Troubled Soul || Fall Out Boy

~16~

It took about a month after Patrick arrived for him to settle in fully. He was still very quiet, and didn't speak much, but when he did, all he spoke was weird stuff that Pete didn't understand.

And he did weird things too. Not only did he walk weird and spoke weird, there were some weirder things that he did.

Whenever he walked, he was constantly looking behind him to make sure that nobody was following him. Pete noticed that at night, he still sucked his thumb too. Just like the baby he is, Pete decided. He wouldn't sit on the couch anymore, he would only sit on the floor. And to top it all off, he was stashing things underneath his bed. Pen caps, empty wrappers, anything he could find, really. He would just put it there, and hide it. Pete asked him about it once, but Patrick simply denied anything to do with it.

But it wasn't just Patrick that Pete noticed changes in. His Mom and Dad had changed too.

Whenever they spoke to Patrick, they spoke very softly and slowly. His Mom would always give Patrick first pick of the ice creams in the freezer, and Patrick always got to choose what cartoons they watched.

Pete was only seven, but he knew what favouritism was.

And he was not happy.

Which led to the position that Pete was in now. It was really late at night, and Patrick was asleep. Pete however, was wide awake, and was ready to complete his plan.

He'd taken one of the nerf guns from the toy room when his Mom and Dad weren't looking earlier today. And it was that nerf gun that was positioned in his hands as he sat on the edge of the top bunk.

He had clear aim of Patrick's bed. Even if he missed his target (Patrick's nose), he'd still probably hit some part of him. And if not, he had six bullets to get his winning shot.

He was careful to be quiet as he pulled the slider back and heard the click, signalling that the gun was ready to fire. He shuffled back slightly into a more covert position and looked through the aiming circle to line up his shot. However, with his fingers hovered over the trigger a little too early, he accidentally fired prematurely.

He silently cursed as his first bullet landed on Patrick's monster truck bedsheets before bouncing off behind the wall.

Sliding the slider back again, Pete re-aimed his weapon. Patrick was starting to stir slightly, and Pete knew he had to act fast.

He positioned his target up perfectly, and hovered his finger over the trigger, before he was filled with a moment of nerves. Was this really the right thing to do? Did Patrick honestly deserve this? Pete shook the thoughts from his mind, before resetting his mindset. Patrick was taking over his life, and this was his first action to take back his control.

He leaned down and positioned his finger over the trigger once again. When he was finally sure he was on target, he closed his eyes and fired.

Bang! Right on his nose! Pete silently applauded himself. He was the nerf gun master!

Patrick's eyes bolted open, bloodshot red. Pete watched for a moment as Patrick's breathing quickened, before he let out the most ear-piercing scream Pete had ever heard.

Pete pressed his hands to his ears to block out the dreadful noise and dove back into bed, knowing he was only a few moments away from his parents walking in.

And sure enough, a few minutes later, they came racing in, obviously awoken from their slumber as they were dressed in their pajamas. Pete's Mom rushed to Patrick's aid and sat down on the bed next to him, before pulling him in for a tight hug. Pete's Dad sat down on the other side of him, unsure as how to stop the screaming.

"Shh..." Pete's Mom whispered. "You're okay honey. You're okay Pattycakes. You're safe."

Patrick ran out of breath and instead of continuing to scream, he just collapsed into a sobbing mess.

"You're safe kiddo. Nobody can hurt you here." Pete's Dad whispered, leaning up to stroke Patrick's hair.

Patrick showed no signs of stopping. "N-No D-Daddy! P-Please!" He screamed in desperation.

Pete's Dad froze, but bit his lip nervously when he realised that Patrick wasn't referring to him, but instead another figure that he knew.

"Shh.... you're okay Pattycakes." Pete's Mom whispered soothing as she cradled Patrick in her arms.

Pete lay dead still, hoping that none of this would be traced back to him. He caused this... He caused all of this...

Patrick was screaming his head off and he'd woken his parents up.

And it was all Pete's fault.

A/N: Hey everyone! Just letting you know from now on, updates will be every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying the book so far. And if you are, leave a comment and let me know! Stay awesome guys. :)