Chapter Text
It had been almost a week since Wi- no, Finney, was captured. What he didn't know however, was that he would be stuck with 5 other boys. Robin Arellano, his best friend and protectr since Will had moved in to North Denver, Vance Hopper, the bully, Bruce Yamada, his rival in baseball, Billy Showalter, the towns paperboy and one boy he didn't know at first, but he learned his name was Griffin. They had tried everything, but nothing had worked, until now.
‘’What do we do now?’’ Finney asked, ‘’The window doesn’t work and whatever Vance is doing isn’t helping either.’’ Vance scoffed and shot him a look which Robin, who was sitting next to Finney, immediately returned. Griffin sighed and leaned his head back against the wall that was separating this room from the bathroom, Billy, who was next to him, immediately noticed and slowly moved his head to Griffin and whispered, ‘’You okay?” Griffin turned to look at him and smiled, ‘’Fantastic.’’ It had become some sort of inside joke between them, Billy being the one that was kidnapped sometime after Griffin gave them enough bonding time. ‘’Well we have to do something,’’ Bruce said from his spot next to Vance on the mattress, ‘’Anything.’’ he added. They all stayed quiet for a while. Billy looked around to see that everyone was just staring ahead of them, except for Bruce, who was looking at the phone, ‘’Maybe we can use that?’’ he asked, but Billy shook his head, ‘’Cable is cut off.’’ Bruce gave a small ‘oh’, but that sentence seemed to light something up in Griffin, ‘’Cable…’’ he said, which made everyone turn to look at him. He noticed and immediately brought his knees up to his chest, covering his face in them, ‘’There’s a cable over there,’’ he pointed to the spot near the bathroom, ‘’Maybe we can like, connect it and get it to work.’’ the sentence came out muffled due to him hiding his face in his knees, but everyone seemed to hear it. Bruce’s eyes immediately lit up, though Vance looked pissed, ‘’You knew there was a fucking cable there, and didn’t think to tell us or something?’’ Griffin slightly flinched at Vance’s tone, but Billy calmed him down with a comforting hand on his knee, ‘’Leave him alone, he probably forgot.’’ Vance looked at him and sighed. He stood up walking over to them before crouching down in front of them, ‘’Well, can you tell us where it is?’’
Griffin nodded and stood up, immediately walking over to the makeshift doorway, stopping before getting too close. ‘’Well?’’ Vance said, obviously getting impatient. Griffin didn’t wanna let him down, but he just couldn’t go near that place, ‘’I’m sorry…’’ he said, before turning around and wrapping his arms tightly around Billy, desperately needing comfort. Billy immediately started rubbing Griffin’s shoulder to calm him down. Everyone else except Vance looked confused, ‘’What’s wrong?’’ Finney asked. Griffin crouched down against the wall while crying, Billy in front of him trying to calm him down. Everyone stayed quiet until Vance walked up to him and crouched down, ‘’Hey Griffin,’’ he softly said, making Griffin look up at him with teary eyes, ‘’Can you tell me what it looks like?’’ he asked. Griffin sniffled and nodded, ‘’The, uh, the wall and floor, they should be separated.’’ he said softly and Vance nodded. He walked over to where Griffin had pointed and immediately found what they were looking for. He pulled it apart and grabbed the cord, bringing it over to where the others were standing around the phone.
Griffin had somewhat calmed down and wiped his tears away, hugging his knees. Billy smiled at him, and Griffin couldn’t help but smile back. ‘’You feeling better?’’ Griffin nodded and they both smiled, ‘’Thanks, Billy.’’ Billy smiled brighter, ‘’Of course, that’s what I’m here for.’’ Griffin felt comfortable around Billy, Billy was his only friend when they were kidnapped. ‘’Fucking finally.’’ Vance muttered, but it was loud enough for both of them to hear, making them quickly snap their heads towards them. Billy stood up, pulling Griffin along with him, to go over the others. ‘’Okay, okay, does it- does it work?’’ Robin asked, to which Bruce immediately grabbed the phone. ‘’Hang up the phone. Now.’’ a voice said.
