stabbing in the dark ~fransykes~

36

"Shit Josh, you're so cold."

"Shut up, I'm trying to sleep."

"I'm serious, darling, your skin is like ice! Here, put on my hoodie."

"Fuck, Oliver my skin feels like it's on fire!" Josh groaned, rolling over on the bed, his shirt stuck to his chest with a layer of sweat. He reached over to switch on the lamp, groaning in annoyance when he remembered that he couldn't. The house must be completely dark at all times, that's what Oliver had told him.

"You were screaming in your sleep again." Oliver whispered in concern, narrowed eyes flickering back and forth across Josh's sickly face as he ran his hands over the other boys arm. Josh hummed, sighing as he fell back against the pillow, his vision spinning from the influx of blood that had rushed to his head.

"The nightmares usually stop when you're here, I guess not even you can save me from the demons in my head anymore." He shrugged, batting away Oliver's hands as they tried to slip a hoodie over his head. "I'm fine, stop fussing."

"You're fever is the highest it's been for days, and your pulse is so weak I can hardly feel it." Oliver shook his head, two fingers pressed up against the pulse point in Joshua's sweat covered neck. Josh shrugged away the attention, rolling over on to his stomach before he leant down, fishing his phone out of his hoodie pocket. Miraculously the device still had some charge left, or at least enough for Josh to google the local papers everyday.

"They still have no leads on me." He sighed, dropping his phone back on the floor with a thud.

"I told you to stop using that thing, they can track your internet use back to here, you know." The demon boy scolded, making Joshua roll his eyes before he huffed loudly in annoyance, a pout forming on his lips. "Sorry, I'm just stressed. I'll go make you breakfast."

"Oli-"

"Don't move a muscle." The lanky boy interrupted, a stern look cast over his sharp features as he walked towards the door.

"I highly doubt a bowl of cornflakes is going to make me better." Joshua called, glaring at the empty doorway that Oliver had just slipped through. "I'm as good as dead, Oliver, just admit it already!"

No reply came, just the soft creaking of the staircase as Oliver walked down it, proceeded by the eerie silence that filled the room in his absence. Josh shivered again, his skin burning as he looked down at his shaking hands. He curled his fingers around his wrist, sighing when he failed to find his once prominent pulse.

Crash.

His blue eyes darted to the doorway, a gasp leaving his lips at the sound of China shattering echoed through the house. His muscles suddenly turned to stone, his blood running cold as his panicked mind began to go into overdrive. What concerned Joshua more was not the crash itself but the silence that preceded it, such as the absence of Oliver swearing or the tapping of the broken pieces being picked up that should have followed. He sighed heavily, gritting his teeth as he managed to pull his heavy limbs into a standing position. Even now, resting his weight against the beds headboard, he felt exhausted from the movement.

With long breaths he slowly walked across the room, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as he guided himself across the wall, resting his weight there to stop himself tumbling to the ground. Every inch of his body felt as if it were burning alive, his skin hot and cold at the same time. Hesitantly, he peeked over the staircase banister, frowning when Oliver was no where to be seen.

The came the tapping on the door.

Tap.

Tap.