Slowly Dying Out

Music is blaring through speakers, the tell-tale sign of a party. The vibrations from the stereo system pumps through the floor, allowing the rowdy partygoers to literally feel the music. Everyone is gathered in the center of someone's living room - it belongs to one of them -, once prepared for a game of Spin the Bottle but now just sitting back, drinking, talking, smoking.

Alex Gaskarth, everyone's favorite loudmouth, takes the bottle from the floor and takes a swig, muttering, "How were we gonna spin it when it still had shit in it?" With a shrug of his shoulders, he clutches the bottle tight and leans against his slightly annoyed boyfriend. Of course, he picks up on the attitude immediately, and he grabs the older boy (only by a year, Alex sees no need for him to brag all the time) by the shoulder.
"Kell, what's wrong? You look like you hate me," he says, always cutting straight to the point. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired. I don't really wanna be here," replies Kellin, allowing himself to smile a bit. "But it's fine."
"C'mon, cheer up, dude!" shouts their mutual friend Austin, who always seems to talk like he's halfway across the room. He has his boyfriend, as well, but at least Rich looks relatively happy to be here. He's grinning and hanging onto Austin's arm and appearing to be pretty pleased with his surroundings. "You're already here, no use pouting."

"I'm not pouting. And besides, Andy's house gives me the fucking creeps. It's all creaky and in the depths of the woods--"
"It's, like, a quarter of a mile from the main city, Kells," Alex says with a reassuring smile. He rests a hand on Kellin's arm and whispers, "Relax, babe," in Kellin's ear, chuckling softly when he gets Kellin to shiver in delight.

"Could you guys not get all flirty and hot in my house?" asks Andy, coming over to join the lazy circle that has sat in his living room.
"You have, like, a hundred horny guys in your place. Realize now that fucking is inevitable."
Andy looks over at his best friend, Ashley, who is the only one sitting on the couch. He has his legs stretched out and a stupid smirk on his face. He has to be bitter, Andy decides, since he's one of the only people here without a partner. There's Ryan and Ron, who are play fighting in the middle of the circle. There's Justin and Jacky, who are just laying against each other.

There's Oli and Lee, who seem to be playing some form of Rock-Paper-Scissors that involves lizards, swords, and the sun in place of rocks, paper, and scissors. There's Craig and Max, who are making out. Gross. There's Austin and Rich, who are now cuddling into each other. There's Kellin and Alex, who are singing to each other. It seems like Vic and Jaime are getting relatively cozy. Hell, even Andy has Ronnie, who, at the moment, is nowhere to be seen.

"Shut up, Ashley," says Oli, who is swatting Lee's hand because, apparently, swords beat lizards. "You're just upset that you're all lonely."
"I am not. I am perfectly happy with my single status."
"Sure ya are."
With that, Oli shakes his head and continues to play with his boyfriend, who is taking a short break from the game to fix the beanie on his head. Oli finds it absolutely adorable, leaning forward to help, and that is when Ashley makes a gagging noise.

So maybe he's a bit bitter.

"Suck it up, Ashley, you're not the only lonely one here," comes Tony, the tall and tattooed male walking over to the couch and pushing Ashley's legs off so he can take a seat.
"I don't have anyone either, and I'm not making everyone miserable."
"I'm not making anyone miserable, Turtle."
Tony rolls his eyes at the nickname. Okay, he's a little withdrawn, especially compared to the colorful characters that he tends to surround himself with. Still, "Turtle" is not a name he wants to stick to his shoulders. Even so, he's accepted the fact it will follow him until death.
"And besides, you don't have to be alone. You're being stubborn, Tone, there is a girl right over there who would be happy to make you happy."
Ashley gestures at the one and only female in the house, Nikko. She is sitting cross-legged in a large recliner, looking around almost anxiously at everyone. Tony goes, "Hmph," glancing over at her before looking away. "No, Ashley. She's not interested. We're friends."
"Yeah, she is, you fuckin' idiot. She follows you and treats you like you're a king. Take advantage of that."
Tony rolls his eyes and readjusts his snapback, looking off from Ashley and sees Mike thudding down the stairs. Another single man. So Ashley can fucking shut it.

"Andy, dude, why is your bathroom so hard to find? Shit, took me forever."
"Because you don't listen, maybe? I told you it was the second door on the left. That's not hard." Mike shrugs, pushing his long dark hair off of his shoulder and plopping himself on Tony's lap, crossing one long leg over the other. He leans back and rests his head against Tony's, grinning his cocky, stupid grin.

"You guys are such flaming homos," says Ronnie, who is walking from the kitchen with a pack of cigarettes, dropping them on his boyfriend's head before sitting and kissing Andy on the cheek. "The hell are you all doing in here?"
"Relaxing," Rich snaps, squeezing Austin's arm and frowning slightly. He and Ronnie never really get along, but they deal with each other, considering Andy really dislikes conflict between friends. "Well, we were 'till you got in here."
Ronnie shrugs, letting Rich's words slide right off his back. He hardly listens to the other boy now.
"You guys're all dicks," he says. He throws an arm around Andy's bony shoulders and pulls the lanky boy closer, smiling. "You are what you deep throat, though, I guess.
"Haha, funny, Radke," is all Max decides to say before pushing his long hair back and attaching his lips to Craig's again.
"Do you guys ever breathe?" asks Nikko, straightening out her t-shirt as she speaks her first actual words all night. She gets up and walks over to Rich, taking a seat beside him on the carpet since he is the one she feels most comfortable around. Sure, she feels like a third wheel when Rich and Austin are together, no matter how much they assure her it's fine, but she has to sit by them so she isn't one hundred percent shut off. "Like, do you ever split apart for air?"
"Yes." Now Craig is the one answering, pulling away from his boyfriend and rubbing the back of his neck in some form of embarrassment. He has always been a bit more bashful than Max, though obviously not a lot, considering he has absolutely no problem with (occasionally intense) PDA. "Of course we do."
"It doesn't seem like it," she says, glancing at Tony momentarily before shaking her head and studying her nails. The polish is chipping off. The polish is always chipping off.

"Hey, you wanna know something weird?" Andy starts off, sick of the talk of kissing when his own boyfriend is trying so hard to keep his urges contained. He tries to ignore Ronnie nipping at his neck and tangling up his hair so he can speak. The last thing he needs in these skintight jeans is a boner. "Like, last week, my house was broken into, but nothing was gone. Shit was moved, but nothing was gone. Weird, right?"
"What the hell?" This comes from Vic, who is sitting between Jaime's legs, biting his thumbnail and looking at Andy in disbelief. "That's fucking weird."
"I know, huh? I d-dunno wh-why someone would d-o th-fuck, Ronnie, you horny fuck."
The whole time Andy has been talking, Ronnie has been getting closer and more intimate and so touchy. Now, he's practically sitting in Andy's lap, arms locked around Andy's neck and lips on his cheek, shifting every so often to try and send his movements straight to Andy's dick.

"Guys," Vic groans in disgust, smirking and covering his eyes. "Are we here just so you could put on a show?"
"Seri-iously! I'm tryna...control him, Ronnie, goddammit, move."
Andy manages to shove his boyfriend off, standing so he can let his oversized shirt fall right over his little problem.
"Jacky, control him," he says, nudging the inattentiveness British male with his foot. "You can handle him, right?"
"But I'm cuddling Justin. Go away."
The smaller, narrow boy known as Justin just tucks his head against Jacky's chest and smiles. He seems to be asleep, but hell, he could just be laying there. He's a little weird.
"You su-!"
He is pulled away from the cuddly couple by Ronnie, who traps Andy in his arms and whispers, "They'll be here when we get done, Drew." And Andy knows that when Ronnie calls him Drew that there is no going back. Andy certainly doesn't want to go back now, anyway.

"Just go have the sex!" shout Ryan and Ron, the only couple who is off in their own little corner, playing around and trying to ignore the ominous chill that Andy's house sets in everyone. "We won't judge." With that, Ronnie chuckles in victory, dragging Andy up to the stairs. Andy doesn't bother stopping him, either, because really, he wants this just as bad. This may be rude, but the guys - and girl, can't forget the girl - will be okay, won't they?
"Hey, we should go off, too," whispers Alex, running his cold hand up Kellin's shirt, resting it on his stomach. Kellin shivers and squeaks, but leans back to give his boyfriend a kiss anyway. He stops after this, though, and shakes his head. "No way. Wait 'till we get home, somewhere in civilization. Then we'll do whatever you want, okay?"
"Do you people realize you're not the only ones here?" Austin laughs out, putting his arm around Rich and tipping Rich's snapback with a large grin on his face. "I'd love to get all sexual and dirty and such with Richy, but unlike you all, I have decency.
"Decency," scoffs Nikko, smiling a little as she tries not to withdraw back within her shell. "Yeah, that's what you call the things you say to Richy when I'm in earshot? Very decent."
Austin's face goes red, but he sticks his tongue out and clings to his boyfriend all the same.

If only that promised their safety.



Ronnie and Andy. The two love birds run upstairs to the second floor of the third story house. You'd say Andy's rich, because he is rich. He's got so many rooms for different things. It amazes all his friends except for Vic. Vic's just a tad bit jealous, and that's okay, but he wouldn't let anyone know that. They wouldn't stop talking about it, and that's the kind of shit that pisses Vic off. Almost all of them act like teenage girls. Not all, but most.



As soon as Ronnie and Andy reached Andy's room, their lips instantly attach. They're trying to do this fast, only because Ronnie doesn't want Rich getting too jealous. Rich and Ronnie are on-again-off-again boyfriends, and right now they're off. Andy knows this, but does he care? Nope, but he should though. They continue to make out, it's nice. Hot and heavy, just the way Andy likes it. Ronnie roughly pushes Andy on his big bed, and Andy let's out a soft moan to let Ronnie know he's enjoying the roughness. Ronnie has a smirk plastered on his evil face, and Andy knew what that meant. It only meant that Ronnie was going to make him scream so everyone can hear, including Rich.



Ryan and Ron decided to find the bowling room that Andy has in the basement. Ryan didn't really want to go into the basement because he was scared of the dark. Ron just told him to grow a pair, and come on. Ryan decided not to fight him because he Ron wouldn't fuck him later if he fought. "Wow. Andy has a huge ass place." Ryan says and Ron rolls his eyes.

"Obviously!" Ron smirks as he playfully pushes Ryan. Ryan actually hits the wall, and he put a hole in the wall. Andy's going to kill him. Ryan gasped and ran out of the room. Ron ran after him, he felt bad because he's the one who pushed Ryan into the thin wall. Andy was going to have a cow, literally.

|·|·|·|

This was going to be so much fun for Ronnie. Ronnie couldn't help himself, he just had to eat Andy out, he tasted amazing. With ease, Ronnie slipped his wet tongue in and out of Andy's ass. Andy let out cute adorable moans just like Rich did. Yes, Ronnie was still in love with Richy, but Richy moved on. Yeah right Ronnie thinks to himself. He knows Rich isn't over him, and he wants Ronnie back. Everyone in this damn house knows it, even if they don't want to realize it. "Ronnie! Oh fuck! Right there!" Andy yells as Ronnie speeds his tongue around his entrance. Ronnie smiles in victory, only because he knows Rich can hear him.

This is basically the only reason he's going to fuck Andy. To make Rich jealous, and he knows it's working. Even if Rich doesn't want to admit it, because it's clear to Ronnie that every time they fight, or if Ronnie puts his hands on Rich when he's drunk or high, Rich comes back for more. Actually, everyone knows that, and even Austin knows it. Austin is determined to keep Rich no matter what. He's in too deep, and if he can't have Rich, no one can. Psycho right? Yeah, just a tad bit.

Ronnie's now eating him out like he hasn't had food in a month, and Andy is enjoying it. Who wouldn't? Andy's moans are so obnoxiously loud that Rich can hear them on the third floor. That's the way Ronnie likes it, loud and hot. Ronnie can get off on Andy's moans alone since they're so fucking hot. Ronnie just lightly touches Andy's throbbing dick, and that sends him over the edge. "Ronnie oh fuck!" Andy finishes by screaming Ronnie's name. Ronnie stands up and lightly smacks Andy's ass which makes him yelp.

"Are you ready for me baby? Tell Ronnie how much you want him in you." Says Ronnie as he takes off his plaid boxers. He can't wait that much longer, but he wants an answer because... well because it's hot.

"Oh my god Ronnie. I want you in my tight ass so bad. So please." Andy whispers, and Ronnie smacks his left cheek. He's got to do better than that if he wants Ronnie's cock. Andy knows he plays this game with Rich, so he doesn't expect him not to do it. The only difference between Rich and Andy sexually, is that Andy isn't really into that kind of stuff, but Rich is.
"Come on. Louder. Scream." Ronnie demands, and Andy is starting to get annoyed quick.
"Ronnie I swear to fucking Satan if you don't fuck me hard right now I will have Rich fist you." Andy threatens and Ronnie takes that as a serious offer. How'd he know Rich has fisted him? Ronnie shakes it off as he spits on his dick. He rubs the spit on every inch of his dick. He quickly lines himself up and pushes the tip in only to pull it out. He does this annoying process five times, and now it's seriously annoying Andy. If it wasn't for him being so fucking horny, he would stop this. Inside it kills him that Ronnie is only using him, but he's not going to show it.

That's not him, and he won't show weakness.

Ronnie's has had enough, and he's already so close, he can tell this will be a quick fuck. He just knows. Ronnie pushes all the way in in till he's balls deep. Andy sits for a moment before nodding to let Ronnie know he can move. So that's what he does. He goes as fast as he possibly can, and since he was on the verge of coming, he can feel it get closer. He grabs Andy's hair and pulls him up so his back is against Ronnie's sweaty chest. Andy's again letting out cute moans, and this sends Ronnie completely over the edge. He shoots his load in Andy as he's still thrusting in Andy hard and fast so the younger guy can come.

