A/N: thank you to aki_the_invincible for the amazing banner! AHS, a girl after my own heart there!
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To be honest, none of us really knew what to do. What was the protocol in a situation like this?
I mean I knew we had to open the door, but what happened then?
Would Melt Face just waltz in, sit down and we would have a nice discussion about why he had done all of this? Was he going to charge in here like a bull and slash us all up?
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was stuck at what to do next.
“Well, this is awkward.” Archie muttered, clearing his throat as he rubbed his forehead. He looked up at the glass panel on the door and towards Melt Face “What happens now? We open the door and then what? Do you just stroll in and play some other messed up little game? What’s next on the list? Operation? We have to answer some more of your questions and if we get it wrong you slice out one of our organs?”
My body was torn at whether to laugh at this, or start panicking because with everything that’s happened I wouldn’t put it past the psychotic person on the other side of that door.
I heard Melt Face let out a chuckle, before he thought something over.
“I tell you what, open this door and I won’t come in. You come out. How’s about that Archie my boy?” Melt Face asked; only I didn’t have time to start worrying about the fact he was telling us we had to walk to him, our possible death, because something else caught my attention.
Archie my boy.
I furrowed my brows as my mind began to work overtime thinking back to when we were younger, suddenly remembering all the memories that I haven’t thought about for years. That name, there was only one person that had ever called him that name.
“Fine, step away from the door then.” Archie didn’t pick up on anything; however I couldn’t stop thinking about what he had just called him.
Melt Face did just that, walking backwards until he was no longer in sight through the glass of the door. Archie walked over to Alex, squatting down and resting his arms on his knees as he tilted his head and looked at his brother.
“You need to get up mate.” Archie spoke softly to Alex, giving him a warm smile. Alex looked at him with a confused expression at first, before he faintly nodded his head. He pushed himself up to stand, still gripping onto the Rubik’s cube. Archie also stood up; slapping his brother shoulder and leading him towards the door “Stay behind me okay? Both of you.”
I scrunched my face “Alright Hercules, we’ll stay behind you so you can protect us all and save the villagers.”
He turned and glared at me “I will put you over my knee Jacobs if you don’t start listening to what I tell you.”
Ironically, and I don’t know if it was because of the ‘hop on’ events that occurred earlier in the hall, but I quite liked the sound of that idea.
I quickly tore my eyes away from him as soon as I realised he must have picked up on that judging by the hint of a smirk on his lips.
He turned to look at the door as he walked towards it “This time you’ll be the one hopping on.”
I rolled my eyes. No matter what situation we were in, apparently taking digs at each other was something neither of us could stop.
Once we were at the door, Archie glanced between Alex and I.
“Stay behind me.” His voice was a lot more serious than a second ago. I think he realised we were actually about to step foot outside and into god knows what. We were at his mercy when we were outside this room, the room with the big hole in the wall as our escape.
I didn’t argue with him, knowing he would not open that door until I agreed. Every second we spent putting this off was a second taken off of the amount of time Miss Vines had left.
Archie placed his fingers on the key, and as I heard the sound of the door clicking unlocked for the second time today, my stomach dropped. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, and this time it dropped so hard it went through the floor and into whatever pit of hell was below us.
There was no barrier between us and him anymore.
“Finally, I’ve missed you guys. I thought you were going to lock yourselves in that room forever.” Melt Face greeted us as we stepped into the hallway.
He was standing in front of the stairs that led to the second floor; his grip was still on Miss Vines. I wanted to grab her so much, pull her away from that monster. The look of pure fear on her face made me sick. No one should ever be made to feel like that. All he had to do was move his wrist the right way and she would end up exactly like Aubree had.
“We can only dream hey?” Archie replied back sarcastically.
“You didn’t have to be here Archie. Neither yourself or that fine young lady over there had to stay. I only wanted him.” Melt Face reminded us, pointing the tip of his knife at Alex.
Archie let out a frustrated groan “Why? Why him? What exactly has my brother done to you to make you go Jigsaw on everyone?”
