i hired a hitman on myself // joshler [✓]

XLIII

tw: severe injuries, hostage situation, and gun violence.

jenna quickly pulled me into the room after saying what she did, i had no time to react let alone respond, so i just went with it. i had to let the information sink in, despite my mind still being flooded with questions.

tyler was alive.

so, did that mean all of that back there was staged? but how'd they know raz's plan beforehand? though i knew i had all the time in the world after all this ended, it still made me wonder just how they did it.

when we were fully in the small room, i noticed all the lights were tinted red. the walls still mirrored what we saw in the main area, except there were more weapons and such in here.

there were stun guns, sharp metal hooks, and of course the surgical tools every monkey just has laying around. though all of this caught my attention for a minute, i turned to see the problem at hand.

i was looking at who i assumed to be ashley. her platinum hair was in sort of messy pixie-cut, and she was in some a weird white nurses outfit, that was now painted red in most areas from her own blood. her wrists and ankles were bounded by rope, so she would stay put in an old wooden chair.

i noticed just how ripped and tore her clothes were, blood coming out from most of the dismembered seams. her face probably had it the worst, as her right cheek was awfully bruised and one her eyes was close to being swollen shut from an inflection of some sort.

brendon knelt down to get a better look at her face as she wasn't looking up, and jenna soon went down to his level as well. as he then tried getting her restraints off, jenna then tried getting her conscious again.

"hey ash, ashley?! can you hear me?!" she was lightly patting her cheeks to hopefully wake her, though she ended up slowly regaining consciousness on her own anyway.

the first thing she did was weakly pick up her head to look at me, her glassy hazel eyes stared into mine, only as they began to water again. she softly smiled, "heyyyy, there you are..." her voice was breaking, from what could only be assumed to be straining it for a while.

hearing her voice again only made me feels worse about it all. she didn't have to help me this whole time, but she did, and now she was paying the price for it. why was everything bad happening to the ones who don't deserve it, this isn't anyone's fault.

except my own.

i smiled at the thought that she was still alive, but could feel it soon fade after realizing just how much pain she had to have been it. once brendon got the rope off her ankles and wrists, that's when jenna tried helping her stand after examining her.

i went over to help, standing near with my arms out incase she fell. her legs were shaky and wobbly, and it was clear she was still in pain as she bit her bottom lip to try and suppress the agony.

once she was barely up on her feet, she turned to me and fell into a hug with me. i was holding her up so she wouldn't end up falling, but i just focused on how fragile she felt.

"i'm so sorry..." i weakly apologized, in which i felt her then shake her head, "don't blame yourself," she mumbled into my shoulder, "let's just kill that son of a bitch." she expressed a slight bit of anger.

we stopped hugging and i helped her by letting her lean on me for support if she needed it. before we left the room, brendon stole some ammo he conventionally found.

when we finally left, tyler was still laying there on the ground. it was still weird knowing he was still alive but had to play dead, just imagining that would leave me tense.

jenna spoke up again to raz,
"hey- uh, raz? tylers dead so why don't you just open the door and let us leave. you got what you wanted." she announced, there was silence from him for a few minutes.

he finally spoke up, "WELL ALRIGHT JEN-JEN! I'LL JUST HAVE MY MEN COME AND GET HIS BODY WHILE YOU ALL HEAD OUT!!!!!!"

"wait what?!" jenna was getting slightly panicked, "o-oh no raz it's fine, we can drag his body out to the nearest dump--"

"OOHHHHH BUT THAT'D BE TOO MUCH WORK FOR YOUR BRITTLE BONES!!!!!!! ITS OKAY SWEETUMS, WE'LL GO AND FINISH HIM OFF!!!!!!"

jenna looked at brendon and i, with worry now flooding over her. none of us knew what to do or how to handle the situation. a lump grew in my
throat from fear, my mind uncertain of what to do next.

"oh no raz it's--"

before jenna could finish, the lights went out and during that split second i felt a something quickly grab both my arms from behind and drag me a few feet away from where i was.

the lights turned back on when i noticed i was being held against my will by some of raz's friends, they all mirrored the same guys as before. i tried breaking free but there grip kept penetrating my skin with pain.

i saw jenna, ashley, and brendon look at me in horror, i could only imagine what this looked like. before anyone else could do anything, raz spoke up again,

"SOOOO IF YOU WANT TYLER SOOOO BAD," he started off, "I'LL JUST TAKE JOSHIE!!!!!"

"no wait--!" jenna was unable to finish her sentence as brendon then drew his gun on the guys holding me, but he didn't shoot it. this made both jenna and raz go silent for a few seconds.

"BRENNY BABY, PUT THE GUN DO--"

"let him go, jackass." brendon wasn't having any of it as he didn't lower his gun but proceeded to take its safety off. he announced this with such determination and anger in his tone, it was hard not to take him seriously.

but raz just laughed

"OHHHHH BRENNY, YOU JUST LOVE BEING A LITTLE REBEL, DON'CHA?" raz spoke up again after laughing. after saying this, this next part happened too fast for me to comprehend.

i felt one of raz's friends' grip loosen for a few seconds before i felt something sharp and metal press against my neck, i looked down as best i could to see what looked like a knife.

jenna and ashley again looked on in horror, but brendon still didn't lower the gun. there was this silent tension between the guys holding me hostage and brendon, and it lasted for a few minutes before raz broke the silence.

"BRENNY, IF YOU DON'T LOWER THE GUN, JOSHIE IS GONNA JOIN TYGUY DOWN THERE!!!!!" he casually explained.

brendon took a few seconds, but he glanced down at where tyler was laying, and tossed his gun in the same direction casually, making it so it landed near tyler.

raz perked up again, "OKAY GOOD!!!! SO WE HAVE A DEAL???? YOU GUYS TAKE TYTY AND I TAKE JOSHIE!!!!!!!!!!"

jenna and brendon began to panic and try arguing with raz verbally, but i felt the guys started pulling me back towards them as they walked away from everyone else.

the knife was still getting pressed against my throat and i was scared to make any sudden moves. i knew someone was gonna die if i did, and i wasn't ready for someone to die and have it be my fault.

i shut my eyes tightly and hoped for the best, now unaware of what to do with myself or the situation at hand. all i could hear were the sounds of jenna and brendon yelling at raz for a few more seconds.

but that all came to halt when i heard the sound of two gunshots.