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He had betrayed me. Jeremy Heere, best friend of twelve years, and my “favwoit person”, left me alone in the dust at that Halloween party. Now, a logical person would’ve moved on, or maybe even waited for an apology or an opportunity to help out this old friend. Maybe cried for a bit before going home from that Halloween party instead of, I don’t know, going out and buying a tiny supercomputer of their own? But, I can’t say I was entirely sane. I felt torn apart between two sides. On one hand, Jeremy needed my help. But the other? The other side solely wanted revenge. So that’s the side that led me out of Jake Dillingers house and into the P.T Cruiser. That’s the side that drove me to the Payless at our local mall. That’s the side that had me drag my feet all the way to the shady guy in the back. “Ladies running shoes,” was uttered at some point. Suddenly, like no time had passed at all, I was back at the Cruiser, Squip and a bottle of Mountain Dew in my hands. But it didn’t feel like enough. It didn’t feel like a large enough event for Mr. Jeremiah Heere. As I sat there, contemplating the next step, something dawned on me. It wasn’t just Jeremy who needed to pay. It was that entire school. The school that saw me as the invisible headphones kid. The school that produced whispers when I passed, “Oh look, it’s the stoner again.” “Oh, headphones is alone for once. Wonder where his little boy toy is?” The school that would never listen. Unless I made them hear me.
With my mind finally made up, I placed the Squip in a small fabric box I had placed in the depths of the center console I’m not even sure how long ago, put the Mountain Dew in the cup holder, and made my way to the house I knew by heart. It was too late for him not to be home yet, so that wasn’t even a worry that crossed my mind. All I cared about was my revenge. I wasn’t thinking of my moms, or my favorite teacher who always seemed to notice me, or Mr. Heere, who I had always viewed as a father figure, or hell, even Jeremy. The only thing I’d get out of him was a half assed apology if I didn’t go through with this. He’d go be popular, I’d be back to being invisible. That couldn’t happen. So, I pulled up to the sidewalk near the Heere household for what I assumed would be the last time. I snuck my way to the side of the house, taking the route Jeremy had taught me to sneak up to his window at night. “Go along the right side until you hit a bush, then climb up the lattice that goes to the window. No Michael, you won’t fall! I’ll always keep the window unlocked in case you ever need me!” Well, I needed him alright. But not for something tiny Jeremy could’ve ever imagined outside of video game villains. I knew those instructions by heart, had followed them so many times it was like muscle memory. Easy as pie to get up to the window. I found he still left it unlocked. Huh. I would’ve thought his Squip would’ve corrected that by now, but I suppose not. Oh well, that makes my job a whole lot easier. I slid it open and slipped through, surveying the room once I landed. Jeremy was fast asleep in bed. Perfect. I leaned over him and slowly shook his shoulder, putting on the sweetest tone I could (even if it hurt). “Oh Jeremy~ I really need you to wake up, dude.” He startled awake, but was quick to realize it was me. “Michael? What’d you doing here?” “I just came to apologize! You were right about the Squips, I just needed to do more research is all!” Wow. I was oddly good at lying. He looked confused for reasons I couldn’t figure out until he spoke. “Michael… no. Don’t say that. You were the one who was right. I was gonna apologize for the party tomorrow. Rich was running around asking for Mountain Dew Red, so I went to Spencer’s and it turns out it deactivated his Squip once he drank it. Him and I were synced, so it turned off mine as well. Those things were awful dude! And I’m so sorry I didn’t realize it. And that I called you a loser. I didn’t mean it dude, I was just so overwhelmed from everything and I… I snapped I guess.” Oh. “Well, how about you come over to my house then? We can hang out in the basement, get stuff figured out?” He nodded rather enthusiastically and we both made our way to the window, climbing down and going to the Cruiser. I had started to rethink my decision, before realizing it was still well deserved from not just Jeremy, but everyone at that damn school, and snapping out of it. This was going to be a long night, but it would be worth it.
