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Matt’s world was over.
He looked at Jay lying dead on the ground. This was it, the band was over. Matt had imagined thousands of ways Jay could’ve died, but he never thought getting shot by a fictional character would be one of them.
He looked back. Van Pelt was gone again, probably on the hunt for some big game. Matt hoped that he wouldn’t be back for him. He noticed that a crowd was starting to gather around him and Jay. Matt wanted to shoo these people away. In his mind, Jay’s death should’ve been something private. Something only Matt would’ve known about.
Matt picked up Jay’s body, and went home. He signaled to Jared and Andy that he was leaving. They followed him closely, not even filming. Matt looked down at Jay’s face. He was still a werewolf. He didn’t really mind. No matter what happened to Jay, he would love him. He just wished he could see Jay’s normal face one last time.
When they got home, Matt placed Jay’s body on the couch, and just sat next to him. He started crying again, and tried to make the tears fall on Jay. Maybe they’d bring him back, just like all those fantasy stories. And the first Pokemon movie. Jay was Ash, and Matt was Pikachu. Unfortunately, the tears didn’t work. They didn’t even revert him back to regular old Jay.
Matt had a sudden realization come over him. He couldn’t give Jay a proper funeral. The moment he handed over Jay’s body to the funeral home, they’d give him to the government. They’d take him to a shady laboratory, and they’d poke and prod his body. Jay didn’t deserve that. He deserved a nice funeral, one where Matt would gush about him to everyone in attendance. Which would realistically be Andy and Jared. Maybe their siblings too. But definitely not Jay’s mom. She would yell at Matt for turning her son into a beast, even though it was Jay’s own fault.
Matt stared at the book lying on Jay’s piano. He hated it. It wasn’t even useful anymore. Just a big paperweight on an even bigger paperweight. He went up to the piano, and tried to play a tune. Of course, he couldn’t. Anything he played just sounded terrible.
“So, what the hell are we gonna do with him?” Andy asked.
“I don’t know.” Matt said. His voice was smaller without Jay around.
“We can do the Weekend at Bernie’s tactic.” Jared said.
“No.”
Matt didn’t even want to consider that. But he didn’t even know what to do. For the first time in his life, he didn’t have a plan. All he wanted to do was sleep for the rest of his life. Jay would appear in his dreams, and he’d be happy. He just had to figure out how to never wake up again.
He absentmindedly played random notes while thinking about Jay. The cameramen sat next to him, and they listened to the cacophony for a while. Matt’s thoughts jumped from one thing to another. He was forming an idea, which soon became a plan. He shot up when it fully formed.
“Guys, how many shovels do we have?”
—
“Matt, we look like murderers.” Jared said.
“If anyone asks, we’re disposing of garbage or something.”
“In High Park?!” Andy says.
Jared and Matt carried the two shovels Matt owned, and Andy carried Jay’s body in a bag. They got strange looks from passers by, and had to hide when police walked by. They also had to look out for Van Pelt, but luckily he was nowhere to be found.
Jared realized how stupid this was. He had realized that many times over the years, but this was especially stupid. Magic was real, and it had brought a fictional character to life. That fictional character was now running amok in Toronto. What a time to be alive.
The three of them arrived at High Park. They followed Matt around, waiting for him to find the perfect spot to bury Jay. After walking around for what seemed like an hour, Matt finally decided on a place. There were a lot of trees with bird nests in them.
Jared and Matt dug, while Andy stood watch. People passed by, and even walked up to them. Matt spun a lie that they were park workers, and they were planting new trees. But Matt mostly just ignored people. They had to work fast.
Matt and Jared finally stopped digging after a bit. It was a shallow hole, but it was deep enough for a body. There were several roots pointing out of the dirt, and the ground was rocky. Matt got out and untied the bag with Jay in it. He carefully placed Jay in the hole, and immediately started filling it back up.
When they were finished, Matt sat by the dirt for a while. That ended when an actual park employee came by. It took a lot of convincing from Matt to not check out the strange rectangle of disturbed dirt. The employee sighed, and added it to a list of things that need attention. That’s their cue to run. The employee looks on in confusion. He stares at the dirt, and then walks away.
No one says anything as they head home. On the bus, Matt is looking out the window wistfully. He looks next to him, but the only one that’s there is Jared. Matt stares at him for an uncomfortably long time. Jared can tell he’s coming up with an idea, and his theory is proven true when Matt starts smiling. Jared isn’t excited for what Matt has in store for him.
—
“I’m not gonna be a replacement for Jay!” Jared yells.
“Come on, man. You have to.”
“I refuse.”
“I’ll fire you.”
“I’ll get a new job.”
Andy is watching them argue excitedly. He’s eating a bag of popcorn, usually only reserved for movie nights. But the future of those nights are up in the air. And if Jared leaves, the popcorn will probably go to waste. So he feels like he’s doing Matt a favor.
The argument ends with Jared reluctantly agreeing, as usual. He heads upstairs with the clothes that Matt gave him. They don’t fit, and it’s kind of uncomfortable. Jared looks at himself in the mirror. He doesn’t like being this dressed up. All he needs is a t-shirt and some pants. A coat if it’s cold, and a disguise if Matt wants him to wear one.
