Jimmy

It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night.

“Do you want to come to me, I’m a good bet, you don’t want to go to work today you have a mission to complete” breathed a raspy male voice.

Jimmy reached for the bedside lamp hoping the light would wake him and make him realise he was dreaming. Then another voice began, this time female.

“Don’t listen to him, you need to complete my mission, we have already talked about this Jimmy, today’s the day. Bus leaves at 7 am, get on it and get to the park on the parade.”

Jimmy had wanted to put the phone down as soon as he heard the first voice but he had been drawn in by the sudden invasion. The park was a forty-minute bus ride but his allowance had been ‘revoked‘ due to him being ‘incompetent with money,’ this is how they had said it, always with the big unexplained words, he had thought at the time.

“Sod them, I’ll bloody walk’ he said to himself as he hung up the phone and defiantly began to pull on his old Simpsons boxer shorts from the day before. He shook out his unironed black jeans and scratched and scraped around for a pair of socks that weren’t at least three days worn.

“Come on now Jimmy, pull yourself together, you don’t want to be late to that park now, you’ll miss out on the treat in-store, they’re always there at the same time every day, you just need to sit and wait, you gotta be patient,” said the soft reassuring female voice.

Jimmy thought he had put the phone down but his big clumsy thumb had pressed speakerphone instead and now the voices were filling every corner of his tiny room. He tried to turn it off, but the voices refused to go away.

“Ahh you’re not going to listen to her, are you? She’s insane, you can’t sit in the park and wait for them, there will be an adult present, you need to grab her as she walks to school, she walks alone and she always walks the same way.” The male raspy voice was desperate to win the fight but Jimmy tried to focus his attention away from this sudden disturbance by looking at himself in the mirror.

His oily, cratered skin stared back at him as he tried his best to comb through his unwashed pile of curls. The huge spot on his chin needed popping but he wasn’t sure if he had the time. He liked to savour the moment, the explosion of puss on the mirror, the bruising pain and weird satisfaction would have to wait until later, it would be a treat after he had completed the mission.

“Jimmy what are you playing at, the time has come, stop messing with things and let’s go, she will be leaving her house soon!” said the raspy male voice frustrated with Jimmy’s lack of urgency.

“Jimmy, don’t listen to him, it’s me you need to listen to, if you don’t, you will fail this mission. There is only one way to do it, the park is secluded, less chance of getting caught.”

“Ok ok, let me think, let me think,” said Jimmy, confused by both voices and overwhelmed by feelings that he could no longer control.

He grabbed a t-shirt from the top of a dirty pile at the bottom of his wardrobe and climbed into it, stretching and flattening it down his chest trying to make it seem less wrinkled. As he reached to open the door he remembered his phone, he turned back to pick it up, but it had disappeared.

“Jimmy! Jimmy! You awake?” said a female voice suddenly from behind his door, followed by three sharp knocks.

“Yes, Yes but I don’t have time, I have another mission to complete, it’s urgent I have to go, no time for breakfast, no time for you in here with me, no time, no time, no time!”

“Mark, quickly, grab the others, he’s gone again, let’s get in there!” said a hushed female voice from outside Jimmy’s room.

“I know what you are doing, you can’t stop me from going, I’m going today…..I have to finish it!” said Jimmy, his voice loud and panicked.

“Jimmy, it’s 4 am, now…come on, tell me the truth sweetheart, did you forget to take your medication again?” said the female voice behind his door.

“I don’t need it for what I’m about to do, do I? There was no talk of medication I’m fine, I’m totally fine!” Jimmy looked around for his phone, he wanted some kind of sign that he was ok, but the voices were silent.

“It’s ok, I’m more than fine, in fact, today I have a purpose, today’s the day I’m going to complete my mission.”