𝚁𝚊𝚗𝚋𝚘𝚘'𝚜 𝙻𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚂𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛

Chapter 11

TW// mentions of self-harm (cuticle peeling), mentions of blood.

[Third pov]

"Rye?" Ranboo called her, hearing her voice mumble incoherently.

"Where are you?"

Riley spewed the toothpaste and water mixture out of her mouth before answering.

"Bathroom! I'll be out in a second."

Ranboo let a sigh of relief escape his mouth before his stomach had a throbbing pain. He sat on the bed and hoped it would go away. Ranboo scratched his cuticles before looking at them. His marroon-ish coloured dried blood had outlined his nails.

Mom always hated when you do that.

"I was brushing my teeth," Riley said as she walked into her room.

Ranboo tried to stop biting, peeling, or picking at his cuticles when his mom told him not to, but after she died, it became a habit.

"Ran, hello?"

"What?" Ranboo asked.

"I said 'I was brushing my teeth', didn't you hear?"

"No, sorry."

"You look kind of pale."

Ranboo changed the subject instantly, not wanting her to worry. "Did you see what Dad did to my room?"

"What?" Riley asked, any sign of a smile on her face had faded.

Ranboo prompted her to check his room. She did.

"Wait," she mumbled, coming back to her room. "Didn't you tweet that you'll be streaming with Sneeg today?"

Ranboo widened his eyes at the realization. "I'll just...cancel it."

"Okay. Dad's not home, right?"

"He's not. We can go downstairs, if you want. I made food."

"Ooh, did you eat yet?"

"Yeah," Ranboo lied. "I was on call with Tubbo, and ate a bowl of it for the taste test."

A bowl? You rejected taking a spoon of it when Tubbo had asked you to.

"Okay," Riley replied. "Let's go, I'm hungry."

The fact that he was so good at lying made Ranboo slightly unseasy. After giving Riley a bowl of the food he made, Ranboo sent a dm to Sneeg about having to cancel the planned stream. He turned off his phone and put his hands on it. The sound of untensils scraping the ceramic bowl was all he paid attention to before zoning out again. He regretted the decision of taking his eyes off his phone because it made him think of what his Dad would do when he came back. Ranboo hated being left with his thoughts.

"THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU'RE BOTH DEAD."

Recalling his dad's voice, a shiver was sent down Ranboo's spine and made his stomach churn. He felt like throwing up, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he hasn't eaten properly this week. The siblings chatted, and stayed downstairs for most of the afternoon. Ranboo was getting more anxious as the time passed by. At around a quarter past five pm, Ranboo went on Discord in his phone. He noticed that Techno and Dream were in vc1 on the Dream SMP Discord GC. He told Riley he was going to join the call. The both of them went upstairs before Ranboo did so.

"Ranboo, hello" Techno greeted, dragging the 'o' in 'hello'.

"RANBOO!" said a distant voice, also coming from Techno's mic.

"Hey. Is that Tommy?"

"Yup."

Ranboo spoke to them for give or take 45 minutes, paranoid about almost everything but trying to hide it. Techno noticed he was a little bit on edge from how quiet he was, and slightly shaky when he did talk.

Ranboo could hear the muffled crunching of gravel as a car's tyres pulled along the shoulder of a road. He could never forget that rhythmic engine; it was his Dad coming home. Ranboo couldn't understand the wave of panic that rushed through him. He quickly left the call he was in when his breathing hitched.

[Tommy's pov]

"I'm still here," Techno spoke. "Ranboo left."

"Without saying anything too," he continued.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked.

"Ranboo just left without saying anything," Techno answered, adjusting his headphones.

"Tommy. If I really needed help, I'd tell you, okay? I...I promise."

I left Techno's room to call Ranboo.

Ring ring...

Ring ring...

Ring-

"Ranboo?"