"You just killed my last lead." The girl says, seemingly unphased by the level of monochromatic tenacity in my voice. "And now you're gonna help me find a new one." The still burning end of a cigarette butt comes flying into my vision. It soars over my shoulder and lands somewhere into a muddy puddle. It goes out instantly. Ffssh.

"Your lead?" I question her unflinchingly. "A new one?" She's a smoker? Already off to a bad start.

"That's right!" She says, moving her revolver in such a way that makes a few of its pieces clatter together. "And I was getting so close too! You've just gone and earned yourself a stick-up. Move too fast, try anything funny, or summon your 『Stand』and I'll blast you right through!" The girl giggles a little, a brightly kind of laugh that contrasts far too sharply with the world just around me.

This girl seems like bad news. If she's been following this guy and knows what stands are, it's a logical assumption to make that she must be a User too. Maybe even one of those 'Churchgoers' I had seen before. I should probably end this soon, fast enough to not have to deal with another fight like that again. Rosegold is faster than human reaction time, right? I could probably sic her on my captor faster than she can pull her trigger. If only I had the conviction to.

A twitch of my finger. "Rosegold." And I call for my stand, fully expecting her to come at my request. But she does not.

Gun-girl takes a sudden step back, putting herself into a ready stance for an attack. Gun raised, finger on the trigger, ready to blow me in half in a single shot.

But nobody comes.

I frown. "Rosegold." I call again. But there is no answer. "Rosegold, Rosegold." I should probably feel nervous.

There's a snrk from someone behind me. The mockery almost pisses me off, but the feeling fades far far faster than it arrived. "Woah there, cowgirl. I wouldn't go trying to shoot any guns you don't have. Somebody having a bit of performance anxiety?"

My teeth grit. What did she just call me? "Shut up or else… or else I'll really get you. Rosegold. Rosegold. Rosegold!" I say louder and louder. But nobody comes.

"Heh." The girl giggles, circling around me until she is finally in view. "I'd like to see you try. I doubt you could get me anywhere near the state you got my friend here in." She smirks devilishly.

Long curly blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a biker jacket covered in little studs and spikes. She looks young, like me. Maybe only twenty. She's got a long barreled revolver in her hands as well, chambered in something heavy but not overbearing. A pistol ironically fit for a cowgirl, or a biker, I guess. A gang member? There's a patch of the letter A, circled and struck through sewn into the top right of her jacket. And she's wearing a massive black backpack on her back.

"This was your friend?" I question her, taking it literally. I try to still convey some level of threatening aura, I don't want her to think I'm not ready to bite if she isn't ready.

"Fuck no! I hate this guy. If it weren't for you getting here first, I'd probably aim to have him in the same position you got now. But you see, just because we have the same enemy, doesn't automatically make us friends." She crouches down towards my level, holding her gun at me at a leisurely off-angle. "But, I don't knowww… something about you just strikes me as harmless."

"What!? I just killed someone. Doesn't that make me at least a little bit scary?" I grit my teeth. The hell!? Why isn't she more nervous!?

"Yeah, but he totally deserved it. I wager that he finally just picked the wrong fight. Barked at a puppy hiding sharper claws." She says, almost smiling, like she thinks I'm cute. Or nothing compared to her. "Plus I know how your type is. If you really wanted me dead, I'd have seen some sign of it by now."

"I am not a cowgirl!" I shout. "And I am not a puppy!"

"Fine. Then just a dog." She says seriously, implying by her voice that she thinks I'm a little bit dirty. "Now, get up. Sitting in a puddle of blood isn't doing you any good favors." She gives me her hand to help me stand up. The one not holding her gun. The other stays pointed center mass, with the barrel end bumping across my tummy as she helps me to my feet. I deadeye her when it happens, but she just smirks at me. "It's just insurance~"

"Whatever." I'm pulled to my feet. She notices the blood on my hands, long since dried. But more than anything, the face she makes just looks impressed.

"He was quite the fighter, you know. So how'd you do it, anyway?" She takes my hand tightly in hers and helps me step away from him. The contact has a funny way of bringing me back to reality. She notices me staring, and grips my hand tighter. I think she wants to let me know she's fine getting blood on her hands. It's almost a handshake.

"I'm not telling you that." I dryly remark.

She giggles. "Um, yes you are. Remember the gun here?" Yeah, yeah, right. Whatever.