"O-Oh fuck R-Ronnie!" Andy moans as he comes all over his bed. Ronnie pulls out and he quickly starts putting his clothes on. Wow that was a quick fuck, and now Andy knows that Ronnie doesn't fuck around when it comes to sex. As soon as Andy catches his breath he puts clothes on, and heads down stairs. He doesn't even bother waiting for Ronnie, he's just disgusted with him. Maybe Andy feels bad for Rich, or maybe that just gives Andy a motive.



Ryan practically flies down the stairs, frowning when he hears the unmistakable sounds of sex vibrating off the walls. He cringes, but focuses mainly on getting away from the whole in the wall he shamefully created playing around with his boyfriend. Speaking of his boyfriend, Ron is trailing behind him much slower, much calmer. He doesn't seem at all affected by what they've just done, destroying someone's property.

"God, Ron, what're we gonna do?" Ryan asks nervously, guilt flooding his voice.
"We're gonna calm down and act innocent, okay? We don't need Andy screaming at us and then tearing us apart for an accident. Let him stay in the dark for a little while. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"
Ryan frowns at the thought of what is practically lying, but tries to shrug it off like Ron is doing. He hops down the last few steps and smacks right into Vic, who stumbles back and falls on his ass.
"Oh, man, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
Ron steps over Vic and watches as Ryan helps Vic to his feet, feeling no need to do anything when his boyfriend clearly has it under control.
"I'm fine, thanks," Vic mumbles, obviously not too happy with being knocked down. He brushes off his clothes and all but forces an accepting smile on his face, looking up at Ryan. "I heard you guys as you were coming downstairs, though. Mind telling me what happened?"

There's a moment of silence that passes through all three boys. Ryan starts chewing on his bottom lip and Ron looks at his boyfriend expectantly and Vic looks between the two of them, a dark eyebrow raised in either concern or suspicion. It's Ryan who sticks his hands in his pockets and looks down, his conscience weighed down and guilty by a fucking hole in a wall.
"Ron and I, we were just messing around and I, uh, accidentally fell and knocked a hole in Andy's wall. But you can't tell him!"
Vic scoffs and chuckles, seeming now to hold an odd air of maturity that didn't exist moments ago. He smiles at Ryan now and puts a hand on his shoulder as he says, "Don't worry, dude. Andy won't even see it."
Then he moves around Ryan and runs upstairs, the need to use the bathroom growing stronger with each step. Ron takes Ryan's arm and starts walking to the couch, where Ashley is still lazing around, a partially full bottle of Jack in his hand. Ron punches Ashley's thigh until he moves his legs, allowing the couple to sit.

"The fuck?" Ryan mutters after a moment. "How would he not see it? It's a hole in his wall."
"I dunno, maybe he's just being optimistic?" Ron suggests, shifting so he's sitting somewhat on Ryan's lap. "Like you should try doing. It'll be fine. Maybe Andy won't find out."
"It's a huge fucking hole! What's wrong with you people?"
"What're you talking about?" Ashley asks, sitting up halfway and sitting the bottle down. "What'd you do?"
"We accidentally knocked a hole in Andy's wall and Vic said he won't notice and Ryan's guilty and paranoid."
Ashley rolls his eyes and snickers, making a move to get off the couch for the first time tonight. He knocks the bottle over and whiskey spills all over the floor, but he has yet to notice. He just turns to the couple and says, "You're such idiots," with a loving smile before he sees the mess he's made. "Aw, fuck."

Jacky sits up on the floor, causing his boyfriend Justin to whine in protest. He seemed to enjoy the cuddles they were performing. He sits up with Jacky, though, resting his head on the British boy's shoulders, lacing his fingers with Jacky's and looking so in love. It makes Ashley gag.
"You're a klutz," Jacky laughs, pointing at the puddle by Ashley's feet with his free hand. "Nice one."
"Fuck off, Vincent."
"Oh, Ash, calm down. Look, I'll even help you wipe it up. Hold on, Just, I'll be right back."

He stands, separating from Justin and walking to the kitchen to aid Ashley in gathering paper towels, which, for some reason, is too hard a task for Ashley to do alone. Justin makes his way over to Oli and Lee, not wanting to bother Craig and Max because they're practically fucking with clothes on and not wanting to bother Kellin and Alex because Kellin looks this close to punching Alex in the face. It probably doesn't help that Alex keeps whining about how annoying Kellin's being.

"You mind if I interrupt you guys?" he asks, glancing over at the doorway to the kitchen, watching his boyfriend smack Ashley over the head with a roll of paper towel.
"Not at all. Ya mind tellin' Lee a tattoo of a dick is not a stupid idea?"
"It is, Oli, you've got the real thing between ya legs!"
"Whatever."

Business as usual, for now.



Down in the cinema, Austin, Rich, and Tony are deep within a horror movie, laughing and cringing at all the right parts. Nikko is too busy brushing dust from the armrest of her seat. She glances up just in time to see a particularly gruesome murder, a chainsaw digging into the neck of some innocent teenage boy. She shakes her head and looks away, feeling only a little nauseous.
"Hey, you okay?" It's Tony, who somehow seems to notice she's uncomfortable, but can't notice that she's head over heels. Fucker. "You wanna go back upstairs?"
"No, I'm fine."

Her heart jumps in the nicest of his ways when his tattooed hand takes hers, and it soars higher when he says, "I'm right here, 'kay?"

Well, at least she's getting somewhere, right?

A few more minutes of movie-viewing pass when something shakes the serenity of the moment. One second, everything is just fine, and the next, Nikko is shrieking because there are cold, wet hands around her neck.

She screams and jerks away, Tony grabbing her and looking as though he's about to have a heart attack. The scream startles both Rich and Austin, Rich practically propelling himself into Austin's lanky arms in fear.

The familiar cackling of a friend gets them to calm down some, and Austin steps away from his seat, dragging Rich with him as he blindly feels for the light. He finally flicks it on to see no one but Vic standing behind Nikko's seat, laughing up a storm. His hands are slick with water and he's laughing so hard his eyes are red with tears and his stomach is beginning to ache.
"Holy shit!" he gasps out, wiping his eyes. "That-that was fucking awesome."
"It wasn't, you fucking piece of shit!" Nikko shouts out, her heart beating far too fast. She pulls herself closer to Tony, her eyes becoming wet for a completely different reason. This isn't funny at all to her.
"You asshole!"
"What the fuck, man?" Austin snaps, giving Vic an odd look. Rich follows with an angry, "That was bullshit," glaring the small Hispanic male down, a frown etched into his face.
Once he recovers, Vic rolls his eyes at the lack of amusement. The cramps from his hysterical laughter are subsiding, but his attitude is slowly beginning. If there is one thing Vic hates, it's being berated.

"Aw, c'mon. It wasn't even that bad. I coulda actually choked her, but I didn't."

Nikko flips Vic off, pressed so far into Tony that one would think she's trying to hide.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rich asks, honestly wondering about the well being of his friend. Vic didn't just say that he could've harmed someone, did he? Not one of the calmest people around?
"Nothing. I'm going back up, I left my phone in the bathroom. Bye, scaredy-cats."

Vic takes the stairs two at a time, his Vans thudding against the wood as he runs out of the room. The boys let out a long sigh, Nikko desperately trying to wipe the water off of her neck from Vic's hands. Tony asks quietly, "You okay?" and she shrugs in his arms. Scared or not, she really likes this position.
"He's so weird," Austin mumbles, staring at the stairs as if Vic is going to come slinking back down. He doesn't, but they no longer feel safe from their friends' pranks, so they give up on the movie - it's over, anyway -, power down the old room, and walk back upstairs.



"Hey, Jacky?" Ashley drags out the British boy's name, a bored expression washing over his face. He is stretched across the carpet now since Ryan and Ron have taken over the couch.
"Yeah?" Jacky responds, threading his thin fingers through Justin's light brown hair and seeming so at peace. Ashley looks only at Jacky's eyes, avoiding the love that is shining in them. Love. What bullshit.
"Can you go get my jacket from upstairs, please?"
"Why me?"
"Because one, the upstairs of this house does not sit well with me, and two, you totally just should. Please? I'll, uh, I dunno, give you five bucks?"
Jacky rolls his eyes and gets to his feet, heading towards the steps. Damn Ashley and his laziness. Five dollars for fetching a jacket doesn't sound half bad, though. Besides, he has to use the bathroom anyway, so.
"Why won't you go up?" Justin asks, pouting some. Jacky's fingers in his hair felt pretty damn good, leave it to Ashley to mess with that.
"Because, like I said. Doesn't sit well."
Justin sighs and calls to his boyfriend, "Hurry back!" before moving so he can shoot his leg out and nail Ashley in the thigh. "That's for interrupting our time, you lonely, single, lazy, scared fuck."
"Whatever, Hills."



No one is expecting it when it happens.

There's a loud, strangled scream of terror and then a solid thud and then silence.

Just silence.

"What the hell was that?" Andy mumbles with a hint of agitation and fear laced together in his words. He finishes his cigarette and walks out of the kitchen, looking in the living room for anything out of place. "It came from upstairs!" Max all but shouts. He points a shaky finger at the staircase, his other hand busy with anxiously tugging on his hair.
He frowns, stepping close to the stairs and growing more anxious with each inch. Is he going to have to go upstairs and investigate? It is his house. It would be right, right?
One more step and then he's jumping back, a yelp tearing through his throat, stumbling to the ground, dropping on his ass. His heart starts pounding too hard and he scrambles back, because someone is tumbling down the stairs, finally crashing to the ground right at Andy's feet.

"F-Fuck. Fuck, Ja-J-Jacky?"

He crawls forward, shaking as his ice blue eyes take in Jacky's body. Blood soaks through the back of his shirt, stains his skin and soaks his hair. Andy nudges him to turn him over, gasping lightly as the front of Jacky is revealed.

His neck is sloppily slit, a jagged line running across. The front of his shirt is ripped apart, his chest visible and proudly displaying the words "IT STARTS NOW, FUCKERS," carved into his flesh. Andy slaps a hand over his mouth, feeling sick. Blood wastes no time in pooling underneath Jacky's limp form, outlining his twisted arm and his legs that are bent in ways unnatural for any human.

"Oh my God."

Three words running through everyone's heads.

"Fucking shit, Jacky!" Andy shouts out, on the verge of panicking. No, definitely panicking. His breath only comes out in short, frightened gasps as he grabs Jacky's shoulders, trying desperately to wake him up when he knows, he just knows there is no way it'll work.
"Jacky?"
Andy turns to see Justin standing behind him, staring at his boyfriend in confusion. Andy glances at Jacky's face, seeing that his dead eyes are aiming right at Justin's and he reaches to close them. It just makes him feel sicker.
"Andy, what's going on?" Justin asks, sounding so little. Oh, fuck, Andy cannot deal with this. He has to know that Jacky is gone. Justin has to know that his boyfriend is gone.
"He's dead," is Andy's shaky reply.
"Oh."

It's silent throughout the room for a good minute.

Then Justin starts to sob so fucking loud, falling to his knees and screaming and pressing his hands to his eyes and crying and crying. Andy jumps up and starts pacing around the living room, shaking his head and trying to calm his breathing. Everyone is crowding around Jacky's bloody body, all letting out gasps of shock and horror and it's all too much.

"I told you we shouldn't have fucking come!" Kellin shouts, grabbing Alex by the collar as tears start to form in his eyes. He pushes Alex away and crouches down to try and tend to Justin, even though he's feeling messed up himself. "Yeah, because I totally knew Jacky was gonna die," Alex says quietly. He shakes his head and steps away from the body, overwhelmed.

Then all attention is on the stairs, where two different people are coming down at once.

Ronnie and Vic.

Ronnie is the one in front, pausing at the sight of his best friend's corpse. He stands there at the foot of the steps, frozen, speechless. His brown eyes are blown wide and he can't form a single word. His mind, though, his mind is just screaming, 'Fuck, fuck, fuck!'

He finally snaps out of his paralysis when Vic taps him hesitantly on the shoulder. He takes a shuddering breath and steps over Jacky, not even able to crouch down before people start spitting accusations.

"What did you do?!" Rich screams, breaking away from Austin to push Ronnie and point the finger of blame at him.
"Me? What-what d'you mean?"
"You were upstairs, you asshole."

Ronnie is pissed. Of course, he feels really upset because his best friend is dead, but God, is he pissed. How dare Rich - anyone! - accuse him of taking Jacky's life? Jacky has done nothing but be there for him. How could he even have it in his heart to kill him?

"Oh, I was upstairs - and so was Vic, let me just say -, so clearly I killed my best friend. That makes a whole lot of sense. I'm not the asshole here!"
"You're always the asshole, Ronnie!"

He steps threateningly towards Rich, his fists tight. Rich doesn't back down, letting him come closer, and they're practically nose-to-nose.

"Fuck you."
"You wish you could."

That comeback doesn't sit well with Ronnie at all. He rears his fist back and prepares to slam it right in the center of Rich's face, and Rich mirrors his actions, and they are clearly about to hit each other when Justin pushes them apart, so much strength built into his trembling, thin arms. They stagger back, staring at Justin in disbelief.

"Fuck the both of you! You're fighting right now? Really?! My boyfriend is dead and we're all in here with some murderer and you wanna be petty? What's wrong with you?!"

His voice is hoarse and cracking from all of his sobbing, but it does nothing to take away from the harsh truth of his words.

