No One Can Touch Us

Elizabeth had a small rubber duck in her hand with a purple bow wrapped around its neck. Jimmy had convinced her to take a walk, no specific location in mind. At some point in her walk, Jimmy had pushed her into a toy store that was alongside the beach, that being where she’d purchased the small duck she now played with fondly as she kept walking. Jimmy was besides her, of course. His hands were in the pockets of the sweater he’d acquired, which was still a mystery to Elizabeth – he could change his clothes.

“Take a left,” Jimmy said meekly, making Elizabeth stop in her tracks take in her surroundings.

“You’re leading me to the cemetery?” Elizabeth asked with a small sigh, realizing that just down the road, on the left, was the only cemetery that belonged to Huntington Beach.

“I wasn’t at first,” Jimmy said honestly, “but as we kept walking aimlessly I realized we were close, so why not?”

Elizabeth nodded her head, her black hair swaying from side to side as she began to walk forwards, “why not,” slipping out of her lips in a mere whisper as she kept her russet eyes glued to the street in front of her.

“You can see my grave,” Jimmy said optimistically, which Elizabeth found to be odd; if it was her in his shoes, she’d be anything but happy to be seeing her grave.

“Can I ask you something?” Elizabeth asked softly, rounding the street corner to see the cemetery gates just up ahead.

“You can ask me anything. I’m here to guide and offer insightful stuff,” Jimmy said with a chuckle.

“It’s kind of personal, actually,” Elizabeth smiled, feeling more confident, “It’s about you.”

“Oh, well,” Jimmy made a face, though nodded his head, “ask me anything.”

“What did you do as a teen that was so bad?”

Jimmy shrugged, saying as casually as can be, “I used to be really into drugs. There wasn’t anything that I hadn’t tried. Though I cleaned up – booze of course stayed, but that’s expected. I wasn’t an alcoholic or anything, mind you.”

“That’s it?” Elizabeth asked skeptically. “I thought it was something bigger.”

“Nah, though it got really bad. But I cleaned up good. The band had kicked off nicely, and I didn’t want to fuck that up,” Jimmy said with a smile, “music is my life, or was my life. I didn’t want to have it all get fucked because I’d be too shitfaced to play a show.”

“I’d always wanted to be in a band,” Elizabeth said with a small smile, changing the subject as she slipped past the cemetery gates, Jimmy following her actions.

“You used to be in drum line, back in the day, right?”

Elizabeth nodded, not surprised that Jimmy seemed to know so much about her. He had said once that he used to keep an eye on her back then, not really knowing why she in particular used to appear in his mind. She assumed that was something that happened to all guardian angels; they’d subconsciously keep an eye out on the person they’d soon be protecting.

“I would have loved to be a singer though,” Elizabeth went on to say, “drums are a passion, though I’m not any good to actually consider myself a drummer in a band... If I had a band, that is.”

Jimmy laughed, nodding with his head for Elizabeth to follow him. He walked through rows of tombstones, looking for his, which was easy to find on account that someone was standing before it, a small bouquet of flowers in their hands.

“Don’t ever put yourself down kid, you’re better than that; you were a fucking captain for crying out loud,” Jimmy smiled, “now brace yourself, this is where I take over.”

“What-“

Jimmy smiled, stepping through Elizabeth, making her black out completely. He stood there, smiling to himself as he looked down at Elizabeth’s hands. He could feel the wind blowing through her hair, he could feel the rubber duck in his hands; he had taken full control over her body and he was beyond happy that this possession had actually worked.

“Sorry Lizzie,” Jimmy spoke, surprised that it was still his voice, rather than hers. “Now, I wonder if you have a mirror...”

Jimmy rummaged through Elizabeth’s purse that was resting on her shoulder, finally finding that tiny mirror he’d been wanting. He held it up to his face, his eyes widening when Elizabeth stared back at him with bright blue eyes – his eyes. He was expecting to see her russet eyes, he was in her body after all, yet his eyes stared back at him, bright and full of life as they’ always been.

“I wonder....” Jimmy slapped his face, hard, letting out a loud yelp as he felt a sharp pain attack his check. “Ugh, that better not leave a mark. She’ll kill me.”

Now feeling slightly better, he walked towards his grave, a large smile adorning his face as Brian, of all people, stood there talking with his head down. He felt like reaching up a hand to pat his back, though he was in Elizabeth’s body, and Brian would most likely freak out if he had a random girl walk up to him at this point in time.

“... Well, I don’t know what else to tell you,” Brian said softly, his head still down and not realizing he had company, “it’s nice at times, yet whenever someone brings up your name shit hits the fan.”

Jimmy felt like jumping on Brian, yelling out that he was still there, that he had never really left, but he couldn’t. He sighed instead, getting Brian’s attention.

“Oh, uh, am I in your way or something?” Brian asked softly, staring at Elizabeth’s body without knowing that one of his best friends had full control of the black haired girl that stood before him.

“Nah dude, shits cool,” Jimmy said casually while keeping his head down to not reveal his blue eyes, closing his eyes as he realized he’d done nothing to hide his voice.

“What did you-“

“Nothing!” Jimmy now said in a hitch pitched voice, resembling that of a girl’s though poorly as he kept his head down, “I was just here to leave this... this....” Jimmy looked down to his hands which still held the duck, “this Stallion Duck!”

“You’re a fan of Jimmy’s?” Brian stated more then asked.

“I knew him,” Jimmy said awkwardly, still keeping the female voice up, “we were very close.”

“Not to be rude, though I find that hard to believe,” Brian said bluntly, “any friend of Jimmy was always known to us, and if you were a close friend of his, I’m sure he would have introduced us.”

Jimmy looked up, quirking one of Elizabeth’s perfectly waxed eyebrows while placing a hand on her hip that was jutted out to the side. “Trust me Brian, we’re close,” he said, doing nothing to conceal his voice.

Brian’s face morphed into that of shock, surprise, anger, and confusion. His lips were parted slightly, the bouquet of flowers now slipping from his hands and dropping onto the stone slab that had Jimmy’s name engraved on it. He was trying to form a coherent sentence, but with those bright blue eyes staring back at him intensely, he was in some sort of trance.

“Elizabeth Ann Matthews, look that name up Haner,” Jimmy said simply, turning on his heels and walking out of the cemetery, the small rubber duck still in his hands and a confused Brain standing alone with a dumfounded expression on his face.