I roll my eyes. "I just figured out his trick with the eye orbs and got him into a trap of my own."

"Oh, eye orbs?" She raises an eyebrow. "I've never heard anything about eye orbs. What was that like?"

"Weren't you hunting him down or whatever? Shouldn't you already know?" I question her.

"Well, yes. But I hadn't ever gotten into a fight with him. My style just doesn't do direct confrontations like that. I'd much rather make a dog like you do all the fighting work for me first. Then I'll sweep in after and see what I can pick up." She pauses and gives me an unexpected look. "And it looks like today I've picked up a stray." A smirk. "Now get on with it. Don't make me use more drastic measures. What were the orbs?"

"They were like contained memories. The last things the victim saw before they died in front of him." I recount for her. "He hit me with three. The moment they made contact, I would blip out of reality for a moment to watch from the victim’s POV." The memories are cold and dark inside my mind. I can remember them easily, but the emotion I'd expect to receive upon reviewing them just isn't there.

"Three huh?" She finally takes the gun away from pointing at me, instead turning it up towards herself and tapping the long side of the barrel against her cheek. It doesn't sway any of my apprehension, however. "What's your name, by the way?" I don't really wanna answer that one.

"Um. Jordan. Jordan Johannesburg. But my friends call me JoJo." The name comes out easy with practice.

"Oh, friends huh?" Gun-girl looks at me funny. An expression somewhere between melancholy and mild disbelief. "You have a lot of those around here?"

"Uh, yes. … Definitely. At least four." I nod my head. I gotta keep her in good graces with me if she’s gonna keep her hand on that gun. Agreeing with whatever she says seems like a good plan of action.

“Oh. Huh, uh, well make sure no one comes around here any time soon. Are you expecting anyone?” She questions, taking a look around the area. “Don’t forget, you’re the one that killed this guy, and I can leave at any time I want. If someone comes around here, I don’t have to help you.”

“No, no, that won’t be a problem for us.” I backpedal a little, not wanting her to leave just yet either. Maybe I can glean something off her. “No one is coming.” I assure her.

“Good. Now get on with it, seriously. I want to know what you saw.”

…

…

Repetition of the first memory, scene by scene, was relatively easy. Just a series of events. But by the end of it, the gruff girl looked a little put off. “I can’t believe he made you watch something like that.”

I shrug. “It’s not like I killed the people.”

“That's not what I meant. It was like he was stroking his own ego, pretending that killing the soldier and taking his eyes was a self sacrifice he made. … He totally just killed that guy. Then made you watch. Like a freak. And what exactly was his goal with that, anyway?"

I pause for a moment, but I realize I have no answer for her. “How would I know? To convince me he was right, I guess?” I replied back, confused.

“Well?" She gives me a look, expecting a certain answer. "Did it work? Were you convinced?"

“I killed him for what he showed me next. It would never work like that.” I clench my fists, and she smiles. Almost happy with me for it. "It would never ever work like that."

“That's what I like to hear! You and I are on the same page about that!” She roots, and it almost gets me to smile back too. She's an unexpected ray of sunshine. “Okay, now the next one. How did it start?”

But she's still holding a gun.

…

“Well, it opened to a scene of gore. A man stabbing another man to death, over and over again before the knife broke and he punched him the rest of the way in.” I recount.

“Oh, Jesus christ. That's a hell of a thing to watch. Must've been scary. ”

“It gets worse. He was screaming ‘bastard’ at him’ over and over again. His victim had no chance, and whoever I saw it through didn’t seem guilty for it in the slightest. It was even more concerning when he stepped back to reveal that it was a police officer.” I try to put some stress on the last part, knowing what it would mean if that was my mother instead.

“Wohahoh, nevermind! That's based!” She laughs. “Fucker probably deserved it anyway. I would have loved to watch that.”

“What!?! What do you mean by that! My mother is a cop, you know!” I am suddenly defensive with her. "She's a part of the detective branch! It could have been her!"

The possible gang girl puts her arms up defensively, a funny looking grin on her face. "Hey hey, calm down, firecracker. First off, detectives aren't the same thing as cops. Though they totally both suck balls, depending on who they work for. Like the CIA."

>:(

"Second of all, it wasn't her. So save whatever you're going on about until later. Finish the story!" She urges me forward to forget the moment and keep pressing on instead. I reluctantly choose to.

