We'll Get There {AntiAverage} (ABANDONED)

8: S M

1233 words

I had an Uber drop me off about a mile from the septic household. I didn't feel like explaining why their GPS told them the address didn't exist. I needed the exercise anyway, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

Summer leaves were starting to fade to autumn orange, and there was a satisfying crunch beneath my feet as I walked.

When I finally reached the door, a little disheveled, I didn't bother knocking. I'd gotten on them a few times about keeping their door locked, but they made a valid point; This place was impossible to find unless you knew it was there. And even if someone did manage to break in, they didn't really stand a chance. Four of them had powers, that wasn't a very fair fight against any number of humans.

Anyways, I walked in, and was mildly startled to see Anti on the couch. I hadn't seen him in what was probably close to a year, he was always 'busy', or 'out'. I had assumed he was avoiding me.

He seemed just as startled to see me, and I swear I saw him flinch. That... wasn't normal behavior for the glitchy ego. He would usually be swearing at me for barging in. Especially if I had startled him.

Except now he just looked at me timidly. "Are... you alright?", I asked, eyebrows furrowed. He seemed... off.

Anti nodded a little to fast, "Fi̶n̴e͘."

"You sure?"

He nodded again, shoulders stiff. I shook my head, repressing a scoff. I turned towards the office, taking a few steps foreword. "Chase?", I called.

Said man poked his head out of his editing room, "Jack? Hey! Long time no see, bro!" He had an almost forced grin on his face, pushing past the door.

I walked over to him, lowering my voice into a whisper, "Is everything okay with Anti? He seems... not himself."

Chase's carefully placed grin fell away. He hesitated, before pulling me into the office and letting the door fall back against the wall, "Well... um... it's kind of a long story..."

I waved my arms in front of me, signaling for him to continue, "I obviously don't have anything else for a while."

Chase sighed, nervously wringing his hands together, "Well... um... promise not to get mad?"

"What did you do?", I asked, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"W- uh, we didn't want to tell you because we knew it'd worry you, dude, and there was nothing you could do..."

"Spit it out, Brody."

"Anti... kindofwentmissingforawhile.", Chase winced as I straightened my back in surprise.

"As in... he ran off in a tantrum or he went missing went missing?"

Chase bit his lip, avoiding eye contact in favor of the oh-so-interesting floor. "Die had him for eight months.", he said quietly, flinching when my eyes widened.

"Eight months? And you didn't think to tell me by at least the second?!" He'd had been gone eight months, and I hadn't even noticed. How had I managed to miss that? I'd thought he'd been trying to avoid awkward conversation, with the whole kidnapping me multiple times thing, when in reality he'd been...

Then another thought struck me, "Wait, Die? Like... PewDIEPie?" Chase nodded.

"I could have done something, I could have talked to Felix-"

The father cut me off, finally looking up, "We spoke to him when Die first sent the video. He hasn't seen him since Anti disappeared."

"And he didn't tell me? That feckin- wait. Video?"

Chase nodded, grimacing, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment , "Did you think that asshole wouldn't boast about his accomplishment? What Anti was going through?" The man looked like he was trying to force a painful memory down. And suddenly I felt like I was going to be sick.

I hadn't seen much of Die since he'd come to life, but he hadn't seemed this cruel. Really just a darker version of Felix, one with less of a filter. He'd had some... unsettling tendencies, but I wouldn't have pegged him as the kidnap and torture type. He and his creator used to get on pretty well, and that thought suddenly worried me.

I shook my head, anger once again fronting in the cocktail of emotions stirring in my head. "So Anti's been gone for nearly a year, and you still decided it wasn't important enough to tell me?"

"It wasn't like that! There was nothing you could do, dude. We didn't want it to effect your channel. There was just... no need for you to have to worry.", Chase explained. There was an unspoken fear in the sentence, one that said we didn't want to risk it.

"I don't care if you don't think there's anything I can do! When something like this happens, I need to know! This is a big deal, Chase!", I was doing something best described as whisper-yelling, throwing my hands about as I spoke.

Chase flinched again, eyes drifting back to the ground. "We were just trying to protect you.", he said softly, chewing the nail of his thumb.

I sighed, deflating. "I- I understand that, I do, but this isn't something I need protection from. Stuff like this is important for me to know."

"I... I know.... I'm sorry.", Chase folded his arms, and it was then I could see the exhaustion in his eyes. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping properly, but there was a fatigue not associated with sleep present, too. He looked like whatever had been going on the last few weeks had sucked all of his energy out of his body, and I knew the feeling all to well.

"I know we should have let you know, but we didn't think he'd be gone this long. We thought Die would get bored of him within the month, or we'd find him. That didn't happen, and we just... got too scared to tell you. I'm... pretty sure Die left him where he was for a couple days, alone, before we found him.", Chase shook his head, bringing up a hand to wipe under his eyes. "It's... it's been a rough few months."

I frowned at him, resisting the urge to grab his shoulder, "You look like you need a break." Chase shrugged, humorlessly- almost bitterly- chuckling, "Probably. It's... fine though, I can handle it."

"I can come over more? Help out around here. I know everyone else is always busy, and I mean... I am, too, but I could make it work." Chase shook his head, "You don't have to do that, bro. You've got a lot of people counting on your uploads."

"Chase, I can prerecord stuff. They'll be fine, I want to make sure you guys are okay. And, even if I took a break for a while, I'm... sure they'd still be there when I came back. If Anti is so... different now, I want to make sure he's alright."

Chase hesitated, looking almost hopeful. "If you're sure... I'd really appreciate that, bro."

I grinned, extending a hand for a shake, "It's a deal then? I'll come over as much as I can from now on?"

Chase mirrored my smile wearily, accepting the shake. "It's a deal."

"Come on, I'm sure Anti's wondering why we're just sat in here for no reason. ", I said, opening the door and extending an arm to motion him foreword.