Ch.18: Downhill

Adrenaline pumped in Nicholas's veins, overriding the exhaustion and the pain. He ran like he wasn't even injured, like his leg didn't ache, like his stomach didn't throb with every breath. He ran until he couldn't hear footsteps trailing behind him anymore. 

At all.

No footsteps at all. 

Including Milo and Valentino's. 

Nicholas's eyes widened, and he stopped by the nearest tree, hiding behind it as he panted and urgently scanned the area around him. 

"Shit," Nicholas mumbled. "Valentino? Milo?" 

"Here," Valentino said, emerging from the darkness, trudging closer with Milo mostly leaning on him, barely capable of moving his legs on his own. Valentino stood beside Nicholas, his back to the tree, breathing heavily as well.

Milo slumped against Valentino's front again, his eyes closed, his face pale and ghastly, not even red anymore. Nicholas couldn't tell if he'd passed out or not. In any case, they needed to keep going. Sighing, Nicholas beckoned Valentino to follow. 

Valentino moved Milo off him, trying to get him to stand upright so they'd continue running, only to reveal a huge patch of blood along Valentino's leg. Nicholas and Valentino both stared at the spot, bewildered. The realization landed a split-second late. They both jerked into action, Valentino holding Milo while Nicholas crouched and checked his leg. 

The burn was bleeding again. 

Milo couldn't stand on his own anymore. As soon as Valentino let his weight down, his knee curved and he started sinking, but Valentino caught him again. 

"Carry him the rest of the way," Nicholas said. "I'll watch your back." 

Valentino nodded and prepared to lift Milo, except the bushes rustled behind them in that moment, slow, cautious footsteps entering their earshot. 

Nicholas froze. Valentino shrank back against the tree, pulling Milo closer to him, trying to take as little space as possible. Nicholas strained to quiet down his breaths. They made no sound, no movement, still as statues. 

"Hmm? Where'd you all go?"

It was a young man's voice, probably around Nicholas and Valentino's age. His tone was innocent and oblivious.

Twigs cracked a small distance behind Nicholas's hiding spot. Every nerve in his body was alert and on-edge. 

"Nicholas, I'm here again! This time I won't knock you out. Promise." 

Nicholas's heart dropped. Valentino tilted his head towards him, staring at him with confused eyes and furrowed brows. You know him? his expression said. 

No, Nicholas didn't know him. He'd barely caught his silhouette back then, when he'd struck his head and sent him and Milo back to the captors. 

"Fine. But that's not very polite of you, Nicholas. You should answer when I talk to you," the young man sighed, sounding sad and disappointed with Nicholas. "Valentino!" 

Valentino already wasn't moving, but somehow he froze even more when the stranger called his name. His chest didn't even rise and fall with his breath anymore, and he didn't blink, his eyes wide and alarmed. 

"Valentinoooo, do you want Albert back?" 

Valentino let out a quiet gasp, and he perked up, instinctively moving off the tree. 

"I—"

Nicholas quickly clamped a hand on Valentino's mouth and forced him back against the tree. 

"Are you stupid?" Nicholas whispered in Valentino's ear. "It's obviously a trap." 

Valentino shook his head, mumbling something frantically against Nicholas's palm, but Nicholas refused to let go. God, this idiot. It was like he was programmed, like wanting Albert was carved in his subconscious mind and overrode any sense of rationality. 

"Wow, am I talking to myself?" the young man said. "Maybe they're really not here…" 

His footsteps faded into the distance. Nicholas didn't relax. The way he spoke was too simple, too straight-forward, like he was trying to trick them again. He listened for more noises, and when silence persisted, he peeked behind the tree, scanning the surroundings. 

Nothing. No one. 

Nicholas turned to Valentino again, his hand still in place. "Listen," he whispered. "I met this guy before. He's the one who knocked me out and took me and Milo back to these psychos. He's the reason all of this shit happened to Milo. Nothing good will come from him. Shut the hell up and help Milo." 

Valentino stopped struggling after hearing this. Nicholas helped Milo onto Valentino's back again. Valentino struggled, fighting for balance as he straightened, but he managed in the end. Nicholas peeked behind the tree, making sure the coast was clear. He fished his pocket for the knives he'd taken from the captors and clutched one in each hand. Then he gestured to Valentino to move in front of him. 

They set out in the stranger's opposite direction. With Valentino carrying Milo, he could barely walk, let alone protect himself, so Nicholas walked close behind them, his blades at the ready as he anxiously looked around. 

Valentino stopped. Nicholas just about bumped into him. He squinted over Valentino's shoulder at what made him stop. 

"Edge," Valentino said, backing away from the edge of the hill. 