"Fine! Fine. Anyways." I grump but reluctantly finish the rest of the story, earning a 'boooo' from her when I describe the POV man's death. I don't know what her problem is! Cops are good people! Who else could we depend on for safety if not for them, anyway, right?

But she pushes me towards telling her the last story. The third and final eye, the one of the child.

This one was actually hard to describe. Even just the scene of events, I could feel myself pulling away from the moment more each second that goes by. Way too scary to remember something like that, the memory of someone who was just a child. I can't even imagine what that would make me feel if I were totally present to feel it. So instead, I do the opposite. I just don't. And instead I just start falling. And falling. Away…

Fading deeply into that familiar emotional static. So far and away, I don't even notice when I've finished the story at all. Just trailing off towards the end, the picture of pretty blue butterflies filling my mind as I sit back and stare awkwardly at some spot on my ‘captor's’ face.

Though, for the record, her own face has gone just as still as mine. Her eyes are downcast, and she's chewing on her lips hard enough that I almost see blood. She's been quiet for a while, so long that I kinda forgot we were still talking. I’m not really sure how long we spent in silence before she spoke up again.

"Can you repeat the name of the girl you saw?" She asks me suddenly, eyes still facing the floor. I can't see her face.

"Hmnuh?" I fade back into reality. "Can you repeat the question?"

"What was the name of the girl. The girl he killed." She repeats.

"Oh, I don't know. Something like Mariah? Or something similar, I don't really remember, sorry." I shrug half heartedly but nearly completely crash in place when I notice the face she started making. Her eyes have picked up from the floor, but the face she makes is full of disgust. Anger.

“I knew it…. I knew it…” She shakes her head back and forth, a shadow casting across her face. The gun girl growls quietly, gritting her teeth together harder than I've seen her do before. The look she has on is unrecognizable from the carefree confidence she was just previously showing. She stands up suddenly.

“I fucking knew it… You sick bastard.” The mud splats underneath shiny black boots, soiling them with dark bloody red slop. She arrives over Joshua’s corpse in a few steps, looking down at him with some kind of overwhelmingly angry aura. "I fucking knew it. God damnit, if only you weren't dead, I'd kill you again myself!"

She picks her boot up from the mud and stamps it straight down on his twisted face. His teeth go caving in. She picks her boot up and does it again. Again. Again. Cracking down on his limp body over and over again, ruining his already mangled features until her heel reaches the back of his throat.

She rips her boot free and kicks him in the side of the head.

"Woah Woah Woah! What the hell are you doing?" I call out to her, shaking the cobwebs out of my mind to catch up to her.

She turns and faces me, red in the face. "You! If only you hadn't killed him first!" She points angrily at me.

I put my hands up in defense. "What are you talking about!? He attacked me! Not the other way around!"

This diffuses her for a moment, and she puts her hand down. She's shaking, she's clearly shaking. Overcome with something I couldn't even imagine.

"What did…" I start but trail off when she looks up at me. There are tears streaming down her face. Something big has happened.

"I wanted to put in the last blow myself, but I hesitated just one more day and missed my chance… That was my niece's family." She says in a quiet voice. "That was the last living family I had left… Now I’m all alone. " Her hands ball up and reach her eyes. I get overcome with a certain feeling. The first real one I've had in the last hour or two.

It's righteous anger. It seems to be the only thing I'm allowed to feel at all.

I step over to Joshua's dead body and kick him again myself. "Why did he do that! What's wrong with him!" I kicked him again. It bends my ankle and hurts a tiny bit.

The blond is overwhelmed with emotion for a moment or two more, before she pads out her eyes and flicks the tears off of her balled hands. They join a few twinkles of rain that start to fall through the trees and onto the ground. I can tell she’s clearing the emotions in her body, and they’re changing from anguish all the way back into anger.

She growls, a scary sound, and kicks him again too. We both do it once or twice more to get every last drop of anger out. It seems to help enough to let her continue again after a moment. "We were the last natural born family still left fighting against them. Every other family has long since been assimilated or erased."

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"What does that mean?" I turn and face her. She's looking down at him and reeling another kick. It thumps against his ribs and cracks something, slumping him over onto his side. A large part of his shirt The rain is really picking up now.

"It means I'm about to get a lot more blood on my hands!" She shouts. She's the most determined person I have ever seen. Then in an instant she turns to leave, spinning on her heels and stomping into the mud. "Don't follow me! You won't like seeing what I'm about to do!"

