~ 2:00 p.m. ~

Two hours had gone by, and no sign of Mark. So this lead Jack to receiving a call from Wade, who was desperate to find out what was going on with his friend.

“Jack! Thank goodness you're okay, I was worried about you.”

“You sound very relived to hear me, so I assume you found Mark. Oh please, tell me you have!” Jack was growing beyond worried by now and was fully dressed in his casual clothing, tempted to reach for his car keys.

“N... No. My sole purpose in calling you was to know if you and Mark were both okay. Jack.. I've even called Mark's mother, and SHE hasn't even heard from Mark in like five days, man.”

“I'm headed over to his house now, where are you, by the way?”

~ Silence ~

Not a sound echoed throughout the other end of Jack's call, leaving him to insist on asking the same question until he received a spine-chilling answer.

“Headed over to yours... Because Mark isn't in his house. I thought he was in yours.”

“If he were in my apartment, then don't ya' think I would've told you AND Robin about it earlier? Wade, seriously, if this is one of his pranks-”

“It's not, why would we joke about something this serious?! Jack, I'm freaking out over HERE.”

“Okay okay, relax. I'm gonna hangup and call him again. At some point, he has to pick it up. I just know he will.” Promising to let Wade know about Mark first before telling anyone else, Jack ended the call with his friend to call up his other one, desperate to get a call back.

~ 4:30 p.m. ~ Almost three hours and a half later, Jack called the same number he's been dialing for what would seem to be hours now, and still no sign of Mark anywhere, and to make matters even worse... His house was also empty, yet his car was in his driveway.

This lead Jack and Wade to think of the worst case scenarios ever, in the back of their minds.

"My phone's ringing!" Jack's heart rate spiked up when Wade retreated his phone to find out Mark was calling him. The two boys sighed deeply in relief.

“HELLO? Mark, are you okay?!” Confused by the silence on the other end of the call, Wade passed on the phone to Jack. When the Irishman grabbed ahold of the phone call, he started asking Mark questions.

“Mark? Mark, are you there?” What completely caught Jack off guard was a continuous laughter that emitted through the call, seconds after he and Wade had spoken into the phone.

“What's going on.. Mark, are you being serious right now?!” The boys thought their friend had pulled a prank on them and grew angered.

“This is funny, Mark! Where are you!”

“ANSWER US!” With their hearts set to explode over the dread they felt, Jack held the phone to his ear to get a better listen of what Mark was about to say.

Moments after remaining silent and hanging up the call without saying another word to Wade, the other began to interrogate him with questions, longing for an answer.

"Jack, tell me!! What did Mark tell you, just say it!" Jack gulped, turning over to face Wade with his skin color appearing an ominous ghostly white.

Placing his finger over his own lips, Jack mimicked the words Mark had spoken to him, and all he said was, "I'm Mr. Mix... Shh." then hung up.

"Holy shit... He's lost his mind. C'mon, we gotta go find him." Just as they were about to run out of the house, Jack's irises darkened and the world around him grew different.

"Jack, are you coming or... JACK!!" Wade immediately rushed over towards the fallen boy who appeared to be almost unconscious near the entrance to Mark's apartment.

He slowly picked Jack's head up onto his lap and tried to find out what was wrong.

"T... There it is again." The Irishman began to hyperventilate while his friend held onto him.

"What's there, Jack? You're scaring me, what's wrong?" Wade attempted to remain calm for the sake of Jack's sanity, but it was nearly impossible for him to do so as the other continued to worsen.

He ended up nearly carrying Jack into his car and driving away. "Home, Wade... Please take me home." The man requested, nearly begging to be taken from Mark's apartment.

Wade remained completely clueless about what was happening to Jack, but he knew that whatever it may be, it wasn't good.

"A-alright, I gotcha. I'll drive home, but are you okay? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?" Though insisting on being alright, Jack's appearance on the outside didn't seem to match up with the words he was telling Wade.

Repeating the same sentence over and over again didn't convince his friend who knew Jack was the complete opposite of what he said he was.

"Wade, I'm fine. Really, I am!" Giving the man an unconvincing smile that eventually fooled him into thinking that Jack was okay, he got away with being taken to the hospital by Wade.

"We're nearly at your house, don't worry. And Jack, have you been sleeping well enough lately?" Jack lowered his head, giving it a shake of disagreement.

"I don't mean to judge you, I would never do anything like that to you or anyone.. But Jack, you need to stop filming videos and get your life back. You look like you haven't slept in days." The other simply sighed in response then nodded.

"Well, you sure do make it sound easy." Wade furrowed his eyebrows at the Irishman beside him.

"What's so hard about taking a break? It's your life, Jack." Pretty soon, things took a turn for the unexpected when Wade drove passed an unidentified road.

"You film YouTube videos too, you know how it is. And besides, Mark and I have a bet going on too..." Jack turned his head to face the passenger side window to avoid staring at Wade. He felt awful for doing so, but his own emotional state caused him to become cold and almost heartless.

"Oh yeaaaaah, sure! And where the hell is Mark now? He's lost! One friend goes missing, the other turns into a paranoid insomniac-"

"I'm gonna pause you right there, what did you just call me?" Jack grew slightly defensive as his pride was hurt by Wade who couldn't contain himself any longer.

"Open your eyes, Jack!! Mark might be dead by now for all we know, and all because of a stupid bet you two made."

"I think I've heard enough, please stop the car." Denying the man's request, Wade sped up into the unknown road. Suddenly, Jack flung his door wide open and removed his seatbelt.

"What are you doing? Okay, I'm sorry, sorry! HEY!" Wade left Jack behind as he ceased to stop the car on time for him to grab ahold of the boy who had now landed on the rough, rocky pavement.

Soon, Jack noticed someone nearby that looked oddly familiar to Mark.

"M-Mark...?" While he took one step forward into finding out the truth, Jack was unaware of his surroundings and could only hear the Lavender Town frequencies stuck in his head.

Humming the tune along the way, the boy unknowingly stood in the middle of the road just as a car was headed his way at an unforgiving speed.

That's when tragedy struck...

Jack's body was found by Wade and the many people who had witnessed the accident. Wade had hit the boy with his car when recklessly backing up in the seemingly clear road.

By now, a small crowd of pedestrians were headed his way while he reached to grab his phone to call 911.

Just then, Jack started to talk with his eyes looking up at the sky that had now grown grayish to him.

"J-Jack, I'm so sorry.. The ambulance will get here soon. Stay awake for me, Jack. Please... Please.." With his heartbeat slowing down by the minute, Jack was able to say a few words before drifting completely out of conscious and being taken to the hospital.

Before blacking out, Jack silently asked his friend, "Are we home yet?" And fell completely unconscious.

"Mark... I know you're out there. I'll find you after I get out of here, I promise."

| END |