Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ignacio was awoken by a startling thump on the roof.

He rubbed his eyes as he stood up and squinted through the cracks of the wooden boards on the window. Nothing was there. No one was around.

The night was dark and cold. It was unnervingly silent throughout the town. Arguably, too silent. Not a single person could be seen or heard. This was uncommon. It made Ignacio feel isolated. Not that he minded. He preferred the silence. He preferred being alone.

Ignacio looked at the dusty clock on his wall. 4 AM. He was too tired for this.

He figured whatever that noise was, it wasn’t worth his time. It probably was just a part of the roof falling apart again. He sighed loudly and turned to go back to sleep, when the sound of a door unlocking caused him to shoot back up.

It was his own door being unlocked.

Ignacio was quick to jump out of bed and grab the gun that sat on his nightstand table. Thankfully for him, the gun was already loaded. It always was.

Ignacio tried to move as quietly as he could as he left his room. Unfortunately, the wooden floors were incredibly loose and old. As a result, they tended to creak with every step. He had to move at a snail’s pace if he wanted to not be heard.

He snarled, already annoyed with whatever life was about to throw at him. He was always quick to anger. That was undeniable. So he was struggling to keep his temper under control right now.

He made his way to his front door. Gun raised up, he pointed it to the door. As he squinted, he saw a sliver of moonlight creeping in. Despite the enveloping darkness, he could tell the door wasn’t closed properly all the way.

Someone was in his house.

He was tempted to yell out, to call for whoever was inside to show themself. But he was interrupted from his thoughts by a stabbing pain in his knee.

He fell to the ground, a blade suddenly shoved into his leg.

He saw a glimpse of something, or someone, diving behind the corner. He couldn’t catch any details, but he could’ve sworn he saw a cape swoosh by.

He growled as he yanked the blade out of his leg, eyes widening as he observed the knife.

He knew this knife all too well. The diamond shape of the blade was distinct. And Ignacio only knew of a handful of people who had one.

But it couldn’t be one of them who broke in, he was useful to them.

What the hell was going on?

He stood up, using the wall to lean on. He held the knife in one hand and his gun in the other. He waved the gun around, looking for any signs of whoever stabbed him. For once in his life, he hated the silence.

He could feel his leg starting to give out as the blood began to drain. He really wished he hadn’t left his amulet in his room.

Speaking of his room, he heard some kind of scuttling sound coming from his room.

He turned in that direction, pointing his gun at the hallway.

Only for a cloaked, masked figure to violently emerge from his room.

Ignacio tried to shoot, but the figure was quick to evade each shot, jumping out of the way in a flash. The figure then jumped up high, almost impossibly so, and kicked the gun. The gun clattered to the side, into the darkness of another room.

And before Ignacio could run to grab it, he was punched in the face. That, along with his still bleeding knee, caused him to topple.

Ignacio panted as he looked up at the figure, who simply loomed over him.

And that was the moment he finally noticed something odd.

The figure was really short.

No, not short. Tiny.

Too tiny to be an adult.

The figure had a black, flowing cloak that went down a little below their knees. The cloak had a hood as well, which was currently pulled up. And most distinctly, the figure had a mask that completely hid their face. The mask was painted to resemble a deer.

Ignacio huffed. “What do you want?”

The figure slowly pulled something out from a pocket on the inside of the cloak.

His matchbox.

His eyes widened as the figure opened the box. He tried to stand, but his injured knee buckled under him.

“I want you to burn.”

The voice was feminine. High pitched, but nasally. It sounded strained, exhausted and most importantly, childish.

Ignacio stifled a laugh.

The figure seemed to notice, as she suddenly whipped out another diamond blade and tossed at him. He screamed as it landed directly in his stomach.

The figure then stormed up to him. They stepped on the blade handle, slowly pushing down on it. This caused Ignacio to writhe in pain.

Within seconds, the figure had a match in their other hand, and struck it against the box. They held the match up, ready to drop it at any second.

“I know how much you love fire.” They sounded angry now. “You burned my entire life to the ground. But I crawled out of the remains. And when I’m done with you, there won’t be anything remaining but the ashes of a pathetic coward.”

That was the moment Ignacio realized who was behind the mask.

