The Tale of Jordan Frye and Jimmy Casket Part 8

    This portal was the strangest rift P.I.E had ever gone through. Johnny Ghost came out of the portal, twirling and disoriented. Luckily, Ghost had an iron stomach. He had to get one after what Casket had put him through. As soon as he got his grip, Johnny Toast fell out of the portal and on top of him, causing each of them to plant onto the ground. Ghost brushed off the dirt and looked at his partner. He let out a little whelp. What he saw nearly made him jump out of his skin. While Toast was slightly alarmed by this sight of his boss, he was more concerned by Ghost’s reaction to him. “What, sir?” Johnny Ghost couldn’t say a word. He simply pointed. When Toast looked down, he was even more terrified than his boss. Or, should I say, she was even more terrified than her boss? He had the same apparel in Gmod, as did Ghost, but, the anatomy was all wrong. Toast had … girl stuff. He was female.
    When Ghost got over the shock, he broke into laughter, “I knew there was a possibility for ‘side effects’ but, I didn’t realize a gender-bend was one of them.” The investigator doubled over from laughing.
    Toast’s face was a bright red as she tried to figure out what the heck she looked like. She ran up to Johnny and grabbed his bag, “Sir, give me this.” Toast voice was slightly higher and feminine.
    “Hey, that’s mine!” Ghost cried, still cackling. Ignoring him, Toast found a hand mirror. He had long brown hair in a ponytail and brown eyes with glasses. She began to admire herself once she got a better look at her appearance. In her opinion, she looked nice.
    Then, Toast had an idea, “You think I look strange?” Ghost’s laughing stopped immediately. Oh god, what did he look like? “Then take look at this fella!” The second Toast flipped the mirror towards his boss, Ghost freaked out. He blocked his view of the mirror. He, then, eased up a bit and looked. Ghost looked different but, it wasn’t as bad as he imagined in his head. If anything, he looked pretty good. Nice hair, good jawline.
    Ghost flexed a bit in the mirror. Then, he realized something else. “Oh my gosh...”
    “What, sir?” Toast asked in concern.
    Ghost pretended to be surprised. “I’m taller than you! Yes! Finally!”
    Toast groaned. She saw it too, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    “Nope!” Ghost cheered, “It’s about freaking time!”
    Toast crossed her arms and looked around a bit, “Huh. The Acachalla Family isn’t with us.” This wasn’t shocking. The Acachallas jumped in at a different time, meaning they’d show up in a different location. Basic dimension knowledge. What was surprising was where they were. In front of them was none other than the Frye home. Neither of them had ever seen the home of their creators but, their instincts told them this was it.
    “Son of the creators,” the younger one chuckled, “Looks like we got pretty lucky.”
    “No kidding, sir,” the Britt agreed, “Out of all the places we could’ve ended up…” She lifted her hand to a fist bump with her partner.
Ghost took it and began to head to the front door. “Come on, let’s talk to Venturiantale, Joanny Toast.”
    “Sir, don’t call me that.” Toast growled.
    “Whatever you say, ma’am.”
    “Seriously, sir, stop it.”

    Isaac, Cierra, and Bethany never had any idea how these fights started but, they always came to HomelessGoomba saying, “How can you be okay with what Jordan did to you?”
    “Because it wasn’t him,” Bethany would counter, “I mean, it was him but, it wasn’t. It was-,”
    “‘His eyes. They were red’. I know, I know. You’ve said that a thousand times and I still don’t believe you.”
    “Even if it was him-,”
    “It was him.”
    BethanyFrye glared at her brother before continuing, “We need to have forgiveness for what people do. God wouldn't have let this happen to me if it wasn’t a part of his plan.”
    “Yeah right,” Isaac rolled his eyes, “It’s so much of his plan to have one of his loyal followers to be stabbed, nearly killed, and stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of their life!” He impatiently leaped off the seat he was sitting in.
