Chapter Text
Staring at one’s own demise truly can be an enlightening experience.
This is what Jason realized as he sat down on his bed, still looking in a mild state of denial at the slip of paper he held in his hands. There was lots of text, mostly containing platitudes, medical formalities, and apparently sincere condolences from men he had only met once in his life. The message, though, was all the same. As of now, Jason only had about 6 more weeks to live.
All his life, Jason had been terrified of a great many things. Strangers, monsters, thieves, even the very outdoors themselves. And he had taken very many precautions to avoid all those things that were the source of his fears. Out of high school, he had gotten a job as a “business consultant”, where customers would call in to get his opinion on whatever business and professional decisions they were making at the time. Really, a somewhat pointless job, as in the situations where his callers actually needed his advice, they never actually listened to him and just did whatever it was they were about to do anyways. But, it allowed him to not have to leave his house to work, and have much less contact with all those enigmatic strangers. The only times he even had to leave his apartment at all was to get groceries and perhaps resolve the odd matter at the office he couldn’t just call in for. Which, for most of his life, pleased him greatly. None of those hard things like “talking to people” or “Confronting the outside world”. Just a life of peace and comfort, and most of all, safety.
If only he had known.
Jason began to look around the room. These thoughts were painful, and at this point he just wanted something, anything, to distract himself with. Eventually, his eyes settled on a picture, one of the only three in the house. This one was a picture of his parents, both smiling and looking into the camera as they sat in one of the few remaining public parks in the city. In the children playing, including himself and his sister, and a picnic basket half disgorged of various goodies and lunch foods. That photo was taken when he was 10. Both of his parents were now long dead of a similar terminal illness that Jason now found himself confronting.
Jason’s attention turned to a second picture, right next to the first. This one was significantly more formal, with the four members of his family all dressed up for a staged photo. He and his father were both wearing tuxedos they had specifically rented for this occasion, while his mother was wearing an elegantly flowing blue-and-gold dress. His sister stood out among them all, though. She wore a gray dress, one that was decorated all over by incredibly ornate frills and details that seemed to levitate magically in place, even when they looked unstable. In her hands, she held two glowing daggers, which she proudly displayed for the camera by balancing both of them on a single pointer finger. The picture was taken when Jason was 13, to commemorate both his sister’s 14th birthday and certain *other* special events that had taken place in her life. This picture held a special significance to Jason, given it was that last picture anyone had of his sister at all, having been taken only three days before…
Jason pushed the intruding thoughts from his mind. Those thoughts were even more painful than the thoughts of his own impending death. In one final attempt to distract himself, Jason looked over to another wall to a third picture, the only other one left. This one was a picture of himself and several other boys, sitting at a long table that read “Southside middle school chess club”. It had been many years, but he still recognised everyone there; Arthur and Wyatt, Seth and John, The brothers Kyle and Nate, and finally himself. They were all smiling and laughing, celebrating their recent victory over North’s chess team in the yearly championship round. It was a trifling event in the grand scheme of things, something he was now painfully aware of now that it was 16 years in the past. But for them, in that moment, it was as if they were on top of the world, the main characters in a grand story that was just somehow beginning. For a while, Jason stared at the picture, a slight smile forming on his face. The smile soon faded. He began to think about how little proper human contact he had for a very long time. Even stranger was how powerfully he was beginning to long for it. Usually, whenever Jason felt lonely, he would simply turn on the TV or read a book or a comic or some other piece of low-minded entertainment and find his longings washed away by distraction. This time, though, what was usually a relatively mild and repressible impulse was now simply screaming to get out. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.
Jason got up from the bed and went over to a filing cabinet in the corner of his apartment., where he kept many of his papers both old and new. He opened the drawers and rummaged through the papers within, leaving most of them haphazardly on the floor, until he found what he was looking for. Hastily, he extracted the old page of phone numbers and started calling them one by one. First, he dialed Seth's number, to find that nobody picked up on the other end. He dialed Arthur's number, only to be greeted by the vice of an old woman he didn’t know. Most of the calls went like this. When it came time to call Kyle’s number, Jason was happy to hear the sound of a familiar, yet different than he remembered voice coming over the other end.
