Chapter 7: Beneath the Surface
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron.
Jimmy's breath, ragged from the rush of adrenaline, became short rapid gasps, unable to inhale and exhale the needed amount. His legs trailed behind him, momentum the only thing pushing him forward. And what was holding him up was an arm clenched tightly on his shoulder, putting as much weight on him as he placed on the arm.
Cindy was slightly taller than Jimmy and had a proportioned head on her shoulders. Though this wasn't enough to claim why she was more athletically fit than Jimmy, he knew that she was. Strength just wasn't one of his strengths. Today somehow, Cindy was lagging behind him, leaning heavily on him as if she broke her leg. Examining her movements, he now saw her slamming her right leg heavily, but limping with her left; barely skimming the ground more for stability. Because she was on his right and behind him, she was pushing him forward, making him stumble for balance. It was the only reason he kept running. Was she doing that on purpose or accidentally?
Moving to higher ground, the water had not hindered their escape, but the saturated ground depressed from weight and made passage difficult. It was like running on a huge sponge. But when the tidal rush catches up to them, they would have to swim, and this scared Jimmy more than anything. Man was meant for land and not for sea. Without his inventions he felt ...vulnerable. Perhaps it was due to his fear of drowning.
(Flashback)
Cindy was peeking over the college transcripts and applications spread orderly over Jimmy's desk. Some were addressed to Harvard and Yale while others were scholarships for science in all categories. Some were even asking Jimmy to be a professor there. Jimmy, hunched quietly in his chair, scribbled away with the legibility of a typewriter. Moving to throw away some spare rubbish he heard a burst of laughter. He gained composure before swerving in his chair to face Cindy. She held her hand cupped over her mouth, trying vainly to control herself.
"Hydro-phobia? What kind of fear is that, Nerdtron? Of drowning?" She laughed hysterically when he wouldn't answer, an ugly frown tight on his face. "I'm right! Oh this is too good to be true!" Her hand pressed into her stomach like it hurt to laugh.
"Everyone has a fear, little or big, Cynthia." He lectured her as if a child stood before him, which stopped her laughing immediately afterward, replaced with scorn. Jimmy saw that the paper with his health information held the offending information. He shuffled it under another one. "At least mine is treatable and prevailed by science. Yours though is incurable and permanent." Jimmy sounded unusually smug, like Cindy. Cindy at this point looked skeptically at him.
"Like what condition could I have that I don't even know." She asked plainly. He leaned forward and stared at her with big, round blue eyes, at which she seemed taken aback. He grinned triumphantly. "Get real!" She said flustered. She left in a flurry, walking fast to the door. Jimmy had the last laugh that day.
(End of flashback)
Jimmy lifted himself from the ground, realizing he had fallen flat on his face. Cindy tugged desperately on his arm, with an urgency he had never seen before, which touched him. Was it concern for him? Don't flatter yourself, Jim. He thought. That would be dangerous. But when a man is at the end of the world, past dangers don't seem like dangers anymore. He picked himself up and ran with Cindy, arms hinged. "We're almost there." She breathed.
"To the rocket ship?" He questioned. She nodded.
"To the remains. Where do you put the safety equipment?"
"By the atom nucleus with the three circulating electrons, my Neutron brand icon." Cindy bit her lip. "Don't you know if it's there or not?" Jimmy asked.
"All I remember seeing is blue, black, and red. I'm going on a limb here." She replied. Jimmy gave her a critical eye. "Look, you were the one that was all for it." Jimmy opened his mouth for a retort but Cindy, being the master of retorts, beat him to it with an apology. "Sorry, but what would have we done otherwise?" Jimmy shut his mouth, but soon opened it again to pant.
"Fine." He breathed, his moist hands struggling for a firmer grip on her arm. Cindy brushed lightly with her fingers away an annoying bang, knowing the conversation was bound to come up again soon but dismissed temporarily. But what would she do if she didn't find it? And what if she did? Her temples throbbed horribly and she ran harder, feet pounding the soft sand.
The sky had turned a dull black, and soon rain was pouring in sheets. Together they ran blindly forward, water rising to their knees, water cascading and misinterpreting their vision. Splashing feet and thunder cracks had devoid their ears of sound, and exhaustion left their mouths dry.
Cindy was getting scared that she already passed the cratered site, or that she wouldn't be able to find it due to the flooding island. Intuition was what she relied on now. But what helped her was luck. It happened very simply; while Cindy led in a vague direction, Jimmy would smack into a few dozen trees along the way, and in the end, had tripped, stumbled, and belly flopped into the crater. See? It all works out in the end.
Jimmy fell with a comical cry and emerged with a sharp intake of breath. Cindy, because Jimmy refused, had the pleasure of finding the inflatable raft. It wasn't easy. The crater had swelled with the rainfall and had twelve feet depth. And to find something compacted behind smitten, charred metal that may not even be there made Cindy return, struggling for breath, to the surface five times before finding it. When she found it, she thought about giving Jimmy a heart attack. Just something for him to think about during the trip home.
Cindy shook her childish thought away and handed Jimmy the inflation, which ballooned when he pulled the strap.
