chapter five: but you're not alone

MONDAY: October 14th, 2026,

"Your parents called, they can't make it this morning so I've been assigned to help you get home. The sheriff wants you in for questioning tomorrow morning, your case is under investigation".

Benjamin let out a soft breath as he sat up from the hospital bed "questioning? But I barely even saw who attacked me when it happened and it was pretty dark in that alleyway". The officer chuckled softly and Benjamin cringed at the loudness of it "well even if that's all you saw, sheriff Silvers needs your statement and he's getting that clubs of yours next".

Benjamin smiled weakly as he felt the officer grab hold of his arm. "Alright mind your step, can't have you falling while I'm in charge of you". Benjamin felt so weird walking, he kept his pace slow as he felt the air turn warmer as he left the room.

"Where's my stuff?" he gripped tightly onto the wall for support as the officer led him towards the entrance. "In the back of my cruiser, a few of the nurses packed it up when I got here. You were out like a light, I let you sleep for another good hour".

"My friend, he was supposed to be here. What's the day anyways? I lost track of the time". He moved away from the wall "it's Monday, my guess is your friend is at school, would've thought it'd be called off seeing some of your friends were attacked this weekend. But the sheriff deemed it was safer being in public than alone. Don't you worry, you'll be back to your normal self in no time, just heal up first".

Benjamin wasn't surprised no one showed up for him, everyone was probably already at the highschool going over all the reasons to kick him off the drama club. He could picture Claire smirking as she crossed off his name on the clipboard, the way she would tell everyone he was cut from the play until further notice and then she'd likely give the role to Alex.

"Hey, I uh.. I ran all the way here!" Benjamin's head lifted up at the strong scent of aftershave, the same one that always made his nose burn. "Andy? What are you doing here? Don't tell me you skipped school just to come all this way, your perfect attendance".

Andy walked forward "I can just start again, besides I called your house and no one picked up so I just assumed they were here for you". Benjamin shrugged, "they're working and my sister is at school, so they hired this officer to watch me until they can get home from work. Not like they would then either, they haven't called or visited me here once".

And looked at the officer "can I tag along? I don't think I can run anymore". Benjamin chuckled slightly as he pushed open the door "I should make you run all the way to my house, I could time it".

Andy huffed as he looked at Benjamin "At this rate I'll get there by nightfall, besides who would help you not run into walls? And you'll need to do homework for when you go back to school". Benjamin was silent as he climbed into the back seat of the car. He felt already paranoid as he felt the door slam shut behind him, this was his first time outside after the accident and everything was already overwhelming.

The car ride was silent aside from the distant talk on the radio, Benjamin kept his head low as he leaned back in the seat. He felt the coldness of the lethal beneath him as he let his hands rest along his lap. "Claire messaged, apparently everyone's still meeting for the club today, like it's really appropriate given we're being hunted down by ghostface".

Benjamin turned his head towards the sound of Andy's voice "she's seriously still doing the play? I thought it was gonna get canceled because of everyone being attacked over the last few days".

Andy looked outside the window as the car turned down Benjamin's street. "It's still in production as long as the principal doesn't call it off. We're required to show up later, so I can help you if you let me drive your car to the high school".

The car parked and Benjamin let out a heavy breath "you might as well just have my car, not like I can use it anymore. Not like anyone else would want it anyways. No one cared enough to show up". His tone was sad as he grabbed hold of the door handle and clicked it open. He grew tense at the sudden touch of Andy's hand grasping onto his arm "I showed up, and I don't want your car, it's yours for a reason".

Benjamin sighed softly as he got out of the car slowly, he could hear the loud chatter of birds and cars driving past as he held tightly onto himself. He could hear the clicks of cameras going off and then almost as if he snapped into reality he heard the voices.

"Benjamin! Is it true you were attacked by someone wearing a ghostface mask! Can you tell us who did it! Benjamin over here! Will you ever see again! Is it true one of your friends was also attacked!".

