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Chapter Text

The bell let out a loud ringing as students were entering different classrooms. “Passing period is over, find your seats,” a history teacher announced to her class. As her students sat down at their seats, the teacher announced “today we are taking a pop quiz!”

The teacher started passing the quiz to the class as she said, “Hope you've been hitting the books and not hiding it and giving it to someone you know to cheat.” The teacher gave a little glare to a boy with a lime sweater and wavy faded green hair. “William.”

William just groaned as he rolled his eyes. He got caught once! No need to remind the class. “Shit.” He mumbled. William was not great at History, it was his lowest grade out of all his classes. He was pretty sure his grade was the lowest out of everyone in his class too.

He used to have one of his younger brothers do most of his history work, Theodore. But then William got caught using his phone to ask Theodore the answers. Resulting in a detention for the two of them.

In other words, he’s screwed. William started tapping his pencil on his decks as he looked at the questions in front of him. He knew the answers to one of them, that’s not enough to get a good grade. He tries remembering what the answer could be but then takes a glance at the person to his left, Wendy. His sister. Who has made more progress on the pop quiz than he did.

William thought about his options.
A. He could cheat off of Wendy, the only two cons is that he has to talk to her and look at her face
or B. fail this quiz, the only con is him failing the quiz

He chose to fail the quiz.

William looked at the questions again and tried. But after what felt like forever, he realized he doesn’t remember or know anything to be able to put a good bullshit of an answer. William angrily sighed to himself as he tries to grab Wendy’s attention. She ignored him multiple times until, “what?!” She whispered, a bit annoyed.

“Switch quizzes with me.” Wendy looked at William with a look that basically said no. “Wendy, I’m failing this class!” William whisper yelled. “One, I’m not helping you cheat! And even if I was, I wouldn’t do it until you apologize!” Wendy whisper yelled back.

“Quiet while the quiz is out!” The teacher announced. The two quickly stopped talking and looked at their quizzes. “Why do I have to apologize? You’re the one who needs to apologize.” William whispered. Wendy didn’t even want to respond. William then thought of an idea, steal Wendy’s quiz.

So he did, or tired before Wendy stopped him. “Do it yourself!” “Just give me your test!” They started a whisper argument as they were tugging back and forth for Wendy’s quiz.

“Wendy and William!” The two stopped. The teacher took the two’s quizzes from behind, “Principal’s office you two, now.” She said, sternly.

The two got up and started walking out of the classroom. As the two were walking to the principal’s office, they continued to argue. “This could’ve all been easily avoided if you studied!” Wendy continued.

“In what window of time?! But this could’ve also been avoided if you weren’t a stupid bitch!” They eventually ran out of energy to continue arguing. “Are you going to apologize?” Wendy asked. “About?” “Don’t play dumb, it’s about-“

William covered his ears “lalalala! I can’t hear or understand bitch.” “You’re being immature!” “And? You act like that too!” William argued back to Wendy. Wendy just pinched the bridge of her nose, why did she have to be related to him of all people?

They didn’t even reach the principal's office when the bell rang. The two didn’t see the point of going in, so they didn’t. “Well, I’m going to save my siblings.” William said, walking away.

“What- don’t you mean ‘our’ siblings? Cause they’re my siblings too!” Wendy called out. “I don’t recall you saying that!” William called back, flipping her off.

Wendy just sighed and started going to her next block. While William went to look for his younger brothers, knowing Max will most likely beat them all up.

Chapter Text

The moment the bell rang, a lot of nerds started running around. They were on the lookout and looking for someplace to hide. William and Wendy’s younger brothers, Patrick and Noel met and quickly ran around too.

Noel then stopped and looked around. “Where’s Bryce?!” “He can handle himself, Noel! Come on!” Patrick grabbed Noel’s hand and ran someplace to hide before a certain bully finds them.

