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Finney was gonna die. He just knew it.
He had tried all his best efforts and even had help from people just like him who were once in his situation and yet he still failed himself. He had failed all of them. And today was the day he was gonna meet his inevitable fate. It was foolish that he had even dreamed, nonetheless tried to escape. He was just a kid after all. A kid who could never protect himself from the sadistic things the world had to throw at him. It was times like these when Finney started thinking that the God his family and those door-to-door missionaries talked about didn't exist. The ghost's existence didn't help him with this internal conflict. If God did exist then why wasn't he helping him? Why did he let him get into this situation in the first place? Finney had prayed all the days he was here and not once did he get a sign that God had heard it. Perhaps the Lord thinks he's unworthy of saving.
Tears sagged down his face steadily, then they started descending faster and faster until he was comfortably sobbing to himself. He was happy knowing nobody could hear him. At least he hoped nobody could. He wasn't exactly sure about the ghost situation and if they could hear anything outside of phone calls but he currently didn't care. He'll just have to find out when he dies too.
Finney tends to get caught up in his thoughts when he's upset. He's always despised this part of him. Sometimes he just wants to bang his head against the wall to make them shut up. So many thoughts talking all at once. It drives him insane. The only people who know about this are Gwen and Robin. His father was always too out of it to notice. Robin luckily never got to see it himself but he told him anyways just to let him be aware Incase it did happen.
He was just about to make the thoughts stop swarming until he heard, 'ring, ring' coming from the phone from the other part of the basement. It took a good long time for Finney to get up but he did because it's all he knows. It's like he's constantly on autopilot and the thing only he's programmed to do is just get back up and try again.
Once Finney reaches the phone he feels hesitant to answer it but his curiosity and desperation outways the anxious, hungry pit in his stomach that was growing as time passed. "Hello? Bruce? Bill-Paperboy?"
"No, Finney. It's me." A voice says on the other side.
"Robin?? Robin, you have no idea how much I've missed you!"
"Yes, Fin. I heard you crying..."
"What...I wasn't crying haha..." Finney lied as he wiped the wet streams off his now flushed cheeks in embarrassment.
"Yes you were and it's okay Fin. I'm here for you. But first, you have to listen to me, you need to take off the part of this phone that has circles and fill it up with sand from the corner of the room and use it to beat the Grabber. It'll work just trust in me."
Finney was a little taken aback by the sudden directions but listened intently. "Okay. But I won't be able to talk to you anymore...will I?"
"No you won't. This is it. But you're just gonna have to do this for me, okay?? Would you like to talk a little longer? Not too long though. Our times almost up and I'll have to hang up."
Finney almost wanted to shed tears again. He actually gets the opportunity to talk to his deceased companion and he only has a limited time to do so before they never talk again. Before Robin fades into nothing but a memory in some photographs that nobody looks at.
"Oh, well um..." Finney stumbled across his words, trying to find a response until he said, "Is it horrifying?" Finney paused before adding, "Being dead I mean."
"I don't think it is. It's not exactly entertaining either. I just feel kinda neutral, but I still have emotions but they feel weaker as if it's hard to express them. It's better than living in that bitches crusty basement though."
Finney laughed. If the circumstances were different he would've told Robin off for telling a joke in pressing times like these. But if anything he felt relieved. Like a burden was being taken off his shoulders and he could breathe again. He knew this wouldn't last for long though.
"Robin is there a God...?" Finney was cautious to implore the question but he just had to know.
"No, Finney. There isn't, but that isn't exactly a bad thing. At least there's no hell, right?"
Finney knew that Robin was just trying to lighten the mood but his stomach ached with the newfound knowledge positioned upon him. All he knew was a lie and worst of all, The Grabber wasn't going to hell. That meant he could prowl the afterlife with no consequences for his horrific actions.
"Yeah I guess so... this is unrelated but did you try fighting The Grabber??" Finney knew it was a foolish question as soon as he asked it but he desperately needed to change the subject. Anything to get his mind off the subject of God.
"Of course I did dumbass! But I don't think like you do, Fin. I had the strength but lacked the brains and before I knew it he knocked me out cold."
Most outsiders would presumably think Robin would be mad at him considering his tone of voice and profanity but Finney knew Robin wasn't mad at him. It was The Grabber he was mad at. Finney didn't even want to think about how The Grabber must've beaten Robin to death with whatever was nearby. Maybe it wasn't even with an object but his own hands. The mere thought made Finney sick to his stomach.
"D-Do you think I stand a chance, Robin?" Finney said after a stillness of silence shared between the two.
"Finney, I know you don't have much confidence in yourself. I was the toughest kid in our neighborhood, Finney so when I say you can I mean it. If anyone can it's you, man."
Robin wasn't physically there but Finney knew that if he was, he would be giving him a sympathetic smile right now. Despite the boy's aggressive nature, he always had a soft spot for Finney.
"Can I tell you one more thing, Robin?"
"Make it quick, Finney. Times almost up."
Finney said in a rushed blur, "I love you. Fuck, I'm sorry Robin but I kinda had a crush on you. And maybe I should've taken it to my grave but I think it's best I get it off my chest now while I still have the chance. I hope you don't think of me any differently but it's fine if you do."
There was a long silence and for a moment Finney was afraid that Robin had hung up until he heard, "I had a crush on you too, man."
"Really...?"
"Yeah, I was too scared to tell you. Isn't that funny in a way? Robin Arrelano, the most respected and feared kid in school being too afraid to admit he has a crush? How cheap."
Finney laughed sadly this time. Some things never change and Robin is one of them both physically and mentally for one reason or another.
"I have to go, Finney. Just remember what I taught you and hey do me favor? Make that asshole prey for mercy until he's unable to clasp his hands together."
"Wait, Robin please don't go! I still have so much to talk about with you, there's still so much we haven't talked about. And if you hang up we'll never get to talk again. Is that what you want?" Finney loathed the way he sounded so desperate and vulnerable in front of his friend but he couldn't do anything to stop his voice from breaking down in certain parts.
"I'm sorry, Fin. This is for your own good, I loved you."
The phone went to static. All Finney could think of was how Robin said, loved as it repeated in the back of his mind like a broken record.
Finney cried for a while on the rough concrete floor. It felt like hours but Finney knew that it had only been a few minutes. It didn't take long for him to get back up to practice what Robin said at the beginning of their conversation. It's what he would've wanted. Plus he didn't want Robin to cuss him out in the afterlife.