X-Squipped (A Spicy Bis/Be More Chill fic)

Part 4: Rich Set A Fire

Rich POV, four months earlier
The biggest party of the fall was here. Jake's Halloween party. One of the worst days of Rich's life. He was trying to just enjoy the party, but talking to any of his friends just made him feel empty and hollow. The only person who could have a mildly meaningful conversation with him was Jeremy. God, Rich hurt every time he saw him. Rich failed Jeremy, because he had a Squip now, and both Rich and his Squip knew that. The worst part? The Squip kept complementing him for it. It made him want to vomit. Every time Rich and Jeremy talked, Rich just had to force down the guilt for everything that happened. He didn't want anybody to notice, not Jeremy, and especially not his Squip. How long was this going to go on? Was Rich just condemned to re-living his failure over and over until he was dead..? Thank god there was alcohol at this party, not that he drank enough of it to completely temporarily deactivate the Sqiup. But, after he took another drink, the Squip started uncharacteristically laughing, and then blabbering about how Jeremy was the key to succeeding it's ultimate mission of "untiting everyone" — holy shit it was gonna turn the whole school into a hive mind this is so much worse. Rich didn't know how on earth he could stop this. It was all his fault. It was all his fault. There has to be something that could stop the Squip, right? Maybe there was. Rich remembered the time Jeremy made fun of his friend's obsession with old sodas. He clearly didn't want to make fun of his friend, but that was what happened when you got a Squip. Rich should know. One of these old sodas was Mountain Dew Red. Red, opposed to green in every way. This could be it. If only Rich knew where to get any. He asked and begged and pleaded with so many people, all of which thought he was insane. The only person who didn't find it too strange was Jeremy. Ugh. Why does it always come back to him? His worst mistake, his friend, his victim. God. The Squip was going to turn everyone into a hivemind, and Rich could do nothing. Nobody had an my Mountain Dea Red he could give to Jeremy to fix his mistakes, and he couldn't just stay wasted forever. It was all his fault. He was going to be the downfall of the school, hell, maybe even all society. If he wasn't so stupid, if he was stronger, if he was anything different than what he was. ... Unless... Rich didn't know what he was doing, but he knew he had to do it. He somehow got into Jakes garage without anybody noticing. "You won't get away with this." Rich challenged the Squip. It chuckled. "And how do you plan to stop us?" It beckoned, tauntingly. "With this." And before Rich knew it, he was doing the only good thing he'd ever done in his life. Setting this place ablaze so that he could never hurt anyone again. So that the Squip could never hurt anyone again. He knew it wasn't right, but there weren't any other options. He'd made so many mistakes. Too many mistakes for him to fix. This time, for the first and last time in his life, his mistake would be for the best. And as the screaming got louder, and inferno hotter and closer, Rich just waited. Waited for the fire to wrap its claws around him and drag him right down to hell where he belonged. Waited for the fire to take him home.