They soon found a spot close to two other nerds. “Guys, don’t you normally have four people with you?” A girl in a purple cardigan with flowers asked Noel and Patrick, who brushed it off. “Bryce can handle himself.” Noel replied, repeating what Patrick told him. “And Theodore is…is…” Patrick trailed off trying to think where he saw his brother.

It then hit the two. “Where’s Theodore?!” The siblings asked each other.

A kid with messy blonde hair and goggles on his head was trying to solve a rubix cube while walking down the halls to his next block. “…huh?” He looks up and checks his surroundings. That’s odd, where’s his brothers? Normally they meet up in the halls. Maybe they for-

“Hey! Bright ass!” “…shit” Theo mumbled, he completely forgot to hide. “Heeeeyyyyyy Mmmmmaaaaaxxxxx” Theo awkwardly stretched out, as he turned around to face Max.

“It’s third period, which means…” Theo was half paying attention, as he wanted to leave without Max noticing. But learning from Noel’s mistake, don’t do that. “…need you stinking up the hallways!” Max said, making Theo snap back to reality.

“Oh! Sorry- I didn’t mean to do that, I’ll leave.” Theo took a couple of steps back and bumped into Jason. “After this hallway infraction? I don’t think so. You think I’ll give you a warning?” “Yeah!” Jason said with a smile but that smile quickly disappeared after Max gave him a glare.

“No! Dumbass!” Max walked up to Theo, making him nervous. Max was significantly taller than Theo, but also considering the fact that Theo is a sophomore and Max is a senior.

Theo gulped as he was grabbed by the collar and dragged to the bathroom, where he was getting swirlies from Max. After what felt like forever, Max was done then he left Theo in the bathroom stall, coughing and trying to catch his breath.

But Theo was struggling to catch his breath, he would’ve preferred a different approach for his ‘hallway infraction’. He quickly tried to make his breathing patterns back to normal before the wild chance of William seeing him.

Theo felt a hand on his shoulder, which made him jump in fear. Was it Max again?! He looks over and sees Bryce, his younger brother. Theo then felt his body relax knowing it’s just his brother. “Just follow my breathing, okay?”

Theo nodded and did just that. After a bit, Theo’s breathing went back to normal. “How much of that were you secretly watching?” Theo asked Bryce. “I saw the whole thing.” Bryce informed Theo, who just nodded.

“Want to find Patrick and Noel?” Theo asked, fully aware that Bryce most likely knows where they are. “Sure.” Bryce shrugged as the two got up. They left the bathroom but stopped when they heard a certain older brother’s concerned voice, “Bryce! Theodore!”

It was William.

Theo’s hair and goggles were still wet.

“Shit.” The two young brothers muttered.

Chapter Text

“Why won’t you tell me the truth?” “I am! I had to wash my face! That’s it!” “Just your face? Then explain your hair.” William has been trying to get the truth out of Theo since he saw him exit the bathroom and on the way home.

“I also wet my hair.” “With your goggles on?” William crossed his arms. Theo rubbed his face, getting a bit frustrated “Why aren’t you interrogating Bryce?! He was with me too!”

“You know he won’t say anything, plus he hid somewhere in the house.” William mumbled the last part to himself, looking away for a second.

Theo took that second to run to his room to have the questions stopped being asked. “Now stop avoiding the-“ William looked back to where Theo was, only to see him gone.

William sighed, “what I’m I going to do?” “How about leave him alone?” “AH!” William jumped and quickly turned around to see Bryce. “Bryce, you shared the living shit out of me.” The younger brother just shrugged, “I do have that effect.”

“Do you know-“ “yes, but I’m not sharing.” “Why?” William asked. “I just want to try and help him.” William added. Bryce put his finger to William’s lips to hush him.

“If you do that, you’ll cause more trouble for us, so you and Wendy just stay out of it.” Bryce said, lowering his finger and soon leaving to go to his room.

William rubbed his face, going to just start making dinner. As he started making spaghetti for his brothers and Wendy, just because he had to. His mind started to spiral into a hurricane of questions as he cooked.

What actually happened to Theo?

