Y/n's hand reached out to stop the girl, but it was too late. She was already falling. Seconds went by, it felt like hours. And then a plummet was heard, along with a terrific crack, and soon after, screams.
The trio stayed silent.
Blood from Y/n's wounds dripped onto the wet ground, but the boy tuned out the aching pain, his mind was too occupied with what he had just witnessed. The group stayed motionless until the flaring of sirens could be heard in the distance and a dark blue reflected in the sky.
"We..we need to go down there, someone called an ambulance, you need medical attention." Kiara stammered out. Y/n nodded vacantly, Clark helped him up and helped the boy walk. The teens slowly descended the stairs, not exchanging a single word on the way.
They eventually reached the ground floor and walked out the main entrance. There was a mass of students all around, their eyes turned toward the trio, or more specifically, Y/n's injury, Clark had to push away people to create a path for the three to move past, to the ambulance.
They got to the ambulance, and the paramedics rushed to their side. One of the workers opened the backseat, and Clark removed Y/n's arm from his shoulder to allow the h/c haired to sit down. "Thanks, man." Y/n coughed out as he leaned his arms forward on his thighs in a spread position.
Clark nodded and backed off to make room for the paramedic, who came dashing by with a medical kit to assist the injured boy. While Y/n was getting bandaged up the brunette moved his eyes around to assess the crowd. His eyes locked onto four people standing meters away, the mass of students had unfortunately parted just enough for Clark to meet eyes with them.
And they didn't look pleased. They were glaring daggers at him, The brunette gulped, he knew exactly what had granted their spiteful reaction. ' Talk about if looks could kill' Clark turned his attention away from the quartet and regarded Kiara "I will call my parents.." She murmured, "Okay" The girl sped away through the crowd. Clark rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'This is so chaotic.' The brunette narrowed his eyes in thoughtfulness.
"There you go, You might need stitches, Those were nasty wounds, but this should temporarily stop the extreme bleeding, you need to replace them in an hour or so." The paramedic informed. Y/n had gotten his hands bandaged up and thanked the worker before walking over to Clark who stood seemingly deep in thought a meter or two away. "Hey dude." The boy greeted. Clark jolted and stared at Y/n with a shocked look. "Woah, calm down there, I just-" Y/n assured. The brunette put his hands on the h/c haired's shoulders "Y/n. Do you remember what Avery told you about the serial killer?" He asked.
Y/n gave the brunette a confused look before his face neutralized in realization, "...Yes." Clark tightened his hold. "You need to tell the sheriff and your mother about it. If you don't, you can end up in terrible danger." His tone was firm. Y/n put on the slightest of frowns. "I don't kn-" Suddenly The h/c haired male was pulled back, out of Clark's reach, he nearly stumbled, hadn't a hand caught his wrist in a hard hold.
Y/n looked toward the person who had rudely interrupted his conversation and saw Elio, he was staring at Clark with a blank expression, yet the faintest intentions could be deciphered by the dark glint in his eyes.
"Don't touch things that aren't yours." Elio's tone was languid, but the brunette caught up on the warning behind the words.
Clark swallowed down saliva and gave Y/n a quick worried look before walking away. Y/n snapped an agitated scowl toward Elio and ripped his wrist away, lightly rubbing the flesh in a soothing motion "What the hell was that?!" Elio didn't answer and instead trailed his gaze toward the boy's hands. "You're hurt...What happened?" Y/n hardened his scowl. "Don't change the subject!" he hissed.
Elio looked up at the h/c haired through his lashes with a vehement stare, but Y/n glared back with equal agitation. Ultimately, Y/n broke his stare by looking into the hectic crowd. He could see paramedics rushing everywhere and students whispering to each other all around. They had surely seen Avery, the bloodied knife, and his hands. Rumors were definitely going to spread.
Too wrapped up in his thoughts, Yn failed to register Elio once more, grabbing his wrist and dragging him along. "Hey?!" Y/n tried to dig his heels in the ground but it appeared to do nothing against Elio's grip 'What the hell do these guys do in their free time to be this strong?!' The black haired male tugged him toward the rest of the quartet.
Y/n tore his limp away from Elio, casting a glare his way, Elio didn't acknowledge it and instead leaned over to Ezra and whispered something incoherent to him. The ash blond shifted his eyes toward Y/n's wound and Y/n hid his hands behind his back. He didn't want to deal with an interrogation right now.
"What happened?" Ezra asked. Y/n leaned slightly backward on his heels in nervousness "Nothing." Ezra folded his arms in a stern manner but when it was evident that the h/c haired wasn't going to give him a straight answer he glanced toward his brother. Nova seemed to understand the implication and grabbed Y/n's arm.
"He- get off!" Y/n fought against Nova's grasp but the ash blond was stronger, he ripped Y/n's arm from behind his back and held an iron grip on his wrist as he pulled the boy's wrist forward to showcase his wounded hand to the group. The paramedic has woven multiple layers of bandage around his palm to prevent excessive bleeding, but dried-up blood could still clearly be seen on his hands.