    Cierra and Bethany could feel their brother’s pain behind his temper, “Isaac-,” ImmortalKyodai started, reaching out for his hand.
    “No!” he shouted, slapping his hand away from his older sister, “Don’t ‘Isaac’ me! I’m not a little kid who solves a stupid Rubix Cube anymore! I don’t need to be protected! I’m an adult!” HomelessGoomba stormed out of the living room and towards his room.
    “Isaac…” Cierra called, “Isaac!”
    She got up and turned to her sister, who was lying on the couch. Bethany nodded, “Go after him. I got this.” ImmortalKyodai chased after her baby brother as Bethany slumped her legs off the couch and into the wheelchair. Even though she was psychically disabled and accepted the fact she couldn’t have a normal life, she refused to be completely dependent on other people.
    BethanyFrye followed her sister into the hallway where she saw that Isaac was yelling, “I don’t get why you can’t relate to how I feel! If anything, Beth should be more pissed than I am! He’s the one who did this to her. I know that’s how I’d act!”
    “Maybe that’s why God let her go through it instead of you!”
    HomelessGoomba threw his head back, “Here we go again! It’s always about God, God, God. God is good, God is great. What if he’s not that good? Have you ever considered that?” Isaac began to go up the stairs. ImmortalKyodai started to follow up when he yelled, “Don’t follow me! Leave me alone!”
    Cierra stood at the bottom of the stairwell, completely at a loss for words. She looked at her sister, who was wheeling up to her. That’s what’s been going on in his head? It was surprising for each of them. With near perfect timing, the doorbell rang, startling the sisters. “Talk to Isaac, okay?” ImmortalKyodai asked. Bethany nodded. With the help of her sister, she got on on a stair lift and made her way up, where another wheelchair waited for her. In his rage, Isaac had knocked over the wheelchair upstairs. When she made it up, Bethany bent over, made it upright, and brought herself into the wheelchair. The ginger made her way towards Isaac’s room.

    ImmortalKyodai opened the door to the last thing she expected. The person at the door was in a grey hoodie, blue jeans, and a large, tan shoulder bag. It was Jordan. She had no idea what to do. Should she hug him? Should she close the door in his face? A million thoughts were running through her head and Cierra couldn’t make out any of them. Finally, she pulled him into a bear hug. “Oh my god! I can’t believe this!” When she let him out of it, she grabbed his shoulders, soaking in what she saw. The man was hopelessly confused by ImmortalKyodai’s reaction. “You’re going to come in and explain everything that has happened. I don’t know how but, were going to work this out!”
    Cierra was practically pulling him in the door when he asked, “Explain what? Work what out?”
    Her heart dropped. How could he not know? “You don’t know what you’ve done?”
    He tilted his head, “I went through a dimensional portal and ended up here. I don’t know what that could’ve been affected so quickly.”
    This had to be that thing their therapist talked about when this all began. Multiple-personality disorder? No, that was the old term for it. Dissociative identity disorder? Yeah. That was it, “Oh, Jordan!” she brought him into a hug, “I know this is all so confusing. You just need help. Then everything will be clearer.”
    The only thing he needed ‘help’ with was understanding what the heck was going on with ImmortalKyodai. He assumed the creators would be stronger than this, “I- I may look like Jordan but, I’m not Venturian. My name is Johnny Ghost, Paranormal Investigator Extraordinaire. Johnny Toast is right behind me.”
    “No, no he isn’t.” Cierra said, her eyes shut as tightly as the hug. Her brother had been delusional for all these months. She pitied him.
    For a few moments, there was only silence. Awkward for the man, relieving for Cierra. “Um, ma’am,” a British voice interjected, “I’m right here. My name is Johnny Toast.”
