The One (ReaderXJohn Mulaney)

Chapter 12

We raced down the stairs of the fire escape and John pulled me onto the sidewalk.

The morning cold hit me as we ran.

To think that a mere matter of months ago I was hanging out with Krissie and Hannah, laughing about dumb jokes, things that didn't even make sense. We would cry, talk shit, go on day trips together, things that I know could never happen now anymore. Me and Hannah had a road trip planned for next summer. We were going to go all over the States. 

We were gonna visit Carhenge. 

I would never be able to visit Carhenge. 

I knew I was running, but I didn't fully process it. The entire time John pulled me behind him I was in a perpetual state of dissociating, of not processing a single second. Were those sirens for us? Or were they not even police sirens? Did this mean John was mine now? Was he The One? Was that a ludicrous concept? 

So many thoughts raced through my head, none of them very sensical. Somewhere in the distance a sad song was playing. 

"Stop!" I cried.

John pulled me into an alleyway.

"Y/N, we don't have time--"

"Where are we going?" I asked, gasping for air.

"I don't know.." John said softly, glancing down.

"What..." I looked at him. My eyes welled with tears. 

Suddenly John perked up.

"Wait...follow me." he said, taking my hand again and breaking into a run. I did as he asked, too tired to do anything else. 

Unwearied, we kept running, fearful that every siren might be the one that would finally capture us. We were fugitives now, I realized. 

The law is an interesting career field. I semi payed attention in class, and I don't remember the bulk of it, but I do know that when you are accused of something in a court of law, the jury is then able to convict you as guilty or not guilty. In the event that you are convicted with not guilty, but people still want to charge you with something, they move on to the next possible crime. At this point, I had been compiling a list of every crime I could be charged for, from worst to least worse. Let's see, Attempted Murder definitely cops the number one spot, then what else...probably sleeping with someone illegally, then being part of a hit and run from the actual police, and probably a lot more that I was definitely missing. 

Suddenly we stopped moving. 

The amount of air I could suddenly take into my lungs took my by surprise. I looked up to see where we had halted.

The school.

What the hell were we doing at the school? It was Saturday.

John fumbled with the key he had in his pocket, unlocking the main door and pulling me inside. 

"John tell me what's going on." I demanded, more confused. "Those things you said, were they true? Did you really kill those people? But you said-" 

He locked the door behind him and turned to face me, his expression crestfallen.

"I'm so sorry Y/N...I never meant for you to get dragged into this." he said softly. 

I sniffled, and my chin quivered. The world was crumbling around me and I didn't know what to do about anything anymore.

"So why are we here then?" I asked, my voice difficult to get out.

"We had to hide somewhere. We couldn't stay at my place, nor go to yours..I figured the school was our safest bet. I won't let them hurt you."

"John..." I said. I felt conflicted. The butterflies in my stomach were going insane again. I held out my hand. "I'll stay with you until the very end." 

He took me to his classroom, pulling the blinds down and making it look like there wasn't a soul in the building. I sat in the chair by his desk, completely numb.

"What now? We can't stay here. They'll find us, and even if they don't there's school on Monday. Other people have keys. And we don't have provisions. The only way we get out of this without being arrested is if-" I stopped in my tracks. The end was nigh, I could feel it.

John finished my sentence for me. His voice was dangerously soft, though simultaneously worried and anxious.

"Is if we kill ourselves."