And that was the moment she dropped the match.

—

“So, what exactly are we dealing with?” Jack asked as he approached his partner.

John was currently flipping through photos of the alleged crime scene. Although, he wasn’t fully sure if a crime had actually happened here.

The house of a man named Ignacio had been burnt to a crisp. Ignacio himself was inside the building. And he was found dead.

Truthfully, he really did not want to analyze this case. It was a bit too familiar for his liking. And yet here he was.

“I have no fucking idea. It all seems like a standard house fire.” John responded.

“Do we know what caused it?” Jack tilted his head.

John let out a loud and long sigh. “No. But I really don’t want to dig into this deeper.”

Jack didn’t respond. He simply hummed in acknowledgement.

Jack stood by silently for some time as John went through the paperwork and the photos. Even though he wasn’t supposed to smoke inside, the room was starting to fill with it. Jack stifled a cough, as he didn’t want to draw attention to it. He figured John needed some kind of coping mechanism.

It had been a rough five years for John. The leads on the cult had pretty much gone dead. They couldn’t remember the last time they had a significant piece of evidence. John was still living with Jack after the house fire. He meant to eventually move out, but his depression and trauma consistently got in the way. Jack didn’t say anything. So John had been sleeping in his guest room for five years straight. This combined with the lack of progress in the cult investigation pretty much turned John into an apathetic husk. He barely ate, having grown disturbingly skinny. He hadn’t shaved in a while. And his smoking frequency only got worse.

And worst of all, he saw his daughter everywhere.

Almost every time Jack and John went out to get donuts, John would notice a stranger with their kid. He would see how happy the kid looked. And then he would leave the store.

This happened frequently whenever they were out together. Something, anything, would remind him of his daughter. So he would leave and retreat to the police car. Jack stopped trying to talk to him when he returned to the car. It never went well. So Jack just stayed silent.

He wanted to speak up. Jack had so much he wanted to say.

He wanted to tell John to stop smoking. He wanted to tell John to give therapy another try. He wanted to tell John to allow himself to grieve.

But John never listened.

So Jack learned to shut up and nod.

Jack’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Both men turned, as the person behind the door let herself in.

“Patty, what’s up?” Jack asked.

Without a word, Patty walked up to the desk and tossed a plastic bag onto the table.

John groaned as he moved the evidence out of the way to observe the plastic bag.

“What is that?” Jack turned to Patty.

She sighed. “It was found stabbed into the victim’s stomach. Figured it would be important.”

Before Jack could respond, John slammed his hands onto the desk, startling Jack.

“W-What is it, John?”

Without a word, John began to frantically dig through desk drawers, scrambling to find something. Eventually, John slammed down a dusty file. One that he hadn’t touched in a while.

John flipped through the file and pulled out a photo of a gold amulet with a cyan diamond in the center. He then compared it to what was inside the plastic bag. That being a bloody diamond shaped blade with a blue tint.

“John?” Jack nervously held out his hand.

“This blade. It’s connected to the cult. I know it.”

—-

A masked figure stood by the remains of Ignacio’s house.

For her first attempt at a kill, she felt proud of her work. She made him bleed. She made him suffer. And she enjoyed his suffering.

Of course, it wouldn’t erase the pain she felt. But it at least made it easier for her to sleep.

Speaking of, she needed a place to sleep.

She ran off into the night, using the shadows to her advantage. Luckily for her, tonight was quiet.

She couldn’t remember the last time she saw the night sky. She missed it.

Eventually, she ducked into an alleyway near the movie theatre in town. The alleyway was littered with many random items. She leaned against a massive garbage bin, wrapping her cloak around her body. She then pushed up her mask.

As she looked up at the stars, Hope had a satisfied smile on her face.

One down, so many more to go.

Chapter Text

John slammed the file onto the desk. He aggressively tapped on a picture of the amulet that all the cultists wore.

“All of the cultists have this amulet. And this amulet has a blue diamond in the center.”

John then held up the plastic bag. “And this blade isn’t shaped like a normal blade! It’s shaped like a diamond!”

Jack and Patty shared a glance.

“It…could be a weird coincidence?” Jack shrugged.