    When Cierra opened her eyes, she nearly jumped out of her skin. There before her, and behind her supposed brother, was a woman in formal apparel exactly like Johnny Toast’s. God, she hadn’t thought about them for months. ImmortalKyodai let go to Ghost and approached Toast. The only difference between them was what they wore. Cierra was in sweatpants and a purple batman T-shirt while this ‘lady Toast’ wore dress pants, nice shoes, and a white dress shirt and a black vest. It was scary to look into Toast’s face. They shared the exact same features. Cierra had no clue what to say. They were imaginary characters that they roleplayed in Gmod. In her mind, they were dead. They shouldn’t be in front of her right now. “H- how?”
    “It’s a very long and confusing story,” Ghost explained, “Where are the other siblings?”
    Cierra couldn’t stay where she was. ImmortalKyodai ran up the stairs to get Bethany and Isaac.
    Ghost looked at his, now, partner, “Looks like they’re here.” The two followed her up. As they went up the stairs, Toast noticed a stair lift. The chair made her stop. Her boss was confused, “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “The lift thingy, sir.”
    Ghost put two and two together. What was a stair lift, something typically meant for old people doing in a home where the oldest person was 25? Strange. For now, they had to move on. P.I.E. needed to meet the creators.

    It was clear Isaac was still mad when Bethany made her way into his room, “I thought I told you to leave me alone.” he snapped.
    “That’s just what you told Cierra.” BethanyFrye told her brother, rolling into his room.
    HomelessGoomba continued to avoid eye contact with his sister, “I want to be left alone.”
    “That’s not going to happen,” Bethany frowned, “You’re stuck with us,” she moved back into her brother’s bed but, didn’t sit on it. She wanted to give him some space. They stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, each soaking in what has happened to the Frye family in the past four months. Out of nowhere, “I was mad at Jordan, ya know.” Bethany confessed.
    Isaac snapped out of his thoughts. His sister, actually mad at someone? Mad at Jordan, of all people? He knew Bethany had a bad temper but, it was always over stupid, little things. She couldn’t hold a grudge. Could she? He scoffed, “You definitely don’t show it.”
    “You’re right, I don’t.” BethanyFrye agreed, “I held it in, let it bubble. If felt mad at the world, mad at myself. I shouldn’t have let this happen to me. Then, one day, for whatever reason, I decided to stop. The pity party, the resentment. It did nothing for me. It only hurt. It felt so much better when I put it at God’s feet.”
    Isaac rolled his eyes, “Easier said than done.”
    “When did I say it was easy? Trust me, it’s not. It’s easy to just sit in that hateful hole and have people do things for you,” she looked down at her numb feet, “But it feels so freeing when you stop blaming yourself. Forgiveness is not the easiest path but, it’s definitely the most rewarding.”
    “I don’t blame myself.” Isaac murmured.
    “You feel responsible for something, that much I can see,” she turned her chair to Isaac, “And let me give you a little hint, one way to stop being mad at yourself is to hold onto the happy moments in the past instead of the ones you regret. Even with all of this going on, try your best to hold onto that trolly optimism you had before,” Bethany leaned in, “You’ll feel so much better. There’s a reason why Jesus wants to have faith like a child.” She cupped her brother’s cheek in her hand.
    HomelessGoomba gratefully put his hand over Bethany’s and took a deep breath, “You know I’d take your place to give you your life back, right?”
    BethanyFrye nodded, “It just wasn’t meant to be that way.”
    They let their hands fall, “I’m sorry.” HomelessGoomba apologized.
    “For what?” the ginger asked.
    “My immaturity, my temper tantrums,” Isaac paused, looking his sister in the eye, “Everything.”
    “Don’t apologize,” she told him, feeling her brother’s pain again, “None of this was your fault.” Bethany grabbed for his brother and brought him into a hug.  
    In this peaceful moment of silence, ImmortalKyodai ran through the door, heavily panting, “You’re not going to believe this.”