Melt Face didn’t reply, his big cartoon eyes were pointed directly at Archie for a good few minutes. Suddenly, he grabbed Miss Vines by the neck and pulled her to his right. He turned his face to look at her.
“You move an inch, you try anything to get away and I won’t even flinch when I do it.” Melt Face warned her. He didn’t need to say out loud what the penalty would be for trying to escape. He had said that loud and clear just by the tone of his voice. She let out a whimper, keeping her eyes scrunched shut as she nodded. Melt Face let out a laugh, clearly finding humour in her reaction “Good girl.”
He let go of her throat, turning his mask back to look at us.
“Don’t you find a problem in this?” Melt Face asked and I knew he was directing his question at Archie. Apparently he was back on his previous conversation now he had delivered that death threat “The fact that I have done all of this because of him. I must have a reason, yet you have no clue. Hell you had no idea your dear old brother had been ‘fiddled with’ when he was younger. What exactly do you know about him?”
Archie’s fists bunched at his sides at his words. I scrunched my face in disgust at how he had worded that, clearly he thought that what had happened to Alex was something to that was acceptable to make jokes about.
“Watch your fucking mouth.” Archie’s voice came out venomous.
Melt Face let out a laugh “Sorry, I know his ordeal must have been a painful one, I’ll try and be a bit more sympathetic.”
“I swear to God if you don’t stop right now, knife or no knife I will floor you.” I swear Archie’s eyes had turned a shade of red. I have never seen so much fury in his face. His jaw was clenching so hard I could see the muscles flexing in his cheeks, and he was taking short sharp intakes of breath through his nose.
Alex’s reaction was a bit different. He had his head down facing his hands, his eyes were closed and I didn’t need to ask to know he was trying to block it out again. He didn’t want to be part of this conversation. Whatever world he had slipped into earlier he enjoyed. It was far away from here and all he had to worry about was solving that Rubik’s cube in his hand.
I could tell that no matter how hard he tried, it was too hard to get away from this world. He could shut his eyes all he wanted, but he was getting sucked back into reality.
Melt Face shook his head “Doesn't it bother you? The fact that you have been lied to for years? Not just by him, but by dear old Tom and Sandra?”
I was startled as Melt Face called Archie and Alex’s parent’s by their names. He had either done his research, or the niggling feeling I had about the ‘Archie my boy’ situation was getting truer by the second.
“Is that what this is about then? You want to get justice for me?” Archie let out a humourless laugh “I’m flattered mate but this was a little extravagant.”
“This wasn’t for you. All of this…” Melt Face raised his arms and gestured around him, referring to everything he had put us through in the last forty eight hours. I think it was forty eight hours. I had no idea how long we had been in there for by this point. Time was irrelevant. “…All of this was for a good man.”
“If he was such a good man, then he would look at what you’ve done and feel sick.” I told him, shaking my head in disgust that he seemed to think that what he had done was something that a good man would look on with pride. All the lives he took, all the people he had messed up with his little games, this was not something anyone should be proud of.
“I FEEL SICK!” His outburst made me jump. I was not expecting that reaction from him “I AM THE ONE WHO FEELS SICK! I feel sick at what people have been allowed to get away with! The lies that have been spread, and the only thing that needs to come out still hasn’t! So the only person that has a right to be sick is me!”
As soon as Melt Face finished talking, I noticed a movement from the corner of my eye. I looked over next to the stairs, and my eyes widened as I saw a glimpse of a figure hiding behind a wall. Apparently, Melt Face noticed my momentary distraction and his eyes followed to where I was looking.
“Kevin my boy!” He called over, his tone going back to normal. His previous outburst was completely behind him as his voice sounded amused at spotting Kevin. He walked towards him in a few quick strides, throwing his arm around Kevin’s shoulder.
