Chapter Text
Ethan’s eyes scanned the people walking opposite of him on the sidewalk, searching their faces and hands for anything out of the ordinary. The killer-on-the-loose stuff was really starting to get to him and his friend group being the main targets didn’t help his already overflowing paranoia. He was expecting to see a ghostface mask pop out in front of him or to get stabbed by some psycho at any moment. The resounding silence from his friends didn’t soothe his nerves either.
I mean, walking home alone when the killer could be just around the corner? What’s more horror movie cliche than that? Sure it was day, but the whole “attacked in daylight” trope seems to be ever so popular. And trust him, he knew horror movies, he had the world’s biggest horror fan as a brother. Ethan could practically hear his brother now telling him he was begging to be killed at this rate. His brother would often try and “train him” for horror movie-like scenarios, usually dawning the same style mask the killer targeting him now did, the same mask he died with. He shook his head, trying to rid the unpleasant memories that always bubbled up anytime he thought of his brother.
Maybe he wasn’t even in any danger. Sure, Mindy had said he was part of the friend group but was he really? If he doesn’t think about it too hard it totally makes sense. He only started hanging around because Quinn had insisted her friends would love him–well and she kind of forced him to come to hang outs–but the only friends he really had, besides his sister, were Anika and Chad.
Anika and him had clicked almost immediately. She said that she could tell he was a weird nerd and that she could relate since she didn’t really have a lot of friends either. They spent the rest of the night huddled up together, enthusing about their favourite books and shows.
Chad had been assigned his roommate, but they practically avoided each other the first week of living together. Well, Ethan avoided Chad out of his fear of social interaction with someone he didn’t know while Chad desperately tried to talk to him with no success. He was ready to admit defeat when Ethan hesitantly joined him in their living room to watch Spider-Man. He had sat on the furthest end of the couch before quietly commenting on how much he loved the movies, which sparked a long discussion between the two on their favourite instalments, comics, and characters.
The two declared themselves best friends and were practically joint at the hip after that night. Chad often dragged Ethan to stupid parties and new places while Ethan forced Chad to build lego sets and watch dumb movies. They often ditched their rooms to cuddle on the couch and fall asleep watching a stupid rom-com or a cheesy horror movie, only to complain about the neck and back pain the following day. After a few months of inseparable, insufferable behaviour, Ethan worked up the courage to ask Chad out, though he was honestly surprised he said yes, and the two had been dating ever since.
The rest of the group didn’t seem to hate Ethan but they didn’t seem to like him either. They seemed a little indifferent towards him, not counting the times where it seemed like they were weirded out and put off by him, but they usually just tolerated him and, thankfully, did not make fun of him to his face.
So really, he could barely be counted as a friend. This was all apparently centred around Sam, Tara, Mindy, and Chad so how could he count as a close friend when only 1/4th of the group liked him?
It was a very lousy cop out but it provided his mind a small bit of comfort as he walked to his sister’s apartment. It was, unfortunately, immediately ripped away from him when he heard the piercing sound of police sirens.
It might not be them, he thought to himself, there’s plenty of other people who live around here. Not everything revolves around them. He ignored the nagging voice in his head that reminded him of the texts and calls to his friends that were left ignored.
His anxieties were fueled when he saw the police tape at Quinn’s apartment and his friends sitting in ambulances. Immediately guilt for not being there began to build up in his chest.
He approached timidly, looking around as he raised the caution tape above his head. He caught his boyfriend’s eye and he suddenly got the urge to throw up.
“Chad,”
The other speed walked towards Ethan before grabbing and pushing him harshly into the car behind him.
“Where were you?” His aggressive nature short circuited Ethan’s brain. It felt so unlike him. “What, when?” He grimaced when Chad pulled him forward only to push him back again. “Last night!” The grip on his collar felt suffocating.
“Wha-I had Econ, you know this!”
“Bullshit, man! You disappear, my sister almost gets killed!”
