Fic: You're a Regular Decorated Emergency - Chapter 10
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Ryan/Brendon
POV: First (Brendon's)
Summary: They were the outcasts of their school. The list started out as something innocent. Then Ryan wanted to get revenge in the only way he knew possible and he's dragging Brendon along for the ride.
Author's Note: Loosely based on the book Hate List by Jennifer Brown. (By loosely, I do mean very loosely. Also going to include a trigger warning in general right now (Self harm, alcoholism, bullying, violence, and several other things that may arise.)) Basically, don't read if you're going to be easily affected.
Disclaimer: Complete work of fiction. I don't own the characters. I'm only responsible for the plot line.
“Wake up, Brendon,” a hand is shaking me and it’s not the usual wakeup-call I get. I open my eyes and see Spencer and Jon both leaning over me.
“Wha-?” I start groggily, trying to let my eyes adjust a bit, but Spencer shakes his head, cutting my sentence off.
“No time. Just get dressed; we wanna get to the school as soon as possible so we can beat Ryan there. We think we know when he’s gonna do it now.” Jon moves to rummage through my closet and tosses a random shirt and jeans at me.
I sigh and stand up to peel off my pajamas, not caring that both Jon and Spencer are standing right there. We’d all seen each other naked before anyways, nothing new there. I pull on the jeans, hopping around trying to wiggle them up over my ass and eventually falling over my backpack onto the floor. I look up to see Jon covering his mouth to stifle his laughter and Spencer fighting back a smile. I grunt, pushing myself back to my feet and finish getting dressed.
“How’s my hair?” I ask not wanting to run to the bathroom to check.
“Fabulous,” Spencer says without even looking at me. “Let’s just go, alright? We don’t exactly have a lot of time” I sigh and nod, he was right. I spare a glance at my clock before we’re running out of the room and down the stairs. 7:15. We have 15 minutes before zero hour starts. I swallow the lump that’s starting to form in my throat as we run out the door towards Spencer’s car, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that’s now taking up residence in my stomach. This was it, I guess.
We jump in the car, and before I can even get the door shut behind me, Spencer is starting it and peeling out of the driveway.
“Sorry,” he calls back to me, glancing in the rearview mirror as I slam to the opposite side of the backseat full force. “We just don’t have much time.” I nod, righting myself up as Spencer speeds down the road, definitely doing more than the legal limit. He whips around the corner and I notice the school approaching already. Damn, did we make good time.
Spencer screeches into a parking space near the back of the lot which is almost completely full already. The engine of the car is barely off before all three of us are jumping out and sprinting towards the front door. It doesn’t take long for us to reach the main entrance and we stop, panting and glancing around at the mostly barren hallway.
“Where should we go first? Like where do you think he’ll be?” Jon pants out, but before Spencer or I can answer, we hear a gun shot, followed by a scream pierce through the air and echo around the walls of the hallway. There’s our answer. Spencer, Jon, and I all share a glance, each reflecting the fear from the others as more screaming pierces through the air, followed by more gunshots. We take off, running towards the quad near the cafeteria. I feel my steps falter slightly as I push faster trying to reach it as quickly as I can. As I reach the entrance to the quad, my feet catch on something on the ground and I face plant into the ground.
“Oh my God,” I hear Spencer say and I look back to see him staring at what I tripped over. Mr. Miller. His entire torso soaked with blood streaming from a single bullet hole in his chest and his eyes staring blankly towards me. I feel my stomach turn, but my attention is soon drawn back to the quad at the sound of another gunshot. I wrench my gaze from Mr. Miller’s body to the sound and soon focus in on Ryan, standing near a picnic table filled with freshman girls slowly trying to inch away from him. I feel my body freeze with fear, watching everything happen almost in slow motion.
“Please,” I hear one of them beg. It’s a girl named Ariana Anderson. I can hear Ryan bark out a laugh as he aims the gun towards her, quickly squeezing the trigger. The snap echoes around the quad and a couple people scream again. I watch as Ariana’s body slumps backwards to the table, a crimson stain quickly spreading across the front of her Jonas Brother’s t-shirt.