John glared at Jack, his emotions a mixture of anger and exhaustion.

“Coincidence? Coincidence?! You seriously think that?! We haven’t had a solid lead in YEARS and you just want to ignore this possibility?!” John’s voice raised in volume as he stormed over to Jack.

“N-No! It’s not that! I just…I’m unsure if this lead is strong enough for the rest of the force to believe!” Jack stumbled over his words.

“Do you think I care about what they think?! I’m the only one who can stop them! I’ve studied them, I’ve seen them! I know what they’re capable of! It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks!” John was growing angrier by the second.

“Does that include me?” Jack pointed to himself, with genuine confusion.

John didn’t respond.

“Alright, this is getting out of hand. I’m going back to work.” Patty sighed, breaking the awkward silence as she left the room.

John groaned as he placed his head in his hands.

“J-John, look I’m sorry-.”

Before Jack could finish his sentence, he was cut off by the sound of a lighter flicking.

Within seconds, John had another cigarette in his mouth. Jack stifled a sigh.

Jack remained silent, unsure what to say.

Jack was feeling a lot of things. Fear, worry, nauseous.

But most of all, he was scared he was going to lose his friend one of these days. And that possibility seemed more and more likely by the second.

—-

The car drove by as Hope followed close behind. She sprinted as she jumped from roof to roof.

Knife in hand, she was just waiting for a moment to strike.

As the car started to roll to a stop in front of a nearby traffic light, Hope caught a glimpse of a young man in the back seat. The window was rolled down, and he was leaning his head on the sill.

Hope could tell he looked miserable despite him being so far away.

As the car started again, she tossed her knife and prayed the young man lived.

A direct hit to the front right wheel, the car started to skid out of control. The sound of the tires squealing drowned out any possible yells of confusion or panic. Hope watched as the car spun around and headed directly towards the candy store.

Uh oh. That wasn’t part of the plan.

—-

Kevin sat behind the counter, his head leaning on his hands.

He was bored out of his mind. Today had been a slow day. Barely anyone had come into the store, and he was ready to close up early.

He couldn’t believe he was still working here after all these years. He really needed a raise sooner or later.

His exhausted thoughts were cut short by the ear splitting sound of tires screeching. Headlights suddenly beamed through the glass front doors.

Kevin yelled out a curse as he realized a car was crashing through the doors.

He ducked under the counter as the deafening noise rang through the store. The sound of glass flying overwhelmed him.

The whole world seemed to shake for several seconds as Kevin held his hands over his head.

Once the noise stopped, he peeked over the counter.

The car looked fancy, or at least it used to. It was tipped over, smoke billowing out. Glass shards littered the floor, which would take a whole day to sweep.

Kevin slowly and cautiously made his way to the remains of the car, trying to force open the front right door.

It was shut tight. No matter how much Kevin pulled, it wouldn’t budge.

The sound of pounding against the door drew Kevin’s attention towards the back right door. He went over to open it, allowing someone to fall out of the car. Kevin caught him before he landed on the floor of broken glass.

Upon closer inspection, Kevin could see it was Roy, a young man that he was somewhat acquainted with. He was bruised and bleeding, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide and darting all around the store.

Kevin gently placed him down onto the floor, keeping an eye out for the glass.

“Wh-What happened?!” Kevin blurted out.

“I-I-I don’t-“ Roy choked on his words. He was clearly too frazzled to speak.

The sudden sound of a harrowing scream made Kevin jump. He ran to look at the front of the car, and what he saw made him gag.

Roy’s mother was crying, trying to find a way out of the car but to no avail. She was covered in cuts, her arms and face bleeding profusely. A particular gash on her arm was massive, and made Kevin feel nauseous. Despite that, she was pounding on the passenger seat door with all her might. Kevin could hear her wince as she slammed her body into the door. She turned to face Kevin, with horror in her eyes.

“PLEASE HELP. MY HUSBAND IS DEAD!!!” Was all she said.

Kevin turned to see Roy’s father, with his eyes glazed over. Blood dripped down his face, a giant wound on his forehead. His arms were splayed out in awkward positions as his mouth hung open.

Kevin placed a hand over his mouth as he pulled out his phone. He typed out the numbers for the emergency line, all while trying to avoid Roy’s distraught glances.