"Wait, wait!" I call out to her, leaving from my spot and making after her. "Wait, no take me with you!"

She halts and turns around to see me barely catch myself from slipping in wet mud. "Why should I? You'll just get in my way. I doubt you're anywhere near prepared enough to face the kinds of people I'll be facing." She says in a stern voice. "Plus, you're only just some college kid."

"Because! You just told me you ran out of leads! I know you don't have any plans after this." I shoot her back a look equally as stern. "And you know, maybe you're right, maybe I am unprepared. Then just teach me." I look at her, silently pleading. "Please, I just need to have some sort of value. I don't want to stop until every single one of these child killers are dead, no matter what church they belong to."

It stuns her, but only for a moment. "This is a world you'll be stepping into, one that you'll never be able to step back out of if you follow me. You have a chance to leave right now, and let this fucker rot in the woods until somebody comes across him. He doesn't have much in the way of family or traces anywhere near this place, and since we didn't touch him, we haven't left any sort of evidence."

"I don't care!" I tell her right back. "That world I've stepped into? I'm already there!"

"You'd think that, wouldn't you. But if you thought Joshua Mannings was a terrible foe to face, then you are deeply unprepared for the rest of the challenges that lie ahead of me." She says and turns back around ready to leave. "You don't have it in you. Bye."

"I do!" I shout at her. I can't just let her leave me now! I can't, I can't! Even though I only just met her, I feel such a desire to keep her by my side. I need her to pay attention to me, and give me the look of respect I deserve. "Please! My life is worthless without this!"

Those words finally stop her, and she turns around again with a look on her face that I haven't seen yet. Soft concern. "Wait what do you mean by that?" She questions me. "You must have some sort of family, or goals, or school you're into?"

"None of that really matters to me…" I reply. "My life is…" I trail off for a moment, looking into the rainy gray sky before solidifying my answer. "My life feels meaningless without this. I've spent years on years being friendless and lonely and depressed. I can never tell if what I'm doing is really right or wrong, only if it makes me feel good or not. And once I got my Stand after touching that stone human… Everything finally turned around for me. Let me do something actually good for once. Let me help you. I can't just go back to mundanity after this, I'd lose myself in it."

She's stunned. She doesn't know what to say. So I just keep going.

"You're right, I have a family to return to, and classes to take come Monday morning. Some life to have other than this. But, but… the moment I saw that third memory, it solidified for me. I will not be going back, I will not rest until I find these people and put a permanent end to them. Whether I'll be with you or not won't make a difference." I look at her, the life momentarily returns to my eyes. I feel different. Something I've truly never felt before. I feel sure of myself, for once. "Because either way, I'm doing this anyway."

…

"Wow, I…" the blonde fidgets with her hands, not sure of what to say. "You can't be serious, can you? This could get you killed, this will likely cost you everything."

"I don't care." I tell her. "Nothing has ever really mattered to me before. But this… this actually matters. I could really do something important for once, and I'm not just gonna go and waste that."

"Fine." She says, putting her hand out for mine. I take it, and her grasp is three times as firm as mine. "Fine, you've convinced me then."

"Thank you…" I whisper back, and she gives me this kind of lopsided grin.

"If you're gonna be sticking with me, then you ought to know. My name is Valerie Valentine." She shakes my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Jordan." She says and I frown a little. Somehow she instantly notices it and raises a sly eyebrow. "I mean, Jojo." She corrects herself but says nothing more.

"Um… likewise, Valerie." God I must look awkward as shit.

But the blondie picks up again after just a moment. "By the way, I totally lied to you about not knowing what those eye orbs were. I didn't want to reveal exactly how much I knew before I was sure of you first. I've actually been following Joshua for a long while now, and I suspected he might have had a hand in my niece's death, but I didn't know he would be the one to do it himself. I feel like shit that I didn't get to be the one to kill him. And I wasn't completely sure I was gonna string you along as payback for it, but I guess I'm as sure as ever, now." She tells me and smirks. I raise my eyebrow at her before she keeps going. "Now, you mentioned a stone human a minute ago? You don't mean a pillar man, do you? I didn't think they were actually real."

I gulp, my throat going dry, even considering the weather. "Um, yeah, I think I do?"

Valerie reaches out and takes my other hand, putting all of ours together. Her eyes are wide and starry, the large and curious eyes of a kid in a candy shop. She's enamored. "Really? You have to tell me everything."

