Burning Wings (Discontinued Until Further Notice)

Chapter Seventeen: The Angel's Guardian and the Angel's Companion

"Mitch!" Jerome yelled as he caught his friend from the end of the bed. Mitch's light weight allowed for Jerome to easily pick him up, Jerome laying his friend on the end of the bed. Ian moved the panicking Jerome out of his way, kneeling beside the bed.

"W-what happened to him?!?!" Jerome said, fear in his voice. He was silenced by Ian putting a finger to his lips. A few moments later, Ian stood up with a sigh as he shook his head.

"He's fine." Ian said quietly. "He just fainted. He should be up in a few hours. Or sooner, with that weird healing thing he has. I can't really tell."

Jerome, however, wasn't too reassured. "But did you see him? He was holding his head, and screaming for crying out loud! Something else must have happened.

Ian sat up, a sudden thought seeming to enter his head. "Screaming? Oh no... the others!"

Before Jerome could ask him what he was thinking, Ian had already bolted out of the door, slamming the bedroom door shut behind him, leaving Jerome alone with the unconscious Mitch. Jerome rose up to follow Ian, giving one more glance to Mitch before leaving the room, leaving the door cracked open. Jerome could hear voices down the hall, and headed that way.

"... a few things don't seem right about that Ian."

"I swear Adam! You would probably do the same thing if you played a horror game!"

"I WOULD NOT SCREAM LIKE A LITTLE GIRL!!!"

Jerome turned the corner to see that everyone had gathered on the stairs. Ian was on the top step, a flustered look on his face. Jason and Adam were toward the middle of the stairs, an annoyed expression on Adam's face. Jason had a look of suspicion on his face. At the bottom of the steps were Ty and Quentin, confused looks on their faces, as they watched Ian and Adam argue. Jason's gaze shifted from looking to Ian to looking at Jerome. His bright blue eyes seemed to piece through Jerome, sending shivers down his spine.

Adam gritted his teeth, watching as Jerome went to stand next to Ian, who was relieved by the presence of his friend. "Jerome, is Ian telling the truth?" Adam asked, trying not to raise his voice.

Having missed the beginning of the conversation, Jerome looked to Ian, to fill him in. "Adam doesn't believe it when I say that the scream was from the three of us playing a horror game."

Before Jerome could reply, Adam was already jumping back into the conversation. "Yeah, because a horror game called something as stupid as 'The Witch's House' is supposed to be scary. It didn't sound like a scream of fear either! It sounded like a scream of pain!"

Jerome tried to suppress his worry, not wanting the look of confidence on his face to falter. But regardless, there was a slight stutter in his voice as he spoke. "He's right. W-We just got jumpscared, that's all. Mitch was controlling the character, and got spooked the most."

"Then where is he?" Adam replied, catching the uncertainty in Jerome's voice. Jerome froze, and he saw Ian flinch in the corner of his vision. Neither of them knew how to reply, and Adam let out a loud sigh before motioning for Jason to follow him up the stairs.

But instead of following him, Jason instead tightly grabbed Adam by the wrist keeping him from going upstairs. The brunette whipped his head around to glare at Jason, who glared back. "Adam," He said in a calm voice. "They're probably telling the truth."

Adam opened his mouth to give a rebuttal, but he closed it, thinking about what Jason had said. After a moment, Adam sighed angrily. "Alright, alright, they probably are." He said, the anger fading from him. He turned to Ian and Jerome, who were completely speechless from the unexpected help. "Sorry about that guys. I shouldn't have jumped on you about that. I'm too paranoid for my own good. Ty! Quentin! We have a video to record!"

With that, Adam ran back down the stairs, grabbing Ty's arm and dragging him away with an evil laugh as Ty yelled for Quentin to help him. Quentin just rolled his eyes and gave one more glance toward the other three before going after Adam and Ty.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Jason, Jerome, and Ian stood on the stairs, Jason having an unreadable expression on his face.

Ian broke the silence as he cleared his throat. "Hey, thanks Jason. We really-"

"Don't thank me." Jason said in a serious tone of voice.

Jerome rose an eyebrow, as he saw the serious look on his friend's face. "What? We only want to-"

"Don't." Jason said, popping the 't'. He turned around and began to head down the stairs to join the others, but he stopped halfway, turning his head to give Ian and Jerome one last glare, his bright, empty blue eyes sending shivers down their spines.

"Just tell Mitch this. I want answers."

As Jason disappeared from the duo's view, the two gave each other worried looks. Ian grabbed Jerome and pulled him into the hallway, where he knew for sure that they wouldn't be heard.

"Jason's getting really suspicious of us. Especially Mitch." Ian whispered, a weary expression on his face.

Jerome nodded. "Yeah. I've noticed. I think it's because he knows that Mitch knows Weiss."

"That's probably what he meant when he asked for answers. He wants to know how Mitch could know someone who's dead. He knows that we're connected as well."

"What do you suggest that we do? Tell him about everything that's happened? If he freaked out when Ty hurt his arm, then god knows what he'll do when he figures out that one of us are probably going to die!" Jerome hissed.

Ian sighed. "Exactly, and even if it isn't one of us, he'll still flip out. Dammit..."

Jerome looked down at his feet, a grim tone in his voice. "I think Mitch's secret is getting too big to keep."

"We have to keep it Jerome." Ian snapped. "For Mitch, for Jason, and for whoever the 'black-haired raven is. We have to hold strong!"

"You think I don't f***ing know that?!?" Jerome hissed, clapping his hands over his mouth afterwards when he saw the expression of hurt and surprise on Ian's face.

Jerome, fighting back the tears threatening to break loose, wrapped his arms around Ian's neck and buried his head in his shoulder. "I'm sorry I-Ian, I'm just afraid... I don't want anyone to die!" Jerome choked, feeling a few tears slip down his cheeks.

Ian, trying to comfort his friend, let himself slide slowly down the hallway wall and onto a sitting position on the floor, carefully pulling Jerome to him as he did. The two sat in the hallway as the sounds of Jerome's quiet crying echoing off of the walls. "It's okay... We just have to wait..."