If you're looking for an adventure in the morally grey, and a crash course of the human condition, this is the story for you! What is good and evil? Where is that line drawn, and who decides that? Packed with humor, danger, feels, and awkward relati...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The room spun and he had to get away from Ian. Anywhere but here. Outside of his room, he could hear Ian groan and get back up. Donovan wasn't here, Rick would likely find this funny, and Tanner had left the house before he'd come upstairs. If he went to the living room, it would be easy for Ian to find him, and as much as he wanted to flee the house, he doubted he could outrun Ian for the door.
A thump signaled Ian's movement that he'd been trembling in anticipation of. His mind spiraled in circles, looking for safety. There was one place that Ian wouldn't follow him. At the end of the hallway, Nathan sprung up the stairs chased by the creak of someone else on them. If it was Ian, standing on this floor wouldn't hide him well enough.
Two doors were in the hallway on either side, and Ian had said that Julian's was locked, so if he picked the wrong one, it wouldn't open, right? Nathan panicked and reached for the closest door. The door knob turned all the way, and he slid in as quickly and quietly as possible, closing the door with the softest click he could manage.
Breathing heavily against the door, he ran his hands up into his hair with a groan. What the hell was he going to do now? Whenever the man caught him, he was going to be ground beef. He'd rather be beaten by Tanner for being an obnoxious teenager than forced down onto a bed with Ian seething over him.
"Hi?" A voice said from behind him, and he stiffened.
Dammit. Clutching his arms, he did his best to not break down into tears. The voice behind him could be no one else but Julian. Nathan forced his neck to turn so he could face the boy that carved people for fun.
A few feet behind him, Julian stood with his hands lifted just in front of himself, as if he was contemplating coming closer or stepping back. Despite being shorter than him, and almost gangly, Julian struck fear into Nathan, his dark eyes shaded dangerously by long black hair that ran to his shoulders.
"Are you in there?" Julian's voice was chipper, clearly a fifteen year old, but his gaze was more intelligent that it should be. "Nathan, right?"
"Y-yeah," Nathan sputtered in reply, turning the door knob, but it stopped in either direction.
"Locks from the outside. Tried to tell you, but you closed the door too fast."
Of course it did. Nathan turned back to him, and Julian didn't put off the same feeling as Rick did. While the kid was dangerous, according to the accounts of others, right now he seemed... friendly. The boy certainly had a sharp pair of eyes, but he wasn't leering at him. Taking a seat in front of him, Julian peered back and tilted his head slightly in interest. In faded blue jeans and a long-sleeve, purple turtleneck, he didn't look very sinister with a smile on his face.
Nathan had been trying to find some semblance of calm, but Julian reached a hand out, and Nathan had nowhere to back away to. The slow trail of the boy's ice-cold fingers from his shoulder, down his arm, and over his hand had Nathan holding his breath and waiting for this to turn into his worst nightmare.