The rest of the girls, jump up as if to try and get away but Ryan turns the gun on them. All three choke out sobs and stop moving, their eyes not leaving the gun or Ryan. I recognize the girls as the very ones Jon had joked about being on the list yesterday; Zoe, Ayanna, and Cassie. I watch Ryan take another step closer to them, and a boy, I think his name is Patrick, jumps up from spot near another table.
“Leave them alone, Ryan,” his voice rings out as he starts to cross the quad. Ryan doesn’t take his eyes off the three girls in front of him as he redirects the gun towards Patrick and lets a single shot fire. It hits Patrick dead in the chest and I watch as he stumbles in shock at first before falling to the ground, blood bubbling a little at his mouth. I cringe, chancing a glance at Spencer and Jon who are both watching this with wide eyes like me. When do we even step in? Would our fate be the same as Patrick’s? I watch as Zoe, Ayanna, and Cassie all choke out sobs.
“Ryan, please don’t do this,” Zoe pleads, her voice small. Ryan laughs again and shakes his head, aiming the gun directly at Zoe’s forehead.
“Too late,” he says, squeezing the trigger, a bullet shooting straight through Zoe’s forehead. He quickly aims the gun at Ayanna and Cassie after, shooting them both in the same place. The three small, now lifeless bodies slump to the ground and Ryan steps away from them, glancing around the quad. “For years I’ve put up with the bullshit you’ve all put me through. You made my life a living Hell and now I’m gonna make yours hell too. You want a martyr? I’ll be one!”
No one ever expected Ryan to actually retaliate to the bullying. I bet the majority of them are wishing they can take back the things they said, but now it’s too late, and Ryan’s passing judgment. I watch him run his eyes across the different groups of students huddled together around the quad. Some are under tables, some hiding behind bushes and columns, trying to get as much cover as possible and avoid being in the line of fire. There is already a substantial number of bodies littering the ground and fear is evident in everyone. No one wants to be the next to die. I hear quiet footsteps behind me and I whip my head to see Spencer crouching down on the ground next to where I am.
“We need to do something, and fast,” he breathes out as to not draw attention to ourselves. I nod my head, not moving my eyes from Ryan as he walks towards another table where several guys are huddled. I recognized two of them as the Way brothers. The oldest one with red hair, I think his name is Gerard, steps in front of the younger, blonde boy, shielding him from Ryan.
“Ryan, stop,” he says, his voice shaky, but ringing with a sort of authority. “Half of these people never hurt you. I never hurt you even. Just please, stop. Think about what you’re doing.” Ryan laughs at him and shakes his head.
“You may not have done anything to me, but you never stopped anyone else from doing it, now did you?” He spits out before firing a shot into Gerard’s chest, blood instantly seeping out of the wound and staining his shirt. “Trust me, I’ve already thought about this.” He steps closer towards Mikey, who is now supporting a quickly fading Gerard, tears streaming down his face.
“Ryan,” he chokes through his tears. Before he can finish his sentence, Ryan fires two shots straight at his head. Mikey’s scrawny body slumps forward over Gerard’s their blood soaking into each other’s clothing. Ryan turns to the other boy at the table, Bert, and before he can choke out anything, a bullet fires straight into his jugular. Blood spurts everywhere, including all over Ryan, but he doesn’t seem to care.
He turns around and I can see his eyes narrow as his mouth breaks into a smirk. I follow his gaze and feel my stomach do a summersault. Brent. I watch as he strides over to Brent and grips the front of his shirt, throwing him to the ground.
“On your knees, Wilson,” he growls, and Brent’s quick to obey, keeling in front of Ryan. The entire crowd of people remains silent as Ryan walks behind Brent and points the gun against the back of his skull, execution style. “Now apologize. Apologize to everyone here, including me, for being the biggest prick to ever exist.” Brent’s silent, and I can see him shaking all the way from over here. Ryan presses the barrel harder against his head and I hear Brent gasp out a little.