Each click led to another voice that made him panic as he scratched at his neck. Click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click. Benjamin felt the world around him fade away as his hand kept scratching at his neck, he felt the flesh tear into itself as he imagined what the sun looked like.

The warmth would take him far away and he'd be alone all over again, he wanted nothing more than the warmth. The wind in his hair as he walked along the beach and watched the birds fly away into the horizon, his fingers intertwined with Andy's when he felt the boy's fingers nervously grab his.

He walked carefully up his stairs and the constant click click click click click click nagged away at the back of his skull as he heard the door unlocked. Everything went silent when Andy pushed the door shut behind them "I didn't think they'd be here, no one knew you were being taken home today".

Benjamin felt the air that surrounded his home and it felt so empty as he imagined what it looked like. He reached his hand outward and flinched when he touched the coat rack "I can't even remember where everything is, how am I supposed to live like this".

He wanted to cry into a pile of nothingness but the thick bandages wrapped around his eyes made everything all the more intact. "I can help you out, I mean we've got a few hours until we have to meet everyone at the school. For starters that's a coat rack and it's pretty scary looking".

Benjamin laughed slightly "you think a coat rack is scary looking? We must have different definitions of scary looking things". Andy smiled "you used the word definition that's pretty scary".

Benjamin huffed as he walked forward "this shouldn't be too hard to figure out, I mean how hard will it be finding things in my own house". He ran straight into the couch "okay it might be a bit difficult, I also just realized you've never been to my house. So you're just as lost as I am when it comes to finding things".

"Well you've lived here your entire life. Why don't just describe what you remember and I'll try my best to get you there". Benjamin ran his hand along the couch cushion "the stairs would be a start, I gotta find my sunglasses I got like four summers ago".

"Here, just hold my arm and I'll walk up the stairs with you. Which way is your room?". Benjamin grabbed onto Andy's arm as the boy led him up the stairs "it's the door with the stab poster on it, my mom got it for me when I was like seven and I still haven't taken it down to replace it with that Star Trek one Kieran let me have. I've never even seen Star Trek and I probably won't now".

He sighed as he walked into his room after Andy opened the door "woah, you play the drums?". Benjamin walked forward "yeah since I was like ten, my dad got me a set for my birthday, he claimed it'll help me with my inner musical side".

Benjamin kept walking around and every time he'd bump into something Andy would move him away from the object in the way. After a lot of trial and error he finally sat down on his bed "sunglasses, you said you were looking for sunglasses".

Benjamin nodded "they're probably on my desk in one of the drawers. I gotta take this bandage off, it's digging into my damn head and it hurts". He heard the sound of Andy going through his desk as he gripped the back of the bandage "are you sure it's smart to take that off so soon? What if it gets infected".

Benjamin started to unwrap the bandage, Andy looked down at the pair of sunglasses inside the drawer. "Found them" he grabbed a hold of them and then his gaze shifted to the notebook on top of the desk.

He flipped it open and the first page inside was full of random scribbles and lines from the play. As he turned the pages the pages turned more full of color until he flipped to the last page. The pencil shavings were still on the page and it was only half way down.

Andy

Andy wiped the page off with his hand as he looked closely at the drawing of himself. He looked so innocent and yet only half of his face had been shaded while the other half was empty and bare. "I need help, this stupid bandage is stuck in my hair and I can't get it off, gosh what is this thing made of?".

Andy pushed the notebook closed as he quickly walked towards Benjamin. The boy held tightly onto the bandage as he struggled to unwrap it, Andy grabbed the end of it "I got it. It's just twisted the wrong way".

Benjamin let his hands fall to his side as Andy unwrapped the bandage. Benjamin let out a soft breath as he felt the bandage fall off his face, he blinked slightly "how bad does it look?". Andy was silent and Benjamin had wished he kept the bandages over his eyes, "can you see anything?".

