Clark stopped dead in his tracks as he burst through the door to Kiara and Y/n, the three of them stared wide-eyed at the sight before them.
There a meter or two away from the teenagers stood a person, with a dirty beige mask, covered in all black, holding an axe in their grasp. They stood ominously watching the trio, not making a move, or so you thought.
Y/n slowly flickered his gaze to the axe and took notice of the ever-clenching grip on the handle, Whoever stood before them, wasn't happy that they had found the cabin. He couldn't really blame them, Clark, Kiara, and he just caught the dude red-handed at a murder scene, while they were still cleaning up, yikes.
"Shit, shit shit" Clark hissed. Kiara's face was as pale as paper and Y/n stared at the individual with an expressionless look. The boy still had a bit of vomit slipping from his mouth, he quickly used the sleeve of his mouth to rid himself of the regurgitation. Just as the h/c haired did so, the stranger's gaze shifted to him and they stared at the male for an unknown amount of time.
The stranger lifted up the axe, and that was the trio's snap back to reality "Run dammit!" Clark yelled and started pushing Kiara and Y/n away with haste. The axe flew in their direction and Clark merely missed it by a hair, The weapon got stuck in the wood wall of the cabin. That spurred Y/n and Kiara into movement and the group started sprinting away.
Clark looked back for a split second, and the individual was calmly prying the axe out of the wood like they had all the time in the world. They turned towards the escaping trio.
And started bolting after them.
Clark widened his eyes and moved his gaze back forward. "The bastard is fucking chasing us!" The brunette shouted toward the pair running before him with just as much speed as himself, "That information was useless to share! No one needed to know that, Clark!"" Y/n yelled back "Both of you, shut it! insert your energy on running unless you wanna meet the end of that axe!" Kiara angrily breathed out.
The axe maniac didn't give up the chase and kept trailing behind them with rabid speed despite the overgrown woodland. Y/n realized that, at this rate, they were going to catch up. So, the male did the only thing he could think of: he turned his head towards Kiara and whispered to her, "Change path." The black haired looked at him with confusion but did what he said anyway.
The female took the hand of her brown haired friend and took a swift turn to the right, Y/n made a U-turn to the left, leaving the stranger to halt his pace and look between the two paths each escaping teen had taken, twirling the axe in a pondering notion before slowly walking after the h/c haired male.
Y/n ran through the woods, he had no clue where he was or where he was going; the three had just split up to throw the maniac off. and it seemed to have worked; he couldn't hear the boming of footsteps anymore. So, the male decided to slow down and stabilize himself and his respiratory system by leaning against an oak tree.
'Gods, What the fuck...'
The male felt his stomach churn from discomfort as he had just been forced to sprint away on an uneasy stomach. Y/n felt like vomiting once more as he thought about the corpse they had seen in that cabin. 'Was that Harper's body?' The back of his throat made a gagging sound, but there was nothing in his body to throw up, he felt dizzy, and his teeth were filled with the sour taste of regurgitation.
Y/n's mind stopped as his ears picked up on a rustling sound a few meters away from him. Without waiting, he dove behind the oak tree and put a hand to his mouth. Much to his horror, the person who had been chasing them came into view a few moments later. They walked around the area a bit, letting their axe drag along behind them.
they halted a few meters away from the tree Y/n was behind, and Y/n could feel his heartbeat wildly as he heard the scraping of an axe against dirt. 'F--Why me?!' The boy tightly shut his eyes, his breath became rigid as he heard the crunching of leaves patter around. He heard the footsteps walk past him, and he peered behind the tree and saw the axemaniac's back facing toward him.
Y/n Swiftly looked away and pushed his body against the oak tree 'Please just go away already!' He chanted in his mind. For a moment, there was no sound, no footsteps no dragging of an axe in his direction, nothing. It was a false sense of security that left the h/c haired tense. He didn't hear the stranger walking toward him, but he also didn't hear them walk away. The boy was too afraid to turn around again and check. Everything appeared so quiet, the rustling of leaves in the wind, and the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears were all he could hear.
Just as Y/n was about to remove the hand covering his mouth, his heart leaped out of his chest as the individual appeared before him, wrapping a hand around his neck and pulling him up a few centimeters off the ground, making Y/n struggle to keep his footing on the ground as he stared in petrification at the hand that had wormed itself around his throat. They weren't applying pressure, just keeping him in place, but that didn't stop Y/n from feeling anxiety and dread cloud his thoughts.
He flinched as he felt the cold head of the axe lift up his chin to meet eyes with the stranger. Y/n felt too scared to move, he felt too scared to scream, he felt too scared to do anything. The stranger removed the axe from under his chin and Y/n put his hands to his face in a shielding manner. 'This is it. This is where I die.' Y/n could do nothing but dreadfully wait for the impact, it never came, however, he did hear a harsh chopping sound.