“I’m sorry,” he stutters out.
“Sorry for what?” Ryan says, his voice sickly sweet.
“I’m sorry for being the biggest prick to ever exist,” he gasps out.
“Good,” Ryan says. He squeezes the trigger, firing the bullet through Brent’s head. He falls face first to the ground, blood everywhere and Ryan moves away from him.
Spencer nudges me and I look at him. He gives a nod towards Ryan and I know what he’s implying. We need to stop this, now. Or at least try. We scramble to our feet and Jon joins us. Spencer starts walking towards where Ryan is standing, his back turned to us. Jon and I are quick to follow him, not sure of what is going to happen.
I feel the eyes of the crowd snap to us as we walk onto the grass of the quad. Some start to whisper and this draws Ryan’s attention. He glances around and follows the crowds gaze to us. His eyes zero in on Spencer and I notice he takes a step backwards as he raises the gun to point at him.
“Spencer, stop,” he says, a pleading tone in his voice.
“Ryan,” Spencer starts. “You can’t do this. Just, stop now. Don’t do this anymore. It’s not going to fix things. You’re just making it worse.”
“No!” Ryan screams, stepping back again as Spencer steps towards him. Spencer takes another step and Ryan aims the gun higher at him. “Stop, Spencer. I’m fucking serious.” Spencer stops for a second before taking another step. Ryan backs up again, this time stumbling and a crack fills the air as the trigger is squeezed.
Everything stops for a moment before progressing in slow motion. I whip my attention to Spencer as he starts to fall backwards to the ground, a bright red patch on his stomach. Jon rushes forwards, catching him and helping slow the fall as he lays him down to the ground. Spencer’s eyes are wide as he brings a hand up and touches his stomach wiping away some of the red, he looks back up to Ryan and I follow his gaze. Ryan’s standing with his mouth open, eyes wide and locked on Spencer.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Jon screams, gesturing a blood covered hand between Spencer and Ryan. “You’ve shot your best friend because you couldn’t just handle someone taking the piss out of you a couple times! Are you happy?! Is this what you fucking wanted?” Jon chokes out the last word on a sob and turns back to Spencer, pressing against the bullet wound. I can see Spencer’s still alive at least, and somewhat stable despite the large spot of blood now residing on his shirt.
I turn back to Ryan and his eyes jump to my own. They look… scared.
“Bren,” he chokes out shaking his head, tears starting to fall down his blood-stained cheeks. “Are you here to stop me, too?” I chance a look at the gun still held in his hand as he cocks the gun again. I fight back the bile that rises in my throat. I had to talk him out of this. It was my last chance.
“Ryan, stop,” I say, holding my hands up in front of me. “You don’t have to do this. We can get you help. Just, please, for the love of God, stop.” I watch as he shakes his head, more tears pouring out of his honey-colored eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Bren,” he sobs. “I’m sorry.” He raises the gun to me and I inhale deeply, closing my eyes. So this was it. This was how I was going to die. I’d always thought about how I’d choose to die, if given the chance. I never would have guessed it’d be in front of my entire high school, surrounded by dead bodies, one of my best friends dying behind me, and my ex-boyfriend coated in blood and holding a gun, aiming it at my chest.
I hear Ryan choke out another sob. “I- I can’t do this,” he chokes out through his sobs. “I need you, Bren. I can’t do this to you. Just, please, help me. I need you.” His voice is pleading and I open my eyes to see him still aiming the gun at me, his stance shaky as the sobs rock through his body. I shake my head, taking a cautious step towards him.
“Ryan,” I say, my voice hushed. “Just… put the gun down, okay? I can help you, you just need to put it down.” As I step even closer, he aims the gun more steadily at me and shakes his head.
“No, Brendon. That’s not the kind of help I want,” His voice is still shaky, but he raises it. “I want you to help me make these bastards pay for what they did. They made our lives hell. Why can’t you see that?! Why don’t you want this too?!”
