August in the Fall (A "Lab Partners" Fanfiction) *COMPLETED*

Train Tracks

One Week Later..

Monday, September 23rd, 2018

23 Days Until The Deadline.

"What? Are you sure?" Quinn asked as I finished explaining the situation to her. August hadn't gone to school, obviously, and being my friend, Quinn asked why I was freaking out. I told her it was crazy, but she insisted. As I expected, it wasn't working out well. Clenching my fists, I glared at her.

"You think I would lie about this?" I accused. Quinn stared at me. "My boyfriend and my brother were kidnapped by a murderous psychopath that is demanding I bring him a homeless boy who is in fact his son, and threatens to kill everyone I love if I don't. You think I would make up shit like that?" I paused. "Haven't you seen the posters around town?" After August vanished for two days, Carmen hung up posters around town. Elliot and Jordan pitched in, also hanging posters of Nick. The whole situation has totally broken them. For one thing, they're both constantly on edge, which has led them to fight with each other a lot. It's usually over small things like being home late for work, whose cooking dinner, and who has to go shopping. It still scares me though. All my life, my Dads have been a carefree pacifistic family, and now that Nick is missing, my whole world is crumbling down around me.

When we got home from August's, Jordan went into a fit of rage. Yelling at me to be more responsible, to think about my actions before actually doing them. That's when Elliot came in and said Nick wasn't returning his calls. Elliot said that Nick had told him that he was going to the store, but when he was gone for over an hour, he started panicking. Now that I really know what's going on, I know where he really went. It's not like I can tell them though. I have no proof. I didn't escape without a punishment in all of this. I didn't get my phone taken away, -for obvious reasons,- but I wasn't allowed to go anywhere without adult supervision. It seemed more like a precaution than a punishment, but it's what has to be done.

Quinn stared at me, totally speechless. She looked down at her shoes. "Of course I have." She whispered. She clenched her fist at her side. "What? Do you think I'm stupid?" I stared at her. What is she doing? "They're all I see around town." Quinn continued, her voice a little bit louder. "And every time I see them, my stomach drops in fear because...." Quinn head snapped up, and my eyes widened when I saw that tears filled her eyes. "I don't want the same thing to happen to you!" Quinn closed her eyes.

I gave her a sympathetic and hurt look. "Quinn-"

"You're my best friend, Noah. I don't know what I'd do if you got kidnapped by some psychotic serial killer." Quinn opened her eyes. "That's why I asked if you were sure that your story was true, because I didn't want to believe it." I took a step towards Quinn, and exhaling, I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"I'm not going anywhere." I mumbled as she returned the hug. "Have faith in me." Quinn sniffled.

"I always do."

I smiled. "That's good." Releasing her, I gathered the books that were on my desk. Holding them in my arms, I turned back to Quinn who watched me. "I'm sorry I snapped at you." I apologized. "It's just with everything going on... August and Nick are gone, Flynn acting weird, and my Dads fighting a lot more.. I don't know how to handle it sometimes. I'm sorry." Quinn returned my smile and took a step forward, taking half of the books from my arms.

"It's okay." She smiled. "I can't say I understand what you're going through, but I couldn't imagine being put through that myself." She sighed. "I wouldn't know how to react either." We started walking to our next class. All of sudden, Quinn's walking pace slows down, and her eyebrows push together in confusion. When I turn and look at her with a puzzled look, she looks at me. "Wait. What do you mean Flynn's been acting weird?"

I shrugged. "He's just been rougher with me. I like to think it's because August isn't here to protect me."

Quinn titled her head to the side. "You don't think it's because it's around that time of year...?"

I cringed. "I mean, possibly."

"Noah..."

"I just want to forget about what happened to him." I snapped. "He's dead and gone. It's not my fault he stuck out at night."

Quinn shrugged. "You were on the train tracks with him."

"You know I tried to help him. I didn't push him. It's not like we knew the train was scheduled to go by. We couldn't hear it in time." I clenched my jaw angrily. Quinn frowned sadly.

"Noah, I didn't mean to upset you."

I huffed. "I know. It just pisses me off that after all these years, Flynn still blames me for his best friend's death. It wasn't my fault."

Quinn frowned. "I know that.."

"Then drop it, Quinn!" I yelled. "Sawyer's dead. It was an accident. I didn't push him in front of that train. He tripped. If Flynn can't accept that, then he needs to grow up." I glared at Quinn. The incident was two years ago. Sawyer was a friend of Flynn's, and he just so happened to be my neighbor at the time. One night, I looked out my window to see him sneaking out, and I followed him. I stayed a distance away from him until he reached the train tracks. I hid behind a tree and watched as he sat cross legged on the tracks. He just sat there. He wasn't doing anything. Most kids came out to the tracks to smoke weed or deal it. The way he acted made me wonder at the time if he'd been on anything, despite his claims of being clean. After a few minutes, I came out of hiding spot and went to him.

He wasn't surprised when I stood at his side.

"Hey." He said, not looking at me, and not waving.

"What are you doing?" I asked calmly.

Sawyer chuckled. "Sitting on train tracks."

"Well duh." I motioned towards the trees. "Come on. You really shouldn't be on the tracks."

He shook his head, adjusting his baseball cap. "I do it all the time."

I looked at the track up ahead. "What if I buy you food?"

Sawyer titled his head up, as if to consider the bribe. "Fried chicken?" I nodded, eager to go home. Sawyer smiled, and started to get up, when he stopped. "Do you hear that?" He looked at me. I perked my head up and listened. I didn't hear anything for a moment. I shook my head at him. "It sounds like whistling." Sawyer said as he looked around. I stood still for a minute. What could be whistling at this time of night? Then I heard it. It was getting louder and louder from one side of the tracks.

"It's the train!" I exclaimed. Sawyer's eyes widened. "Come on." I said, looking at the trees. "Hurry!" Sawyer started to scramble to his feet as the whistling and the chugging of the train became louder and louder. Once Sawyer stood, he followed me as we ran off the tracks. You could see the train clearly now as it sped closer and closer.

Sawyer sighed in relief. "That was close." He said, and I smiled at him. Sawyer turned around, his back to me, so he was facing the tracks. He cupped his hands around his mouth, and turned towards the direction of the train. "We beat you!" He exclaimed, as he laughed it off. He pumped his fist in the air and took a step forward. My eyes widened as he stumbled towards the tracks after having stepped on an untied shoelace. Landing with a thud on the tracks, I made a gesture to move towards him.

"Sawyer!" I yelled. Stunned from the fall, Sawyer was slow to get up. The train's headlights grew bigger and brighter. The dark was almost completely swallowed by its light. Sawyer turned back to look at me. He opened his mouth to speak.

Then the train hit.

I screamed.

_____

I promise I know what I'm doing.

Please plot my murder.

~Sinon