Y/n slowly opened his eyes and saw that the axe had been hacked into the side of the tree, just out of reach. With the now unoccupied hand, the stranger ran his thumb across Y/n's jawline, up to his chin, to the boy's trembling lower lip, Y/n stared on in shock at the fond gesture. 'The..the fuck is happening?' Suddenly, the person pulled Y/n closer by his neck and proceeded to slam him into the tree, The h/c haired let out a huff from the impact.
The stranger slammed him against the wood surface again, and again and again.
After the fourth time, Y/n was sure he was seeing stars, his head wound still hadn't fully recovered, and this asshole wasn't helping. The hold on his throat loosened and the boy fell back on the ground with a thud. He put a hand to his aching temple and hissed "Fuckkk.." Something warm was pressed against the top of his head and Y/n looked up in puzzlement, The individual had placed their palm on his head. The h/c haired didn't know what to make of the gesture, was it meant to be comforting? Mocking? He didn't know.
The axe was pried out of the stomp and the stranger started walking away, back in the direction of the cabin. They gave the h/c haired male a final glance over the shoulder and disappeared out of sight.
'What was that about?'
Y/n didn't want to wait around to see if they would come back to finish him off, so he scurried to his feet and jogged away. When he was sure he was a good distance away, he called Clark, The phone rang, and the other line opened.
"Y/n are you okay?!" The voice of Clark was heard, "That freak went after you first, we were scared you might have.." Y/n cut him off before he could continue "I'm fine Clark, in fact..." Y/n looked around as if afraid the individual was still around, listening in. "You won't believe what happened, they...they spared me?" He spoke uncertainly, as if not having faith in the statement himself.
"They what now?"
Y/n shook his head rapidly. "I'll explain once we meet up, That place we split up at, you guys remember how to get there?" There was a small pause at the other line, and Kiara and Clark seemed to be communicating with each other. "Yes, we do," Clark confirmed.
"Great, Let's meet up there!" With that, Y/n hung up.
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.
The trio reconnected where they had parted ways.
"What happened to you guys?" Y/n inquired. Kiara wiped up the excessive sweat on her forehead. "Well, after we split up we ran a few meters, but we realized they weren't following us so we slowed down, We tried going after you, but before we saw them walking back to the cabin." The girl panted. Y/n grimaced as he thought over the events that had taken place.
"Yeah, it was weird." Clark chimed in "You said you got spared?" The h/c haired nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I got backed against a tree, and they... I don't know, started acting... um..fond toward me? touching my face, they did slam me against the tree bark, but then they gave me a head pat, and proceeded to just walk away." Y/n listed off.
Clark raised a brow "Are you joking right now?" Y/n shook his head. "Whatever, he is alive, and that's what matters, right now, we need to call the cops!" Kiara interrupted. All the teen's phones pinged. "What the.." Clark commented and took out his phone to check what the notification was. His eyes widened. "Guys...Did you get the same message just now?..." He whispered.
Kiaara and Y/n looked at the brunette in bewilderment before they pulled up their phones to check. The trio had all received a message that read:
Unknown: Tell anyone what you saw, and you're all dead.
"Shit.." Y/n uttered. The three glanced at each other. "What will we do?" Kiara quietly asked. Y/n gulped, "I don't know..." Clark put his phone away and turned around "For now we need to get out of this damned forest." He concluded.
"Let's go, I don't want to stay here any longer." Kiara shivered.
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.
The trio arrived back at the school parking lot, Where some people had already started to come back from their search, including Detective Evans and Sheriff Whitelock, They seemed to be discussing something. Y/n narrowed his eyes, and he glanced around the crowd, His eyes stopped when he saw three people on the sidelines. Nova, Elio, and Roy were here. Y/n quickly averted his gaze.
Clark followed his gaze for a split second and groaned when he saw who Y/n had seen. "Ugh...What are they doing here..." Kiara took note of Clark's hostile tone and regarded him "Maybe they're just here to help with the search, Clark." The brunette scoffed, "That, I highly doubt." Kiara rolled her eyes. "Is it so hard for you to imagine they might just be good people?" Clark didn't answer, making Kiara turn to face Y/n "Y/n, you know them, tell us if they're really the horrible people Clark makes them out to be." The h/c haired male stayed silent for a while staring at the trio off to the side.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean by-" Y/n tuned out the girl's chatter. 'I really don't know anymore. Their actions and choices have been questionable, and they act distant. but there's nothing wrong-nothing tangible wrong with them that would label them horrible people.'
Suddenly They looked toward him; they must've noticed his intense stare their way. Nova waved to him with a kind smile. Y/n narrowed his eyes at them and snapped his head away.
He noticed his mother's was done with her conversation and was now walking in his direction. "Hey dear, the search has been going on for around three hours now, but I think it's best if we start going back home, Sheriff Whitelock thanks us for our assistance." She announced. Y/n nodded in agreement and bid goodbye to Kiara and Clark.
