Hitlist

Death and internet stalking

Trigger warnings: death (mentioned) , abuse and bullying (implied),  homophobic terms, AnGsT

Romans PoV
I traced the lettering on the headstone. I was kneeling down, my legs slightly numb. A couple of tears fell down my face, the fresh flowers matched the white marble headstone. I traced the name engraved into it once again, Remus Star. My twin brother. Once the life of the house, now six feet underground alone, rotting. The autumn breeze swept through the graveyard. I didn't care I was missing school, it wasn't the same without him. I sat crossed legged and got out a notepad. I was writing a play for the local theatre for a competition. The winner had their play put on stage with professional broadway actors. I was dedicating mine to remus and I even wrote my own songs for it. I named it the twins of New York. It was about Remus's dream of being a broadway actor along with me, always by his side. The first act was completed along with five songs. It was our ups and downs of our childhood which lead to our dreams of performing on stage. I had nearly completed the second act. Just one more scene. Remuss success. The one he truly deserves. I teared up and wrote the final scene. "This is for you Re" I said smiling. I looked at my phone again. 6:30 pm. Getting up I sighed and whispered "goodbye" to my brothers headstone. Exiting the graveyard I saw a boy running across the street and collapse against the wall of the cemetery. I rushed over and recognised him. He was one of Toms victims. He was sobbing and shaking. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. On closer look so was his neck and what was visible of his wrists. I crouched next to him, "hey you ok?" I asked softly not wanting to scare him. He looked at me with fear in his eyes and moved away. "Hey it's ok I'm not going to hurt you" I reassured. The boy was so small and was shaking a lot. He looked past me and got up and ran off again. Looking behind me confused I saw a middle aged man standing at least 5 feet away from me. He was holding something in his hand. I could smell alcohol and drugs coming from him. "Don't talk to my son!" He hissed as he walked past in the direction the boy ran. I didn't know what to do but I went home confused.

When I got home I tried to find something about the boy. After an hour I found his Instagram profile. His profile was a band logo which o didn't recognise, probably some emo band. He had 3 photos posted. The oldest one was from 3 years ago. He and a group of people were stood in front of a building their arms draped around each other's shoulders.

The second was him in a beanie and a hoodie with the same logo as his profile picture @ my chemical romance was tagged. I was right. It was an emo band. This was posted a month after the earlier post. He looked young but he hasn't changed. A couple more people were tagged but their account was private.

The last post was an aesthetically appealing photo of him sat on the edge of a cliff his legs dangling off. A waterfall was in the background and it looked like it was taken early in the morning. He was wearing a black and purple flannel, ripped jeans, boots and a black beanie. His side was visible to the camera so I couldn't see if he was wearing a shirt under the open flannel. This was posted a year ago. It had the most comments. Where as the others had 5 or 6 this one had 143. All of them were hate comments from Tom or his group.
Jump
Why don't you jump
What a wonderful place to die
Freak
Gay freak
Faggot.

I closed my laptop upset and made a mental note to befriend him within the week. At least I knew his name. Virgil Fey.

10 and I was laying on my bed ready to sleep when my phone vibrated on my dresser. I reached for it and saw a notification from Instagram. @ hitlist25 wants to send you a message. I opened it without accepting the conversation and looked at the photo. It was a crumpled piece of paper with names scribbled onto it.
Roman Star
Virgil Fey
Emile picani
Logan Hawkins
Patton Smith
Remy Sanders.
I only recognised Virgil's name. Another message came through from the same user. "This is my hitlist, be prepared" I left whoever it was on read and turned over falling into a deep sleep.