The sirens were getting louder as the teens stood in the basement. The atmosphere of the room was thick with fear and uncertainty. Brandon pushed the knife closer to (Y/n)'s throat with every second. She didn't dare move, but she was switching her gaze from each of her friends and captor's friends.

Brandon was rather conflicted. On one hand, he could give up the whole thing and run away into the woods. He could continue living, having known that he couldn't have done anything else, and moved on with his life as they suffered from the PTSD. Or, he could turn himself in, and possible get out later on to torment them in the future. Upon thinking further into his two options, he was slowly beginning to realize that he had no true reason to doing any of this. She didn't love him, she was never going to love him, he had committed a crime for seemingly nothing and this was all... pointless. He didn't love Genevieve, and in the end he didn't truly gain anything from doing this. His plan failed.

~

He didn't need reason, he just wanted to get her attention. All of this, was for her attention. He wanted to make then miserable- miserable for making him go insane and obsess over someone who doesnt love him. 'Thats it! He thought. 'It's all their fault! This is a revenge story...' He didn't truly believe himself, but it was enough to push him towards a decision.

"Alright..." He chuckled. "I see what I have to do now..." A sinister smile sneaked its way onto his face as he peered over the faces of the terrified teens. He lowered the knife, but before anyone could react he pushed (Y/n) off the platform. She yelled as she fell straight onto her right arm, her hands were still tied. An audible crack was heard throughout the silent basement and Brandon chuckled. "So long, suckers!" He aimed the knife at Jackson. "And fuck you, Jacky boy!" He laughed out before throwing the knife at him. Jackson's eyes widened as he tries to roll out of the way, but it managed to slice his arm. He yelled out, now bleeding in three places, although the new cut was small.

"BRANDON!" Gio yelled out as he watched the red haired male made a dash for the back door. Through his pain, Jackson rose and tried to walk over to (Y/n), who was crying due to the fact that her arm was more than likely broken. Beth ran over to Genevieve who was sobbing in the corner, and began to undo her binds. Conner was staring at Gio as tears streamed down both of their faces.

"I'm... I'm so sorry Connor." He softly spoke before he collapsed onto the floor and cried into his hands. Chris and Allsion tried to help (Y/n) and Jackson up as the two were severely injured.

The sound of the sirens increased as Brandon ran to the back door, nothing was stopping him. He felt so free, like nothing could stop him from running away. He swung the back door open and leaped out, running across his backyard and hopping the fence before disappearing into the forest.

-1 year later-

The group of teens sat in the courtroom as the judge read over the news report. "As of June 17th, the body of Brandon Skitz has been found in Portman's River, and appeares to have been deceased for a few months prior to the discovery." The woman looked up to the room of the teens and their families as they all stood in shock. "I know this news will be taken in many different ways, but as of right now this closes the case, and you are all free to live your lives without any worry of him coming back in the future. You may dicuss whether or not you want to move back to your homes with your social workers." Everyone stood still, unable to move.

After Brandon fled the scene, the teens were taken to the hospital and their wounds were tended to. Jocelyn, Brandon's mother, had been found dead in her room on the night he ran away. The group was placed in a Witness Protection Program of sorts, as they were moved into different areas of the state as the authorities searched for Brandon. They changed their names, and finished the school year from wherever their family stayed. Most of them didn't keep in contact, as they needed time to process what had happened to them, and quietly recover from their wounds.

Jackson and his family decided that he would be homeschooled since he would barely speak to anyone. He was still trying to figure out how to approach talking to (Y/n) again after what happened. He didn't want anything more than to just hold her and forget about the world around them.

Genevieve and Connor ended up going to the same school, and stuck to each other like glue as they went through the months.

Allison and Beth were given the option to stay in their homes, seeing as Brandon never knew where the two lived, and Allison had a lot to give up if she was going to switch schools. After some convincing of the authorities, the two girls were able to stay in the school together and they were given extra protection as they finished their school years. Over the year, the two had grown closer, some would even say there was a slight romance brewing between the two, though nothing had happened yet.

