2,000 Lives -Mavin fanfic-

Chapter 10

[Michael's POV]

 I lay awake in my bed for a couple nights and days. I tried to focus my mind on my usual thoughts but it was harder than I expected it to be. I tried to think about Lindsay mostly. But thinking about her made me think about what she was going to think when she found out about the missing people, and then it made me think about Gavin. As I replayed the memory of him kissing me over and over again in my head, I smiled. I thought about the kinds of things he must have thought about through the years if he had felt feelings for me for as long as I liked to believe. I even remembered the first time I told him about Lindsay. He could have looked sad, pretend happy, or even just surprised to show he was interested in me. But he had only held a look of confusion on his face. Maybe if I had known he was interested I wouldn't have gotten into such a mess. I winced my eyes together on the realization that was a pretty good thought, but as I tried to focus on it more I heard footsteps across the grass outside.

The footsteps I occasionally heard were the only things that could get me out of bed. I would get up, open the door to check if it was Gavin, and then go back inside every time I was disappointed. Each time I had slowly became less and less excited as I became more aware it wasn't going to be him. This time it was Jack. He was carrying a little book in his right hand as he happily strolled over to a grassy area where he sat down and watched looked up at the afternoon sky. It wasn't quite time for a sunset, but the sky did look beautiful.

Over the days in my bed I had came to the conclusion my three suspects for the disappearances were Jack, Ryan, and Geoff, also known as the only left Achievement Hunters. Jack was sweet and kind, and he didn't seem like the kind to do something sinister, but I didn't cross him off the list. He had a wife like the other gents, and that just got me to thinking how could any of them be responsible. I didn't think Jack would want something like Ray's or Gavin's money.

Then I thought about Ryan. He was a bit mysterious and I wasn't sure what he did in his free time, but we had asked multiple times before about it and he had given us reasonable explanations. He had explained to us he was a very introverted  person, meaning he liked to keep to himself. He had described it in a way I liked, stating that most people "charged" themselves up or made themselves happy by communicating to others and being in an outside world, while he liked to charge himself through alone time. It made him seem a bit creepy at times, especially when he would do stuff like talk about Edgar, but he was creating a life for himself with a child and everything. He couldn't do something like a murder or kidnapping.

And then I thought about Geoff. I remembered Ryan's theory of why he could be behind everything and I thought it made sense. He had a wife and a child, but maybe that actually wasn't what made a person as good as I thought they were. When he had told me he thought Gavin was to blame, that could have easily been a way to create chaos and fear in Achievement City, which could make people want to stop having the Let's Plays. He had even straight up told me he thought we should stop having them. It would have all made perfect sense if it had been a fake story I was reading, but truth was every part of me really didn't want to believe it was Geoff. I had spent years of my life with him.

As I stood in my doorway, running my fingers through my curly hair, I sighed. I didn't want to have a suspect. I knew I had to if I was ever going to see Gavin again, but I couldn't think properly. What if he really was murdered. I imagined Geoff slitting Gavin's throat, and I tried to close my eyes to make the image go away. He couldn't be dead. If he was, I wouldn't have a reason to keep looking for the sick bastard who did all of this. If I was completely sure he was dead I would have gotten the fuck out of there. I would have ran back to Lindsay and snuggled up in her arms all day long, never admitting the feelings I had held for Gavin in this last week. I didn't want that life.