“What did Spencer do?” I cry out, gesturing behind me. “What did those girls do to you? There were only a couple people who even did anything that would have an effect that’d last more than a day! Killing innocent people is not the answer to solving all this, Ryan. You need to realize that.” By now I’m standing closer to him, only a couple inches distance between us.
“It’s too late for realizations, Brendon,” he says, shaking his head slowly and closing his eyes. This is it. My only opportunity. I launch myself at him, grabbing for the gun as we both tumble to the ground. We struggle and I feel Ryan direct kicks straight to my rib cage as we both pull on the gun. I can’t hear anything over the rush of the blood in my ears and I barely register the sound of the gun going off.
Both Ryan and I freeze and I see his eyes widen with shock as the two of us glance down between us. Crimson is streaming from Ryan’s chest and I feel the breath catch in my throat as if I was the one who had been shot. Our eyes meet and I feel my eyes fill with tears.
“Ryan,” I murmur out, as his body starts to go slack against me. “Oh Ryan, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, oh my god.” Ryan stares at me with wide eyes, his mouth moving but no sound coming out.
“Bren,” he finally chokes out, a small bit of blood dribbling off the corner of his lips. “I- I love you.”
I choke as the bile rises in my throat again. “I love you too,” I whisper out earnestly, burying my face in his hair, my tears soaking it. I feel him draw in two more uneven breaths before his body goes still beneath me and I can’t breathe anymore. I push his body away, sliding away on the ground.
As soon as I do, the crowd breaks into chaos and several faculty members rush forward, some to me, and some to where Jon and Spencer are.
“Are you okay?” Mrs. Renner the counselor asks me, her eyes running over the blood stains on my clothing. I nod through my tears, not sure I’m even capable of speaking at the moment. I look over at Jon who is now being pulled away from Spencer and a stretcher is being brought in.
“Is… is Spencer going to be okay?” I finally choke out and Mrs. Renner glances over at him.
“He should be fine, I think don’t think the bullet hit anything important. He’s still fully conscious at least. I’m sure the doctors will have him back to normal in no time.” She gives me a reassuring smile and I nod, glancing around at the bodies distributed in the quad, some being covered up with white sheets or body bags.
“What,” I start unsure of how to phrase the question and Mrs. Renner looks at me patiently, waiting until I’m reading to speak again. “What’s going to happen now?” She seems thoughtful for a moment then glances around the quad again before looking back to me.
“I’m not entirely sure myself, but we’ll get it all sorted out. Don’t worry, Brendon.” She gives me another smile that I don’t return and I glance back to Ryan’s body, now being zipped into a blue body bag. I shudder, tearing my eyes from it and focus on the police officer walking towards me.
“Brendon Urie?” He asks, giving me a questioning look. I nod, standing up as he gets closer. “I’m Officer Dan Rogers. We’ve been told you might have some information on everything that took place today, along with some incidents that may have taken place earlier in the week as well. If you’re willing to cooperate with us, we’d be willing to give you immunity from any charges that may arise against you. Is that alright?”
I consider it a moment before nodding slowly and Officer Rogers gives me a smile. “Good,” he says, turning back to another officer and gesturing for them to join us. He turns back to me and pulls out a pad of paper from his pocket. “This will probably be a long process, but in the end, it’ll be worth it, okay?” I nod again and he waits for the other officer to join him before he starts asking questions.
He’s right; this was going to be a very long process. I’m not sure if he’s right about it being worth it in the end, but I do know that at least after all of the interrogations I will never have to worry about the list again. I won’t have to worry about Ryan’s plans anymore. I will be free to live without the stress of having to fight back and get revenge on all the people that had made my life hell. This is going to be a long road. One that I know will stick with me for the rest of my life. I’ll never forget any of the events I went through with Ryan. I don’t know if it will affect me in any extreme ways, but I do know that there’s nothing I can change about it now. I can only move forward.
~Fin~
A/N: I'll be posting the soundtrack tomorrow, so if you're interested, check back for that. Anyways, thank you all for reading and for everyone who stuck with this while I did it. I hope I didn't disappoint you with it in the end.