...

...

...

...

The rain is pouring by now, and the wind has picked up significantly. Blistering through the orange and fading green oak trees all around me. And I have just finished giving Valerie a basic recap of what I saw on the night that the『Pillar Man』came down. Her gun is thankfully stowed, and more than anything she seems to be just surprised at the events I had laid out before her.

"Wow!" She shouts over the sound of the woodland rain. "I didn't think they'd actually be real!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" I say back to her, much quieter because we're only standing a foot apart under this tree. I can hear her just fine, I don't know why she's shouting. The rain is loud but it's not that loud.

"Someone completed a summoning ritual." She supplies to my inquiry. "Someone brought him here from the heavens! It's not a natural occurrence like a falling star, it's more like a granted wish. Someone brought one down right here into his city, and I only have one guess as to who that could be. Someone with enough power and materials to complete a ritual like that must have the backing of a large, influential group behind them."

“That sounds like it would be the Horse... Horsemen?” I ask and she nods, ohh im getting it right! “But what the hell is a summoning ritual?”

“Woah woah.” She waves her hands. “Let's save the more complex stuff for a little later, when you’re more accustomed to these kinds of concepts. You’re a new stand user, aren’t you? I can tell.”

“No, no. How can you tell that?”

“It's the hesitation. New stand users are usually heavily overconfident in their abilities.” Then, she eyes me down, strangely. “Or terrified of the new power they hold. And I think you’re the latter.”

Something squirms in my heart. I don’t like being read like that. “I’m not scared of anything, I swear.” I told her back.

“Sure sure, whatever you say.” She smirks at me and I look away. Eye contact? No thanks. “Let's get out of here soon, Jojo. We don’t want to run the risk of being caught out with this guy by some random passerby. Plus, it's getting cold out here, and rain keeps getting through the leaves.”

"Tch, typical. Can't handle the cold." I roll my eyes at her. It's not that bad out here, anyway. I'm used to it after living here my whole life. That and my sense of temperature feels a little bit muted again.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" She gives me a look back, frustrated. I say nothing and look back over to the corpse. Valerie sits there staring at me for a moment until realization dawns on her face and she looks down at herself. "Oh! You think I look…" She trails off, seemingly taking it like a compliment instead. "Thank you."

I also don't reply to that because that's honestly a weird thing to be thankful for. Valerie sits there seemingly happy with her current choice of clothes for a moment or two more before we decide to leave. But before we go, I happen to spot something off about the skin of the man i had just killed. For some reason, it seems to be turning gray. That, and there's a torn part of his shirt now that has exposed some strange markings on his shoulder that look almost like scars.

So I point it out. "Hey, what are those scars on him?"

Valerie jumps, startled by what I just said. Her face goes pale. "Scars?? He has scars? Where!' She rushes over to the body, almost slipping in the mud. She notices the markings on him too. "Shit! No way, these can't be!" She reaches out to put her hands on his clothes but I stop her before she's able to.

"Wait! Didn't you just say you didn't wanna leave fingerprints on him?" I ask as a stray raindrop hits me directly in the eye. Ow.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right." She pulls her hand back and looks him over. "But I have to be sure it's not what I think it is. We have to get him out of here, we can't be caught with our hands all over him, and I don't think he's gonna fit on the back of my bike."

"So what should we do, then?" I question her, but she doesn't have any answers.

"I don't know! I can't just string him over the back of my motorcycle without somebody seeing him and it's not like he's gonna fit in my backpack like that!"

"Whaaat?" I drawl. "Aren't you supposed to be the extra special competent one? Where's that field knowledge you're supposed to have, huh?"

She chokes at me. "Wh- hey! If you knew what kind of threat this could pose, you'd be just as worried as I am!"

"Right, sure, whatever." I monotone back to her. She needs to get this guy out of here, but he won't fit, so we don't know how… hmm… what's a way to save space.

Oh.

I've got it.

"Valerie, do you happen to have a knife on you? I left mine at home today. Silly me, not thinking I wouldn't be mugged by a zealous maniac on a random afternoon. Should have planned ahead." I roll my eyes, but she looks at me funny back.

"Why are you talking like that's my fault? And yes, I do. Why, what do you need it for?" Valerie lifts the bottom hem of her shirt to reveal the hilt of a large knife. But she does not bring it out. "Does this have to do with your Stand ability?"

