𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 ; 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘆

01

finney had been through a lot in the past year, to say the least. things hadn't been easy after losing his mom, his dad drank away his problems every night after that. but, he and his sister managed. unfortunately, when he thought things couldn't reach a further low, lots of kids started disappearing. the first victim had been griffin stagg, who most people forgot about quickly, finney hadn't even known about him. the next was billy showalter, 'paperboy'. the third victim was vance hopper, it shocked everyone when he was taken. finney knew nothing about these boys, for the most part. after vance was someone finney did know — bruce yamada. he didn't know him well, they just played baseball together. bruce's body was never found, but he was confirmed dead.

the two final victims of the grabber were robin arellano and finney blake, who just barely managed to escape. finney had killed the grabber, and robin had been found with the rest of the bodies, barely alive. it was a shock to finney, especially after he'd spoke to his ghost. finney had been put into a mental hospital of course, which wasn't exactly fun. finney hadn't made anything easier for himself by trying to tell people about the ghosts he spoke to. it was dimmed down to his imagination. he was scared, and his brain did what it thought would help him. but it all felt so real. at first, he didn't believe what they were trying to tell him, they weren't there when he experienced. but eventually it made sense. how could he have spoken to robins ghost if he was alive?

it took awhile, but after about a year he had recovered a lot. not fully, but he was there. they decided he was allowed to be let out, as long as he continued going to therapy. it was his first day out, and finney was so excited. he didn't think he could spend another minute in that god forsaken place. the only thing he wasn't excited about was seeing his dad. gwen had said he was much better everytime she came to visit, but it still didn't remove the past memories finney had of him.

finney pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he made his way down to reception, he needed to stay positive. a smile immediately made its way onto his face when he saw gwen sitting in a chair. a smile crossed her face as well when she saw him, immediately running to pull him into a hug. it had only been a week since they last saw eachother, but this was a special thing. finney couldnt exactly hug back thanks to his bags, but he tried his best.

terrance made his way over to them, putting a hand on finney's shoulder. when the two siblings parted, finney glanced up at his dad. he was glad that he hadn't tried to hug him, terrance offered a small smile — which finney hesitantly returned. "alright, let's get on the road, yeah?" gwen looked at finney, who nodded. the three of them headed outside.

"is there any stops you want to make before we go back to the house? the hospital, maybe?" finney was grateful for the offer, but he really just wanted to go home. recently, he had been allowed to go to the hospital a lot to see robin, with an escort of course. "er, no thanks. i kinda just wanna head home, i saw robin yesterday." he was silent for a minute before he added a quiet thank you. his dad nodded and got into the truck, as did gwen. finney took a minute, turning to look at the place he had spent thirteen months in. god, he never wanted to look at it again. he got into the car with a smile, buckling himself up. "ready."

his dad looked at him in the mirror, smiling and giving him a small nod. with that, the three of them were off.
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finney walked into his room, dropping his bags. everything was almost exactly as he had left it, which was good. he could pick up his life as if none of the previous shit had happened. he went over to the window, looking out it. apparently he caught a kids attention, because a little girl stopped on her bike and pointed at him. the few friends she was with stopped as well. finney smiled, waving. none of the few waved back, instead they just quickly looked away and started biking again. he stared at the spot they were in for a few minutes. if little kids were going to talk, he didn't want to know what everyone else was going to be like.

he sighed. of course he couldn't just pick his life back up like nothing happened, because stuff did happen, and as much as he wanted to pretend it didn't, other people wouldn't be the same. this was going to be harder than he thought, and for more reasons than just his dad.

he was snapped out of his thoughts by one of the comics on his desk being knocked off his desk. he flinched and turned around quickly, looking at the desk. then, to the person at the desk. his eyes went wide as he looked at the figure. unfortunately, he easily recognized him.

the boy was wearing a dark green shirt with white sleeves, along with black pants. he had short black hair and really dark brown eyes. on the side of his face, starting at his forehead and going down his neck, was a visible wound. finney shook his head, blinking a few times, there was no way this was real.

the figure looked fascinated in the comics, dragging his finger over the words, as if he hadn't noticed the one he had bumped onto the floor. finney let a quiet 'no' escape his throat, causing the boy to look at him, tilting his head to the side. he looked confused. "no fucking way," finney breathed out. "youre—" he inhaled. "no, no, you're not here." now the other boy's eyes went wide. "wait, what? you can see me?" finney covered his ears. "no. i can't. you're not here. la la la," he screwed his eyes shut, surely he would be gone when he opened his eyes

finney counted to ten and then opened his eyes. sure enough, he was gone. its like was never there. even the comic was back on his desk. he let out a deep inhale. it was just first day back jitters.

unfortunately, he quickly realized it wasn't, as he turned around and the figure was still there, just behind him now. he let out a squeak and fell to the ground, panic clear on his features, finney felt like he was going to pass out. "you're not real," he repeated a few times, to which the figure just tilted his head to the side again. "how can you see me?" finney shook his head. "i cant. you're not there. you're not real. you're dead, bruce. you've been dead." he swallowed, not being able to wrap his mind around the fact that bruce yamada was standing in his room. dead bruce yamada. he let himself fall onto his back, putting his hands over his face.

"i'm fucking screwed."
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word count: 1,228
first chapter yippee