Chapter Text
Jim has been home alone for what it seemed like to be decades. In reality, it was almost an decade. Suddenly Barbara abandoned her son. Since then, Jim's mental health was getting worse and he was left thinking, what did he do. He was waiting for his mother to come home, but it's been years. In reality, Jim somehow didn't go to an orphanage, like he should've. In reality, Jim lied to everyone about his mother, saying she was at work. It was true, the part, where she was at work, but it wasn't the exact truth. The person, who was working hard, just so Jim could survive in a suburban town, close to LA, was just an robot with artificial inteligence, that Jim found one day in the attic, a while after Barbara left. It was the only person, who was a parental figure to him. Barbara 2.0, who was replacing the original Barbara, she was doing it, just so Jim wouldn't go to an orphanage, keep Jim some company to keep him sane for the upcoming years and she was the only reason, Jim could ever have some food and water. Jim had a job in Starbucks, in case, if he needed extra money.
It was an part-time job, where he served people some coffee and maked them some coffee. At the end of the month, Jim got an reward from the boss, which was his salary. He always put his earned money in his wallet. Everyone was curious on how Jim could balance two, soon to be three secret lives? They were blinded by Jim's abilities, that they eventually thought Jim was an high achiever. Jim was an high achiever, but he wasn't happy about his life. That was something everyone was unaware about. Well, not everyone was blind. The person, who had started to suspect "something's wrong" was Toby. Toby knew there was something off with Jim, because Jim rarely hung out with his best friend him. Toby thought it was because he was helping his mom, but instead it was all a lie. The whole time, Jim was lying to everyone, so he could hide the truth about Jim. Jim wasn't kind, brave and helpful. In reality, he was just a liar, who tried to get away with any of his lies.
The only person he was helping was no one, including Jim himself. He was a lying coward, who's lies were soon going to come out and end. He was also depressed and never did anything to help himself. Instead he just drank coffee and cut his wrists with an knife, until the scars were deep. He only wished to die alone, but for some reason Jim didn't do it. Jim wanted to see Barbara again, but overtime he suddenly realised that was never going to happen. Jim was never going to see his mother ever again and he knew it. As much as Jim wanted to be comforted by someone about his trauma, he knew he couldn't go for comfort, since he lied to everyone and no one would believe him if he came to someone. Jim didn't have a reason to live. The only person, who was keeping him alive was his best friend, Toby. Toby lived right next door and he was always there for Jim no matter what. When Barbara was gone for good, the only person who was keeping Jim happy was Toby. Toby was like a brother to Jim. They weren't related to eachother, but their relationship was brotherly. They were bros.
Jim's biggest fear was anyone finding out about Jim's lies. His other fear was losing his best friend. Jim lost his mother and after he met Toby at the neighboorhood, he was afraid of losing Toby. But at this rate, when everyone finds out, including Toby about the truth about Jim, which was a secret tape project Jim started at 13 and never told anyone about the tapes, his mother and his insecurities. Why did Jim start the tape project at the age of 13, you may ask? The anwser was, because it was the time, where everything started to fall apart in Jim's life, even though it was always an emotional roller coaster, but not always. It was one of his ways, Jim coped with his childhood trauma. If anyone found out about the tapes and listened to all of them, they'd call child services or tell someone. When they told someone, that someone would tell someone else, who tells the whole town, since people really liked to gossip about everything.
After the town found out, about Jim's lies, people started to bully him. They never helped him, since to them, Jim was just a liar. He started losing his friends at the speed of Sonic, girls didn't want him. He was losing his friends, mostly because their parents/guardians told them Jim's a bad influence. Eventually, Jim's mental health was starting to fall apart. Because of the loneliness, his mental health fell apart to the point, where Jim tried to commit suicide. Before he committed suicide, Jim recorded one last tape and published it online with the other tapes. In the end, Jim committed suicide and eventually dies alone. But little did we know, that this was just one of the possibilities of anyone finding out about some of Jim's secrets and problems. This could've happened with anyone, and when I say anyone, I mean anyone.
