2023, February 20th.
10 minutes after re-meeting Sam.
Jinn isn't stupid. He already had an idea that someone was keeping an eye on him. He probably knew for longer than us, too.
Was he scared? Pfft, it's Jinn we're talking about... I'm sure he-
Uh, nevermind, hell yeah he was scared. His hands could probably hydrate a small country with how sweaty they were! I mean, he's just a highschooler, and some creepy dude with a mask and a cap was eyeing him from across the train. And the chances of him being another creepy old friend were incredibly low.
So. What now? Praying that he'll disappear won't help. Should Jinn go and confront him? Should he be a man?!
Uhm. Maybe not. He's really scary looking. Praying it is!
Why was he eyeing Jinn in the first place...? It's not like he stands out or something. Sure, his green-ish eyes aren't that common, but you usually throw a glance at the person with said eyes and look away, you don't stare for 5 minutes straight.
After another praying session from Jinn, the train stopped at a station that wasn't his, and a lot of people got off, including the creepy man.
Jinn couldn't help but sigh semi-loudly, and think to himself something among the lines of 'this town sucks dude...', and he wasn't exactly wrong.
After another station, the train arrived at Jinn's stop. It was only Monday, and Jinn was already thinking of his sweet, sweet bed and some sleep.
Jinn would've probably started daydreaming, if his arms weren't still itching. Why was that, anyway? Must be Sam and his stupid prank... Jinn's soul was still in distress from those fake flames, by the way.
Well, whatever. Hands itching or not, he still has class soon, so he got going. First up is... Math. Of course it's math. I think I mentioned the fact that he doesn't like math about two trillion times now. Oops. I think everyone gets it.
Well, standing there does him no good, so he started heading towards his class. He made his way in, and sat down in his seat. His seat is the 3rd, right by the window, if anyone cares.
The teacher walked in soon after Jinn sat down, and almost immediately started his lesson.
Halfway through the lesson, as Jinn was focused on writing down what was written on the whiteboard, he felt his right elbow hit something, then soon after, he heard a small 'thud!' on the ground. He thought to himself...
"Damn. Must've hit my eraser off my desk. I better grab it."
Firstly, he lifted up his right hand and scratched the back of his head, before looking to his bottom right. His eraser wasn't there, on the ground. Hmm. That's odd. Jinn could've sworn he heard a thud?
He checked on his desk, and his eraser was right where it was before. Didn't move in the slightest. Jinn thought to himself again...
"Oh. I must've imagined it. Probably someone else dropped something. Whatever."
Jinn then noticed he wrote down something wrong, so he used the eraser to fix the mistake.
He didn't notice at the time, but the itchiness was slowly going away as well.
2023, February 20th.
6 hours later.
Talk about a long day... Jinn was unimaginably tired. The fact that he stayed up late playing video games wasn't helping either.
Well, whatever. He was just gonna go on the first train home, and sleep the day away.
Or that was the plan, at least. His train got delayed by... A whole hour?! What, did it get struck by lightning or something?!
Jinn couldn't help but sigh yet again. I feel ya', dude. I really do.
Well. I guess he's walking home. Great. But since Jinn wasn't a fan of falling asleep on the side of the road, he went to a store and bought a canned coffee. Tasted like cold cat food to Jinn, but at least he won't fall asleep now.
He had to pass a pretty long bridge to get home, so when he got there, he chugged the rest of his coffee and threw the can in a bin, before stepping on the bridge. Talk about a model citizen.
As he was walking, his phone started buzzing. When he checked, it was no one else but his dad.
"Ah, hi dad. What's up? You don't really do phone calls."
"Jinn. Where are you right now?"
"Now? I'm walking home, the train got derailed."
"No, where are you?"
Woah, he sounded pretty serious. What's going on?
"Oh, umm... Y'know that really long bridge I like to walk on? There. About halfway."
"Jinn, listen to me. Closely."
"Uh... Ok?"
Jinn could barely make out what his dad said. He stopped dead in his tracks, and almost dropped his phone.
"What?!"
"The hospital, Jinn."
"No, I got that part, but why?!"
"Car crash. Some high driver rammed into her. The doctors here say she's in pretty bad shape, but she'll be ok."
"Which hospital are you guys at?! I'm coming right now!"
"Jinn... You don't have to-"
"I don't care! She's my mom! I said I'm coming! Tell me which hospital! I'll be right there!"
"...Fine. I'll tell you."
His dad told Jinn the hospital they were at, then hung up. Jinn was angry. No, not angry. Furious. No, not that either. He was enraged. He never felt this kind of emotion in his life.
In his enraged state, he tightly gripped his phone, then threw it off the bridge as hard as he could, and into the lake below!
Except... He never heard a splash. But Jinn didn't even notice that. He was way too pissed off.
"Fuuuck dude... I shouldn't have done that. Fuck!"
He started sprinting across the bridge, only to realize that this hospital wasn't one he had visited before. He was running to nowhere, with no destination.
