I snatch the phone out of Anubis's hand and put it to my ear, preparing myself to recite my information.
"This is Daniel Phillips, born July sixteenth in the year nineteen ninety five, thank you." I put the phone on speaker and place it on the table with a grin on my face.
"Alright, so your cat named Prince?"
"Yes."
"Could you give me the PIN number for me?"
"Zero nine two three."
"Thank you, hold on just a moment and you'll be connected with Prince."
"Sounds good."
Prince
The soft cushion holding me up was nothing compared to the beds at Jean's. My body was only comfortable there, after all.
Suddenly, the door swung open and I opened one eye to a new human strolling through with a device in their hand. They're smiling at me, so I opened both eyes to see what the commotion was all about.
"Hello, Princey, we have someone here for you!" The human said. Why did they call me by such a distasteful name? I turned my head towards the screen and my body immediately jolted up in excitement.
On the device was a living Jean! And Anubis? Is that? No way. I haven't seen him in centuries. Something had happened between the two, but I couldn't tell what.
"Meow! (Jean! Anubis! I totally did not miss you guys at all!)" I meowed, pawing at the screen. A shame they can't understand me.
Although there was horrid quality, something was definitely off about Jean. He always had this tired look on him, but this time he looked sick. My cat senses were TINGLING oh FUCk what did u do jean u whore
Anubis smiled with a sense of nostalgia. "Hey Prince. Miss me?" I turned my head and meowed again, my tail visibly wagging in the back.
i literally remember typing up a reply to this
Feeling a bit weird to talk to my cat in front of Anubis and possibly a few security guards, I force a chuckle.
"Haha, hey Prince, how are you holding up? They're treating you like royalty, right?" I turn to look at Anubis, suddenly feeling a heavy cough crawling up my throat. I lean back and turn away from Anubis, lifting a hand to cover my mouth as I cough, feeling something hit the palm of my hand. I look down and see blood. My heart jumps, but I wipe my hand on my pants and turn back to the screen to continue the conversation with my cat.
We chatted with our cat for as long as language barrier would allow. At one point I noticed Jean had gotten more comfortable. I knew that my longing for my therapist was much larger than any judgment from some silly Brits.
–
lol! get it, therapist XD
anubis: literally im trying to tell a story
–
Eventually, lunch ended. I didn't get a chance to tell Jean of my plan - any conversing had to be saved for the apartment. I let out a big sigh as we reentered the solemn building. As soon as we got past security, a strange young boy bounced up to us.
"Anubis? Dan? You're the new recruits right? We need you to sign some more paperwork." Jean and I exchanged glances and followed the boy to an office. He sat us down and shoved loads of forms and contracts that in the end wouldn't matter. I started signing and writing the date.
"Hey, uh, Dan? What's today's date?" I asked, trying to recall the numbers.
"March 29," the boy replied instead. I frowned. That's not right.
A surge of anxious energy went through me as Jean and I both raised our heads in realization.
I felt Anubis's eyes on me as the tension settles in, looking up to lock eyes with him. I shift my eyes to look at the boy, but he's writing something down on a slip of paper. I blink at Anubis for a few moments, coming to terms with the fact that 1. both of us completely forgot for several days, 2. even though we forgot, we've been working together for over a week now, and that we were definitely together when the day passed, and 3. we still couldn't address it right now, not in front of people. I inhale deeply and write the date onto the papers, proceeding to fill out any information it asked before handing it to the boy.
"Thank you." He muttered as I sit back in the chair, now avoiding eye contact with Anubis.
Each signature got more and more sloppy. The pure guilt of forgetting for the first time was overwhelming. More guilt than the incident ever caused, strangely enough.
Unaware I had been holding my breath, I let out a sigh and smiled to the boy. "Is that it?"
"Yes, that should be it! Apologies for taking your time." The boy dismissed us with a flick of his wrists. Jean quickly sat up and left, but I decided against following him. I knew he wasn't going to talk to me for awhile, and even if he tried, it would only escalate into a fight. Plus, we had jobs to get back to.
feel free to time skip to night unless you wanna fucking write the rest of the boring day
As soon as we finished, I stood up and left, not bothering to hold the door for Anubis. The heavy feeling that weighed on me- and probably accompanied Anubis- infuriated me and I failed to push back all the thoughts that swarmed my mind. Instead of doing anything about it, I returned to work, repressing not only the memories of that night but also the dizziness that was seemingly overcoming me, as I continued discussing useless things with my team.