I looked at Miss Vines, gesturing my head for her to make a break for it. She was looking in my direction, her eyes were still watering and I knew she was too terrified to move. He was distracted and she could run over towards us. She shook her head; I don’t think her body would allow her to move even if she wanted to. I carried on mouthing words of encouragement towards her, telling her she would be fine if she just bolted towards us.
“Oh no you don’t, remember sweetheart I won’t flinch if you move an inch.” Melt Face warned, and I realised it was too late for her to make a run anywhere. He shook his index finger in the art teachers direction, then at me. Apparently sly we were not. Melt Face let out a booming laughter “That rhymed.”
His arm was still around Kevin, and with that arm he pulled him into the middle of the hallway to where he was previously stood.
“So glad you could join us. I was getting worried about you I thought the heat got too much when you made a run for it after Alex’s little ‘my uncle touched me’ story.” Before Melt Face’s last word was even out of his mouth, I had to grab Archie’s arm to stop him from lunging forward.
I took a step closer towards him, his face unable to turn away from his glare at Melt Face.
“Please don’t do anything stupid. If you move I have no one to stand behind.” I whispered in his ear, needing him not to make any rash decisions that were controlled by his anger. He had every right to be angry, but the guy was still holding a pretty big knife.
He finally turned away from him and looked down at me. I was still clinging onto his arm, and for a few seconds he didn’t say anything. I saw some of his anger subside slightly as he stared down at my pleading face. He blinked, before nodding his head faintly.
“Isn’t that cute.” Melt Face’s voice once again filled the hallway. I swear that guy had done nothing but talk the entire time we were out here. Someone seriously liked the sound of their own voice. For a second, I debated whether it was Kanye West under that mask.
I can see the headline now.
Kanye West traps and kills kids at a school. Still acted like a self-centred douche.
“Look at them Kev, I think there’s a little Notebook romance happening there.” Melt Face nudged Kevin pointing his thumb towards Archie and I. “Take note, maybe Archie has some tips on how you can win over the girl of your wet dreams.”
Kevin flinched, not looking towards the masked man who still had an arm around his shoulder. He looked scared, he wasn’t crying or anything but he looked more terrified right now than Miss Vines did.
“We never found out who that girl was did we Kev?” Melt Face asked him, putting his face so close to Kevin's he cringed away. He let out a laugh, rubbing his fist against Kevin’s jaw “All in due time my man.” He turned to look at us, his index finger pointing towards Kevin “This man is an absolute genius. Seriously the things he knows about everything would put Steve Jobs to shame.”
My stomach turned, and I realised that my earlier suspicions of when I saw Kevin in the hallway when we found out Harry had arrived may have been confirmed. I didn’t want to believe it, I still didn’t want to believe it but it was becoming harder and harder not to face up to reality.
I suddenly realised how Alex felt.
“He’s Robin isn’t he?” Archie said the words that I could not.
Melt Face let out a booming laughter, his upper body actually leaning forward as he was laughing so hard.
“So you figured out what I meant by the Robin thing then? Hats off to you I didn’t know if any of you had the brains to do it. Apart from this man here…” he slapped his hand against Kevin’s chest “…As I said this man is a mastermind. I mean I had no idea what to do about all those laptops and all the shows I wanted to put on for you guys. That scrambler thing? I didn’t even know those things existed until he told me. This man here showed me everything. I let him do the complicated technology shit whilst I did the easy stuff. You know all the killing and that.”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear it. I didn’t want to believe that the boy who I had looked at protectively all night was fighting against us. The boy I had confided with earlier and that I looked at as a genuine friend was the one who was helping this psycho pick us off one by one. Apparently we had lost a member of Team Survival to the other Team. Team Freddie Kruger.
“He even got hold of these; you know to make sure I could hear all your juicy little conversations when I wasn’t in the room.” Melt Face turned to Kevin and lifted up his top, yanking out a wire. Kevin winced as the tape ripped off of his skin, and Melt Face held up the wire for us to see clearly. “Honestly I would never have thought about this if it wasn’t for him, plus with his dad’s discount all of this wasn’t as expensive as you would think. It’s amazing what fantastic bargains you can get when you know the right people.”