"Something like that." I put out my hand for her, but she does not give me the knife. Instead her eyes ask me a question, 'can you tell me more?' With a raised eyebrow. "Just give me the damn knife! You'll see! It's not gonna be dangerous!"

Valerie Valentine hits me with a chuckle. A carefree sound like I just made the funniest little quip. "Yeah, like I'd ever expect you to be dangerous."

"Just give me the knife!!!!!"

"Fine, here, damn! Relax, no need to get so worked up. Jesus." She hands me the blade. It's a large six or seven inch bowie knife with a slight curve. It's, shit it's basically just a machete at that point. It's very heavy in my hand.

"Thank you, finally." I drone, crouching over Joshua’s quickly graying body. His skin has gone hard and almost dry, which is strange considering the current rain. Now, if my ideas are right…. This should be able to work….

…

I put the sharp end to his neck, right over a large exposed artery. The weight of the blade in my hands reminds me how dangerous mom said it was to play with knives. They're not used to hurt other people, they're only a tool, only for cutting food and nothing else.

Then why does it feel so necessary?

Like this wound has to be done.

…

I drop the knife in the mud, it splats in a puddle.

Valerie whines. "Hey! That's good steel! What the hells your problem! You got it in the mud!" She's exasperated, but I'm shaking.

"You have to do it, you have to do it, i- i- ii- i I can't, I can't, you have to do it, you have to." My hands are vibrating and I step away, bile threatening to leave my body. I don't know why I'm feeling like this! This wasn't nearly as bad when I actually killed the guy! It's just a corpse, just a corpse, he can't hurt me!

"Woah Woah woah, there. Are you okay?" Valerie says in a kind voice, putting out her hand for my shoulder but I flinch hard when she touches me. Her expression changes to serious, and she diverts to picking up the knife from the ground instead. "I can tell a panic attack when I see one. What do you need me to do?"

"The the- the" My words stumble uselessly. I bite down hard on my tongue to get it under control. "The neck, get him in the neck, please."

"But the bloods gonna-"

"Just do it! I have a plan for that! Just do it, please!" I plead with her. She's a little surprised but eventually nods and leans down to the (DEAD, DEFINITELY DEAD) corpse. I have to look away when I hear the knife go in and out. I can't stand seeing that right now.

But even while turned away, I can purely sense it. Not with my eyes, but with my heart, somewhere deep in my chest, something aches.

Endorphins rush into my bloodstream, quickly replacing my fear with excitement and adrenalin.

It's blood.

"So what now? He's bleeding out everywhere and I really don't want this on my shoes…… hey, what are you doing?"

My hands are out and I'm already bending over the body. The feeling of red drives me, and blocks out the horrible view of a man in his fifties with a gaping neck wound. I simply do not see it, though the visual input supposedly reaches my eyes. There's something else I'm seeing instead.

Like invisible strings connecting me to the spill, I start to weave my hands back and forth, coaxing out more and more scarlet flow. Drawing out of him like an untapped well, mirroring the strokes and pulls I saw my stand do a few times before. 'Remember this.' She said, and I do.

The blood gushes from the wound, a probing sense of touch flitting into my mind, and steering down every vein in the corpse's body. I feel it all. And it all belongs to me. Blood free for the taking, with no living owner.

I uncork him like a bottle of wine, and draw out every last little drop of red. The blood flows freely and easily out into the raining water, mixing with the mud on the ground and making an absolute mess. Once his whole body has gone dry, I delicately change the way my hands move, no longer pulling, now pushing, and forcing the blood deeper under the muddy ground through my control. An invisible force pushing just the iron red through the dirt and deep underground until not an ounce of blood can be seen any longer. Filtered through and far under the ground.

"Haha! He kinda looks like a mummy. Oooh, ooohhh, you think he's gonna curse us from beyond the grave like king cunt?" Valerie says out of nowhere, breaking my concentration. It felt so good to lose myself in the art that I almost forgot I was with someone else.

"Bwhat? King… do you mean king tut?" I put my hands down and shake my head a little bit to clear out the cobwebs. It only half works, I find myself wandering back to the feeling of the blood after only a few moments. “This guys clearly dead, he can’t do anything to us now. Though I will say, he does kinda look like a mummy.”

