I'll Make You Bleed

On the Ride to the Gallows (Annie POV)

**written by: thesketchytepe** 

12:03 AM 

The sudden slamming of the front door yanked Annie out of her deep sleep like a fishing hook jerks an unsuspecting salmon out of water.

Her eyelids peeled open to the darkness of the bedroom. She unfolded herself and stretched her arms to the side, her shoulder blades clicking back into place. A silent yawn escaped her as she pushed her tangled locks out of her face. Her body shifted to the bedroom door which was left slightly ajar and waited for more sounds—the opening and shutting of the coat closet, the dropping of keys into the dish on the side table, maybe the switch of the hallway lights as Armin moved around the tiny living room and adjacent kitchen. But none of those happened. Just echoing silence.

Annie turned to her phone resting on the nightstand and checked the time. 9:04 PM. It wasn't that late, but Annie was already tucked into bed and had been asleep for almost an hour now. She'd been up since three that morning—she got up to study for an exam she had later in the day and went for a run around five (she ended up running three and half miles and, when she went to the academy at seven, had to run an additional three more). She was tired and sore to say the least and was ready to crash into bed once school let out, but remembered they were running low on some food and other necessities, so she automatically went grocery shopping afterwards.

Armin had sent her a text around the time she finally got home. 'Just finished dinner and heading over to Eren's now. Might be home late. See you in the morning?'

She knew he had plans with Eren and Mikasa; they scheduled this a week prior because it was the only day Armin wasn't working at the library this week and Eren's social service rep allowed him to go out (a short thirty-something year old man named Levi began watching over Eren shortly after Zeke's arrest for the hospital murders; Eren had been getting all sorts of crap from the town for being related to the guy and authorities thought it'd be for the best if he had someone to keep track of him for everyone's sake).

Annie responded with a subtle 'K.'

'Okay. Goodnight. I love you :)'

'Love u too'

She then stuffed a sandwich down her throat and hopped into bed. But Armin texted her not even an hour ago; she was expecting him to come back around ten or eleven, or he might even change his mind and stay the night at Eren's.

He didn't stay for too long at all, she thought to herself as she put the phone back down and pulled the covers towards her chin. I wonder if something happened.

She waited for him to come in, but she didn't hear anything that suggested otherwise. Was he just standing there in the living room? Did he even come home? Was the door slamming just her sleepy mind playing tricks on her?

Her eyes grew heavy once more and she was about to fall into the wonderful land of sleep again when the bedroom door finally creaked open. She didn't move or acknowledge that she was awake in any way; she only peeked one eye at Armin's small figure in the darkness, slowly moving around with a strangely terrified look on his face.

She blinked and squinted through her bangs. He was on his phone; the light radiating from it was dim, but it was enough for her to see how unbelievably wide his eyes were. His thick eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, his lips were pursed into a thin white line, his cheeks were bright red, either from the cold outside or from running home. She focused on his big blue eyes, at all the fear that they carried. Her vision was able to catch what he was looking at through the reflection in his eyes—he kept on switching from some darkened picture to a conversation he was having with someone. Or rather who he was waiting to have because his fingers weren't flying across the keypad.