[I walk into the office I’d met you in before. Maybe you’d still be there, maybe you’d just had another question, maybe something else to tell me? It’s possible, it’s not like anything THAT bad happened. You’re overreacting.
But I knew you weren’t going to be there.]
Alex?
[Silence. I turn to see a red leaf on my desk.
Fuck.]
🍁 There's nothing but leaves, but the smell of maple. You turn out of your office, located in idk the big house the whole gang lives in now?? You follow your instincts, your impulse. I always told you to do that. Now, of all times, you choose to believe me.🍁
🍁You find my body. Next to Rei's. I clearly died of blunt force trauma to the back of the head, and Rei was stabbed. There's no other clues, no other signs of life. But I'm gone.🍁
No, no no no…
[I turn back too quickly, almost falling into the handle of the door and follow myself outside. This cannot be happening. Of all the goddamn years I’ve known Alex this cannot be happening.]
[I still try to tell myself I’m overreacting. I’ve seen some shit, and that’s made me paranoid right? Just trauma or something.]
[I breathe harder and turn the corner to the back of the house.]
[It’s that feeling you get when you watch horror movies, right? You’re convinced the killer is watching you, but he never is. It’s just you on edge.]
[My shoes slide beneath me over the fallen autumn colors.]
[It wasn’t paranoia anymore.]
[I saw you first.]
ALEX!
[I dove at your body, frantically searching for a pulse. I cant hear myself crying, I can’t hear anything over the rushing in my ears.]
Cmon, cmon, stay with me Alex, can you hear me? Alex, hold on please please please!
[I couldn’t find a pulse. I only notice the blood as my hands pull away from your head soaked in red. I only notice Rei when I try to look away.]
[I screamed, but didn’t even notice. What the fuck, what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck?! Alex was just asking for my help, I was just going to question Rei, Rei said they were innocent!]
[And now they’re both dead.]
🍁There's no pulse, there's nothing. There isn't life left in me. The leaves around me turn to dust, and you realize with pure horror that my leaves are only ever alive as long as I am. The leaf I sent to you and Jasper was a call for help🍁
🍁You smell maple. You remember I believed in in afterlife, in ghosts. You feel something hugging you, you hear just the faintest of whispers but the words are inaudible.🍁
🍁 My sword is stuck in the ground next to me, but no blood dirties the blade. Whoever did this to me, I hadn't tried to fight them 🍁
[Biscotti tries to breathe, but his breath is shallow and strained. Her lungs are working against her. She almost chokes on the dust around them all, now hanging in the air. This is a nightmare. This can't be real.]
[What... is that maple? Biscotti turns to look up, avoiding what was in front of him.]
[Mint believed in that afterlife thing, didn't he?]
[He feels a faint hug. Great, you're hallucinating. I need to get out of here. Please, please god I have to get out of here. Biscotti can't move himself, his muscles aren't working. He starts to cry, not knowing what was happening.]
Please, please...
🌿 <- (we r pretending that is mint)
🌿"Hey... hey. It's okay." The voice is small, barely even there, echoes of a scared whisper. It's hard to tell if it's a ghost or grief. If Mint would even know he's dead. If he would even reach out.🌿
🌿 The vines around his arms have shriveled, died, drowned in blood. It's not him hugging you, it can't be, you don't feel those vines... right?🌿
🌿 But his sword. The glint of it catches your eye. It's stuck into the ground next to him, but he clearly didn't use it. He's scratched and bruised, and of course the fatal blow to the back of his head. He was in a fight. He was assaulted. 🌿
🌿 But he didn't fight back. He had always been a bit on the sensitive side, that's probably why he went into medicine, but he wouldn't have died laying down. But here he was, laying down, face down, because in spite of everything, he didn't fight back 🌿
🌿 "I didn't want to hurt them." The voice is still faint and nearly drowned out by your own adrenaline. But as soon as it comes, it goes. He goes. The smell of mint is gone, his vines are dead. 🌿
🌿 Mint is gone, because he let himself die. 🌿
@churro-cookie
