dan the merman

9

"Hey Ryan, can I talk with you a sec?" Adam asked, quietly, glancing into the living room where Jack was currently watching tv.

Ryan looked confused, but nodded anyway.

Adam led his brother into his room, where he let Ryan sit on his bed.

"What did you wanna talk about, Adam?" Ryan asked, confused and a little concerned.

Adam clicked his tongue, glancing nervously back towards the door. "It's about Jack. Has he seemed a little... I don't know... off?"

Ryan thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, the other day me and Jack were rewatching episodes of The Office-"

"As you should." Adam nodded in approval.

Ryan rolled his eyes, but still continued, "As I was saying, we were rewatching The Office, and the whole time Jack had this really confused look on his face, like he didn't understand what was going on. I brushed it off at the time, but that doesn't make sense since Jack has already seen every episode of The Office. Multiple times."

Adam thought about that, pacing back and forth. "Strange... and just two days ago I was watching a Disney movie with Jack, and when I offered him popcorn he turned it down!"

"Jack turning down popcorn? That doesn't sound like him..." Ryan added.

"I know!" Adam exclaimed. "And the strangest thing of all, I haven't seen him wear his hat for weeks."

Ryan thought about it. "God, I hadn't even noticed."

"Something's going on here, I just can't figure out what..." Adam trailed off.

"Hey guys, what're you talking about?" Jack stuck his head into Adam's room.

"Hey, Jack, what happened to your hat?" Ryan asked. "I haven't seen it in a while."

Jack got quiet. "I... must have misplaced it."

Adam scoffed. "Really? You love that hat. Almost more that life itself. You would jump in front of a moving car for that hat. I refuse to believe you simply 'misplaced it."

"I must have lost it in the ocean or something. Those currents out there..." Jack shrugged vaguely.

"But you haven't been out to the beach in weeks." Ryan pointed out. "There's no way you lost it two weeks ago and just now noticed."

"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal over this hat—" Jack suddenly raised his voice, anger in his eyes. Just as quickly, he stopped, took a breath, and started over. "I don't really remember when I lost the hat, but it's fine!" He smiled. "It's not that big a deal."

Adam and Ryan shared a glance. Something was definitely up. Jack never raised his voice at the two of them.

But when they looked back, all traces of the anger that has flashed in Jack's eyes were gone.

"Hey, do you guys wanna watch something?" Jack suggested. "We could watch one of the shows we've been meaning to."

Adam sighed. "Yeah, alright. That sounds great."

Jack clapped his hands together happily. "Great! I'll get the popcorn!" He smiled brightly, before ducking out of the room.

The rest of the day was strangely... normal. They watched a tv show, and Jack hogged all the popcorn to himself.

The next day, however, was far from normal.

"I'm going out." Jack called from the door.

"Oh, to the beach?" Ryan asked, looking away from the tv towards his younger brother.

"No." Jack looked disgusted at the mere thought. "Don't worry though, it's just a quick errand I have to run. I'll be back soon."

It was another 4 hours until Jack retuned.

"I thought you were just running a quick errand." Ryan said accusingly when Jack walked through the door. "It's already dark."

Jack just shrugged. "Ran long." Was the only explanation he gave, and it was far from satisfactory.

This would continue for another couple of days; Jack leaving, staying out a couple of hours, before eventually returning home.

Ryan and Adam were slightly concerned, but didn't bother to question it. Jack had done far stranger things.

It wasn't until five days had passed until they finally found out what was going on.

"Guys," Jack announced. "I'm moving out."

"What?!" Adam exclaimed. He must have heard Jack wrong.

"You heard me. I'm moving out. You guys are great, don't get me wrong, but I just want my own place." Jack explained.

"So you're just... leaving?" Ryan asked.

"I mean, yeah. Don't worry, it's not far." Jack continued. "It's an apartment across from the park."

"You already have a place?" Adam pulled a chair out from the table and sat down, confused. "So you've been planning this, and you didn't even bother to tell us?"

Jack shrugged. "You never asked."

The small room got silent.

"Are you going to at least do the thing?" Ryan asked sadly. He was sad to hear his little brother was moving, even if it wasn't that far away.

Jack blinked. "What thing?"

"You know, are you going to sing the song?" Ryan prompted, and when Jack continued to look blank he clarified, "Don't Throw Out My Legos?"

"Heh, I'm not really...up for that right now." Jack shied away, walking backward towards the door.

"You're moving out and you aren't even going to sing Don't Throw Out My Legos??" Adam cried.

"I... I don't really feel like it..." Jack reached his hand back to grab the doorknob, but before he could, the door slammed open, and in an instant a baseball bat was swung, and Jack was unconscious on the floor.

Adam and Ryan looked up, shocked, trying to figure out who would have done such a thing, only to see, standing in the doorway....

"...Jack?!"