A Scar Away from Falling Apart • FOB/Young Blood Chronicles/Patrick Stump

part two

A/N: in which katherine and patrick talk about food a lot

--OoO--OoO--OoO--

"This is really, really off topic...but how long have you been a prisoner here? Cause...I dunno...nobody is in my cell...normally." Katherine gnawed on her nail, hoping the question didn't invade Patrick's privacy too much. They had been talking for an hour, and they were beginning to run out of get-to-know-me questions.

"Well, I was a prisoner for--like--two days...then I wasn't...but then I always was?" He sighed. "It's complicated...how about you? If you don't mind me asking."

"No, it's cool. Uh...I don't really know, to be honest. Two--three months, maybe?"

"Shit."

"What?"

"You've been here forever."

Katherine glanced down at her lap, aimlessly picking at calloused fingers. "Yeah, I guess I have. I just lose track of time...sometimes...I guess..."

"Are you crying?"

Tears were welling up in her eyes. "N-no."

"Yes, you are...

"No, I'm not...I swear."

Patrick hesitated for a moment. "Um, can I--can I hug you?"

She nodded. "Y-yeah."

After a few seconds of shifting, she felt two arms being wrapped around her, squeezing her body tight. She lifted up her arms and embraced him. His hand began to slowly rub her back. No...was it a hand? It didn't feel like a hand...

She pulled away.

"Your hand feels weird."

"Oh...yeah...sorry...it's gone. They cut it off."

"Oh my god."

"My friend Pete handcuffed the briefcase--the one they wanted--to my hand. The only way to get the damn thing off was to remove my hand." He chuckled under his breath, the sounds of him being on the verge of tears conveying itself in the laughs. "Guess I'm really a Stump now, huh?"

She laughed, her lips turning into an unfamiliar smile. "Yeah." Silence and tension permeated the air, and she spoke up again. "My band--the one I mentioned earlier--we were taken together."

Patrick didn't reply.

"We were little-known. Alternative rock. I was the bassist...we were...uh, just famous around the Seattle area." She exhaled. Patrick was listening attentively, analyzing every word that came out of her mouth. "We wanted to get signed to this label. We went to go do a live show for the CEO." She started crying again. Why couldn't she stop crying? She just wanted to tell a goddamn story. "The record label wasn't an actual label...but a cult."

"Oh..."

"They k-killed Ben. He was the only guy--our drummer. Guess they didn't want any guys in the cult at the time. The rest of us, they tried to turn us. The guitarist...Sophia...was the first to give in. Then it was our vocalist, Maddie." She slumped herself lower against the wall. "I'm the only one left."

"I'm so, so sorry Katherine."

"I don't need your sympathy." She snapped suddenly, causing Patrick to jump. "It's not going to change anything. Tomorrow I'll be tortured, then I'll be put back here. Eventually I'll break. Then I won't even remember anything. Nobody will care besides you."

"I-I..."

A wave of guilt smashed her in the face, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I'm just so used to nobody being there."