But as Kevin pressed his phone to his ear, he looked down and noticed something odd.

A knife. A knife caught in between the flat tire and the car. Like it had been stabbed into the tire.

This was not an accident.

Chapter Text

Kevin could barely focus as the cops interrogated him. He couldn’t register the questions being asked, because his attention was on another person.

He had never been a fan of Roy. The kid used to steal from him all the time, making his job harder. Even as he grew up, he was still an asshole. But when he saw the dissociated look in the boy’s eyes, he felt a pit in his stomach. His mother was also being interrogated by the police, and Kevin hadn’t seen anyone go to comfort him. Kevin may not have gotten along with the kid, but someone had to help him with what just happened.

The second the cops stopped interrogating him, moving on to analyze the car, Kevin shot out of his seat and shuffled over to Roy’s side. He could see faded tears on the boy’s cheeks.

“Hey…” Kevin stopped, as he realized he had no idea what to say to a kid who just lost his father. Roy didn’t look at him, as he sniffled.

“You…want some free candy?”

Kevin winced. What a stupid question. How would that help this situation in any conceivable way?!

“Yeah…got any sour stuff?”

Kevin stopped internally beating himself up, as he mentally reviewed the stock. “Yeah, I do. Hang tight, I um…I’m pretty sure there’s still glass on the floor.”

Kevin held out his hand as he carefully stepped over to the shelves. He grabbed as many boxes of sour candy as he could hold. As he walked back to Roy, he could see Roy’s mother talking to the cops out of the corner of his eye. Kevin realized he hadn’t seen her acknowledge Roy since Kevin called the police.

He almost tripped as he started to hand the candy to Roy. Roy didn’t waste any time, ripping open the boxes and shoving candy into his mouth.

“How are you feeling?” Kevin asked.

Roy stopped for a second, seemingly to contemplate an answer. Kevin could’ve sworn he saw the kid’s eyes water up before he shoved more candy into his mouth. Kevin realized he wouldn’t be getting an answer out of Roy anytime soon.

Kevin was about to hand the kid more candy, when a loud yell made him jump, almost dropping all the candy he held.

“WHO’S THAT?! OVER THERE!!” One of the cops suddenly screamed. They grabbed another cop by the arms, dragging him outside.

Kevin slowly stepped forward, leaning down to get a glance at what the cops were looking at.

But he didn’t see anything. Or anyone.

“I SWEAR I SAW SOMEONE!! WITH A CAPE!!! THEY WERE LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS!!!” The cop screamed, waving his arms around frantically.

The other cop, a man with black hair and sunglasses, placed his hand on the other cop’s head. “Alright Shotgun, cool your jets.”

“I SWEAR TO GOD. SOMEONE WAS THERE.”

“Now now, let’s calm down. We can investigate this at the office.” The calmer officer started to push ‘Shotgun’ away.

One of the other officers, who Kevin knew was named John, turned to his partner, Jack.

“We should probably get the witnesses somewhere safe.”

Kevin gulped.

He was starting to worry he was becoming a part of something bigger.

—-

Hope jumped from building to building, her lungs feeling dry and cold. She hadn’t stopped to breathe for a while.

She had only partially succeeded. She was supposed to kill them both. She only killed one. She was a failure.

She was stupid. She didn’t know what she was gonna do now. The cops would catch on to something sooner or later. No matter how much preparation she made, he’d find her sooner or later.

And she wasn’t ready to face him.

What would he think of her? What she had become? He would be horrified. And who could blame him?

She was a failure of a daughter. A rejected, worthless, failure. He’d be better off without her in his life-.

She suddenly stopped as she realized what building she saw in the distance.

The church.

If he was inside.

He’d be her next target.

She slipped her hood back on.

—-

Father Gregor finished up his prayer, as he stood back up.

The night was dark and cold. A heavy air hung over The Father. The past few years had been hard for him. His faith was waning, much to his dismay. Of course, his faith was a farce. But he tried very hard to be an earnest man, despite his mistakes.

But of course, they had to remind him it was futile.

They always were right behind him. He couldn’t run, no matter how hard he tried. He had tried so hard. But they would always follow.

