𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 ; ᶠᶦⁿⁿᵉʸ ᴮˡᵃᵏᵉ

v

••••••••

The stairs creak quietly as Finney slowly steps up each one, staying hidden from the man sitting in the chair above. Lucas stands right behind him, seeing the man shirtless in that stupid mask, waiting for them. Finney shudders as the two walk back down, closing the door.

Lucas was clearly terrified out of his mind as he slid down the door, sitting on the ground with his knees tucked to his chest, watching the boy in the baseball shirt take advantage of the small food supply given to them. Finn looks back at Lucas, seeing the boy distraught and probably having some sort of zoned out flashback. He stands up, dirt visibly staining his shirt as he kneels down to Lucas' level.

"You okay?" Finn whispers

Lucas responds with a nod, looking dazed, bags heavy under his eyes, dark as well. Finn sighs, picking the boy up and dragging him to the mattress, setting him down with little to no trouble.

"Sleep. Actually sleep, don't sit there with your eyes closed pretending to sleep but you're actually just trying to pretend we aren't in this situation"

Lucas groans and scoffs, turning towards the wall with the window as Finney sits down, facing Lucas' back as he puts an arm around him.

An hour later the phone rings again, awakening Finney, Lucas was already awake before so he quickly got up, picking the black phone up. Static drones as a voice speaks, the same one from earlier.

"You said my name was Billy."

"Billy Shuh-Showalter"

"Don't call me that. I don't remember it. It's not who I am now"

The green, glass bottle on the floor begins to move, making a sound as the ghost boy speaks.

"What do-do you want me to cuh-call you then?" Lucas asks politely, watching Finney slowly walk towards the bottle.

"I told you. I was a paperboy"

The bottle falls sideways on the floor, pointing towards the wall with the window.

"Okay, P-paperboy"

"See the wall in front of you? See how the wall is separated from the floor?"

"Yeah"

"I tore a long cable loose from down there. I kept it hidden."

Finney lightly takes the phone, "What are we supposed to do with that?"

The bottle spins, faster and faster as it then stands on an angle impossible to create, pointing up at the window. Lucas had thought the ghost of Paperboy was holding it up, most likely anyways.

The boys got the hint, setting the phone back on the rack after Lucas whispered a 'Thank you' to Billy. Finney was now pulling the wire from the floor, rushing to the window where Lucas was waiting, staring up at the grate that covered the glass.

With a few trials of error, Finney couldn't get the wire stuck around the grate, leaving Lucas to use some of his genius brain power. The carpets. He taps Finn on the shoulder, nodding his head to the back, the brunette understanding quickly as he throws the wire off to the side, the boys rushing to the bathroom area to grab the carpet roll.

After positioning the rug correctly and running the wire though it, Lucas heald both ends of the black cord as Finney rushed the carpet back to where it came from. Lucas tried walking up the wall to see if it would even work, but kept slipping, leading him to tie the cord as Finney came back.

Finney takes the cord from Lucas' hands, making an attempt to climb up, pull the grater off, and break the window to escape.

Finney makes it to the stop, straining to keep himself afloat, directing Lucas to hold Finney up by the soles of his shoes, giving him some pressure to stand on a bit.

Earlier, the boys tried to stack on top of each other, but they still couldn't reach the window, it was a good seven feet up on the wall. Hell, the ceiling was probably ten, and Lucas was to scared about falling and busting his head open to try and stand on Finney's shoulders.

After much struggle, Finney breaks the grater off, falling down with a scream. Lucas had broken his fall a bit, catching him by the waist but ultimately dropping him and Finney landing on top of him. The grater made a loud noise as it fell to the floor, as expected.

"Sh-shit. What were we e-even attempting to do uh-again?" Lucas asks with a groan

"I don't even know" Finney sighs, pulling himself to his knees as he looks up at the window

Lucas sits himself on Finney's shoulders, "Come on, I-I can try to pull myself up a-and break the glass with it" He speaks, looking down at Finney as the boy with the mop of hair chuckles

"You can't sit up there, you'd have to crawl out, plus how would I get out?"

"Yuh-you could go first, I cuh-could try holding you up and then you can r-run and get help"

Finney sighs, standing up as he holds Lucas by his ankles, keeping him steady on his back as he flops down on the mattress, Lucas smiling and laughing softly as he makes impact with it. Lucas unlocks his legs from Finney's shoulders with laughter as Finn turns around, pinning Lucas to the mattress.

"S-Stop! Do not f-fucking tickle me!"

Finney raises his hands, wiggling his fingers as he tickles Lucas' sides, the boy trying to shove Finney off of him as he laughs.

For the first time in a long time, even before this, he was happy. He was smiling.

"Stop! S-Stop it, asshole!" Lucas laughs

"Never! It's the only thing that makes you smile so screw it!"

"No! Stop!" Lucas laughs, trying to escape Finney

Both boys laugh as Finney stops, laying down next to Lucas, the curly haired boy painting for air after all the laughter.

Finney turns to Lucas, resting his head on his left hand, Lucas turning and resting his right hand above his head.

"I think I like you"

"Y-you think?"

"Maybe. Possibly"

"You're suh-such an asshole, you know th-that, right?"

Finney nods, resting his right hand on Lucas' cheek.

Finney places his lips on Lucas', closing his eyes as his face went red. He quickly pulls away, flustered.

Lucas hums, choking back laughter as he looks at Finney.

"You're kinda.. gay"

"You are too!"