I was still walking on air as I gravitated toward the picnic table where I always seemed to meet up with Bridget. I was disappointed to find that she wasn't there. I sighed and continued my trek. The events of the night before flashed in my mind like a projector on a screen.

It had felt surreal having Maggie on the back of my bike; wonderful and strange. Her hands had snaked gracefully around my waist as we sped away from the camp. I left Bridget and her picnic table behind with the tents and I gave my whole self to the wind rushing past my face and the body pressed against my back.

It had felt even more surreal to see the terrified woman run from the woods only to be dragged back by a terrifying clown while we crouched in the underbrush, thinking it was a cop about to bust us for breaking curfew. For a moment my gut had clenched and my legs froze, but the moment passed and I knew I would be following them. The woman's fear had registered with me in a way that I couldn't describe.

"Why can't you just call the cops?" Maggie had desperately tried to reason with me. I didn't blame her, the scene we had just witnessed was straight from a nightmare.

I held up my hands, "They ain't interested in anything we got to say. They would be excited to put me away for breaking curfew and then what happens to that lady?" No, I couldn't just walk away. Call it trying to get redemption for Meep, call it glory hunting, call it whatever you damn well please, but I was going to save that girl.

I just hadn't planned on saving Maggie, and the little boy as well as myself along with her. When Edward Mordrake had appeared and taken the clown with him I couldn't believe my eyes; my mother's ghost story, before my very eyes. I had made a mental note to apologize to her for calling it a silly scary story.

The crowd of people credited me with killing the clown, and what was I going to say? "No officer, it wasn't me! It was the ghost of a freak who comes every Halloween!" They would dismiss me as crazy and throw me in an asylum.

"Hero." They had called me, and shaken my deformed hands without flinching. I flexed my fused fingers reflexively at the memory and sat heavily on the bench. I was tired; truly exhausted, but I also felt restless. Adrenaline pumped in my veins and sent my sore muscles jumping. I looked up at the sound of footsteps, hoping to see Bridget, but it was Paul. He looked concerned.

"Something's happened, Mate." Paul said, his lips set in a grim line. I had been on an hours long high from the hero's reception I was given. My smile faltered and my heart began pounding.

"Is anyone hurt?" I asked, images of Meep flashed through my mind.

Paul shook his head, "I truly don't know. Last night, after the show, Bridget tore from her tent and took off."

"She's gone?" I asked, whirling to face him. I didn't question why the thought of Bridget leaving the camp made me panic.

"No, she's here. Eve found her about an hour later on the embankment a few miles out." Paul shuddered, "She didn't look good. Skinny as a rail, sweating, and shaking like a leaf."

I recalled how tired had Bridget looked before I left with Maggie. I should have never left her, I knew something was wrong. I made the wrong choice again.

"Has anyone seen her?" I asked, looking in the direction of her tent. I was warring internally with myself; part of me wanted to run to her bedside, and the other wanted to be as far from Bridget and her whole messed up self as I could get.

A loud crash and the sound of shattering glass broke my train of thought. Paul and I looked at one another for a beat before running in the direction the noise had come from.

My heart sank as yet another loud crash pierced the air; it came from Bridget's. As Paul and I were running to the tent we were joined by Eve, and my mom. Our faces were mirror images of one another; wide eyed and determined.

I threw open the flap of Bridget's tent without hesitating. She was standing in the center, her suitcase upended on the floor, pages and pages of sketches and what I assumed were tattoo designs littered the floor. A long mirror lay on it's side, the broken shards of glass splintering out like a spider web. Blood was dripping down Bridget's arm; she was holding a shard of mirror tightly in her right hand, slashing a white dress to ribbons. Her face was strange, there was no emotion in it, her eyes were blank, her jaw was set. When she saw us, she seemed to come into herself. She looked at her bloody arm, still holding the piece of mirror and the destroyed dress and started sobbing. Bridget's knees buckled and I rushed to catch her before she hit the ground. One of my arms was wrapped tightly around her chest, the other grabbed the broken glass from her hand. My stomach swooped as it stuck a little and I had to yank it out.

I looked helplessly at my friends standing in her doorway.

"I'll get some towels and bandages!" Eve said before disappearing. My mom walked into the room and helped me to my knees. Bridget gripped my arm like I was the only thing holding her to the earth. I didn't care about her blood blooming on my white sleeve like a rose.

"It was Mordrake." My mom said, watching Bridget collapse into me with pity in her eyes. I wished I could dismiss her ghost story the way I always had, but I saw the man with two faces with my own eyes.

Bridget mumbled something into my shoulder.

"What?" I asked gently, bending down so I could hear her. She was whispering 'why, why, why'.

"Why what, honey?" My mother asked, laying her hand on Bridget's shoulder.

As if she had pressed a button, Bridget's head popped up. She looked at me, her frail body shaking with her sobs.

"Why did she do it? She left me!" She screamed, trying to fight me off of her. I refused to let her go.

"Who did?" My mother asked, bewildered.

"My mother!" Bridget gave up fighting me and collapsed again.

"You're mother loved you." My ma said, having never met the woman, I wondered how my mom could be so sure.

"Then why didn't she stay alive for me?" Bridget asked, more quietly. "I have to prove that I'm not like her. I won't slit my wrists in the bathtub while my daughter plays in the living room. I'm not like her!"

"You don't have to prove that to anybody." I said, catching all of us by surprise.

Bridget looked at me though shining eyes, but said nothing.

