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"Our first ever sleepover! I'm so excited! What should we do? Do you wanna do pillow fights? Oh! We could tell scary stories! A game of truth or dare, maybe? There's so much we could do! And there's no one here to stop us, we can stay up until dawn if we want to!"
Venti laughed at Amber's rambling, shaking his head as he took his phone into his hand. "We could do all of it! Might as well go all out!" His lockscreen lit up, showing a photo of Xiao and him hugging as Venti takes a picture of them. He smiled at it for a second before unlocking his phone and texting Xiao.
"I'll go make some hot chocolate for us! We can start with the scary stories." Venti absent-mindedly nodded at Amber's words. She walked away into the kitchen as Venti fully focused on the little 'typing' pop up in the left corner of his screen.
Hey, love! Did you get to your friend's house safely? What are you up to right now?
Yep! Youre always so worried about me Im fine Liebling! The fun is just starting shame you cant be here with us :(
No worries, Love. I promise I'll be there next time. I just have something really important that I have to attend to tonight. Hope you have fun!
Shes going to make me pillow fight her! How am I going to defend myself send help!
You'll be just fine. Believe me, your hand hurts much more than you think it does. I have to go now though, talk to you soon!
"This is our sleepover! Off the phone, come on! We have hot chocolate and we're gonna tell ghost stories to each other! Do you have any paranormal experiences you want to share?" Venti put his phone down without replying to Xiao, gratefully accepting the warm beverage and getting more comfortable on the couch, leaving more space for Amber.
"Hmm, I can't think of any right now... how about you start while I think about it?"
"Alright!" She cheered, getting up to turn off the lights. She took a small lamp from the corner of her room, setting it on the coffee table in front of them and turning it on on the lowest setting, creating a rather nice atmosphere, a perfect ambiance for horror stories.
"So, this tale begins... about a month ago. It was a warm summer night and I was getting ready to head to bed." Venti brought the mug closer to his chest as he leaned a bit further towards his friend, expecting a very long story. "It was dark, almost as dark as it is now, and I was walking up those creaky stairs to get to my bedroom. I was just thinking about how I should finally stop procrastinating and get them fixed when suddenly-"
The loud sound of glass shattering had both of them scream, Venti flinched violently, spilling his drink on the couch and onto his hand. He only had a second to hiss in pain and shake off whatever hot chocolate remained before he looked up at Amber's frightened face and realised that they were both frozen in fear as the sound of footsteps came closer.
"Run," he whispered, his mouth dry. The pain in his hand not even noticeable next to the suffocating fear, no- terror in his entire body. There was someone in the house, there was someone in the house and they didn't even bother with being quiet and they were definitely coming directly to the room they are in, so it's not some petty thief, it can't be, whoever it was, they were coming for them.
They both jumped up from the couch, Venti snached his phone off the table in the rush and ran after Amber who headed for the kitchen. "A weapon," she whisper-yelled, "We need a weapon." She grabbed a spatula while Venti grabbed the pan with his free hand. They were going to make pancakes at 3am... well, there goes that plan.
"Was werden wir machen?" The pan was heavy in his hand, pressing down on his burned hand. "I can hear them." There was a lump in his throat and he, oh so desperately, wished that his boyfriend was here right now. He was a martial artist, and would have no problem knowing what to do in this situation.
"Aren't you the murder mystery expert? You're the one writing books about it! What the hell are we supposed to do in this situation!" She clutched the spatula impossibly closer to her, eyes glossing and voice forcefully steady. There was still a wobble to it.
"Not argue! We need to find a way outside. Come on, maybe we can go though the window they broke, they won't expect us to take that route." He motioned for Amber to follow him as he went first, checking left and right, around the corners before crouching down behind furniture. Where the hell were they?
The broken glass shimmered in the dim lighting, cold air of autumn night feeling freezing though their thin pajamas. All they had to do was reach the window and they would be fine, a few more cuts to their hands are worth surviving. Sure this could be just some burglar, but a burglar would have seen the lights turned on, they wouldn't have come into the house if they knew there was someone inside. Better not to risk it-
Venti barely held in a scream as he caught sight of movement in his peripheral vision. A masked man it seemed like. He was slowly coming closer to them, he looked around the rooms, stopping to listen before continuing to wander around. Definitely not a thief. Definitely someone out for them.
Urgently he signaled for Amber to head back, he was coming in their direction. Venti's hands were sweating, his phone slightly slipping out of his grasp. He clutched it tighter, following Amber back to the kitchen.
"Upstairs," Venti found himself saying and cringing as soon as the word came out of his mouth. Amber raised her eyebrow at him, seemingly asking him 'Are you fucking serious right now?' At least, that's how he interpreted it, he knows for a fact that he would say that to someone recommending that to him.
"We can climb down the tree from your room's window. He's patrolling the first floor." Amber nodded and he went ahead in front of her. She crouched a bit behind the kitchen door as Venti made a half-jog to the stairs. The boards creaked underneath his weight and he didn't even have time to panic before-
"Ah, so there you are."