Pairings: Ryan/Brendon
POV: First (Brendon's)
Summary: They were the outcasts of their school. The list started out as something innocent. Then Ryan wanted to get revenge in the only way he knew possible and he's dragging Brendon along for the ride.
Author's Note: Loosely based on the book Hate List by Jennifer Brown. (By loosely, I do mean very loosely. Also going to include a trigger warning in general right now (Self harm, alcoholism, bullying, violence, and several other things that may arise.)) Basically, don't read if you're going to be easily affected.
Disclaimer: Complete work of fiction. I don't own the characters. I'm only responsible for the plot line.
“Wake up, Brendon,” a hand is shaking me and it’s not the usual wakeup-call I get. I open my eyes and see Spencer and Jon both leaning over me.
“Wha-?” I start groggily, trying to let my eyes adjust a bit, but Spencer shakes his head, cutting my sentence off.
“No time. Just get dressed; we wanna get to the school as soon as possible so we can beat Ryan there. We think we know when he’s gonna do it now.” Jon moves to rummage through my closet and tosses a random shirt and jeans at me.
I sigh and stand up to peel off my pajamas, not caring that both Jon and Spencer are standing right there. We’d all seen each other naked before anyways, nothing new there. I pull on the jeans, hopping around trying to wiggle them up over my ass and eventually falling over my backpack onto the floor. I look up to see Jon covering his mouth to stifle his laughter and Spencer fighting back a smile. I grunt, pushing myself back to my feet and finish getting dressed.
“How’s my hair?” I ask not wanting to run to the bathroom to check.
“Fabulous,” Spencer says without even looking at me. “Let’s just go, alright? We don’t exactly have a lot of time” I sigh and nod, he was right. I spare a glance at my clock before we’re running out of the room and down the stairs. 7:15. We have 15 minutes before zero hour starts. I swallow the lump that’s starting to form in my throat as we run out the door towards Spencer’s car, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that’s now taking up residence in my stomach. This was it, I guess.
We jump in the car, and before I can even get the door shut behind me, Spencer is starting it and peeling out of the driveway.
“Sorry,” he calls back to me, glancing in the rearview mirror as I slam to the opposite side of the backseat full force. “We just don’t have much time.” I nod, righting myself up as Spencer speeds down the road, definitely doing more than the legal limit. He whips around the corner and I notice the school approaching already. Damn, did we make good time.
Spencer screeches into a parking space near the back of the lot which is almost completely full already. The engine of the car is barely off before all three of us are jumping out and sprinting towards the front door. It doesn’t take long for us to reach the main entrance and we stop, panting and glancing around at the mostly barren hallway.
“Where should we go first? Like where do you think he’ll be?” Jon pants out, but before Spencer or I can answer, we hear a gun shot, followed by a scream pierce through the air and echo around the walls of the hallway. There’s our answer. Spencer, Jon, and I all share a glance, each reflecting the fear from the others as more screaming pierces through the air, followed by more gunshots. We take off, running towards the quad near the cafeteria. I feel my steps falter slightly as I push faster trying to reach it as quickly as I can. As I reach the entrance to the quad, my feet catch on something on the ground and I face plant into the ground.
“Oh my God,” I hear Spencer say and I look back to see him staring at what I tripped over. Mr. Miller. His entire torso soaked with blood streaming from a single bullet hole in his chest and his eyes staring blankly towards me. I feel my stomach turn, but my attention is soon drawn back to the quad at the sound of another gunshot. I wrench my gaze from Mr. Miller’s body to the sound and soon focus in on Ryan, standing near a picnic table filled with freshman girls slowly trying to inch away from him. I feel my body freeze with fear, watching everything happen almost in slow motion.
“Please,” I hear one of them beg. It’s a girl named Ariana Anderson. I can hear Ryan bark out a laugh as he aims the gun towards her, quickly squeezing the trigger. The snap echoes around the quad and a couple people scream again. I watch as Ariana’s body slumps backwards to the table, a crimson stain quickly spreading across the front of her Jonas Brother’s t-shirt.