Nova's grip softened when his eyes landed on the boy's wounds and that was enough for Y/n to tear his wrist away and shield his hands into his chest. He snapped his head away. The group stared at him with blank looks. "Y/n..." The boy rigorously shook his head "No! shut it! I don't want to talk about it!" He squeezed his knuckles as a reminder of the events that had taken place on the rooftop.
"Y/n you-" Roy began, taking a step toward the h/c haired but Y/n took a step back "No! I said shut it, I don't to talk about it!" Y/n's voice was edging on hysteria as he started to recount the memories in his mind. The four boys took notice of this and finally backed off. Y/n let out a shuddering breath and glanced to the side.
Paramedics were wheeling a stretcher with a body covered by white cloth into the ambulance, It didn't take a genius to figure out who was on the stretcher. It became even more clear when he saw Alex step into the vehicle after the stretcher was rolled in, Even from here Y/n could see Alex's puffy and red-shot eyes. 'This fucking serial killer is ruining lives.' The h/c haired felt spite build up in his chest. Y/n's ears perked at the mention of his name, and he glanced toward Ezra "Y/n, your mom is heading this way." The boy glimpsed toward the direction Ezra was pointing.
Y/n's mother rushed up to him and pulled him into a hug "Oh, thank gods, you're okay..." She cried. She backed off and took his hands in her own. "Clark and Kiara told me what happened, Have you lost your mind? Why would you three go up there?" she exclaimed with sadness and frustration. Y/n threw a side glance toward the quartet, who stood quietly off the side. 'Damn it. guess they're getting what they want anyway.' Y/n pursed his lips before speaking. "We wanted to stop her." he muttered.
His mother shot him a worried look "You should've let the paramedics deal with it." The boy scoffed bitterly. "They wouldn't have gotten here on time, It was a life or death situation." The boy rebuked. The woman loosened her grip on her son's hand and put a hand on her forehead "I see I'm not getting through to you yet." she irritatingly let out. "You can hold on to that 'Yet' for long" the boy uttered. The woman glared at him "Y/n this is serious, What if those two hadn't been there to get Avery off of you?!" She hissed. Y/n shrugged and shifted his eyes to his hands "I think we both know the answer to that." he responded in a flat voice.
His mother put her hand on her hip "You're reckless with your life." Y/n flinched at the comment but didn't have a way to rebuke it. The woman let out a deep sigh "I need to stay here with Sheriff Whitelock, So you will have to go home on your own and make sure you have something for dinner, I will unfortunately be home late, again..." she trailed off.
"We can bring him home ma'am," Ezra interjected. "Oh, well if you're willing to do that and Y/n agrees then that certainly would be nice of you." Ezra gave the older woman a warm smile. Y/n stayed silent for a short while 'What choice do i have? I don't want to walk home alone after what Avery told me' The boy felt a shiver go up his spine as he thought about what could happen if the Runswick killer got their hands on him, especially now that he knew their intentions for him varied from their usual 'satisfy the killing urge' motives.
Or at least that is what he assumed, he just knew the freak was allegedly stalking him and has a room full of incriminating pictures of him, but what their true intentions behind that were, if it was a kill played in the long run or....something else, he was unsure, but he wasn't keen on getting an answer out of the killer anytime soon.
"Yes, I would appreciate that," He said. His mother nodded "Then that's settled, I need to go, You better take care of yourself." She pulled him into a tight hug once more "Mom, you're suffocating me.." Y/n could hear the giggles of Nova and Roy to the side. His mother pulled away after a few seconds "I'm warning you, I'll ground you if you do something stupid like that again." she scolded and flicked his forehead, and with that, she walked back into the swarm of people.
Y/n walked up to the four males and curled his hand into a fist before hitting Nova in the gut. The ash blond let out a huff and staggered back a few steps, clutching his stomach, but soon after, he composed himself and tilted up his head to stare at Y/n in awe. "That was adorable." Nova sighed fondly. Y/n shot the boy a weirded-out expression "You..." He didn't finish the sentence and instead shuffled over to Elio."You're a weirdo." He uttered in disturbance.
Nova simply gave him a lofty grin "Heard that before." he shrugged. Y/n looked at the other three in confusion. "Is he always like this?" he questioned. Ezra merely shrugged half-heartedly. Y/n grunted and slumped his shoulders "Whatever, I don't wanna know. Let's just go, I need to go home." He remarked.
.
.
.
The five of them sat in Ezra's car again, just as they had that morning. Y/n's adrenaline had burned out, and he could now clearly sense the searing ache in his hands. On top of that, his mind was swarming with what Avery had told him.
