Madison Paige opened the door to her apartment and walked in with Norman Jayden close behind.
He looked around slowly, taking in the view from the windows and the lighting of the simple apartment.
"Uh, I'm sorry, it's a bit of a mess..." Madison said.
"No, it's okay. I don't mind."
"... Do... do you want a drink? Some coffee, perhaps...?"
"I'd love some."
"Alright, I'll make some. Sit down on the couch and make yourself at home, Jayden..."
Jayden slowly sat down on the couch and sighed. He sat there silently until Madison walked over and handed him a cup of coffee, which he took gently.
"Thanks." He slowly took a sip as Madison sat next to him, holding a cup for herself. Surprisingly, it was one of the best damn cups of coffee that Jayden had ever drank.
"I like it kind of sweet, and I didn't know how you like your coffee, so I just gave you the same as mine..."
"It's fantastic, Madison. Best cup of coffee I've evah drank, I think."
"Really? I'm glad."
They stared into each other's eyes, a thick silence surrounding them. Madison slowly took Jayden's cup from his slack hands and put both of them down on the coffee table.
She then leaned over and kissed the FBI agent beside her passionately. He held her and kissed her back.
They continued to make out until Madison started trying to unbutton Jayden's dress shirt.
Norman Jayden jolted awake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He was slightly relieved to see that he was still in Madison Paige's apartment, but was less relieved when he noticed that he was now in her bed and topless. His dress shirt, tie, coat, and suit jacket lay on the floor in a semi-neat pile.
He glanced over at Madison to find that she was now wearing nothing but underwear and a white tanktop. This made Jayden more uncomfortable as he remembered what his other self had said. His belt did feel a little loose...
Jayden's heart started to race and he stood quickly, backing away from the bed, his mouth hanging agape.
'Did I... Did I do something to ha'...? Oh God, I didn't... No way, I... I didn't...!'
The room around Jayden started to fade, making him shake his head in protest. He blinked and found himself in the ARI forest. On the bed in the fenced-in area lay Madison, still asleep, miraculously.
"Nahman..."
Jayden whipped to his side, now staring face to face with his other self, who was still fully dressed.
"Nahman, don't tell me ya still haven't noticed somethin' yet..." His other self grumbled, his fingers clasped in front of his mouth; Jayden's typical somewhat-meaningless gesture.
He said nothing, afraid of waking Madison, but he simply stared at his other self with a look of horror in his eyes.
The other Jayden pointed at Madison. "Look at ha' face, Nahman."
"What...?" Jayden hesitantly walked back to Madison and examined her face. She was so pretty, sleeping the way she was. He glanced back at his other self, not sure what he was supposed to see.
"She started a second life, Nahman."
He shook his head and raised a brow, not understanding what his other self meant.
"Come on! Even I reco'nise ha'! How could ya not reco'nise ha'?!"
He looked at Madison again, but quickly looked back at his 'doppelganger'.
The other Jayden snarled in frustration before he smirked. "Look back now!"
Jayden looked back at Madison and practically stumbled back against his alter-ego, nearly clinging to him.
On the bed now was his old partner from West Virginia. He saw now that her face was identical to Madison's.
Jayden didn't know quite how to react until his alter-ego stepped closer to Madison with a crazy look in his eyes.
"Let me finish ha' off, Nahman. We'll nevah be haunted by ha' again. She'll nevah stalk us like she is now again."
"No!" He shouted. "Leave ha' alone!"
Madison Paige woke up groggily to the sound of Jayden screaming at himself. He stood in the doorway to her right and faced her as he changed demeanors repeatedly.
At first he seemed defensive, taking a step away from her. "Don't ya friggin' da'e!"
Then he looked insane and took a step closer to her as he smirked back at where he had been standing before. "What if I do da'e, Nahman? What will ya do? Take mo'e Tripto?"
"Jayden...?" She drowsily groaned as she rubbed her eyes.
Jayden took a step back and gasped at her. She stared at him for just a second before he shouted, "NO!", and flung himself at the bed as if lunging to tackle something. He then quickly leaped onto the bed and straddled Madison's waist, sitting with his knees on either side of her hips, and he wrapped his arms around her throat, tightening his grip with a look of mad determination in his pale green eyes.
