A Message to Scott Cawthon: Reimagined

Chapter Fifteen

"Ryan!" the Scotsman said in a panic. "Ryan, we need to get to Will!" The younger man had stopped crying and stared expressionlessly at his deceased friend, watching and waiting. 

It's amazing how effective a human's emotions were at convincing your logical brain of something completely illogical. All he needed to do was wait... he'd... he'd wake up again soon...

"Ryan, please! I know how hard this is for us... for you... but Will's alone and... and he's got no idea what's happened and..." His voice trailed off. This isn't getting through to him. The choice was up to Rhys. He could leave Ryan alone to find Will or leave Will alone to stay with Ryan. He bit the inside of his lip. "Ryan, please..."

"Just shut up!" the younger man shouted, snapping his head towards the Scotsman. "Just f***ing shut up! This is all your fault! Why can't you get that into your thick skull!?" Rhys took a step back.

"Ryan, I..."

"Don't you dare! Just shut your f***ing mouth! If you didn't waste time talking, maybe you would have got here in time! You should've just let me go and get him myself!"

"But you..."

"Yeah, I probably would've got killed by Lewis too; so, what? At least we could have been there for each other! At least... at least I could have..." he broke into another fit of sobbing and clutched Baz's body tighter, giving a grief-stricken cry. Rhys shook his head sadly and backed away to the door. He wasn't going to get Ryan to move any time soon.

"I'll..."

"Just f*** off," Ryan snapped through his tears.

The Scotsman sighed. "Lock the door behind me then," he whispered before leaving his friend to mourn alone. He swallowed a sob and left the cabin with Ryan's words ringing in his ears. He knew, he really understood, why his younger friend was acting like this, so he didn't blame him. But his words echoed. Mabey, just maybe, if he didn't stop the group to talk, he could have got back in time... Don't think like that. How were you to know? How were you to know that Lewis would go that far? He winced; the "other" Lewis would go that far...

Ryan couldn't control his crying as he heard Rhys's receding steps. He didn't mean any of that. He just couldn't deal with... with what? His friend dying? His other "friend" being the killer? He stared at Baz's broken face. Why? How did Lewis go that far? What was wrong with him!? Rhys wasn't to blame. It was Lewis. He didn't believe a word Rhys said; that b****** knew what he was doing. He was enjoying it. Ryan had heard him laughing when they were all tied up.

The Scotsman heard Ryan suddenly wail into the night but continued to sprint down the road. The distraught howl of betrayal and loss resonated within him. He pushed it from his mind as best as he could and ran on. He needed to get to Will.

Because the night had fallen as he was outside, the musician's night vision had already adjusted to the darkness. He must have taken a wrong turn in the road because he wasn't coming to any buildings. He pumped his arms as his lungs burned, his leg muscles ached, and clouds of water vapour whistled out of his nose as his breath condensed in the cold night air. It was strange how quickly the weather could change. The trunks of trees blurred past him as he ran onwards. He couldn't remember how long he had been going like this, but it was starting to drain him, that was for certain. He came to another fork in the road and he took a right. He passed a familiar shaped rock. Ran over a familiar bridge. Then the thought struck him; he had been running in circles.

Pain flared up in his legs and he almost dropped to the floor. He placed his hands on his knees and leant over, panting heavily. "Go back... and go left..." he told himself as he pictured an imaginary map, his voice sounding strained even in his own ears. From where he was, he could just about see the other path through the trees surrounding him. He'd already wasted time; he wasn't going to waste any more. The others were relying on him. Short cut it is then.