Arcadia Oaks was just a small, suburban town, where everyone knew everyone. Arcadia had one preschool, one school and one high school, that's why everyone knew everyone and how rumors spread fast. Are you all curious on how Toby found out Jim's deepest secret, how it affected the two of them and how Jim found out there was more to his mother, than he thought there was? Yes? No? If no, then leave. But if you're curious, then I suggest staying. Buckle up your seatbelts, get some drinks and snacks ready, because this is going to be an emotional roller coaster!
Everything was normal, until one day something happened. One day, Jim and Toby were going back home from high school. Since it was a Friday, which was day 0 of the weekends, the boys decided to get some tacos from Stuart. When they arrived close by Stuart's taco truck, the boys were shocked. Stuart was getting arrested in front of the U.S. government. Guess the boys weren't getting tacos today.
-How could they arrest Stuart?! Jimbo please tell me this isn't real!-Toby panicked
-Tobes, I hate to say this, but this is real-Jim said
-Guess we'll have to order tacos online. And the price is 10% higher-Toby complained
-Anything but ordering tacos online. Remember last time when we were 13?-Jim asked
-Of course! How could I forget, that we tried to get McCallister fired, after the tacos were made like this on purpose. Then the manager turned out to be a dumb Karen and she kicked us out!-Toby said
-Then we felt sick after trying some of the tacos, so we decided to have an sleepover at mine, where we just slept on the couch, cause Gun Robot was on-Jim said
-After that day, we decided to go to Stuart's for some tacos in our free time-Toby said
-Sadly Stuart's arrested-Jim said
-Don't worry, Jimbo. I'm sure the government arrested the wrong person. They made a huge mistake-Toby said
-Hate to break this to you, but it's not a mistake-Eli said
-Hey Eli, what happened?-Jim asked
-Apparently, Stuart got arrested for commiting an crime against the government-Eli said
-What could've Stuart done that was so bad to the government?-Toby asked
-That's the thing. None of us know, because this information is "classified"-Eli said
Then Eli's mom called him.
-Eli! Come here!-Mrs.Pepperjack said
-Gotta go! Bye Jim! Bye Toby!-Eli said his goodbyes, as he went to his mom.
-Guess we're not getting these tacos-Jim said
-We can go to the closest tacos restaurant-Toby said
-But the closest tacos restaurant is 5 miles away-Jim said
-Why not order some pizza and watch some Gun Robot tonight?-Toby said
-Alright, we can order some pizza. My house or yours?-Jim asked
-Why not yours?-Toby said
-Alright, we're going to my house-Jim said
The boys sat on their bikes and cycled all the way back home. When they came to Jim's, they left their bikes on the grass. After they left their bikes on the grass, the boys went to the living room, where Jim turns the tv on. When Jim switched the channel to the one, where they always watched Gun Robot, there wasn't any Gun Robot. Instead, it was an live interview about Stuart getting arrested.
-Today in Arcadia Oaks, a local taco-man got arrested by the U.S. Government for unknown reasons we can't tell you-Tabitha said
-Unknown reasons?! This has got to be an outrage-Jim groaned
-Why isn't there any Gun Robot on this channel?!-Toby complained
-Tabitha's fault, not mine-Jim said
-Let's watch the news and see what Tabitha says next, shall we?-Toby asked
-I bet she's going to say something stupid. No offence to other Tabitha's, just hating the news Tabitha. But sure, we can watch the news-Jim said
The boys sat on the couch, where they watched the news. Then it started to rain.
-It's raining-Jim said
-I thought it was going to be sunny all day. Wait, who's going to order pizza?-Toby asked
-Shit! The pizza!-Jim cursed
-Yes, Jimbo. The pizza. Who's going to order pizza?-Toby said
Then Tabitha switched to the next topic, where she said something that broke the boys.
