Slenderverse One-shots

Stormy Night ⊗ MH

A03 Request: Jay gets hit by a car

Warnings: Gore

"He's gone... he can't be gone!" Tim rechecked the hotel room, concluding that Jay had once again ran off on his own. "Why would he leave now? It'll be dark soon."

Annoyance ate at his worry. Of course Jay would pull something like this. And here he was about to clean up the mess. Tim snatched his keys and ran for the car, hoping he could find Jay before Alex or that thing could.

He sped the whole way to Rosswood, thankfully not needing to worry about traffic at this time of night. What he did have to worry about was the poor visibility. Night driving had gotten harder with one of his headlights going out—and them too low on funds to get it fixed at the moment—and it didn't help that the earlier cloudy overcast had turned into dark storm clouds. His wipers did little to clear the windshield even at their max setting. Was it dangerous driving like this, of course. But anything to make sure Jay was safe.

Maybe that's why what would transpire felt morbidly ironic.

Jay hadn't meant to stay so late, he'd known he probably shouldn't have left the hotel at all without Tim. The sun had already been close to setting when he'd impulsively decided to return to Rosswood. Something had been nagging at him; something was telling him there were answers here. Specifically in the burned out hospital.

"Just a quick look... Tim wouldn't agree to coming back here if I asked." He tried to reason with his doubts, though they only started turning in the direction of this being an awful idea as a whole. "Nothing good ever happens here."

And sure enough, he didn't get to explore long before he could hear faint footsteps stalking behind him. Whenever he turned, the hall would be empty but Jay knew it would be a bad idea to trap himself in one of the rooms. When the storm hit, his nerves frayed further. Each rumble of thunder hid his follower's location while each loud crack made him jump in expectation of a gunshot. The flashes of lightning that reached the interior made the shadows momentarily seem alive. The amateur detective made the smartest move he'd done all night and booked it for the exit.

Rain immediately began to drench him as he made it out of the building but aside from the worry of keeping his camera protected, Jay didn't mind. The overgrown drive could take him directly to where he parked the car—he could already imagine being back in the comfort of the hotel room. Tim would be upset of course but at least it would be safer.

A bang followed by a spray of bark next to him made Jay pick up the pace. Fumbling in his pocket, he grabbed his keys and began hitting the unlock button on the fob. Relief swept through him when he saw the headlights blink; he was almost there, just a small stretch of gravel to the car... Surely he could make it that long without the cover of trees.

Sprinting, his focus narrowed to getting to his car. Through the downpour, he couldn't see the car pulling in until the single headlight flashed into his eyes. Jay felt pain slam through his body, a combination of loud sounds assaulting his ears as the world switched off.

"Jay!" Tim's throat burned from the loud scream of the man's name. He threw the car into park, feeling it lurch forward violently before coming to a rest; the movement was enough to drop Jay's body back to the ground.

A sick feeling swept through him as the wiper blades smeared crimson across the glass. Tim felt like he couldn't breath, his mind was racing so fast through what just happened that it felt like reality was dissipating. The man gasped and shoved the car door open. He stumbled for the front of the car, feeling as though he were sinking into the ground with each step—it felt like his nightmares where he was trying to run only to have the feeling of being stuck in quicksand... only this time he wasn't trying to get away.

"...Jay?" His voice was hoarse.

A broken figure was illuminated by the headlight of his car, as if it were a spotlight for a stage. Jay's eyes were half lidded, his hair matted with blood from where it had slammed into, and cracked, his windshield. Blood smeared over his face and mixed into the puddle of diluted crimson and rain on the ground. His body was twisted unnaturally while his cracked camera had fallen several feet away from his mangled arm.

Nausea swept through him. His body swayed before he fell to his knees. Tim couldn't stop looking. He hadn't seen him. Not until that look of terror flashed into the headlight through the storm. The only reason he hadn't heard the bones crunch was due to the thunder crackling above... Tim didn't think he would've ever stopped hearing the sound of breaking bones if it hadn't been covered up.

"This is all your fault." Alex called out from the tree line.

He should've been worried about Alex shooting him. He should've gotten up and tried to stop him if he wasn't going to run. All Tim could do was stare numbly at Jay. "...I know..."