She choked and pried at his fingers so she could breathe, but it wasn't working; being a man, he was naturally stronger than her.
Finally she somehow managed to punch him in the groin, and at that point, she flipped over, throwing him off of the bed.
Gasping, she pleaded, "Jayden, please, snap out of it! You're not thinking straight! Please!"
Jayden stood and was about to charge at her with a lamp in hand, but he suddenly stopped. The lamp dropped and its base shattered into large shards. When he realized what he was doing, he looked broken and ashamed as he slumped to the floor.
Slowly, Madison went over to him and got on her knees in front of him, stroking the side of his head gently.
"Madison..." Subconsciously, he pulled her into an embrace and shut his eyes.
Madison grunted in pain and he felt something leak onto his hand. Quickly, he opened his eyes and looked to see that his left hand had grabbed a sharp shard of the broken lamp base and had just stabbed Madison in the gut with it, spilling blood out onto his quivering hand.
His eyes widened in horror as he stared, incomprehensive at this point. He twitched a little, but did nothing to stop his body as it tore the shard out of Madison's stomach, grabbed her head, and placed the bloody shard against her slender throat.
Madison stared at him, pleading with her vibrant brown, pain-filled eyes.
'Kill ha', Nahman.'
Jayden felt his alternate self give him the control of his body back, but he didn't move for a long moment. When he did, it was to press the shard into Madison's neck and pull it roughly to the side.
Norman Jayden, clean as a whistle (for the most part), stepped out of the apartment building that Madison Paige stayed in and adjusted his coat. He emotionlessly walked to his car and got in, starting the ignition and putting the car into drive. He hesitated for only a second to glance at the building before he started driving casually away from it.
Carter Blake was relaxing in his house when suddenly he heard the doorbell ring. He opened the door and was pleased to see Norman Jayden, who held a bottle of wine in his hands.
"Hi..." The agent said.
"Hey, Norman..." Blake was too stunned to say his name mockingly.
"I just thought I'd stop by and that we could have a drink... Now isn't a bad time, is it?"
"No, no, of course not. Come inside, Norman."
Jayden stepped inside and looked around. "Not a bad place..."
"Say, Norm... How did you find out where I live?"
Jayden simply smiled at him. "Do ya have enehthin' I can use t'open this bottle?"
"Uh, yeah, hold on..."
Before Blake knew it, they were both sitting on the couch holding cups of the wine.
"T'the end of that crazy case." Jayden said and held up his glass.
"To the end of the case." Blake and Jayden had a toast, Blake quickly downing the wine. "Not bad."
Jayden didn't drink. "I know, right...?"
"Norm, are you alright? Have you been sleeping okay?"
"T'be honest, no... I haven't slept in a day or two..."
Blake frowned and rubbed Jayden's thigh flirtily. "You know you're welcome to stay with me, right?"
Jayden reached out and rubbed Blake's facial hair sensually. "I know, Cahtah... It's just that ya had yer chance, and ya botched it."
Blake raised a brow. He felt sleepy all of the sudden. Jayden pulled his head close to his own chest and pet him.
"Sleep, Cahtah..."
Blake realized what had happened, and he chuckled a little. "Fucking asshole... think you're so clever... don't you..."
Jayden smiled when Blake passed out permanently. He picked up the poisoned bottle of wine and left casually, getting back into his car as if nothing had happened inside.
Ethan Mars sat in his house. He and Grace had got back together and bought back their old house to live with Shaun.
It was early on a Sunday morning, and Ethan walked outside. He grabbed the newspaper and went back into the kitchen, reading through the paper while he made coffee. He brought the tiny cup to his mouth a took a small sip of the hot java when an article in the newspaper caught his eye and he stopped drinking.
"Police Lieutenant and Journalist found murdered in their own homes"
The article mentioned both Carter Blake and Madison Paige.
"What...? My God..." Ethan was so shocked; Madison was dead? That was news to him. Yet he was a little pleased that Blake had died.
He finished his cup of coffee and then continued on with his day without giving the article a second thought.
Shaun Mars woke up in the middle of the night to some unnerving sounds. He looked around in his room, but froze when he heard that the sounds were coming from downstairs.
He heard the glass sliding door leading to the backyard close, and then heard what sounded like rhythmic footsteps on the hard wood floor.
