|Eight|

•Week One• (7)

(A/N) I haven't edited or spell checked this, so I'm very sorry. Lmao.

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The detective briefly glanced around the room before turning his attention back to me.

"Well?"

My breath caught in my throat. I couldn't tell him where Ryan was. I couldn't.

So I lied. To the head detective.

"I don't know where he is. Weren't you supposed to be looking for him?" I said, and it almost killed me.

He tsked and stared me down. "Well, you WILL let me know if he comes in contact with you."

"Why are you trying to find him?" I asked.

The detective let out a laugh. "There's been another victim this morning, and I'm still pretty sure your brother is the murderer."
He walked out and slammed the door behind him.

I stood there in shock. Another murder victim? But Jasper was in jail, right?

I slowly exhaled before walking back to the kitchen. I turned things over in my head, but nothing made sense.

Jack walked up to me. "What's wrong?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing." That was a big lie, but I didn't want to worry him at all.

Jack looked sceptical, but nodded.
"Well, Ryan needs to go to the store. Could you go with him? I don't want him left alone."

"Um, sure."

~

I walked out of the apartment with Ryan, and out onto the street.

He smiled at me and practically dragged me to where he wanted to go.

I smiled, too, but I didn't feel very happy. I couldn't tell him the murderer was out there still, and I couldn't let anyone see him or they'd report him to the police.

Ryan stopped at a small cafè. "I'm hungry," he said, and walked in.

I shrugged and followed.

It was painfully pink and bright inside the cafè, and mismatched seats were scattered across the floor with small tables.

I nervously glanced around. This place looked like it was trying too hard to cover something up.

Ryan didn't seem fazed, though.

He ordered something and then turned to me. "You can order something, too. I'm gonna go to the bathroom, so I'll be right back!"

I just nodded in response, then turned to the menu. The food all looked sickeningly sweet, and in all honesty, I wasn't very hungry. So I sat down instead, and a few strangers immediately sat down beside me.

My nerves spiked, and I awkwardly stared at them. They stared back.

I didn't even notice they were in the cafè before now. Weird..

One of them tipped his hat at me and smiled, showing painfully yellow teeth.

I politely smiled back.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir. But we noticed you have something we want," the man said, looking between his friends. They all nodded.

My heart dropped. "If you want money, I can-"

The man shook his head. "Nah, we want something worth more than a few pennies."

I gave them a confused look. "I don't have anything worth a lot on me at the moment."

The man shook his head again, growing impatient. "We don't want your money." His friends nodded.

I shuddered slightly when the man raised his hands. They appeared to be covered in blood. One of his friends pulled out a bloodied knife and wiped it clean with a discarded rag, then they handed it to him.

He lazily pointed it at me. "Listen, we just want your brother. If you hand him over to us, I won't kill you. If you refuse, I'll gladly have my friends here pin you to the ground so I can slit your throat." He paused. "Understand?"

I blinked a few times, hoping they wouldn't notice how badly I was shaking. "Why- why d-do you want Ryan?"

The man grinned. "Because the boss wants him, and if the boss doesn't get him, we'll be punished-"

"By DEATH!" one of his friends interrupted.

The man slapped her. "Don't interrupt me, Cecilia!"

She rubbed her arm and kept her mouth shut the rest of the time.

I gave her a sympathetic look, but she just rolled her eyes at me.

"The boss wants your brother. You have until 8:00AM next Sunday to hand him over. Got it?"

Before I could answer, they were gone. Vanished into thin air it seemed like. The knife was left on the table, and I grew queasy as I stared at it.

Ryan or my life? The choice was easy, honestly. I would never hand Ryan over to them.

It made sense that there was a whole group of killers working for some "Boss" of theirs. No one could murder that many people in the span of a few days alone. And they were obviously after Ryan because he seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I sighed and finally took my eyes off of the knife, running a hand through my hair. If only I could convince the detective that the murderer wasn't Ryan.

I glanced at the clock. Ryan had been in the bathroom for a long time, and his food was completely cold.

I got up and walked into the bathroom.

"Ryan? Are you-" I abruptly stopped, staring at the scene before me.

Ryan was crying and covered in blood, kneeling over a dead body. I rushed over to him, scared out of my mind.

"Ryan! What happened??!!"

Ryan continued to sob, clutching onto the dead body. "s-someone came in here and attacked me with a knife! But t-they sa-aved me!" He said, referring to the dead man on the ground.

I pulled Ryan away. "We need to get you home. You're not safe out here!"

Ryan whimpered, and fell back to the bloodsoaked floor. "I-I should've tried saving h-him... But I froze again, Adam!"

I knelt down beside him, and pulled him into a hug, ignoring the blood that spilled onto my clean shirt. "Ryan, it's okay. He died a hero, saving you."

Ryan clung onto me. "But he w-wouldn't have died if it wasn't for me!"

I looked him in the eyes. "Ry, you didn't kill him. It's not your fault, it's the group of murderers fault. They want to kill you, and the police want to arrest you. I need to get you somewhere safe, okay?"

Ryan broke eye contact with me, but seemed to smile a little. "Okay- I-"

I pulled him up off the floor. "Let's go."

He glanced down at the dead body again, but nodded. Following me.