Chapter 17 –
Lawson crowd around Tom. After all this time, the attic has gotten stuffy and it smells of death. Beads of sweat run down Tom's forehead as Lawson breathe heavily onto his and Emma's skin. The four lads are stood in a row in front of Tom and Emma, blocking the view of Abigail and Charly. Lawson smirk happily. Adam has a sick mind for Emma. It isn't normal. None of Lawson’s minds are normal anymore. They all need to get help. It was all Adams idea when Emma and Nathan were in the bathroom. Then Nathan got killed and the last sick thing Adam did was kiss Emma, just to make Nathan jealous.
"Don’t you dare hurt him!" Abigail screams from behind Lawson. They ignore her and it’s like Tom can hear the cogs of their twisted brains working in sync with each other. It makes him feel physically sick. Adam grabs the back of Emma's chair and drags her to sit next to Charly. The three girls can do nothing but plead, sit there and do nothing. It breaks Abigail's heart. The love of her life is being tortured along with her two best mates and her boyfriend’s band mates are dead already. Charly's fiancé, Emma's boyfriend and now, if Lawson were sick and twisted enough, they would kill Tom and it tears her apart. The death of the wanted would come as a big shock to the world. It would break many hearts and rip theirs to shreds if they don't get out of Lawson’s grasp quickly.
Lawson gather around Tom in a huddle. Ryan standing directly in front of him, looking down on Tom in disgust, like he was something nasty. Tom is putting on a brave face for the girls but he’s shaking inside. He looks up at Ryan. Ryan's eyes freeze and look in front of him. Staring at nothing but a damp attic wall. Tom’s confused. Lawson see the direction Tom is looking at in confusion when they are scared to see Ryan's eyes go pure black. No pupil. Nothing. Just black and evoked of all emotion. Ryan's lips are slightly parted and he falls backwards, onto the girls’ feet. It’s like he was having a fit. He starts jolting and stuttering gibberish. Andy goes over to him and touches his arm. Below freezing in temperature. He pulls away sharply. The cold sensation on his finger tips start to tingle and burn the tip of Andy’s fingers. He holds them tightly with his other hand, wanting the pain to subside.
Suddenly, Ryan stops moving. His eyes fade back to their normal colour but Lawson know he’s dead. But they don't give up on Ryan. Adam pumps on Ryan chest, wanting him to start breathing. But it’s no use. Ryan is dead.
"Finally justice." Tom breathes. Lawson's attention has been drawn off of him and onto Ryan so he knows he’s safe for now.
The thing that had hidden in the corner of the attic, the one that decided it wanted to have a little fun; it had gotten inside of Ryan. It had burned his organs and frozen his heart. That's why Andy’s freezing sensation turned to fiery pain. Andy drags Ryan to the side of the room and props him against the corner, using his hands to close Ryan's eyes. Andy looks down at his fingers that were exposed to Ryan. They tips are scorching red and obviously burnt but the freezing sensation has gone.
"I'm gonna go run this under a tap." Andy says to the others leaving the room. He walks into the bathroom and sees Nathans body, still slumped over in the chair. The blood going sticky and thick as it dried. He looks away quickly. It hadn't pained him when they killed Nathan but now the guilt was coming back around to haunt him. He runs his fingers under the cold water of the tap but looks over his shoulder at Nathan. He sighs and drags the chair with Nathan's body on it into Nathan's and Emma's room. He chucks him on the bed and unties the ropes and detaches the chair. That's when he sees the clean hole through Nathan's chest that the gun had made. He grimaces and looks away. He runs back up to the attic where Tom starts speaking... again.
"I know what it feels like. I lost all my best mates thanks to you pricks. Now the girls are in trouble. You've felt our pain now ok? Charly's fiancé is dead, Emma's boyfriend is dead. He was only fucking 19!" toms voice starts to rise but he keeps it under control. He smoothes his voice down to his normal Bolton accent.
"Now, instead of all this going any further," Tom persists "just let us all go. We won't even go to the police ok? We won't breathe a word. We'll say it was all a car accident that involved us and not you three lads ok?" Tom argues.
"No Tom, JUST SHUT THE FUCKING HELL UP!" Andy shouts in his face. Tom shuts up then, scared for everyone in the room even the Lawson guys. The thing that had dragged him of off the bed that night, killed Jay and done other freaky stuff has come back and killed Ryan.
What's going to happen? Will Lawson let the four remaining people go? Will they Go to the police and tell them what really happened?
