a tangible sense of wrong

and the world keeps spinning

Something wasn't quite right.

Dave knew this like the way you may see an inverted image that you've never seen the original of but you have that inkling of wrongness. The itch of something being off, of something just not correct. The way you step into a room, and feel uneasy. The feeling of someone watching you, the feeling you get when you know you've done something wrong but you can't pin down what. It was an itch, but not really at the same time. Perhaps the way one's stomach aches and twists and turns as anxiety fills it. There was just something tangibly not right, and he knew it. 

Something.

Something. 

He gazed away from Drew. It couldn't be him, Drew was always right. Right as rain, right as a picture frame hanging from a wall. Clean, crisp, and correct. The way that a dinner fork felt when placed with a knife on a napkin, the way that landing a near impossible jump felt. 

Yet, there was something just the slightest off. 

Maybe it was the slight angle of his head, the way his eyes were crinkled, or the way his lips were upturned in a near smirk.

Drew never smirked.

He always grinned, wide and unabashed. And if any smirk like feature was upon him it was open and easy to find.

Dave ducked his head back down to his laptop. 

"Hey dude," he called to Drew.

"Yeah?" 

The near smirk disappeared as he turned his head towards Dave. The atmosphere Dave had felt before seemed to have slipped away, snatched up like a child in the night. For a moment Dave felt like he had seen something he shouldn't have. Something secretive, something that had never been seen before. 

Maybe he didn't know his friend as well as he had thought.

"Have you seen Ed and Joe? I haven't seen them since lunch. It's getting a bit worrisome." He quickly asked, having called out to Drew on an impulse. 

"Oh, me neither. Think they said they were going out to get some air though. They'll be back soon." Drew replied with a lopsided grin as he turned his head back towards his phone. 

"That's a bit weird, they never mentioned that to me." 

That was it, that's what was wrong. 

Of course, the van had felt a bit quieter all day. The wrongness, the feeling of unease. It all made sense now. 

"Well, I think I'll go out to look for them. Wouldn't want them getting jumped or something." Dave shouted to Drew as he stood up from his chair. 

Of course it wasn't Drew, that had just been weird of him to think. This was one of his best friends, there wasn't anything wrong with him. It was just Joe and Ed. They were always in the van making some commotion, some noise, some presence-

"I don't think you should."

Dave's head whipped towards Drew.

"What do you mean? I'm kinda worried, we haven't seen them all day, and they haven't texted us-"

"Oh they just texted me a few minutes ago, said they were on their way back."

"Well I think I should still go out. I haven't gotten any air all day and-"

"That's unnecessary." Drew's eyes glared at him and they had gotten just the slightest bit dark. Not too noticeably, but just the slightest bit. 

"You're not my mum, I can go out when I want." Dave muttered as he continued walking towards the exit. 

His wrist was grabbed.

"You really shouldn't go." Drew graveled out as he gripped Dave's wrist.

"You're being really weird Drew, come on, let me go out!" He exclaimed as he tried, to no avail, to yank his hand free from Drew's hold. 

"You're not going out Dave. You're going to stay here." Drew growled as he twisted Dave's wrist, forcing the younger to turn around.

Dave quickly turned around as he felt pressure on his wrist, to which he was pushed against the wall with his left arm flat against the surface alongside him. 

"Come on man, let go of me! You-you're kinda scaring me." Dave nervously laughed as he attempted to push Drew away with his free hand. 

Drew grabbed his right wrist and pinned it to the wall similarly as his left one. 

He leaned towards his right ear.

"No." He whispered, puffing hot breath against the shell of his ear.

When he pulled away his eyes were dark. Darker than they had ever been, like they were a deep abyss that Dave would fall into if he stared into them too long. 

The near smirk had returned to his face.

Dave's eyes widened as he began to shake in fear. He had been right, he didn't know his friend as well as he had thought. There was something wrong, something not right, something off. 

He clenched his eyes shut away from the dark eyes above him, trembling with fear, veins frozen, heart pumping with adrenaline though he couldn't seem to move a muscle. Every inch of him had ceased movement, in the third lesser known reaction to a threat. He hadn't run, he hadn't fought.

He froze. 

Something wasn't quite right.