Treebros Oneshots

Whumptober Day 6: Muffled screams

Hello everyone! I hope you had/are having a great day, and if not, I'm sorry and I'm always here if you'd like to talk to someone <3. Todays question before we start; if you like horror movies, what's your favorite? I think mine personally is The Conjuring!

TW: Kidnapping, restraints, screams, creep behavior

"Good morning, Evan! How did you sleep last night?"

Joseph, the receptionist of the apartment building greeted as Evan stepped off the staircase. He offered him a warm smile.

"Morning, Joey. Funny of you to assume my anxiety even let me sleep at all." Evan chuckled. It was true, he couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a good night's sleep. "Although, do you know when the AC is getting fixed?"

"We're trying to have someone come take a look at it as soon as they can, but I'm afraid everybody's booked up. Sorry, trust me, I know how annoying it is to hear,"

"Not your fault, don't worry. Have a good day," Evan waved at the young boy before he walked out the revolving door, catching a glimpse of a strange smile on Joey's lips.

Connor had been missing for the past week. No one had heard from him since the day he went to work and never came home. Evan had called the police immediately, but other than filing a report, they were no help. The next day, there was a minute-and-a-half segment on the local news about his disappearance, but then the topic went silent.

So now here he was, walking around the city with Zoe, hanging up missing persons posters with his phone number and Connor's picture and information.

Evan and the Murphys did everything possible: flyers, online posts, videos, asking people he passes by, everything. And every night, they'd come home defeated.

So, Evan was barely sleeping. He was lucky if his anxiety even let him close his eyes for two hours before getting rudely woken up by the Godforsaken broken air conditioner in the basement, a grinding sound rising from the vents.

After sticking up his flyers, heading into work for his shift, then asking those he walked by on the way home if anyone had seen his boyfriend— all responding no and speeding away— Evan got back to the apartment disappointed.

"Evening, Evan. Any progress on where Connor might be?" Joey grinned, glancing up from his computer screen.

"No, not a word. The only thing the police have done is get the story on the news, other than that they haven't done shit. Zoe and I went and hung more posters around town. Hopefully, someone will have seen him." God, he sounded so exhausted. The dark bags under his eyes were large enough to fit every renter in the building in them.

Evan could hardly process the rest of the conversation between him and Joey as he hiked up the two flights of stairs.

As the door slammed shut behind him, Evan flopped down onto the living room sofa. He needed to eat, but he also needed to sleep, and he needed to post more on his social media pages.

Once Evan mustered enough energy, he quickly heated a frozen dinner and took it to his bedroom, crawling beneath the covers and eating until his tears ran dry.

He missed Connor so fucking much. He missed his snarky comments on the tv shows they watched and his cuddles and his delicious home-cooked meals every night.

Before he knew it, the clock read one-fifteen. Sighing, Evan shut off the television and gave into the silence of the early morning, lying down and desperately trying to sleep.

As his eyes fluttered shut, he heard the noise of the broken air conditioner once again. Evan was used to the sound by now, but tonight it sounded... different.

Evan slowly sat up in his bed, tuning out the world as he fixated on this sound. Normally, it sounded like just a broken fan, but tonight, it resembled muffled screams.

Screams. Someone screaming. Someone was screaming. Someone screaming in the basement. Someone—

No. No, Evan was being ridiculous, right? He was sleep-deprived and paranoid, nobody was actually screaming. The AC was broken, he knew that, and that was all it was. There was no reason to give it another thought.

That's what he told himself at least, and as that 'one night' became two full weeks, it became harder to convince himself.

"Good morning, Evan!" Joey sounded ridiculously cheerful that morning, leaving Evan with an unsettling feeling. "The air conditioning didn't keep you awake all night, did it?"

"Just a little bit," Evan forced himself to laugh it off. After all, this was nothing, he was simply just paranoid. "I swear if someone new walked in here and heard that they'd think there was a screaming hostage in the basement!"

For a split second, Evan could have sworn he saw a hint of panic in Joey's eyes as he made the comment. But, he quickly started to laugh alongside Evan, although something still felt off about it.

"Have a good one, Joey," He said, his tone giving away how much this interaction weirded him out.

"I will, try to have one too, Evan!"

Joey watched as Evan walked out and down the sidewalk on his usual route. Once certain he was gone, Joey made his way to the basement door and crept downstairs.

As he grabbed ahold of the light chain and pulled it down, illuminating the only flickering bulb, he stepped towards the familiar figure restrained to a metal chair, ankles and wrists bound by rope and mouth covered by duct tape.

"Now you listen here little shit," Joey bent down in front of the man, "I'm done trying to explain all the noises coming from down heere, people can hear you through the vents! And believe me, your little boy toy is catching on, so if you ever want a chance of seeing him again, I'm going to need you to cooperate. Am I understood?"

The figure nodded and tried so desperately to wiggle himself out of his kidnapper's trap, but Joey, in response, dragged his fingers along the man's jaw and shushed him.

"Now, don't get fussy with me, please dear. I need to get back to my desk, but I expect no further bumps in the road, Connor,"

I hope you all enjoyed todays oneshot and I love you all so much!!