“Heheh… Yeah. Also, you have no idea about curses. There are plenty of Stand Abilities that persist way after death.” She comments as though that isn't terrifying. I reflexively take a step back.

“Woah, is he one of them!? Is he cursed?”

Valerie laughs. “Well? Do you feel fine?”

“I guess…?”

“Then no!” She smiles. “Now help me get this guy rolled up. He should be easier like this.”

I step over next to her, and we begin to roll up the mummified corpse. Looking like a raisin left out for extra long, hes all bones and tight skin, not a drop of blood left in his body. Enough mass was lost that we can partially fit him into the large black biker backpack Valerie was wearing on her back. She's got it set into the mud between us, and we're trying to force the joints in his body to break, allowing him to fold up tight. We have him all the way to the torso, halfway into the backpack when all the sudden-

Crack, snap! A crunching of leaves from behind us.

"Hey, you kids, what are y'all doing out here in the rain!” Someone shouts from just beyond visibility. “Don't you have school!”

"Shit! Crush him a little harder!" I whisper shout to Valerie. She panics a little and leverages a little bit harder, snapping part of Joshua's ribcage to fit. He folds in and we start to zip it up. It catches on his hand, dangling out of the zipper hole.

"Hey, you kids! Stay right there!" The middle aged sounding man shouts, getting further into the open space. "What do you have there!" Police Officer Barnaby Browns comes stomping through the rainy mud with a flashlight in hand, pointing it straight at us. I barely manage in time to push the dangling appendage in and zipped into the backpack, concealed just out of sight before the ray of light sweeps across the spot where it just was. Just in the knick of time.

In a moment of pressured clarity, I let go of the backpack and take two steps away, in between the bag and the officer marching into view. He aims his light directly on my face, seeing my identity in clarity.

"JoJo!!!" Barnaby shouts, recognizing me instantly. "What are you doing out here! It's pouring! Isn't it a little cold for a boy of your stature to be out in the rain?"

"Officer Browns!" I put out my hands, palms facing flat towards him. "Hey I didn't expect to see you here! What's going on? Are you on patrol?"

I actually happen to recognize him from the unit my mom works in. He's kindof like a sort-of work uncle, with his friendship to my mother. He's a kind man, who's balding a bit but otherwise has a friendly stature and soft edges. Sometimes he even hangs out with me during company potlucks. A prime example of a good cop! The spitting image! I heard he saves cats from trees and everything!

"Nevermind that, boy! What are you doing out here in the rain? You're gonna catch a cold like this!"

I'm quick on my feet with an answer. I've long since had a mask prepared for dealing with this guy socially from practice. "It's for a school project. My botany class wants us to collect up rain water to test it for different things! Uh, the backpack is full of water bottles and stuff." I tell him, quickly, playing it off as normal as I can.

"Wait, weren't you taking medical last time I asked? Did you change tracks?" He questions me, all of the sudden.

Jolt, almost a bit of panic.

"Its an elective, I had a free space left after cell science." I tell him, circling my hands over one another. Please dude just buy it okay.

"Ohh, I see, I see. Hey- wait where'd your friend go?" He asks, scanning the flashlight across the empty space next to me. "Wasn't there someone right here?"

"Oh, uh, that was my classmate. We aren't really friends or anything, we were just paired for the assignment." I turn and look a little more. Valerie is just up and gone. Though the backpack is still right where she left it on the ground. She abandoned me with the evidence and ran the moment the cops showed up. "I don't think she likes the cold very much."

"Tch, typical woman," Officer Browns replies with. Though when he says it, there's actually an ounce of bitter disdain in his voice. "Always runnin off right when you least expect it." He mutters under his breath.

Oh, yeah. I forgot his wife totally left him. Something about a domestic abuse claim that never went through. Browns says he didn't do anything wrong and because of the lack of evidence the court believed him. His wife vanished into the air shortly after.

"Yeah, yeah…" I reply back to him, not really sure what to say. Even my social mask is kindof failing me here. I gotta go before he asks to see my water bottles. "Too right, man."

A moment of silence passes, and Barnaby clears his throat.

"Hey, so you wanna go ahead and show me the water bottles you've been collecting in that bag? I'm kinda interested in seeing them."

Oh, shit. "Um actually I kinda gotta go now. The rain is starting to get worse and I gotta go find my class partner before she's totally gone!" Please just let me leave.