"Rich is right, though," Austin speaks up, of course, in defense of his love. "Ronnie was upstairs. So was Jacky."
"So was Vic," mutters Craig, standing protectively in front of Max, who looks absolutely terrified.
"Thanks for the faith," Vic deadpans. He steps over Jacky now, walking over to his fellow suspect's side and staring at the dead body of his friend in worry. How could this happen? Who would do this?

"Vic and Ronnie may not have been the only people upstairs. Think about it, okay, anyone who wasn't in plain view could be the killer," comes Ashley out of seemingly nowhere. He's sitting on the top of the couch, looking somber, the most serious he's looked the whole night. He bites his lip before continuing, taking a deep breath. "There was me, Justin, Ryan, Ron...uh, Craig, Maxie, ah, Alex, Kells, Austin, Rich, Tone, and Nikko in the living room. I could smell Andy's smoke from the kitchen. So there was Vic, Ronnie, Mike, Oli, Lee and Jaime who we couldn't see, and four of those guys still aren't even in the room. But really? It could be anyone. Just because Jacks fell down the steps now doesn't mean he was just killed now. Y'know?"

Well, fuck.

"What makes you such an expert?" Alex asks, his voice quieter than it's ever been. Ashley tries his best to smile, but it falters. He just shakes his head and runs his hand through his thick black hair, saying,
"I can make it through a lot of horror movies since I spend most of my nights alone."

Ronnie jumps when he hears Ashley say that. It creeped not only him, but everyone who actually heard him say it. They all know it wasn't the last, but super attractive Ashley who killed Jacky, so who was it?

"I seriously hate Richard!" Ronnie sighs as he rolls his eyes.
"That's the biggest lie of the night." Andy says, and Ronnie jumps.
'Why the hell are you so damn jumpy? Andy says in his head as Ronnie collects himself.
"Why do you say that babe?" Ronnie asks as he grabs Andy's hand and headed up the stairs. Before Andy and Ronnie can get to the stairs, Rich stops them by saying;
"Andy, if I were you, I wouldn't want to be alone with Ronnie. He might make you his next victim."
This makes Ronnie extremely mad, so mad that he lets go of Andy, turns to face the younger boy, and charges at him. At first this shocks the younger boy, so he doesn't move a muscle. Before anyone knows it, Rich is knocked out.

"Damn!" Craig and Max say at the same time surprisingly, because they've been sucking faces all night. Austin looks over at the scene, and he's instantly pissed. How dare he hit my boyfriend Austin says to himself. He slowly walks over to his knocked out boyfriend, and he picks him up. He puts Rich on the couch, and he tries his best to control himself.

"What the hell is go- OH MY GOD, JACKY." Mike screams as he reaches the bottom of the old staircase. Mike almost faints, but he catches himself. Andy's had enough of everyone's bull shit around here. He's got to put an end to all this shit, and he has to find the killer fast. Nikko draws her attention away from the very attractive Tony, and she puts her attention onto Mike.

She's zoned out simply because she's freaked out by all this. Who knew they'd be fighting for their lives in an old house like this? no one, except for the killer of course. Ronnie is still pissed, but he's not doing anything until Rich wakes up. He's not that rude, and plus, that would make him look bad. Beating on a knocked out person, yeah, no. He's not going to do that. Even though he would love to, but right now, he's mourning over the loss of his best friend, Jacky's death. He's upset, and when he finds out who did it, they're going to be pushing up daisies when Ronnie's done with him, or her. Ronnie's drawn out out of his thoughts by Ashley gathering everyone in the largest living room he's ever seen.

'Andy's one lucky guy to have a place like this,' Ronnie thinks to himself, and he's a little bit jealous. Finally, Rich wakes up, and he's got a splitting headache. Ronnie laughs in victory.
That's what you get for accusing me ass-butt Ronnie smiles to himself. He decides he's going to let Rich rest because he's got something planned for him later. Once everyone is in the huge living room, Andy begins to speak.

"Okay, everyone, I want you to know that no one's going to leave this fucking house until we find out who killed Jacky. I don't want anyone else getting killed by some psycho with a knife. We are not in a scary movie, we don't need any more deaths. I'm going to fucking call the cops when I find out who the Hell is doing this, and I don't appreciate it. I don't need a fucking lawsuit on my damn hands. Got it? Good. Now, I'm going to tell you a few things. I decided to give you all partners. Now, here they are; Tony and Vic, Mike and Justin, Nikko and Rich, Ryan and Ron, Lee and Oli, Craig and Max, Kellin and Alex, Me and Jaime, Ronnie and Austin, and... shit... Ashley, you don't have a partner."

Ashley smiles and says,
"Dude, I can survive horror movies, I spend a lot of time alone. I don't need a babysitter."
"Alright, but don't blame me if you wind up dead."
"Why the fuck do I have to be with Ronnie? Why can't I be with my boyfriend like the others get to? That's not fair." Austin chimes in, and he's pissed.
"It's because you're likely to be the killer?" Andy laughs, Austin knows he's just joking, but they all know he's seriously thinking about it. Everyone's thinking about everyone, and one of them is right.
One is killing everyone, and nobody knows who...yet.

Ashley speaks up, and says, "You know what, since I'm in a nice mood, and plus I don't want to die...well, that's beside the point. I am going to share the rules with you."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Rich asks right before holding his, trying to get rid of his headache thanks to Ronnie.
"I thought you would know, since you're a fellow horror movie buff. Well, anyway, here's the rules to survive a scary movie."
Before he could continue, Mike chimes in and says, "Dude, this isn't a scary movie." Ashley laughs so creepily that it sent shivers down the quiet and shy Lee. Oli holds him tight to let him know that nobody is going to hurt him.

"Here are the rules; One, never do drugs or drink, if you do, then you're a dead duck." With that everyone who's drinking lifts up there bottles, and so does Ashley. Before continuing, he takes a long drink. "Rule number Two, don't have sex, if you do, you'll die. Usually virgins survive. That means we all die. So don't have sex." Everyone looks at Ronnie and Andy, knowing what they did tonight. Andy blushes, and Ronnie smirks. Rich rolls his eyes, he's clearly annoyed. "Last but not least, rule number Three, NEVER EVER say you'll be back, because you won't. You'll be dead. Just don't do it." This time every one is silent.

That's what Justin, Mike, Vic, and Tony get up and head downstairs into the basement. We'll be right back Tony laughs as they head down stairs. That's when Nikko and Rich get up, along with Alex and Kellin. Ashley, Ronnie, Austin, Lee, and Oli decide to stay where they are instead of explore more. Ron and Ryan decide to play a game of tag with Craig and Max.
I swear, they're like little kids sometimes Ashley says out loud. He's just laying on the couch, playing on his phone.
"I swear to god I need fucking WiFi, or I'm going to go insane." Ashley says in a loud voice. "Calm down." Andy says as he walks into the living room with a bag of Doritos. Nacho cheese Doritos.
"Gimme gimme!" Jaime jumps up, and starts chasing Andy around the room, trying to get Doritos from him.
"No! Jaime, there's a bunch of chips in the pantry downstairs, the last room if you go downstairs, take a left, it's the last room on the left side. It's a green door, and you can't miss it. It's next to my wine room." Andy says, and that makes Jaime stop chasing him.
"You have to go with me! You're my partner." Jaime laughs, and Andy rolls his eyes. He's not in the mood for anyone's shit, and that's all because of one asshole. Ronnie Radke.
"Ashley, you know where it's at. Please take him, I'm not in the mood." Andy says in his deep voice, and Ashley knows not to make Andy angrier than what he already is.
"Fine, but if I get murdered, you owe me- wait, that made no sense." Ashley says, and Jaime laughs. All Andy does is roll his eyes, and smirk.

***Fast Forward Five Minutes***
As Ashley and Jaime walked down the creeky old steps, Jaime kept looking behind him. On edge already, Ashley keeps freaking out when he does this.

"Can you seriously stop fucking doing that?" Ashley snaps as he hits Jaime hard in the right arm. Jaime let's out an 'ouch' under his breath, but he doesn't say anything because now's not the time. There's a killer in the house and Jaime really doesn't want to be the one who complains about a little punch.

That's when Jaime accidentally runs into Lee and Oli. They look like they just seen a ghost, and Ashley's asshole side comes out, and he starts laughing. Jaime sighs, and he decides to keep walking with out him. "It's only because Ashley is being a little bitch because he ain't got his WiFi. He needs to shut the fuck up or he's gonna get smacked by someone." he sighs to himself.

Jaime passes Tony and Vic who are walking fast. They seem to be taking a right turn towards the bowling alley room. Jaime isn't too sure, nor does he care.



Once Vic and Tony make it towards the bowling alley room, Vic is hesitant to enter the room.

Tony doesn't really know why, so he just looks in Vic's eyes. They move in closer, their eyes still locked on each other's. Vic leans in for a kiss, but he stops dead in his tracks when they hear someone fake coughing. Tony and Vic both turn their heads to see who's fake coughing.

It's Ashley, the person both men didn't want to see. At least it wasn't Nikko or her best friend, Rich. Then they would be screwed.

"You know, I bet Nikko would love to hear about this. You know, you're such a dick. I guess, you are what you eat." Ashley laughs and this makes Vic angry, Who the hell does Ashley thinks he is? Vic says to him right before Ashley walking away laughing. That's when something snapped in Tony. He ran as fast as he could to catch up with Ashley.

"Listen Ashley, I wasn't about to kiss him, he was about to kiss me. I am... I am in love with Nikko. I was just being hard to get." Tony admits, and for once, Ashley believes him.

JUST THIS ONCE.

"You better tell her now, you might not get another chance, since... you know..... THERE'S A KILLER IN THIS GOD DAMN, BUT beautiful HOUSE." Ashley yells, and Tony nods. "Vic, I got to go, I'll meet you in the bowling alley room!" Tony yells as he runs up the old, creepy stairs.

He almost runs into Mike, who seems to be drunk off of booze and stupidity.

"Mike, I think you should seriously sit down before you fall, and can't get up, because I am not going to be calling life alert." Tony smiles and pats Mike on the shoulder. He might seem like he's joking, but he's being a hundred and ten percent serious. Mike's confused, but shrugs it off with a swig of liquor. Jack Daniels to be exact. He then starts to make his way towards the living room.



Those fucking idiots. They have no clue that they're all going to die, one by one. One by one, and they have no fucking clue. It's quite sad, and what they should be doing is keeping everyone together, and not in partners. My partner, ha, I've got a plan for him, and it's going to make me laugh.



"You sure we should be in Andy's bedroom?" Rich asks Ronnie, and Ronnie laughs. He knew Rich would come back to him, well, yeah. It's only because Ronnie blackmails him into doing things for him.

'Why here, why does he want me to do this here, especially when Austin is in this house?' Rich asks him as Ronnie shuts the door.

The only reason Ronnie's doing this is because he misses Rich. He really does, and he does know that this is completely wrong. Does he care? No, not really. "Come on Ronnie, I don't want to do this. I can't do this, I almost died because of it, luckily Nikko and Tony were at the party. If they weren't, I'd be dead." Rich says as Ronnie hands him two purple and pink capsules.

Rich doesn't know what's in the pills, all he knows it's something dangerous. "Oh silly Rich. Do you think I care?" Yes. Rich shakes his head, and Ronnie laughs. "Good, because I don't." Yes he does. He hands the capsules to Rich, and Rich puts them in his mouth. He doesn't swallow them, there's a god damn killer in this house, do you honestly think I'm going to take these? Rich says to himself, and Ronnie leaves the room.

As soon as he does, Rich spits them out onto the floor. "Dumb ass." Rich laughs as he stands up off the bed. He looks both ways down the dark hallways. "Where the fuck is the damn light switch?!" Some says out loud as they turn the corner. To Rich, it sounds like Nikko. As the person turns the corner, Rich is relieved that it is in fact Nikko. "Nikko, thank god it's you. Where did you go?" Rich asks, she smiles, and gives Rich a hug.

"I don't know, I opened a door, and all of a sudden I end up upstairs. It's weird!" Nikko says as they hear footsteps coming down the hallway. "Who's there?" Rich calls out, and Tony jumps out from behind Nikko and Rich. Rich jumps, thinking it was Ronnie, and Nikko laughs.

"Don't you ever watch scary movies? You never want to say 'whose there?' It's almost always going to be the damn killer!" Tony laughs, and that's when Nikko stops laughing. He took that a little too far. Nikko and Rich think, but they know he's only joking... or is he?

"Hey Nikko? C-Can I talk to you for a sec?... alone?" Tony says as he looks at Rich. Richard smiles and says, "I'll be downstairs! In the living room... where I'm wanted." Rich then walks away.

"What's up Tony?" Nikko says, and Tony sighs. "I really like you. I do. I-I was just playing hard to get. You're the prettiest girl that I've ever known." Nikko's shocked, and she smiles and and says, "Tony, that's so sweet!" Tony leans in and kisses Nikko. At first, Nikko's she, but then she gets over it.

She leans in and kisses Tony back. She can feel a tingle every time their lips touch, and she feels like she's in heaven. Tony breaks the kiss, and says, "If... when we get out of here alive, I'm going to take you to dinner and a movie, it's an apology for playing hard to get." With that they start kissing again, this time, each kiss is longer, that's until they hear a phone ringing.

It's Tony's and when he reads it, he sighs and says, "I gotta go. I told Vic I'd meet him in the bowling alley room, and he's getting impatient... or just scared." Nikko is screaming inside, but she smiles when Tony leans in and kisses her. This time it's an even longer kiss.



Tony goes through that secret passage, and as soon as he gets down to the last step, he hears someone call his name.

Just my god damn imagination, quit playing Tony. Tony says to himself as he walked back up the stairs.