Did he get targeted by Max?

What are they hiding?

Why are they hiding things?

Well, Bryce just stays quiet but why the others?

Did they not trust him?

Do they find him overbearing?

Overprotective?

Why-? “William?” Someone snapped him out of the questions. William looks over to see Noel, “oh, hi Noel. Do you need something?” Noel shook his head, “nope! I just smelled food from my room.” He smiled.

William laughed a bit, Noel had a great sense of smell and, what all the siblings joked, a black hole of a stomach. He noticed that dinner was almost ready. William started to question how productive he can be when he’s lost in thought.

William didn’t want to go down another hurricane of questions and told the younger brother, “Well, the spaghetti will be done soon. You want to ask the others if they’re going to eat with us?” Noel just nodded, going to the siblings' rooms to ask.

“Well, I’ll be in my room.” Wendy said, appearing out of seemingly nowhere while grabbing a plate and putting some spaghetti on it. “How do you and Bryce just appear?” “That is a secret that I shall keep…not sure how ‘your brother’ does it.” Wendy went to her room.

William rolled his eyes. “Why is she my sister?” He mumbled to himself. “‘They’re my siblings too’” William mumbled, mocking Wendy. “My siblings too my ass, she was the one who-“ Soon Noel came back, which made William stop talking.

“Patrick is practicing, Bryce is sleeping, and Theo is ‘too busy with legos’” Noel informed William, who just nodded. “How about we all just eat in our rooms? I’ll deliver food for Patrick and Theo.” William told Noel.

“Okay! I’ll make a plate for Bryce for him to eat later.” Noel quickly started doing that. William smiled a little. Noel and Bryce were really close compared to any other sibling duo in this family.

William made a plate for Patrick, Theo, and himself then started heading to Patrick’s room. When he arrived, he could hear Patrick reciting the lines for the play that was happening at school next. Something Monologues? Not important.

William knocked on the door, “Hey! Blue puke! Dinner!” William called out. After a minute or two, Patrick opened the door. “Did you have to yell? I can hear you and your annoying voice just fine.” Patrick said, taking the plate William was handing to him.

“Oh my annoying voice? You clearly don’t remember my voice when we were younger.” William laughed a bit. Patrick joined in with the laughter, “oh god that was ten times worse, especially when you said that stupid greeting of yours.”

“You mean, ‘hello friendy wend?” William said in a childish voice to imitate when he was younger. “don’t ever do that again.” Patrick said with a look of disgust, “I gotta continue practicing, thanks for bringing my food. Now leave.” Patrick closed the door on William.

Patrick has always acted like that, it’s just how he is. When they were younger, William had to learn to not always take Patrick’s words and tone to heart. William started to walk to Theodore’s room. When he arrived, he knocked on the door. “Who is it?” “Take a guess.” “Go away!” Theo called out. William opened the door and entered the room.

“I made spaghetti.” “…you can leave it at my desk.” Theo said, focusing on whatever he’s doing. William sees that he’s sitting on the floor, back facing the door, while building something out of legos. William places his and Theo’s plates on the desk and goes to sit next to him.

“What’s today’s build?” William asked. Theo was silent for a moment before then quietly responding. “The Tardis…but bigger so it can sit on my shelf and be seen clearly.” William nodded, then looked at the newest building on one of the shelves. Which looked like some sort of statue. “That one of the monsters in the show?”

Theo nodded. “…I’m sorry I won’t share about what happened.” William patted Theo’s head. “I’m not upset about that anymore, just concerned about you and the others.” Theo nodded and leaned against his older brother, stopping the build.

“I know…but Bryce noticed you already have so much on your plate, so we don’t want to bother you.” William nods in understatement. “It’s my job as your…guardian I guess, to worry about you guys.” Theo nods, “we know…” he then mumbled.

William got up and brought Theo’s plate to him. “Eat up before it gets cold, okay?” Theo took the plate and nodded. Before Theo started to eat and before William left, Theo asked a question that made William freeze in place.

