To be truthful, I never know where Sam goes and I’ve not thought of it before, but never have I seen Sam under the staircase, I thought. After giving Sam a scare, which wasn’t on purpose, maybe. We went to the study, for there was something wrong with Jason. I need Sam’s help to figure it out, I’m not sure of what’s wrong with him. And he has sat there for too long, his mind being plagued by something I could not understand.

“Heart… the heart… why the heart? It doesn’t add up,” he said while scribbling onto a large paper laid flat on his desk; near to the same size.

“Gray, how long has he been like this?” Sam asked.

“Hmm, he came in acting this way, so I think about an hour give or take.”

“What!” Sam yelled, “I can’t believe you didn’t call me sooner. Quick go fetch Sophie, now!”

“What for?”

“I’ll need her help on this one, hurry along.”

“Alright, I’m going already,” I said, a spring in my step.

.

Three light taps on the door and no reply. On the other side I heard music playing, rambunctious and loud music. She must be in there, otherwise the room would be a playground for crickets now. If I wanted to go in, I had the option to do so, but there were no manners in that. So, I put my ear to the door and listened for a break in the music, the screaming and beating of the drums took their time. What I thought was a break was in actuality a guitar solo. It had a fine tune to it, I found it to be the only thing I enjoyed throughout the song.

When it came to an end and after patting my chest, I coughed and yelled, “Sophie, may I enter?!”

Tapping my foot on the floor, my patience was running thin, and a minute passed, two minutes, and five minutes. Nothing, only mute noise came in reply. Just as my cough wasn’t needed, my effort to yell was wasted.

Is she not here? I asked myself, That can’t be it. When school is out, she doesn’t leave the house often. On few occasions does she leave, but it’s for food and food alone, which was easy to get with a convenience store being nearby.

I turned away about to leave. “The music is still going, maybe...” I said aloud.

I came to the decision to try one last time, so I went back to the door and popped my head through. There is that little tickle I like around my neck. the room I peered into wasn’t what I expected it to look like, so I whistled in amazement. I’ve come to love blue and that’s what the walls were painted as. A striking blue, not of the sky, but of royalty. Surrounded by said blue, in the corner of the room a tuft of purple and black hair poked out from under a blanket.

“Oh, I see, so you were asleep.”

Nice and quiet, I closed in on her. Quite an innocent face when she isn’t awake, cute, I thought as her face came into sight.

I inched towards her ear and whispered into it, “Hey, sleepy head, it’s time to wake up.”

She rolled over, replying, “Mmm, five more minutes.”

I laughed at her remark and thought, Well, better to get serious.

I grabbed the blanket and ripped it off her and there she was, lying in the fetal position. Wearing her regular clothes, not prepared for bed one bit.

“Mom, it’s so cold,” she said, her hair a mess and her eyes open by a crack.

“I’m not your mother, silly!” I yelled, startling her awake.

“What the hell, Gray! What are you doing in here?” She said, now wide awake and fuming.

“Sam wanted your help.”

“Sam can bug off, I’m tired.”

“Please?” I asked, my voice soft, “Jason isn’t acting like his usual self.”

She looked at me, perplexed by my statement, “Uncle Jason…” She seemed to be caught up in thought. “Got it, I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Thank you! I’ll be waiting for you with Sam.”

.

“Is she coming?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, said it would be a minute.”

“Good, we’ll wait out here.”

“Why here?”

“I need to explain the situation.”

“…Okay.”

We waited in the hallway for Sophie, it took her close to five minutes to come down. Her hair fixed and new clothes thrown on in a frantic rush, the same shade of color as before; black. She tried passing by us, as though we didn’t exist. On some plane that’s very true, but for Sam it wasn’t.

“Hey… Hey, Sophie. Slow your roll, we need to talk,” Sam called out to her.

She sighed in return, rolling her eyes at it when turning to Sam. “I was told to help with Uncle Jason, what else do you need?”

“Look, this time is bad. He is repeating words and sketching on the map again.”

“What of it? This isn’t uncommon.”

“The thing is, the words were different than before and from looks of it, his nerves are rattled to a terrible extent.”

She laughed, “C’mon, Sam, it doesn’t sound any different than usual.”

“Alright, why don’t you take a peek at him.”

“Ha! If it’ll shut you up,” Sophie replied, turning around.

She walked over to the door and leaned her head at the very edge of the frame. I’m not sure what her perspective was, but a slight shudder erupted through her. If it’s the same man I saw; one in a frantic craze and bloodshot eyes that sketched loops on paper. I would guess she was frightened by his appearance and actions. On returning, her expression did a complete turnover from aloof to concerned, the furrowed brow and tight mouth giving it away.

“Okay, Sam, you were right,” She said, a voice barren and empty. “What did he say?”

“It’s not a liver this time, they took a heart instead.”

“Oh dear, this is going to drive uncle Jason mad.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“The Alley Stitcher doesn’t have a common agenda anymore,” they both replied.

“Why does that matter?”

“For Jason, it makes it harder to track them down,” Sam told me.