Benjamin sighed "it's just dark, everything's dark and it's gonna be like that forever. Who'd wanna be friends with someone who can't even see. Claire should just kick me off the club, I'm useless like this and I'll never be normal again".

"You're not useless, I mean Alix told me what you did for her that night when you were attacked. You protected her and you didn't let her get hurt". Benjamin felt the bed sink downward beside him "I should've done more" he turned towards Andy.

"I should've fought harder, maybe I wouldn't be blind. It's my fault I'm stuck like this. I'm just this helpless kid who can't even defend himself. How could you be friends with someone like that?".

"You're a lot braver than me, I mean you got stabbed in the eyes and you kept fighting back. Ghostface is the helpless one, they're a coward and I think you're pretty awesome". Benjamin smiled as Andy put the sunglasses on his face "see it's not even that bad, you get to wear cool sunglasses".

"Careful you could poke my eyes out" Andy smiled at Benjamin's joke as he looked at the posters on the boys bedroom wall. So many different horror movies were plastered along the small bookshelf beside Benjamin's closet door and beside it laid a pile of video games that looked barely touched.

The air felt warm as Andy looked at all the small details that made Benjamin; him. He didn't see any photos anywhere in sight, all except one little Polaroid that was slightly ripped at the end. The pen marks on it were smudged but Andy could see himself in the photo so clearly. Benjamin was beside him and he could see the rest of the club in the background as they sat side by side on the main stage.

Setting the timer for that photo took forever and they kept accidentally wasting the film by not being fast enough and by the time the last photo was taken. Everyone except Andy walked away and it came out perfectly despite the rest of the club barely being in it.

Andy was the one who wrote the words on the Polaroid, he stole the pen from the dressing room and he vividly remembered Angel yelling at him for it. It felt like all he's ever known was the drama club, and yet he knew everything was going to change.

Andy looked at Benjamin, the boy laid weakly on his bed, the sunglasses awkwardly dangling off his nose as light breaths left his lips. Andy stood up off the bed slowly, he was cautious of the noise as he grabbed the blanket at the end of the bed.

Benjamin didn't move or show any signs of being awake as Andy laid the blanket over him. Andy looked down at his watch and he knew sooner or later he'd have to leave to meet with everyone. Benjamin's slumber would be interrupted and Andy would feel bad for even having to drag the boy all the way to the high school, when he knew he didn't want to.

Andy walked towards the door and pulled it open "don't go" he turned at the sound of Benjamin's voice. It sounded so small and weak as he watched Benjamin pull the blanket more around himself "I don't wanna be alone, I'm always alone".

Andy pushed the door shut and walked towards the bed. Benjamin moved back when the scent of Andy's aftershave wavered along the air. He felt the bed cave downward and he lifted his head upward when he felt the warmth of Andy's hands gripping his face.

His fingers were freezing and Benjamin didn't have time to speak before he felt the softness of Andy's lips mending perfectly into his. He held tightly onto Andy as he deepened the kiss, he felt his skin reddened as he smiled against the boy's lips.

Perhaps for once in his entire life, he wasn't alone.

—
author's notes: GAYYYY PANICCCCCC
I literally kept exiting this chapter because I was panicking too much. I was freaking out and geeking hard asf for my boys. Andy and Ben just make me smile man, I couldn't contain the excitement when I was writing this, literally it went from like 600 words of them and then it kept going with them. I was suppose to literally go to everyone else at a certain point but I never did and now this chapter is dedicated to them and no one else! I literally got off for 3 hours because I couldn't stop smiling. One more chapter left for act one, and act two is way more intense.

TO ENSURE YOU'VE READ THIS!
answer this questions (required)
who do you think is the killer?
(After a decent amount of chapters and a lot of clues and hints, give me your guess for act one. I will ask this every act and if you're right you just might survive. This is a question for your oc but also you! And it'll determine if your oc dies or not so don't mess it up, think really hard and come back and answer!).