He takes off the blazer, and rolls up the sleeves of his shirt. Maybe this will please Matt. When he goes downstairs, Matt is ready to go at the whiteboard. He watches Jared sit down at the piano. Jared doesn’t do anything for a few minutes.
“Jared, you’re supposed to play the piano.”
“I know a tiny bit, but I haven’t practiced in years.”
“Just copy what he did. Please.”
Jared pressed random notes while Matt explained the plan. They would hold picket signs outside the Rivoli, pretending to protest against Nirvanna the Band. They’d draw in a crowd, and then they would reveal that they were, in fact, Nirvanna the Band! This would get them a show at the Rivoli somehow.
“So, are we doing this plan today? We’ve already done a lot.”
“Of course we are! The Rivoli waits for no one!”
“Oh, you’ve made the signs already?”
“Nope! In fact, I haven’t even gotten the supplies! I’ll go get them.”
Jared feels a strange sense of relief as Matt heads out. He moves to sit on the couch, and Andy joins him soon after. The two of them just stare off into the distance for a while.
“How’d it feel?” Andy asks.
“Exhausting. It’s already hard to keep up with them when I’m carrying the camera.”
“Are you actually gonna do the plan with him?”
“I think I have to do every plan from now on.”
“Oh.” Andy said while turning on the TV.
“A man dressed as Van Pelt-“
Jared turned off the TV, and looked around the room. There was still trash everywhere. Jared decided that he was going to clean up, as there was nothing else to do. Andy went upstairs to transfer the footage from last night.
Half an hour into cleaning, Matt arrived home. He immediately got to work on both of their signs. Jared had always been amazed at Matt’s work ethic. He put everything he had into the band. Which probably wasn’t very healthy, but Jared didn’t care. As long as he was still being paid. Which wasn’t going to happen anymore.
“Hey Jared, can you give me a hand here?”
He ignores Matt, but he’s not sure whether to join Andy upstairs or play the piano.
—
Matt and Jared stood outside of the Rivoli for hours. They got odd looks from people walking on Queen street. Jared swore he could hear the employees talking about Matt’s new friend. Occasionally, someone wondered why they were protesting Nirvana, but Matt didn’t know what they were talking about. It starts raining.
An important looking guy walks up to them. He asks Matt why he was digging around in High Park. Matt whispers ‘book it’ to Jared, and they start running. Running without a camera feels nice for once. He doesn’t have to think about tripping and breaking it. That happened once when they lived in the apartment. He’d lost a full day of footage.
They barrel through the front door. Jared looks behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. They aren’t, as usual. He breathes a sigh of relief. For some reason, he goes to the piano and tries to play it. He plays Chopsticks. Matt sits next to him as he plays it. He’s looking away.
“Beautiful.”
“Matt, it’s literally just Chopsticks. You could play this! Andy could play this!”
“Can you do the theme to Back to The Future?”
Jared grabs Matt and turns him around.
“I’m not Jay. Don’t try to turn me into him. Just mourn him like a normal fucking guy!”
“I-I’m just asking!”
“No you aren’t! You can’t bear the thought of living without Jay, so you always have to find some replacement for him! All because of the goddamn book!”
Jared looks in the direction of the book, but is surprised to see it’s gone. There’s no trace of it. He gets off the chair and looks in the vent. Just dust. Though, that dust seems to be slowly coming together. Or maybe that’s just Jared’s imagination.
“Guess that’s one problem gone.” Matt says. Jared glares at him.
As if on cue, they hear someone banging at the door. They ignore it at first, thinking it’s just the wind. But it gets more and more frequent. Jared goes to open it, and is met with the sight of an alive Jay. He’s human again, and he’s covered in mud and dirt. His hair is messy, and his clothes are dirty and torn.
“Bird?! How are you alive?! Is this a trick?!”
“I don’t f-cking know! I woke up in a dirt hole, and I had to dig my way out!”
“Wait, what’s the last thing you remember?” Jared asks.
“Dying. Why are you wearing my clothes?!”
“Long story. Take a shower first.”
“I want a bubble bath…” He’s using those stupid eyes of his. The ones that Matt always falls prey to.
—
Matt scrubs the mud off of Jay in the bathtub as he listens to Jay’s story. How he barely escaped from the grave with his life and stumbled his way back to the house. People thought he looked like a zombie.
Matt’s not sure how much of it is true.
“You think the book will come back?” Jay says.
“If it does, can we do it all over again?”
“Sure.”
“Ooh, what if I get killed next year! I hope my death is really cool! Ooh, what if it’s Jason! And I die to save you!”
“He’d probably kill me anyway, Matt.”
“I’d give you time to escape!”
Jared listened to them talk from the editing room. He’s really happy that Jay is back. He doesn’t think he could actually handle being part of Matt’s plans. Filming them is just fine. He transfers Andy’s footage from today to the archives, and heads off to bed.
Downstairs, Jay watches as Matt calls his dad on the phone. He assures Matt that his men will handle the fine, and hangs up.
“You forgot my library fines!” Jay says as Matt gets into bed.
“Bird, they’ve tried. But the library isn’t budging. How much is it by now, anyway.”
“Probably like 100 bucks.”
“We can talk about this later. Goodnight, Bird.”
“Goodnight Matt.”
They don’t talk about it.