Chapter #2If They Could See Me Now by: BeeJay   Hi. My name is Jennifer Jean Rains. But you can call me JJ; everyone does.
I'm the oldest child of Frank and Amelia Rains; Dad's a detective in the Pittsburgh Police Department, and Mom's an architect who works from home. There's also my younger brother, Frank, Jr.; and the baby of the family, Grace.
I'm dating none other than Nick Price, star basketball player at our school. I'm pretty sure he's the one, and he only has eyes for me. Well, until recently; but I'll get into that later.
A big thing with me, particularly during the summer, when I'm working on it, is my podcast. Maybe you've heard of it: Beyond the Veil. On it, I look at mysteries that often have the authorities stumped. Some of the theories I explore on the podcast may be a little... out there; which Dad says is why I don't get much recognition from downtown ("JJ, the Chief of Police is not about to thank the same podcast that claims that vampires are running around town."). Assisting me on Beyond the Veil are my two best friends, Izzy Hall and Mina Bruce; Izzy edits the show, and Mina is the head researcher. We had a scare when Mina needed a kidney transplant; but she got one, and is well on the road to recovery.
As for me, I've got dark brown hair, with eyes to match; I'm about 5', 7", with an average build; and a button nose, which Dad often accuses me of sticking into things I shouldn't. Of course, if you were looking at me, you wouldn't know any of that.
Matter of fact, if you were looking at me, you wouldn't even know you were looking at me.
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When people hear about my podcast, they assume that I must be mixing it up with the bad guys on a regular basis. Hardly; even if our investigations didn't lead us to suspect unconventional solutions, setting out to go toe-to-toe with criminals really isn't smart. Generally, I prefer to interview people over the phone. Occasionally, though, I come across a story that leads me to do some in-person investigating.
One such story was the case I was working on: a string of burglaries hitting Pittsburgh area college science departments. The peculiar nature of the burglaries, and the hush-hush attitude of the colleges, led us at the podcast to suspect they were working on something they didn't want the world to know about; which made it our mission to find out what it was.
An anonymous tip told me that the University of Pittsburgh was going to be the next target. I put on my sneaking-around outfit (dark hoodie, balaclava, dark gloves, jeans, and sneakers), then rode my 10-speed bicycle to the scene.
Arriving at the Science Department building, I made my way in, presumably through the same way that the burglars did. I prowled the halls, searching for clues. Finally, I found a lab whose door had been jimmied, and I cautiously crept inside. I saw an array of animal cages, the right size for mice or guinea pigs, except they were empty. I didn't have time to wonder why they had empty cages, because that was when I saw them.
And they saw me.
Fortunately, they didn't want to attract attention to themselves by shooting at me; unfortunately, they didn't mind tossing things at me. I was able to dodge most of their improvised weapons. They got lucky, though, when one flask hit me right in the face. I fell to the floor, hoping they would forget about me, or at least not look.
Luck turned my way, as we heard sirens approaching; apparently, one of us had tripped an alarm. The two of them ran off, and I could hear them as they went down the hall:
"Did you get the stuff?"
"I thought you had it."
"No, I gave it to you for safekeeping, right before... You threw it at that guy, didn't you? The boss is gonna tear you a new one for that!"
Once they were out of sight and earshot, I slipped out, hurriedly checking my face; if I had any cuts or scratches, I'd have a tough time explaining them to Dad. But I didn't seem to be bleeding, so I made my way back out the way I came in.
Upon my exit, I saw the larger one of the burglars being detained by the police. I guess his partner left him holding the bag. Thankful that I didn't have on anything reflective, I crept through the bushes, until I got back to my bike. Hopping on, I rode back home.
Once inside, I decided that I'd better take a shower; wouldn't want whatever they threw at me to stain my sheets, after all. Glad that I had my own bathroom, I walked into it, and turned on the lights. When I saw my reflection, I stopped in my tracks.
My reflection was transparent. I was there, but I could see through my reflection.
As I stood there, staring, my reflection completely vanished.
This wasn't going to be much easier to explain to Dad.  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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