We had made it back to my house, and as Jeremy stepped out of the car, I quickly stuffed the box into my hoodie pocket and grabbed the Mountain Dew. Jeremy had given it a suspicious look when he first spotted it, but I reminded him it had been one of my favorite drinks before all this, and he seemed to let it go. We walked up to the front door and normally we would’ve had to be super quiet, but my moms were on a business trip. Convenient, I know. I unlocked the door and we headed down to the basement. Before all this, when my idea was first forming, I had set out my desk chair in the middle of the basement, a pair of handcuffs I had from my magic phase sitting behind it. I put the Mountain Dew on the desk and turned back around to face him. “Jeremy, why don’t you take that seat over there so we can start talking things through?” He looked at me with nothing less than absolute suspicion. “Why’s your desk chair in the middle of your room, dude? Are you feeling okay? We’d normally sit in the beanbags I thought. I mean, I know it’s been a bit but I didn’t think my memory was THAT bad.” He seemed to be trying to lighten the mood, so I gave an airy laugh, if only just to humor the boy. “No, no. I just figured this called for something more… sophisticated. You really hurt me Jeremy. And I need to know why. So why don’t you just sit down in the chair, I’ll sit across on the bed, and you can start explaining. That work?” He gave a hesitant nod and walked over, myself following close behind once he passed by the desk I was still standing at. As soon as he was sat, I grabbed the cuffs from behind the chair, grabbed his wrists, and locked them in the cuffs. He started squirming and trying to get out of the handcuffs, understandably panicked. “Michael, what?! What’re you doing?? I know I was terrible dude, but why’re you handcuffing me like I’m some kind of hostage?!” I didn’t answer him right away, walking over to my desk and grabbing the duct tape I had from trying to repair the broken glasses that were the result of Rich slamming me into a locker. I walked back over to Jeremy and kneeled down so I could duct tape his legs together and to the chair. Can’t have him trying to get up. “Oh, Jeremy. You’re pretty on the nose actually!” I stood back up to be back at eye level, one hand on an armrest so I was leaning over him. “You see, it wasn’t just you who mistreated me. It was our entire school. I was invisible. But, there’s a way I can fix it! And I think you know how.” Realization came to his face as tears slowly formed in his eyes. “Mikey… no. Please. The Squip was awful, don’t do this!” I chuckled, low and slightly insane sounding. “Oh Jeremiah. You don’t get to just talk your way out of this.” His struggling got more frantic. “Soon, your little popular crew will find out you’re here! And word will spread fast. I’ll tell them all about Squips. Make sure that until they all take one, you don’t leave here. And if they refuse to comply? Well, that won’t end well for their little friend, now will it?” Tears were streaking down his face now, and he was fully trying to move the chair at this point. Pathetic. I gripped the chair arm harder and put my other hand to his cuffed wrists. “Struggling won’t do you any good JereBear. Just relax! Take some deep breaths, sit back, get comfortable. Cause I’m sure you’ll be here for a bit.” He locked eyes with me again, after trying to avoid my gaze. He was still crying, blue eyes looking like little pools. “This is low, Mell. Even for what I did, what our past bullies did. This is low.” I chuckled again and walked over to my desk, but not before rotating his chair to face it. I took the box from my pocket and placed it next to the Mountain Dew still sitting there. “Oh believe me, I know that I’ve “sunk pretty low”. But whatever I’m going to do? You all deserve.” He was still trying to plead with me, but it was such a sad attempt. His voice cracked on a single calling of my name. “Michael-“ I quickly turned around to face him again, cutting him off. “Quiet! You all may see me as a bad guy, that’s fine! It’s not my fault. And it’s all worth it if justice is finally served.” “Please, just listen to me!” I sauntered back over to his chair. “No Jeremy. It’s time I either step up, or sink back into the shadows.” I lowered my glasses down my nose, an intimidating move if I do say so myself. A twisted smile found its welcome way to my face. “And I think we both know there’s only one answer for me.” I glared as I pushed them back up my nose. I turned back around to the desk with the intent to open the box and show him the contents. “I’ll do this, because I know I’m right Jeremy. And I’m ready to do whatever it takes. To those kids, to that school,” I hesitated briefly, hands hovering over the box. “To you.” I decided to not open it yet. “Now, let’s see, I believe I still have Jenna Rolans old number, from when we used to be outcasts. Didn’t interact much, but we understood each other. So why don’t we give her a little FaceTime call?” I grinned, pulling my phone from my pocket and turning back to the shaking boy in the chair. “Micha, please. You don’t have to get them involved. It’s okay! Take it all out on me! It’s deserved, I can take it! Just don’t pull them into this!” Now I was pissed. “Getting my anger out is NOT the point Jeremiah! The point is revenge! Giving people what they deserve! Getting revenge for the years I spent tormented! For fucks sake, the years we BOTH spent tormented! You just forgave them to get popular. This is payback for the nights spent crying after Jenna outed me to our whole school! This is payback for Rich slamming me so hard into a locker, I had to get stitches! This is payback for Jake Dillinger spray painting the f word on my locker! Do you understand how HUMILIATED I’ve been! At least you got apologies! I got completely ignored. Like I was just some play toy to push around. Now, let’s make that call, shall we?”