    The Frye siblings had made their way to the living room. When Johnny Ghost and Johnny Toast saw BethanyFrye, it explained a lot. Her character’s conditions, the lack of Venturian’s presence, the stair lift they saw. Unfortunately, with a little explanation from Isaac and Cierra, their worst fears had been confirmed. Casket had made his way to the zero world. In the meantime, they had to try and explain to them how they got here and how this strange ‘side effect’ worked. “In other words,” Toast continued, “You’re characters are most likely to think and/or act much like you because they are a part of you. It’s rare to find a character that isn’t much like their creator. That’s most likely why we look like who made us.”
    ImmortalKyodai and Bethany Frye were sitting on the couch, having trouble taking it all in, “Oh god,” Cierra complained, “My head hurts.”  
    “Same here.” Bethany agreed, rubbing her head.
    Isaac had a different reaction. He was pacing around the living room, processing what he was told, “So, all of the characters we’ve ever made are real? Papa Acachalla? Sally? Jimmy Casket? All of them?”
    Toast became fidgety at Casket’s name, “Uh-huh,” her nervousness alarmed the three creators, “Speaking of Jimmy, he’s the reason why we’re here.”
    The whole room was stiff. Jimmy Casket? Here? BethanyFrye thought of something. “He doesn’t happen to have red eyes, does he?”
    Ghost found the question odd, “Yeah. Wouldn’t you guys know stuff like that?”
    Isaac shook his head as he looked at his sister in utter disbelief. “It- it’s usually the fans that decide stuff like that.” She stuttered.
    “You mean to say that Jimmy Casket attacked Bethany?” Cierra asked.
    “Yes and no.” Toast responded.
    Bethany was confused by the Britt’s answer. “How can it be both?”
    Toast looked hesitant to answer, “There’s no easy way to say this.”
    “Just try.” Cierra told her creation.
    Ghost took a deep, unsteady, breath, ready to answer for his partner, “Casket took over your brother,” she explained, “Kinda like a possession; except it’s not. Unlike us, he was a more solid, and quieter, part of Venturian’s personality. Back then, Casket and Jordan were one of the same. Even back then, ‘Jimmy’ had a bad temper and was very violent. Venturian often avoided this side of him because he didn’t like it,” As Ghost talked about this, Cierra nudged Bethany and Isaac. What the investigator describing sounded too much like that attack when they were little. The ginger and troll were thinking the same thing. It was a day Bethany and Cierra remembered well. It’s hard to forget when your older brother hurts a kid for you. HomelessGoomba wasn’t there, saying he was 3 at the time, but, he was told about it when he was 8, “After a while, Jimmy started to fade from Venturian as he matured. He probably would’ve been gone forever if it wasn’t that game mode: Murder. Jimmy came back to life and the ‘fellow adventurers’ loved it, only helping him live longer. Then a few videos came out, confirming some internet theories about how we were the same person, officially making Jimmy and me one in the same. Then, a few months back, he was gone. My first suspicion was that he came here looking for some new thrills and, apparently, I was right.”    
    “What’s going to happen to Jordan?” Bethany asked.
    “Knowing Casket,” Ghost thought out loud, “He’d take dominance the second he could get it. Saying how long it’s been, Jimmy probably has already put himself in a powerful position. After he gets power, I don’t know. He never got that far with me. Sure, I’ve broken a few times but, I’d always find a way to bring him back under control. I would’ve assumed you guys could handle it even better than me. Do you know if he’s actually killed anybody?”
    The siblings nodded, “Fifteen people. I’m the only person who has survived his attacks.” Bethany told them.
    Johnny Ghost gnawed on his finger, “That’s a nasty number,” he turned to ‘Joan’ Toast, “We need to find him.”
    “On it sir.”  
    “How are you going to do that?” Isaac asked.
    “Server history,” investigator shrugged. HomelessGoomba, ImmortalKyodai, and BethanyFrye were clueless about what he meant by that. Ghost sighed, “How far behind are you guys on technology? Geez! With the bracelets that we talked about earlier, we can search for specific people and find out where they are. We find Venturian, we find Jimmy.”