Erased - Analogical

[Chapter Five]

-Possible TW for insinuating of past SH-

|POV Patton|

Once Janus managed to unlock the door I didn't hesitate to rush in there right after Logan. I just needed to see Virgil and I needed to see that he was ok. After Roman reassured me that everything was gonna be ok with Virge, I tried to calm myself down as best I could and put back up my fake smile. But the fear seemed to stay. I knew I was probably just being paranoid about this whole thing, not seeing someone for three-ish days doesn't immediately mean they're hurt, but it just felt like something was off.

After we got in and glanced around, neither me nor Logan could immediately see our anxious friend which only made the initial panic grow more. I exchanged the briefest glance with Lo, signalling that I was going to go and check his ensuite bathroom while he looked around the room more.

I pushed open the side door and stepped in, my gaze shooting over every single inch in that room. The hope I held that he might be in here quickly dissipated away, leaving me feeling downcast. He wasn't here. But my curiosity and desperateness didn't let up. There had to be something in here. There had to be.

I started scurrying through all of the bathroom cabinets and cupboards. Nothing irregular at first. A first aid kit that every side had in their room that seemed to have a less bandages in it then my one did, making me think some of them had been used up, hair brushes, a bottle of full sleeping pills that Logan had given Virgil awhile ago in hopes it would help him get better rest... I guess Virgil never used any of them. I kept my desperate searching up, refusing to stop until i had something. And eventually, I did find something, but I wished I hadn't.

Shoved at the back of one of the cupboards was a metal box, no bigger then the palm of my hand. As I picked it up, I heard other objects inside of the box cling against its side, making my curiosity grow. Prying the box open delicately, I ended up seeing exactly what I was dreading would be inside. Laid out on a piece of tissue were 5-6 razors. Some looked small enough to be found in pencil sharpeners, others seemed larger like they came from shaving razors or mini-box cutters. Littering the edges of the blades was aged and dried blood, some of which had stained the very metal itself. The only relief that stopped me from collapsing down onto the ground in tears was noticing the fact that none of the blood seemed new at all, like they hadn't been used in awhile. It wasn't much, but the knowledge that he hopefully hadn't hurt himself with these recently acted like a weak comforter to my distress.

But it didn't stop my sorrow completely. I was able to feel tears prick at my eyes, a few of them slithering down my cheek. Every time I tried to wipe them away, more seemed to come falling down like a never-ending display of my misery.

Somehow, in the moment I had forgotten that Logan and Roman were still in Virgils main room. Frantically pushing the lid back onto the box, I shoved it in my back pocket, planning on showing the two soon but right now I just needed to personally calm down from the shock I was processing.

Gently pushing the bathroom door back open, the sight infront of me brought back and even harsher wave of concern. Logan was sat on Virgils bed with his head in his hands, very clearly silently sobbing behind them while Roman was stood before Logan, holding a sheet of paper in his grasp and displaying a look of pure shock as he read it, like he had just seen a ghost.

"Logan... R-Roman...?" I weakly called out, "Whats t-that piece of p-paper?"

Without a word or any eye contact, Roman extended his arm to hand me the paper, giving me chance to notice the tears glaze his eyes.

Part of me didn't want to. Part of me just wanted to knock that note out of his hand & throw the box to the ground and go to sleep. Part of me just wanted to wake up to find out this whole thing was just a bad dream. To wake up and see Virgil smile again.

But this wasn't like that... and so I started to read the letter.

[766 Words]