to scroll down slowly, but quick enough.

"You have a lot of Big Band on here. I didn't take you for that kind of girl."

"I have a swing dancing trophy, Jimmy, of course I have Big Band."

"I didn't get to rifle through your achievements as of yet. It was on my ghost-list."

"Ghost-list?"

"While I'm in this state, there are a lot of things I wanted to do but haven't been able to due to the lack of people in the home. I've actually accomplished a lot since you moved in. They were menial things, nothing daring and bold."

"Like what? Eating people's food and messing up their clothes?"

"Yes." I made a face and Jimmy chuckled. "Like I said, they weren't extravagant. You learn to appreciate the little things in life when you can't be seen and interact with people. Making people uncomfortable is kind of fun."

"Uh huh…"

"There! Go back up!" I scrolled back up. "Stop, right there. That one."

"This one?"

"No, this one."

"Jimmy, you're invisible, I can't see you if you're pointing. Why can't you just tell me?"

"Of Mice and Men, right there."

"'Little Talks'?"

"Yes. That's the one you need to do."

"That would be nice but you have to have another person sing it with you or it will be stupid."

"Ask Carl or something."

"Carl is not going to sing with me. I barely know Libby or anyone else at the school. I can't do that song, James."

He was silent for a moment when I heard the bed squeak down and the mattress was dipped.

"What about me?"

"What about you?"

"I could sing it with you…"

"You can't leave this house, remember? Unless you really can and you've just been trying to lure me into your wiles or something."

"What wiles are you talking about? Like Wily E. Coyote?"

"You know what I mean…"

"Actually I don't but the point is that when you find me, you'll understand and when that finally happens, the plans I have for this song just came to me and gave me a brain blast."

"I don't understand why you can't just tell me what's going on?"

"Because even I don't know what's going on. If I could get to my lab then I'd do it but I can't because I'm like this."

"Lab? What lab?"

"That shed out back? That's my lab."

"I knew that wasn't just a shed! Holy shit, you have a real life laboratory?!"

"Well, yeah, I am a boy genius… The problem is that in order to get into the lab, I have to use a hair follicle or a retina scan to get inside. Being the way that I am doesn't work that way. The laser goes right through me, so to speak."

"If we were able to access your lab, would we be able to see what happened to you and maybe fix you?"

"Most likely. I don't know what's good and bad in there since it's been a long time."

"Why haven't you tried breaking in?"

"I did and it activated the emergency break in special that I have on there. It makes it where I have to present my DNA to the scanner or the safety measures will go off and the whole lab will fill up with a really dense and irreversible foam. I will lose everything in there."

"So… priority is getting a piece of your DNA from somewhere."

"Yeah but the problem is that I'm invisible so…"

"Well, why not a toothbrush or something?"

"Has to be completely my DNA, not attached to anything. Hair, hand, eye, blood, saliva, whatever but it can't be like a vial of blood or a hairbrush with my hair on it, or like you said, a toothbrush."

"Why did you make it so difficult?"

"As popular as I was, I have enemies who'd love to get their hands on my stuff. I had to take precautions. If I hadn't tried to override my own system, we wouldn't have this tiny window of the need of success."

"I see… So you need me to find you because you don't really know what you've done to yourself?"

"Yes and no… I mean… Can't you just indulge me a little?"

I made a face and crossed my arms.

"'Indulge you a little'? Jimmy, you're an invisible/ghost/parallel dimensional shadow/whatever that has free reign to go about the house and do whatever he wants and be whoever he wants. You eat our food, use our water, and all these other things without even asking or paying us back. I think the least you could do is tell me what the hell is going on so that we can get you back to normal and to your own house. People think you're dead, Jimmy, and you're sitting here wanting to play hide-and-seek?! Make up your mind, Jimmy: are you here or not?"

"It's not that fucking simple, Cynthia!" he yelled.

I waited but nothing happened when my door opened and slammed closed. I waited again but I knew he was gone. I sighed and looked back at my computer, looking at the song he had picked out for me. Why was he making this so difficult? I mean, it didn't seem like it was that big of a deal. Even if he didn't know what he did, he could at least confirm if he's dead or alive or where he's at or something. He keeps wanting me to 'find him' but I don't think I understand what that means anymore. What does it have to do with getting him back and why isn't it as simple as it should be?


why isn't it that simple jimmy? cindy, why it matter? the boy hasn't had human interaction for a good bit, let him ease back into it lol. anyhow, now the task is getting into his lab. so where in the world will they find straight up DNA?