High [Boy X Boy]

25 - Tears On The Barrel

(Song Recommendation: None.)

Thursday's plans were to stay in bed and tell Vulture to fuck off when he tried to wake him up.

Turns out that Thursday's plans were to wake up in an empty, not to mentioning disgusting, bedroom. The room generally smelt of sweat and fish. The sweat smell was a little stronger from where Link was sat due to the bed sheets not being washed in what-looked-like several years. He would rather choose to sleep on the streets than in a room as dirty and vile as this. As Link sighed with tears brimming in his tired eyes, the room door flung open.

A girl, no older than twenty-five, entered. She held a large briefcase, that was until she set it down on a small metal table. Link watched her every move from the corner of the room, pushing himself up against the mossy walls. "... Link High. That is your name, no?" The girl smiled, opening the briefcase. "... I-I... I-I thought my surname was Quartz." "Your fake surname, Link... I'd like to ask you some questions. Give me the correct and truthful answers and I will grant you with one hundred thousand dollars, a new set of clothes, a well-deserved shower and a plane ticket to Scotland so that you may live with your family once again-" The girl paused. "How rude of me. My name is Chester Brave." She smiled and waved at Link due to the boy still being curled up in the corner of the room.

"... H-How do you know about my family?"

"Oh, Link... You poor child. Don't you remember what happened? Your mother and brothers were escaping Skinned Rabbit with you but you were ripped from your mother's grasp and she was forced to continue running with a friend who was helping her escape... I was escaping with you and your family but-" Link cut Chester off. "I don't want to see my family... I don't want your money or your bribery, I want to go back to Vulture."

"Vulture? Ah, you're referring to that gang leader? Link, he's already brainwashed you... He wants you to think that he loves you. He does that with most girls-" "And I'm not a part of that most girls group. Vulture actually understands parts of me that have confused me for years on end. He's treated me better than any gang or family ever would!" Link cursed his hypocrisy, recalling early morning when he and Vulture had argued.

"Link, you don't know what you're saying." Chester sighed and shook her head. "All I ask is that you answer my questions and I can let you go from there onwards..."

"... W-What are your questions?" Link asked nervously.

"... Well... For a start, how old are you?" Chester started, walking back and forth in a straight line. "... N-Nineteen." "And when will you be twenty?" She crossed her arms, her questions almost too fast for Link to even catch a breath between. "... June twenty-ninth?" He choked out, practically guessing. "Your mother told me it was June twenty-first? Did you change it?" Chester asked.  "N-No, I-I just... F-Forgot what it was. I-It's June twenty-first." Link agreed anxiously, his hands balling into fists amongst the fabric of his ragged shirt.

June twenty-first? Since when had it been June twenty-first?! He thought, his mind engaged with thoughts of a flaming anger.

"... I see. Now, can you tell us which group that Vulture is the leader of?" The tall female continued, flicking a pen around between her index and middle finger.

"... L-Liquid Vulture." Link almost sounded sarcastic. Are you kidding me? You should know that. He growled to himself.

"Hm... Can you tell me anything about Vulture? His real name? His sexuality? Any relatives? Past relationships? Parents?" Chester suddenly seemed more desperate, tightening her grip on her pen as she spoke. "... V-Vulture hasn't told me anything about his personal life... H-He's told me the weirdest things and all but I know he's lying... He hasn't even told me his real name..." Link spoke truthfully, clasping his hands and twisting them together anxiously.

His head, within seconds, was layered with a thin sheet of sweat. He knew that Chester's reply would be negative due to his lack of information to give about Vulture. He already seemed like a liar but even if he did know anything about Vulture as if he'd spit a word of it to some sort of stranger that is a part of a group that just kidnapped him and took him away from the one person that made him feel like he was at home.

"Hm... So you don't know about his divorced wife? And how he killed two of his own children for his identity?" Chester smiled weakly as she spoke. Link's pupils dilated and he shook his head. "C-Chester, I'm sorry but I don't believe you." He sighed and looked down at the briefcase. "... I wouldn't lie to you, Link... His wife escaped before he could do something to her too... He raped her and abused her on more than one occasion." Chester continued.

Link growled something under his breath before he stood up with clenched fists and gritted teeth. "You're spitting bull. I'm not going to believe a word of the shit that's coming out of your-" He cut himself off when Chester pulled up the sleeve of her top and revealed a variety of scars. "... Link. I'm still a part of Liquid Vulture... He kidnapped me just like how he kidnapped you... He took my virginity and the lives of my children! What more do you want me to tell you?!" Chester was almost screaming as tears ran down her cheeks.

