Life's Essence

11- Rian and Casadee

A/N- Hope you guys had a great Christmas yesterday!! Or if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you had a great holiday season ❤ What was your favorite gift you got?! Mine was the Blurryface Live Vinyl 😊

I woke up in the morning and to my surprise Tyler was still in the room. He was sitting on the side of his bed with his head in his hands. I wanted to say something to him, but after last night I was hesitant. I sat up from my bed and the sounds of my sheets rustling alerted Tyler that I was awake. He sat up and looked over at me and gave me a small sad smile.

"Hey Bren," he said softly. "I'm sorry about yesterday it's just...I heard something that made me worried, something to do with you." Instantly I became worried, afraid that somehow someone had already found out about the deal I made with Chris last night.

"Um, what did you hear?" He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair again.

"Well, um, one of the people from Motionless we were able to grab was Ricky. The one who shot you that one time and tried to again this time?"

I nodded my head in confirmation.

"Well, you know Andy has weird ideas of what a 'reward' is for us who don't actually want to be here. And uh...well...do you remember Rian who used to be here? And his wife Casadee?"

"Oh no. No, no, no, no you can't be fucking serious. I can't do that, I can barely shoot someone, let alone... no I can't."

"It's either do it, get Dallon punished, or get both of you tortured and killed. If you don't your loyalty will be questioned, you know that."

"I know, I know, I know, I just.... ugh. Did you hear when that's going to happen?"

"As soon as you recover."

Hopefully Chris will get out of here soon, and take Ricky with him.

A month or so passed, Chris and Ricky were still here, I was still anxious, but I was healed up fairly well.

Sadly.

I was hoping they would be out of here by now. Hell, I was hoping Dallon and I and all the rest of us would be out of here by now.

But no, we're all still here, and I felt like crying because Andy asked to meet with me after my visiting time with Dallon today.

I was sitting at the table waiting on Dallon, but I was distracted. My usual excitement I felt for getting to see Dallon was subdued by anxiety. Tyler on the other hand was bouncing off the walls on the other side of the room at the anticipation of seeing Josh again.

Apparently I was so deep in my thoughts, I didn't even notice Dallon and Josh come into the room. I didn't notice Tyler and Josh peppering each other's in kisses in the corner, and I didn't notice Dallon until he literally sat in my lap and lightly slapped the side of my face a couple times and said my name. I shook my head a bit and looked up into Dallon's concerned eyes.

"Sweetie, are you ok?" he asked.

"I'll tell you in a second, first I need to kiss you. And cuddle you some." I pulled him closer to me and hugged him close, burying my face in the crook of his neck. He hugged me tightly, and it felt as if he was holding me together. Although in a way he was. He is the only reason I would go through with what Andy is going to ask me to do.

Dallon pulled me back a bit and planted a soft loving kiss on my lips. He went to pull away but I placed my hand on the back of neck to keep him there just a few moments longer. When we broke apart, Dallon moved off my lap and into the chair next to me. He lightly placed his hand on my knee as he spoke.

"Now, tell me what's going on."

"Well, remember how the first time I got shot it was by a guy in Motionless? Ricky?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he was apparently one of the ones captured last month, and since I did so well Andy wants to give me a 'reward'. I found out a few days after I got stabbed and everything, Tyler over heard, but Andy was going to wait until I got better and I just got the all clear from Caleb today and-"

"Slow down Bren. What exactly are you saying? What's going on?"

"Do you remember Rian and Casadee?" Instantly Dallon's face paled and his eyes widened. He just stared at me for a few moments before shaking his head and speaking in a panic.

"No Bren you can't. You can't that will break you, you'd never recover from that, just say no and-"

"If I say no we'll end up just like Rian and Casadee! I'm not letting that happen to you Dal! I'm going to do everything I can to keep you alive, and that means I'm going to have to follow through." I pulled Dallon a bit closer and let my voice drop to a whisper.

"Also, I might have a way to get us and the others out of here, there's no way I'm going to jeopardize my chances at succeeding at that. I have to do it Dal...somehow I have to."

I saw some tears well up in Dallon's eyes shortly before they spilled over down his cheeks. He pulled me close and I felt his tears start to soak through the shoulder of my shirt.

"I'm so sorry Bren, so, so sorry...when do you have to do it?"

"I'm not quite sure, but Andy asked to meet with me as soon as I'm done visiting you so it will probably be soon, that's why I was so spaced out when you got in here..."

We both sat there holding each other for a few moments, not saying anything and just taking comfort in one another. I felt a light tap on my shoulder, so I pulled back from Dallon a bit and looked up to see Josh and Tyler. Josh was the one who tapped my shoulder.

"Uh, Tyler told me what's going on. I'm so sorry Brendon." I gave him a small smile before standing up and pulling Josh into a big hug as well. I owed him a lot, he helped Dallon with his anxiety a lot since I can't be there for him. I'll never be able to repay Josh for that. When we broke the hug he gave me a pointed look.

"After it's over if you can get through it, make sure you talk to Tyler or someone that can help keep you sane, because that's going to be rough on your mind. And also try to find someone who has successfully done it before and get some advice from them before hand, anything to help you get through it with the least amount of damage done to you. Ok? Promise?"

I nodded my head and sniffled a bit. "Promise."

"Good, now we still have an hour left so Tyler and I will let you two be again." I pulled Josh into one last hug as Dallon hugged Tyler before they went back over to the other side of the room.

For the remainder of the hour, Dallon and I talked about different, mindless things in an attempt to keep me distracted from what was inevitably coming. At random times I would lean over and pull Dallon in for a quick kiss, craving a lot of physical comfort in my state of anxiety.

All too soon, the hour was up and Dallon and Josh had to leave. And I had to go meet with Andy. Before we parted ways, Tyler pulled me in for a tight hug and said good luck. I took a deep breath and started my walk to Andy's office, hands shaking uncontrollably the whole time.

When I made it to his office, I blankly stood there and stared at the door for a moment, unable to make myself knock on the door. Finally, I did it. I knocked, and held my breath as I waited for an answer, hoping to receive none.

"Come in."

Fuck.

A/N- I'm sorry, but I won't be able to update on Thursday. With the ending of school and the holidays being so crazy I didn't have time to write far enough ahead to have a chapter ready. I'm going out of town to see my grandparents and we're not getting back until Friday. I'll try to update on Saturday but we'll see. Thanks guys!