Well, I feel kind of stupid. I had this all set, and actually it was going to be one long chapter, but I figured it would be more pleasure-able if they were two separate chapters. I hope to have the next one up by tomorrow or the next day. I have to see if it's long enough for my standards. Oh well. Generally I like to have at least five reviews for a chapter before updating, but I'm breaking that rule tonight. I just couldn't wait. I love this chapter. I love this story. I didn't even know I had it in me. Man. I'm so conceited.

Anyways, I don't own any song lyrics you might see here, including the title. That one belongs to Anberlin, owner of one of my other favorite songs, Paperthin Hymn. Also, I don't own his alarm, it's Love is the Movement by Switchfoot. Oh, and this was as far as I'd written before I started this story, and the title is mentioned in here. So enjoy!


At one forty-five on the night of the daythe last timeJimmy and Cindy had argued, Jimmy was still in his lab, even though he had school the next day. He was slouched in his chair, mindlessly playing FreeCell from inability to sleep. Cindy had never done this before, been gone for this long, and it worried him. Suddenly an IM came up on the giant monitor. It was Libby.

MusicIsLife17: isn't it past your bedtime?

CherryWhippyDip: I guess. No matter how much sleep I get though, I'm still dead come morning. I cant sleep anyways

MusicIsLife17: you too? I mean, I know. It's normal for her to run off when she gets mad, but not for this long

CherryWhippyDip: I was just thinking that. I just feel so guilty. If something ever happened to her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself

MusicIsLife17: don't talk like that! Nothing's going to happen to her. But you were pretty harsh. she's been… out of sorts and snappy lately, and I guess she had it coming sooner or later

CherryWhippyDip: no you don't get it. I was trying to be nicer to her, and when she snapped at me like that, I lost all conscious thought—the words were out of my mouth before I could even think them

MusicIsLife17: I know that feeling

CherryWhippyDip:I don't think you do. My life hangs in the balance of her safety

MusicIsLife17: wow. You really do love her, don't you

MusicIsLife17:?

CherryWhippyDip: …am I that obvious?

MusicIsLife17: no.

MusicIsLife17: well, yes. But only since this morning.

CherryWhippyDip: that's what sheen said

MusicIsLife17: that and I can kinda tell what youre thinking these days, since we've known each other for so long and I like to think we've become closer

CherryWhippyDip: tell me, is it all in vain?

MusicIsLife17: if I changed the subject now would you get suspicious?

CherryWhippyDip: quite.

MusicIsLife17: I cant say

CherryWhippyDip: I get it. I'm going to try to sleep now, since I need to get up early tomorrow

MusicIsLife17: wait, jimmy

CherryWhippyDip: yeah?

MusicIsLife17: if Cindy isn't back tomorrow, will you promise me we'll search for her?

CherryWhippyDip: I promise, but only if you promise to not tell Cindy about this conversation, until after I tell her. Its important to me, and I want to be the one she hears it from

MusicIsLife17: you got it. My lips are sealed

CherryWhippyDip: thanks. Goodnight, libby

MusicIsLife17: sweet dreams!

CherryWhippyDip: I'll try

CherryWhippyDip has signed off at 2:32:46 AM.


Jimmy, help me…

The next day, Jimmy found himself in a church pew, garbed in all black, and no recollection of how he got there. It took him a moment to realize where he was, and once the minister started to speak, he felt his entire body fill with grief.

"We are here to remember our dear friend and daughter, Cynthia Aurora Vortex…"

Suicide, the minister said, a knife through the heart. It had her fingerprints on it, and no one else's. That didn't seem like Cindy at all. Something wasn't right. As the eulogy carried on, Jimmy fought the urge to fidget with his program, which turned out to beoddly blank once he looked at it for the first time. Another oddity to this funeral was Libby's absence, along with many of Cindy's other close friends. Jimmy couldn't even see Carl and Sheen, or his family, only a sea of unfamiliar faces and Cindy's squalling parents. Hm…

As the minister came to a close, he encouraged Cindy's friends and family to come up to the front and say whatever they wanted to say about or to Cindy for the last time. Jimmy was third in line. As his turn drew nearer, he could feel his mouth going dry and a sweat of nervousness breaking out on his forehead, for his speech had never been uttered to even his dog, let alone a crowd of people he didn't know. After what seemed like years of waiting, it was his turn. Suddenly, a lump grew viciously in his throat and he found to be increasingly harder to make his words formulate sentences with each passing second.

"Hi," he finally managed, "I'm sure many of you already know the… relationship Cindy and I shared, but some of you may not." Here he paused to take a deep breath to stop his horrid shaking. "we definitely did fight all the time. But deep down I... loved her... with a passion comparable to Buttercup and Wesley's. I argued with Cindy on a daily basis so I could get in her face and be close to her without fear of her getting creeped out, because I know she would have. And it were my... desires to be the best and at the same time be near the woman I love that landed her here. I thoughtlessly said things that I didn't mean, and well... the rest is history. If you want to blame me... for the death of this beautiful woman, go ahead; I already do. It was bottled love that led me to make the decisions I made. Friends and family of Cindy Vortex, I implore you, if you love someone, tell them soas much as you can, because you never know how much time you have left with them. Thank you."

As Jimmy left the podium, he passed by Cindy's open casket, herbodylying peacefully inside, and tried not to look at her serene face. Instead, he happened to see her left wrist, left uncovered by her short-sleeved dress. On it was engravedby a knife the words "I thought you said forever, over and over."

Her left wrist. Oh, my God.

"Cindy!" Jimmy cried, but it was too late.

His words had sunk into the minds of the mourners, and they had become a black angry mob, shouting things like "So much for love!" and "Murderer!" Suddenly Jimmy felt hands all over him, grabbing his clothes and hoisting him up, carrying him out the door, where he was promptly thrown into an abyss right outside the church. He tried to scream, but nothing escaped the endless hole. So this is hell, Jimmy thought. Nothing but cold darkness and the empty euphoria of free fall, for all eternity. Darkness. Free fall. Cindy. Darkness. Free fall. Cindy. CINDY!

"Cindy!" Jimmy sat straight up in his bed, his body covered in cold sweat, and his mouth dry. He looked around as his breathing slowed back to normal to find himself in his room again, with the alarm clock singing, "Get up, get up, love is moving you now. Get up, get up, love is moving you now…"

"It was a dream. Just a dream," he muttered to himself. That explained the empty program, Libby's absence, and the pit. As Jimmy pondered the pit, he rolled out of bed and vowed to seek Cindy today with every ounce of his intellectual being.


Oh, and I figure I'll have my two stories interact, sort of. I like to keep the details I make myself consistent. Such as Cindy's dextrous orientation, which is in fact correct. Check WL&K. I'm so proud of myself. So for you groupies which are regulars to my other fic, you're in for a treat! Unfortunately, the next chapter for that is still in the brainstorming process and probably will be until the end of the week. I like to put a lot of thought into what I write. In my notebook, pages 76-84 are mostly scribbles, me trying to find the right words. Yay me!

Okay. I like to ramble, I can see. I haven't been able to do this for a minute though, so it's okay. Anyways, review how you want to be reviewed. If you don't want bad feedback, don't give it!

Oh, and happy 4th of July, if I don't update tomorrow. I won't on Tuesday anyways, 'cause I'll be in the Block Island parade! I can't wait. Marching band rocks my socks.

I'm really done now.