And he didn’t have the strength to fight back anymore.

How could he? They reminded him how stupid it was for him to fight back, all those years ago. Even as he tried to keep up the facade, the stars hung over his head.

He glanced over to the window, as a breeze flew through the church.

That’s strange. He could’ve sworn the door was closed.

“You.”

Father Gregor turned to face a small figure, standing right by the door. They held a knife in one hand.

A cultist knife.

But this was no cultist.

“Child, what are you doing with that?”

“Don’t call me that.” Her voice was grave, the tone serious despite how high pitched and childlike her voice was.

And most importantly, he recognized the voice.

He had seen this girl before.

Father Gregor could sense her intentions. The child started to walk towards him.

“You don’t want to do this. I can assure you, there are other ways to-.”

“You don’t know what I want. What I need.” Her grip on the knife was tight as she held it up. “What I want is your blood on my hands.”

The Father sighed. “If you are to kill me, will you at least listen to me? I cannot imagine what the cult did to you-.”

“Shut up.”

But The Father did not. “Whatever you saw, however they hurt you, you mustn't let your anger consume you. I know what you’ve been through-.”

“You don’t know ANYTHING about me, old man.”

Her grip on the knife tightened. Her hands started to shake.

“I only wish to help. No child deserves what you went through. And I’m sure your parents must’ve been devastated-.”

“I SAID SHUT UP.”

The knife flew through the air, landing directly in Father Gregor’s stomach.

He slid to the ground, coughing up blood.

The girl was quick to retrieve her knife.

“The Lord…is still with you…” Father Gregor mumbled.

That only seemed to make the girl angrier as she began to rapidly stab Gregor. She screamed and cried as she stabbed him in the chest over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and-.

A creaking noise distracted her. She turned back to the door.

Through the eye holes in her mask, she saw a figure. The second they made eye contact with her, they were quick to escape.

Shit.

Chapter Text

Hope was quick to escape the church. She jumped through a nearby window, not caring if any glass were to cut her. She felt a few slices across her body. But that didn’t matter. It was only a matter of time before that person reported her to the police. She hopped onto the roof of a nearby building and continued to run. She didn’t know where she was going, but it didn’t matter.

Stupid. Worthless. Failure. She was a failure.

She let her emotions get in the way. She got overwhelmed and compromised her operation. And now it was a guarantee the police would be tipped off. Which meant they’d chase her down and find her, meaning he’d learn about what she’s done and then he’d know how awful she was. Of course, Hope already knew he didn’t love her. Why else would he have left her to rot for five years? But even so, she couldn't face him. She couldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t. She-.

Hope’s train of thought jolted to a halt as she slid off the roof.

She slammed onto the ground, landing directly on her back. As she caught her breath, lying down in a random street, she could feel her vision blur.

That’s odd, the mask didn’t make her eyes watery-.

Oh. She was crying.

She sniffled as she held back the tears. As she sat up, she raised her arm up in the air and violently slammed it down on the concrete.

Again. And again. And again.

She continued hitting her arm until she couldn’t feel her tears anymore.

Once she was done, she smiled. She didn’t feel the pain anymore.

And with that, she climbed back onto the roofs and continued running.

More importantly, she needed a place to hide. If she wanted to avoid him, she had to make sure to be stealthier next time. That way, she could still get justice without facing him.

Hope looked down from the rooftop, and a white van parked in an alleyway caught Hope’s eye.

The door was left open. Perhaps it was abandoned.

It looked quite spacious. And she was quite tired.

She didn’t want to admit it, but she really needed to sleep.

Well, better than sleeping against a garbage bin.

Hope jumped onto the roof of the van and crawled inside. After closing the doors, she curled up on the van floor. She didn’t even take off her mask as she dozed off.

She was so tired she didn’t even stir when someone entered the van and began to drive off.

—-

“Are you…doing ok?” Robert asked hesitantly.

Roy shrugged, sitting up in the hospital bed. “I don’t fuckin’ know, man. My dad is dead. What do you think?”

Robert recoiled a bit at Roy’s response. As a result, Roy softened up.

“Sorry. Just…it’s a lot.” Roy corrected.

“I-I know…I just…I want to help, I guess.” Robert mumbled.