The rest of the girls, jump up as if to try and get away but Ryan turns the gun on them. All three choke out sobs and stop moving, their eyes not leaving the gun or Ryan. I recognize the girls as the very ones Jon had joked about being on the list yesterday; Zoe, Ayanna, and Cassie. I watch Ryan take another step closer to them, and a boy, I think his name is Patrick, jumps up from spot near another table.
“Leave them alone, Ryan,” his voice rings out as he starts to cross the quad. Ryan doesn’t take his eyes off the three girls in front of him as he redirects the gun towards Patrick and lets a single shot fire. It hits Patrick dead in the chest and I watch as he stumbles in shock at first before falling to the ground, blood bubbling a little at his mouth. I cringe, chancing a glance at Spencer and Jon who are both watching this with wide eyes like me. When do we even step in? Would our fate be the same as Patrick’s? I watch as Zoe, Ayanna, and Cassie all choke out sobs.
“Ryan, please don’t do this,” Zoe pleads, her voice small. Ryan laughs again and shakes his head, aiming the gun directly at Zoe’s forehead.
“Too late,” he says, squeezing the trigger, a bullet shooting straight through Zoe’s forehead. He quickly aims the gun at Ayanna and Cassie after, shooting them both in the same place. The three small, now lifeless bodies slump to the ground and Ryan steps away from them, glancing around the quad. “For years I’ve put up with the bullshit you’ve all put me through. You made my life a living Hell and now I’m gonna make yours hell too. You want a martyr? I’ll be one!”
No one ever expected Ryan to actually retaliate to the bullying. I bet the majority of them are wishing they can take back the things they said, but now it’s too late, and Ryan’s passing judgment. I watch him run his eyes across the different groups of students huddled together around the quad. Some are under tables, some hiding behind bushes and columns, trying to get as much cover as possible and avoid being in the line of fire. There is already a substantial number of bodies littering the ground and fear is evident in everyone. No one wants to be the next to die. I hear quiet footsteps behind me and I whip my head to see Spencer crouching down on the ground next to where I am.
“We need to do something, and fast,” he breathes out as to not draw attention to ourselves. I nod my head, not moving my eyes from Ryan as he walks towards another table where several guys are huddled. I recognized two of them as the Way brothers. The oldest one with red hair, I think his name is Gerard, steps in front of the younger, blonde boy, shielding him from Ryan.
“Ryan, stop,” he says, his voice shaky, but ringing with a sort of authority. “Half of these people never hurt you. I never hurt you even. Just please, stop. Think about what you’re doing.” Ryan laughs at him and shakes his head.
“You may not have done anything to me, but you never stopped anyone else from doing it, now did you?” He spits out before firing a shot into Gerard’s chest, blood instantly seeping out of the wound and staining his shirt. “Trust me, I’ve already thought about this.” He steps closer towards Mikey, who is now supporting a quickly fading Gerard, tears streaming down his face.
“Ryan,” he chokes through his tears. Before he can finish his sentence, Ryan fires two shots straight at his head. Mikey’s scrawny body slumps forward over Gerard’s their blood soaking into each other’s clothing. Ryan turns to the other boy at the table, Bert, and before he can choke out anything, a bullet fires straight into his jugular. Blood spurts everywhere, including all over Ryan, but he doesn’t seem to care.
He turns around and I can see his eyes narrow as his mouth breaks into a smirk. I follow his gaze and feel my stomach do a summersault. Brent. I watch as he strides over to Brent and grips the front of his shirt, throwing him to the ground.
“On your knees, Wilson,” he growls, and Brent’s quick to obey, keeling in front of Ryan. The entire crowd of people remains silent as Ryan walks behind Brent and points the gun against the back of his skull, execution style. “Now apologize. Apologize to everyone here, including me, for being the biggest prick to ever exist.” Brent’s silent, and I can see him shaking all the way from over here. Ryan presses the barrel harder against his head and I hear Brent gasp out a little.
