stained (phan) || book #1

twenty

P H I L ' S  P O V

tw// gorey details: lots of blood, broken bones, rope burns, physical/verbal abuse, lots of swearing

I missed.

My gun that was once aimed at Wirrow's head fell in shame, and my jaw dropped. Wirrow filled with rage. I would've hit him. I could've hit him, but my hands had been shaking and I wasn't focused.

"You tried to shoot me?" Wirrow screamed. "That's it!"

He stomped over, snatching the gun from the ground and forcing it into my hands. He then used one arm to hold me in a chokehold, the other keeping my hands on the gun.

"Stop it!" Dan cried.

"I'll make you choose."

"No!"

I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt my fingers be pushed against the trigger. Screaming echoed throughout the forest, and then a gunshot silenced one.

"No! How could you?"

I opened my eyes, Wirrow letting go and taking the gun with him. He stood by Bryony. My eyes widened, my hands shaking.

"Oh god," I murmured.

I watched as Dan's mother fell from her chair and hit the ground, blood beginning to puddle around her.

Dan was sobbing, his body trembling in shock.

"How sad," Wirrow forced a pout, chuckling.

Dan jumped up from his chair, his fists clenched as he dropped to his knees next to her body. "She was my mother!" He cried. He held her head in his lap, tears like rivers flowing from his eyes.

"You really have made a bad decision indeed, Phil."

I turned to glare at Wirrow. "You were the one that made me!" I growled.

"Because you were too fucking stupid to make a decision. This is all your fault."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Then how was it a bad decision if you chose it?"

"Because Dan knows what we do, so either way he'll end up just like his mother," Bryony cut in, a hint of sadness and guilt in her voice.

"No," I snarled. Dan whimpered and hid behind me, his arms clutching the back of my shirt tightly. "You're not gonna touch him. I won't let you."

"That's exactly what you said to me about Ryan, but look where he ended up."

"I'm not going to let him end up like Ryan! I'm not going to lose another person I care about! I'm tired of giving up!"

"He's a short little child capable of nothing but complaining! If anything, me killing him will do us all a favor! He'll go to heaven and meet Ryan- the two can bond over the fact that you were too weak to protect them."

"Shut up!" Dan cried, gritting his teeth.

"What? You gonna cry again? Guess what, kid? You've got nobody to cry to now!" Wirrow snapped, gesturing to his dead mother on the ground.