“Dude, I was in a study hall with a hundred other people, you can ask any of them.” He put his hands up as he talked, not knowing how else to reassure his boyfriend of his innocence, and just hoped Chad would believe him.
“Fuck, man,” Chad turned away as Ethan took in their surroundings. He could see a covered up body in the alley in front of them. “Oh my god, who?”
Chad’s anger seemed to pause and he turned to face Ethan again. His demeanour switched quickly from aggressive to apologetic and Ethan felt like throwing up again.
“Anika, Quinn.”
Ethan furrowed his eyebrows together and shook his head, suddenly forgetting how it feels to breathe. “No,” He whispered, taking a step back. His sister couldn’t be dead, she couldn’t be. She had been fine yesterday, she had been alive yesterday. She couldn’t just be gone now. “Ethan,” Chad took a step forward but his boyfriend backed up again.
“They aren’t dead, Quinn can’t be dead.” Just saying the word had Ethan’s stomach swirling. His vision became blurry as fat tears welled up and rolled down his face. “I, I just talked to Quinn yesterday and she was, she was good, she was fine, she can’t be gone.” He reasoned with Chad, as if that would somehow make his sister come back.
“He got her while she was in her room. We had no idea until…I’m so sorry,” The sick feeling in Ethan’s chest spread throughout his entire body, and he quickly turned to the side to throw up the bile that had risen in his throat. Chad’s hand on his back somehow made him feel worse. His mind went into overdrive and all he could think about was his sister and best friend.
It’s funny, they were actually planning to have a hang out today, just the three of them. They were going to start binge watching Doctor Who since Anika and Quinn had never seen it and that just seemed like a crime to Ethan. Anika had told him that she had actually been meaning to watch it forever but had never gotten around to it, while Quinn had complained about how nerdy it was going to be but Ethan had seen that glint in her eye that told him she was just as excited for it.
He hadn’t even said goodbye to them. His last words to both of them was that he would text them after class.
As he stood up, he suddenly felt too tired for tears. He leaned forward to rest his head on Chad’s shoulder and closed his eyes. His ability to breathe still hadn’t returned nor had the nausea left him. Chad gave him a tight hug then leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Gonna go talk to Mindy, wanna come?” No part of Ethan wanted to move right now, but he removed his head from Chad’s shoulder and nodded. He followed Chad, albeit a little slower, and he could only think to apologise to Mindy as he approached her, since he lacked any words.
“Step the fuck back.”
Ethan paused and blinked at the girl sitting in front of him.
“You’re at the top of my list.”
Top of the list? What list? The suspect list? Ethan’s brain rattled in confusion. He was at the top of her list? His sister and best friend just got brutally murdered and Mindy thinks he did it?
“I had Econ!”
He watched as Mindy glanced up at her brother and he followed her gaze. Chad just stared at him, not saying anything to defend or even comfort Ethan. There’s no way he agreed with Mindy.
Chad looked to the floor and suddenly the numb, nauseous feeling in Ethan’s chest was replaced by anger. His sister was just killed and his friends think he did this? That he was capable of doing something like that? He let out a dry chuckle and shook his head. This was actually ridiculous.
“Ethan-,” Chad started, but the harsh glare he sent made him shut his mouth.
“I’m going home. Call me if you gain some empathy.” He turned to walk away when he spotted his dad leaving the apartment complex. He booked it across the street, anger already softening into grief again.
His dad looked up at him and immediately broke into sobs. Ethan lunged forward to hug his dad and let tears of his own fall. They had already lost his mom, Richie, and now Quinn was gone too. Him and his dad were all that were left of their family. “Quinn…,” Ethan nodded into his dad’s chest, “I know, Dad, I know.” His dad let out a sniffle before pulling away from his only child.
He explained to the three that he was taken off the case now, but refused to stop working it. He turned to Sam, a dark look in his eyes.
“You fuck with my family, you die.”
And something about his dad’s words left an uneasy feeling in his chest.