Y
e
a
h
lets timeskip
I enter the car quietly as Anubis sits in the passenger side next to me. I don't say a word, but that's not really weird of me. However, the energy that emanated from both Anubis and I was different, so my silence, albeit expected, was still unsettling for the both of us. I wondered if he was planning on breaking the silence.
After a long day, I met with Jean at the car. It was nearly 10 and I was ready to crash.
Jean, having the keys from this morning, stole the drivers seat again. Normally I would always drive since I had gotten my license way before he did, but I didn't bother saying anything. It was still too tense. I took the chance to fall asleep, not wanting to endure the long car ride.
Suddenly I heard the car door slam, jolting me awake. Of course, he would try to strand me in the car. I quickly opened my door before he could lock me in, then rushed after the bundle of anger.
"Hey! Push me away (pOKE HOLES IN MY SKIN HAHA SONG REFERENCE) all you want, I don't care, but I don't just have some back-up place to go to when you don't wanna see my ass. I am sorry, but you're just going to have to deal with it. You're not the only one who's mad."
Jean turned around with his hand on his temple. He had a dazed expression on his face. "I didn't-" he began, but before Jean could finish, he collapsed onto the cement into unconsciousness.
—– (jean wakes up in his bed later fyi)
I don't know how I managed to drive us home, but as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I started to lose my vision. Dizziness reigned my head as I parked in the closest parking spot and immediately got out of the car, slamming the door and trying to half-run to the door. I heard Anubis get out of the car and start yelling at me, for whatever reason.
"Hey! Push me away all you want, I don't care, but I don't just have some back-up place to go to when you don't wanna see…" His voice grew muffled. Am I that far from him? I couldn't have run that far. No, I'm losing consciousness. I try to hold myself together as I grab my head and turn to Anubis to explain myself, not really knowing what to say anyway.
"I didn't-" I'm not sure if I ever finished my sentence.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm really debating on writing a dream but i'd have to be tripping and traumatized to write an accurate jean dream sorry
My eyes flicker open slowly, dizziness still hanging in the back of my head as the fuzzy vision slowly fades. I'm on the edge of the bed in the room, on my stomach. I push myself up to scan the room and look for Anubis. He stood in the doorway as if he was about to walk in, but paused upon seeing me awake. He and I stare at each other for a few moments before I ask, "How long?"
my dick is 7 inches long jean u know this
After careful thought, I concluded Jean was having withdrawals. The issue was I didn't know if I should give him drugs just so this case goes fine, or if I should encourage him to be sober. I shook my head, knowing that even if I wanted him to recover, taking drugs out completely was not the way to go about it anyway.
I stepped into the room to see that Jean had awaken. "How long?"
"It's only been about 5 hours. It's 3 a.m." I yawned, not enjoying staying up for him. I handed Jean a glass of water. "Why didn't you say anything? You could've at least let me drive you home."
"Why didn't you say anything? You could've at least let me drive you home."
I roll my eyes and turn over to look next to me. Did Anubis place a bowl next to the bed? It's empty, but I wonder if he was preparing ahead for something.
"Say something? I'm fine, Anubis. You should go to sleep."
I say as I eye the clock and stand up, approaching the dresser to take off my shirt and take down my hair.
"I'll go shower and get back to bed, but we have work tomorrow and we can't lose sleep for any reason."
"I'm fine, even though I literally just passed out, but I'm fine," I mocked under my breath. Jean began to leave to the bathroom, but I stepped in his way. "Sorry, Jean, but I kind of need you to be sharp because tomorrow is when we have to actually do shit. I have a plan." I passed him a pack of cigarettes. He hesitated, as if accepting my help would make him less cool or something. Eventually he snatched the box and pulled one out.
I continued. "So I explored the building and the elevator only goes up to a limited amount of floors if you don't have a special card. Long story short, I managed to sneak up to the secret floors anyways. Amelia's office is up there, so I'd assume she could let us borrow her card during lunch and go up there. When we get up there, we'll have to take the emergency stairs up to this guys office. He's like an executive or whatever - he's definitely high up on the list, so I figured his office would have some information. We can't get to his floor through Amelia's card, but that's why we're taking the stairs. I planned on figuring out the algorithm for the doors tonight so that when we open them they don't set off any alarms for a couple minutes. I haven't exactly figured out how to get into the guy's office, but one step at a time, right?"
