traitor | Ziggy x Nick

22: distance

i just can't explain the way it hurts
now that what we had is gone, i don't have the words
i'm so bad at playing along, saving my feelings
i've been keeping my distance
-
Ruel

>>>

"Deena?" I call over the phone as I tap my foot against the ground impatiently.

"Josh actually," I hear over the line and cringe in embarrassment. "We found the hand Ziggy." My eyes widen as he tells me, shocked still by them finding it. "Ziggy?" Josh calls over the line and i shake my head.

"Just...surprised it's still there after this long," I reply absentmindedly.

"We're gonna go to the body now. We'll find a way to figure out the curse like we planned. We'll find a way to end it."

"Okay," I breathe through the phone as he hangs up.

Sighing, I collapse onto my couch and go for a swig of whiskey before stopping myself. If we were going to end the curse, I couldn't be tipsy. I couldn't have clouded judgement - even if Nick was a traitor. The thought of him summoning the devil once again scared me, it's been circling in my mind since I heard of the new killer. He would know exactly how to do it with the book in his possession. Cringing I walk out of my living room and stand in front of Sam. I crouch down close by, enough to hear her harsh breathing but far enough that she can't reach me.

"Your girlfriend really cares about you doesn't she. Trying to end this curse so you guys can be together. I honestly hate her for bringing me into this shitshow you know. But at the same time, I understand how she feels. I tried to end it with Nick as well in '78. I lost Cindy, my mom - everyone I loved, and now it seems I've also lost Nick to your fucking bullshit curse. I mean, it has to be him right? No one else knows what happened 16 years ago except us. But I guess that's just the shit luck Shadyside gives to you. With or without that curse, we're still destined for betrayal and failure."

I stand from my crouch and throw one last sad glance at Sam before walking out of the room.

As I sit on my couch, five knives laid in front of me on the coffee table, I bounce my leg impatiently, worrying about the two siblings I sent right into the eye of the hurricane. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes for a brief moment, before an engine pulling up in my drive alerts me. Grabbing a knife in my hand, I stalk to the bathroom where Sam is tied when a rustle comes from behind.

"Oh Jesus Christ!" I growl at Deena and Josh as they enter, faces alarmed. "Did you find anything? Looking at her, there's no ending it!"

The siblings don't respond, only looking at me with grim faces.

"What is it?" I ask.

"We need to talk," Deena reveals.

"No shit," I respond as Deena relays what she saw when connecting Sarah's hand to her body. Nick had told me the entire truth the night we went into the caves.

"This is how we save Sam; how we save Shadyside," Deena tells me. "We can't kill the devil...so, we have to kill him."

I collapse onto the couch, head in my hands as flashbacks hammer me, everything we went through.

"What's your idea?"
Nick smirks at me as he lifts the keys dangling in his hands, "science and nature".

"Who are you?" I ask incredulously.
"Nick Goode, nice to meet you."

"How about, would you ever kiss the weird girl?"

"Not you! I'm not letting you die."