The Campus Killings {#LGBTQ #HORROR}

Chapter Thirty Four

All Jake could really think about was how unfair it all seemed — mere seconds prior, they had been flirting, dreaming of a future of long awaited first dates and maybe even more, only for it all to be taken away so swiftly.

It was cruel, damn near unfathomably so and his body shook with violent sobs as he watched his boyfriend fall out of sight, his shallow breaths audible through the phone until the call dropped.

Jake had screamed himself hoarse, whispering Raleigh's name as he pressed his forehead to the cold glass, watching as the killer admired their handiwork.

None of this was right, he was supposed to escape with Raleigh and survive but now, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to. 

His relationship with his dad had fractured, Raleigh was one of the only things he had left in life, the first person since the incident, maybe even before then to make him feel like he wasn't just drifting through life.

Now Petrović had taken him from him and it felt like he'd been hollowed out, with a crushing, devastating grief the only thing that existed alongside the emptiness.

Sadness, anger, confusion, regret, it all blended together into a potent, unbearable agony that froze him in place, only falling away when the murderous white face tilted up to look dead at him with heinous intent.

Finally, something else hit Jake, something he had felt before but was now overwhelmed by; pure and utter terror.

As the spectre looked up at him, his veins seemed to turn to ice and he backed up against the desk, suddenly realising just how alone he truly was.

He didn't want to die.

Alone and trapped, with his only saviours in another building — he attempted to fumble for his phone but dropped it, smashing it on the marble ground.

"Shit!" he cried, leaning down to retrieve it only to find the screen shattered, though more worryingly as he looked outside, the killer was no longer there.

Terrified, Jake switched off the lamp and dove under the desk, drawing his knees up to his chest as he tried to call Willa, though to no avail as she didn't pick up.

What if she's already dead? the worst part of him wondered, presenting him an image of his best friend, slashed up and lifeless.

Jake clapped a hand over his mouth to catch the sob, screwing his eyes shut as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Raleigh, beautiful, handsome Raleigh, the man he loved, who likely loved him in return, who had opened him up when he was sure he'd shut down forever — how could he be gone?  How could Jake be in a world where such an injustice could exist?

He was harshly torn from his thoughts as he heard approaching footsteps, and the unmistakable sound of Petrović's deep voice grumbling something in Serbian.

Jake's heart raced in his chest from the utter dread he was feeling, increased tenfold as he heard the door handle turning.

He realised as the door opened that he had left the gun and signal jammer atop the desk but it was too late to grab them both as Petrović entered, so he instead opted to grip the knife to his chest desperately, covering his mouth as he attempted to stay quiet.

Petrović's footsteps danced around the table and he continued grumbling in his native tongue as he quickly picked up something was awry.

Jake cringed as he saw the light turn on, curling further in on himself as he heard the gun being lifted from the table.

Then, Petrović's chilling voice rang around the room as he commented, "I know you're there."

Jake shuddered, his breath expelling from his chest in a gasp that he instantly regretted, the hand on his mouth tightening.