"Oh Tony, you should have went the longer way. Silly goose." Someone laughs, and he comes face to face with the killer. Tony's in shock as he turns to run out the door, but the killer grabs his shirt. He starts throwing his hands up, fighting back.

"Get off of me-" Tony yells, and the killer pulls out a sharp hunting knife.

Why the hell would I do that baby? the killer says ass he stabs Tony in the back.

"See you in hell baby!" he says as he quickly runs up the stairs. Tony instantly bolts down the stairs, and he ends up going into the living room where ninety percent of everyone is in.

"Oh my god! Tony!" Rich screams as Tony falls to the ground, and he lands on his stomach. Nikko jumps up, and once she sees him, she screams. Andy comes running into the living room, and he stops dead in his tracks when he sees Tony's body. He can't believe it's happened again, and they're still running around. This is the last time he has people over, he's going to make sure of it.

"Everyone! Get the fuck in the living room! Now!" Andy screams at the top of his lungs. Soon after, everyone starts to fill in the room. Except for Kellin and Vic. Five minutes later, the two show up, and now everyone is a little relieved.

"So, does anyone want to confess, so we can beat the living shit out of you, then call the cops." Andy stated and Vic instantly smiles. "I know who did it!" Vic says, and Kellin tenses up like it's him. "It's you Andy!" Vic says and everyone gasps.

Andy shakes his head in defense. How dare he accuse him. Why would he kill people in his own home? "How the fuck am I the damn killer? In my own home? That would be dumb of me to do." Andy snaps. He's never been this pissed. "I'm not saying you killed everyone, I'm saying you killed Jacky!" Vic says in a serious voice that no one has ever heard from Vic.

"Why the fuck would I kill him?" Andy snaps, and Vic laughs. "It's because your little whore of a boyfriend hangs around Jacky so much, that you got jealous. You must have! Plus, I can't really blame Ronnie for hanging out with Jacky more than you because you're a stuck up bitch." Vic smiles, and that's when Andy jumps up to attack.

"Why you little bitch! How dare you accuse me of that. Andy screams as he punches Vic in the face. "Hey! Don't you dare punch my brother in the face!" Mike yells as he jumps out of his seat. Austin decides to get involved so Mike doesn't kill Andy.

"you went as low as to kill one of your best friends? One who was finally about to get laid? You crazy fucker." Andy yells, and everyone stops fighting. Except for Nikko, she runs out of the room, and to the movie room. Everyone is in shock, and Rich runs after her, screaming, "You're suck an asshole Andy, you're just like Ronnie." Everyone, even Ronnie himself nods in agreement. Andy should have never said that.



"There you are Nikko!" Rich says in relief when he sees she's putting on a movie.
"Yeah, sorry if I ran like that. It really hurt what Andy said, it really did. I just... I don't know. Is that what I am? Just an easy lay?" Nikko asks, and Rich leans in and kisses her. At first Nikko doesn't know what to do, but then she's like 'Why not?' They start to kiss, and it's amazing. After about two minutes of making out, they stop and stare into each other's eyes before saying,

"Yeah, let's not do that ever again." Then Rich says, "Yeah, I'm gay."

"OH MY GOD! RON!" The two hear and they instantly get up and run to see what's wrong. Once they get to the scene. They see Ryan crying and hugging Ron's body. Ryan moves away to cry some more, and now they can see how he died. His throat was slashed, and he's lying by the secret passage way door.

How many people know about the secret passage way?



The death toll continues to rise, and it's terrifying.

So far, Jacky, Tony, and Ron are all dead. Everyone who is lucky enough to be alive is panicking, fear set deep in their veins and making each step, each breath a little quicker than the last.
Everyone sticks to their partners, practically glued to their sides. Well, nearly everyone. Ryan is a disaster, having found his boyfriend with his throat slit and his eyes blank. When did they split apart long enough for Ron to be killed? Why?

No one can ask, because Ryan has been crying for what seems like hours, crying and babbling about the cutest memories they shared. It's heart breaking, really. He's being comforted by Craig and Max, who have taken time out of their public displays of affection and protecting each other from fear to try and make Ryan calm down just a bit.

The others have spread out again, and it isn't too smart, but pacing around the house is a lot better than sitting in one spot, waiting to die.

"Where'd Austin go?" Nikko asks quietly, walking down the hall with Rich trailing behind her. She quickly whispers a prayer that he isn't dead, because who knows how the house would handle another death? The death of such a (somewhat possessive) sweetheart, at that. "I dunno. I know he came up here, I saw him run a little while ago," Rich replies with a strong sense of nervousness.
Nikko nods, trying to push Tony's death to the back of her mind. He didn't deserve to be killed. Stabbed in the back? Horrid. She wants to cry. Again. Dammit.

Then they hear the moans.

"Uh..."

They pause, peering into one of the bedrooms with the door ajar. It was a sharp moan, maybe one of pain? They just want to make sure no one is dead and shit, well, no one's dead. Yet. But they sure as hell should be.

Austin and Alex are tangled together, lips attached, fingers in hair and moans slipping past their heavy kisses.

Nikko gasps and tries to shield Rich from the sight, but she's too slow. He catches his boyfriend making out with another, seeming so used to Alex's body, considering how they melt together.
Great. More goddamn drama.

In a house full of murders, now is the perfect time to cheat on your boyfriend. Perfect. Just fucking brilliant.

"Hey!" Nikko screams, breaking them apart. They jump, Austin practically shoving Alex away as if to eliminate any evidence of what they had just been doing. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She turns to catch Rich, try and maybe calm him, but he's taking off running down the stairs. Great. She turns back to the two unfaithful boys before her and shakes her head. "I cannot fucking believe you."
Austin pushes past her, no doubt racing after Rich to try and explain, and she's left with Alex getting up and coming toward her with this sorry look on his face. He tucks his hands in his pockets and bites his swollen lip for a moment before trying to come up with something to say. She's giving him a soft stare, not used to being hard and cold with anyone, and he sighs.

"Are you gonna tell Kellin?" he asks, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I have to. I doubt you will."

While the words aren't said with any sort of animosity, he still cringes.

"So, is this a one-time thing...?" She leaves it open for him to answer, and of course, he shakes his head. "Wow."
"I know. It's just-just Kellin is so fucking impossible sometimes. I can't deal with him. He's so sensitive and he closes himself off from me all the time and it's like he hates to talk to me."
"That's no excuse for cheating. Does that really outweigh the love he has for you? You have for him?"
"No, I...no. And Austin just, he, I dunno. He draws me in. He tempts me. He always grabs me and pulls me into whatever he wants and I can't say no. Sometimes I wanna, I really wanna say no. But I can't fight him off. He's too big."

Nikko frowns. The last bit of Alex's excuse hardly sounds good. He lowers his head and leans against the doorframe, looking up towards the ceiling.
"I feel like shit. I wish the killer would come off me next."
"Don't say that, Alex. No one else is dying tonight, okay?"
He gives her an odd look, eyebrows raised in skepticism. He bites his tongue to keep from tugging down her optimism, sighing and moving on with the previous conversation.
"I can't say no to him. He won't let me, y'know? Maybe I wanna be faithful, but he's so big, he outweighs me, I can't fight him. I have no choice. So if you're gonna tell Kellin, can you tell him everything?"

Then Alex walks away, leaving her upstairs on her own. Shit. Like she wants to be here. Even though Alex is a cheater or something, he's still one of her good friends, and she runs to grab him sand follow him downstairs before he gets far away.



No one is really in the living room. Everyone has spread out into all the corners of the house, save for Rich and Austin who just came racing down the stairs, Kellin, Andy, Mike, and now Alex and Nikko.
"Has no one heard of sticking together?" Andy mutters, hardly shrugging it off as he lights another cigarette. He doesn't know how many this makes. He's lost count. He's freaking out.

He watches Nikko go over to Kellin, and when Austin grabs Rich's shoulder, he has this strange feeling in his gut that shit is about to go down. Great. Like they need this, too. He just grabs a seat on the couch beside Mike, the two of them pressed close as if it will protect them from any of the oncoming disaster. Mike taps his shoulder, silently asking for a cigarette, and Andy passes him one and a lighter without hesitation. It's become an anxious habit of his tonight, smoking. He can grab a cigarette and his lighter without a single glance.

Vic wanders in and watches his younger brother in disapproval, the cigarette between his lips and all, but drops it. There are far more important things happening now than Mike smoking.
Kellin is sitting against the wall, music flooding his head with his iPod turned high. He jumps when Nikko shakes him lightly, trying to get his attention.

"Yeah?" he asks, pausing the song and taking out his earbuds. He notices how upset she looks and frowns, adding, "I'm real sorry about Tony. Are you okay?"
"M'fine," she lies. She wipes at her eyes, which only deepens his frown because she shouldn't lie to him, they're friends and he's here for her. "But I wanna tell you something. And you're not gonna like it. And I'm so sorry."
"What is it?"
He looks around the room to find Alex sitting on the steps, looking horribly upset. He has a hand on his stomach, looking sick, and as annoying and bitchy and whiny as Alex can be, Kellin still wants to go over and see if he's alright.

"So, Richy and I were upstairs. And we heard something weird so we checked it out. And um. And then, we, like, found...found A-Austin and Alex making out."
"Are--seriously?"
She nods solemnly, and he doesn't say a word, just allows his eyes to fill with tears and he shakes his head, going to get up and she holds his wrist, getting him to remain still.
"You have to talk to Alex about it, because the way he described it sounded like it wasn't consensual most of the time."
"It's happened more than once?!" Kellin cries out, jerking away from her, his heart shattering in his chest. He gets to his feet and scrambles out of the room, running blind. Nikko sits there in silence, unsure of what to do. It seems like Vic has it in his own hands, though, sharply asking, "What'd you do to him?"
"I didn't do anything!" she defends quickly, hating confrontation. Vic eases up on his harsh glare, turning towards the direction Kellin ran. "I told him about Alex and Austin and-"
Vic growls at the two boys in question, feeling a bit like an animal.

"You fucking--you guys are assholes!"

He takes off after Kellin, solely worrying about his best friend's well being. And if that drama wasn't enough, well, shit.

"How could you do that?!" Now Rich is screaming at Austin, who is tall and threatening and cowering from Rich's loud anger. "How could you cheat on me? I thought you loved me, huh?"
"I'm sorry, Rich, I-I am. I do love you! It was stupid, I know, I wish I could--"
"You can't take it back! You cheated on me with someone else's boyfriend! I hate you! I-I-I wish you were dead, Austin!"

Everything seems to stop. Smoke stops drifting from the cigarettes and breath stops passing between lips and hearts stop beating in chests.

"What the fuck, man? Why would you say that?" Mike sputters in disbelief. "That's, like, a curse, or a jinx."
"Or a threat or a promise," Andy tacks on, feeling horribly unsettled.

Rich pretends not to hear them, though, glaring at Austin as Austin chokes on apologies and hurt. Austin backs away from his boyfriend, running off to God knows where. And then Rich does the same, running off himself and no one knows what to do. Dammit. The only ones left in the room are Alex (who is staring off into space), Nikko, Andy, and Mike, and they're all at a loss.
"What the fuck is even going on anymore," Mike scoffs, huffing out an impressive cloud of smoke. "Couldn't tell ya if I tried, man," Andy sighs, doing the same. "Couldn't tell ya if I tried."



Rich runs off to the study, hoping that if anyone finds him here, they won't slit his throat or anything. He huddles up in a chair, so hurt that Austin would ever do something like that to him. Why would he? How could he? What would make him do something as immoral as cheating?

"Rich, what're you doing in here?"

It's Vic, looking genuinely concerned as he walks over to the seat Rich is in. He looks around anxiously, and considering his initial move was to look for Kellin, that's no doubt what he's doing now.
"I dunno."
"What Austin did was really shitty."
"I know."

Vic falls silent, but he looks like he has something more to say. His gaze drops to the floor, his shuffling steps bringing him closer and closer to Rich. He's startled, however, as soon as he directly in front of Rich by a sudden, "This your hideout or something?"

Now Vic looks uncomfortable, whipping around to try and catch whoever is speaking. It's Ronnie, who looks somewhat amused and somewhat relieved. He takes in Vic's surprise and asks, "What're you so freaked out for?"
"You can't go around popping up outta nowhere, asshole," Vic mutters, frowning. "Not now."
"Did I scare you, Vicky?"
"Shut up. I'm gonna go find Kellin."

He leaves then, sticking his tongue out at Ronnie before he exits the room.
"What's wrong with you, Rich?" Ronnie asks, somehow fitting into the seat beside Rich. He scoots Rich over, drawing his knees to his chest so he can sit comfortably in the plushy chair. "You've been crying. Why? Scared?" It doesn't sound like he's teasing, so Rich gives in and answers.
"Austin cheated on me."
"Whoa, really? Fuck. With who?"
"Alex."

Ronnie shakes his head, making low "tsk" sounds and staring at the ceiling. You would think that the threat of being murdered would scare everyone into fidelity, at least for now. Especially since no one knows who the murderer is. They could be locking lips with the killer now, and to cheat on a killer is to write your own death wish.

Idiots.

"Sorry about that. That's shitty."
"Why do you even care? You hate me."
"I don't hate you, Rich. I'd say you hate me, accusing me of being the murderer and all. And even so, cheating is shitty. I may be an asshole, but I'd never do that. Which is why I'm not kissing you right now. I'm with Andy."

Ronnie gets up then, patting Rich's shoulder. Rich makes a move to follow him, his eyes red from tears and blown wide.

"What? Wh-Wait, and if you weren't with Andy?"
"I gotta find my boyfriend now, Richy. I suggest you get somewhere with some people, though. Wouldn't wanna end up dead, right?"

