Among Us (boyxboy) [ON HOLD]

Chapter 69 - Earning It

We had been on the way back for three days now.

The only thing it did to me was to make me feel like a criminal. We couldn't just drive on normal roads anymore. We couldn't shop in big supermarkets anymore. We couldn't even get proper hotel rooms.

It was frustrating.

I hadn't expected our town to share the discovery of vampires with the rest of the world. Sure, they had been a lot smarter by telling people that the vampires weren't a threat, likely to prevent mass panic, but still. They had officiated a search for Matthew since he had disappeared and I had been filed as a missing person, according to Jamie, whom we had called before leaving. It was a mess. Had Matthew not been with me, I would have gone crazy.

As it stood, we drove down a dirt road deep in the countryside and it was beautiful, I just didn't have to mental presence to take it in.

Matthew on the other hand had done little more than constantly apologise to me about what was happening and I had found no way to shut him up so far. He was carrying around way too much guilt.

"What do I need to do for you to get that there's nothing for you to apologise for?" I asked after he had, once again, told me how sorry he was.

He was silent, as expected. I sighed.

"Alright then, how about a deal? You answer my question and we're even." I proposed. In all fairness, I was shamelessly taking advantage of the situation. He just nodded.

"Why did you leave? And I want the truth, not some excuse about needing some time off." I asked, looking at him directly.

He didn't answer at first, clearly contemplating what to tell me, like so many other times when I had asked him for explanations for a lot of things.

"It's not a lie. I did have to get away." he finally settled for and I wanted to complain, but he never even gave me a chance to.

"That's the truth. It's the reason I felt that way that you don't know."

I could see his hand slightly shaking and regretted asking him immediately. It was true that I had felt somewhat cheated by not knowing, but I wanted him to feel the best he could, always. There were already too many burdens for him to carry.

"Someone came by, a stranger. He told me things, things I didn't want to hear and I didn't listen to him, either. But he kept showing up, telling me the same things, telling me more about it every single time and with every bit of new information I got, it became harder to deny."

I could tell it was hard on him. I told him to pull over and he did. As soon as the car stopped, he let his head fall onto the steering wheel, eyes firmly closed.

"Everything he told me made my life up until now a lie. It was things about my parents, mostly, but also about other people, about me and Sam. And when I asked my parents, they told me all of it was true. It took them a while to admit it, but they did and I couldn't stay. I had to get away. And I'm so sorry I took off without telling you."

He was looking at me now and I could tell how truly hard this was on him. I grabbed his hands and squeezed lightly.

I had realised that he hadn't told me the whole story, but this was better than nothing and just the way he had told me made me believe how he had actually been preparing for this moment. He had been planning to tell me. So for now, I settled with what he was comfortable with.

"Stop telling me you're sorry. We had a deal. And just so you know, this right now is the only time I'll let you get away with it because that is actually a reason to apologise. Apology accepted. But, to be fair, we weren't in any sort of relationship for you to actually feel the need to tell me." I added the last bit, because it was true. I forgot so quickly that we only just got together recently, it felt so natural.