Blood On Your Hands- A Matty Healy Story

1. First Encounters

16th April 2015

Matty's current position would have made his knees ache if it wasn't for the ringing in his brain that was getting louder and louder by the second. He sat, or crouched rather, with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands holding either side of his face as he tried to think carefully about his next move.

"Matty what the fuck have you done?"

God he wished she would just be quite for a second and give him chance to think. She'd been shouting at him for the past twenty minutes and right now he was regretting calling her. He had yet to answer any of her questions that she'd fired his way because in all honesty he didn't have a fucking clue what he'd done.

In attempt to shut off the noise he reached for his cigarettes that were falling out of his pocket thanks to his current stance. He just about managed to take one from the packet and hold it against his lips with his shaky hands. After fighting with his lighter he finally managed to light his cigarette, instantly breathing in the poison. He felt a rush of calm race through his body as he tilted his head back blowing the smoke from his mouth, everything went quiet for a second and he smiled to himself, peace at last.

"Matty I swear to God if you don't tell me what you did I'm calling the police."

Groaning loudly he brought his cigarette back to his lips before repeating his previous actions and spoke for the first time since she'd arrived.

"He just, he wouldn't shut up okay? I couldn't think properly with all the noise" Matty brought his shaky hand back to his face, rubbing it over his mouth.

"Jesus" she muttered, the breath seemed to have been knocked out of her as she took in the sight before her, wondering how it got to this, how she ended up here and what in God's name she was supposed to do now.

Matty turned to face her, again for the first time since she'd arrived, his eyes full of pain, guilt and fear.

"Please, Em, you gotta help me" he pleaded.

Her suspicions were confirmed as she took in Matty's state. His clothes were stained with an unmistakable deep crimson colour as were his hands and parts of his face that his hands had been touching.

"You- you killed him?"

*****

16th October 2014

Starbucks. Not the best place to work in the world but definitely not the worst. The pay wasn't great, just minimum wage but it was enough for a small weekend job for a English Literature university student to get by on. Said university student was nineteen year old Emily Wills, living in London and attending Queen Mary. While it probably would have made more sense to find a job on campus Emily chose to get herself a job half an hours ride away from campus on the tube which at first was an inconvenience but she'd grown to enjoy it. 

The tiny shop on the corner of the street seemed to be more popular than imagined as every lunch time it seemed to be heaving with people fighting for an empty seat. Emily never understood why people didn't just use the Caffè Nero across the street that was at least three times as big. But hey, she wasn't complaining, all these people were giving her a job after all. 

Thursday's for some reason seemed to be the busiest day of the week and Emily barely got time to stop and breathe between Caramel Frappes and venti iced mocha lattes. But this Thursday seemed different, calmer and more relaxed. Emily thanked her lucky stars as she wasn't faced with the usual lunch time rush and she actually had time to stand and people watch for a while.

She was busy watching what she assumed to be a couple very early on in their relationship argue over whether you should take the plastic lid off the cup and drink it or leave it on. If asked she'd agree with the man and say you should take it off but the couple clearly had no interest in her opinion. She was interrupted by a customer clearing his throat in attempt to get her attention.

"Oh sorry I was just- what can I get you?" She asked realising she didn't really know how to explain people watching to others. She could hardly say " oh sorry I was just listening into this fascinating conversation about Starbucks cups and lids because listening to other people's conversations is something I love to do".

She was interrupted from her thoughts again when the man in front of her replied "what would you recommend? I don't really drink all this fancy mocha stuff" his accent was unmistakable as he spoke with a think Manchester accent flailing his hands around. Emily couldn't help but laugh slightly. "Just a latte then?" She asked hovering her finger over the button on the till waiting on his reply. The man took a second to think about it "Yeah go on then."

She took a venti cup from the side in one hand and a black sharpie in the other. "Name?" She asked, looking up at her customer properly for the first time.

She was taken aback slightly at the view in front of her. He was slightly taller than her, probably around 5"8 or 9 his hair was a mass of jet black curls pushed from his face by his also jet black sunglasses. As her eyes roamed his outfit she noticed a colour theme as he seemed to be dressed in black from head to toe. There was something about this man that made her curious, curious to find out about the secrets his eyes held or the thoughts collected in his mind. He was attractive for sure but there was something else about him, something different.

"Matty" he replied tilting his head to the side slightly giving her a half smile.