Nodding, Nicholas followed Valentino until they reached the narrow, worn road that curved around the hill. He sighed in relief. They didn't walk on the asphalt because the stranger could spot them a little easier there. Instead they remained by its side, hidden between trees and foliage, only using the road as a guide downhill. 

Nicholas kept throwing glances around, unsettled by the silence, the young man's absence. 

How easily was he fooled? Was he really that… simple? 

A hand grabbed Nichoals's arm with startling strength. Nicholas flinched and his heart skipped a beat and he whipped around and swung the knife. 

It slashed something. No, someone — the young man, but he didn't react. He only tightened his grip and pulled Nicholas closer. 

"Got you!" he said, with a sickeningly sweet, ecstatic voice. "Now I still need Valentino and Milo, though…" 

Nicholas couldn't make out anything other than dark hair under a hood and a lean, tall figure. As he raised the knife again, he glanced back; Valentino was standing further away with Milo still on his back. 

Nicholas gritted his teeth. "Go! Get out of my face! Take Milo somewhere safe! What are you standing there like a moron for? You wanna get caught too?" 

Valentino didn't take too long to decide. They both knew Milo couldn't handle more insanity. At this rate he'd die between their hands, so Valentino left, disappearing into the night. 

"Oof," the young man said, looking in the direction Valentino took while keeping Nicholas in place. "He really left you. That's not very nice of him." He hummed thoughtfully. "You know, I should've grabbed Milo, not you. 'Cause then both you and Valentino would've stayed to protect him. And then I'd easily have all three of you. Ahh, I'm so stupid." 

Nicholas stared at him with an incredulous frown, dumbfounded by how calmly he voiced his thoughts. Then he remembered that he needed to get away from this psycho and he slashed with his knife again, cutting a gash across the young man's hand that was holding onto him. 

But again, he didn't give a reaction. He didn't flinch, didn't hiss, and certainly didn't let go of Nicholas. As if nothing happened. 

It was like fighting against a puppet. 

"Um, Nicholas… Please stop. That's kind of embarrassing." 

Nicholas frowned as the young man grabbed his other wrist with enough force to break the bone, grunting at the pain, straining to overpower. But it was useless. 

Nicholas knew he lost the fight before it even started. 

"Who the hell are you?" Nicholas asked. "What do you want from us?" 

"Oh, I'm Lian! Actually… That's my nickname. My name is Julian, but I like it when people call me by my nickname. So call me Lian, okay?" 

Julian sounded pretty calm and sweet for someone making sure someone else wouldn't stab him. 

"Anyway, don't worry! I don't wanna hurt any of you! I'm a really good person, you know… Too good, even! I should've been less good, hahaha!" Julian gasped suddenly, tilting his head. "Hm? What's with your eye?" He freed Nicholas's wrist and grabbed his jaw instead with cold, rough fingers, forcing his head aside. "But I told them not to blind you…" 

When Julian let go of Nicholas's wrist, Nicholas quickly aimed the blade at his face, cutting a line above his brow. 

This worked. 

Julian stumbled back a step. Nicholas dashed, as fast as he could with a body that felt like lead. Not even two seconds later, Julian closed the distance between them, wiping the blood drizzling down over his brow and eye, cornering Nicholas near the edge of the hill. 

Nicholas knew he couldn't win this fight, not against someone uninjured, someone whose energy wasn't drained, his strength unhindered. 

Julian stepped closer. "Nicholas, stop fighting. I know you're tired. I still need to find Valentino and Milo again too… I can't lose them." 

"I'm not tired," Nicholas said.

Blood rolled over one of Julian's eyes, veiling it. His other eye was a light color compared to his dark hair, and he had a youthful face. Nicholas swung the knife at Julian again, this time without the intention to hurt. He knew it was pointless. Julian dodged, and Nicholas used the reaction time to flee, passing by Julian's right side, so that if he followed, he wouldn't lead him to Valentino and Milo. 

The split-second, no, the millisecond, that Nicholas passed by Julian's right side, Julian's relaxed posture stiffened, and the next thing Nicholas knew, Julian's elbow crashed into the centre of his chest. 

Pain bursted across Nicholas's entire rib cage. He coughed, pressing a palm to his aching, throbbing chest. Except coughing magnified the pain by a thousand, and his lungs strained like his ribs had cracked and punctured them, and he stumbled haphazardly back until he fell down into a sitting position

God. 

Air. 

N-Need air. 

"Oops!" Julian said. "My bad, hahaha… Didn't mean to bruise your ribs, but I kinda freak out when someone sneaks up on my blindspot…" 

Hunching over, Nicholas kept coughing and struggling and straining to breathe. His fingers dug into his chest. His vision blackened at the edges, then brightened, then blackened, then brightened. 

