It's your freshman year at Blackmore University. You try to leave your past behind but small things keep coming back to haunt you. You slowly become in the friend group with Tara, Mindy, Annika, Chad, Quinn, and Ethan. Oh, Ethan. He was the only per...
You and ethan stumble into your apartment, clothes inside out and backwards. "Where the hell were you guys?" Chad asks the two of y'all worriedly. "We decided to stay a little longer, remember?" You take a glance around the room and let the tone sink in. "What's going on?" Anika rolls her eyes. "Well while you two were having," her eyes travel to the clothing tag on your neck that you quickly covered. "Fun. It turns out Greg and his new roommate were killed." You and Ethan let out a "What?" in unison and join everyone on the couch to watch the tv.
"Sam and Tara went down to the station. Bailey called them down." Your knees grow weak, not in a good way. Another kill? And somehow Tara and Sam were relevant? This wasn't good, at all. Even you could be involved since Jason was killed. Who knows if it was the same people. Point is, this was really happening. "It's been a long night. I suggest we get some rest and recuperate when they're back. Deal?" Anika suggests, getting off the couch and grabbing her belongings. "No no not deal! What if they come here?" You ask frantically. "The killer?" Chad asks. You gawk a yes at him. "You and Quinn will be together. Trust me y/n, you'll be fine." Chad says while getting up and gesturing to Ethan to come with. The three get up ready to leave as you bite your nails in a panic. "See y'all in the morning!" Ethan goofily waves as they head out.
"See you got knocked up," Quinn says poking at your hickey which made you wince. "Maybe getting killed wouldn't be so bad."
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"And that leaves us with y/n." Mindy said with a dramatic head turn as Chad mock gasped. "Same things that were said to Quinn, you're a newbie. We don't really know you." You tilted your head and agreeingly nodded. "She's always mooching off of you guys and in return she gives y'all unconditional love." You smiled at her sentiment about you and the friend group's relationship. "And she has bad PTSD! Maybe now's the time she snapped. I mean she doesn't even talk about it." The group started agreeing and you had to clear things up. "I don't have to talk about it, I mean-" Mindy shoves a hand in your face. "Save it for the monologue." You roll your eyes at her pettily.
"Well speaking of snapped," Quinn starts. "What if the trauma you all went through, caused one- or more of you to snap?" Ethan adds on, "Yeah or the fame you got from the killings made you thirsty for more. I mean, let's be honest here. Some of the theories online about same are-" "Don't you fucking dare." Tara interrupts, sending him daggers. "Okay, she's right though," Anika states. "I mean, face facts. If we're all suspects, you're all suspects."
You check your watch, it was almost time for econ. You give your goodbyes and grab Ethan's arm to go together. "Can you believe she brought up my PTSD? Fucking hate that bitch," you complained, referring to Mindy. He chuckles to himself. "Yeah, that was not needed at all. I mean it's okay if you don't want to talk about it," He stops in his tracks and turn towards you. "It's not gonna stop me from wondering." You think to yourself. Should you tell him? It felt soon, you've only known the man for 3 months. But something about it felt right. You loved and trusted him. So you point to a bench y'all could sit on and chat.
"Okay, disclaimer. If you decide you want to break up with me after this, I don't blame you. At all! But it's a really deep secret you cannot tell anyone, not even Chad. Okay?" You hold out your pinkie and he hesitantly intertwines his with yours. "Okay.." You inhale. "I babysat kids when I used to live here. You know those letter labeled apartments near that bright donut shop?" You asked rhetorically to which he responded with a nod. "That's where it happened." Your lip trembled as you started to get second thoughts about telling the truth.
"Um, I was smoking, I uh was a smoker at the time." Your voice cracked as you squeaked. "And I dropped it! The lighter, on a very flammable rug." Your eyes didn't leave the ground, you didn't want to see his reaction. "It started spreading. It got onto the furniture and everywhere I just-" You look up to meet his eyes that weren't nearly as disturbed as what you expected, but your vision was too cloudy to notice. "I ran and let them all burn." You choked on your words and your eyes became waterfalls. "I didn't call for help, I didn't even help them come with me. And something about it was.. triumphant. Hated those fucking kids, watching them burn was a feeling I've never felt."
Ethan opens his mouth to speak but then quickly shuts it again. "That's why I left new york, that's why I've been cut off." You wait for his response as you cringe looking back on how much you poured. Maybe some things you should've left out. He clears his throat. "And how long ago was this?" He asks. "Senior year," you say shaking your head. It was less than a year ago.
He wraps his arms around you and kisses the top of your head. "Let's just go to econ," he whispers as he rubs your back. You pull away, wipe your tears with your sleeves, and nod. You two get up off the bench and walk to econ in silence, his arm around your shoulder the whole time.
Econ was just like any other day, except, Ethan was absent in the bathroom for more than half of the lesson.
