Pretender//Ryan Metzger (Discontinued)

Chapter 7

Im sorry for the long wait. Next week and the week after I'm gonna be super busy and idk if I'll be able write much.

⚠️This chapter has mentions of abuse/and or self harm. Could also include triggering subjects. Read with caution.⚠️

Previously:
"I know this isn't the best time to start with this but I gotta tell you guys about something. Well rather someone."
"Hm? What is it?" Tyrece asked.
"Well, it's about times long ago. And this guy that I used to know. His name was Leandro."

Chapter 7: The Past and The Piece
     "Okay then. What's so important about this guy?" Marcie questioned.
     "He's the most recent part of the story. I'll get to him later. I know we're having fun and all but this is about to get kinda sad." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "When I was little things weren't always sunshine and rainbows. At first everything was fine, but then my dad became abusive. I never really found out why or how he was like this, but that's just how it was. I would always have to tell my friends at school that the bruises were from falling down and playing outside. And some of them really were from that."
     Tyrece gasped. "That's why you always wore long sleeves."
     I nodded and continued to talk. "Once my mom found out, she divorced him immediately and eventually took me under custody. The two of us moved here. I was only 10 at the time and it was a lot to go through. When I moved here, I met Marcie. Although I was already friends with Ty, I didn't go to the same school anymore and I didn't have a phone to contact him. A lot of time passed by and everything was looking good. That was until someone broke into my house. Apparently my dad had gotten out of jail the morning before and somehow found where we lived. Luckily my mom was home and called the cops. They arrested him before we were hurt."
     "So your telling me all this stuff happened and you never told us?"
     "Sorry about that Marcie. It's just kinda hard for me to talk about."
     "It's okay. I understand."
     I smiled and started to talk again. "After that I was terrified to trust people or even sleep in a room alone. But after years of nothing happening, my fears started to shrink. I ended up moving out at 18 and moving to California where I met Leandro. We ended up talking for a few months before dating. At first he seemed like the sweetest guy I knew. And I'm not sure how things changed, but he became just like my father. It all happened so quick and I wasn't sure what to do. I left that house really fast and once again, moved here at 19. Luckily I didn't move all my stuff into the other house so everything was okay."
      I took a long breath before I was ready to speak again. I looked up at my friends, not noticing that I was staring at the floor in the first place. "Recently when I started to go to certain places, those memories came back. Last night I had a nightmare about Leoandro and it was terrifying. You both know that I don't get nightmares often. I have a feeling like something bad happened but I'm pretty sure I'm just overreacting."
     "It's okay. I highly doubt that anything is going to happen. You moved so far away that it'd be impossible for him to find you. just chill out and we're here for you. And yes, this was a random time to start saying this stuff but we're here for you," Marcie softly spoke.
"Thanks guys."
"Now what do you say we go grab something from the shop right neck. It'll be a nice walk!" Ty suggested.
The other two of us agreed and we left the house rather quickly. I felt super good about telling them everything, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulder. Although they had told me nothing was wrong, I continued to be paranoid.
We went to the same coffee shop where I saw AJR the day before the concert. As jack had told me, they left for their next show yesterday, and they wouldn't be here. I felt kinda sad about it. It was quite random that jack had just offered me the job right there and then, and I couldn't help but think that there was another reason he had asked.
I tried looking back through the conversation for any hints, but due to my shitty brain, i suck at remembering stuff. Maybe if I try harder I could remember. But before I could get thinking, a hot chocolate was set down in front of me.
I looked up from the table.
"We ordered you something because you looked stressed. What's on your mind?" Ty questioned.
"Might as well tell you guys. It seemed pretty strange when jack had just offered me the job on the spot so I'm wondering if he offered it to me for a different reason other than the fact that I'm pretty decent at art. I feel like there was something else that made him ask me."
"Well, I mean your right. Think about it. There must've been something else he said to you because otherwise he could've just said it in front of all 3 of us. Was there anything you think was important?"
I thought for a bit while drinkin my hot chocolate. "Hmmmm. I don't- WAIT!" I exclaimed, suddenly rembering something. I brought my voice back down because I was getting weird looks from the other 2-3 people here. "I'm not sure how this is important but Jack said something along the lines of, 'I know someone who thinks your super talented and won't shut up about it. Also they think some other stuff that's a secret.' and I have to find out who that person is!"
     "Sounds exciting. We've got work off for the rest of the week, why don't we do some digging? You know how good I am at finding people!" Marcie suggested.
     "It seems like we have a plan don't we?" Ty smirked. "Well, let's get to it. It's not like we have anything important to do for the rest of our night."
     So that's exactly what the three of us did. We spent the rest of the night going through jacks followers and putting together who we thought jack was closest with. Although it's seems pretty creepy to do shit like this, we're just curious and maybe a bit sleep deprived.
     Soon, 2am came around and we still hadn't found anything. "Guys. Anything interesting yet?" I groaned.
     "No," Tyrece replied, still looking at his computer.
     "No- wait yes! I think I narrowed it down to a few people," Marcie said.
     "Really!" The other two of us shouted, suprised.
     "Yeah! I think we may have the missing piece to our puzzle."

I hate this chapter lmao. It's so bad. Anyways, here you go.

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