Slenderverse One-shots

Coping ⊗ MH

A03 Request: Pre-Marble hornets where the crew are at a wrap-up party for Alex's student film. Alex shows up and kills them with Jay being the only witness/survivor. Some of his/the crew's friends try to help him cope with the trauma and figure out why it happened.

Featuring: my oc Ethan since I hc he would've been friends/classmates with Alex 

"Anyone know where Alex is?" Jay asked, glancing at the cast celebrating the wrap up of filming around him. "He put this together... Weird, he isn't here yet, right?"

Brian turned away from Tim, though kept his arm slung over the shorter man's shoulders. "Ah, I wouldn't worry 'bout it. Probably wanted to get a head start on editing or somethin'."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Who cares, I mean, all he did was boss us around like an asshole. We'll have more fun without him."

Jay shifted on the couch. He knew Alex had gotten snappy—even towards him on occasion—but that was just stress right? They were done with filming so surely he'd start calming down more... The man hoped so at least. The guy had been acting strange lately. He wondered if something else was going on that the wanna-be director wasn't telling anyone.

"I should go look for him... maybe call first though." He nearly jumped to his feet as he made the decision and slipped away from the group.

Walking down the hall, he turned into one of Brian's spare rooms where he'd left his phone to charge. Jay pulled up his contacts and pressed Alex's name. A picture of the two goofing around greeted him for a moment before switching to the call screen. A knot began to form in his stomach with each unanswered ring. What if something bad had happened? The call went to voicemail and he hung up.

He grabbed his jacket, planning to go see if Alex was still at home, but paused as he faintly heard the front door open and close. It was hard to tell if he'd imagined it with the loud music but light footsteps were walking closer down the hallway. The bad feeling in his gut grew and while he wanted to walk out and greet Alex, something made him freeze in the dimly lit room and keep out of sight.

Jay relaxed as he heard the others greet their friend and tried to shake the foolish feeling off as he walked out, wanting to rejoin everyone. Panic seized him as he watched Alex pull out a handgun. His mind went blank at the sight. This wasn't like Alex at all—he couldn't process why the man would have a gun let alone be aiming it at his friends, who were now shouting and scrambling away. The first gunshot didn't even register in his mind as it fought to catch up to the reality of the situation. Several more rounds had gone off by the time the first body hit the floor.

Snapping out of it, his flight instinct finally kicked in. His breath shuddering and heart pounding in his chest, Jay stared in horror as his friends were mowed down before bolting. It was cowardly but what else was he going to do? He couldn't stop Alex, he had a gun. The dead, terrified glazed eyes still felt like they were watching him long after he'd made it out of the house. Trembling and unsure where to go or if Alex was on his tail, he finally settled on hunkering down in a neighbor's shrubbery. He didn't dare move until he was certain Alex had left. Even then, he knew it was best not to go home... He knew not to go back in that house either. He'd seen enough to know what he'd find.

Tears stained his face as he shakily wandered his way back to campus a few days later after spending the remaining weekend in his car. Nightmares plagued him now and from the news, Alex was now considered missing... as were his friends—somehow, though he knew they were dead. Unfortunately, he was the only one who seemed to know Alex wasn't another victim of a 'Party Gone Haywire' as the headline read. Jay couldn't bring himself to speak up about it either. "It couldn't be real... Alex wouldn't... he wouldn't do that..."

A few of their old friends—mostly Alex's if he was honest—occasionally stopped him in the halls on the way to his early classes. They'd never been close, or at least not as close, as everyone else he'd just lost but their quiet words of support still managed to provide some form of comfort. He tried to offer the same back, though it was difficult to find his voice. It was hard sitting through classes with them if he was being honest with himself, especially when they had no idea what actually happened. They hadn't been as close as he'd been to the crew, they could just so easily move on... Jay couldn't. Not after what he'd witnessed. Not after he'd lost everyone in the blink of an eye—by one of his own friends nonetheless!

By the time his usual lunch break between classes had come and gone, he was back in his dazed state and working on autopilot. He didn't even realize he was at his desk until a chair scooted loudly across the tiled floor next to him. Jerking in surprise, Jay turned to see another familiar face, Ethan.

Dulled light green eyes met his stare from under a mess of fluffy light brown wavy hair. "Class was canceled."

Oh... He looked around before shooting a quick glance at the time; he hadn't noticed but it made sense why no one else was coming in. "...Why're you here then?"

"Saw you walking in, thought I'd..." He trailed off and took a breath as he collected his thoughts. "Thought I'd let you know when I saw you walking here, maybe talk about what happened."

Jay sat there quietly, processing the response. Ethan was always more of Alex and Brian's friend and to be honest, as friendly as he was, Jay didn't expect the guy to remember him given they'd only met a few times outside of class. He did know enough about Ethan to know his cousin had recently disappeared as well. Given what just happened, Jay almost wondered if the incidents were connected.

After deciding the silence had drawn on long enough, he finally responded. "There isn't much to talk about... they're gone. Alex... he... He did this."

"What?"

"...He killed them." Jay admitted quietly before burying his face in his hands, tangling his fingers in his hair.

Ethan sounded breathless, like the air had been knocked from his lungs. "No... He wouldn't..."

"I saw it." Trembling began to overtake his body again. "He just... killed them. Now they're all missing."

The chair scooted closer and a hand began to rub his back soothingly. Tilting his head, Jay could see the broken expression on Ethan's face. Of course, he'd still be mourning the loss of a family member and now he'd had this to kick him while he was down. Jay wondered how he could handle it as well as he was—he felt like he was on the verge of crying again.

"But he didn't see it happen." He subconsciously leaned into the touch as he tried to calm down as he once again replayed his friends being surprised, cornered, and killed. "Why didn't I do something?"

The same words seemed to constantly repeat themselves both mentally and verbally. Denial of Alex's actions, justifying his chaotic thoughts and feelings because he saw his friends die, and the list went on. He felt like a parrot to each person he'd met, even if he didn't say all of it out loud. Every one of the crew's friends had seemed so complacent with his assurances that he'd be okay or was doing so. Most had said "I'm sorry" at the least or a "Take care of yourself" at the most. Maybe that was why he'd finally broken down and spilled the information that'd been eating at him. That and Ethan was the only one who seemed to know what he was going through and hold a conversation with him without forcing it.

The quiet continued. Stretching between the two. It was a peaceful silence, relaxing really. Jay found it quite comfortable.

"Was he acting strange?" The question was odd but it sounded like Ethan already knew the answer.

"...I, um, sort of? He was paranoid about something."

A shadow seemed to fall across the man's expression but he didn't elaborate on whatever he'd been thinking about. Instead, he turned away and dug around his bag until he pulled out a pen and scrap of paper. Sliding it over, he changed the subject completely. "I've been seeing a pretty good therapist, they might be able to help you too... I'll still be here but I can't really give any professional advice, you know?"

"Um, thanks." Jay still wanted to ask him to elaborate but couldn't bring himself to get the words out. For now he'd leave it. Besides, the paper also had Ethan's number on it and checking out the therapist he'd mentioned might be helpful—at least to start processing everything.

"Just let me know if you need anything, alright?"

"Yeah. I will."