Rich nods, getting up now and trailing slow behind Ronnie. He has a point. Running off alone right now probably isn't the smartest. It felt the best, though. There's no way he can look at Austin right now. It's better to be alone than suffering.



Ashley and Jaime are on their way to leaving the basement, Ashley climbing the steps first, when the door swings open and something tumbles down, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. The door slams shut just as Ashley hits the floor, his head smacking against it and sending him for a loop.

"Holy shit, Ashley, are you okay?!" Jaime yells excitedly, gasping and kneeling down to help him. Ashley groans, sitting up and threading his fingers through his hair, pressing against his skull to try and stop the pounding.
"I'm dizzy as hell," he says quietly. Jaime nods, keeping a hand on his shoulder. Then Ashley looks ahead to see what knocked him over, and when he sees, he lets out a terrified scream, one that nearly rips his throat apart.
Max is struggling to take a breath, his hands splayed across his stomach, blood pouring through his fingers. He rests at Ashley's feet, maybe a few feet away, coughing and stuttering and suffering.

"Oh my God. Oh my God!"

Ashley and Jaime move over towards Max, Ashley checking his pulse and trying to stop the bleeding while Jaime talks to keep him calm. Max shouts out when Ashley moves his hands, saying, "Stop, stop!" as best he can with blood slipping out of his mouth.
"Max, dude, you're okay. Talk, man. Talk to me, please?"
"Did they shove you down here? D'you know who it was?" Ashley asks, trying to cut to business before it's too late.
Max nods, but just barely. The very second he nods, his eyes lose all life and he stops grasping for air. His hands slide from his deep stab wound, smearing more blood over his shirt. His blank face is haunting, imprinted in Ashley and Jaime's mind for years to come.
"Poor guy," Jaime mumbles. He wipes his eyes as Ashley looks over Max's still body for any sign of life. Neither of them has ever experienced seeing someone die. They're shaken to the core.

"Holy shit.
"Yeah."

What do they do? Do they leave him here, carry him, what? Where the hell would they carry him to, the living room? Jaime begins backing away as if Max's body will rise and attack, slumping against the wall. Ashley just sits where he is, locked in a daze.

"As-Ashley, we should...we should go."
"Leave him here?"
"What else would we do?"

Ashley nods in agreement, getting up and stumbling. His head is killing him, and leaving Max here just seems like the worst thing to do. But Jaime is right - what else would they do? Carry Max on their shoulders? Bridal style? Drag him around, hook him to a leash?
"Are you sure?" he asks, still standing in place.
"Yeah. Carrying him wouldn't benefit you or me, man."
"Why not?"
"His blood would be on our hands. Not only would that fucking kill our heads, we'd be immediate suspects."

With that, they leave the basement.


"Austin."
Austin jumps, his back hitting the wall. He stares at the person in front of him, breathing a sigh of relief. A hand over his wild heart, he leans against the wall and closes his eyes, allowing guilt to flood him again.
"What're you doing up here?"
"I'm...God. Running away. As always."
"You cheated on your boyfriend, why?"

He shakes his head, sliding to the floor. He tugs on his hair, dark brown between his fingers, and lets out a long sigh.

"I dunno. Alex is so easy to work with. I-I hook up with him when I'm drunk. Ashley showed me where Andy kept a lot of his alcohol, a-and I'm not the most sober right now, y'know? But I'm getting there. 'Cuz I feel like shit."

He sniffs and tries to hold down all the negative feels building up, filling any open spaces within.

How could he do that? To Rich, to Alex, to Kellin?

Well, Alex didn't necessarily fight.

But still.

They destroyed trust, bonds, possibly even love. Of course he feels like shit.

"I'm sorry," Austin says, wiping his wet eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"You shouldn't be telling me that."

Before Austin can breathe again, a bloodstained knife is plunged into his heart, killing him immediately. When he falls over, his shocked brown eyes are locked directly on the killer, who represses the need to throw up as they reach down and close Austin's eyes forever.

"You should tell God sorry, not me. Beg when you get to those fucking gates, just like I'm gonna have to."

They run out of the hallway, murder weapon in hand. They turn the corner just as someone screams, "Austin!" and then there's a low thump, someone dropping to their knees to tend to a lost cause.
It's almost funny, in a disgustingly twisted way.



Vic is the one who finds him. He abandons the body an runs downstairs in a frantic haze, his mind clouded with panic. Austin, Austin dead, Austin bleeding too much, Austin's dead. He trips over the final two steps and crashes to the ground, breathing too heavily to try and move.
Mike jumps from the couch at the sound, cigarette dangling between his long fingers. The moment he spots his brother curled up on the floor, he becomes serious, any sort of drunken spell now broken.

Putting the cigarette out in the ashtray, he runs to Vic's side, asking, "Vic, Vic, what's wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Vic?"
"He-he's gone, Mikey, he's g-gone."
"Who's gone, bro? C'mon, it's okay. Breathe, breathe easy, it's okay."

He helps Vic sit up, rubbing his back and calming him slowly into speaking. He keeps his hand between Vic's shoulder blades as Vic tries to control his breathing. He take heavy inhales and shallow exhales, but it's better than not breathing at all.

"Austin, Austin's dead."
"What?"
"He's dead, Mike, I saw him upstairs, he's dead."

Andy gets up from the couch as well, making it over to the Fuentes brothers with strong hesitation. Everyone's dying, just fucking dropping dead. All of his friends are dying in his house, and it makes him sick to his stomach. Does that mean it's his fault?

He wishes he never inherited this bullshit house. He wants to live in a shitty apartment like other people his age. Less stress. Less murder. Less weight of responsibility for said murder.

He backs away from the pair, feeling horribly upset. He doesn't want to run upstairs. People are dying there left and right. He glances at Alex, who has moved from the steps to the corner, pulling his hair and looking as though he's an inch away from losing it. Nikko is near him, but not beside him, playing with her bracelets. He shakes his head, unable to look at two more people who may end up being victims.

Andy hardly makes it to the trash can in time.

He throws up everything he's eaten that day, maybe that week, he doesn't fucking know. He just knows he's sick and scared and sweaty and shaking. He collapses on the kitchen floor, the tile cool against his skin, and prays, something he hasn't done in years, for everything to be okay when this is all over. If there's any time to have faith in something...

He feels someone's hand brush against his arm and he jerks, looking up at Oli and Lee. When did they get here? How long has he been lying here? What?

"You alright, mate?" Oli asks as Lee crouches down, studying Andy for any sign of injury.
"Yeah," Andy coughs out. He pushes himself up so he's sitting, his back against the counter. He has the strongest urge to cry, but he can't. He just buries his head in his hands as Oli and Lee surround him, suffocate him in the kindest way.
"Ya sure?"
"No fucking way."

It's only fair to tell the truth.



Ashley is upstairs now, Jaime a few steps behind. He is searching for a stronger WiFi connection, standing on his toes in certain corners, trying to connect.
He needs to get on the internet, he needs to see if there's any news on some sort of killer around this part of town. If he can find some sort of information, even an idea of what he's dealing with, then he can help save everyone else. He hopes he can. He thinks he can.

"Jaime?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Go down the hall, see if you get anything."

Jaime nods, running down to the end of the hallway and holding his phone high above his porcupine hair. Ashley huffs and lowers his own, toggling the WiFi switch and leaving it at 'ON' before rounding the corner slightly, still searching. He needs this connection. He needs it, needs it, needs it.
Then he's snatched up, the wind being knocked out of him as he's thrown to the ground. He's immediately straddled, someone's hand covering his mouth. He screams against the murderer's palm, kicking and thrashing and trying to get Jaime to hear him. He hits his arms against the floor, making as much noise as humanely possible, but the murder stops all of that by slamming Ashley's head on the ground as hard as possible.

Ashley no longer fights, dizzy and hurt. He stares up hopelessly at the murderer, looking for some sort of mercy. The murderer just narrows their eyes, but jumps back when Ashley bites their hand. Ashley takes this moment to try and get away, scrambling and screeching, "Jaime, Jaime, help! Jaime, please, help me!"

That pisses the killer off, the possibility of being caught. They move up, sitting in Ashley's chest, and quickly slit his throat. There is no spare time to tease and taunt him - they can hear Jaime's footsteps. They jump off of Ashley and slips into the closest room, hiding behind the door.

"Ashley, dude, where'd you--oh my God! Ashley!"

Jaime tries to raise the young man up, tries to get him to breathe, tries to get him to live. Of course, it's a lost cause. Ashley grips Jaime's t-shirt and chokes out, "Run, please," blood pouring from his neck.

He goes limp immediately after.

Jaime has hot tears rolling down his cheeks now. This is insane. He's seen two people die now, seen them die right in front of his eyes. Max was such a sweetheart, and now Ashley, who seemed like a complete asshole, but actually turned out to be pretty fun once he let his guard down. They were friends.

Why are all of Jaime's friends dying?

Why can he do nothing but sit here and watch?

'Oh my god Ashley!' Jaime screams in his head as he runs all the way downstairs to the front door. He really doesn’t want to be here anymore, it’s not fun anymore. Before he can get out of the front door, Andy and Ryan stop him.

"Where the fuck are you going? Remember? There’s no leaving until we find out who is doing this fucked up shit." Andy reminds him, and Jaime bites his tongue, only so he doesn’t start anything. He doesn’t want to be here anymore- actually, no one wants to be here, even Andy.

"Why don’t we just call the god damn cops? That’ll make this easier." Jaime says in a whispering voice, so quiet that only Andy, him, and Ryan can hear. Ryan shakes his head in agreement as Andy rolls his eyes. Why the hell didn’t I think of that? Andy says to himself as the three run up the flight of stairs, and into Andy’s master bedroom.

"Okay, where the fuck is my phone?" Andy asks as he's searching for it on his bed. For some odd reason, it's not there. Now he's freaking out even more than before. Who the hell would take his phone, unless the killer took it. That's when he got an idea, and hopefully, this would catch the killer before more of his friends get killed.

"Give me your phone Ryan or Jaime! One of you! Hurry!" Andy says, and Ryan's the first one to get his phone to Andy. Once he gives it to him, Andy starts dialing, and he hits call.
Beep! Beep! Beep!



"Oli?" Lee calls into a dark room. His boyfriend said he would be back in a minute, but it's been ten. Maybe he's just messing around? No, Oli wouldn't do that, especially when all his friends are dying right in front of him.

That's when he hears a moan of pain, and he starts freaking out. Maybe I should get the fuck out of here, but I can't leave Oli! Please let it be the wind.

Lee says in his head, but he knows it's not the wind. When he enters the room, the first thing he does is turn on the lights, well, anyone would do that. As soon as he does, he sees his boyfriend Oli trying to breathe.

"Lee... I love you." Oli says, and tears start to form in his eyes.

"I love you too." Lee says as falls to his knees in front of Oli. He can't believe he, or she killed Oli! Oli never did anything wrong.

Before Oli takes his last breath, his eyes widen, and he screams the best he can, "LEE LOOK OUT!" Lee's confused by Oli's last words, but soon realizes, there's someone behind him. Lee stands up, and he sees the person behind this whole sick thing.

"It's you! How could you!?" Lee screams, because now, he's full of rage. The quiet, shy Lee has now burst into a huge pissed off mess.

"Poor Lee, I wish you didn't see this, because quite frankly, you're the only one who didn't do anything wrong. Now, I'm sorry but, I'm going to have to kill you now."

They say, and Lee starts to cry. He doesn't want to fight this, because his love is already dead, and he can't live without him.

The killer shuts the door, they can't be too sure about this, because in a house full of people who want to go investigating, might find them. You can never be too sure about that! The killer says to themselves as he grabs Lee by his soft hair, and weirdly wipes the tears off of his face. This confuses Lee, but he decides it's best not to question a psycho, who he thought was his friend.

"Sorry Lee, I hope you can forgive me!" The killer says, pulling their blood stained hunting knife. Their quickly stabs Lee in the throat, and he falls to the ground. "Lee, I-I am so sorry." The killer says as they go through a passage, and the killer laughs. "Easy as one, two, three." They say as they get out of the room, and makes it down the hall.



"Can we please get the fuck out of here?" Jaime asks Andy, who is still dragging Jaime and Ryan around the house. He's so close, but yet, so far away. Ryan's done with this, all of it. All he wants to do is get the fuck out of here, and never come back.

"You know what, fuck this, fuck that, fuck you and you, and fuck this damn fucking house!" Ryan yells, as he runs away from the two. He's obviously just saying this out of fear, and before the two know it, Ryan's out of sight.

"What was that?" Jaime asks, and Andy shrugs. He needs a cigarette, and now he has to find Mike because he's the one with a good lighter. That means he could possibly be trying to find the killer, because who knows.



Rich is still upset, but he's trying so hard to forget, but he can't. How could he say that to Austin? He might as well die next because now people think he's the killer. How could they think that? Even though he said what he said. He would never think of killing his best friends, even though Austin cheated on him.

That's when they hear a bang, and then a scream. Oh my god! What the hell was that?! Rich practically screams as he jumps up from the comfortable chair he was sitting on.
Please don't let it be another person dead! Rich prays, and that's when he saw feet sticking out from the door way. The shoes were familiar, and instantly, he knew who it was. Ryan. Rich didn't know what to do, but maybe he should scream? Cry? Faint? Rich decides to scream, "RYAN!" Then he faints, and the first person on the scene is Ronnie.

"Oh my god! Ryan! Rich! Are you okay?" Ronnie practically yells. He's in shock because he just saw his best friend's dead body. He can't take this anymore, and he decides he has to take matters into his own hands because he doesn't want any more friends to die.

