The Campus Killings {#LGBTQ #HORROR #FRIGHT}

Chapter Thirty Three

Raleigh shivered as he made his way toward the gym, the rain a deluge on his skin as it poured down, making him really regret leaving his jacket in the dorm.

Oh well, he thought to himself, too late to turn back now.

He was still thinking about Jake, terror filling him at the very thought of him befalling a similar fate to his friends.

Part of Raleigh wondered if he'd have never approached the other man in that office, he would've been safer.

He had just looked so handsome and was so shy and sweet that Raleigh couldn't help himself but fall head over heels in a matter of weeks (though it felt like he'd known Jake his entire life by that moment).

Admittedly, the circumstances were a little different and the murders around them had only served to push them together but he wondered if Jake could've been saved from the extra trauma if he had just ignored those instincts.

From the first time they had met, Raleigh had a feeling he was different from the others, from the men and women he'd been with before.

Jake was vulnerable, he was sensitive, he was fragile, but in that fragility came a desire to help others.

He was good, and Raleigh had managed to drag him down to being a victim.

If he had been able to step back in time to prevent Laura from tearing his friends apart, from starting off the series of murders, of course he would, but at the same time, rather selfishly, he was acutely aware that would mean he'd likely never have met Jake since Laura might've still been alive.

Finding love with him had come at a cost, and yet, he still couldn't help but love him all the same — but why hadn't he said it?

I love you. I. Love. You.

Three words, words he'd already wanted to say on the night of the party, that he'd whispered as Jake laid sleeping on his chest after they had made love.

This time, though, he meant it with all his soul, meant it in a way that he wanted to spend forever with this man even though they were only young. He wanted to give up everything he had just to make him happy, to be there with him for the rest of both their lives.

But why didn't he say it aloud?

Raleigh eventually came up to the old gym and he rushed inside, praying his phone wasn't waterlogged from where it was in his pocket.

His muddy trainers squelched on the floor as he headed inside, tapping the slightly wet device before turning on his torch — it weakly illuminated ahead of him as he headed toward the supply closet.

Raleigh had something of a skill for fumbling around the darkness, dating back to when he'd have to sneak back into his parents' home after sneaking out to his first boyfriend's.

His martial arts training had given him a little bit of spatial awareness that was helpful in this kind of situation even if it still felt like he was blindly stumbling about.

After a few seconds of tapping ahead of him, he found the door handle and opened the closet, revealing the generator before him.

As he lifted his phone, bringing the tiny jet of light over the switches, he took note that the biggest one, the main one for the campus, had been turned off.

"Someone doesn't want us getting out of here." he muttered under his breath, "Let there be light."

He flipped the switch and the lights in the gym came on, forcing him to blink a few times at the sudden, harsh light compared to the tiny stream.