He dropped the pan, suddenly too aware of the pain in his hand. Amber went further into the kitchen, hands tightly pressed to her mouth as tears ran down her eyes. Venti sprinted up, hearing the man run after him just as fast. 'Don't look back, don't look back' Venti kept repeating in his head like a mantra.
He entered the guest room, as the door was ajar already. He closed it as slowly as he could behind him, he hid under the bed, pulling out his phone and staring at his keyboard. His injured hand was so red...
Hilfe
He texted Xiao, afraid to add any details in case he didn't get enough time to send them. Please, please, please reply.
Pillow fight?
The amount of relief Venti felt at the immediate response was immeasurable. He sighed, his rapid heartbeat shaking his entire body. (Or was that because of fear?)
No Liebling please i need help someone is in the house
He held his breath as he heard the scuffing of shoes against hardwood floors. He was right outside the door, he was-
What? What are you talking about? Are you okay?
No, Venti thought, I'm farthest from okay I've ever been in my entire life. The initial shock slightly wore off, making him awfully aware of just how badly scalded his hand was. Second degree burn at least, blisters were already forming.
Help me what do I do
Breathe, love. Do they have a gun or a knife? Are you sure it isn't just a burglar?
The footsteps outside the room went further away, and Venti could finally breathe out.
Yes im sure i dont think he has a gun i didnt see it idk what do i do?
Breathe and just leave the house, okay? Call the police and leave the house. I'll be there soon too, okay? Just take a deep breath and arm yourself. If he doesn't have a gun on him you might be able to just outrun him.
Once more, without a reply, Venti turned his phone off and listened for the possible murdered outside the room, once he confirmed the silence, he went out of hiding. I hope Amber's alright at least... He gulped, tip-toing to the door. He checked to make sure the hallway was empty before he looked towards the stairs. His pan was at the bottom. A good enough weapon for now.
He was close to Amber's room, he could hear him, so the 'climb down a tree' option fell into water. Venti brought his phone closer to his face as he slowly decended the stairs, ensuring that he wouldn't make them squeak. Just get to the front door and everything will be alright, he told himself.
His fingers levitated over the letters on his keyboard, unsure what to even send Xiao. There were too many emotions stirring within him that he couldn't even decided which one was the most prominent. He couldn't even decide if he wanted to tell Xiao 'I love you' just in case this was the last time he'd get the chance to, or if he wanted to tell him to hurry, because he couldn't even open his mouth to speak to the police.
He felt a gasp on the back of his neck. "...Venti?" And this time he couldn't even stop his scream, terror encompassing him. He dropped his phone, the message only half written 'I love y' He didn't even get to send it, he had to at least send it, it was his last chance-
He turned around to the masked man behind him and his knees went weak. This was it, this person was his end. This was it. But- the mask on the assilant's face seemed... familiar in a way, the details of colours, gold on black, a teal shine for the eyes and the horn like structures on top... it was- that was the exact description of the mask a killer wears in the book Venti's currently writing. How-
"Wer-"
"Venti?" The man said once again. He put his knife (How did Venti not notice the knife, he was about to get stabbed, be left there to bleed out as he went to chase after Amber, and he wouldn't even be able to warn her because of the pain and the blood loss and-) back into his jacket pocket, reaching up to pull his mask off.
"...Xiao... Was ist los mit dir!?" Venti yelled, his entire body shaking from fear, relief, rage, confusion. "Ich dachte... was hast du dir dabei gedacht?!" He gasped, tears suddenly started running down his face. He couldn't breathe and he chocked on air.
"Hey, hey, love!" Xiao said, catching him as he fell forward, slowly bringing him to sit on the ground. "It's okay, it's fine! You're fine! Everything is fine! You're safe, I promise you."
Venti clutched at Xiao's shirt, heaving for breath as he buried his head into his shoulder. Nausea built up in the back on his throat, and his hand, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt-
He thinks he let out a whine, he must have, if Xiao so gently ran his fingers through his hair and whispered reassurances in his ear. If he ran his other hand up and down his spine and pressed him closer to himself. "Es schmerzt..." Venti said, pulling his wounded hand to his chest, pulling slightly away from Xiao.
His boyfriend looked at the wound with an expression of guilt, taking his hand out of Venti's hair and gently gripping Venti's wrist with it, inspecting the burn and the blisters. He pressed a kiss to Venti's forehead. "I'm sorry, love."
The sound of police sirens could be heard from a distance. That's right, Amber must have escaped while Xiao went after Venti. "You have a lot of explaining to do..." Venti said as he pulled away completely. "Now go, I don't want you caught."
Xiao took one last look over his lover's shaking, injured form, tears still running down his face, and he hesitated. He contemplated his choices and realized he was going to get arrested if he stayed for any longer. "I'll check on you at home, okay? The police won't let you stay here if they are investigating. I'll treat that wound and... tell you everything."
He picked his mask off the floor, putting it on. And looking at that mask that he described in his book...
Venti realised that all the deaths he wrote in his books, published or not, happened soon after he showed them to Xiao.