I wasn’t looking at the wire; I was too busy looking at Kevin. His eyes were at his feet, and I knew that face. The face of pure guilt. He had started all of this, but I knew without him even saying that he went into this without the knowledge of what had happened to Alex.
That was the point where Kevin realised he was in a lot deeper than he thought. That was the moment he bailed. Judging from his reaction to the bodies that we found or when we watched Aubree’s death, I don’t think he was aware of how deep he actually was.
“How could you do this?” To my surprise, it was Alex who spoke. He didn’t look disgusted at Kevin, he didn’t look angry. He looked disappointed.
If anyone has received this look off of their parents, they will know how much worse it actually is than someone full on flipping out at you.
Kevin shook his head, his face scrunching like he was in pain. I didn’t miss his eyes going red, and I didn’t miss his faint voice mouthing an apology. Melt Face didn’t either.
“Hey, don’t be sorry my boy. You did all of this for a good cause remember?” Melt Face reassured Kevin, but Kevin didn’t look at him. What Kevin did do was let the few tears that were threatening to escape finally roll down his cheeks.
He shook his head, his voice coming out strained “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
The arm around his shoulder yanked him once, as if yanking him back to his senses.
“Don’t you ever apologise. Especially not to him. You have nothing to be sorry about; you did this for all the right reasons. She’s not looking at you like a little pussy anymore. She’s not thinking you’re some loser who sits at home on Saturday night playing World of War Craft. She knows you have balls. She knows you’re a man now.” Melt Face reassured Kevin, but I knew it was doing nothing. He had said earlier he came here for a girl, and I guess now he knew it was way past that. He had gone too far. “Everyone will know who you are now.”
“This is what someone wants to be known for?” I said through a laugh, gesturing my hand around the huge crap hole of a situation we were in “This is what people want others to remember them for?”
“Why not. Sometimes it takes that little extra push for someone to remember you. People remember the bad things, not the good. Our memory makes sure it stores more of the shit that happens to us purely to satisfy the human race’s almighty need to feel sorry for themselves. You watch the news and rarely do you hear a nice story about a fireman saving a little girl from a burning building. That story gets covered for about ten minutes? What they do tell you about in great detail, morning, noon and night is the other people who burned alive inside." He paused, nodding to himself as he let out an ironic breath of laughter.
"At the end of the day if you eat an apple, it’s just another apple. If you eat a ripe one and bite into a worm, you’ll always remember that apple.” Melt Face turned to look at me “No one will ever forget eating a worm.”
With that sentence, that extremely fucked up sentence that made a lot more sense than it should sadly, every single suspicion of mine had been confirmed. It made sense. I no longer wondered about who was under that mask, I no longer wondered whether the man who abused Alex since he was a kid was in fact still alive.
I didn’t wonder about any of it, because I knew.
I let go of Archie’s arm, and took a step forward until it was him that was standing behind me. I looked directly into those cartoon eyes, trying to picture what the green eyes looked like that were under them. I looked at the mask’s smiling face, trying to remember how his smile looked like under it. I looked at the mask’s melted cheeks, trying to imagine how his tanned ones looked like underneath.
“Take the mask off Bradley.”
There was no movement at first, the cartoon eyes bore into me for what felt like hours. Finally, he took his arm away from Kevin’s shoulders and stepped forward.
He lifted his hands, gripping the hoodie that covered his hair and sliding it off to reveal a head of thick brown hair. He then placed his gloved hand at the bottom of his mask, before lifting it off of his face.
No longer was I looking into the cartoon eyes of the man I had been referring to as Melt Face since this whole thing started. Now as I looked over, I was staring into a set of deep green eyes lined with thick brown lashes. I was looking at tanned olive skin and a strong jawline. I was looking at a smile that I had seen all through my childhood, only now there was a different twist to it.
When I was a kid, the smile was innocent. Now, I was looking at the smile of a serial killer.
“Took you long enough to figure it out sweetheart.”
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