Comfortable Silence - [Stanford Pines x Reader]

Chapter 11

Stan's POV

    There was blood everywhere. The carpet, the walls, the ceiling. Ford backs up in terror, gagging. The walls have been covered in paper with scrawlings of random words and nothingness. I slowly step in, and look around. The room is destroyed, Y/N nowhere to be found.

"Y/N?" 

 Nothing. Not a sound. I look up, noticing the window's open. Ford does, too. There's a blood streak up to the window, simulating drag marks. I immediately turn to Ford, who understands, and we run downstairs. 

   Bolting outside, we go straight to the alley under Y/N's window. Ford sniffles in fear behind me, but gasps as we see her on the ground. I run to her side, scraping my knees as I land.

"Y/N!"

She looks at me, then Ford. She's shaking, covered in blood and cuts. She looks like a murder victim. "I- I don't know-" Her voice shakes as she speaks, still in shock. I pull her gently upward, leaning her against me as Ford checks her wounds. She winces as I do so.

"What the hell happened?" I ask her, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"I don't- I don't know! I- I was- I woke up down here!"
"It's okay, it's okay. We're here."

Ford finishes looking her over, and sighs. "I can't see very much. We need to get you in the house."

I nod, me and Ford moving to one side of her, holding her arms. She winces again as we lift her, and she limps into the house. We set her on the chair, and she holds her head. Ford immediately runs the sink, filling a bowl of warm water and grabbing paper towels. 

    Ford comes to the table, sitting down and gently wiping away the blood from her arms. I sit next to her, my hand on her other arm. Seeing the blood be wiped away makes me sick. Her arms are covered in cuts.

"Jesus.."

Ford looks up at me, thinking the same thing as he wipes it all away. Eventually, she's a little more cleaned up. I stand and go get the first aid kit, pulling out all the bandage wrapping like Ford told me to. I hand it to Ford, and he lightly wraps both of her arms. 

Ford's POV

   When I've fully bandaged her, I look over to Stan, who is the same amount of confused as I am. Stan looks down, still holding her hand. I look to her, who seems almost embarrassed.

"You.. don't know what happened?" I ask.

She shakes her head, staying silent.

I sigh, looking down into my lap, my hand still on her forearm. Stan shakes his head, standing up and pacing the room. I can tell he's angrier than angry. He punches the wall, making me jump. 

"This is bullshit!!" He growls, and Webb slightly cowers.

   Stan walks over to the table, sitting down and rubbing his face. I glance to Webb, who's looking down in fear and shame. 

"This has to be the guy that's been killing people. Look at those marks!" Stan says. 

He looks to her, and seems hesitant to say what he's thinking. I want to say something, but I don't know what would help. He's right, though. The marks seem to be similar to what's on the news.

"You have to leave." Stan suddenly says. 
I look up. "What?? No! She- she can't leave!"
Stan's brows are furrowed, and he's staring at the table in thought. "She has to. It's not safe here."

I want to protest, but I can't. I want to yell at him, I want her to stay. I look at her, then back at Stan. I can't put her in danger. I want her to live with us forever, but if her life is in jeopardy.. 

"I.. Y/N, you.. he's right." 
"You have to leave." Stan adds. 

I don't know what to say. All I can do is nod solemnly. She looks down, and huffs.

"But... I.. I can't leave you."

It hurts to hear, and I know Stan feels the same. This girl has been our best friend for over a decade now. How could we just.. forget about her? Stan sighs, and leans down to her.

"We'll stay in touch. And.. when we move away, we can all find each other again."

"And.. we can all live together again in our own house?"

"Yes- yeah!" I try to smile for her, but it's difficult.

She sniffles, and slowly stands up. "..okay."

She starts to walk over to the stairs, with Stan and I walking behind her to make sure she doesn't fall.

    We get to her room, it's walls still covered in blood. She pulls her bag out from under her bed. We silently help her pack some of her things, mostly clothes. It takes several minutes, but nobody says a word.

We all walk down the stairs, together, but Y/N stops fast at Stan and I's bedroom. She stands, staring into it for a bit. Stan looks down, then walks into the room. He leans down, rummaging through his drawers, before finding a small slip of paper. He stands, walking over and silently handing it to Y/N.

She looks down at it, and slightly tears up. It's a Polaroid picture of all three of us when we were kids. In the picture, Stan is holding Y/N and Ford's heads under each arm, and all three are laughing.

Ford looks down to fight back his own tears. Y/N slips the Polaroid between the covers of her favorite book, to keep it flat.

   We all walk outside, standing in front of the Pawn Shop. None of us know what to say, or how to act. All we know is that a lot of things are about to change.

"Do you have enough money?" Stan grumbles, breaking the silence.

Y/N nods slowly, pulling out her wallet and flipping it open. It's an old leather wallet that used to be Pa's. He gave it to her when he got a new one, years ago.

"I have four hundred and thirty bucks."

Stan bites her lip, pulling out his wallet without a second thought. He pulls out half of the cash, handing it to her.

"Here's three fifty."

She looks at Stan as if he's insane.

"Stan, I- I can't! It's your money!"

Stan immediately shakes his head, taking her wallet out of her hands and stuffing his wad of cash in it. I'm honestly a little surprised. He's been saving up for a car for years. I reach in my own pocket, and produce my wallet. I pull out some of my own money, holding it out to Stan.

"I've got four sixty."

Stan takes the money from me and puts it in her wallet, next to the wad he just shoved in. He closes the wallet and shoves it into Y/N's hands. She stares at him in shock, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"I- I don't want to leave you."

She's having a hard time holding the tears back, and Stan wraps his arms around her.

"Hey, it's okay! We'll move out, and- and we'll all go on an adventure together. We'll go to Antarctica!"

"We can't if I never see you again!"

Despite my best attempts, I tear up as well, looking down. I can't bear to hear it; such a tough person with her voice cracking like that.

    Stan grabs her shoulders, talking to her in a low voice. "We'll see each other. Send us postcards. And- soon, we can be together again."

As he speaks, the bus comes to a halt at the bus stop on the corner of the sidewalk. I grab her, hugging her as tightly as I can. She whimpers.

"I love you guys."

We both nod. "I love you too."

With that, Y/N grabs her single bag, and jumps up into the bus, walking to the back with her head hanging. She looks at us outside the window, waving slightly as the bus drives into the rest of the town, away from us.

  Stan looks at the bus driving away, and opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Neither of us know what to say.

And for the first time in my life, I don't know what to think.

1400 words