“Hello? This is Kyle Tirpitz, barrier's gonna be going up soon, how can I help you?”
“... hey Kyle. This is Jason… remember me?” Jason mustered all the enthusiasm he could.
“Jason?” Kyle said in confusion. “No… I don’t think that rings a bell. What’s…” Kyle paused. “Wait…Jason? Like, chess club Jason?”
“Yeah. That’s me.” Jason said, his voice now slightly more hopeful.
Kyle paused once more. “Well… shit, man, how long’s it been? Like, fifteen years right? Sixteen? Didn't think I'd ever…” Jason heard a door open on the other side of the line. “Wait, hold on just a sec.” Kyle interrupted himself. His now distant voice was soon joined by a you boy’s.
“Daddy, can you read us a story? Jared says he can’t go to sleep without one.”
“Hey, I’m on the phone with someone. I’ll be right down there in a few minutes, then we can read whatever story you want, okay bud?”
“Ok! Thank you daddy!” The boy replied excitedly. Jason then heard the sound of little feet stomping uncoordinatedly across the floor before the door closed and Kyle returned to the line.
“Sorry bout that. Anyways… shit, how’ve you been, man? I… well, I didn’t think I’d ever get to hear from you again. You pretty much dropped off the face of the earth, after, you know… what happened to Kylie, and all that.”
“Heh… yeah.” Jason winced internally at the reminder. “You know, I, uh… I didn’t exactly think I’d be talking to you again either. I’ve… Well, I've been alright, I guess. Just surviving. Anyways, how’ve you been?”
“Oh, fine.” Kyle replied back. “Been real busy these days, you know? Wife, kids, Taking care of mom and dad. Citywide chess championship’s coming up soon too, keeping my game up for that. Pretty darn strung out, nowadays."
“Sounds like one heck of a hassle.” Jason said.
“Heh” Kyle said back, as if responding to a joke. “I suppose, in a way, you could say that. But its kind of a joyful hassle, you know? I mean, sometimes I suppose it's kinda annoying, having to juggle everything and all. But… I dunno. You just look back, and you see them smile and… well, I guess I just don’t know how I'd live without it.” The two paused for a moment before Kyle continued. “So anyways, why’d you call? You sound awfully under the weather. Were you just looking to catch up, or is something on your mind?”
“Well, I…” Jason stopped to consider his words. “Eh, I suppose I was just looking to catch up. Hey, do you think you’ll have any spare time at any point in the next 3 weeks?” Although Jason technically had 6 weeks left to live, he knew that after three weeks his functionality would start decreasing, and he really didn’t want Kyle to see him like that.
“Three weeks? Shit, lemme take a look at the calendar.” Kyle got off the line for a while, presumably to do just that, before coming back. “Well, no joy. Looks like i’m all booked up for the next three weeks. I think I’ve got a bit of time in four weeks though, so how bout we get together then? Maybe we can-”
“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Jason interrupted as softly as he could.
“Really? You sound real down man, you sure?”
“Yeah… I think so. Just got a wild hare in me, is all.”
“Huh. Well, alrighty then. Lemme see… Shoot, it's nine o’clock, I’d better get the kids their bedtime story. I'll tell you what, I’ll call you tomorrow night, alright? Maybe we’ll talk a bit more then.”
“Alright. Suppose I'll hear from you then, I guess.” Jason said somewhat wistfully.
“Hey, you have a good night there. Try not to get eaten by any monsters now, would’ya?”
“Alright, I… I’ll try. Goodnight, Kyle.”
“Goodnight.”
Jason sighed as the line cut out on the other end.
This was going to be a long six weeks.