Lainy, who was never dragged into the situation thanks to Chris breaking up with her, she found out about what he did through Allison later on. This meant she still had feelings towards him, though he did help kidnap her friends.

Chris and Giovanni had gotten restraining orders put against them by the group, making them move out of the area, though Chris broke the rules, and still kept in contact with Lainy. Gio was devastated over what he had done, and hoped Connor would one day forgive him, as he feared he would never feel the same way about another person again.

(Y/n) had the hardest time processing what happened to her. The family was moved the farthest away, and the girl was put into homeschooling as to further protect her. She was barely able to form a sentence, though she didn't quite want to talk to anyone. She wanted to see Jackson, he was one of the only positive things she could think about. That, and the fact that she wasn't dead, though she was barely counting that as positive. She didn't leave the house for months on end, only sometimes going outside to sit in the yard with her mother close to her side. She was so scared, but at the same time... she was angry. A small part of her was furious that she let that happen to her, but even more emraged that her friends never trusted her, and now she has to live with this trauma for the rest of her life.

The court was dismissed, and the judge left the room. The families all exchanged looks of relief, though some of their children were not able to fully express how they felt. It was the first time they had all seen each other since the incident, and they didn't know how to react. Lainy was at the courthouse, though she wouldn't truly know the pain four of the teens had to face, she was there for moral support. "...Why don't we all go out to get some dinner!" Lainy suggested. The families of the teens all agreed that it was a good idea, that they needed to talk about what happened as they were the only people who would understand the other's pain. Allison and Beth's families encouraged the girls to do their best in helping, seeing as they were not actually kidnapped.

The 7 of them ended up going to a chinese restaurant, as the one in their town offered private rooms for private dinners. (Y/n) and Jackson sat next each other, and (Y/n) felt safe next to him. He was finally able to smile once he saw her face, and the two held hands under the table. Genevieve sat next to Connor, who she clung on to like he was her life support. The two had been inseparable, though they had never really talked about what happened. Beth and Allison sat on either side of Lainy.

They all sat the table in silence, as what did they really need to say? (Y/n), Jackson, Connor and Genevieve were all kidnapped, tortured, and had to live with this fact for the rest of their waking days. Allsion, Beth, and Lainy wouldn't understand... and this only added to (Y/n)'s rage. This rage that had been boiling inside finally came up once the silence became unbearable. "This fucking sucks." She finally spat out, which were her first words months. She had been having trouble speaking since the incident. It was as if a weight was lifted off the table, and everyone was finally able to breathe.

"You said it.." Beth spoke softly. "This is a shitty thing that happened..." The girl looked over to (Y/n) and the other three who were put through the hell.

"I just..." Genevieve started, she wasn't able to finish her sentence as she didn't know what to say.

"Let's talk about the elephant in the room." Jackson started, grabbing everyone's attention. "Brandon was a psychopath, and he kidnapped us because he was obsessed with (Y/n)."

"Yeah, honestly I think I always knew deep down he still had feelings for her.." Genevieve softly added. This felt like a stab to the back, and (Y/n) was not about to let her get away with saying that.

"Are you serious, Genevieve?" The teens felt the mood shift as the two girls locked eyes. "'You knew?' You didn't know shit! You blatantly ignored me when I told you all of the horrible things he did when we were growing up, you never listened to me when I warned you about how he was! You- You even ignored me when I told you he molested me." The group became visibly uncomfortable with her words, some of them had no idea it happened. Jackson felt embarrassed as he didn't listen to her when she told him either, but her attention wasn't on him.

"(Y/n), you can't keep getting mad at me for not believing you, there was no evidence of him being a horrible person before he kidnapped us. And he did bad things to me too." (Y/n) scoffed at her words and tore her hands away from Jackson's to slam them on the table.

"There was too, evidence! You were just love blind and didnt wanna hear it. You had your head too far up your ass to see it." Nobody dared interrupt the two, as they took felt responsible for not listening to her.

