Jamie was 16 the first time it happened. His mother called it a miracle. His siblings called it luck.
Jamie still doesn't know what to call it.
"C'mon, kid, you know you can do better than that!" Danny called out from the edge of the driveway that was acting as a basketball court. "Even Grandma can shoot better than that, and she's 75!"
Jamie tossed the ball over to Danny. "Then you try."
Danny smirked. "I will." He bounced the ball over to other edge, and with a moment of preparation, sent the ball sailing through the net. "Ha! I told you!"
Jamie shook his head and grinned. "Show off." He grabbed the ball and started bouncing it, but paused when Joe walked out. "Hey, Joe. You up for a game?"
Joe shrugged. "Sure, why not. Give me a second to practice though." He stuck his arms out as an invitation and Jamie tossed him the ball. He tried to grab it but missed, sending the ball into the street.
Danny chuckled and pulled out his phone. "Nice job."
Jamie jogged over to grab it but Joe stopped him. "It's okay, I got it." With a quick glance from side to side to check for cars, Joe walked out into the road and picked up the ball.
To this day, Jamie cannot explain the feeling he had in that moment. The best way he can describe it is that a wave of foreboding rushed over him as Joe stood in the street grabbing the ball. Not knowing why, but knowing he had to, Jamie rushed into the street, mere moments before frantic honking filled the quiet neighborhood. Feeling a pull, Jamie launched at Joe, in what he hoped was soon enough, and crashed into him, sending them both to the other side of the street.
"JOE! JAMIE!" Danny screamed, running around the truck that stopped where Joe had been standing moments ago. "Oh my- Are you guys okay?"
Any other questions Danny had was interrupted by the front door slamming as Frank and Mary ran out, Grandpa and Erin trailing behind. "Danny!" Frank called.
"Over here!" Danny responded as he helped Jamie off Joe.
Joe groaned and rolled onto his back. "Okay, ow." His memory catching up with him, he whipped his head over and stared at Jamie. "Dude, what was that?! You could have been killed!"
Jamie panted, adrenaline still high. "You're welcome." He made to sat up until Mary stopped him. "Honey, don't move, your nose is bleeding." She quickly pulled out a tissue and pressed it to his nose.
Frank turned to Danny. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know. Joe came out and Jamie passed him the ball and missed, and then I pulled out my phone. Next thing I know the car is where Joe was standing and I didn't see Jamie."
At least, that's what Jamie thought he said. His head was in too much pain to really focus on anything other than what just happened.
"-amie? Ja-, loo- me."
He tried to focus, he really did. But darkness crept into his spinning head, and with a quiet "Not possible," passed out.
"-hink he's waking up. Danny, go get the doctor."
Jamie opened his eyes, but quickly closed them, the bright fluorescent lights aggravating the already painful headache.
"Jamie, honey, talk to me."
"Lights." He rasped in reply.
"Frank, get the lights."
Jamie heard heavy footfalls walk away from the bed, in the direction that he assumed was the light switch.
"Ok, Jamie, the lights are off. You can open your eyes."
Jamie opened his eyes again, albeit slowly this time. Mary and Frank's relieved faces slid into focus.
"What happened?" He asked.
"You saved Joe's life, Jamie. You pushed him out of the way of a truck."
Jamie frowned, partly remembering what happened, with an unfinished thought poking at the back of his mind, waiting to be remembered.
"Wrong. You're an idiot. That's what happened."
Jamie turned his head, and noticed Joe sitting in the corner. "You are a next level idiot, you know that?"
Mary turned to look at Joe. "Joe, not right now."
"Yes, right now." Joe stood up and walked over to Jamie's bed. "Why in the world would you do that? You could have died!"
With protests from his parents, Jamie shifted into a sitting position. "Yeah? You could have too."
"That's not important. What's important is you were careless, and did not think about what could have happened!"
Jamie stared at him. "I was careless? YOU didn't even notice the truck!"
"That doesn't matter!"
"It doesn't MATTER?!"
"Boys!" Joe and Jamie turned to stare at their father. "Stop it. Joe, Jamie save your life, no matter how reckless it might seem. Now apologize."
"I'm sorry." Joe mumbled.
Anything else anyone wanted to say was interrupted by Danny and the doctor walking through the door.
"You're awake, wonderful." The doctor stuck out his hand to Jamie. "Doctor Alwald." He took a glance at Jamie's papers. "You're lucky, Jamie. You just missed a concussion. How are you feeling?"
Jamie shrugged. "Other than my head, okay."
The doctor chuckled. "That's understandable. Like I said, you just missed a concussion. You still got banged up quite a bit." He set down the clipboard. "Well, I would recommend staying overnight for observation, but if you were to take it easy for a few weeks and come back if anything feels wrong, I think you can go home today. But I'll leave that decision up to your parents. If you'll excuse me." With a nod to Frank and Mary, he left the room.
Jamie looked at his parents. "Can we go?"
Frank and Mary looked at each other, and after a silent conversation, he got up. "I'll go sign the release papers." Frank said, and walked out.
