~The Black Phone • Vance x Finney~

-Chapter 4-

Tw/cw: Self harm, child abuse, swearing, alcohol, suicide, violence

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Finney had left the park not too long ago and was already at his house. He took a deep breath in and opened the door. The small entryway felt even smaller when Finney's eyes were met with his fathers. His eyes pierced through Finney's skull and that was when Finney knew. Terrence smacked him straight across his face in pure disappointment.

"If only your mother was here *hic* to see what you've amounted to. Skipping your second period like it's a GODDAMN CHOICE." Terrance said, slurring his words as if he were tripping over his own tongue.
"GO DO YOUR FUCKING HOMEWORK OR SOME SHIT."

Finney held tears back and ran to his room while stumbling over some shoes left in the entryway. He shut his door and grabbed his homework from his bag. He didn't want to cry right now, he didn’t feel like it, so he started his homework hoping it would distract him.

***

Finney plopped down on his bed, finished with his homework. He looked out the window to see a dark blue sky covered in tiny white dots. He didn't want to but he couldn't help but think about what his dad had said.

'If only my mom were here.'

His mother killed herself after she was told by her dreams to do so. Gwenny gets the same kind of dreams and she gets beaten for it, for knowing what's coming, for hearing things, for seeing things. It pissed Finney off to see Gwen get beat almost every single month but he couldn't do anything about it.

He started crying, it was silent but he felt as if someone were poking needles into his heart. Finney's brown eyes glinted in the moonlight with tears. He just wanted it to be over, he wanted everything to be over. So much so that he stood up from his rickety bed and walked out of his bedroom to the bathroom. He shut the door behind him and locked it before scrambling through a drawer until he found what he was looking for.

The disassembled razor shined from the bottom of the drawer and Finney picked it up. He stood there holding it up to his eyes before lowering it to his arm. He slid it across his wrist and out came red. He slid it again, and again. Tears fell to his wrist and stung the wounds. Blood and tears were dripping down his arm before he stopped suddenly.

'Shit shit shit,' he thought.

Finney had relapsed, he didn't want to but he spaced out and didn't think. All he had felt was a dark and deep pit in his body that made him want to scream, so naturally, he wanted everything to end.

Tears still running down his cheek he washed his arm off in the cold water. It stung but he didn't want blood on his clothes as it would attract unwanted attention. He carefully dried it down with the fluffy towel and exited the bathroom. He was glad that his dad was passed out yet again on his leather chair. If he wasn't, Finney probably would've gotten slapped on his bloody wrist over and over again until his father dismissed him to bed.

Finney climbed into bed under the covers and squeezed his astronaut teddy bear. It hurt his wrist but he couldn't do anything about it so he shut his eyes hoping to fall asleep as fast as he ever has. He fell asleep thinking about two things, space and Vance.

One week later

Finney was now walking to the Grab n Go to get candy for himself and his little sister who so desperately 'needed' her Laffy Taffy. But this didn't bother Finney, he wanted some pop rocks anyways.

He walked past the deserted parking lot and through the swing door. To the left of the door was the cash register and the right of the door was a pinball machine that was currently being used. Finney walked through an aisle to the left of the pinball machine.
He saw two teenage boys rough-housing in the candy aisle but he thought nothing of it. He reached for the candy when suddenly one of the boys bumped into him. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal but Finney got knocked into the pinball machine that someone was using and messed up their score.

Finney backed up from the machine and saw that the person playing was Vance. Vance was pissed and spinned to the person who fucked with his game. He picked Finney up by his shirt, unaware of who it was and yelled,

"WHAT THE SHIT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU FUCKED UP MY SCORE."
Finney started to stutter,
"I'm s-sorry! I didn't mean to bump into the machine! It was an accident I swear!"

He squinted his eyes in horror, barely looking back, waiting for a punch to the face. Vance finally took a good look and saw through his rage that it was Finney he was holding.

The brunette looked so delicate and Vance didn't want to hurt him. He felt extremely angry at the fact he didn't have the balls to hit the boy and dropped him to his feet. Finney's face was in line with Vance's chest. Finney backed away, almost tripping over his tied shoelaces.

"As an apology you can tutor me next Sunday. Unless you want a bloody nose instead." Vance spoke.

Finney stood in awe and was confused as to why the blonde didn't give him a bloody nose in the first place. Finney nodded and flinched when the taller teenager pulled out a pen and paper. Vance placed the paper on top of the pinball machine and started writing his address down. He folded the paper and shoved it into the brunette's chest. Finney grabbed it from Vance's hands and started speed walking out of the Grab n Go. He didn't care about the candy anymore, he just wanted to get out of there.