A life without Jimmy

''We can't let her out,'' you finally find your voice, though it sounds more like a croak.

''Wait, what?!''

Jimmy glances up at you in shock, the implications shaking him deep down.

''You're not serious. What about her family?''

''I'm dead serious,'' you look at your best friend, square in the eyes, ''I'm making this choice for both of us, unless you want to decide what we're going to do with her.''

''Shit dude,'' Jimmy paces around his room, before slumping on the bed, ''Fuck, it wasn't supposed to be like this.''

''Well, it is, because you fucked up,'' the tone in your voice start to rise, ''Who's to say she's not going to tell the cops or the government? These pens, they're not normal dude. Do you want the FBI at your front door tomorrow?!''

''Who's going to believe her?''

Jimmy gets up, ''I mean, a pen that turns people into skins?''

He gives a nervous laugh that doesn't seem to do anything, except only to aggravate you more.

''Who says no one will?''

You're half-shouting by now, but you don't care.

''We don't know where these pens came from, who might know about them. Can you really sit and tell me for sure the government won't believe her?!''

There is a palpable tension in the room that accompanies the silence that ensues not long after. You and Jimmy just stand facing each other, not uttering another word.

''What are we going to do with her?'' Jimmy's whisper is the one that finally breaks the silence.

Jimmy's question pisses you off for some reason. He was always like this, impulsive and never thinking about the consequences of his actions. But this was different from his usual pranks. Real pranks could be walked back, made up for or something done to remedy them. This was different. This was someone's life we were talking about where there were real life consequences. The stakes were very much real this time.

A thought stirred in your mind. Leah couldn't be trusted to keep your secret which meant she had to be silenced. It felt a step too far to just have her disappear forever... after all, her family would suffer from her disappearance. It was only fair that one of you two had to take on the penance for this mistake and it was clear who had messed up more.

"One of us has to take her place," you said grimly, "Permanently."

Jimmy looks at you with shock in his eyes, the consequences of his actions finally hitting him. A myriad of thoughts swirled in his mind as he searched for another solution but ultimately landing on none.

"We have to silence Leah but we can't let her family suffer from her disappearance. You're the one who got caught by Leah and put us in this position. It should be you." You hold out her hollow skin for Jimmy.

Jimmy physically recoils from the sight of the skinsuit in his field of view and he takes a few steps back with a horrified look on his face before falling on his ass unceremoniously.

"N-n-no! I can't do it! Don't ask this of me!" He falls to the ground.

You approach him unrelenting with Leah's hollow form and toss it on top of him. "It has to be you bro. Time to pay the piper."

He gazes down at the skinsuit with a empty look in his eyes, the weight of his actions crashing down upon him. For what was probably the first time in his life, he was feeling a genuine guilt for the enormity of his fuck up. Resignation swirled within his psyche as he realised you were right.

"I-I'll do it on one condition," his voice was low and raspy.

"What is it?"

"You have to help me deal with my family. Help me figure out the best way to explain my disappearance."

"Of course, I'm at fault for involving Leah so I'm to blame too," you leave the room and let Jimmy go through his final transformation.

When you return, you see the blonde cheerleader sitting in a chair with a morose and downcast look on her face, clothed in the shirt and skirt attire she'd been wearing before Jimmy had zapped her into a skinsuit. It's an expression you can't say you've ever seen on her face before and if you had to be honest, it was almost refreshing to see the guilt plastered on Jimmy's new face.

You pick up the brown pen and zapped her with it and she gasped as Leah's memories flooded Jimmy's mind. Tears formed in her eyes as the weight of what they were doing hit her like a truck and she realised that Leah was truly an innocent in all this. Yes she had blackmailed you but the two of you had wronged her terribly first. And even her plans with the pens were just high school shenanigans about getting with Jackson, she'd never had any grander or insidious thoughts about stealing lives or anything like that.

With an outstretched hand, you pulled Leah to her feet. The loss of your best friend stung but you were glad he was finally taking responsibility for his actions. You'd been prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice if he'd been the coward you knew him to be but now you had to help him figure out a plan for his disappearance.