*Possible trigger warning. Please proceed carefully*

"They took you away on a table, I pace back and forth as you lay still.
I pull you in to feel your heartbeat, can you hear me screaming please don't leave me?" Chord overstreet

When Aaron had been little, Nihil had been his favourite person in the world.

He had been the 'fun' Uncle. Always up for a game of hide and seek, or ready to throw a ball around. Nihil used to spend hours watching Aaron draw, and his fridge at home had been covered in pictures that Aaron had sketched for him.

Now, as Aaron looked up at the ghost of his uncle, he felt no trace of the love he used to have for him, only sheer and utter hatred. This man was not the same one that spent three hours hiding in a cupboard waiting for Aaron to find him. This one was filled to the brim with evil intentions.

"You grew your hair out, Aaron. I don't like it."

Aaron knew that Nihil wanted a reaction and he didn't want to give him one. But his body betrayed him. Goosebumps covered his skin, noticeable even in the dim light. He felt himself begin to shake from Nihil's proximity, remembering clearly all the awful things he had gone through as a child.

"Or did you grow it out simply because you thought I wouldn't like it?"

Don't answer, he wants you to. He's not here. He's not real.

"It's so rude to ignore people Aaron."

Nihil grasped Aaron's chin and yanked his face upwards. His touch felt so real that Aaron's eyes widened in shock. Aaron could feel the rough tips of his uncle's fingers as they clutched his skin. The force behind the tug caused a sharp pain to run down Aaron's neck.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, boy."

And Aaron did. He looked at his uncle and instead of seeing the predator he had witnessed so many times in his childhood, he saw an old man. Up close, Nihil looked broken and beaten down by age, with fine wrinkles covering his skin and grey peppering his dark hair.

The strangest part about the whole thing was that Nihil had been only forty-four when he had died. Beaten to death by other inmates when they found out what he did. And yet, the uncle that stood before him looked to be at least ten years older than he would have been if he had never passed away.

Aaron couldn't understand it, but he didn't want to linger on it.

He's not here. He's not real.

"Maybe it's time we play one of our special games?"

Aaron knew the threat that hid behind those words. He knew exactly what his uncle meant by that simple question. But for some reason, they didn't have the same impact on him that they used to.

His uncle had broken him beyond repair, and yet, he had survived. He had gone through absolute hell and made it through. And nothing that Nihil said now could take that away from him. Aaron had grown, in strength and height, he wasn't a weak child anymore and he wouldn't be easy prey.

Nihil had died in prison. He had got the ending he had deserved. And Aaron would too, he would make it out of this room and not let the ghost of his uncle dictate the rest of his life, the way he had for years. Aaron wouldn't let Nihil win; he had already lost too much to him.

And so, Aaron looked his uncle in the eye, something he had been scared to do before.

"I'm not afraid of you."

For the first time, Aaron meant these words. He closed his eyes to block out the sight of Nihil, willing the vision to disappear. He didn't need to open them again to realise it had worked.

The stench of whiskey was gone, as were the goose bumps. Aaron couldn't help the smile that flitted across his face. He had conquered his demons. Vanquished Nihil to the back of his mind where he belonged.

That seemed a little too easy.

He didn't have time to dwell on it, the feel of soft fingers touching his wrists jolted him back to reality. He flinched away from the contact and opened his eyes, finding himself face to face with Kayla. Only, she looked different to the golden girl he had seen before Nihil made an appearance.

Her hair was matted down in clumps, the blonde now disguised by red. Crimson covered her face, broken only by small streaks that trailed from her eyes. The grief on her face was evident and she struggled to undo his restraints while sobs racked her body.

"Aaron, you have to snap out of it," she begged as she managed to get the second strap off his wrist, effectively freeing him.

Aaron was about to respond, but the words caught in his throat as he looked over Kayla's shoulder. Savannah was still passed out, a blessing in this case. Ryder was rocking back and forth holding onto something as a pool of scarlet spread beneath him.

It took one second for Aaron to realise that Ryder was holding Noah. It took one more for Aaron to see that Noah was dead. And another, final one that he knew he would live in for the rest of his life.