“What’d you want, Mell? We haven’t talked in years.” I laughed at her statement. Like she wasn’t the reason we hadn’t talked. “Oh, Jenna. Quick to judge, as always. No, I just had a little surprise! Say hello, Jeremy!” I turned the camera to face him in all his pathetic glory, dried tear stains on his face and a down, defeated look. “Jenna, please don’t tell anyone about this. I’m okay. It’s all just a… misunderstanding. Tell the rest of the group I’ll be back tomorrow! It’s-“ I cut him off. “Oh shut it, Heere.” I turned back to myself. “Here’s some gossip for you Jenna! Since you just LOVE spreading shit. If you and the rest of your little popular crew don’t get Squips, bad things will happen to him. He won’t be freed until every one of your little squad complies. And how, you might ask, would I ever be able to hurt him? Because I’m about to take my own Squip! And those things… they can give you some real power.” I saw her confused, but furious look. I wanted to laugh so hard. “Oh, I’m sure you don’t know what a Squip is, do you? Just ask Goranski. I’m SURE he could explain it! Now, I truly must be going! Goodbye Miss Rolan!” I hung up the phone before she could get another word in.
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Jenna
As Michael hung up the phone, I knew three things.
1. I was incredibly confused.
2. From the little I knew about Mell, I knew he would never act like this. I think he may have had some kind of psychotic break or something.
3. Both Jeremy and Michael were in trouble. And the rest of the crew was gonna be needed to fix this.
I texted the group chat as soon as Michael’s call was done.
Gossip: hey we have a problem. jeremy and michael r in trouble. mell just called and he’s holding jeremy hostage. we all have to get something called a squip or else jere’s gonna get hurt. he’s apparently taking one too i guess? he said rich could explain what it was
Shortie: oh no. not good. on my way.
pinkberry: i don’t want to help a cheater like him and i dont even know who michael is, but i cant let jeremy get hurt. on my way.
Valentine’s Day: i guess I’ll come too. even tho they’re both just creeps.
jakey-D: i follow where rich goes, but after that idiot pretended there was a fire i broke my legs getting out a window so imma be a minute. i’ll be over asap though.
Theatre Kid: I only know Michael from crew, but that doesn’t seem like him at all! He’s been really sweet to me! Something’s definitely up. They’re both in trouble for sure. I’m on my way!
Well, there was step one done. Step two was having to actually figure everything out. As everyone started arriving, we all settled into my living room. Rich was standing in front of the tv, looking like he was about to start a boot camp or something. Everyone was looking at him, even Jake from the iPad we had set up on a FaceTime call, since he couldn’t leave the hospital yet, waiting for him to start. As soon as he started talking though, everyone seemed to notice the new, very prominent, lisp he had. “Sorry for the new lisp. I actually… I had one of these Squips, and it helped me hide it, hence none of you ever knowing about it. But, we have more important matters. Especially because this is all sort of my fault. I offered Jeremy a few months ago a chance to be popular. From this thing called a Squip. Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. It’s a tiny computer that implants in your brain and tells you how to ‘be more chill’” Christine spoke up after that. “Wait!! I know what those are! A kid at my theatre camp had one and he… he went insane.” Rich nodded solemnly. “Yeah. He went crazy trying to get it out I’m guessing. I would’ve too, if not for Jeremy finding the deactivator. Mountain Dew Red. Our Squips were synced, so as soon as I drank it, his deactivated too. Also, Brooke? He didn’t cheat on you. His Squip made his body freeze as Chloe… yeah. And they didn’t actually do anything.” Brooke gasped. “Oh! I feel terrible now. Oh gosh.” Chloe rubbed her back, assuring her it wasn’t her fault and apologizing herself for what she did. I hoped she’d apologize to Jeremy too, but baby steps I guess. “But, something makes this even more my fault. At the Halloween party, I needed that Squip out. It was saying some really messed up stuff. So, to try to… brick it? I guess? I… I put another Squip in a bottle of Mountain Dew. I was going to drink it. I got interrupted, put the bottle down for two seconds, and when I looked back, Mell had taken it, thinking it was just an unsuspecting bottle of Mountain Dew. I would’ve stopped him, but he had already taken a sip and taken the Squip. But the weird thing is that it didn’t seem to activate? What I believe may have happened is it basically took over his body without him knowing, his thoughts, his feelings. He’s not him right now. What’s really bad though is that he’s going to take another in I don’t know how long. And if that happens… he’ll probably be gone. Not dead, but I’m not sure he could ever be himself again. You guys don’t know him well, hell I don’t