He held his blanket tightly when he heard the intruder begin whistling a tune, running something sharp along the wooden shelves in the living room.
Shaun whimpered in fear. He wanted to cry out for his parents, who were likely asleep in the other room. He wasn't sure why he didn't, but he got up and hid under his bed; this also gave him the advantage of having his ear pressed to the floor to hear better.
The intruder downstairs took their sweet time exploring the downstairs, then they stopped whistling and started coming up the stairs.
They started whistling again, but their whistles soon died down as they stopped in front of Shaun's door.
Shaun trembled under his bed, trying his best to breathe quietly as he held his teddy close.
The door creaked open.
"Shaun...?" A voice quietly beckoned for him.
Shaun didn't move a muscle.
"Shaun, I know whe'e yer hidin'... Just come out now, and the'e'll be no reason fer me to hurt yer parents."
Shaun grabbed a sharpened pencil that had rolled under his bed before he shakily got out from his hiding spot.
A man stood before him, holding one of the knives from the kitchen in his right hand. He looked exhausted, and even Shaun could tell from the look in his eyes that he had long since gone insane.
Norman Jayden looked down upon little Shaun in the dark, reddened, stormy forest. "See? It wasn't so hard t'show yerself t'me... But I'd already seen ya, Shaun... It wasn't such a great hidin' spot aftah all, was it."
"What do you want from me?" Shaun asked, trying to sound brave, when he was in fact scared out of his wits.
Jayden clasped his hands under his mouth, grazing the knife against his scarred cheek. "Shaun, I want ya t'come with me."
"What? You're crazy." Shaun sharply denied.
"Come with me," Jayden pointed the knife in the direction of his parents' room. "Or else yer parents will meet my wrath. I won't hurt ya or them if y'come with me, I sweah."
Shaun clutched his teddy tighter, and he didn't fight when Jayden gently held his hand and pulled him along. The boy stopped and took his time in tying up his shoelaces and putting on his jacket. He was then pulled out of the house by Jayden.
The two of them walked for what felt like hours, not stopping even when dawn broke.
Scott Shelby was asleep in his small house somewhere just outside of Philadelphia. He was planning to stay asleep for a while when suddenly he was awoken by the ringing of his doorbell over and over.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He grumpily yelled at his door. He opened it, and when he did, he froze.
In front of him was Norman Jayden, who held the hand of Shaun Mars. They were both soaked from the rain that had started up again. Shaun seemed exhausted, while Jayden just stared at Scott blankly.
"... Jayden, what the h-" The private investimagatorrator was cut off when Jayden suddenly hugged him. "... John?"
"Yer the only one that hasn't betrayed me yet, Scott..." Jayden said. "Yer the only one I can trust..."
"You're the one that killed that Madison girl and Carter, aren't you, Jayden?"
"I need yer help..."
"Where are we right now, Jayden?"
"The construction site..."
Scott frowned Madison's frown. "Jayden, I think you should get help. And for God's sakes, take Shaun back to Ethan!"
"I am gettin' help..." Jayden took Scott hand. "I'm gettin' yers..."
"I can't help you until you take Shaun back to his father."
"His fatha' will have t'find him."
Scott sighed, realizing that he'd have to take Shaun back himself somehow, as it wasn't going to be easy to get through to Jayden... or perhaps John. Maybe even both; Jayden seemed to be switching back and forth unpredictably.
'I can only imagine what kind of chaos his thoughts are right now.'
"... What do you need my help for?"
"I need mo'e Triptocaine and a place to lay low fer a while..."
"I'll try my best to find Triptocaine, but I can't help you find a place to stay."
"I wanna stay with ya, Scott..."
Scott's eyes widened at the idea. "St-stay with me?"
Jayden embraced Scott again, standing up on his toes so that he could rest his chin against Scott's shoulder.
Scott watched Shaun, who stood there quietly; he had nowhere to run, and he knew it.
"Please help me..." Jayden suddenly pleaded in a whisper, sounding near tears. "I killed Madison and Blake, and at this rate, I'm gonna kill Shaun too... I can't... I can't stop myself, Scott...!"
Scott slowly pat Jayden's back. "I'll try everything I can to help you, Jayden..."
He continued with a disclaimer in his thoughts. 'Without losing John. Which probably limits my usefulness to you quite some bit.'