"Alright alright. I'll let you leave. Go catch your woman before she leaves you in the dirt like mine did! Ha!" He laughs cruelly at himself. "Go getter!"

"She's not my! I barely even know her!" I stumble over my words back to him. "Ah, whatever! Thanks Officer Browns! I gotta go!!" Quickly picking up the large backpack, it's honestly a lot heavier than I expected it to be. But I try to conceal that fact from showing on my face. It's supposed to just be water after all. But fuck my life, this bag is almost too heavy for me. I guess bones and organs and skin still weigh a lot, even with 100% of the blood removed. Who knew.

"Take care Jojo! Let your mother know I said hi. She's quite the beauty, after all! Haha! I'm just joking kid! Get out of here!" Officer Barnaby shouts after me as I turn to leave, pushing through the wet edges of the forest brush on my way out. My clothes are more than stained with rain water and mud.

I get about a hundred feet away from the Grove area when an arm shoots out from behind a tree, grabs me by the collar, and yanks me out of sight.

It's Valerie. She looks kinda pissed off. "What the hell was that!?" She says in my face. "You're friends with cops!?"

"Of course I am!" I retaliated. "My mom works with them all the time! Why the hell did you run away and leave me there!"

"I don't like cops." She says bitterly and crosses her arms. "And they don't like me."

"What! Are you some kind of criminal or something!? What do you have to hide away for!?"

She gruffs and rolls her eyes. "My family is gone, Jojo. I'm homeless." She says like this clears the misunderstanding.

"Whaaat. That's no reason to want to run away from cops! Being homeless isn't illegal you know." I cross my arms right back at her. "Cops won't do anything to you just for being homeless. It's what you do during your homelessness that they respond to. I swear." This is basic information! I don't know what she's so upset about.

Valerie looks thoroughly unimpressed by my totally unbiased and totally educated view of the police force. "Really." She monotone and rolls her eyes. "So you’ve must've been homeless before then, right?"

"Well, no, I haven't. But that doesn't-"

"Then don't fucking pretend like you know how police act when nobody's looking! No one cares about the homeless population and especially not the police! Until you've been pepper sprayed for sitting on a park bench at night, don't expect me to take you seriously when you say that all cops aren't total fucking bastards!" She shouts, having gotten a little red in the face. It puts me off, too. I really don't like it when people get upset with me like this. It gets me defensive too.

"Not all cops!" I jerk back at her. "Not all cops are bad people! And especially not Barnaby Browns! He's the nicest cop I've ever met! You have no right to act like that about it!" I chide her.

"No right!? No right!!?" She looks utterly exasperated. "You know I'm really starting to rethink this whole team up situation. I don't think we'll be working well together in the future if you're such a fucking boot licker."

"Hey, hey! Wait! No! You can't just leave me!!" I whine. "You just agreed to stay!!"

The look of pure pleading on my face must've gotten to her. Because her expression melts a little and she waves her hands. "Fine! Fine, just… stop making dumbfuck comments. You don't know shit."

"Fine!" I tell her back. "Nothing from me!"

"Good, now let's get out of here before night falls. It's starting to get late." She reaches out to take my hands. "Let's go!" But I jerk them away. It kinda strains my back from under the weight but I try to hide it.

"Woah Woah woah, you cannot be serious. You just said you're homeless! Where do you even plan on taking me!"

She eyerolls, looking even more done with my shit. "You said you were done making stupid comments. Just because I've got no formal house to live in right now, doesn't mean I have completely nothing. Now, are you coming or not!?"

"Yes, YES! I'm going with you, damn!" I try to take a step forward but my back almost gives out. Wtf this thing is heavy. "Er, it's just, um"

Valerie busts out into laughter. "You can't be serious!!"

"What, what!?" My face starts to turn red.

"Is the bag too heavy for you? Do you need a big strong girl to carry it for you~?" She teases me and I go totally red.

"No!! I don't!!" I start to take a few more steps forward, and almost fall right on my ass. But Valerie catches me, still giggling.

"Yeah, hahaha, yeah right!" She helps me steady myself. "Just give me the bag, now. Come on, my bikes just over this way. And I don't like it getting in the rain!"

"Fine! Just take it, then! Since you want it so bad!!" I strip off the straps of the backpack and weakly hand it over to her, straining to hold it with both hands.

She takes it with one hand, lifting it up and down like it weighs nothing. "LOL."

(End Of Chapter Seven)

← To Be Continued.