The two of them walked back to his mother's car. Y/n deliberately chose to not acknowledge the eyes that followed him as he left. His mother unlocked the car and the boy stepped inside and buckled his belt. The car engine roared to life, and the woman started driving out of the parking lot and drove out onto the road.
.
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A FEW HOURS PRIOR
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The girl had discarded any form of rest and had spent agonizing hours trying to get out of the rope around her wrists. Her wrists were burning with pain, begging her to stop, but she didn't. She needed to get out. She was going insane in here. Her kidnapper had not come in for the past ten hours or so, and all that time she had spent trying to wriggle out of the rope. It was a laborious quest, but she had no choice. Tears started burning at the corners of her eyes, and her jaw was hurting from constant chewing, She needed to think about anything but the bleeding in her wrists.
"Come on, come on... Just shift a little bit more." she pleaded. It seemed her pleas were heard at last, because it felt like the rope was slowly coming loose, For the first time in months, a gleam of hope sparked in her eyes. "Yes Yes!" She started crying with joy as she felt the rope losing. She started practically jumping as the rope went loose and her once restrained arms for once became free. She felt like a bird about to spread her wings for the very first time, She stood up and stumbled to the ground.
"Not used to standing..." She chuckled. She glimpsed at her wrists and noticed they were red and blue from hours of bruising, The first layer of skin had rubbed off where her wrists had shifted against each other, creating a circle of blood around her wrists. But frankly, she couldn't care, it was nothing compared to the torture she had endured at the hands of that psycho. She hadn't heard any footsteps for a while, which meant there was no one in the house except her, perfect time to escape.
She put two hands on her knees and lifted herself up, staggering in the first few steps she took. But she didn't have time to celebrate, she needed to get out, before anyone came back. So, composing herself, she jogged up the stairs and threw the door open. She stopped in her tracks, This wasn't what she was expecting, upstairs was chic, She walked through the hall to another room. and her mouth went agape, "Damn." She murmured under her breath. This didn't look like your usual run-out-the-mill kidnapper house, The house, or rather, the mansion, was luxurious. Shit, why did that psycho kidnap her when they were living like this?
The girl wandered through what she assumed was the living room in awe, eventually reached another hall, and at the end, she saw the front door, She bolted to it but stopped when she noticed a hindrance, the front door was locked. 'No, no no.' She started pacing, freedom was so close. She sprinted back down the corridor when her eyes caught sight of another room, the kitchen. She walked in and nearly started crying again when she noticed a window, facing the front of the house.
'I need to go out that way' She started frantically looking across the space for anything that could break the window. Her eyes landed on a metal fruit bowl, She dashed to it and threw all the fruit out, and raised the bowl with all her might.
*SMASH*
The window broke into pieces, gods, she hoped there really wasn't anyone home. The girl dropped the fruit bowl and started shoving away the glass pieces to create an opening for her to crawl. The glass started to pierce her hand, but adrenaline prevented her brain from registering the pain. When there was a big enough gap she hunched herself up by her arms on the window frame, and she climbed out, her form landed on the concrete driveway. She stayed in her lying position for a while, regaining her breath.
She soon stood up again and looked around her environment, It was starting to become light outside, so she assumed it was early morning. 'Where am I?! I don't recognize anything!' She cursed in her mind. 'This isn't Runswick.' The girl looked to the road leading away and slumped, "How far away from civilization am i?" She grumbled.
She started moving down the driveway onto the street. 'I have a long road ahead' She told herself
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.
The girl walked for what felt like hours, it probably was hours she had been walking, the sun had set and her feet were killing her, but she refused to give up.
Eventually, she saw a sign in the distance and she jogged towards it.
"WELCOME TO RUNSWICK"
It read, and oh, how she had never been happier to see it. She was home, She started pushing all her leftover energy into sprinting, she needed to go to the police station as soon as possible.
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.
Y/n and his mother were sitting in the car, not saying anything to each other. until his mother spoke "How was your search?" She questioned. The boy stiffed, he knew his mother would ask it but it still made him tense up. He thought back to the burned corpse and the masked killer, and the threat that hung over his head. "It was fine, we didn't find anything though.." He solemnly replied.
"That's okay, no one found anything, " She reassured. Y/n hummed at her comment and glanced out the window 'Should i just tell her?' He scrunched up his face at the internal debate.
But eventually made a choice.
"Mom.." He whispered His mother glanced at him "Yes dear?" She replied. Y/n shuffled anxiously as he felt his mother's eyes on him, a voice in his head was yelling at him to stop, but his mouth moved quicker than his brain could think. "...I..." a girl sprinted out from the street and moved before the car. Y/n widened his eyes and screamed
"MOM LOOK OUT!"
Author note: SOMEONE RESTRAIN ME! ok ok i said you needed to wait a few days but well ig not :) I'm such a try-hard istg