"Where are you fucker?! Come out and try to get me! I fucking dare you!" Ronnie screams in pure anger. By this time, Vic, Mike, Craig, Andy, and Jaime are there. Vic has a blank expression on his face, and so does Mike. It's like they're hiding something, but what?

Ronnie runs off into Andy's master bathroom, and he just needs to go to the bathroom. Once he's done, he hears a knock on the door; he's confused onto why someone is knocking. "One second!" Ronnie says, clearly annoyed. Then they knock again, and this pisses Ronnie off even more. He hates being rushed. He washes his hands before opening the door. When he does, no one's there, and Ronnie says, "You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!" Ronnie doesn’t know if someone’s trying to be funny, or if he’s about to get murdered next. He’s tempted to go out and actually find out who the hell was knocking.

This isn’t funny to him, and when he finds out who knocked, they’re dead meat. He isn’t the killer, but he soon will be when he finds out. Fuck! What was that?! Ronnie asks himself before he heard a cell phone ring. Ronnie’s determined to find out where the ringing is coming from.

“Andy? Rich? Nikko?” Ronnie calls out, but no one answers. Please be a joke, please be a joke! Ronnie prays to himself, being the first time he’s actually prayed in a while. He really wants this to be a joke, because if it isn’t, then he is next to die. He sees the stairs that leads him back to where everyone is at. He doesn't know whether he should just use the steps, or go the long way. If he takes the long way, he could have the chance to get out of here with Andy, Nikko, Rich, and who ever is still remaining, but if he goes the short way, he could be killed.

Ronnie decides he's got to make a decision now, because now he's hearing footsteps. At times like these, I wish I was still drinking. Ronnie laughs to himself before running up the steps. He's trying to go up the steps as fast as he can, if he survives this, he would probably be a better person. Yeah, I will be a better person! Maybe tell Rich how I really feel about him! Ronnie says before someone pushes him down the stairs.

Once he's reached the bottom of the stairs, he lands on his neck awkwardly, and he can't move his head. He can't even scream because it hurts so bad, and that's not good. The person that pushed him, starts to walk down the stairs with a smile plastered on their face. They've succeeded in their goal, and they took out the biggest threat, Ronnie Radke. How the hell is he still alive? I could have sworn that fall would have killed him. Well, it did paralyze him. They say to themself, as they reach Ronnie.

They kick him in the head, and Ronnie tries to scream, but he can't. He tears up and whispers, "Tell Rich I love him." This angers the killer, and the killer says, "Don't worry sweetie, I'll tell him when I kill him!" Ronnie cries, and the killer laughs. "You should have went the long way! You could've been able to tell Rich yourself!" They laugh as they stomp on Ronnie's neck, crushing it. Blood is pouring out of Ronnie's mouth, and then, the killer stabs Ronnie right in between the eyes with the blood stained hunting knife. Ronnie doesn't even have a chance to close his eyes, because he does instantly.

I should have done that sooner, but this was the perfect chance! Who knew he'd have feelings for Rich! The killer laughs as he runs up the stairs, because now they're hearing the footsteps.



"Nikko, we have to find Ronnie!" Rich says as he grabs Nikko's hand, leading her and Alex to a staircase that they didn't see before. "Wait, you guys? I'm getting a bad feeling about this... maybe we shouldn't go through here?" Rich says, holding his head because it's throbbing from fainting earlier.

"Why-Why do you want to find Ronnie? You're not the killer... are you?" Alex asks Rich, who is now annoyed with him.
"I'm not the fucking killer! Why the hell would I kill my best friends, and ex boyfriend?" Rich says as he opens the door. When he does Nikko and Alex both gasp at the same time. This makes Rich confused, because he's facing Nikko and Alex.

"Richy... whatever you do, don't turn around." Alex says, and instantly Rich doesn't listen to Alex. So he turns around, and sees his worst fear come to life. Ronnie's dead, and still bleeding body. Rich falls to his knees, and screams in the loudest, most deepest voice he can. Nikko's taken back by how Rich is screaming until Andy, Jaime, Kellin, Mike, Vic, and a crying Craig rush in.

"What's- oh." is all Andy says before pulling out another cigarette. Rich is now pissed at Andy, for not even caring.
"How the fuck are you just going to smoke again?!" Rich practically screams. Vic's in shock at what he sees, and now everyone is trying to break up the fight.

"Rich does have a point though..." Alex says, and Andy starts to go after him.

"Well at least I'm not a cheater!" Andy yells, and everyone gasps.

"At least I'm not smoking my life away!" Alex throws back, and nobody says a word because it didn't really make that much sense. Andy just rolls his eyes, tasting the puke from earlier. He feels the need to throw up, and he runs to the bathroom. He doesn't even care if the killer is by there, he just doesn't want to throw up anywhere other than the toilet.



"Oh my god, Oh my god. I want to go home." Rich cries, and Nikko hugs him tight. She then says, "Me too, don't worry Richy, we'll get through this." She comforts her best friend, she hates seeing him upset. She's trying to calm him down from what he just saw. It's an awful sight, but what's even worse is that Ronnie basically admitted that he has feelings for Rich.

"It's okay Rich, you know, you've got me! I'll keep you safe from the killer!" Vic says with a smile, and he puts his right hand on Rich's thigh. This makes Rich uncomfortable, and he doesn't know why.

"I'll be back, I have to use the bathroom." Vic says as he gets up, and Kellin goes in a different direction. Why the hell is everyone splitting up? Are they forgetting that there's a fucking killer here? Jaime says to himself as he gets up to go get more whisky from the fridge. Alex and Nikko Are sitting on the ground, comforting Rich. That's when Rich out of the blue and says, "We need to seriously get the hell out of here, now." Rich jumps up and storms to the main floor of Andy's house.

"Where the hell are you going?" Vic asks, chasing after Rich. He's walking so fast, it's becoming harder for Vic to catch up. Some how he manages before Rich manages to get out of the house.

"Do you want to explain this?" "No. I actually really don't."



"I need to find one of my phones! But where did I put them?" Andy says out loud, as he goes up the stairs. "Hey Andy." Someone says from behind him. Andy turns around and he sees the killer, smiling and waving his hunting knife in front of him.

"I'm really sorry I have to do this, but we can't have any witnesses!" The killer smiles before charging at Andy. From all the cigarettes he smoked tonight, he couldn't run that fast. Once he gets to the top of the steps he collapsed, and the killer kicked him in the face. Andy let out a scream, and the killer panicked so they took the knife and stabbed him in the heart.

Instantly Andy died, and the killer ran. They didn't want to get revealed just yet, there's too many people still alive.



"Rich! Rich! Come in here!" Vic whispers as Rich is walking past. When Rich hears, he's hesitant to go into the room. Soon Vic sticks his head out to reassure Rich. So he goes into the room.

"I got away from the killer, whoever it was chased me in here, and I guess they couldn't find me so they gave up." Vic says, and Rich starts to freak out. He doesn't know if the killer will eventually find Vic, and now him in here. Vic pushes Rich against the wall, and he passionately kisses Rich for a good minute before Rich pushes him, and smacks Vic as hard as he can in the face. Vic smiles and says, "You just made the worst mistake of your life Richy."

Vic flashes a wild grin to Rich, pulling out the knife stained with the blood of his friends and stabbing. He doesn't hesitate before piercing Rich's flesh, laughing at the pained scream Rich lets loose.

"You can't have your cake and eat it, too, Richy. Pulling Ronnie and Austin? Fucking Christ." Then he rips the knife out, his demonic wider than ever. "Say hi to Ronnie for me, 'kay?"

Then Vic shoves Rich to the ground, storing his knife away and taking off. One more down. Only a small amount of creatures stand between himself and freedom. He just needs to sever the ties with them all. But first, he needs his friend back on board.

Vic runs downstairs, his face flooding full of false concern. He goes through all of the motions - he forces tears to come to his eyes, walks slow, as though he is weighed down by the loss of a friend (which he is, in a sort of way), and hangs his head. He needs to look pitiful, absolutely distraught when he meets up with the survivors and his partner in crime, quite literally.

And that he does.

He finds Alex first, and trailing behind him are Nikko and Justin and Craig and Kellin and Mike. Looks like they all learned to stay together, finally. Vic trains his eyes on Alex and Alex only. He can't look at his brother, no way in Hell.

"A-Alex, Alex, oh my God," he gasps out, grabbing onto Alex's t-shirt with shaking hands. "Dude, Rich-Rich's dead."
"What?" Alex coughs in disbelief. He feels like he just got punched straight in the gut. There are now six people left. Six. Out of twenty. "Are you fucking serious? Rich is dead?"
"Wait, what? No!"

The group turns to Nikko and collectively cringe. That was her best friend. She's just had her best friend and the boy she had so many feelings for ripped from underneath her. Everyone has had someone ripped out from underneath them, and it's sickening.

"This is bullshit, I'm getting the fuck out of here," Alex hisses, pulling away from everyone. Kellin grasps his hand and keeps him in place with his grip and his desperate eyes.
"Lexy, look, you may be a fucking asshole for cheating, but I love you and don't want you to die. You've gotta stay here. If you try and escape, the killer will probably, well, kill you. Don't go."

Alex jerks, makes a move to head for the stairs, but his resolve crumbles underneath the guilt Kellin has placed on him.

"Alright, fine."

He walks back to his boyfriend, wanting to wrap his arms around him, but is hesitant. He has no idea how angry Kellin is with him, and he doesn't want to be rejected, so he just stands there with his hands reaching towards him awkwardly. It's a lot better when Kellin takes those hands and pulls Alex close, hanging onto him.

"We gotta do something," Mike mutters. "Whether it's run or hide or fight the fuck back. I, of course, vote for the latter. What, all of us against one person? Too damn easy."
"But what if it's one of us?" Craig asks bluntly, his entire attitude warped by the loss of his boyfriend. He's blank, near emotionless, and it's certainly unsettling. "It would take our numbers down."
"By one, dude. We'd be fine."

Justin, having been near silent since his breakdown back when Jacky died, nods, gnawing on his bottom lip. It's all he's been doing. It's bled at least three different times.

"W-We could get some weapons. Knives from the kitchen?" he suggests, shrugging limply. "Or we could rely on strength, but with Ronnie, Ashley, and Jaime dead, we'd be fucked."
"Hey!" Mike shouts indignantly. "I could fight."

He's pouting now, and it's almost as if he is failing to grasp the seriousness of this situation. Vic knows, however, that it is just in his nature. Mike is childish, immature, but a sweetheart. It makes him sick to his stomach to know what fate awaits his younger brother. Perhaps Vic could spare him? Could he trust Mike to not say a word?

'You can't trust anyone, Victor!'

Right. Right, right, fuck. You can't trust anyone. You can't.

"Our best choice is to hide," he says. He's glancing around almost anxiously, biting his tongue. "That way, when the killer stumbles and finds us, we jump 'im."
"Yeah, okay. That sounds good. If he doesn't have, like, a fucking machine gun and mows us down," Alex mumbles. Vic rolls his eyes and starts to head towards the basement, urging everyone to follow him, his heart pounding. This is it. This is his - their - last chance.

He looks back at Kellin and gives him a narrow, subtle glare, which causes Kellin to pause and stare for a moment before deflating in a sigh.

Just as he reaches the basement door, wraps his hand around the knob, swings it open, even, he hears, "Don't!" It didn't come from anyone in the group, so who the hell could it have been? He turns around muttering, "What?" and he feels like he could tear the world apart when he sees Rich standing not too far away. Fuck. He's dead, isn't he? He should be dead!

"Richy, y-shit, you're alive!" Nikko scream, and Vic just wants to snap her neck. He watches her run over to her friend, but stop in her tracks when she sees the blood seeping through his shirt and dripping to the floor. "What happened?" He doesn't answer her, just gives Vic a dirty glare. Vic catches it, and he feels something within him snap, just give out.

And he laughs.

He throws his head back and laughs, his sanity unraveling faster than it ever has. He appears maniacal to the people staring at him, and people begin to question how trustworthy he is.

"What the hell's funny?" Alex snaps, squirming out of Kellin's arms. Kellin's face melts into a panicked expression as he grabs for Alex's wrist, pulling him back suddenly. "Why're you laughing, Vic, the fuck's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong-that fucking slut should be dead!" he shouts out, a twisted grin on his face. Alex lets out a short gasp, backing into his boyfriends chest.

Justin steps forward, ready to question Vic himself, but Rich cuts him off. "Why don't you tell them how you killed everyone, Vic? All your friends?"
"Tell them what? About how I slit throats and stabbed chests and--"

Vic cuts himself off, whipping out his hunting knife and rushing forward. Everyone gasps and tries to jerk away, but he manages to bury the blade in Craig, piercing his heart. He falls to the floor and Vic rips the blade out, turning to watch people get to their knees. Some fall into panic mode and the ones who aren't hyperventilating are manning up and try and help for a few good moments before giving up because they all knew Craig is gone.

"Well, at least he's with Max, right?" Justin mumbles sadly, though to a trained ear, he sounds a little bit bitter. Maybe he's tired of this game. Maybe he wants an escape, too.

"You're all gonna fucking "be with Max," it's just a matter of who I'm the most upset with, who goes first."

No one even bothers turning to catch Vic's blank expression, turning tail and scattering around the house. Mike takes off the slowest, allowing Vic to grab him by the arm and yank him back. Mike yelps, dropping to his knees without even glancing at his brother.

"Vic, please," he starts to beg, screwing his eyes shut for several anxious moments. "I'm your brother, I'm your little brother, Vic, you're supposed to protect me from shit like this, please, Vic, please!"