“I appreciate it.”

Robert smiled.

A few moments later, Ross and Susie entered the hospital room. They both looked out of breath.

“We came as soon as we heard, man.” Ross gasped for air.

“Are you ok?!” Susie exclaimed.

“I’m fine. My dad is dead, but I’m fine.”

“WHAT?!” Ross and Susie shouted in unison.

Before Ross and Susie could ask Roy to elaborate, a tall, elderly doctor in a pale green coat entered the room.

“Hey, you three can’t be in here right now! Visiting hours for this patient are restricted to family and police!”

“Aw come on!” Robert protested. “This isn’t fair!”

“Waiting room, now.” The doctor pointed at the door, motioning for the trio to leave.

“Jerk.” Ross muttered as he slumped into a waiting room chair.

Susie sighed as she sat beside Ross. “Do we…know what happened?”

“Nope. Roy just said he and his parents got into a car accident…crashed into the candy store…and Roy’s dad…” Robert trailed off.

“He…doesn’t seem to be upset by that.” Ross hesitated to point out.

“Maybe he’s in shock?” Susie shrugged.

“Even so…I’m worried about him.” Robert curled his arms around himself. “He’s taking this…way too comfortably.”

Ross placed a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “Just give him some time. We’ll be there for him however we can.”

Robert nodded. But before he could respond, two police officers entered the waiting room.

The same doctor that kicked the trio out of Roy’s room approached the duo. The cop with sunglasses began to speak, as his brunette partner looked around frantically.

“Yo. We’re here to talk to a certain patient. The one that was just in that car accident?”

“More importantly, have you seen a short figure with a cape?! They’re prime suspect number one!” The brunette suddenly shouted, his hand way too close to his gun.

The cop with sunglasses wrapped an arm around the brunette, pulling the antsy man into a side hug. “Now now, Shotgun. We don’t even know who we’re looking for. Just give it some time and we’ll figure out this mysterious cloaked figure.”

This did little to reassure Shotgun. “No no no! They got away! And for all we know they could’ve killed someone else!”

“We don’t know that…”

The officer with sunglasses trailed off, as the sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room.

“Actually…I saw this cloaked figure.”

—-

“John…are you doing ok?”

Jack approached his partner, who was standing amongst a field of used cigarettes.

“Another murder…and it’s connected to the cult. I know it now. There’s no way you can say it’s a coincidence.”

Jack gulped.

“Well…we should focus on finding the killer…and then maybe-.”

“Maybe what? Maybe we’ll finally finish the job I should’ve finished five years ago?!” John turned to face Jack, a fiery rage in his eyes.

“John…”

“I don’t wanna hear anymore excuses Jack. They took everything from me. And no matter what I do, they…they still haunt me.”

John leaned against the wall of the busted up candy store.

“Until I take down that cult, I don’t have any reason to be alive.”

“Yes you do-!”

Jack was cut off by the sound of John’s phone ringing.

John answered his phone, keeping his eyes away from Jack.

“What is it, Captain?”

Instead of Captain’s voice, the voice of Shotgun Man rang through the phone.

“THERE’S BEEN ANOTHER MURDER. AND WE HAVE AN EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT ON THE SUSPECT!!!”

Chapter Text

“John, slow down!” Jack tried and failed to catch up to his partner.

“We need to act fast. We can’t waste anymore time.” John was stern as he sprinted off to the police car.

“But this is Shotgun, we’re talking about-!” Jack was close to hyperventilating. “He’s always claiming wild things!”

“We can’t risk missing any evidence. Not when they’re almost certainly involved. Drive.” John demanded as he entered the passenger seat, slamming the door shut.

Jack gulped as he shuffled into the driver’s seat. He hesitated to start the car, turning to John once more.

“I said drive.”

Jack started to drive.

He felt a lump in his throat as he drove to the hospital. He wanted to say something, but what? What could he even say?

John was stubborn. Always has been. It was something Jack liked about him. But it was also hard to reason with him when he was in a mood.

And the past few years, when it came to the cult, John was impossible to reason with.

And Jack was worried he’d destroy himself trying to destroy the cult in the process.

