Trust | Generation Loss

The Witness

In the cold of the night, you wouldn't hear any more than crickets chirping or birds occasionally getting scared of something that noone could even see. In a forest, there stood an old garage with no windows except for one on the front, next to the entrance. The only way to it was a muddy path created by the heavy wheels of a car that haven't been used for a long time standing by the building. At that time you wouldn't expect anyone going around near such places, yet the quietness gets interrupted by loud crunches of dry Autumn leaves laying on the ground being stomped on. They stop after a while, but the short calmness once again gets paused by a series of subtle knocks.
-Ran I'm here! Open up!
The voice of a short brunette echos through the woods.
-Ran?
No response.
-For fucks sake. - he mumbled.
He's not the patient type of person and it didn't take him long to attemp to open the door on his own.
-The fuck?
-...
-You never keep them open. What could possibly be so important you forget about it... - he said even though he knew the person he's trying to get to can't hear him.
The door opened widely after being pushed just slightly, it revealed a short hallway. Lights are off. But the gear of whoever's inside has been left in there. Tubbo takes a step inside and notices all the other doors are locked.
-Of course he won't hear me if he locks himself. That dumbass really thinks there can't be any creeps going around the forest stealing whatever they see.
He went a bit further and carefully opened a door to his friend's "office". He says it's his little private spot where he can be himself, lately he has been spending a bit too much time in there trying to find a very specific person.
Tubbo slowly creeps in making sure he doesen't interrupt anything important the man can be working on. It sometimes takes him a moment to figure stuff out and at the timed he needs complete silence. But this time he surprisingly wasn't sitting by his desk placed right in front of the person walking in.
-Ranboo? - Tubbo called but his voice got muffled by a long and piercing scream coming from the exact room he was in. He jumped back a bit and immediatelly started looking for the source of the noise. He froze. While staring at his friend in disbelief he backed up as he realized the danger he got himself into.
-Holy crap... - Ranboo huffed, visibly exhausted.
The floor creeked under Tubbos feet as he hid.
-Huh?
-...
-Is anyone there?
No response.
-... Tubbo?
He flinched. He knew something about his friend was off but he would never think that he could actually kill an another human being. "How could he? I thought he's still a good person even after all the weird shit he has done. Or... How could I not realize that he's slowly going insane... God... Why did I even-" His thoughts were interrupted by the tall man walking out of his room covered in blood and holding a pipe looking like it just got dipped in a pool of the same substance. He stared back at him with his grey eyes with small popped blood vessels resulted by severe stress.
-Tubbo what the hell are you doing here?
-Care to explain what you just did!?
-I had to get the information! He wasn't cooperating.
-What the fuck do you mean "he wasn't cooperating"!? Do you have any idea what you have done?
-Tubbo, calm down. - he took a step forward.
-No! Stop! Please! - his voice cracked as he began to get more and more scared.
-Tubbo...
-Please! You're freaking me out!
As Ranboo began getting closer and closer, Tubbo felt something pop in him. He quickly got up and ran to the only escape, pushing Ranboo beside. He didn't make it far. The tall man blocked the way and closed the door, scaring him away before he could get to it.
-Let me out! - Tubbo screamed with tears forming in his eyes.
-Listen. I'm not going to hurt you.
Tubbo backed away as much as he could while glancing at Ranboos weapon and back at him. He didn't have a lot of trust in him already, but now, he has crossed the line.
-As long as noone finds out, you're gonna be fine. I promise.
-How can I trust a murderer? Let me out!
-And how can I trust a witness?
Tubbo stared blankly at his friend, not thinking straight, not knowing if he's gonna live another day. After a moment of awkward silence the tall guy crouched at him and opened his mouth to speak, but before he said anything he noticed Tubbo getting angrier with him and forming his hands into fists and preparing to defend himself at any moment. Ranboo sighed and looked back into his eyes. His grip onto the pipe loosened up making it slip out and fall onto the ground with a loud bang that thrilled Tubbo who once again looked at the murder weapon for a couple of seconds.
"Maybe it is fine... He said he had to. Maybe I should just forget about it all and let him be? No. This is wrong. I HAVE TO report it"
His mind was going wild while staring at the bloody pipe. He seemed like he has forgotten that this is reality. He's actuall there. He snapped back to reality as Ranboo continued:
-I'll let you out under two conditions. First: you still help me restore the old cassettes I found. Second: you don't say a word to anyone when you get away from here.
Tubbos breath slowed down and so he began to calm himself down.
-Only if you leave Tommy and Aimsey out of this.
-So we have a deal? - Ran said before reaching his hand out to Tubbo. He was visibly hesitant but carefully shook it.
-Deal.
Ranboo stepped out of the way letting his friend walk out while watching every step he makes. As soon as he closed the door behing himself he began running. He ran so un-humanly fast he almost looked like a frightened deer. He was impressed by how fast he got to the edge of the forest but didn't think about it too much. He made his way home looking back every few minutes making sure noone's following him. He didn't get off guard for even a second though his mind was flooded by the thought of his friend being a criminal. Getting home didn't take him long, he stood in his door frame for a bit before entering and carefully closing his door making sure noone will have a chance to get in. Then he made his way to his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. He tried really hard to keep his eyes shut but it felt like something was pulling his eyelids apart. He remembered Ranboo's words.
-The cassette tapes. The fucking cassette tapes. God why did I agree on this stupid deal... I'll just fix them. Maybe then I'll be able to sleep.
Hours went by and the cassettes got fixed. Tubbo, just to test, decided to play them. He picked up one of them and put it into the player.
"click, the following is a collection of evidence for case number 99127, also known as the..."
-Huh?
-It just cuts out? What in the world is he even gonna do with these... Whatever. As long as he leaves me alone.
He got the cassette tape out and put it away with the rest. He once again laid on his bed and this time, went straight to sleep.