I pull out my lighter from my pocket as I light the cigarette, not really bothering to ask Anubis where he got it from and why he had it on hand. Instead, I walk to the door that led to the porch and place the cigarette in my mouth, inhaling the fumes as the fuzziness and nausea gradually faded away. Immediately I felt relieved from the pressure in my head and the stress weighing on my chest. Anubis was talking, but I wasn't really listening to him as I crack open the door in the back of the room and exhaled the smoke outside.
"I haven't exactly figured out how to get into the guy's office, but one step at a time, right?"
I turn back to look at Anubis as I place the cigarette back between my lips.
"We never addressed the elephant in the room."
I muttered, thinking back to the last conversation I had with Anubis. That is, the one that would have started if I didn't pass out in front of him.
"How are you taking that?"
"How are you taking that?"
My eye twitched in annoyance. He never listened to me anyways. Here I am, trying to get this job done as fast and as efficient as possible, and Jean can't even take care of himself or even bother to listen to me. Why would he care how I feel about the night anyways? The world never revolved around me. And it still doesn't.
I exhaled, shrugging. "I don't really think this is about me." Truly, I never regretted what I did. If I could go back with the knowledge I have now, I would still go through with it. My only regret was that I didn't stay.
"I don't really think this is about me."
Anubis said in a huff, causing me to raise an eyebrow at his tone of voice. I'm sure normal people by now would be breaking down emotionally. After travelling to a different country that's on the other side of the world, after having to work with each other for the first time in years because of an incident that the both of them forgot about momentarily, there would be a lot of stress under both parties.
But we're not normal people.
I open the door again to exhale more fumes into the sky.
"It's not about anyone." I murmur, closing the door and turning back to face Anubis.
"The world doesn't exist to please you. Doesn't exist to please me, doesn't exist to please anyone. We do what we can to get by."
I know I'm about to go off on a tangent, so I return to the topic at hand.
"Anyway, I'm curious. What went through your head? Obviously this is the first time we were in the same room when the day came and went, so let's just pretend for a moment that it's today. What are you thinking about?"
"What are you thinking about?"
I scratched my arm subconsciously, trying to think of the right things to say.
I watched the burning house with the others. The flames lit up the monotone night, leaving me with a surge of energy. I started to wonder if Jean would get out or not. I didn't see a moving shadow run out of the house, but I figured if I escaped town, it wouldn't matter if he was dead, right?
People were panicking as they waited for the fire truck to come. I wanted to run away now, but it would be too suspicious. I inhaled the smoke. It smelled like gas for some reason. Jean still wasn't out. Eventually, the firefighters arrived, which was my cue to leave. I walked off with my hands in my pockets, wondering which state I should go to.
"Everything. What happened. What I should've done. What I shouldn't have done. How I could have forgotten. How you could've forgotten. What about you?"
"Everything. What happened. What I should've done. What I shouldn't have done. How I could have forgotten. How you could've forgotten. What about you?"
The relief from the cigarette quickly settled into my bones as I inhaled the last of it, listening to Anubis's words as I blow out the final puff of smoke outside. I press the cigarette butt onto the ash tray before adjusting my stance to lean onto the wall. Crossing my arms, I think back to last year; what I was thinking about, what I did, and how I felt.
The problem is, I used it as an excuse to get high.
"I visit their graves." I muttered. "I don't bring them any flowers or anything, though. Thought it'd be hypocritical."
I walk past Anubis in hopes that he wouldn't ask further about my lie.
"I'm going to shower. We need to sleep."
I sighed, the hope of Jean potentially opening up to me drained away. I knew Jean well enough that going to their graves couldn't have been all he did. As much as he didn't really feel anything, he was still human. What broken, flawed human like Jean grieved normally? I wanted to pry more, like I always had, but something in me told me not to. It's time to stop caring, Anubis. Clearly, nothing has changed and nothing will. Let's move on from Jean, okay?
"I'm going to shower. We need to sleep," he murmured as he walked towards the bathroom. Silence entered the room, bringing her friend Tension with her.
I shrugged my shirt off, along with the intrusive thoughts. A wave of tiredness hit my every muscle and I blacked out on the bed.
i turned the water rlly hot to simulate burning in hell
i then have a dream of crying frogs