even know him well. But we need to save him, if not to save Jeremy. So who’s with me?” Christine was the first one up, dramatic as ever by pulling the wooden sword she had in her belt loop out and raising it upward. “You either rise up or stand down in this endeavor! And the answers easy to see. I swear by the sword that we’ll get them both back, as safe and sound as they can be after this. If you’re in, get on board! Are you ready?” Rich looked as if he was trying not to laugh, but surprisingly wasn’t the first to respond. It actually came from our over the phone member. “They said I can get discharged soon. I’m ready to help Jeremy however I can. Michael too, he seems pretty chill.” Rich only laughed harder. “Yeah, of course you’d be the first in Jake. You’ve liked Heere since freshmen year! That’s why you’d always pick on him, but refused to hurt him.” Jake flushed bright red. “S-shut up.” Rich composed himself from his giggle fit. “Ready, Captain Canigula!” There was a chorus of “ready” from the rest of the group, including me. Christine clapped her hands together and lowered her sword. “Great! Now, Rich, where did Jeremy get MDR?” “Spencer’s Gifts.” “Got it. Brooke, Chloe. You’re going on a mission. Jenna, go get Jake. Rich and myself will stay here and plan the attack to rescue Jeremy and Michael. Ready? Great! Get a move on!” Christine was always such a ball of energy. Even in the worst situations, she managed to make the entire group smile with her enthusiasm. It was time to save some dorks, one of who was probably terrified and the other insane.
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Chloe
After the car ride to the mall, and an interesting time seeing the back of Spencer’s for the first time, Brooke and I were back in the car, this time with her clutching the MDR bottle like a lifeline. In a way, it might be headphones’ actual lifeline if we didn’t get there soon. It’s not like I cared about the kid, but I didn’t want him to be, like, a psycho or something. I looked over to her as she drove with one hand. “Are you quite sure we can do this?” She glanced over to me for a moment. “As long as we all work together? Yeah, we’ll guarantee they both get home safe.”
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Michael
“I’ll make them hear me, Jeremy. I won’t be invisible anymore. Just you wait and see.” “Micha, please don’t do this! It’s okay! It’ll all be okay! We’ll talk everything out, become best buds again! You don’t have to take that Squip.” I turned to him. “Oh, but I do Jeremy. I’m ready to right all these wrongs. Now, I’m ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.” I turned back and grabbed the Mountain Dew, and the Squip from the fabric container. I put the Squip on my tongue and took a swig of the Mountain Dew. “MICHAEL! NO!” I turned back to look at him, and I could see in the reflection of my own glasses that something was glowing blue. Was it my eyes? It must’ve been. He was struggling in his bonds even more now, as a devilish smirk crossed my face. I realized I could see without my glasses. Huh, nice upgrade. I took them off, discarding them on my desk. Suddenly, the door to the basement burst open. I suppose I took too much time, but it was no matter. The Squip was already swallowed. The entire popular squad was there, standing in my basement just a few feet away as they came through the door. Dillinger was on crutches. Huh. And Canigula had a… wooden sword? And Lohst had a bottle of Mountain Dew Red? Buncha weirdos. I stepped in front of Jeremy. “Oh, you noble heroes! You’re too late. I’ve already taken the Squip, and unless you all complied to my request, Jeremy’s pain fest will begin shortly.” A look of panic crossed Goranskis face and he looked to Lohst. She nodded. “What are you idiots doing now-“ Before my question could even be finished, Canigula yelled “CHARGE!” I could barely tell what was happening before Canigula and Goranski had me by the arms and Lohst was approaching. The others went behind us, seemingly to help Jeremy. But that’s when something shifted. My vision started to swim. Two other voices joined my own in my head, yelling at me. Telling me how I was such an idiot. How it was a fool proof plan. How nobody should’ve been able to mess it up. Everything flooded my brain at once and my knees buckled. It was all too much. And it just hit me what I had been doing. I was going to torture Jeremy and enslave a school for what, revenge? I started sobbing. “Make it stop, make it stop. Please! Too many voices. I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do any of this, please!” My vision was fading. Someone was rubbing my back in circles. “Shhh, shh. It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Just breathe. It’ll be over soon-“
Yeah. Over, because you’ll be insane.
Yeah. Over, because you’ll be insane.
Nobody’s ever taken two Squips dumbass.
Nobody’s ever taken two Squips dumbass.
You’ll be in a mental facility by the end of the night.
You’ll be in a mental facility by the end of the night.
