Rewind

Chapter 34

"Gavin this isn't you! There's no way that you think that assisting Jimmy like this is a good idea!" Johnny exclaimed. His brother glared at him with a look of disgust on his face. Gavin roughly pulled his wrist from his grasp, instead grabbing him by the collar. 

"This is me! You don't know anything, so stop pretending like you do!" he growled. Johnny was shocked. For some reason he felt genuinely angry at this. In all his life, he had never felt this way towards his twin. Towards anyone. He gave Gavin a careful push away from him, trying to remain calm. 

"Oh hush, you muppet! I know more than you could even imagine. Now please, snap out of it!" 

He had just finished his sentence when Gavin suddenly swung, landing a hard blow on his jaw. Pain shot through his skull, and his ears rang. The teen hit him pretty damn hard. He had forgotten how aggressive Gavin was when he got like this. Johnny couldn't contain his anger any longer, and despite Gregory's protests, he began to fight back. He landed many blows on Gavin's chest and face. He sort of blacked out after this, and all he could hear was his fellow Brit's angry shouts. Teachers soon appeared at the scene and pulled them apart. Johnny quickly realized the magnitude of what had just happened. Red covered his fists. Soreness radiated from his face and stomach. Gavin spit out a defiant glob of blood, his gaze piercing through him like knives. 

"I f****** hate you, you know that?! I hate you!"

Johnny didn't respond, instead looking up at Gregory. The kid looked horrified. He realized that his friend had probably never seen him like this before, not even in the other timeline. One of the teachers began to talk to the small teen, who began to explain what he saw. Gavin was soon forced to his feet. As he was escorted away, his brother gave him a cold smirk. After a few minutes of talking, the teachers left. He wiped a dribble of blood from his nose, leaning against the truck. 

"... that was awful, man." Gregory sighed. Johnny nodded.

"Yeah. I-I'm really sorry that you had to see that. I don't know what came over me." he whispered. The American gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. 

"I mean, he is the one who started it. We're just lucky he didn't use his powers. ... did you see where Jimmy went?" 

"No, I didn't. I did grab these though." 

Johnny reached into his pockets, pulling out a rusty set of keys. Gregory's eyes lit up.

"Nice! We can track Jimmy down ever quicker now. Speaking of him, I think I know where he went." 

"Oh? Where?" 

"I-... I think he went to find mom. In the other timeline he killed her when we were 10. Maybe he's trying to catch up with what happened before." Gregory explained. 

"That makes sense. Let's go before the teachers come back." 

The two got in the truck, quickly driving to the Casket household. It seemed that Mrs. Casket was already home. In fact, she had just got out of the car when they pulled up. Gregory quickly hopped out of the car, hugging the adult tightly. Johnny soon joined them. 

"Gregory? What's wro- oh my goodness, what happened Johnny?!" she gasped. 

"I got in a fight, but I'm ok. We need to get you inside, ma'am." 

"What? Why?"

"Just trust us, mama!" 

The woman stared for a moment before nodding, allowing Gregory to lead her inside. Johnny briskly walked after them, stumbling just a bit. He was still feeling pretty disoriented from getting hit so many times. After they entered the house the youngest of the group locked the door, taking them into the kitchen. 

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on or not? ... is this a prank or something?" Mrs. Casket asked. 

"Why don't you explain, Gregory? You know more about this than I do." 

Gregory nodded.

"Right. I'm just going to say it... mom, sometimes Jimmy gets violent. Really violent. He talks about how he's not crazy and how the voices he hears are his friends. Just this morning he-... he tried to strangle me." he explained, showing her his bruises. The adult looked astonished. She lowered herself into a chair, shaking her head. 

"There's no way this is happening. I-I'm not prepared enough for this." 

Johnny and Gregory exchanged a glance. 

"What do you mean? Not prepared for what?" 

The woman just sighed, standing. She grabbed a small canister from one of the cabinets, sprinkling the pale substance across every door way and window sill. She then grabbed a small bag, handing it to Johnny.

"You should go home, sweetheart. This is not a safe place for you to be right now. Take this and go." she ordered. Johnny could tell by the tone of her voice that she was really serious. 

"Yes, ma'am. See you later, Gregory." he sighed. The two exchanged a quick hug, and with that, he left. Once he got in his car and locked it, he opened the small bag. In it was a mix of odd herbs. Johnny had no clue what it was, but he figured that the woman knew what she was doing. He just hoped that his friends would be ok.