Vic gets on his knees as well, keeping a firm grip on Mike. He takes a breath and says, "Mikey, I'm doing this because I care about you."
"That doesn't make sense, Vic, just please, please don't kill me, God, Vic, please."
"Mike. This world is full of far worse things than death. The people that've died tonight, they were dirty, they were traitors, and I don't want my baby brother to live in a place full of people like them."
"No, no, I want to live in a place with them, I've got to, Vic, don't do this!"

With a shake of his head, his eyes fill with a fire Mike has never seen. It terrifies him, shakes him, freezes him. He can't even try to get away, because Vic's grip on him is so tight that Mike knows it has to be bruising. He stares in horror at the cold-blooded monster his brother has become - or has he always been this way? - and it doesn't register for a good ten seconds that Vic has plunged that stained knife deep into his stomach.

"I'm the older brother, Mike. You've gotta listen to me."
"Vic--"
"I'm sorry."

But Vic hardly looks sorry at all when he pulls the knife and drags the blade across Mike's neck. The only thing humans about it is that he has his eyes closed and his face screwed up in a pained wince. Mike's scream ends before it even begins, interrupted by harsh, horrid choking, and before Vic can open his eyes, his baby brother is as good as gone. His heart is only slightly weighted down as he gets to his feet.

It's for the best.

And besides, you can't trust anyone. Not even blood.

Vic starts in the direction that he remembers at least two of them running in, his knife wet with the life of his brother, his brother who is in a place so much better than this one. He takes the stairs, where he catches Justin and Rich scrambling to make it to the top. Rich is moving sluggishly due to his stab wound, and Vic takes this opportunity to rush up and snatch him. Nikko, who's already at the top, screams, "He's right behind you!" But she's too little, too late and Vic has grasped Richy's collar. He yanks him back, sends him tumbling down the stairs. He's dead now, he just has to be, and he rushes for Justin next.

The narrow boy misses Vic's hand by an inch, ducking down and speeding up. He tears up the steps to meet Nikko and he pulls her along, saying, "C'mon, we gotta go, we gotta go!" Nikko stops staring in horror at her best friend's still form at the bottom of the staircase and gives into Justin's commands just as Vic nears the top. They take off, hiding in the bathroom as Vic follows close behind. Justin locks the door, his breathing heavy as he collapses to the floor. He's so tired, so fucking tired and so fucking done with it all. He closes his eyes and slumps against the door as Vic bangs on it, screaming, "Don't make me go The Shining on you, it's gonna be so much easier for you if you open the damned door!"

Nikko shakes Justin, fearing that he's died from shock or fear. She doesn't want to be trapped in a room with a dead body and a crazed killer on the other side of the door. Her eyes fill with tears just as Justin opens his eyes again to reassure her.

"Not dead yet, girlie," he says with a weak smile. She sniffles and they hold hands for some sort of strength, praying that they manage to get through this.

Just then, Vic breaks through, swinging the door open as best he can with Justin blocking it. Immediately, Justin jumps up and when Vic takes a swing with his knife, Justin stops his arm from coming down, the blade inches from his skin. He shoves the murderer away, screams for Nikko to follow and they take off again. They just barely catch Vic's, "You guys are so fucking annoying!"

They race down the hallway, stopping at fuck, a dead end. It's a hallway with bedrooms, why would there be a way through, why, why, fucking why?

Vic comes down the hallway with a dark grin, saying, "You guys shoulda went a different way. Maybe the hall with the study? I think there's a way through, even an easy access to the attic. Too late now, though, right?"

He lunges forward, knocks the two of them to the ground. He straddles Justin, closer to him than the girl, and holds the knife above his eye, hovering from one eye to the other. "Left or right, huh? Left or right?"
"Neither, ne-neither! Please, Vic, please, please, Vic, please!"

Just as Vic prepares to stab, he hears, "Don't you fucking dare!"

Before he can even turn around, he's tackled off of Justin and pinned to the floor by Rich. Just the sight of him pisses Vic off to no extent. He kicks and pushes until Rich tumbles off of him, jumping to his feet and tapping the side of his head lightly with the blade. "What the fuck, man?" he says, sounding a bit out of breath. "Who are you, fucking Michael Myers?"
"Nope. But I am your worst nightmare."

Vic scoffs, taking note of the boy's bloodstained shirt with disinterested eyes. Fucking hell, the guy can hardly stand, and yet he constantly gets up. Vic realizes now that pushing him down two or three stairs probably wasn't going to cut it. He should have pushed him down a dozen, maybe two dozen. Pushed him off a balcony, even.

"Are you? You can't even stand without staggering."

With a roll of his eyes, he turns his attention back to Justin, who has been lifted to his feet by Nikko. Vic nearly whips his knife at her. What a fucking bitch. Instead, he rushes towards Justin without hesitation, simply speeding up when Justin realizes and tries to scramble away. There's nowhere for him to go.

He slams Justin to the ground, back in his earlier position of straddling the younger boy and hovering the knife over his eyes. Justin was a sweet kid, real sweet, but Vic can't let him live. He can't trust anyone, he can't trust a single soul. Not when everyone lives against him.

"Vic," Justin starts, back to begging. His eyes are watery and he's sniffling as he talks. "Vic, please, we're friends, c'mon man, please, please. I-I'm not ready to die, I'm too afraid, I don't know what'll happen, please Vic please, we're friends!"

All of a sudden, Vic hears, "Wait, wait!" and turns slightly, not happy at all with being interrupted a second time. This interruption is Kellin, flying up the stairs and holding his hand out in some cheesy attempt to stop Vic from his next motion.

"Vic, wait."
"I've waited long enough, Kells, I've waited all fucking night. I've waited for years."

Kellin doesn't say anything, doesn't make a motion. The people left are innocent. They haven't done anything overtly cruel. Hell, none of them have. Everyone committed such simple, easy crimes - being in love, being emotional, being human - and Vic sees it all twisted and tainted.

He isn't sure what to do anymore. He never was.

But when Vic plunges the knife into Justin's body, he charges forward because fuck, that is...was his best friend. He bites back a scream and drops to his knees at Justin's side. The blade is buried in Justin's chest, right down to the hilt, and it makes Kellin sick to look at. It doesn't help that Justin is spitting up blood now, staining him with the haunting liquid.

"Justin," he says, in complete shock. Vic said he would leave the innocent ones alone. He said he would. He promised he would.

Kellin leans down, staring into Justin's dimming eyes, his heart heavy and his head aching. This is all so fucked up. Vic roped him into a disaster, an actual hell.

Justin finds the strength to sit up slightly, press his bloodied lips to Kellin's lightly, and chokes out, "...Always did..." before dropping to the floor with a dull thump. His eyes are dark, frozen on nothing. He's gone.

Kellin gets to his feet, unable to look at Justin anymore without feeling the urge to vomit. This is his fault, at least partially so, and he bites his tongue and just watches Vic instead of running away and curling up like he wants to.

Vic is paying no mind to Kellin, however, walking towards Nikko after wrenching his weapon out of Justin's corpse. She's on the ground now, huddled in the corner, shaking with sobs. Kellin can't watch, he just can't. She, like Justin, hadn't done a thing to anyone. Vic couldn't possibly be killing her.

What makes it worse is that when Vic lifts her up, gripping the collar of her t-shirt, she doesn't beg. She doesn't plea for her life, she doesn't clasp her hands together and ask Vic to reconsider, to spare her. She just stares at him with tears streaming down her face and accepts it.

Rich, who Kellin had no idea was even still around, tries to reach the two in time while he shouts, "No!" and though his efforts are valiant, he fails. He just barely reaches Vic, grabs for his arm to stop the blade from touching her, but Vic moves out of the way and slits her throat with no hesitation, a clean cut across her neck. He allows himself to get hit with the spray of blood, not moving until he leaves her with a few parting words.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," he says, and he sounds genuinely - yet only slightly - remorseful. "You can't trust anyone."

She drops to the ground when Vic lets her go, his skin stained with her life. He doesn't even care, and that's what shocks Kellin more than anything.

He's cold now, colder than ever, and Kellin thinks he finished breaking down inside when he killed his younger brother. Vic may be psychotic, but he loved Mike with all his heart. Kellin wasn't there to witness Mike's demise, but he thinks that that is when Vic truly lost all he had. Because he really had lost all he had. Mike was it. Mike was everything. Then he killed Mike, and Kellin still doesn't know why. And once Mike was dead, so was the thought of letting anyone go.

And why is he saying that you can't trust anyone?

Rich leans down, grabs her hand and watches her cough and choke and just die. He mutters something like, "I'll avenge you," something that seems straight out of a movie, but Kellin's heart aches nonetheless. What are they doing? What have they done? Why?

"I thought you pushed him down the stairs?" he mumbles to Vic, finally making his way towards the crazed young man he used to confidently call his friend. He sounds as though he's interested but really, he's just sick.
"Fucker won't die. And it was only like three. I can't kill him, looks like."

He turns to Kellin with this grin, this malicious grin highlighted with an innocent girl's blood, and says, "But you probably can." He pushes Kellin forward, watching him with that terrifying smile. He can't do this, he can't do it again. He says a quick prayer before pulling his knife from his pocket, flicking the blade up.

The steel is dark with Austin's blood.

"I'm so fucking sorry."

Rich whips around, but Kellin cries out and stabs away, ripping the blade out and stabbing again wherever he can. His eyes are shut and tears burn behind his eyelids and he just goes crazy. When he hears Vic's soft, "That's enough, Kellin," he slows to a stop.

He backs away before opening his eyes.

Rich is dead, beyond dead, his body having collapsed over Nikko's.

Vic says, "Oh. Guess he can die after all," and laughs.

Fucking hell.

He backtracks further, a strong sense of nausea erupting within him like a volcano. He drops to his knees and throws up, clutching his stomach as he cries and vomits and becomes a true mess. He doesn't want to kill, he doesn't want to be a killer, he doesn't want to be a murderer, he doesn't want this.

Vic roped him into it tonight, cornered him and forced him to do it. He manipulated him, put the life of everyone Kellin loved on the line. His mother, his stepfather, Alex, his best friend. Vic said it would only be a few. Vic said he would spare those who were innocent. Vic said, Vic said, Vic said!

He feels the hand of his friend-turned-murderer on his skin and just becomes worse. Vic is rubbing Kellin's back as if this will all be okay, things will be alright and they won't because they're killers, they're both killers. He didn't want to kill the people he did, but Vic probably had the time of his life. He enjoyed seeing them die. He must have. Why else would he have killed...everyone?

The thought has him heaving all over again.

He's crying and shivering and how he's just retching, nothing else will come up, and he can't believe this. He just wants to find Alex and get up and go. Alex's life was guaranteed safe. Okay, so Vic said he wouldn't kill anyone innocent and straight lied, but no one had a guarantee like Alex did. No one.

He shakily gets to his feet, Vic's arm around him as he wipes his mouth and feels like absolute shit. How can God forgive him for this? God loves all His children, yes, but how can He love Kellin after this? He is the devil's property now. His fate has to be sealed. And still, he prays as Vic brings him downstairs. He begs for forgiveness to the soundtrack of creaking steps.

"All we need to do," Vic says quietly, "is find Alex and get out of here."

Vic isn't wasting his time thinking about the heavens above. He doesn't even believe in it. He can't trust what he can't see. He can't trust anyone or anything.

"R-Right."
"Are you still sick?"
"Not...not right now, n-no. I just wanna find him and go, Vic, please."
"Okay. We'll find him. Where do you think he's hiding? You know him better than me."

Kellin's intuition takes him to the theater-esque room he discovered a while back. He feels Alex would be there because with the seats, it makes for multiple obstacles, so if Vic came for him then, there would be so much for him to climb and jump over that Alex could make it out alive.

"Alex? Alex! Are you in here?" Kellin calls out, leaving Vic at the steps.
"K-Kells?"

It's Alex, and even after so much fucking misery tonight, Alex's voice makes his heart flutter with happiness. His boyfriend pokes his head out from behind a row of seats, and Kellin launches forward to jump over it and catch his boyfriend in a tight hug.

"Thank fuck you're alright," Alex mumbles into Kellin's shoulder, holding him close. "I was so scared, Kells. I love you, I love you so much. I lost you, I-I fucking--"
"It's okay, Lex, it's fine, I'm here. Let's get the hell out of here, please."

Alex nods before they both start to leave, fingers laced together and cheeks stained with tears of relief. They make it to the steps and Alex freezes in his tracks at the sight of Vic, a murderer, the murderer. He stutters, "Vi-I-It's Vic."
"It's okay, Lex, he won't hurt us. I promise. He promised."
"Why won't he? He killed everyone else!"
"He promised me, Alex. He let me come find you. He spared us. It's okay."

He hesitates, but his desire to leave this night behind outweighs his distrust of a psychotic murderer. He takes a breath and clutches Kellin's hand tighter as the head up the stairs, following behind a silent Vic.

They walk through the living room, ignoring the corpses that lie around the floor, and Vic leads them to the door, opening it and walking out into the fresh air for the first time all night. Kellin is stricken by a sharp fear, however, as he inhales the outside world. Something. Something is wrong.

All of a sudden, Alex is wrenched away from him, their hands releasing each other and leaving the other empty. He turns in horror and he could just shatter when he sees Vic holding him, the dirty blade to his neck. Alex is trembling, whispering pleas to let him go, and Kellin can't believe it.

He should have known better.

You can't trust anyone.

He can't trust Vic.

"Vic. Vic, you promised. Please let him go, let him go!"
"He cheated on you, Kellin, he cheated on you! He doesn't love you. You've deluded yourself. It's a lie. You've forced yourself to believe that this degenerate fuck felt something other than momentary lust."

