thanatophobia // joshler [✓]

his gift

it was ryan struggling to get towards the hideout. his arms were wrapping around a spot on his stomach, and as he approached closer, there were visual cuts and bruises on his face.

mel tried getting up to help but failed, so inseats she sat near the pothole that leads back into the hideout in shock. i quickly ran towards ryan to try and help him. i tripped lifting him up but with his bloody mouth he refused.

before anything else could happen he fell to the ground, now laying on his back and yelling in pain. i removed his arms with almost no problem to see a big gaping slit in his stomach.

i lifted up his shirt and there were blood and other various bodily substances oozing out as he was screaming and gasping for air. i tried to clot the wound with my own arm to further stop the agony.

mel crawled over to elevate ryans head onto her one good thigh so he had better comfort. and surely, we weren't the only ones who heard the screaming.

pete, tyler, and patrick all came up from out of the underground hideout through the pothole to see the current situation. tyler looked to be in shock, pete looked like he was going to be sick and patrick Evan to panic.

"what the hell happened?!" pete asked in a frenzy.
"he-he was- we found him trying to get back to the hideout." mel explained in the same manner.

"keep brendon down there and don't let him see this, jesus fuckin' shit." tyler said loud enough for dallon to hear from the hideout.

"pat can you do something?" i asked him, with ryans blood now turning my white shirt red.
"i-i-i don't please let me think!" he was having a panic attack from it all.

"we don't have time to think." tyler said in a firm voice, looking down at ryan.

ryans constant reaction to pain was loud enough to make brendon and dallon come out of the hideout with dallons failed attempt to keep brendon away.

brendon bursted out into tears immediately as he began to scream "NOOOOOO."
he quickly knelt down besides ryan who was still gasping for air as blood slowly trickled out of his mouth.

"i-i shouldn't have let you go-- this is my fault-- oh my god ryan..." he cried as he held his hand.
ryan couldn't get a coherent word as he began to gargle and choke on his own blood.

mel picked his head up slightly so the blood could pour out before laying his head back down.
"how the hell is he still alive?" tyler wondered as he stared down at ryan.

pete knelt down besides ryans head as he lifted his eye lid with his thumb to better reveal ryans bloodshot eyes.

"they injected him with morphine. that shits strong, gives you an adrenaline rush for hours. keeps you alive despite anything wrong with you." pete concluded.

patrick wiped his eyes and quickly knelt down in the circle that surrounded ryan. he examined his wound by lifting my arm up to reveal the still bleeding slit.

"can you do something?" tyler asked in a rather panicked tone.
patrick collected himself before shaking his head in shame,
"i can't perform surgery... not when he already has drugs in his system--"

brendon yelled again in despair as ryan began to cough up more of his pain.

"i'm s-sorry..." ryan managed to let out before taking his final and painful breath, his eyes rolling up into his head. mel gasped as his head laid lifeless on her. brendon cried harder than he ever did.

pete turned away as to not show his tears. tyler bit his lip furiously before turning away as well. i took away my arm to see ryans organs making an appearance out of the slit in his stomach.

patrick cried softly into his hands and dallon stood there, blankly staring at ryan. and me? i didn't know how to feel. i was looking at someone who was just alive and breathing just a few seconds ago.

and now he's gone.

there was something sticking out of ryans pocket that i hesitantly took out. everyone's attention turned back to me as i stared down at the paper.

i unfolded it to reveal a message,

sorry for the rough shipping,
but i hope you like my gift :)
-g