Fleeing The Past || PURPLEPHONE

Cops And Robbers.

For the next few hours, the guys entertained themselves by chatting in the living room. At one point, Chris pulled out a deck of cards and they started playing Cheat.

"Two aces," Chris said, putting two cards face down on the table.

"Cheat," Scott grinned, looking at his own hand which had 3 aces in it.

"No cheat," Chris said. "One of these cards is an ace, and I'm asexual. Two aces."

"Okay. First, that was a really good pun," Dan said. "Second, Deal with it, Chris. You got caught out."

"Fine, fine," Chris picked up the pile of cards and added them to his hand.

Scott glanced up at the time. "Vincent's been gone for a few hours now... you don't think the police found him...?"

"Naw," Daniel said in a baby voice, "Is somebody missing their Vincey-wincey?"

"Oh, shut up," Scott put down a seven and a two. "Two twos."

"It's okay, Scott. I'm sure he'll be back soon to cuddle you goodnight~" Daniel continued, putting down four cards. "Four threes."

"Yeah, right, only cuddle him..." Chris said as he put down one four, and he and Dan started snickering.

"You guys are so immature," Scott rolled his eyes, but he blushed, which made Dan and Chris start snickering harder than before.

"Fine, be like that," Scott said. "I'll just let you know, Chris, that Daniel here has a massive cru-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Daniel cleared his throat and glared at Scott. "Alright, I surrender. No more jokes. You really had to pull that card, didn't you?" He grinned and he and Chris high-fived across the table at the awful joke.

"Ugh, you're worse than Mike, the both of you," Scott complained.

"Mike?" Chris asked, and then looked down as his phone started ringing. "I better take this, guys." He took his phone out of his pocket. "This is Christian Xylander, how may I help you?"

"Christian... I'm afraid I'm ringing you..." the lady on the phone paused and took a deep breath, "Y-Your mother, h-has been found dead... A-As a policewoman, it's my duty to inform you that we have free counselling available if you need it, a-and that, as with your brother, the current suspected cause of death... was murder."

Chris didn't say anything, just sat there as the colour drained out of his face. "Thanks for letting me know..." he said finally, his voice sounded hoarse. He hung up his phone and put it back down on the couch, staring blankly ahead.

Scott and Dan exchanged nervous glances.

"Um," Scott said tentatively. "Who... Who was on the phone?"

"He got my mother," Chris said despondently. "The murderer got my mother."

"Oh my gawd," Daniel breathed. "Oh, gawd, Chris, that's awful."

Chris stood up shakily. "I'm going to bed. Don't talk to me. Need some time alone." He started towards the stairs, his knees giving way halfway across the room.

Dan ran to his side and tried to pull him up, but Chris pushed him away. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't touch me." He stood up and sighed. "Somebody, please kill me now."

Dan watched him walk up the stairs towards his bedroom. "When Vincent comes home, I am literally going to kill him."

"Vincent?" Scott asked. "What's Vincent got to do with this?"

Dan turned around and looked at Scott. He seemed to be weighing up his options in his head and then he sighed. "Listen, Scott, dude. There's something... I should tell you. About Vincent."

Scott frowned slightly, "What is it...? Do you know something I don't...?"

"Look..." Dan took a deep breath. "Vincent is..."

"Back!" Vincent burst in the front door, grinning. "Did you miss me?~"

Scott smiled and hopped off of the couch. "Yeah, just a little."

Daniel snorted, "Just a little."

Scott shot a glare at him, and then lowered his voice. "Vincent... something terrible happened while you were gone."

Vincent frowned, "What's up, Scotty?"

"It's Chris..." Scott said. "They... the murderer killed his mother..."

Vincent laughed, "Ha. Nice try, Scotty, baby. I'd know if..." he trailed off, looking at Scott and Daniel's solemn expressions. "You're not joking?"

Scott and Dan shook their heads. Vincent's eyes widened.

"Daniel," he said finally, "Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?"

Dan glared at him, "I have no interest in anything you have to say, bro."

"No," Vincent hissed, "This is important."

Scott looked between Vincent and Dan and cleared his throat. "I'm... uh, gonna go to bed anyway... see you in the morning, guys..."

Vincent waited until Scott was gone and then turned back to Dan. "It wasn't me."

Daniel laughed dryly. "Not you? Yeah, right. Stop trying to play the innocent game."

"No, you don't get it!" Vincent said. "It. Wasn't. Me! Okay, so I did the kids, and I did Alex, but this one wasn't me!"

Daniel paused, "You mean...?"

"I mean," Vincent said, looking around nervously and tapping his foot impatiently, "There's another murderer in this town, and they killed Chris's mum."