Nightmare

I just continued to stare at him, his name not meaning much to me since this was the first time I had ever met him. He noticed the slightly vacant, slightly questioning expression I wore, frowning a bit.

“Well, I have to admit, I expected for you to be a bit more excited to talk to me,” he said a bit flatly.

I just stared at him, mouth still hanging open in shock. I suddenly realized that I was being rude, shaking my head lightly, as if waking myself up. “Uhm… I’m… sorry, but… do I even know you?”

He gave a light shrug. “Technically, no, you don’t know me; but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know you. I’m… or, I was, friends with Zacky, Brian, Johnny, and Matt.”

“Was?” I echoed.

He bit his lower lip. “Yeah… I’m dead, remember?”

I gasped, my hand covering my mouth, completely forgetting that, fearing that I had insulted him. “Oh no. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Jimmy only started laughing, cutting me off. “Don’t worry about it, Starr. It isn’t that big of a deal.”

I bit my lower lip lightly, ringing my fingers together, not really sure what to say next. Jimmy noticed, giving me a small smirk.

“You really don’t need to be nervous, Starr,” he said. “I know so much about you already, you were all Zacky ever talked about. It’s me that you don’t know. So feel free to ask me any questions.”

“I…” my mind began to go in all different directions with the hundreds of questions swamping my mind. “Where am I?” I managed to get out.

Jimmy chuckled again, scratching the back of his head lightly. “Well, you’re not really anywhere.”

I gave him a questioning glance, waiting for him to explain.

He nodded, quickly continuing. “Right now, you’re just in a new mind set. My power, from when I was alive… or, I guess an undead vampire… I had the ability to project my thoughts to others. I could touch their face, and whatever I was thinking of, picturing, seeing… they could se it too. I project it into their minds.

“I still have that ability, magically. And I had no idea how I would talk to you, since my mouth is sewn shut, but I figured I would give this a try, and it worked. So you’re still in that room, back at the house. Zofie is still with you there, but right now she’s thinking you’re some nut job, ‘cause you’re just staring off into space. But don’t worry, you’re perfectly fine, as well as safe.” He gave me a small smile.

“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s a really cool power.”

He shrugged. “I always thought it was pretty cool myself.”

I licked my lips lightly. “So… why did you feel the need to talk to me?”

He shrugged again, casting his eyes down at the ground. “I don’t know… I guess… I just wanted to talk to you, to meet you… I… the guys can’t see me when I’m in the house… I guess I just want a friend I can talk to.” He gave me another small, this time sad, smile while biting on his lip.

Even though I didn’t know anything about this guy, this being the first time I had actually met him, just the look that he wore was enough to nearly break my heart. His expression was so sad, masked by loneliness and sorrow, so deep that it pained my to look into those blue eyes.

“Oh Jimmy,” I whispered, instantly going to him and wrapping my arms around his tall frame in a hug.

I felt him hug me back, his long arms wrapping around my small-compared-to-his frame with a happy sigh as he leaned down a bit. I hugged him tightly, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms, having a sense of safety. It wasn’t the type of safety that I felt when with Zacky, though; this feeling resembled one that I got when I hugged my dad. It was a family, protective-like feeling.

I instantly got the feeling that Jimmy was the older brother that I had never had, but always wanted.

We pulled away a little to look at each other, and this time, he was smiling.

“You’re one cool chick, Starr,” He remarked.

That made me smile in return. “Thanks Jimmy. Good to know.” I licked my lips lightly again. “So… I’m the only one in the house that can see you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s actually quite handy for me, seeing that you’re a Necromancer, future queen of the underworld, and you’re living with the guys. I don’t have to travel all that far to talk to you, and it helps with knowing what the guys are up to.”

I nodded, remembering the guys, or more importantly, Zacky. I recalled how he had warned me against the room, making me promise not to go there ever again.

“Jimmy…” I started. “Uhm… what room is that? The one where I’m in right now? No one has ever mentioned it before.”

Jimmy shrugged. “That was my room… I guess you could say that it still is my room.”

“But… if you’re friends with the guys, and it’s your room… why is it off limits?” I asked. “Why was I forbidden to come here?”

Jimmy’s face fell a little. “That’s probably because of what happened to me… the guys try to stay away from the room because I’m not there… it’s probably a memory type of thing.” He shrugged. “They don’t want to be reminded that I’m gone and not coming back.”

I nodded lightly, understanding that.

“I guess you should go back,” Jimmy told me. “I’m sure Zofie is about to freak out.”

I smiled, knowing that was probably true. Zofie never liked it super quiet, nor did she like it is someone was zoning out, unable to talk or listen to her.

“When…” I bit my lip, not sue if I would sound pathetic for asking this. “Will I see you again?”

Jimmy smiled softly. “Of course you’ll see me again. Now that you’ve actually gotten a change to meet me, and won’t freak out when you see me in my spirit form, I can come visit you all the time, if you want. We can be best buds if you want.”

I smiled in return. “I would really like that, Jimmy.”

He nodded. “So… I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

“Okay,” he flashed that lopsided smile once more. “Until next time, Starr…”

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back in the deserted room, with Zofie standing next to me, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

“Hello? Starr?” She nearly yelled. “Anybody in there?”

I blinked a few times, taking a step back to look at her. “Uhm… yeah Zofie?”

“What the hell was that?” She questioned. “You were staring at that wall like a zombie for the past five minutes!”

I just stared at her, not knowing how to respond, seeing that wasn’t really a question.

“Are you high?” She asked. “Are you doing any sort of drugs?”

I started laughing at that, unable to believe that was what had crossed her mind. And when I say I started laughing, I really started laughing—like hysterically. I couldn’t stop the laughter. Zofie just stared at me like I was completely nuts, like I had just lost it, probably solidifying her theory of me doing drugs.

“Zofie,” I said through a fit of laughs. “No… of course I’m not on drugs!”

“Well you could have fooled me,” she mumbled.

I shook my head as the giggles died down. “No, Zofie… I was just…”

I let my voice trail off momentarily, not sure what exactly I should say. Did Zofie know anything about Jimmy? Would she even understand this if I told her? Would she tell Zacky?

“Just what?” She asked.

“Thinking,” I said.

“Thinking. Right.” She said with a hint of sarcasm. “Damn, Starr, this place gives me the creeps. Why did we come here?”

“’Cause I wanted to know about this place when I couldn’t get any answers about it from anyone else,” I said simply.

“Why would you not get answers about this place?”

“’Cause Zacky forbade me from coming back down here,” I answered again.

“And it seems like you didn’t take my warning seriously.”

I froze hearing that voice. That wasn’t Zofie’s voice.

It was deep, strong yet smooth, and had a slight lisp. That was Zacky’s voice.

Wonderful.