Kellin shakes his head as Vic goes on. It's not true. Alex loves him. Alex loves him, cheating on him doesn't mean he doesn't mean he doesn't love him. Alex loves him. Alex loves him!

"No, no, Vic, y-you're wrong!"
"I'm not."
"You are!"
"Then why isn't Alex saying anything to defend himself?"

Kellin stares at Alex, waits for some sort of defense, but nothing comes. Alex just keeps his head down. Why isn't e speaking up? He loves Kellin. He just said so in the theater.

He does. Nothing Vic says will convince him otherwise.

Vic chuckles lightly and Alex lifts his head. He's choking, Vic's arm around his throat instead of the blade at his neck. He's gasping weakly for air, his face darkening with a nearing death. That's why he didn't say anything. He couldn't.

The knife is in Vic's other hand, waiting, waiting for something. He eases up the grip on Alex's neck, lets him breathe so he can cough out, "Kells, I love you, I do! I'm sorry for what I did, I am, I'm sorry, I love you!" and ease Kellin's mind. He's still terrified, however, because while he's not choking anymore, Vic is still holding him and keeping the blade close.

"Vic, let him go! You promised!"

With that, Kellin steps forward and the blade plunges deep into Alex's stomach. He screams out in pain, his legs going limp. The only thing keeping him up is Vic's arm. Kellin cries, "Alex!" knowing that he'll break if Alex is the final one to go. He runs forward, but every time his feet hit the ground, Vic rips the knife out and stabs again and again and again.

It's like Kellin is killing Alex himself.

"Kellin, stop!" Alex pleads, blood slipping past his lips. Kellin drops, his ass meets the ground, and he sits there. Vic takes the blade, dripping with Alex's blood, out of the boy's stomach for about the sixth time. Alex is as good as dead.

Vic throws him towards Kellin, done with his stabbing game. Alex lands limp near his love, and Kellin bites his lip to keep his tears at bay. He crawls the last few feet that separate them, runs his fingers over Alex's blood-flecked cheek.

"Lexy. Lexy, please, please don't go. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be sorry."

His voice is low and his words are achingly slow, drenched in pain. His dull brown eyes flutter and Kellin grabs his shoulders, shakes him desperately.

"Alex, don't you fucking dare! Please! We're gonna be okay. We are. We're gonna be okay."
"We aren't. You...you get out. Please."
"Lexy. Lexy, no. No. Nonono. No, Lexy, Al-Alex, Alexander! Lexy, no, please! Don't you fucking dare! Don't!"

But his screams are pointless. Alex's eyes are shut for good.

He kisses Alex's lips one last time. It's an unresponsive kiss, slick and salty with blood and tears.

He cries against his boyfriend, absolutely and completely and forever done. He can't do this anymore. Vic promised. He promised that Alex wouldn't be touched. Alex would be okay. He lied. He killed Alex. Alex is dead. Everyone is dead. Just because Vic is a psychotic boy with a thirst for blood and a twisted sense of right and wrong.

Crying on Alex won't help. It won't bring Alex back. Nothing will help. Nothing will bring anyone back.

Kellin gets to his feet, turns to face Vic. Even though he has nothing left to expel, his stomach rolls with sickness. His heart thuds in his aching chest. His head pounds. His fists tighten.

He throws his knife to the ground, adrenaline pumping through his veins at a thousand miles an hour.

"You're a liar."

Vic gives him his full attention, confused for only a second.

"I said I'd get Alex out alive and he got out alive. I didn't lie."
"You said you wouldn't hurt him. You said you wouldn't hurt anyone innocent."
"He wasn't innocent, Kellin, he betrayed you."
"I don't fucking care! I don't care! I don't care! You fucking swore on your worthless life! You swore! You said you wouldn't and you killed everyone. You turned on them all, you turned on me."
"I didn't kill everyone. You helped, Kells. You helped me."
"Shut up! You-you fucking-shut up! Stop it! You pulled me in! You held the lives of my loved ones over my head, you son of a bitch!"

He comes closer and closer, his body tight with rage. Vic doesn't move, but he's dropped his weapon as well. He knows what's coming, and he can take Kellin in a heartbeat. He picked Kellin because he's so impressionable, so weak. He can take the boy down without an effort. He knows it.

"You said that you can't trust anyone, Vic. And you're right. Because I can't fucking trust you. You twisted, disgusting, psychotic, lying snake!"
! 
Kellin lunges for the older boy, wasting no time in knocking him to the ground. He punches Vic nonstop, left and right left and right left and right. He slams his fists into Vic’s face relentlessly, tears burning in his eyes as he screams, “You ruined our lives, you ruined them!” He hears a crack and slows to a stop momentarily, only a bit shocked to see blood pouring from Vic’s nose. It only adds to the dried blood on his face, however, doing nothing but painting a more frightening picture as it stains his skin. His hesitation allows Vic to push him away, to get to his feet and start kicking Kellin in the ribs. Kellin howls in pain as Vic kicks again and again and again and again, and it’s clear that Vic’s intent is to harm, probably to kill.
 
It wouldn’t be the first time.
 
Kellin tries to crawl away, makes it to his knees, but Vic kicks him in the stomach and gets him to drop to the ground. His body throbs in harsher pain with each and every blow Vic lands, his mind screaming to get away but his limbs failing to comply. He grabs Vic’s leg as Vic prepares to kick again, yanking him to the sidewalk. He pulls himself onto Vic and wraps his hands around his throat, but he just doesn’t know if he has it in him, deep down within him, to kill another person. Vic is not innocent. Vic is destroyed. Vic needs serious help. But who in the world can give it to him? Kellin tries to push those thoughts aside and keeps the grip on Vic’s throat strong. He chokes up as Vic coughs and struggles and claws at Kellin’s hands, breaking the skin as he attempts to get free.
 
He seems to have a stroke of brilliance and he moves his leg, brings it up and hits Kellin in the spine with his knee. Kellin gasps, loosening his grip slightly at the sudden shock, but Vic catches the weakness and does it again. It hurts so badly, each strike in his back worse than the last. He lets go after so many times, releasing Vic’s neck and Vic takes over, slamming Kellin to the concrete. He grabs a fistful of Kellin’s hair, damp with sweat, and smacks his head against the ground, showing no emotion when Kellin screams. He does it again, Kellin’s screech like a soundtrack to a horrid movie.

One more hit and Kellin stops fidgeting, struggling, fighting. Blood begins to stain the sidewalk a deep red and Vic lets his hair go. Kellin rests there, limp, his eyes unfocused. His breathing is shallow and shaky and Vic knows that his life has reached its end.

"You can finally be with your sister again, Kellin. Smile."

His sister.

Kailey.

Kellin's mind nearly shuts down at the sound of her name. His big sister, his beautiful sister, the sister he loved, the sister that got killed two years ago. No one ever found the murderer. No one ever knew. They just found her in her apartment, bleeding out and detached from life.

"It's ironic, you both die by the same hands. You Bostwicks need to learn. You can't trust anyone."

Die by the same hands.

Die by the same hands?

Vic.

Vic killed Kailey.

"Say hi to her for me. I saved her. Just like I saved Mike. Just like I saved you. I saved all the innocents, as you said, from this fucked up place."

Vic doesn't get to say another word. The blossoming anger erupts into a flaming rage and Kellin finds the strength to get up and attack Vic. Blood trails through his hair and down his neck, but Kellin pays it no mind. He pins Vic to the ground, sits on his stomach and punches his face again, this time with absolutely no mercy.

Vic killed Kailey.

Why?

Why did he do that?

Why?

"You killed her, you killed my sister! Why, Vic, why the fuck would you do that? She did nothing to you! Nothing! Nothing! Why would you hurt her?!"

His voice cracks with the strong emotion, pounding Vic's face with his fists as he cries and screams. He was manipulated by the boy he thought was his friend, by the murderer that killed his sister, by the devil that got him to kill. He was tricked. He is ruined.

He grips Vic's throat just as he did before, but this time he takes notes from Vic himself and slams his head against the ground, just like what Vic did to him. Vic chokes and spits and reaches for Kellin, clawing at his face and leaving bright scratches on his cheeks.

"Ke-Kellin," Vic rasps, "Kellin, y-you can't do this."
"You killed her. You killed them, you killed me!"
"You don't have the s-strength."

Once again, Vic's knee strikes Kellin's back, but Kellin just hisses and presses on, slamming his head against the concrete. One.

Two.

Three.

Vic finally screams.

His first moment of weakness is strangled and pained and it terrifies Kellin, fills his veins with ice. He gets scared, he jerks and causes Vic's head to hit the ground ridiculously hard. Vic cries out, tears slip past his closed eyes and Kellin feels like the worst person alive. Even after all Vic has done, he feels sick doing this. But. Well. It's this or death.

Vic stares at Kellin with red, puffy eyes, tears sliding down his bloodstained cheeks. He cries, he actually cries and Kellin doesn't know if it's from the pain or the fact that he's close to death. Either way, it hurts his heart.

"I can't trust any-a-anyone, Kellin. Why?"
"I don't know, Vic. I don't know. I don't know. You killed her, Vic. You killed her, I can't-I-I can't..."
"Everyone-E-Everyone's so scary, Kellin."

Kellin takes the grip off of Vic's throat, refuses to look at the bruises he has left on the skin. Vic coughs, but makes no movements. Blood is pouring from the back of his head, creating a dark halo. Vic is dying, Vic is dying fast.

"I don't pray. And I-I don't deserve it, but...Kellin."

His voice is a whisper now.

"Can you p...ease pray f...r me?"

Kellin has cried so much that now, when the floodgates burst, he dry sobs into Vic's chest, cries with no tears. Through his cries, he manages to pray for Vic mentally, prays for him and prays that Vic's mind is eased in whatever path lies ahead of him, that he finds and reconciles with Mike, with everyone, so he isn't so alone and so distrusting and so afraid.

Before he makes it halfway through his prayer, Vic is dead.

Kellin is the only one left.

He gets to his feet, the realization making him stumble as he leaves Vic's body on the ground. There's nothing he can do. Nothing he can do with anything.

He walks out into the street, knowing full well that he's in a good bit of nowhere. He heads forward, dizzy and lightheaded from the attack. Blood drops from the cuts on his cheeks, his hair, it stains his lips and gives him the look of someone in dire need of help.

He walks on, leaving the house far behind, waiting for someone, anyone.

Kellin manages to find a car cruising down the road, clearing music and killing his head. He steps in front of it, hoping to get a ride to the hospital, or better yet, home. Just as the car stops, inches before colliding with his tired body, Kellin collapses, his world fading to black.

The driver gets out in a hurry, kneeling down and shaking Kellin in a panic. He goes, "Kellin? Kellin! Kellin, wake up! Kells!" and it's strange, how does this stranger know his name? What's happening? Why? Is he dying? Is he dead?

At least no harm will come to what is left of his family.

At least there's that.

"Kellin!"

---

"Kells, wake up, wake up, it's okay!"

Kellin shoots up in his bed, cheeks wet with tears. He turns to his right to see a very panicked, yet very exhausted looking Alex. His hair is messy and somewhat wild from the tossing and turning he unconsciously does every night, and Kellin's is probably no better right now.

"Alex?"
"Kells, holy shit, you scared me. You were having such a bad nightmare, baby, you were screaming and crying...I didn't know what to do, you wouldn't wake up no matter what."

Without a word, Kellin latches onto his boyfriend, his warm and comforting and breathing boyfriend. He sniffles and says, "I love you so much, Alex, I love you so much."

He pauses for a moment, leans back and says, "Did you ever...ever cheat on me with Austin?"
"Who, Chicken Legs Austin? Carlile? No way. Baby, I wouldn't ever. Not him, not with anyone. Is that what your nightmare was about?"
"You w-were dead, you were dead, everyone was dead, we-Vic killed us, he made me help him be-because he would kill my family and J-Justin and you and I agreed because I was s-so sca-scared."

Alex rubs his back as he relives the terror into the fabric of Alex's t-shirt. He's alive, not a cheater, not bleeding, not dying or crying or choking on blood.

"I dreamt that h-he was the one who killed Kailey."
"Sweetie, you know Vic wouldn't hurt a fly. He couldn't kill us. And Kailey...Kailey's death wasn't anyone's fault, baby. We couldn't prevent it if we tried. But Vic wouldn't. He wouldn't. He couldn't. And you wouldn't. You two are the sweetest things. Trust me, I know. Especially know you."

Kellin nods, hiccuping and clinging tight to Alex for fear that he'll vanish if he lets go. Unfortunately, Alex's phone is vibrating at the unholy hour of three am, so Alex removes one arm from around Kellin to retrieve it.

"Andy doesn't ever fucking sleep," he mumbles.
"What does he want?"
"He wants us to come to a party, one at his parents' old place on Saturday."
"Th-The big one? In the middle of nowhere?"
"It's not the middle of nowhere, just on a different side of town."

That house. The house where everyone he had to come to love dropped dead. The house in his nightmares, it was a nightmare, it wasn't real, things are okay, everyone is alive and Kailey's death was a natural cause and things are okay.

But he doesn't want to go.

It would be like playing with fate.

Wouldn't it?

"Kells, you're shaking. Are you okay? Is it the nightmare?"
"Let's just go back to sleep. I-I'll tell you in the morning, okay?"

Alex nods, settling down into his spot on the bed. He returns his phone to the nightstand and pulls Kellin close, keeps him safe. And yet, Kellin closes his eyes with a stupid line crossing his mind.

"You can't trust anyone."

But...but it was just a nightmare.

"Everyone-E-Everyone's so scary, Kellin."

Kellin goes back to sleep, held tight in Alex's arms, his shivers carrying him to Dreamland once again.

"You can't trust anyone."