If you couldn't tell, this is the 'Kidnap Strings' arc. Oooh. Nice title, eh?

…I can't sleep, Jim Bob. Strings isn't snoring, and the lack of sound is keeping me up. I might as well continue with what happened yesterday. I drove off, Strings sitting stiffly in the backseat, police chasing after us. They were now going around 5 mph as people cleared out of their way. That was good, because when they were going 2 mph, well… people walk at 2 mph. They could've just run after us and made better time. But actually, 5 mph wasn't making much difference, as I discovered that the golf cart had…

A Nascar setting.

Here's how it happened.

"How do I turn on my blinkers?" I wondered, staring at the golf cart. "Wait, do golf carts have blinkers? I'm not really all that acquainted with their anatomy… Geez, that sounded weird. Hey, look, a Nascar setting!"

To set the car to Nascar, you had to press a large, red, doomsday-device-ish-looking button. And so I did.

And then we were off! We quickly passed 60 mph. And I still didn't hit any pedestrians! (Though I did hit a squirrel; but still! That's pretty good! Why wasn't Ryou there to see how careful I was!?) I didn't see any need to go faster than that; I mean, I kind of wanted the police to catch up… slow-speed chases are funny, medium-speed chases are interesting, but a high-speed chase… those are captivating. (Nice word, eh?)

So, we went along at 60 mph. And an amazing thing happened: Strings actually clambered over the seat to ride shotgun. That was all he moved, though. His lower lip didn't even twitch (although his piercings swayed a little in the breeze).

So, while we were driving (and we drove for half an hour… meaning we went 30 miles, (math is power!!)) I got to take a good look at this guy in-between looking at the stoplights and the road and the other cars and all that boring nonsense. And he's got, like, 20 piercings. And he's as pale as snow. And his lips are an unnatural color. It's just weird.

So we stopped at a small diner outside of the city, parking the golf cart in the parking lot behind the diner, so that it couldn't be seen if you were on the road.

Then I had to try to prod Strings to get out of the car.

"Look, I know you can move," I said to him. He stared at the windshield, inanimate except for the occasional closing and opening of his eyelids. (That's called blinking.) "I saw you twitch! And you climbed into that seat, for Rassake! So you're going to move your legs and get into that diner!"

So he swung his legs around so that he could jump out of the cart. And when his legs hit the ground, and he stretched them, his joints made the most awful popping noises. I literally flinched

"Just get inside," I said, bending down (wincing again as I thought of the noises his legs had made when he had bent them) to scoop up a conveniently sharp stick in the middle of the parking log. I made stabbing motions at his back, and he obediently went inside.

And there we were—inside Domino City's equivalent of BJ's. How I know what BJ's is, well, don't ask me. It was kinda dim, there were TVs that you couldn't really focus on because their volume was too low, and the smell of good food was everywhere.

So we go inside and are shown to our table. Finally our waitress shows up.

She looked like Tea.

"AH!" I jumped in the air—like a man, you know—and when I hit my chair again, my butt hurt.

"Uhm… ok," she says, in a voice that isn't Tea's. So she's just a look-alike.

"I'm Shelly, and I'll be your waitress—AH!" She jumped in the air when she saw Strings and his many face piercings. (I don't blame her. I mean, seriously, the guy looks like he works at Hot Topic. Except he's too fat. Not that he is really fat, it's just that people who work at Hot Topic are anorexic-skinny.) Strings doesn't even blink at her rudeness. He just stares lamely at the menu.

"Er… can I get you two something to drink?"

"Lemonade," I say. I wonder if I looked weird, with my white hair. ...Nah. Strings points to something on the menu. Shelly squints at his menu, writes something down and then walks off without even telling us how our drinks would be 'right out'.

"So," I say, suddenly feeling all businessy. "I need some information from you, Strings."

"…"

"See, a few days ago there was a crowd of people around you. In the crowd were a girl and a boy. They looked related. The boy's name was Colton, and I don't know the girl's name. Do you know them?"

Strings blinks at me.

I sigh. "Ok, I'll try to elaborate some more. She said, 'There's one guy who won't say something stupid.' She was talking about you, I think." Strings releases just a hint of a smile. "Then she told her brother that he couldn't buy Magic cards. Remember?"

Strings stares at me.

I grab my napkin and take out the pen I usually write in you with, and I handed them to Creepy.

He scribbled down the following message:

Yeah, that kid Colton comes by every week to buy Magic Cards. Her name is Megan, I think.

Megan…?

"Are you sure?" I asked. He pointed to the words I think, and then writes, for all I know, it could be Angela, or Pam, or Jim. Or Nagem.

"Nagem, huh? What's that?"

It's 'Megan' backwards.

"Oh. Any idea where they might live?"

Strings shrugged. In Domino City? he wrote.

I rolled my eyes. "No, really, dumbtard."

Frantically he scribbled, Dumbtard isn't a word. I glared at him.

"Look, this isn't going to work if you don't talk," I shouted.

He sighed—the only sound I'd heard all day from him. Then he wrote down something else.

I can't. It's against the Mime's Code.

"Oh, give me a break!? The Mime's Code?"

Angrily he underlined the Mime's Code and pointed to it. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Listen to me," I growled. "You're going to help me find this girl's house, okay?"

Strings shrugged, then nodded noddingly.

Then Shelly came by with our drinks and asked us if we were ready to order. Since we hadn't really even looked at the menus, we weren't, but being a man I couldn't let anybody think that I was unprepared for anything! So quickly I looked at the menu and ordered a hamburger and fries. Strings pointed to another object on the menu and Shelly took our menus and left quickly.

Later, after we'd eaten and stuff happened that I'll tell you about later, we came back here, to regroup and collect our thoughts. Then I had to pick a place for Strings to sleep. See, he could've technically stayed in Ryou's bed. But if he had slept even near Ryou's room, and Ryou had found out about it in the future, I'd be grounded forever. Ryou is very particular about who can set foot in his room, and he gets really mad if I go over his head about these things.

Not that I'm afraid of him…

Anyhoo, so I decided he could sleep in my room—only on the floor. So I got him some blankets (just to piss Ryou off, they're his; that'll show I'm not afraid of him) and pillows, and he's sleeping on the floor… just lying there… not snoring…

It's annoying, I tell you.

Grrr… it's 2:07 and I'm really sleepy… and writing by flashlight-light is hurting my eyes… so goodnight, Jim Bob… I'll tell you about what happened on the way home in the morning.

Morning may never come if you don't review!