Black Roses {Skephalo}

Day Twelve

"I told him. I'm sorry Zak, but I had to. I'm worried your condition is getting unbearable. It'll kill you if you don't do something yourself. So I told him."

I just listen, staring blankly at my computer in front of me. He told him. He knows. "What did you tell him..." I mutter.

"I didn't tell him about the book. I just said it as plainly as possible. 'Skeppy has been avoiding you because he has hanahaki, for you'. That's all I said."

My phones slides out of my hand, falling onto the floor below me. The dull 'thud' as it hits the ground is the only sound, echoing around my bedroom before it's once more filled with empty silence.

"What did he say..." I can't raise my voice to yell, there's nothing in me. My heart is racing, the pain in my chest so bad it's thrumming in my ears.

He knows... he fucking knows...

The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth, forcing me to snap out of my daze and grab the trash can. The wave of blood and petals is the worst I've ever seen. They're no longer just clusters of petals, they're full flower heads. Too small to choke me still, but not far off doing so. Out of the corner of my eye I watch my notebook flash a darker red and the front cover change once more.

The number is 6.

~~~

-Darryl's POV-

This is the day. Half an hour remaining. I check my stream setup for maybe the fourteenth time, checking my webcam is recording. I bring the webcam's recording into view on my main monitor, dragging it across the screen and opening it into the full image.

It's like looking in the mirror. I'm met with myself, smiling faintly back at me. My test recording software runs in the background, but I'm drawn to my face.

My face, that over a thousand people are going to see live. Two of those people being two of my closest friends. A6d, who I haven't known for long, but feel like I've known for years. The French server owner, as Skeppy would refer to him as. Skeppy, my best friend. Who I've known for only a bit over a year but felt like I've known a century. The trolly, happy, smiling muffin that he is.

Who also has a crush on me.

I still can't believe it. Part of me thinks that A6d was lying, that this is one of Skeppy's staged jokes. It'd be a sick joke if it was, which is what leads me to thinking otherwise. Skeppy wouldn't mess with people's feelings, wouldn't use something so serious for one of his pranks. He genuinely took a few days off, which leads me to believe it was serious. He avoided me, which isn't something he's ever done. All signs point to A6d telling the truth.

But I really hope he's lying.

To know I've put him through that pain fills me with guilt. It hurts, like I'm the one dealing with the problems. That's two people I love suffering.

Love is a hard word. To 'love' someone and to truly love someone are two different things. I love Skeppy, but only in a best friend sort of way. That's going to kill him. And I love Zak, in a more than just best friends sort of way.

That's going to kill me.

The thought of Zak makes me feel sick. It's awful, how my stomach fills with butterflies, my lungs with flowers, and my throat with blood. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to go before it kills me. Then I'm leaving Zak here all alone, left to figure out the notebooks by himself.

That's if he doesn't die first.

Slowly, I trudge to my bathroom, throwing up the dumb blue flowers. It only feels fitting that it's be blue roses after how we met. I have Zak the leftover blue roses as he said he loved them so much. That's how I knew, instantly, that I loved him. It was too easy.