Hide Your Lungs||SMPLive AU

Chapter Six

When the pair reached the house, Charlie practically ran up the stairs and into the house, and almost immediately started to yell, "Carson?! Carson, we need to talk!" Charlie rushed into the kitchen with Travis trailing behind him. Upon entering the room, they were met with the faces of Carson and Noah, who were sitting at the kitchen table. They stopped their conversation almost at once as the two of them entered. Charlie stood in the doorway, his eyes wild and breathing hard, "We need to talk. Now."

Carson looked between the two of, his eyes widening as he saw Charlie's blood coated sweatshirt, "What happened?"

Travis was suddenly made painfully aware of the blood that had soaked into Charlie's sweatshirt, and how awful he truly looked. His posture was stiff and tense, his face was pale, and he looked ready to break at any second. Travis could see how he was trying to not cry.

"Where's Joko?"

"Charlie what is going on? Why are you-"

"Tell me where he is, this is important, okay?"

Noah looked at Charlie, his eyes narrowing, "He's upstairs, sleeping. Why."

"Someone was looking for him."

That caused the kitchen to go silent, tension rising so quickly it was suffocating. Noah and Carson's eyes went wide. For a few seconds no one spoke, but Carson was the one who broke the silence, "What do you mean, 'someone was looking for him'?"

Charlie let out a breath as he crossed his arms around himself, "We were walking along the fence, and we ran into a guy, who said he was looking for someone. He didn't seem... crazy, or like an Adorer, he seemed like a normal guy. Just concerned about finding his friend," He swallowed hard, "When I asked about his friend, he... look I don't know what to say he just described Joko, from how he looks to how he acts."

Carson glanced back down at Charlie's clothing, "What happened to him? The guy?"

Charlie swallowed as he looked up Carson, "He... uh... we killed him."

Noah tensed up, "You-you killed him?"

Charlie scrunched his eyes shut as he nodded, his arms wrapping around himself even tighter. Travis could tell more questions were gonna be thrown at Charlie, and so without a second thought he spoke, "The guy attack was going to kill Charlie. There wasn't any time to do anything else. We had to do it."

Carson scowled, but his attention now no longer on Charlie, "Did he say anything else?"

Travis shook his head, "Not really, he did mention a group, but he didn't say where they are..."

Noah stepped forward, his posture still tense but less so now, "Nothing about why he was looking for Joko?"

"No. But he did say he went missing around three days ago... how long has Joko been staying with you?"

Carson shook his head, "Longer than three days... we found him about two or three weeks ago," He looked back Charlie, "You sure he was talking about Joko? Like, positive?"

"Carson, I don't know who else he could have been talking about."

"He could have been lying." 

"No, it has to be Joko."

"What has to be me?" Travis turned around, swallowing hard when he saw Joko standing in the doorway of the kitchen. His hair was standing up in multiple directions and his clothing was heavily disheveled. But he looked tense, ready to run, the panicked, nervous look was still in his eyes. Maybe more so than this morning. A heavy silence upon everyone in the kitchen. Joko just looked at everyone, expect Charlie who hadn't turned around, "What is going on?"