"... I-I... I didn't think he'd commit to something like murdering-" "Murdering children? He would. He would do anything to protect his reputation... A rich and successful man on the streets of New York and an awful, scary man behind the closed doors of the dark web... He hates almost every person to exist... I thought he loved me... And he always told me how he'd protect me and never let me go... A-And then he... H-He killed my poor babies... T-They were only four and s-six..." Chester sat on the ground, wiping away her tears.

"... C-Chester... I-I'm sorry..." Link's voice was quiet and warm as he looked up at the open doorway. "... I-It's fine, Link-" Chester looked up as Link grabbed the briefcase and flung it at her head. The leather corner took a direct hit to her a temple and she fell down instantly, letting out a squeal of pain. Before she gained the chance to trip up Link with her six-inch stilettos, the teenage boy was sprinting out of the room.

Screaming and crying enacted from other cells, the sounds of death and fear and nightmare fuel. He felt like gasoline with a fire chasing his tail. His feet were burning and his heart was pumping faster than a train engine.

When Chester's dreaded scream enacted from the cell, the door in front of Link flung open and a tall stranger stood with a gun in hand. A revolver, loaded with what-looked-like countless bullets. "... One more step and I'll pull it... The trigger." A dark and deep masculine voice enacted from the stranger as he took a few steps forwards. Link paused, his hand shaking as if he was stuck in a spasm.

"... Probably could have guessed that." Link choked out nervously. "... Huh?" The stranger snarled, tightening his grip on the gun. He was clearly shaking.

"No, you just... You said one more step and I'll pull it. Then you followed that up with the trigger... I-I could've guessed that." The teenager mumbled, taking a step backwards. "... Keep your mouth shut and get back to your cell." The stranger barked back angrily and rolled the barrel of the revolver.

"... Why exactly do you need me in the cell?" Link asked, rubbing his hands together through the thin fabric of his dirty sleeves. "... That isn't for me to answer. Get back to your cell before one of these go through your head." "... Y'know, that didn't sound right at all... You're going to put a bullet through my head, not the full gun-" He was cut off by the loud sound of gunfire behind him.

Link spun on his heels and met eyes with Chester, who was holding a gun that was almost as big as her body. "... You don't look as strong as you actually are." He felt his cockiness increasing with each word that spat from his lips and each time he slipped on his heels. "Get your ass back into the cell!" Chester shouted. "... Manners?" Link put his hands on his hips.

You're literally asking for death. He told himself.

"James." The arrogant female snapped at the male behind the cocky teenager. "James? That's an original name, isn't it?" Link choked out with a laugh, tears welling up in his eyes. "Is your purpose to piss off others, Link High?" Chester growled. "... Well, I don't think so but I'm getting that impression from you and James, here." Link directed to "James" with a laugh as tears ran down his cheeks.

"You say that as you cry... What a fucking child... Just kill him, for god's sake..." Chester sighed and waved her hand as she walked away in the opposing direction, dropping the gun onto the floor to crack her knuckles. Given the strict directions, James rolled the barrel once more. As his finger slipped on the revolver, he screamed in Link's ear and collapsed on the ground.

"Fuckin' hell, James... Y-You don't need to yell at me b-before you put a bullet through m-my head." Link rolled his eyes, his voice a little shaky as he continued to cry. His motions were beyond him, a mixture of fear and arrogance. His head felt warm as he fell back against another stranger.

"... U-Ugh... Get off..." Link sighed, trying to push away the stranger as Chester turned around and her lips fell ajar. "S-Sean-" "I keep my promises, Chester." A growl enacted from the stranger as they lifted the revolver that they had taken from James. Four bullets zoomed from the gun and each one hit the female. One pierced her throat, another was buried in her forehead, the third had slipped through the area near her collarbone and the last took her to the cheek. 

Link watched in fear as Chester collapsed, wheezing and trying to scream due to the pain.

"... First, there was James and now there's Sean...? F-Fuck sake..." He sighed as the "Sean" stranger brought him down onto the ground. "... Link. I'm Sean." Link looked up at Sean, his head resting in his lap. "... Cool." He replied softly. "... Are you taking me home?"

"... I promised I'd find you."