No Way to Live -Mavin fanfic-

Chapter 10

The next hotel was about the same quality as the last one, but the bed felt a lot more comfortable. Probably because I had been walking all day.

I had asked Michael if we could spend some time outside, but he said it was best to be inside as much as possible. So instead we decided to check on youtube to see how the Rooster Teeth lads were doing.

A couple videos that had already been recorded with us in it were up. Then we watched a new AHWU that was posted. Jack sulked and listed some new video game demos, while Geoff sat in the background and worked on his computer. It was quite boring looking without me or Michael there. Eventually Jack said "Right now Michael and Gavin are out on- wait, where are they?"

"We don't know, they'll be back soon though," Geoff said. Both of them looked stressed. Michael paused the video and got up, like he didn't want to watch anymore.

"I think it's best if I text them and tell them we're coming back soon, even if it's just a lie," I said. Michael didn't reply. "You know, just so they don't come looking for-"

"OKAY!" Michael interrupted. "DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT!"

"What's wrong Michael?"

"NOTHING! OH MY GOD I SAID YOU COULD TEXT THEM!"

I didn't reply to Michael, I just got out my phone and looked through a few new text messages. Eventually I decided to =send it to Geoff. He was probably one of the closest people I was to, and I considered him an authority figure. I said, 'we'll be back in a week sry for leaving on short notice.' I didn't bother lying to him about where we were, hoping he wouldn't ask.

A few moments later I felt my phone buzz. He said, 'Ok buddy, i didn't tell anyone about u and michael's litlle secret btw. i thought it would be better for u to do it'

Michael looked over at the text message and immediately knew what we were talking about.

"Tell him to make sure Ray doesn't tell anyone either," he insisted, placing his hand on my shoulder.

'Make sure Ray doesn't tell anyone either. tell everyone we miss them :)' I texted slowly, knowing this would be one of my only chances to say goodbye to all my friends. I expected Geoff to text back something like 'miss you too, come back soon'. Instead when I felt my phone buzz and I looked at the screen the text message read, 'Gav watch the new vid. im so sry :('.

I quickly refreshed youtube and sure enough a new video titled, 'Important Announcement' had been posted a few minutes ago. I looked over to Michael, wondering if I should click it. "

Well go on!" He yelled, letting me know I could do it even though I was afraid to. I put it in full screen as the video loaded for a couple seconds.

The first thing I noticed was Burnie standing in front of almost everyone who worked at the Rooster Teeth crew. He was standing up tall with his hands behind his back, and his face was serious but emotional. I didn't want to think about what it could mean, but in the back of my mind I already knew.

"Hey everyone," he started saying. "I know we tell you a lot about our personal lives here and a lot of you have become very caring fans, so I'm really sorry I have to be telling this to all of you now." Everyone in the rest of the office was standing around awkwardly, face down.

"The other day our lovable Rooster Teeth employee, Ray, passed away."

My body froze and my vision got blurry. I wasn't sure if I had heard Burnie correctly. I looked around the crowd in search of that one familiar face but saw only gloomy faces of a puzzle with a missing piece.

 "Unfortunately this kind of stuff happens to good people guys," he continued. "I'm really sorry for such... short notice. We'll miss you Ray." Then Geoff came on the screen and said, "Have fun in heaven you son of a bitch." He had tears in his eyes. This was followed by lots of other videos of everyone in the company giving out short messages to Ray, all of which made my eyes start to water. No. It couldn't be.

I looked over at Michael and saw what I imagined my expression to look like, only he was being tough and not crying. I'm sure we were both thinking the same thing. We were wishing we could be with the rest of them right then to say our goodbye prayers to Ray. The last screen was all black except for the words 'In honor of Ray Narvaez Jr' and a picture of a red rose under it, his signature flower.

 At first it was just silent. I looked at Michael and waited for his reaction, him still staring at the screen. Was.... was the body I had seen the day before... It must have been. Everything was starting to make horrible sense into reality. I scrolled down, hoping it would maybe clear things up but all I saw were commenters who were just as surprised as me. I read one that said 'HOLY SHIT IS THIS REAL???' and one that said 'HOW DID HE DIE'. I knew exactly how he died, and I couldn't help think it was my fault. There was one comment that just said 'no.' I didn't scroll down anymore.

Suddenly I felt Michael put his arms around me violently. It felt like he was trying to murder me, but he was just hugging me either to comfort me or to comfort himself.

"How could it have happened?" He asked.

We spent the rest of the day inside. Michael kept walking around in circles, loading and re-loading his gun. He was practicing. After watching him do nothing except this for two hours, I finally asked "What are you thinking about?"

He just looked over at me like he had forgotten I was there. "I'm thinking about what we should do. What can we do?"

I decided I told Michael what I thought we should do, even though he was probably going to reject it. "You don't know what's on the chip right?"

He looked at me suspiciously. "All I know is whatever it is, is extremely valuable. If we can't make use of it I bet we could sell it for a whole lot of money."

"Well If you don't know," I said, clearing my throat. "Maybe we should just forget about it. All it's caused it trouble and I really just want to go back home." I squeezed the creeper charm in my hand, which lay around my neck.

"FORGET ABOUT IT? DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH WORK I'VE PUT INTO KEEPING IT?" He started yelling.

I didn't reply. Why did he have to get so mad about everything?

"What we need to do is find out exactly what it is," Michael started. "But the only people who know are the thieves and the homeless man. How could we..." He looked over at me and I swear I could see the light bulb turn on over his head. He had a plan, and I didn't like that face one bit.

"Listen Gavin, we're not giving up now, not after what they did to Ray. I know exactly what we're going to do, but I'm going to need you're help."

I wanted to say no, but did I really have a choice? I couldn't resist his adorable excited face.

"Fine," I agreed. "But lets do whatever it is tomorrow, I'm tired as bloody hell."