Bruce immediately froze as Vance moved to stand in front of all of them. He had taken on the big brother role for everyone. Bruce turned around to see the Grabber standing in front of the door, his mask in a frown instead of the usual smile. ‘’Oh, Brucey, hang up the phone now,’’ Bruce slowly put the phone back as the grabber slowly walked over to them and stopped right in front of Vance, ‘’Was it you, Vancey?’’ Vance just looked up at him with an angry look on his face, ‘’What are you gonna do about it?’’ The grabber tilted his head to the side and chuckled, ‘’Well,’’ he paused for a very long time, which made everyone uncomfortable, ‘’I know it wasn’t you, don’t worry.’’ He pulled his finger up and pointed at every one of them once until his finger came to a stop, ‘’You,’’
He pointed to Griffin, making Billy take a step forward which caught the attention of the grabber. ‘’Well, well, you’ve got yourself your guardian angel here,’’ He took another step toward them, ‘’Move, little boy.’’ When Billy didn’t move, he grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and threw him over to where they were sitting a few minutes ago. Griffin wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. The grabber moved to caress Griffin’s face. ‘’You,’’ He said, ‘’Upstairs, now.’’ This time it was Vance who was standing in front of Griffin. If Vance had taken on a huge brother role for anyone, it would be Griffin. The two had bonded more than they thought they would. The grabber sighed when he saw Vance, “Well then, guess we aren't going anywhere with you.” he said while looking straight at Griffin, and for a moment everyone thought he would turn back and walk away, just forget about the whole thing. But it was the grabber and he didn’t turn around, instead, he just kept staring at Vance. “Move. Now.” Vance was confused but didn't have much time to question it in his head before he was pushed to the side just like Billy had been. Speaking of Billy, he was standing off to the side, seemingly ready to pounce on the grabber if he even touched Griffin. Sure, Billy wasn’t a fighter and he wasn’t able to throw a punch like all the others, but he would do anything if it meant Griffin and the others were safe. When Vance didn’t move out of the way the grabber sighed again, ‘’Move, Vancey, I don’t want to hurt you too.’’ Griffin’s eyes widened and he quickly looked at Billy, who had taken a step closer to them. Billy was already looking at him with a concerned look, but when he tried to get closer the grabber held his hand out, ‘’Stop, don’t you dare move.’’ Billy stopped and the grabber dropped his hand, ‘’Everybody sit. Now!’’ Everyone slightly flinched, but nobody moved. ‘’Now!’’ He yelled loudly. The grabber smiled as everyone slowly did as he asked, except for Griffin, who was now backed up against the wall. The grabber slowly walked up to Griffin, who was on the edge of crying, and softly brought his hand to rest on Griffin’s cheek,
‘’You’ve been a naughty boy,’’ he said, ‘’You know what happens to naughty boys, don’t you?’’ Griffin’s breathing got heavier and he looked over to Billy, who was sitting on his knees and glaring at the Grabber. The Grabber looked over to where Billy was and giggled which caused Griffin to snap his head back to the Grabber. The Grabber moved his hand from Griffin’s cheek down to his neck, his gloved finger just lightly caressing it, before tightly wrapping his hand around his neck making Griffin quickly pull his hands up to try and get the Grabber’s hand off his neck. However, that only seemed to make the Grabber angrier, tightening his hand around Griffin’s neck. Griffin quickly dropped his hands which made the Grabber happy and he let go of Griffin’s neck. He fell to the floor and started coughing loudly, trying his hardest to breathe normally again. The Grabber crouched down onto his knees and patted Griffin’s head. ‘’You know, Griffin, you’ve been a naughty boy, and not just now,’’ he said, ‘’This has happened multiple times, hasn’t it?’’ he continued. Griffin moved his head to look at the Grabber, his breathing getting heavier by the second. The Grabber looked over to Finney, before turning back to Griffin, ‘’Wanna show the new boy what we do when someone needs to be punished?’’ Griffin gulped and looked over at Finney, who was being held by Robin, having a very confused but also scared look on his face. Griffin immediately shook his head no, ‘’No?’’ the Grabber giggled, ‘’Well, too bad.’’
He pulled Griffin to the middle of the room by his hair, the sound of his screaming echoing in the basement. He laid Griffin down and pulled the belt out of his back pocket, he made a habit of carrying it in there. ‘’I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I swear—’’ Griffin cried out when the first blow hit him right in the stomach, ‘’No, no, no I’m sorry, please—’’ Billy flinched when the second blow hit and he immediately looked away, however, the Grabber didn’t like that one bit, ‘’Oh, paperboy, look at me, now.’’ When Billy didn’t do as asked, the Grabber struck Griffin with a blow harder than the others which caused him to cry out, ‘’Now!’’ he yelled and Billy immediately looked back at them. Griffin was laying on the floor, his knees brought to his chest to make him look like a ball, crying out. The Grabber kept striking Griffin, who only screamed and begged the Grabber to stop, saying he didn’t mean to tell them about the cable. ‘’You knew something—’’ A strike to Griffin’s chest, ‘’And you told them—’’ A strike to his stomach, ‘’While I told you—’’ A strike against his arms, ‘’Not to!’’ The Grabber gave another strike to his chest, but it didn’t end at that. He stopped for a moment, the screaming seemed to have tired him out a bit, but then he pointed the belt towards Billy,
‘’Get over here.’’ Billy knew better than to ignore him, so he slowly stood up and walked over to the Grabber, who giggled and tilted his head to the side like a middle school-aged girl who just talked to her crush. ‘’Now, what I want you-’’ he pointed the belt toward Billy’s chest, ‘’To do, is what I have been doing to him.’’ Billy looked confused until the Grabber handed him the belt. Billy looked down at it and back up to the Grabber, ‘’Let me show you.’’ The Grabber slowly grabbed his wrist and pulled it back, Billy immediately understood what the Grabber meant at that point but before he could react his wrist was pulled down harshly against the back of Griffin’s leg, who was becoming unresponsive at this point. The Grabber kept pulling his wrist back and forth to make him keep hitting Griffin.
‘’There you go,’’ he said after a few minutes. He quickly grabbed the belt from Billy who was frozen in place and walked back toward the door, he looked back at them, ‘’Have a nice day.’’
As soon as the Grabber was gone, everyone rushed over to Griffin, though Billy was the fastest, holding Griffin tightly to his chest. “Hey, hey Griffin, I’m here now.’’ Griffin slightly stirred and looked at Billy with a sad smile, ‘’Hey…’’ he softly said, tears forming in his eyes. ‘’I’m so sorry Griffin, god I’m so sorry.’’ Billy pulled him into a tighter hug and he softly cried. ‘’I’m so sorry Griffin—’’ he choked on his own words due to his tears, but he kept hugging Griffin tighter, ‘’So sorry..’’