Jamie watched him leave, then started rolling his neck, feeling a weird pressure at the base of his skull.
Mary turned to Jamie. "Are you okay?"
Jamie stopped and looked at his mother. "Yeah, I'm fine." He lied, realizing that if he said no, he wouldn't get to leave today, and hospitals gave him an odd feeling; they always had.
Mary studied his face for a moment. "Okay." She replied, and looked up as Frank walked in.
"You're signed out." He started to gather up their stuff. "Let's go home."
Jamie sighed. "Please."
Jamie groaned. "Mom, please go! Other than incredibly annoyed, I am fine. Now can you please go?" He sat up and gestured to the door.
Mary threw another blanket on top of Jamie. "Okay. If you need anything else, just call me, okay? I'll be right downstairs." She kissed the top of his head. "And no getting out of bed, got it?" She walked out, quietly shutting the door.
Jamie plopped back down and sighed, rubbing his neck. The pressure that started in his neck at the hospital had only gotten worse, and it was starting to irritate him. He looked around for the bottle of Tylenol and groaned when he realized it was on the other side of the room on his desk. He threw off his covers, and stood up, trying to remember where the quiet floorboards are. He knew that if his mother realized he was up, she would come in and never leave. He felt an odd pull but ignored it, and took a tiny step forward….
And ended up 10 feet away, right in front of the desk.
Jamie froze. He slowly turned around, and stared at the bed at the the other side of the room. Where he had just been standing. He looked back and forth in pure disbelief.
"How?" he breathed. He felt his legs start to give out, and took a step towards the bed, as he once again felt the weird pull.
Jamie ended up standing in front of his bed. He whirled around, and once again stared at the spot he had been standing at a second ago.
(The word teleport sat on the edge of his mind, but the logical side pushed it out of his head as soon as it came).
"I'm going crazy."
He dropped onto the bed, feeling as if his world was shattering. He rested his head in his hands, but began to feel a warm liquid on them. He took his hands from his face, and stared at the blood on his palms. He felt around on his face until he found the source.
His nose was bleeding.
Bleeding nose.
"Honey, don't move, your nose is bleeding."
There really hadn't been time to get Joe out of the way. At the rate the truck had been going, both himself and Joe should be dead. Except… Jamie looked from his bed to the desk, at the impossible stepping length between the two objects.
Except they weren't.
Jamie's mind started connecting the incidents. Figuring out the similarities. If there was any-
The pull.
Jamie stood up slowly. He glanced at the door to make sure it was shut, then looked to the farthest corner of his room.
"Please don't let me be going crazy." He quietly prayed. He focused on the corner and waited until he felt the pulling feeling, and moved into it.
Jamie blinked and was standing in the corner he had just been staring at.
"That's not possible." he whispered.
A lot of time has passed since that day, and a lot of things have happened, but even Jamie has to admit that this one takes the cake. And what a bloody cake it is.
"JAMIE!" Eddie yells, amidst the sounds of gunfire being exchanged between her and a criminal. "Jamie, talk to me!"
"Augh!" Jamie groans in reply, gripping his leg.
Eddie spares a quick glance to her partner, and then aims a focused shot at the criminal's chest, not even waiting for him to collapse before she kneels at Jamie's side. She pulls open his pant leg and takes a look at the wound. "You're gonna be okay, Jamie. It's just a graze."
Eddie was focused on Jamie's leg, so she doesn't notice the criminal slowly lifting his gun.
But Jamie does.
Making a split second decision, Jamie throws his body up from the ground and wraps his arms around Eddie…
And he pulls.
"Ooof!"
Jamie pushes Eddie off of him and stands up, immediately checking their surroundings for possible prying eyes.
"What just happened?" Eddie looks around from her position on the ground. "Where are we? Jamie, what just HAPPENED?"
Jamie limps over to his partner and grabs her shoulders. "Eddie, Eddie, look at me. It's okay, we're just right around the corner." He shakes her shoulders to get her to look at him. "Eddie, focus."
Eddie realizes Jamie is right in front of her, and quickly scoots back, hopping to her feet. Jamie steps back in response, putting his hands up in an open manner, and tries to ignore the fearful look in her eye.
"What… was that?" Eddie whispered.
"He was going to shoot you, I didn't have a choice-"
"But what was that? How did we get," Eddie gestures to the alley they are in, "Here? Jamie," She looks him in the eyes. "What did you do?
"I-we, um." Jamie fumbles with his words for a moment, and then sighs, wiping away the blood from underneath his nose. "For lack of a better word… teleported."
Eddie blanches. "T-Teleported? H-How is that possible?"
Jamie shushes her. "Not so loud!" he hisses. "Look, Eddie, I will tell you everything, but right now-" The sound of sirens fills the neighborhood and slowly get louder. "But we have about 20 seconds to get back. So we need to go. Eddie!"
Eddie snaps out of her stupor. "Just so we're clear," she tells Jamie, "I expect a full explanation after all of this is over." She starts running towards the alley exit, Jamie trailing behind.