"You," Nicholas sputtered, "broke… my… entire rib cage…" 

Nicholas pressed his free plam to the soil, pushing his body up until he rose to his shaky knees. Slowly, his lungs managed to expand again against his ribs, and air filtered in. He gasped, then as he straightened, a sharp, stabbing pain tore his chest, and he stumbled another step back. 

There wasn't space to step back. He was still near the edge.

When Nicholas felt his foot step onto nothing, he knew he was screwed. 

"Careful!" Julian said. 

"Oh, shit," Nicholas said, then dropped down the hill. 

Before he could roll down the entire steep side, a hand grabbed his arm, then another his wrist. 

Nicholas looked up from where he hung. Julian was above him. 

"Nicholas, I don't wanna hurt you, I promise," Julian said. "Why does everyone think the worst of me?" He glanced behind him, chuckling nervously. "Seriously, come on. If we fall down, Milo and Valentino are gonna get away from me…" 

Nicholas coughed lightly again, glancing below him, at the slanting, steep edge, strewn with trees and bushes and rocks and stones. Rolling down the distance would be painful. Nicholas looked at his stitched arm. The threads would break, and this time Albert wouldn't be there to fix them. 

Letting out a resigned sigh, Nicholas looked back at Julian. He raised his other arm and grabbed onto Julian's. 

"Are you alone?" Nicholas asked. 

"Yeah! Don't be scared. I won't give you to anyone again! Just gonna keep you all with me!"

The road didn't continue winding around this part of the hill. Valentino and Milo wouldn't walk by here; currently they would be heading to the polar opposite side, where they'd end up on flat terrain again. So Nicholas just needed to stall for them, to make sure Julian wouldn't go back after them. 

"Okay," Nicholas said. "Help me up." 

Julian nodded. He tightened his grip, and then Nicholas pushed in the opposite direction, throwing Julian off balance. 

"No... What are you doing?"

Nicholas tugged downwards again.

"No!" Julian said, his voice filled with panic and desperation as he tilted forward, one hand still clutching Nicholas, the other burrowing into the soil, trying to keep him from falling with Nicholas. "You're not sick! I promise! I'll find you a doctor. Don't do this! Let's go back inside and finish our puzzle together! Please!" 

Nicholas tugged downwards one more time. Julian lost his ground, tipping over completely.

They fell. 

Nicholas's back hit the mud, then he rolled with Julian. The world swirled, colors and shapes blending into each other. Rocks and stones scratched at him everywhere. He squeezed his eyes shut, subconsciously raising an arm to cover his face amidst the chaos, like that would somehow help.

But then, as they rolled, Nicholas felt Julian shift against him, holding tighter onto him. Nicholas couldn't tell what was going, what Julian was doing, why he was so close. He couldn't comprehend why suddenly rolling wasn't painful anymore, why the blow softened, why nothing sharp was scratching him anymore. 

Until it stopped. Until they hit a tree and Nicholas found himself on his back, his head spinning, feeling Julian's hand cradling the back of his head, his body laying atop him. 

Nicholas struggled. He tried to push Julian off him. 

"Get off," Nicholas said.

Julian moved his hand off the back of Nicholas's head, pressing his palms flat to the soil as he pushed himself up until his spine was straight, stradling Nicholas's waist to keep him down. His weight was thrown on his belly, and the burn throbbed under the pressure. 

"You're sitting… on… my… burn. Get off." 

Julian laughed, covering his face with his hands for a moment, unmoving from his spot even as Nicholas strained and fought to push him off. 

"I fell for my own game," Julian said. "Hahaha… I fell for my own game!" He wiped blood off his brow and eye, focusing on Nicholas's face again, his boyish thin lips curving into a soft, affectionate smile. "You really look like him. I'm such a genius. I picked the perfect one!" 

Nicholas's chest heaved as he stared at Julian, finally getting a proper look.  

"Nicholas, haven't you recognized my face yet?" 

Goosebumps rose on Nicholas's arms, all the way up to his neck. His heart thrummed.

Julian pulled down his hood. He brushed his black hair out of his face, revealing a brown eye and a blind one, facial features that Nicholas knew too well.  

• • • 

Meet the real psychopath of the book 🤌

Thank you sooo much for reading/voting/commenting! Don't forget to share your thoughts or theories with me :D 

unrelated, but the inline comments on the paragraph where valentino was having a meltdown in the previous chapter were my favorites! It made me so happy to see people's reaction to that scene. But for some reason the comments glitched and now you can't see them attached to the paragraph anymore!😭 the same thing happened to comments on the line where Albert got shot. they glitched too. ☹️☹️ sigh. really sad about that. Hopefully they spontaneously reappear on the paragraphs😭