T.J.

Vince sat, bored as ever, in Old Gregg’s cave. It had been a while since Naboo contacted him, he wondered if they were going to come. Then, he saw the water he was by start to ripple. Then, the submarine emerged and the top was screwed off. And out of the top came not Naboo, but T.J.

“Vince!” He said. “You ok?”

“Yeah, except not being able to do my hair, being tied up and not being able to do my hair!” T.J. grinned.

“Let’s get you out and get back.” He started to undo the ropes around Vince. There was a chain connected to a boulder (Naboo could get that off) but just as he got him free from the rope, he heard a voice that chilled him to the bone.

“Hey Howard.” Old Gregg appeared behind them.

“Shit.” Howard whispered as he closed his eyes as Vince turned to look at him.

“Howard?” He asked, angrily.

“Vince, I was going to tell you…”

“You let me go through all that pain, making me think you were dead and here you were all along.” Vince stood away from him, nearer the water’s edge. “I don’t even know who you are.”
“Vince, please let me explain…” But there was an object thrown at the boulder, making it fall into the water and Vince along with it. Howard looked over at Old Gregg, who had thrown it. “What the hell are you playing at?”

“I had to get rid of him. Can’t you see Howard, he was coming between us. Between our beautiful relationship.”

“There is no us Gregg. There is no relationship. I hate you and if you’ve killed my best friend, then I’m gonna kill you.” Howard dove in after Vince.

He could see pretty well, which was very surprising. The water looked murky from the top. He quickly spotted Vince, trying to get his legs out of the chain. He remembered what had happened earlier and tried to reach out to Vince with his mind.

“Fucking chains, come on, quick Vince. God, I need to get air quick.” Vince’s thoughts were racing through his head.

“Vince, I know you don’t trust me right now, but you have to listen to me.” Howard told him. Vince looked up at him, while still trying to get the chains off.

“What the fuck?” He thought to himself. He tried to say something, but only air bubbles came out of his mouth.

“Vince, no! Think what you want to say. Listen, you have to try and imagine becoming a fish or something that can breathe underwater.”

“What have you been smoking T.J.? I can’t change into an animal.”

“Trust me. Naboo told me you can do it. Please, your running out of time.” Howard, who never could spend more than a minute underwater, had to go up. He was thankful Vince could hold his breathe for up to 3 minutes underwater. He surfaced, got his breathe back and dived back under.

He couldn’t see Vince anywhere, he dived deeper. “Vince, where are you?” He got no response. He kept diving, then he saw the chain, without Vince. “Vince, where are you?”

“By the submarine, on the other side Gregg’s on.” Howard was so relieved to hear his voice. He swam back up immediately and when he surfaced, he couldn’t see Vince. “Vince?”

“Under the water, to your left.” Howard stuck his head under the water again and looked left. He saw a black fish, around the size of a hand, just swimming around in circles. “Hi.”

“Vince, you did it.”

“Yeah.” He started to morph back into a human and they surfaced together. “Thank you T.J… I mean Howard, you saved my life.”

“But you changed on your own…”

“Yeah, but you told me that I could do it. I owe you my life.”

“Naboo was the one who told me though.” Howard explained.

“Guys, you getting in here or what?” Naboo threw a ladder so they could get into the porthole. Vince got in first, and as Howard went down, he saw Gregg staring at him.

“Leave me alone from now on Gregg. If you don’t I swear I will kill you for what you nearly did today.” Then he jumped in and sealed it up. Naboo handed him a towel and he sat on the floor at the back of the small submarine, seeing as there were only 2 chairs and Naboo and Bollo were sitting there, getting them back home. Vince was sitting near Naboo.

“Are you ok Vince?” Naboo asked.

“Yeah, just a bit tired.” He replied. “I might have a little sleepie.”

“Probably best after the day you’ve had.” Naboo turned his attention back to guiding the submarine home.

Vince saw Howard, shivering and moved over to talk to him. “Hey T.J… Howard… oh whatever you wanna be called, how you doing?”

“Just really cold. And call me what ever Vince. It doesn’t matter to me. How are you feeling?”

“Really cold too.” Vince pulled the towel around him more. He moved to sit next to Howard. “I didn’t believe Old Gregg when he told me you had a new body, Naboo told me that you couldn’t come back. Why didn’t you just tell me in the first place that you were Howard?”

“I don’t know. I felt that if I told you straight away you wouldn’t believe me. It was only a week after I’d died…”

“But how did you come back anyway?” Vince asked.

“I got an offer from Death. He told me I could come back.”

“So, are you going to move back in then?” Vince asked. Howard looked up at him.

“You serious?” Vince nodded. “So you forgive me for what I did then?”

“Howard, you’re back, that’s all that matters to me really. I’ve missed you over the past few weeks, even if you were here as T.J.”