The Day I Said Goodbye || MAC

1: Trigger

"We should get up.." Moaned Sqaishey, wriggling beneath the covers and resting her tired head on Stampy's chest. It was midday.
"I've been working for the last four hours, don't know what you're on about." He chuckled, continuing to extend his Microsoft Word document on his MacBook.
"The sky was bright and blue with fluffy white sheep for clouds- you sure you're alright?" She giggled, squinting her unmagnified eyes at the draft of his story.
"Shut up, it's a children's novel." He laughed, wrapping one arm around her shoulders as she kissed his cheek and snuggled closer to him.
"Crap- I think it's glitched.." he muttered, relentlessly clicking the mouse while the whole screen paused.
"When's the last time you saved-"
The screen turned black for a split second before switching to what appeared to be live footage of someone's webcam, there was a man walking around a rather empty-looking room.
"What the hell is going on?" Questioned Stampy, still trying to click off, although he felt as if he might have almost recognised the room in which the man was walking around in.
Then an automated voice took over Stampy's computer.
"Hello Joseph and Bethany. Presented on the screen is an innocent man clearing out his office. I have a sniper aiming straight at him. I will give you 24 hours to save him." Said the voice,
"W-What?!" Questioned Stampy while Sqaishey's eyes widened.
"I want you to put in your pair of EarPods from your desk and keep them in for the next twenty four hours."
"No!" Yelled Stampy.
There was a proceeding loud banging sound and a yell protruded from the screen as the man fell over. His leg had been shot.
Sqaishey backed up in bed and screamed with huge terrified eyes.
"What the fuck... what... what's going on- Jesus-"
Stampy tried to turn of his laptop but everything locked, he couldn't even close it.
The man's face was then revealed on the screen as he lay on the ground in agony,
"Beth get me the EarPods." Uttered Stampy, his face completely white and his jaw shivering.
"W-What-"
"That's Squid." He said, pointing to the man on the screen who was cursing in the pain, calling out for Nicole.
"O-oh my god..." she breathed, climbing out of bed and grabbing the two rather unused EarPods from the table.
Stampy grabbed his phone from his bedside table and began to dial 999 while placing in the EarPods.
"Joseph Garrett I am warning you that if you call the police I will kill both David Spencer and Bethany Bates."
Only Stampy could hear the voice now as he slowly put down the phone and his jaw shook in fear.
"Joe... what's it saying?" Asked Sqaishey, kneeling down beside him as he looked around anxiously at the windows in his bedroom. He couldn't see any sign of someone being out there.
Stampy looked again at the webcam image on his laptop to see Squid lying unconscious on the floor.
"Oh my god." He breathed before shutting his laptop and getting changed quickly.
"What's going on?" Asked Sqaishey.
"I- I don't know... b-but I'm gonna drive up to Yorkshire.." Replied Stampy, biting his lips anxiously. Then the automated voice in his ears spoke again,
"Get in your car and leave Beth at home."
Joe stood absolutely still. Betraying the voice could mean death for his loved ones... but leaving her alone... without protection..
"Joe." Uttered Sqaishey, almost knowing what he was about to do.
"I-I've gotta go.." he said to her while she stood transfixed.
"Not without me. Y-you can't leave me alone on this one." She replied, knowing that he was being blackmailed by the voice.
"I'm sorry, Beth." He told her, taking the keys of the car from the hall table and walking out the front door, leaving Beth standing transfixed at the threshold.

"Now get into your car and drive north." Said the voice.
"Who are you, how do you where I am... I-"
Just as he sat down in his car he noticed someone dressed in all black hunched on top of his thatched roof looking through one of the skylights, obviously concealing a gun.
"If you say or do anything to alert Beth I will kill her." Said the voice.
Stampy's eyes began to water immensely, his jaw was shaking unbearably as he stared at Sqaishey who was staring back out the window at him, oblivious to the just sniper outside the house.
"Fuck..." he gasped, "Jesus..."
Crying, he shook his head and darted out of the car and back to the house.
"I- I love you." He told her, holding her tightly in his arms.
"What's happening, Joe?" Asked Beth, hugging him desperately.
They leaned their foreheads against each other, their noses brushing one another. Sqaishey could feel his panicked breathing on her slightly parted lips before their hands met and he kissed her.
"I love you." He repeated, removing his hands from hers and making his way to the door again.
"Goodbye." She said softly.
Stampy couldn't bear to turn around while he sat down in his car and drove north, just as the voice wanted him to. All he wanted was certainty that this would not have been Sqaishey's last goodbye.
"who are you.." he uttered under his breath while he chewed his lip in terror. One of his old best friends had just been brutally shot, and nobody could help him while he bled unconscious.
"The one you forgot about."
"I don't forget about anyone, Lee." Said Stampy, his teeth grounding together and his eyes narrowing. He needed to try and forget Sqaishey's situation, but then how could he? His fiancée was in a house surrounded by snipers-what if she left the house? Would they shoot her? What would he do without her? How could he live without her? But then again both his and Squid's lives were depending on Stampy doing exactly as the voice in his ear said. And he was almost certain that the voice was Lee.
He knew he'd done Lee wrongly but hadn't spoken to him in years. Lee was 21 years old now, he would be free of his convictions... but.. he knew that it was Stampy, ultimately, that concluded his career and his dignity at such a young age.
"Stop." Said the voice. And Stampy did exactly as it said, stopping by the side of the road.
"There's a blue Ford Fiesta parked in front of you."
"How do you know?" Asked Stampy,
"I've got a tracker on your car." Replied the voice.
"What about it?" Asked Stampy, referring to the fiesta.
"Crash into it then drive away."
"What?!" Exclaimed Stampy,
"Just bump into the car and drive away quickly or I'm gonna shoot David again!"
Stampy ran his fingers down his sweating face, there were no people around and the road was empty.
"I can't do this." He cried.
"If you can't, then say goodbye to your future wife and past best friend."
"Fuck..." he whispered to himself, digging his nails into the steering wheel, overwhelmed with nausea. He banged his head onto the steering wheel in the emotional agony before taking a few deep and shaky breaths.
He began to speed up and braked suddenly before bumping into the back of the Ford Fiesta, he reversed and drove quickly away, beginning to cry unbearably, looking in the left wing mirror to see that there was a crying child on his own in the passenger seat, he couldn't have been any older than seven.
"Oh my god..." he gasped, trying to see the road ahead through his tears. "Please no more."
"Oh Stamps, we're only getting started."