𓁹 ꧁Aʟʟsᴇᴇʀs꧂ 𓁹

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 9

Written by: glxtterbunnie

Astor opened his eye and sat up, feeling decent enough until it hit him again. Walter was dead.

It had been 3 days since Stella pushed him off of that cliff, and Astor had spent all three in bed. He hadn't been sleeping the entire time, but he wished he had. It was easier to just sleep than think about it.

He was appalled that Stella would do such a thing, but not exactly shocked. Stella wasn't always the good person Astor liked to believe she was. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, feeling distinctly nauseous.

He got himself dressed, realising now how much of a state he'd been in. He decided to wear just a simple black dress, with a white off-the-shoulder jacket. After all, who cared what he wore now? Certainly not him.

He put his hand on the door handle, wishing he didn't have to break the news to Codey. Surely Codey would figure it out himself, he was probably smart enough to do so. It had been three days, hadn't it? He opened the door, still feeling exhausted.

Codey was sitting on a sofa, doing something or other when Astor came into the living room. "Oh, hi, Astor."
"Walter's dead." It seemed brutal, even to Astor, to deliver the news in that way, but he was long past caring. "Stella pushed him off the edge of the map."

"What? I-I'm going to, uh.. excuse me." Codey left the room hurriedly.
Astor shrugged and went into the kitchen to make himself a coffee. Let Codey deal with it how he wanted. He took one of the sachets out of the cupboard, and poured it into his favourite mug. He turned to go to the fridge so he could retrieve some milk, but hesitated.

He could hear the sound of glitchy sobbing nearby, and unless there was another glitched out player nearby who just happened to be really sad right now, that was Codey. He resisted the temptation to check on him- Codey wouldn't thank him for that, and either way, this was the guy who had ruined everything for him the day of his arrival.

He walked to the fridge and opened the door, taking a bottle of milk. He closed the door and walked back to his coffee. It was easier for him to concentrate on simple tasks, rather than doing nothing and having his mind wander to thoughts of Walter. He poured the milk in and stirred, trying to distract himself.

Codey eventually came back in as Astor was drinking his coffee. He poured it down his throat, ignoring Codey, who honestly looked awful. The coffee was tasteless and lukewarm, but he didn't care. He slammed the half-full mug down a bit harder than he had intended, because a few drops of coffee spilled over his hand.

"Fuck." He wiped his hand on a towel and walked over to Codey. "You look awful."

"Obviously, I just found out my friend is dead." Codey replied.
"Yeah, well, you could have done something. You were given those fancy Moderator powers for a reason, so why don't you fucking use them?!" Astor didn't even bother to hide how pissed off he was.
"You told me to leave you two alone!" Codey protested.
"And when the fuck do you ever listen to me?!" He shouted. "Maybe if you had used those powers of yours for something actually useful, Walter would still be alive!"

Codey looked genuinely hurt. "Stella was the one to kill him, not me."
"It was an accident!" Astor didn't sound convinced, himself, but he had to believe Stella. She was the only person who cared about him now.

"How was it an accident? How do you accidentally shove someone off a cliff?!" Codey responded.
"She didn't realise it was Walter, she didn't mean to kill him!"
"Like that makes it any better! Nobody here even looks like Walter at all."
"You wouldn't understand, Codey, you don't know her like I do!"