-Today, on Friday 13th. All pizzerias decided to close, since all the workers wanted a day off-Tabitha said
-Jim... forget it. We're not ordering pizza-Toby saod
-Tobes, what happened? It's not like you to deny ordering pizza-Jim said, with an worried face
-Tabitha the "news woman" happened. She said all of the pizzerias in America are closed tonight!-Toby cried
-Well then, in this case I'm making pancakes at 6PM, cause that's the only thing I have enough ingridients for-Jim said
-Jimbo, you could've told me and we would've went to Walmart!-Toby said
-I know and I'm sorry.-Jim said
-Jim stop saying "sorry". Can I help you with the pancakes?-Toby asked
-The last time you helped me, we almost could've burnt the house.-Jim said
-In the meantime, if you don't want to see "Tabitha" on TV, I consider switching the channel-Jim added
Toby switched the channel. On the next channel, there was the Legally Blonde movie, which was glitched because the rain turned into a thunderstorm and they were both stuck at Jim's, where the electricity stopped working.
-Bad news. We can't have pancakes tonight because of an storm, so for dinner we'll have sandwiches. Fresh from the fridge-Jim said
-I forgot to call Nana-Toby gasped
-There's no signal-Jim said
-Terrifying-Toby said
-Anyways, wanna go upstairs to my room?-Jim asked
-Sure, but where will I sleep?-Toby asked
-Certainly not on the floor, that's for sure-Jim said
-So we're going to sleep together? Sounds nice, dosen't it?-Toby teased him a bit
-It sure does sound nice-Jim replied
In Jim's room, a few minutes later.
A few minutes later, the boys were sitting in Jim's room. It was 7 pm, but it was darker then inside and outside Jim's, so yeah. They took some flashlights from downstairs and now they were snuggled in one bed.
-Hey Jimbo, truth or dare?-Toby asked
-Um... truth?-Jim replied
-Have you ever felt something's off?-Toby said
-What do you mean? There's nothing off, seriously-Jim said
-Jimbo, wake up-Toby said
-Wake up-Toby repeated to Jim
-What do you mean?-Jim said, as he woke up in the real world.
He was awake in the real world. The real world, where in reality it was Sunday. Jim was doing nothing, but staring in the ceilling. He knew that his sleepover with Toby was the best, but now he wasn't with Toby. Toby was at home with his Nana, while Jim was alone again.
3 years ago, Jim accepted his mom will never come home. It was a hard thing for Jim to accept, but his mom wasn't worth his tears. Besides Jim dosen't need a family, when he's got amazing friends. And he was fine with it, even though, deep down in his heart, he felt dissapointed. Later, he was cleaning the house.
While cleaning the house, Jim stumbled upon a box of tapes dated back to 2007. When he first saw them, he was very confused and suprised.
-What are those?-Jim said, with an confused tone
He takes an closer look, realising that these are cassette tapes. Then he turns on the first tape. Little did he know, that the tape would change his entire perspective on everything. From that moment, he was in danger. When he turned on the tape, the first thing Jim heard was his mother speaking on the first tape.
-Hey, this is Barbara. Barbara Lake. You're wondering why I did, what I did. Listen to me carefully my child, or whoever that is and you'll know the whole story... In my perspective. Anyways, adjustify the volume on whatever device you'll be listening to me on. There are two sides of the story, that you'll have to listen to, if you want to understand the stories, where some of them contain my unknown backstory and how I became the person I am today. Anyways, I have to go read a bedtime story to Jamie. See you in the next tape-Barbara said
Jim was shocked. Not only did his mom leave years ago, but she left her kid a series of tapes to listen someday, also he was going insane, due to his lack of sleep, his mom and the recently discovered tapes. Little did he know that this was just the beggining. An emotional roller coaster was just going to start, maybe even an traumatic one. It was going to be hell in Jim's family. He just needs to listen to all of the tapes, then he'll understand. He'll understand why Barbara did what she did.