Instinctively, he pulled out his phone, and quickly put the hospital's name into his Maps app, then looks around to determine his current loca...
Huh?
He pulled out his phone?
As he realized what just happened, Jinn looks down at his phone, while being awestruck.
What the fuck?
"What the fuck?"
Huh. We both said that. At least this proves neither of us is nuts.
"Didn't I... What? How the... Why..."
Jinn was at a loss for words. I mean, it was only fair. Didn't he throw this? Into a lake? And now it's back in his pocket, completely dry?
Wait. Does it fucking matter?! He had his phone back! Sweet ol' Google Maps was here to help! Fuck the phone, just run, dude!
Jinn realized this as well, and started booking it, as the map guided him. When he got there, he was in such a hurry, he spoke so fast that the lady at the front desk only made out about 5 words.
"Uhh... So... You're here to see Mrs. Kinko?"
"Yes please!"
"S-Second floor, room 208..."
"Thankyouverymuchbye!"
I wasn't kidding when I said he was in a hurry. He didn't even take the elevator, he just ran up the stairs. I say ran, but it looked more like he was gliding across 'em.
He was about to barge in the room, when he realized that, maybe, that wasn't such a great plan. So he gently knocked, then opened the door.
"Dad... How is she?"
"She's fine. She's just sleeping. The doctor said that there was no kind of internal injury."
"Thank fucking God..."
After Jinn said that, he dropped on a chair, with his face in his hands. It felt like the biggest burden on Earth just got lifted off his shoulders. Soon after that, he fell asleep in that same chair.
I guess canned coffee isn't that effective after all, eh, Jinn?
...By the way. Some fucking Monday this was.
2023, February 28th
8 days after.
Jinn's mother got dispatched sooner than he expected. It truly was as the doctor said, not that bad. Of course, she was still in a pretty bad shape, so it was recommended that she stay in bed for at least another week.
As for the bill... Ouch. Let's just say that the Kinko family wallet took a pretty good hit...
Because Jinn's dad couldn't take any time off from his job, Jinn himself decided to stay home for a week. His mom insisted that she was fine by herself, and that Jinn should focus on his studies, but Jinn didn't wanna hear anything of the kind.
"Mom... There's absolutely no way I'm leaving your side for this whole week. Just say the word, and I'll bring you anything you want. Alright?"
"Sigh... Fine, fine. It's just one week."
"Yeah. You'll be alright in no time!"
During these 8 days that have passed, Jinn did speak with Sam, multiple times, actually. Yet, in this worried state of his, he completely forgot about the phone and itchiness, so he never asked him.
And so, Jinn became his mom's personal assistant.
And let me tell you, this old lady requires a lot of stuff! Jesus! Why is she so high maintenance?!
5 days later.
"Hey, Jinn."
Jinn, who was sleeping on a chair next to her, suddenly woke up.
"Huh... Yeah, mom?"
"Fetch me that water bottle from across the room, will you?"
After she said this, Jinn's mom looked down at her phone while waiting. Jinn, on the other hand, was, quite obviously, still very tired from just waking up. He raised his hand slightly up, as in asking for help from whatever higher being existed.
"Ugh... In a minute... In a minute..."
His mom looked up from her phone, and straight at Jinn.
"Oh? Really?"
"Yesss..."
Jinn was about to doze off again. Damn, this poor kid...
"But you already went and got it?"
"In a minute..."
"No, Jinn. It's already in your hand."
"Yeah, it isss..."
Jinn woke right up after hearing that.
"Wait, it is?!"
He looked down at his hand, and there it was. In all it's glory. A normal bottle of water. But... Why? Did Jinn sleepwalk over to it? No... He was awake during all that. Just sleepy, not actually asleep. So then, how...?
"What... The actual fuc-"
"Hey! No swearing in the house!"
"R-Right. My bad."
Jinn said that with a normal tone, but he was pretty shaken. Why and how did he get this water bottle? Wasn't it across the room?
"Uh... Here you go, I guess."
"Thanks, dear."
"Yeah... No problem."
But actually, it was a problem. Jinn's head was starting to hurt because of this. Badly.
"Hey, um, do you mind if I go out for a walk for a bit? I need to... Clear my head."
"Go ahead, honey. Don't be too long though, alright?"
"Uhm, yeah. I'll be right back."
Jinn put on whatever clothes he could find, tied his shoes and basically ran out that door. Fresh air was nice, for a change.
As he was walking, he saw a old man drop his wallet. He didn't want to touch others people stuff without permission though, so he just yelled out to him.
"Uh... Hey, sir! You dropped your wallet over here!"
"Ah, did I? Hmm... Looks like I did. Thank you, young man. Do you mind picking it up for me? My back's not what it used to be! Hehe..."
"Sure, no problem."
Jinn then held out his hand, with the wallet in it, to the old man.
"Here you go, sir."
"Oh! Hahaha, I didn't know you're some kind of magician! Thank you, thank you."
The old man then just walked away, chuckling to himself.
Hmm? What? Magician? How so? Jinn just gave the man his wallet. What's so weird about that?
