Saving Matthew Patrick

Showdown in the Basement

Stephanie POV

What the...? What on God's green Earth just happened? She just...vanished?

"Hey, where's Nessa?" Chris walked back into the room and looked confused. "I didn't see her exit this room."

"She...disappeared. Into thin air. Like one second she was right here, typing on my computer, and the next she's..."

"Over there?" Chris pointed over to my screen, showing Vanessa materializing in Wraith's live feed.

"I'm going to make this simple: give me Matthew and I'll make sure you die a quick and painless death. Refuse, and I'll make it so slow, so agonizingly painful, you'll be begging me to end your miserable existence. Please please PLEASE...make my day and refuse."

"Wait, how did she get from here to there in the first place?"

I shrugged at Chris. "She touched her necklace, it glowed this really bright yellow light and then she poofed from here and then poofed over there."

"Well, how about this then, Evangeline." He spit out her name like it was a cuss word. "I'll hand over NOBODY and I'll kill you both."

"You know something, Wraith, I really hoped you'd say that." She took a deep breath again and then she took a stance and motioned a 'come at me bro' to Wraith. He charged at her, grabbing a serrated blade from the table in the room; she deflected every step he made, every single charge, like it was nothing to her.

"Oh my God," Chris whispered from beside me. "I swear, this girl is something else. She might have faster reflexes than..." I looked at the screen and Matthew's eyes glared into the camera, like he was daring Chris to continue. "Oh crap, can he hear us?" His sarcastic nod was all I needed to see.

"To be absolutely fair, she's really fast, honey," I said into the laptop. He rolled his eyes. Really? His life was in danger and he could find the time to roll his eyes at us because we said someone had faster reflexes than him?

We went back to watching the fight as now Nessa had a bloody blade in one hand, the other with a pretty deep wound that could only be explained by her catching the knife mid-throw. We watched as they engaged in a close-quarter knife fight, her blows landing more often than Wraith's, but both their faces getting bloodied, cut, and bruised.

"You won't win, Evangeline. I'm stronger than you, just admit it."

"You having some ego issues, Mr Hellfire?" Chris and I gasped, watching as Wraith's eyes grew wide, and then Matthew's as well. This was how angry that one user got at us?

Jason then came back, peering into the room. "Hey guys, I got us some aspirin to help with the headache. What did I miss?"

"Wraith, the dude who took Matthew, is in a close quarter knife fight with Nessa, and she found out who he really was, which is the dude behind those accounts that've been sending us hate mail for the last six months and coming back with new accounts even after we blocked his ass. The guy who said that Matthew's a money hungry uncaring unfeeling monster? That guy?"

"Oh dear God. I hope Nessa kills him."

"I WILL GUYS, JUST CUT BACK ON THE COMMENTARY, YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME!!" We huddled and watched as she twisted and turned, grabbing a chain and using it to wrap around Wraith's blade and disarm him, and then to leverage herself up, hoisting herself up to hook her legs around his neck and squeezed.

We applauded. We actually applauded. We watched as she squeezed until he fell to the ground on his knees; I was deathly scared that he'd move the wrong way and she'd sway off, but no matter what he did, she stayed exactly where she was, the chain being her only leverage.

"Please, Evangeline. Don't...I have a family. Children!" I could see the lie in his eyes. He feared for his life, sure, but he had no one. If he died today, no one would miss him.

"Well maybe you should've thought of that before trying to tear a family apart." She tightened her hold on the chain and reached for his knife. "Matthew, Stephanie, Chris, Jason..." She looked at the camera. "Any other unfortunate viewers at home, I'd recommend closing your eyes." 

***

A/N: We're getting really close to the end here, probably just a few more parts, and then a retelling of this story entirely through Matthew's POV, and then Saving Matthew Patrick is...finished. 

Fun fact: In my first foray into the world of fan fiction, I never finished a story. I always just kept going and going and milking a dry-ass cow for all the milk it was worth. Those stories are long gone now. Some of them I still keep in my hard drive and read from time to time when I want a good cringe. The others I'd written out on actual paper, so I shredded them to smithereens loooooooong ago. 

I hope you guys are liking the story so far. Lemme know what you're feeling. Are you happy our story's coming to an end? Sad? Would you guys want a sequel that's a bit more light-hearted but plays into this plot some way or another? Lemme know.

Question of the chapter: Where were you and what were you doing when you found out about BabyPat? I'd just woken up and turned the internet back on in my phone, and I got a notification about a new video from The Game Theorists, so I watched it with sleep dust in my eyes and heard Matthew doing the pregante video; it took me a good ten seconds to realize that 1) the profile pictures were pictures of Stephew, and 2) some of the questions are oddly specific. From that point it turned into a Try Not to Scream from Happiness challenge because there are other people in the house and they probably wouldn't understand why I was so hyper and awake at nearly 7am.

The gang will see you again in 24-26 hours with another update, and until then I'll chat with you over in the comments section and on Twitter (muddy_orbs). Bye!