He knew, no matter what happened from here on out, he would be stuck in this moment forever, looking into the lifeless eyes of the boy he loved.

Aaron had been wrong. Nihil wasn't his darkest fear. Nihil was barely a drop of water in a vast ocean compared to the terror Aaron felt as he looked at Noah's corpse.

"No."

The word was a whisper, softly spoken. It was a plea, a wish. Aaron begged for his eyes to be deceiving him. Because Noah couldn't be dead. Everything crashed to a halt in front of him, his entire world shattered. His heart had been ripped out of his chest, leaving strings of sinew and veins in its wake.

"I- I tried t-to s-stop h-h-him." Kayla could barely get the words out, her tears were choking her, suffocating her.

Aaron felt something shift within him, as though a part of him had died along with Noah. He didn't even know who he was without Noah anymore. He remembered the night before they were taken, when he and Noah had snuck away from the others. A stolen kiss in the bathroom.

Noah had tucked Aaron's hair behind his ear and promised he would tell Kayla about them, about everything. His parting words had been that he couldn't live without Aaron.

Looking at Noah's corpse now, Aaron couldn't imagine going on without him either.

"What happened?" Aaron wasn't even sure he wanted to know, but at the same time he couldn't bear the thought of staying in the dark.

"R-ryder." She gestured to where Ryder was still clutching Noah as though he was his lifeline. "It w-was t-t-the s-serum."

Before he could think it through, he softly pushed Kayla out the way and was on his feet. He stalked over to where Ryder was still cradling Noah's body. With a strength he didn't know he had, he grabbed Ryder's shoulders, pushing him away from Noah's corpse. All Aaron knew, was that he had to get Ryder's murderous hands off Noah.

Ryder seemed to crumple in on himself without the body in his arms, he fell to the floor, face first, and stayed there, unmoving. Aaron took up Ryder's previous position, holding Noah as though his life depended on it. Maybe it did. His tether to Noah had broken and he felt adrift, unchained and completely broken apart.

"Please, don't leave me."

He said this knowing that it was already too late. Noah was gone, there was nothing he could have done to stop it. The body in his arms was cold to the touch and unnervingly still. But a part of him held onto flimsy hope, as though he could pretend that this was all some awful dream he would wake up from.

He felt a soft hand on his own shoulder and looked up at Kayla's tear stained face.

"I'm sorry, Aaron."

It felt as though the words had smacked him in the chest, along with a realisation. He placed the body down gently and moved back away from it.

Noah wasn't his to grieve.

It was Kayla who had that right. The golden girl that had captured Noah's heart first. The one who he and Aaron had betrayed and hurt. The girl who looked as though she was literally falling to pieces as she knelt in her boyfriend's blood, but still apologised to Aaron for his loss.

"No. I'm sorry." The words felt false. They tasted like lies and regret. They were words for another time, another life where the boy that both he and Kayla loved was still alive. They weren't enough for her. She deserved more. He wasn't even sure what he was apologising for exactly. For going behind her back? For loving Noah?

For losing him?

She wrapped her arms around him, and he fought the urge to flinch away from her blood coated skin. Her sobs had died down to soft whimpers, but he could still feel the shake of her shoulders as she held him close.

Kayla was a better person than all of them put together. She was too good for Noah; she was far too good for Aaron to even be friends with her. Neither of them deserved the golden girl in front of him, who was putting aside her own grief in the name of his, despite all he had done to her.

"It's not real, Kayla. It's the serum."

She glanced back at her brother before turning back to him. He could see by her eyes that they both knew exactly what this was. And yet, she gave a small nod, pretending to believe him. She was offering him yet another gift that he didn't deserve; a few moments where they could pretend this wasn't happening.

Their moment of solidarity was interrupted by a loud groan and they both turned to see Savannah's eyes slowly starting to flicker open.

Panic filled her face as she stared at Noah's corpse in horror. She looked around the room, at the blood staining the floor, Ryder lying face down and back at Aaron and Kayla, both with tears still in their eyes. There was no mistaking the terror in her voice as she spoke.

"What happened?"