'They have photos of you, in the basement I was staying in, they have the walls plastered with photographs of you'
Y/n looked out the window at the moving trees, expecting to see a figure with a beige mask standing by them, just like they had a week ago when he was out with Kiara. But no matter how hard he stared, the sight never appeared. "Yo, you okay?" Y/n slightly jolted and turned to Roy. "What?" The scarlet haired gestured to the window the boy had been looking out of. "You were staring out the window for a minute or so. You good?" He repeated.
Y/n glanced out the window and gave a vacant nod. "Yeah, I'm just...thinking," he mumbled. "It seems more like you're waiting for something to pop up." Ezra chimed in, glancing at the male through the rearview mirror. "Not to mention your breath is hitched." Y/n bit on the inside of his cheek at Ezra's inference. He felt uncomfortably bare under the eyes of the group and felt vicarious embarrassment rise.
He lowered his head to his lap "I guess..." This time Elio spoke up "You guess?" He said with doubt. Y/n furrowed his brows. "Yeah." He replied. Elio trailed his eyes down the boy's form but eventually averted his gaze. Y/n slowly took his phone and headphones out of his bag, he needed a distraction from not only the arching pain in his hands but also the rising anxiety in the back of his conscious.
(play video at 00:28)
What my head overlooks
The senses will show to my heart
When it's watching for lies
You can't escape my
Private eyes
They're watching you
They see your every move
Y/n put his phone between his lap and leaned his head against the car seat 'How horridly ironic.'
Private eyes
They're watching you.
.
.
.
The car arrived at Y/n's house, and they all got out. Y/n looked up at the black sky and groaned, 'There is no grocery shop open, and curfew has been imposed. Thank you for that.' The boy strolled up to the front porch, searching his pockets for his keys.
But cursed when the keys came into contact with his wound. Making him drop them on the ground. The boy glared at his hands and noticed the blood that started soaking through. 'Damn it, need to change it.' Before the boy could bend down to pick up the keys, Ezra beat him to it and grabbed the keys.
The ash blond handed the keys to him, and Y/n thanked him as he turned around to unlock the front door. He let the group in and went in before firmly shutting the door, making sure the lock was secured in place before walking to the living space.
"Thanks for bringing me home, guys."
"No problem, Y/n."
Y/n looked down at his hands "I need to fix this." He walked over to the storage closet by the stairs and opened it to scan the interior for the first aid kit. His eyes landed on a white and red box, he grabbed the box and got out of the closet. "Got it." he announced and sat the box down on the table, it opened with a click.
Y/n grabbed the medical tape and began slowly unwrapping the soaked bandages around his right palm. It was harder than he thought. "Do you need help?" Ezra asked from his standing position. Y/n glanced toward the ash blond. "No." Ezra shrugged "Okay, if you say so." Y/n continued to unwrap the bandage with difficulty. He let out a sharp hiss as he came into contact with his wound. He jerked his hand away, knocking over the medical tape, causing it to fall to the floor.
"Fuck..." he mumbled. Suddenly, Ezra pulled a chair in front of the boy and took up the bandages as he took a seat in front of him. "Give me your hand." He sternly demanded, "I told you I could do it myself." The ash blond took the boy's hand in a gentle hold and tugged it forward. "Uh-huh, I'm sure you can." Y/n rolled his eyes, but let Ezra help him.
Ezra tenderly removed the leftover bandages, the more layers were taken off, the bloodier they became. As the final wrap was discarded, a nasty wound was revealed underneath. Ezra glanced up at Y/n with an unreadable expression. His polished nails softly grazed the surface of the boy's palm, deliberately avoiding the wound 'Do we have to keep you in our constant line of sight for you not to get hurt, Y/n?'
The ash blond took up a cotton pad, opened the disinfection bottle, and poured the substance on the pad, then lightly padded around Y/n's wound. Y/n slightly jerked his hand away at the stinging pain. But Ezra kept his limp in place. "I'm sorry, it's necessary to not get the wound infected," he assured in a low tone. Y/n nodded understandably and bit through the pain. After Ezra disinfected the wound, he began wrapping new bandages around the boy's hand. He did the same process with the other hand.
After they were done, Ezra cleaned up the dirty bandages and put the first aid kit back into the storage closet. 'That girl is lucky she's dead.' The ash blond shot the storage door shut.
Y/n took a seat next to Elio on the sofa. "What happened? You didn't get those wounds out of nowhere." Roy questioned. Y/n's mouth twitched at the group's persistence to know what had happened, but realized they weren't going to stop until they got a coherent answer. "I got hurt." Nova leaned his chin on his hand "That much is clear, but how did you get hurt?" Y/n narrowed his eyes at the male's abrasiveness.
"Why does it matter?" Y/n replied, "It matters because you got hurt, and we want to know how you got hurt." Elio stated, pushing up his glasses.
Y/n glared at the wall in front of the couch. "I just got hurt. It doesn't matter how, It wouldn't make the situation any worse or better." He bit back at the black-haired. It was silent for a while.
"Fine."