“STOP!! PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP. TOO MANY VOICES!” After I managed to get that sentence out, I couldn’t seem to speak anymore. Any coherent thought was plowed by the nonsense in my head. Suddenly, there were arms around me. Jeremy. I sobbed harder. I managed to get out a few words. “No… m’ dangerous. Go.” “No Micha. I’m not leaving you. Rich explained what’s happening. This must be a lot, huh?” I couldn’t even nod. “I know you didn’t want to hurt me. You were like a zombie, Michael. It wasn’t you.” My vision was swimming in faster waves now, and blacking out from time to time. I couldn’t hear much, just in and out snippets. “…keep a bit… sane… need you… drink this.” A bottle of some sort was raised to my lips. I couldn’t even figure out what it was from all the shouting in my head. But I was told to drink, and my mush brain managed to listen. I could barely register the pain before falling forward into Jeremy’s arms and blacking out.
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Jeremy
After he collapsed into my arms, I finally lost control. I held him close as I sobbed. I realized something. Michael didn’t look right. “His glasses… he needs his glasses. Please.”Surprisingly, Jake of all people came to my aid. He handed the glasses to me and I placed them gently on Michael’s face, sobbing even harder as I looked at him closely. “Hey, he’ll be okay. He may need a bit of time, possibly in a facility and DEFINITELY in therapy. But he’ll be okay. We’ve gotta get him to a hospital though. Can you do that? Be strong for a bit longer?” I nodded. I was so lucky the Mells already knew about Squips. They were at a business meeting as we were sitting there to get rid of them. I picked Michael up and carried him upstairs. Numbly, I mumbled, “Who’s driving. I can’t yet.” Rich spoke up. “I will. My brother… he had a Squip and went… yeah. I got him Red earlier and he’s doing better, but there’s a guy at the facility who knows all about Squips. So I say we take him there.” Another nod. “I’m coming with.” Rich gave me a small smile. “Of course. You’re his best friend.” And in the slightest whisper, “Jake… could you come too?” He gave him a smile as bright as the sun and nodded. We made our way to Rich’s car and drove away from the Mell residence. I texted his moms, gave the story with Rich’s help, and they were reasonably sad, but they also knew that their son didn’t mean to. Said they’d be home as soon as possible to help him out. I put my phone back down and focused on the boy still passed out in my lap. He’d be okay. It’d take a bit, but he’d be okay. I’d visit him as much as possible, make sure he was comfortable. He’d be okay.
I’d be okay
We’d be okay.
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Michael
It was rough, to say the least, when I woke up in the facility. The room was comfortable, colorful. But it wasn’t home. Not to mention, the stupid Squips were still whispering in my head. It got so bad I was disolved to screaming again. Someone came in to calm me down. Once I was calm, I got to see Jeremy. He told me what had happened. And I almost threw up. I sobbed into his arms for a bit while he whispered sweet reassurances. After that, he told me it had been two days since the incident. He had already gotten my work for school for the next few weeks. Told me he’d be able to visit once a week, and that I’d be able to call when I wanted. Next morning, woke up dissolved to screams. Someone calmed me down, Patrick. He was gonna be my therapist. Knew all about Squips. He told me I had another visitor, but only if I was up for it. I nodded. Turns out, it was Rich. We got to hang out for about ten minutes, but it was… really nice. I had my first session that day. We wanted to see why I kept waking up screaming. I told him it was because of the voices being too much and saying incredibly hurtful things. He had me take a nap, and woke me up about thirty minutes later. What we did different? He let me use my iPod and headphones to play music. Normally, that wouldn’t be allowed, but Squip cases had to be handled differently. I didn’t wake up screaming.
My moms visited quite a few times. I sobbed a lot, and apologized a lot. But they told me they knew the story, that it wasn’t my fault. It felt like it though. That was a common topic in sessions.
As the weeks went by, I improved a lot. I hadn’t been eating for the first week, due to the Squips deciding to phantom shock me every time I tried to eat. That wasn’t even something they did when they were at full power! I think they just wanted to torment me. But, my appetite slowly got better. I stopped needing music to sleep. Sessions got less and less productive as problem after problem was worked through. And obviously, I knew nothing would be the same. But I’d work through it. Rich visited quite a bit actually. And he asked if, when I was better, I would go on a date with him. I said yes. Jeremy and Jake got together while I was gone. When Jeremy told me, we squealed like teenage girls. Jeremy had liked him since sophomore year.
Finally though, after a month, Patrick told me I could finally go home. I was so relieved. We had a small party when I got back, just me, my moms, Rich, Jake, and Jere so it wasn’t too much. Sensory overload was always a thing for me, but especially after all of that. But it was nice to be normal, well normal ish, again.