Of course, Jack understood why John was so determined. What father wouldn’t be? Not that Jack would know, Hope wasn’t his kid. But he did care for her. So he could only imagine how John felt.

Jack’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as he continued to drive. He has to say something sooner or later. Before it’s too late.

He couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

“J-John…”

“What do you want?”

Jack gulped. John had been quicker to snap as well.

Jack opened his mouth, and realized he had no idea what to say.

“Y-You know…I was thinking-.”

The sound of tires squealing drew Jack’s attention away from the conversation. He looked back at the road to see a white van, emerging from the left side of the street at full speed. Jack slammed on the breaks, before the two vehicles could collide. John covered his ears as the white van zoomed across the street, gone in an instant.

“The hell was that about?! Asshole!” Jack yelled.

“Jack, we need to focus on eye-witness! Don’t get distracted!” John ordered.

“Shouldn’t we chase down that van? They clearly broke the speed limit-!”

“That’s not as important!”

“It’s our job to-!”

“It’s MY job to save this town, and we need to FOCUS!!” John yelled at an intensity that made Jack flinch. John flattened into his seat and sighed. “So keep driving. That’s an order.”

Jack continued to drive to the hospital. He didn’t dare say a single word.

—

When Hope woke up, the van was moving.

She held her breath as she pushed herself up. She made sure her mask remained on, as she slowly and silently stepped off the ground.

The man driving the van was a burly, large man. He didn’t seem to notice her. That was good. She could get the jump on him easily.

She subtly grabbed the knife hidden in her right boot. She could strike him right now, and he would be none the wiser-.

Wait. What was she thinking? This guy wasn’t a target. She didn’t know who he was. Why was she-?

His eyes darted to the rearview mirror.

Hope slammed into the van door as the man swerved the car. She winced in pain as her left arm banged against the metal. The man yelled out in surprise as he tried to regain control of the wheel.

“WHERE DID YOU-?!”

His voice was gravely and deep. He reminded her of a large ogre from a fairytale.

Hope launched forward, stumbling as the man slammed on the breaks. Her face squished against the passenger seat. She let out an instinctual “Ow!” as the car stopped to a halt.

“What are you doing in my van?!” The man yelled.

Without much time to think, Hope grabbed the knife hidden in her boot and held it up. The man seemed surprised as he stared in confusion.

“I’ll make this quick. I need you to let me hide in this van for the foreseeable future.” She demanded.

After a few seconds, the man burst out into a hearty laugh.

“Who are you to boss me around, pipsqueak? I’ll have you know, I can-!”

The man was cut off by Hope quickly stabbing him in the right elbow.

He cried out in pain, as he frantically ripped the blade out of his arm. Blood sprayed across the van, as he covered the wound with his other hand. Hope remained unphased.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

“I made a request. You’re going to follow it.”

“HELL NAH, I AIN’T HELPING YOU, CRAZY KID!!”

Hope calmly picked up the bloody knife off the van floor. She held it up to the man’s face, hoping it was dark enough to hide the fact that her hand was shaking.

“Do you want me to take out your eye next? I have no reason to kill you. You’re not one of my targets. But I have no qualms with hurting you if I have to.”

The man’s face was hard to read. It appeared to be a mixture of genuine confusion and anger. He breathed heavily, as his wound was still bleeding profusely. Though it didn’t seem to bother him too much.

“You know, I don’t like hurting kids. But I can easily throw you outta this van-.”

“And then what? Tell the police you got stabbed by a child? A child who happened to be in your white van? Even if they did believe your side of the story, you wouldn’t be able to track me down and have me arrested. The police in this town are a buncha fools.”

Her hands were shaking even more intensely now.

The man paused. He pursed his lips as he contemplated Hope’s words. And to her surprise, he slowly nodded.

“You got a point there. Alright fine. You can crash here.”

Hope let out a sigh of relief. She wiped the blood off her knife with her sleeve and placed it back in her boot.

“What’s your name by the way?” Hope tilted her head.

“Frank. Are you gonna at least share yours?”

“My name doesn’t matter.”

“If you’re gonna crash in my van and stab me, I gotta call you something.”

Hope thought for a few seconds. She placed a hand to her deer mask.

“You can call me Fawn.”