Nights Like These

Eighteen: fire in the woods

Start of December

Liam was on edge, always on edge lately because of unknown. He didn't know who to trust, or what to do- should he tell someone? Maybe a teacher or even the cops like Nolan begged him to do.

The only thing he did know was that he could trust Mason... he could. They've been best friends forever, brothers, they are family.

And that is why Liam cracked and told him one sunny afternoon as he and Mason were chilling in his dorm.

"What?" Mason questions dumbly after Liam explained the whole 'unknown' thing, how someone has been threatening Liam and how they sent a picture of Mason and Corey sleeping in their room and one of Nolan in the library. Made him wear the costume on Halloween and- oh, ran over Corey's sister.

He stared at Liam for a while before snorting and shaking his head, "you're deluded" he says and Liam's face drops.

"I'm what?" He pulls a face at that, not being called that in a long time.

"Deluded, there's not way" Mason shrugs, "there's no way someone is targeting you- or us, and actually hurt Corey's sister. Who would do that- why?" He snorts and goes back to his homework but Liam slams his books shut.

"Mason I quite literally have the texts, someone going by unknown has been harrasing me since Halloween! It's December for god sake" he says while scrolling through his texts and showing Mason. His friend held the phone up to his face and squinted down at the texts.

Before shrugging again, "nope" Liam's eye twitched.

"What do you mean 'nope'?" He pronounced each word.

"I mean-" Mason sighs, "come on, it's probably just some dickhead. It's nothing, it's a prank that's all, we do pranks all the time- I bet it's Brett" he opens his book but Liam slams it shut again and crosses his legs.

"It's not just some prank! It's serious I swear, I can just tell- whoever this is means it. They want to hurt me- hurt us! And I don't know why" he tries to get Mason to understand, grabbing his arm desperately he tells him all that he knows.

Mason sighs, "there's no pictures" Liam shakes his head.

"They deleted it like straight after" he tells him and Mason chews his lip, looking in thought. He was conflicted, not knowing whether to trust it or not. He thinks it's a prank done by some asshole to frighten them but Liam can tell it's not, "he chased me in the mall, I saw his mask. It was a clown one, he was running after me- he wanted to hurt me I could tell" he admits and Mason's eyes snap up to him.

He watches Liam for a while before sighing, "chasing you? What like with a knife? Maybe he was chasing you with a fake one, people here like to play pranks Liam. They don't mean it" he shakes his head and goes back to his homework.

Liam watches him write a few things down before he finally speaks up, "how did you know that?" He asks in a quiet tone and Mason is only half paying attention.

"What?"

"That he had a knife?" Mason's eyes find his, "I didn't say he had a knife" Mason snorts at that.

"This is ridiculous" he mutters to himself, "Liam, it's fine. No one is out to get you, who would do that?" Liam bites his lip at that.