"You're stronger that. Look, I don't pretend to know you or your story. You made damn sure no one here ever did, but I know you're stronger than that. I can tell every time you look at me with your jaw set and your eyes flashing. You're mom...she must have been sick." I shook my head. This sudden onslaught of information was making me dizzy.

"That isn't true." Bridget said in her small voice, "I used to be a real girl. Now I am just a cold, bloodless, stone-person."

"That's not true, love." Paul added before hesitating, "You have blood."

Bridget's small body went limp in my arms and she covered her face with her hands, moaning softly into them. My heart broke for her then, she seemed so raw, so breakable that I feared I would snap in her in half if I tried to move her.

We all sat in silence until I was confident that she had fallen asleep, I stood, careful not to stir her and laid her gently on her bed. Her lips were pursed and her brow was furrowed. I gently reached forward and pressed my thumb in the center of her brow and smoothed it out. Not knowing what else to do, I bowed out quietly and joined my Mom, Paul, and Eve just outside.

/

After we had left Bridget's tent a car pulled into the camp, out stepped a thin mustachioed man in a gray suit and a straw hat. He claimed he was a television producer who had seen the show the night before and wanted to make Elsa a star. I had rolled my eyes as he had uttered the magic words. Elsa had been stung by my reaction and sent me out to chop wood.

I cursed her as I swung the ax over and over again, making a stack as tall as my knees. I was so absorbed in scorning Elsa that I didn't notice Maggie sidling up to me.

"Hey." She said, walking into my line of vision.

"Hey yourself." I smiled at her, setting the ax down and giving her my full attention. The sun was hitting her at the exact right angle, illuminating her like an angel.

Maggie wasted no time and grabbed my hand, her perfect little fingers tracing the lines that crisscrossed my palm like a road map. She looked at it for only a second.

"You're in great danger," She said quickly, "You need to leave now, tonight."

I laughed and pulled my hand back. I picked up the ax again, and placed a log on the stump.

"Oh sure, I'll just take my millions and run." I said sarcastically.

Maggie sighed, frustrated, "You shouldn't trust that man."

"Honey, I don't trust anyone." I swung the ax. The sound of the wood splitting made Maggie jump.

"You're a great guy, Jimmy." Maggie tried again, "You can do anything you want."

In that moment, I looked at her. Her full lips, round cheeks, and long lashes. She was beautiful, and she was standing so close I could smell her, like sunflowers. I was intoxicated by her beauty, her voice. I closed my eyes and tipped my face toward hers, my heart slamming in my chest.

"Oh!" She let out a small breath of surprise and stepped away from me, my lips met with air. I opened my eyes and saw Maggie trying to look anywhere but at me. Bitter disappointment sat heavily on my chest, it was hard to take a breath.

"Anything but that, I guess." I tried to sound light but the bitterness in my voice betrayed my true feelings. I dropped the ax and turned for my pile of wood.

"You have a bright future, Jimmy." Maggie's voice said from behind me, I turned to look at her, "I'm just not in it."

"Save it for the show, why don't you?" I spat at her. I knew I was being childish, but I really had thought that after what we had been through last night she would feel something for me. "How could I have ever though someone like you would be interested in someone like me?" I must have been out of my mind. I gathered my arms full of wood and pushed passed her. It took all of my strength not to run from where she stood.

It wasn't as if I wasn't used to rejection, I just thought Maggie was different. After all, she was here, wasn't she? I walked, dazed by hurt and my confusion through the camp.

"I could use some of that!" I turned and saw Desiree standing just outside of her trailer. She had her hip cocked and was looking at me with hooded eyes. I turned and walked passed her into her trailer to deposit the wood by her stove.

"Are you okay, honey?" Desiree asked looking at my face closely, her lips were parted and there was a look of deep concern in her eyes.

Maybe only a freak can love a freak...Desiree was beautiful, there was no denying that fact. Her chocolate skin glowed in the dim light of her trailer. I leaned forward, trying to kiss the full lips in front of me. Just like before they were met with nothing but cold, unfriendly air.

"Jimmy, what are you doing?" Desiree asked, shock coloring her voice as she recoiled. Something in me snapped in that moment; all of my muscles loosened and bones disconnected from one another. I couldn't look at the shock and disgust on Desiree's face as she fumbled for the words to reject me. 'You have a bright future, I'm just not in it.' Maggie's words buzzed in my brain like an angry wasp. I have a bright future, but there is nobody in it. How can a future alone be bright to anyone? I ran from Desiree's trailer and let the screen door bang shut behind me.

Once I got outside I doubled over, clutching my stomach. The rejections sat in the base of my belly, tying it up into twisty knots that threatened to squeeze the very life from my body.

I scanned the camp, praying that no one could see me falling apart. My eyes landed on Bridget at our picnic table, her face was turned away from me. Like a starving man running for the dinner bell I stood and made my way toward Bridget. My vision tunneled until all I could see was her.

A/N:

Hi guys! Okay, a few things to address;

I went a little AU with this. I know Desiree didn't really reject him but when that scene played I could only imagine how Jimmy would feel if Desiree had rejected him. So I decided to play with that plot bunny a little.

I may go AU in the future with this story. I am not thrilled with the last few episodes so I am going to the take the liberty to change where I see fit.

I hope this long chapter made up for taking such a long time to update. I'm sorry, I just have been so uninspired lately I couldn't come up with anything I liked. This is actually the third version of this chapter that I had written. I thank you for baring with me through that!

Thank you for the follows, reviews and favorites! You guys are amazing! And I appreciate every single one!

Please let me know what you think or what you hope to see in the future for Jimmy and Bridget!

xoxoxoxox