Escape The Night ⋆ Horror

chapter eight ⋆ this comfortable love

"Jamie. You must understand that she fought the best fight. She did it for you; she wanted you to keep going," Ivan said as he took a couple of steps towards Jamie, but still standing away from Jamie, not to overwhelm him. Jamie sighed, not knowing what to do. He didn't know whether to be vital for the group, to pull his emotional weight so that he wouldn't slow down the group from their escape chances. He didn't want to bring them down.

"Ivan, I lost her. I lost her, and I don't know what to do," Jamie said as he started to sob again, placing his face in his hands. Ivan walked a couple more paces, sat beside him, and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. Jamie's sobs quietened as Ivan ran his fingers through his hair to calm him down.

"This was her own choice; her choice was to save you."

"I didn't want that to be her choice," Jamie spoke, which only made Ivan shush Jamie, hugging him closer, and he started to rock him back and forth, and the cries were hushed to silence. Ivan hid Jamie's eyes from the strangers who dragged Darling's body away, their black cloaks shielding their identity from the guests. Yet, they did not attempt to figure out who they were, seeing as they were all too tired to configure a plan to discover something they didn't want in the first place.

"I miss her already."

"I know, Jamie... Me too."

"Man, I hate this place so fucking much," Samuel said as he parted from the group to keep his composure, his chest heaving heavily. William looked at him with sorrow and excused him from the group to speak with him, to see what was the matter. As he walked towards him, William couldn't help the overwhelming beating of his heart in his ears.

"Samu? Are you okay?" William asked, putting his shaky hands in his pockets ━ remembering the impact of his shoulder injury that was starting to affect his hands. Samuel turned around, wiping his eyes quickly as he sighed, trying to get rid of the nerves.

"I'm fine━"

"No, you're not. I can tell, Samu. We've been friends long; I can tell when you aren't okay. It's the Sparrow's intuition. Trust me, Samuel, I know," William said, his blue eyes scanning his face; it was different. His forehead would crease in stress, his brown eyes were beautiful yet full of worries, and his face was grey and tear━stained from all the crying and witnessing death over time.

"I want to leave... I want..." Samuel said before he stopped as he couldn't take it. William noticed his emotions slowly burning out, his shoulders letting go of the tension as he pulled him into a hug. Samuel started to cry on his shoulder, not wanting to leave the warm embrace.

"It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"It is. I'm with you now; you always make things okay," Samuel muttered, which only William heard, and he could feel the soft blush on his sharp cheekbones. He tried to keep his composure, but the smirk gave away his position as his mind started to race, realising what Samuel had said.

"Well, uh━ um..." William said as he stuttered, not knowing what to say or to find the right words. He didn't want to hurt his feelings if he said the wrong words, but he didn't want to be embarrassed. Words were stupid, and he didn't know how to put them together in a poetic way to justify his feelings for his best friend.

"It's okay, Will. I know. Claira told me," Samuel said with a coy smile as he buried his face into the crook of William's neck. William didn't know how to react, but then he smiled again, seeing that this place did somewhat allow this comfortable love to grow, and he hugged Samuel tighter, not wanting to let go of him.

"Whatever Claira told you, I hope it was good things," William whispered, and Samuel responded with a muffled giggle due to his face buried in the crook of William's neck. William smiled, placing his hand on the back of Samuel's head.