Oliver knitted his eyebrows together, taking a moment to process what JaNyx just said.
"Why not?" He asked carefully as if he was scared of the answer that his friend might give him.
"Because!" JaNyx said, emphasizing the single word. "They might not believe you!"
Oliver deadpanned.
"Come on, think about it!" JaNyx urged. "Who in the right would believe that this girl right here is an alternate-universe version of you? I mean," He scrutinized her features, squinting as if this would help him see better. "She does look like you if you turned into a plain girl kind of way..."
He then turned his attention back to Oliver, who still had his poker face on.
"W-w-what?" He stammered. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that?!"
"Do YOU not believe me?" Oliver asked. His expression was blank, yet his eyes were screaming disappointment at being doubted by his best friend. "I expected you to, out of all people..."
JaNyx, ever so easy to guilt-trip, spluttered. "Of c-c-course, I d-d-d-do!"
"Really?!" His blue eyes widened, a smile forming on his face that usually wore a scowl.
JanNyx nodded determinedly.
"Of course I do, Olive. I have f*cking middle school syndrome. Why wouldn't I?"
"Why do you sound so proud of calling yourself that...?"
"Hey," JaNyx exclaimed. "And you're my best friend."
"Ech!" He gagged in disgust. "That's so corny--"
"If you told me that girl came from the realm between the living and the afterlife, I would believe you in a heartbeat!" His best friend added as if this would add to his credibility.
"You would believe me because you have a middle school syndrome or because you're my best friend?" Oliver raised an eyebrow interrogatively, only to pause when he realized something. "Also, is that you breaking the fourth wall again?!"
"All of it." He grinned, flashing his white canines.
"Bro, you gotta stop that, I swear to God."
"Fine!" JaNyx pouted, crossing his arms. "Just because you said so. But if they want more, they can always just tell me."
"Wha--" Oliver furrowed his eyebrows. "Who do you mean by 'they'?"
JaNyx turned around, winking at you.
"But anyway," He returned his attention to Olivia, who was still lying unconscious on the clinic bed. "You said she's another version of you in an alternate universe.
"Although I said I believe you, and I do--"JaNyx added because it looked like Oliver was about to question him again."--Can you explain how you conclude that she is?"
Oliver took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring, before exhaling deeply.
He didn't know how to tell the timeline of events without sounding like he was losing his mind. But he needed to give JaNyx a backgrounder of what was going on because he was sure he WOULD lose it if he kept this all to himself.
"Okay, first," Oliver cleared his throat. "I attempted to throw Goodd into a well--"
***
"Wait," JaNyx wrinkled his forehead, trying to grasp the story Oliver had just shared. "You're telling the story wrong!"
"How am I telling the story wrong?!" Oliver lashed out. "How could you know what happened more than I do?!"
A few meters away, Nurse Glee shushed them and shout-whispered for them to keep quiet. They both lowered their heads in embarrassment and waited a few seconds before continuing in a lower volume.
"No, that's not what I mean!" JaNyx clarified in a whisper. "The story's timeline should've started when you saw The Maestro in beggar form--" Oliver raised an eyebrow. "--Not immediately to the part where you tried to murder Goodd!"
"Oh," Oliver exclaimed blankly, seeing his point. "Sorry, I was never a good storyteller--Hey!" He yelled again.
JaNyx hushed him before the nurse could come to get their *sses to kick them out of the clinic.
Why were they having a meeting in the clinic in the first place?
"Hey," Oliver repeated softly this time. "I had no intentions of murdering Goodd."
"What did you expect would happen to him once you push him off a well?!"
"I--" Oliver tried to form a coherent reasoning, but to no avail. "I... I don't know."
"You don't know?!"
"I don't, okay!" He shouted again, forgetting to restrain his voice. "I just thought, you know..."
"No, I don't, Olive," JaNyx shouted back with equal vigor. "I don't know what's going on in your f*cked up mind that you think pushing a kid off a well just because you find them annoying is in any way reasonable!"
"Okay," Nurse Glee appeared out of nowhere, grabbing both of them on the back of their collars like kittens and dragging them outside the clinic. "You're disturbing the other patients. Off you go, both of you."
"What about Olivia?" Oliver spun around before the nurse could slam the door behind them.
"I'll call you once she wakes up."
Then Nurse Glee slammed the door in his face.
Now, in the corridor, when Oliver finally turned around to look at his best friend, he caught Janyx looking at him in bewilderment.
"Her name is Olivia?" He sounded puzzled.
"Apparently," Oliver shrugged. "What about it?"
"It makes everything more believable that she's your alternate self," Janyx muttered, more to himself than to Oliver. "Well, since she is your alternate universe version, it's almost a given that you're gonna have some cute matchy-matchy names like some sort of twins--Oh."
"What?" Oliver furrowed his eyebrows, causing the skin in the middle of his brows to crease.
"It's ironic, isn't it?" JaNyx laughed at his own quip before he could even say it aloud. "Your last name, although spelled differently, means and is pronounced as 'twin.'"
"And now I found my 'twin'..." Oliver trailed off. "God, is this some sort of cosmic joke?"
"I think you should be referring to the Maestro instead of God in this situation." JaNyx pointed out.
Oliver rolled his eyes.
"You know what I mean."
He chuckled, nodding.
"I do, this time."
Nurse Glee swung the clinic door open, barely five minutes after closing it. She glanced at the two before making the announcement that they'd been waiting for.
"She's finally awake."