[✔] The Devil's Lover (boyxboy)

24. YOUR DARKEST FEAR .II.

Ever since the news of the death of Anthony, everything is so gloomy for the third years. Nobody is talking happily again. Peter, Andy, Noah, and Justin sit at their usual table in the cafeteria. Moments had passed by with nothing more than awkward silence between them.

"It just doesn't make sense. Why would Tony kill himself? He seems just fine. No way he would even want to do it," Justin suddenly said.

"Yeah... They say he jumped out of his window and found himself not successful at dying so he walked to the main road waiting for a car to hit him. That's just bogus!" Noah exclaimed.

Andy saw Trance and William walking inside the cafeteria and they took a sit at the other table across them. "Do you guys think he really had amnesia? I had this odd feeling like he remembers everything. Didn't he also tell us he remembers? But it's odd that he doesn't seem to bother by it at all," Andy spoke, gesturing towards Trance who's sitting opposite them on the other side of the cafeteria.

"If he remembers, he would have told the police, Andy," Noah assured him.

"He would have. I agree on that. But I also kinda having a bad feeling about him," Justin made a remark.

Andy stares at them for a while. There's a bit of a glow in his eyes as he studies Trance. Peter saw Andy eyeing Trance and William once in a while again. Peter started to realize something off about it and that made him want to speak his mind. "You actually have a 'thing' for Trace, isn't it?" Peter asked Andy abruptly after being silent most of the time in a bit of an angry tone.

"What are you talking about?" Andy gets defensive at the accusation.

"I knew it, Andy. That's why you jumped in to fuck him when I'm done that day, right? It was supposed to only be me," Peter accused Andy.

"Do you want me to punch you, Peter?!" Andy threatened, getting up from his seat with his fist clenched. Noah holds him back by pulling him down by the shoulders.

Peter also stands up. "I was such an idiot to ever be friends with ALL OF YOU! You are all hypocrites. God! Look what I got! Wanting so much to be a part of you jerks that I ended up hurting the only person that ever matters to me."

"Who are you talking about? What have gotten into you?" Noah asked, worried if they are about to punch each other in the face.

"I'm talking about Trance! He was my boyfriend," Peter confessed.

"Fuck. What? Y-you're gay?!" Justin asked in terrible shock.

"Yeah. And I've been pretending all this while like I'm not, just for the sake of having you guys accepting me," Peter said with his voice started to crumble.

Andy looks at Peter in disbelief and is disturbed by a thought. "But wait. That's just sick. You raped Trance. He's your boyfriend. You didn't even stop us! And that just made you even more of a jerk than us," He blurted out his thought, disgusted by the truth.

"True..." Peter confessed. This time, tears hung up on his eyes as it later slowly flows down on his cheek. "And you know what? I think it's coming back to haunt me. All of our sins. All of our wrongs! It's coming back... if that's just what it takes to right all the wrongs that I did, then I'll embrace my fate. You guys should too 'coz mark my words; Anthony is just the beginning. Soon, each one of us will die. Can't you see the pattern? Here's something for dumb asses like you to look for!" Peter spat and throws the list Mrs. Cuttingham gave him to them. "Cross out Anthony's name and see who's left," he instructed and immediately walks away.

The three of them wear a dumb-founded and dreaded looks on their faces as they look at the list. They then look at each other in disbelief. They pass a glance at Trance and William at the other table and caught the sight of them smiling wickedly at them. They wait no longer. The three of them also walk out of the cafeteria hurriedly.

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That night, Noah tosses and turns in his bed. He couldn't sleep. He's afraid... He wishes over and over in his head that he could turn back time and undo all of the wrongs he did. He's too young to die and he had no idea how he's going to die. He just knows that he will. He feels agitated.

"Your greatest fear..." He suddenly heard someone whispers into his ears. That made him jump out of his bed in fear. He saw Trance with menacing eyes sitting at the side of his bed.

"What do you want?!" He asked in fear.

"Tch. Tch. Tch," Trance clicks his tongue at him in a wicked manner. "Are you that afraid of me?" He asked with a slight hint of cynicism.

Noah trembles. "I'm sorry..." He spoke. It sounded like both a beg and a whimper of fearful cry.

Trance only laughs at Noah which sounded normal at first but later the laughter turn into a growl. "Snakes..." Trance said in a distorted voice, his eyes are now red in color and it's glowing. He looks more like a devil now. William is starting to show himself. "That's your greatest, darkest fear..."

Snakes... Huge snakes started to appear from behind Trance. They are three times bigger of the size of normal adult snakes. They hiss as they came closer to Noah with their tongues slithering in and out from underneath their fangs and jagged teeth. Noah screams at the sight of them. "No! No!!! Get away from me!" He screamed. Trance hands out a knife to Noah. Noah takes it immediately without thinking and started trying to scare them away with the knife. Trance only smiles sinisterly, looking down on him.

Noah then started to notice that scales are appearing on his leg. Is he becoming a snake too? He thought. He then screams in horror and starts to wipe his skin off of the scale. The snakes around him had disappeared. He is crying. He cries like a frightened child. He's too afraid that his body is shaking. He then started to peel the scales off of his leg with the knife given by Trance. Little did he realized, he is actually skinning himself alive. And the next day, they'll find him... drenched in blood,... with that knife in his hand,... his all-red flesh, skinless dead body...