Icy Inferno (Troyler AU)

⋙ Chapter Twenty-Five

Hold back the river

Let me look in your eyes

Hold back the river so I

Can stop for a minute and be at your side

Hold Back The River ~ James Bay

 

Troye

The moment I’d left school on Monday, I practically ran home. I called Tyler en route, knowing I had to tell him my suspicion of Connor. Once he’d answered I spoke in rushed sentences, wanting to get everything out - hoping he’d understand.

Part way through my rant, I felt hairs on the back of my neck rise. I didn’t understand why, but foreboding overcame me. It wasn’t to do with the call. It was something around me.  I glanced behind me. There was no one else. On the road there was little traffic, bar two cars and a van-

A van that had been following me all the way from school.

I thought I was being paranoid. Perhaps they were just on the same route as me. But it looked familiar... It was just like the van we’d seen in the park, when Connor and two others arrived to look for Ty.

I hastened my pace, deciding to take a different route home. I took the next left. I had to walk a little further to get home from there, but I knew it'd be worth it, it stopped me panicking. I breathed heavily down the phone, just hoping I was overreacting. Then van dramatically swerved, to keep behind me. I sped up. So did the van. I glanced at the windows, to see who was inside. They were tinted. I could hear the governments soundtrack playing inside.

I went down Cosine Alley - a pedestrian only area. I took a deep breath as the van drove past. I was getting anxious over nothing. 

Then someone jumped out the van. They were heading straight towards me at a terrifiying pace.

I ran as fast as the sun does from the moon. The road grew more narrow, claustrophobia coming into play. The cobbles beneath my feet were damp, slippery. I was skidding all over the place, finding it difficult to keep my balance. I dropped my phone somewhere along the way. I spun round, meaning to pick it up, before I saw two figures close behind me, wearing clown masks. I couldn't stop. I had to run. Adrenaline shot through me. I spotted a fence leading to the orchard. I could jump over it. I could hide amongst the trees. Relief filled me. I had an escape-

Someone caught my bag. I was jolted back. The clowns gathered round me. Fabric was pressed against my mouth. Numbness seeped into my bones. I started to collapse. Darkness fell upon me before I could react.

*

Consciousness crept into me a lifetime later. I blinked a few times but all I could see was black. I became aware then that there was something covering my eyes. And my nose. And my mouth. Instinctively I went to move it away, but my hands couldn’t move. They were bound behind my back. I tried to scream but I couldn’t. I could barely breath under the material they'd secured over my face.

I could hear several voices. They were speaking in hushed voices, too low for me to pick up. Two were familiar, the rest were not. One, I knew for certain, was Connor.

“You can take the bag off him now,” one unfamiliar voice said. Someone stomped towards me. I held my breath. In rough rushed movements the person pulled the bag off my head.

With blurred eyes I looked around. It was a dark room, illuminated only by a sulphurous yellow light that swung above my head. Dusty blinds covered the windows. The door on the opposite side of the room was locked with too many bolts to count. A screen was positioned on the opposite wall, with a broken signal displaying the president's vile face. The walls were wooden, lined with moss. I guessed we were in a lodge of some kind.