“I’m sorry,” he stutters out.
“Sorry for what?” Ryan says, his voice sickly sweet.
“I’m sorry for being the biggest prick to ever exist,” he gasps out.
“Good,” Ryan says. He squeezes the trigger, firing the bullet through Brent’s head. He falls face first to the ground, blood everywhere and Ryan moves away from him.
Spencer nudges me and I look at him. He gives a nod towards Ryan and I know what he’s implying. We need to stop this, now. Or at least try. We scramble to our feet and Jon joins us. Spencer starts walking towards where Ryan is standing, his back turned to us. Jon and I are quick to follow him, not sure of what is going to happen.
I feel the eyes of the crowd snap to us as we walk onto the grass of the quad. Some start to whisper and this draws Ryan’s attention. He glances around and follows the crowds gaze to us. His eyes zero in on Spencer and I notice he takes a step backwards as he raises the gun to point at him.
“Spencer, stop,” he says, a pleading tone in his voice.
“Ryan,” Spencer starts. “You can’t do this. Just, stop now. Don’t do this anymore. It’s not going to fix things. You’re just making it worse.”
“No!” Ryan screams, stepping back again as Spencer steps towards him. Spencer takes another step and Ryan aims the gun higher at him. “Stop, Spencer. I’m fucking serious.” Spencer stops for a second before taking another step. Ryan backs up again, this time stumbling and a crack fills the air as the trigger is squeezed.
Everything stops for a moment before progressing in slow motion. I whip my attention to Spencer as he starts to fall backwards to the ground, a bright red patch on his stomach. Jon rushes forwards, catching him and helping slow the fall as he lays him down to the ground. Spencer’s eyes are wide as he brings a hand up and touches his stomach wiping away some of the red, he looks back up to Ryan and I follow his gaze. Ryan’s standing with his mouth open, eyes wide and locked on Spencer.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Jon screams, gesturing a blood covered hand between Spencer and Ryan. “You’ve shot your best friend because you couldn’t just handle someone taking the piss out of you a couple times! Are you happy?! Is this what you fucking wanted?” Jon chokes out the last word on a sob and turns back to Spencer, pressing against the bullet wound. I can see Spencer’s still alive at least, and somewhat stable despite the large spot of blood now residing on his shirt.
I turn back to Ryan and his eyes jump to my own. They look… scared.
“Bren,” he chokes out shaking his head, tears starting to fall down his blood-stained cheeks. “Are you here to stop me, too?” I chance a look at the gun still held in his hand as he cocks the gun again. I fight back the bile that rises in my throat. I had to talk him out of this. It was my last chance.
“Ryan, stop,” I say, holding my hands up in front of me. “You don’t have to do this. We can get you help. Just, please, for the love of God, stop.” I watch as he shakes his head, more tears pouring out of his honey-colored eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Bren,” he sobs. “I’m sorry.” He raises the gun to me and I inhale deeply, closing my eyes. So this was it. This was how I was going to die. I’d always thought about how I’d choose to die, if given the chance. I never would have guessed it’d be in front of my entire high school, surrounded by dead bodies, one of my best friends dying behind me, and my ex-boyfriend coated in blood and holding a gun, aiming it at my chest.
I hear Ryan choke out another sob. “I- I can’t do this,” he chokes out through his sobs. “I need you, Bren. I can’t do this to you. Just, please, help me. I need you.” His voice is pleading and I open my eyes to see him still aiming the gun at me, his stance shaky as the sobs rock through his body. I shake my head, taking a cautious step towards him.
“Ryan,” I say, my voice hushed. “Just… put the gun down, okay? I can help you, you just need to put it down.” As I step even closer, he aims the gun more steadily at me and shakes his head.
“No, Brendon. That’s not the kind of help I want,” His voice is still shaky, but he raises it. “I want you to help me make these bastards pay for what they did. They made our lives hell. Why can’t you see that?! Why don’t you want this too?!”
