defect ➵ scömìche

ten

Mitch Grassi's POV

SCOTT WAS STILL GONE SO I decided to go and look for him. I didn't think I needed Avi, Kevin, or Kirstie, so I left without them. I mentioned it and had suggested that they could come and join me, but they never responded, so I didn't think much of it.

I knew the police knew I saw him that night, considering they stopped and told me that in a pointless email - so I had to do this by myself. I kind of looked everywhere, from libraries to alleys, and sadly, though, I never saw him once.

So when I was walking down an abnormally dark alley, getting closer to the apartment, I felt someone grab my waist from behind and as soon as they did, I widened my eyes and subconsciously stomped on their foot. It didn't do anything to stop them from taking me, though.

Once they loosened their grip, I found it as an opportunity to elbow their stomach, so I did. They grunted in pain, luckily, and they let me go for a split second. Right when I was about to scream and run, they seemed to be a step ahead of me and threw me against the brick wall. The back of my head hurt from the impact, but I didn't once let my guard down.

Someone I hadn't recognized was standing in front of me. Obviously a guy, considering their figure was built and taller than most women in Los Angeles.

"Tell your boyfriend that I'm tired of waiting," he spat in my face. His breath smelled like he had been drinking cheap beer earlier. "I will not hesitate to kill you if he doesn't hurry. Maximum is a month."

"Calm down," I said gently, ignoring my throbbing head. "I will tell him, okay? I'll make sure he'll hurry up."

"You will?" He softened. I nodded, and he nodded, too. "Okay. Don't tell anyone about this, small boy. The drink was a warning."

And with that, he shoved me against it again, but got off of me and jogged the other way. With my heart pumping out of my chest, my hand instinctively went to the back of my head, and I winced when I felt blood. God damn it.

"Fuck," I muttered. I grabbed my phone from my back pocket, ignoring its barely cracked screen from the impact, and called Avi.

"Hello?" His bass voice soothed me. Thank god. "Avi? Can you come pick me up? I'm..." I checked the nearby street sign. "I'm near Johnson."

"Sure thing," Avi said. "Hurry, please," I murmured. "Okay. What's wrong?" He asked, his tone becoming neutral to slightly worried. "You'll see. Just hurry," I hung up.

I sat on the curb, waiting for him, holding the back of my red neck. God, it wasn't even that bad of a shove. I heard tires against road as I looked up, glad to see Avi and his car.

He sped up when he saw me and I hurriedly got in. "What the fuck happened?" Avi immediately started to go to the apartment. "Nothing. I just fell," I lied.

"Fell? On what? Three tons of concrete off of a hill? God, you're bleeding!" Avi groaned as he completely ignored the speed limit. "Calm down, I'm fine," I assured.

"Fine? The back of your head is bleeding! You're probably going to get a concussion," he sighed. I could see the building in sight as we got closer. "I know."

As soon as we arrived, he got out quickly and helped me leave the vehicle. I quickly shoved him off, "No. I can do it."

"Now is not the time to be stubborn, Mitch," he rolled his eyes. "And yet I couldn't give a shit," I muttered, going up to Kirstie's room.

By the time we reached her without any staff or residents noticing, Kirstie literally seemed to sprint into a room that I couldn't remember the name of and soon return with a kit. "What the hell happened?" Was her first question, along with Kevin coming to my side.

"He fell," Avi said simply. The other two didn't seem to believe it, just like Avi hadn't when I told him.

"Fell?" She scoffed. "Alright, whatever. Here, take this. Mitch, look down."

I looked down like she instructed, waiting for what was to come, and I was about to scream when I felt a burning sensation on the place. "God, this must hurt," she sighed. She dabbed it with a cloth of some sort, and eventually they were done.

"Mitch," she said. "This wasn't because of a fall. What happened?"

It was like she already knew. I think she did by the look in her eyes. Guilt.

"Uh," I said nervously. "It was because of a fall."

She nodded slowly, "Okay."

"Can I talk to you for a second, Kirstin? Alone?" I asked. She nodded immediately, smiling at both Avi and Kev before helping me to the kitchen.

"What actually happened?" She asked quietly the moment we were in the room. "I don't know who it was," I said. "But some guy confronted me, quite violently, about Scott and time."

"Oh no," terror flashed in her eyes. "No..."

"What?" I asked. "You can't be seen around Scott anymore. This — this is why he disappeared, isn't it? Oh shit. That means..." She slowly looked up at me after she was talking to herself. "Fuck."

"Kirstie, what? What's going on?" I looked at her, my eyes wide. She kept whispering cuss words to herself, before finally looking fully at me. "We're screwed."

"What's going on?" I asked for the third time. "Scott is involved with bad people, Mitch," she said. "I think he did something bad to trigger them again. How long did the guy say for?"

"A month," I remembered. "What does that mean?"

"Okay," she sighed. "I think you guys better go. I can't tell you everything, Mitch. Just don't go to the police, or tell anyone else about this, okay?"

I nodded furiously, "Okay. Bye, Kirstie."

She smiled longingly, nodded, and spoke. "I'll see you soon."

I walked into the room where Avi and Kevin were, looking at them as Avi seemed distressed and Kevin oblivious. "We have to go," I said to them. They nodded, "I'll give you a ride," Avi said. I nodded thankfully as the three of us began to leave, and I knew that there was going to be some shit happening in the future if Scott didn't come back sooner.

***

a/n: idk I've been planning this for awhile and some of you should know I tend to do life threatening conflicts in like 98% of my books lol.