"Oh whatever, ok. So what, yeah, I was manipulated (Y/n), I had those rose-colored glasses on too tight and I'm so sorry that all the red flags just looked like regular flags from my point of view. But what does that matter now? It happened! We got kidnapped, I'm sorry I never listened to you, but you have to stop holding onto this grudge!"

"I have to stop holding onto a grudge!? Genevieve, its not a grudge because you never stopped wronging me. You were a horrible friend for not listening to me, at all! Throughout our whole friendship you ignored me because you "loved" him. Don't you know how horrible it is to have everyone think your crazy and overreacting when you've been getting tortured your whole life!? You were supposed to be the only person who believed me." There were tears streaming down the girl's faces.

"WHY ARE YOU ONLY ATTACKING ME!?" The blonde girl let go of Connor's arm to slam her hands on the table as she rose form her seat. "Everyone else didn't believe you either! We were all friends and none of us believed you, so before you put all the blame on me you should rethink directing all of your anger at the girl who literally got tricked into dating the kidnapper." (Y/n) was now rising from her seat, though Jackson was getting ready to hold her back since her fists were turning white.

"Tricked!? Genevieve I warned you from the start! Yeah, none of them believed me, but they didnt actively try to associate themselves with my fucking bully. They didn't get in a relationship knowing damn well how it would affect me. They didn't kiss him, they didn't sleep with him, and they didn't defend him when he borderline cheated on them and kissed me against my will after confessing his feelings for me."

"Actually, (Y/n), they did! They did associate with him and his friends, Connor didn't believe you, and he and Lainy dated his best friends who only wanted to get closer to you." (Y/n) was angry at them too, but she was more angry that Genevieve was trying to throw them under the bus. She was mad at her, there was nothing she could do at this point to take any of the heat off her, in (Y/n)'s eyes.

"I didn't even know he was his fucking friend, Genevieve!" Connor now added himself to the ring as he was being attacked. "And for your information, we never even talked about (Y/n). He dated me for me, and he was being fully controlled by Brandon cause he was his only other friend."

"Why the fuck are you defending him!?" The blonde turned her attention to the male. "He lied to you about his fucking name and age he committed a crime too, he tricked you into dating him."

"Yeah but I had no idea he was lying to me, I truly got tricked. You knew exactly how Brandon was but you continued to date him even though he wasn't even good to you. Don't blame me for you poor decisions."

"I'm sorry I liked him! Big deal you've all dated toxic people too, but why does Connor get to be forgiven for his mistake and I don't!?" The tension between the three grew thicker with every second, like a balloon about to pop.

"Well, Genevieve, I've been telling you since day one that hes no good! But you just never gave up on him. You always wanted him to like you back. You actively seeked his attention. I never even mentioned Connor or Lainy's situation because they had they're own business. You, however, dated the main man! The one who you said probably had feelings for me, and you still persued him. I can't even count how many times you've just looked over his flaws. And that ignorance led us to getting kidnapped." The yelling settled after the girl's statement. Everyone watched as the two stared at each other, though Genevieve looked away.

"So its all my fault? I'm the reason we got kidnapped, its all on me?" She asked as she sat down in her seat. "You're gonna put all the blame on me?" She sulked. (Y/n) paused, she didn't understand her shift in tone. She was blaming her, but something in her made her hold back.

"Its-... No. Its not your fault for us getting kidnapped. Its Brandon's. But- it doesn't change the fact that you still continued to date him... Even when I told you how he was such a horrible monster." The girl looked down at the table as her tears fell. "Why couldn't you just listened to me?" She fell to her seat as she sobbed. Her words weren't directed towards anyone in particular, but she felt so hurt. She hugged Jackson to hide her crying face, which startled him.

The group sat in silence as the two cried. There was an overall sense of guilt as they tried to realize that they should've listened to her, but no one could've predicted that Brandon was capable of such a thing. Though, there was nothing they could do now, he was dead, and what's done was done.

~