“What did Spencer do?” I cry out, gesturing behind me. “What did those girls do to you? There were only a couple people who even did anything that would have an effect that’d last more than a day! Killing innocent people is not the answer to solving all this, Ryan. You need to realize that.” By now I’m standing closer to him, only a couple inches distance between us.
“It’s too late for realizations, Brendon,” he says, shaking his head slowly and closing his eyes. This is it. My only opportunity. I launch myself at him, grabbing for the gun as we both tumble to the ground. We struggle and I feel Ryan direct kicks straight to my rib cage as we both pull on the gun. I can’t hear anything over the rush of the blood in my ears and I barely register the sound of the gun going off.
Both Ryan and I freeze and I see his eyes widen with shock as the two of us glance down between us. Crimson is streaming from Ryan’s chest and I feel the breath catch in my throat as if I was the one who had been shot. Our eyes meet and I feel my eyes fill with tears.
“Ryan,” I murmur out, as his body starts to go slack against me. “Oh Ryan, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, oh my god.” Ryan stares at me with wide eyes, his mouth moving but no sound coming out.
“Bren,” he finally chokes out, a small bit of blood dribbling off the corner of his lips. “I- I love you.”
I choke as the bile rises in my throat again. “I love you too,” I whisper out earnestly, burying my face in his hair, my tears soaking it. I feel him draw in two more uneven breaths before his body goes still beneath me and I can’t breathe anymore. I push his body away, sliding away on the ground.
As soon as I do, the crowd breaks into chaos and several faculty members rush forward, some to me, and some to where Jon and Spencer are.
“Are you okay?” Mrs. Renner the counselor asks me, her eyes running over the blood stains on my clothing. I nod through my tears, not sure I’m even capable of speaking at the moment. I look over at Jon who is now being pulled away from Spencer and a stretcher is being brought in.
“Is… is Spencer going to be okay?” I finally choke out and Mrs. Renner glances over at him.
“He should be fine, I think don’t think the bullet hit anything important. He’s still fully conscious at least. I’m sure the doctors will have him back to normal in no time.” She gives me a reassuring smile and I nod, glancing around at the bodies distributed in the quad, some being covered up with white sheets or body bags.
“What,” I start unsure of how to phrase the question and Mrs. Renner looks at me patiently, waiting until I’m reading to speak again. “What’s going to happen now?” She seems thoughtful for a moment then glances around the quad again before looking back to me.
“I’m not entirely sure myself, but we’ll get it all sorted out. Don’t worry, Brendon.” She gives me another smile that I don’t return and I glance back to Ryan’s body, now being zipped into a blue body bag. I shudder, tearing my eyes from it and focus on the police officer walking towards me.
“Brendon Urie?” He asks, giving me a questioning look. I nod, standing up as he gets closer. “I’m Officer Dan Rogers. We’ve been told you might have some information on everything that took place today, along with some incidents that may have taken place earlier in the week as well. If you’re willing to cooperate with us, we’d be willing to give you immunity from any charges that may arise against you. Is that alright?”
I consider it a moment before nodding slowly and Officer Rogers gives me a smile. “Good,” he says, turning back to another officer and gesturing for them to join us. He turns back to me and pulls out a pad of paper from his pocket. “This will probably be a long process, but in the end, it’ll be worth it, okay?” I nod again and he waits for the other officer to join him before he starts asking questions.
He’s right; this was going to be a very long process. I’m not sure if he’s right about it being worth it in the end, but I do know that at least after all of the interrogations I will never have to worry about the list again. I won’t have to worry about Ryan’s plans anymore. I will be free to live without the stress of having to fight back and get revenge on all the people that had made my life hell. This is going to be a long road. One that I know will stick with me for the rest of my life. I’ll never forget any of the events I went through with Ryan. I don’t know if it will affect me in any extreme ways, but I do know that there’s nothing I can change about it now. I can only move forward.
~Fin~
A/N: I'll be posting the soundtrack tomorrow, so if you're interested, check back for that. Anyways, thank you all for reading and for everyone who stuck with this while I did it. I hope I didn't disappoint you with it in the end.