Finding Jaime

Chapter 46

"She seems sad and confused. Did you make her sad and confused?"

"Unintentionally. Dad's first wife was over and she was judging me because I wasn't raised in Beverley Hills like my brothers, because I was raised by a single mom. She didn't trust me around Bronx."

"According to my records, you live in California. Not New York. Why would you be in the Bronx?"

"Bronx is my brother's name. He's a kid. Not a city."

"You humans have very odd naming conventions."

"Oh yeah? What's your name?" I challenged.

"You would be unable to pronounce it," Jon Hamm said.

"Talk about unconventional naming practices," I muttered. "Fine. I'm calling you Jon."

"I will respond to Jon," Jon said.

"How do you feel about your sister being sad about you being missing?"

"Sad. I never want to make Marvel sad. She's just a baby. I got lost."

"You did not leave intentionally?"

"I left the house intentionally. I went for a run. To clear my mind. It's what I do when I'm upset. I run. But I got lost in the hills."

"Marvel seems very attached to you. You do not want to hurt her on purpose."

"No. Not Marvel. None of them, really."

A green light went on beside me again.

"Your decision has been made and accepted. You may proceed."

"But I didn't decide anything!" I said.

"You did. You chose not to upset Marvel and Bronx."

I shook my head and went through the doorway.

Jon was in front of me again. 

"Can you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" He asked.

"Just appearing out of thin air!"

"I am simply moving through your decisions as I am wont to do. It is my way. But if it would make you feel better I will walk with you."

He said 'walk' like I was asking him to push a rock up a hill.

"You are familiar with the story of Sisyphus?" Jon asked.

"I - what? You can read my mind?"

"Not exactly. But you have no secrets from me. And yes. I do know about the hubcaps. And the magazine you left at your old apartment."

I blushed.

Jon pointed me to the next "TV".

I was staring at myself in the mirror in my bathroom. I was crying.

"You are crying. Why are you crying?"

"I'm lost."

"You are not lost. You are in a bathroom. Presumably in your home."

"Not that kind of lost," I said as I watched myself swallow the handful of pills.

"That is too much of that type of medicine. Why are you taking so many?"

"Because I thought I wanted to die. Dad was mad at me, Ashlee hates me, my mom died and I couldn't save her. I wanted to be with her."

The light beside me went green. Jon smiled.

"I think you are almost finished here."

"What does that mean?"

"You have one final decision.  One final screen."