**THIS IS A NON-CANONICAL CHAPTER AND IS JUST AN EXPERIMENT**
"He's not real, Armando. Stop ranting about some stupid guy you made up so you're not so alone. And for fuck's sake, stop pushing it onto us. We fucking get it, your stupid mommy is too rich to care about you." Hex spat bitterly, draped on Annie's couch. Bonez's hands shook, staring at Hex with wide eyes, his nose scrunched up at the smell clinging to Hex's clothes and breath.
"What did you just say to me?" Armando glared, looking to Annie to yell at him. She just placed a hand on his shoulder. "Annie, tell him he's wrong. Tell him Everett is real." Armando's voice began to crack.
"Armando...sweetheart...even though he said it really harshly, I..I think Hex is right...Everett might not be as real as you think he is..." she spoke very softly, Armando's eyes going wide in disbelief. "Let's talk about this..."
"No! Everett is real! He's a sweet and strange boy and sure, he's kinda sensitive but he know what to do whenever I get upset! He talks me to sleep every night and disappears by morning and..and he has no records...and he barely knows who he is...and.....f-fuck no..please no.." Armando felt his body start to shake, Annie's hand still on his shoulder.
"Listen kid, maybe you should go lock yourself up in a fucking asylum so you can be with your fake boyfriend all the time, huh? We'll come visit you when you scream all your crazy out. Maybe stop being a fucking faggot while you're at it." Hex smirked and closed his eyes, looking proud of himself. Something in Armando snapped and he launched himself at Hex, gripping his hair.
"Take it back, take it back, fucking take it back right fucking now!!" Armando yelled, spit flying from his mouth as tears fell, hitting Hex's face. Hex shoved him off, Annie grabbing Armando by the wrists.
"What is wrong with you, you little fucking freak!!!" Hex rubbing his head gently, Armando baring his teeth. Annie pulled him close and held him, Armando biting her forearm, sinking his teeth into her skin until she let go.
"Armando! That fucking hurts!!" Annie let go and Armando took the chance to run off, running all the way home and slamming the door, finding the house empty. He broke down sobbing, sinking to the floor and curling up, struggling to breathe as dark thoughts bubbled up and swirled in his mind.
After a while he got to his feet and scrambled upstairs to his room, grabbing one of his knives off his wall. He slipped into into his sleeve to conceal it before going to Georgina's room, knocking on the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door, finding Everett asleep in the bed, loosely wrapped in the blood red blankets. Armando walked to his lover and kissed his cheek, leaving some of his tears on Everett's cheek.
"Mmm....kisses..." Everett groaned in his sleep, Armando covering his mouth and going out to the gardens, grabbing rope from the shed behind the house. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the blade of his knife to his wrist and dragged it across his skin, watching the cut go red before blood began to drip from it. Feeling a painful rush in his chest, he left more and more cuts, each going deeper. Blood dripped down onto the brick walkway as he tied to rope, throwing it over a branch in the old tree hanging over the roses. He slipped the loop over his head, his legs shaking intensely. Before he could have a second thought, he jumped, his world going black as there was a sickening crack.
Hours later, the body of Armando Roux Price was cut down from the tree, red and blue lights flashing against his pale skin. Everett awoke to see the lights and panicked, running outside in his t-shirt and shorts, shielding his eyes from the bright lights. Then he saw the body being taken away and his eyes went dull. People lead him away from the house as he shook, no responding or reacting to anything, the image of the blood of his lover's arms and his head at an odd angle still engraved in his mind, playing again and again.
One life was ended but four more were changed for the worse that fateful day. Everett was taken away and put into foster care, though nothing ever felt right to him. He became a husk of a person, threatening people whenever they so much as said his name. Annie was the first other than Everett to find out what happened. The school held a memorial for him, something that deeply angered her. She took over, taking the microphone from the principal, screaming into it the story of the boy who took his own life. Later that day, she broke into the school with Hex and spray-painted Armando's old locker, leaving his photo, roses and candles in front of it. Hex never let it show but it broke him. For years after, he blamed himself for the death of the boy who was never his friend. Bonez stopped coming to school, staying at home and rewatching the vlogs they all used to do. Not long after the death, the band released one last song to their Youtube channel in dedication to Armando before breaking up. And that was it.