"It's meant for sitting atop, but there's a sub chamber in there so it would fit one adult comfortably to sleep. But due to rain and possible tsunamis we'll just have to sit tight and stay down there. Don't you worry; this thing is as strong as a bomb shelter. There's homemade oxygen so it might get stale, but I have 2 months of food storage and filtered water. You'll have to go above deck for the ladies room, and there's a transparent patch for viewing pleasure. That's in a nutshell." Jimmy said, pleased with himself.
Cindy took a deep breath. It would be now of never, regardless of what Jimmy says or does she had to follow through. She was more afraid of what would happen if she wouldn't. "Godspeed." Cindy said in a monotone, looking afar. She was now treading water, rushes of water raising the depth steeply. Jimmy had already sat atop the floatation, preparing for departure. He looked confused as a fish out of water, but tried uneasily to gain composure.
"Cindy, come on, the boat will wait but I can't. We need to leave now." Cindy shot him a dirty look. "Cindy, we'll work through this. When we get home, come with me through the time machine. It would be as if none of this ever happened." Jimmy pleaded.
Cindy shook her head violently. "No Jimmy. You don't understand. My future, this is my future. I...I know it seems dumb, but this is important to me." She stammered. "If it's given to me by others, it isn't mine anymore." She looked at the water's surface ripple. She didn't even know what she was saying anymore. Insane people usually don't. But if she was insane, legally it means that she had a mental illness. Jimmy would probably know which one. She tried hard to think but had difficulty concentrating. She grew frustrated with herself and held her head tightly until the moment passed.
"No, Cindy, please stop!"
Cindy stood straight and calmly stated, "Good bye Jimmy." With that she submerged and swam away, sure that Jimmy wouldn't follow. His phobia would spare Cindy the pain for once, and she could finally have what she wished the day of the crash. Sweet endless black.
Jimmy stood stricken at the turn of events. It happened so quickly that it left him dazed and confused. But he was Jimmy Neutron and he analyzed the cause and reason scientifically. He tried psychology first.
Psychologicalevents; loss of parents. Chemical imbalances; possible. Physical changes; head injuries, infections...Two or more causes would be enough to give her a mental disorder (her arm!). Dementia, schizophrenia, depression are good candidates. This isn't good.
Then there was the water, rolling before him; the last barrier blocking him from Cindy. But because she knew his phobia, how would she interpret it? When she came back Cindy had been acting peculiar, but nothing huge like suicide. Jimmy was at a loss of what to do. Was he more afraid of the water or Cindy? What would she do if he came after her? What would happen if he plunged? He inhaled deeply and stopped the assailing thoughts. No, he trusted her. Cindy meant more than science or water to him. She was worth it. Jimmy dived headfirst into the sea.
Blackness began eating at the edges of her vision. Her lungs felt squeezed until pressure collapsed it, and when she inhaled water, it would be the end. It was so simple, a thin line between life and death. But human survival was an influential force, and it screamed at her with a powerful instinct that wasn't easily repressed. But emotion is another thing. It sways without the burden of the mind, and it was that which pulled her from beneath the surface. From beneath the surfaces of the water, mind, and heart. It was then she saw, with terror and surprise, Jimmy leap from the boat and into the current with her.
"Cindy, let me talk to you! I need to tell you something!"
Jimmy you stupid brute! Just leave me alone! "I already know I'm insane! Go home already, or else you're being selfish. And if you are, then I will be too!" I knew I should have found a bridge. "Jimmy, don't come any further!" He swam heedlessly. She sprayed water flying with a violent arm. "You thick headed skull! Don't you understand! You have family, friends, brains, and dreams. You'd waste it all for nothing! Me! I am nothing! Take Betty! Nancy! I don't care!" She began getting desperate. "Jimmy, you can save so many other lives, please, I don't know what I'll do if you come closer." Jimmy stopped. Cindy whispered, "Please." With a grim set face he raced toward her...It then became a blur.
The next thing Cindy knew was that Jimmy was underneath her, pinned to the ocean floor, her hands wound around his neck. Cindy knew she had cracked, but that didn't stop her, because she didn't care anymore. Then there was a rumbling in her tummy and in became louder until she realized she was laughing. It scared her.
Her surrounding's was blue. The figure underneath her was blurred. No longer could she really see, so she just laughed. Things always got better when she laughed. But the feeling wouldn't go away, so she laughed harder. She laughed and laughed until the figure in her hands went limp.
Tiny bubbles trickled out of the corners of Jimmy's mouth and he lipped to her silently.
"I love you." As his eyes closed, a word came briefly to mind and came as quickly as it left. Rigor Mortis...
Cindy surfaced for breath and remembered the definition. It was only then she realized what she had done. Cindy had killed him. Cindy Vortex had killed Jimmy Neutron.
A/N: I know I should have given more clues as I went along so it wouldn't be so sudden, but the truth is I only knew the events, not the reasoning. So please note I'll be changing the summary soon. (My story just got darker...) :) As for Cindy's phobia, does anybody want to guess? Lastly, I want an honest opinion if I should put in a song for the last chapter, next. Thank you to all those that stayed with this story until the end. Especially fanjimmy and scubagirl. And thank you Acidfox and Miyozku for your touching reviews. All readers thank you for your kind attention, to go to cartoons, to Jimmy Neutron, and then to my story just pulls the ol' heartstrings. Lastly, all those who reviewed, you helped bring forth the story from my mind to the screen. Thank you. (bows sheepishly) Now onto the grand finale...