Wait. He gave the man his wallet.
He gave the man a wallet that he did not pick up.
"No... No, no, no, no, no..."
Was Jinn actually just loosing it? Was he slowly going insane?
"How the fuck... Why the fuck?!"
Look bud, I'm just as confused as you are. Screaming profanities won't help you right now.
"Am I tripping on acid right now? Or mushrooms?! I am, aren't I?"
Well, both fortunately and unfortunately, he wasn't. Jinn didn't drink, smoke or do drugs. His health was great, actually. So that wasn't the case. He was, supposedly, fine.
Still very, very, confused and paranoid, he took some deep breaths and left. He just woke up, yet he planned to go right back to sleep. Surely he was just sleep deprived.
Yeah. That must've been it. He's probably just doing things subconsciously and not noticing. With a few hours of sleep, I'm sure he'll be back to normal.
Right, Jinn? Like, surely you're just tired.
Yup, yup, yup and yup again. That was it. Jinn was tired. Obviously. He was missing out on sleep because he was taking care of his mom. So he was a bit delusional right now. Yup.
Have I said 'yup' yet?
In any way, case, shape, form, time, space, he... Please excuse me. I don't think Jinn's the only one who needs sleep.
So, as I was saying, while I was panicking, Jinn made it home and went straight to his room. Of course, the second his face hit the pillow, his mother called him over. Lovely!
"Jiiinn! C'mere for a second!"
Poor he. He half-whispered something while getting up.
"You've gotta be fucking kiddin' me..."
"Did you say something?"
"Ah! No, uhm, I'll be right there!"
Jinn made his way to his mother's room, where she stood right where Jinn last saw her.
"What can I help with?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to check up on you. You seemed tired earlier. You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just as you said, tired. Do you mind if I get some shut-eye for a while?"
"Not at all. I'll be fine for a while. Go sleep."
Finally, the sweet release of sleep! This long awaited moment was finally here! Oh, how happy and excited Jinn was!
"Thanks mom. See ya' later."
...Or not. Well, whatever. At least he's gonna get some sleep. Night-night, Jinn. Don't let the bedbugs bite ya'.
He went in his room, closed and locked the door behind him, and jumped in his bed. Yes, with clothes on and all...
This time, uninterrupted, Jinn put his head on his pillow and fell asleep in about 2.54 seconds. Surely that's some kind of world record? Right?
Well, world record aside and all, he was just happy to relax. Of course, the fact that objects just kept appearing in his hands wasn't exactly something he wasn't worried about, he could think about all that later. His hands ain't going nowhere. And he's tired.
2023, March 5th.
8:29 PM.
Hmm. I see. Just one question though. How? How can you be that tired?! Ah, wait, that's technically two questions... Whatever! You get my point! This dude basically slept the whole day and was only now waking up.
Wakey wakey, Kinky.
"Ughh.... My head... What's the time...?"
He sounds like 30 year, old having a hangover... Did he get drunk on air or something?
"8:30?! You gotta be jokin' me..."
Also, stop answering your own questions. You're leaving me out of a job, y'know?
Ah, and no, nobody's kidding. You slept like a log my dude. I thought you were dead for a minute as well.
Well, whatever. Jinn got up and stretched, and I mean that he really streched, letting out a big yawn, and started walking towards his open door.
He closed and locked the door behind him, and started making his way towards the bathroom to change clothes. Except that he left his pajamas in his bedroom... Goddamn it Jinn.
He turned around, went through his open door and then-
"Okay, what the fuck?!"
Jinn yelled out. Not out of anger, but out of paranoia. Or maybe discomfort. Fear.
I told you all already, but Jinn was not stupid. He realized already that it was now twice that he locked his door behind him, just for it to be open the next time he checked it.
Something was going on. Something weird. Some might even say that it was something fucked up. And I can't help but agree.
"Why, why, why, why... Why..."
Jinn dropped down on his knees, with his face in his hands, and was on the verge of tears. Yes, actual tears.
As he was there, almost completely broken down, his father came rushing in.
"Jinn?! Are you all right?!"
"Dad... I don't know... I don't... L-Like, something keeps happening..."
Words were barely coming out of Jinn's mouth.
"...What keeps happening?"
"I-I don't fucking know! Stuff's moving on it's own! My phone, a wallet, fucking water bottles!"
"W-Wait, since when...?"
"I don't know dad... I don't know..."
Jinn's dad looked very distressed. He didn't know what to do in this type of situation. But one thing, and one thing only, came to mind. And it just might work.
"Jinn, get dressed. We're leaving."
While getting up, Jinn couldn't help but ask.
"Leaving? Where to, at this hour? It's already dark."
"The only place I think can help you and your current situation."
"My current... Wait. No. Surely, you don't mean..."
Jinn, now fully upright, looked his dad straight in the eyes with a serious, but a bit hesitant look.
"Yes I do, Jinn. We're going back."
I'm sure you guys guessed already, right?
"I'm taking you to the A.C.T.P."