Gas Mask ※ A Peterick AU

17| Tears

Patrick

"We'll be back in an hour or two, but incase we decide to spend the day at Josh and Tyler's I'll take the bag." Pete said as I watched him grab his keys from the coffee table in the living room. After that he made his way to the front door and unlocked the several locks before walking outside. I slowly walked after him, my eyes squinting up at the sunny sky. We were in the middle of the forest, I noticed, but the sun was still managing to leak through the trees and into my eyes. As I walked a few steps forward the sun disappeared, making my eyes widen. Now that I wasn't squinting I could actually see further. Trees went on for as long as I could see, endless shades of green and brown covering everything.

As I looked around I realized where I was, and who I was with. There must've of been bodies buried everywhere, maybe even under my feet. The thought kind of creeped me out. "Once you get past the fact that there's probably hundreds of dead bodies buried here it's actually kind of beautiful." I chuckled dryly, looking back at Pete. "Please, do you actually think I bury them? I'm not an amateur, I disintegrate them in acid." He chuckled back, making me roll my eyes. "Why am I not surprised." I mumbled as we began walking to his truck. It was a black Chevy Blazer, the exact same as my grandpa used to have.

As I sat down and put my seatbelt on Pete put the bag in the back. As he sat forward he let out a huff before reaching for his mask- and to my utter surprise- he pulled it off. I watched with wide eyes after letting out a quiet gasp. His hair was short and bleach blonde, his eyes were a dark brown but when he moved into the sunlight they turned a caramel colour. I wasn't expecting this. "Wow, I uh- you- you don't look how I pictured." I said, feeling my cheeks heat up because wow, I sound like a teenage girl that just talked to her crush for the first time. "What did you hunk I'd look like?" He questioned, putting his mask in the back seat.

I shrugged. "I don't know, just not this good looking." I said, regretting it immediately. I looked out the window, hoping Pete didn't see my burning cheeks. "Good looking, huh?" He said, and I could hear the smirk on his face. "Oh fuck off." I mumbled. I heard him chuckle before turning on the truck. After turning it around he pulled onto a barley visible dirt road. After a few minutes of driving we still weren't on a main road. "How did you find this place?" I asked, looking from the passing trees to Pete. "I was just running through the woods when I found it." He mumbled in response.

"Okay," I replied, nodding. As we sat in silence again I thought about the reasons why he could've been running. Was he running from someone? Or maybe something? How long has he lived there? I wanted to ask him, but I didn't want to trigger anything. He must've had good reason to disconnect himself from society to become a serial killer. I let out a deep breath and lay my head against the headrest, my eyes watching the scenery. After a couple more minutes Pete drove through a curtain of vines and branches, revealing the highway that I've driven on so many times before. It was the same one Andy, Joe, and I drove down on the way to Nicole's party.

I wondered what they were all up to. Is Joe still obsessing over Zoe? Did Andy quit his job? Were Kim and Kris still together? (no lmao) Did anyone see me leaving the party with Pete? I even wondered if Mrs. Cooper, my chemistry teacher, broke it off with her husband she always complained about. But I know I'll never get the answers to any of these questions. It was like I was off the face of the earth, but I was only a few kilometres away from everyone. And they didn't know it, they all probably thought I was dead.

We eventually drove into town. As we drove by the library on second street I pulled up my hood, I didn't need to be recognized. After a while we pulled into a parking lot of an apartment building. It was infamous around town, this was where many drug dealers resided. The police either didn't care or they didn't have enough evidence to arrest anyone. I assumed it was the latter, as one time Joe and I went to get some weed before a party and the guy we were buying from had hidden his stash in a small metal box, which was hidden in a hole in the wall, which was covered by a dresser.