“Does Wendy care about us?…Bryce mentioned that a bad argument happened between the two of you.” William wished he had an answer for Theo. “…I’m not sure…I think…” William admitted. Theo just nods.

Chapter Text

A new day at school, a new day to get targeted in the halls. The younger siblings were together hiding from Max. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting really tired of hiding from Max.” Patrick said, keeping a lookout.

“You weren’t tired when you were a freshman?” Theo asked. “Well, back then I didn’t have to help out three loud siblings.” “Ahem!” Patrick looked over in annoyance and Bryce quickly looked away. “Fine, two loud siblings and Bryce.” Said sibling just nodded.

“What if there was a way to stop Max from bullying people?” Noel suggested. The others looked at him. “Noel, one, that would take a miracle. Two, how exactly would we do that?” Bryce asked. Noel thought for a bit.

“Maybe we should just wait till he graduates? We won’t see him graduating.” Theo suggested. “Theo, he’s not planning to leave Hatchetfield.” Bryce shared. “We would be seeing him and still have a target on our backs after he graduates!” Noel exclaimed with hints of dread.

The three siblings continued to talk over each other trying to figure out what to do. “What if we prank him?” Noel asked, stopping the overlapping bickering. The others looked at him again, this time with confusion. “What if we prank him and record it then show the whole school to embarrass him.” Noel elaborated on.

“…Noel, how would that work?!” Patrick asked in sheer confusion. “Plus, what would we even do?” Theo asked. “Well, everyone is scared of something. Like how you’re scared of failing on stage.” Noel points at Patrick, who just looked a bit offended.

“And you’re scared of…needles?” Noel points to Theo, guessing. To which he got wrong. “…Max is scared of ghosts.” Bryce mumbled. The three brothers looked at him in surprise. “…every time he sees ghosts on Halloween, he punches them out of fear.” Bryce added.

“How do you know it’s fear?” Patrick asked. “Body language.” Bryce answered simply to which Patrick just nods. “Oo! We can prank him at the Waylon place where one of us acts like the ghosts haunting that place!” Noel suggested in excitement.

“I’m in!” Theo said happily. “Thank you Theo! Bryce? Patrick? What about you two?” Noel asked. Bryce just shrugged, unsure if he’s in or not. “Noel, that’s a terrible idea.” Patrick sighed. “Cause we don’t know Max would treat us after all this or even how to get him to the Waylon place! Hell, how would we get in?” Patrick then exclaimed.

“I’ll work out the details of this plan! I just thought of this idea now!” Noel snapped. “But we-“ “But! This could keep Max off our backs, so…you guys in?” Noel asked, more calm, to the last two brothers. Patrick and Bryce looked at each other. Now fully thinking this, Noel did have a point. Bryce nodded and Patrick just sighed, “okay.” Noel cheered a bit. “Let’s bully the bully!” Theo said.

In the blink of an eye, the school day was over and the siblings were going to the Waylon place. “Noel, did you think of a way in?” Theo asked his older brother. “Oh, I completely forgot about that…” Noel mumbled, putting a new lollipop in his mouth. “The most important part to get this plan in motion…and you forgot about it?!” Patrick snapped, visibly annoyed.

“We could easily break the window or something.” Bryce suggested. “But that could result in us getting in more trouble than just, oh I don’t know, trespassing!” Patrick tried keeping his voice at a decent level, and failing a bit. “What if I picked the lock?” Theo suggested. “You can do that?” Bryce asked, a bit surprised.

Theo grabbed two bobby pins from Noel’s hair and with a big smile said, “yes! I was bored a couple of years ago and decided to teach myself how to pick locks.” “And why are you picking the locks on the old Waylon Place?” A voice that made the brothers freeze asked.

They turn around to see William, his arms crossed. “…Noel thought of a plan to prank Max!” Theo pointed at Noel. Patrick and Bryce pointed at Noel also, who looked offended. “You stitches!” Noel shouted at the traitors. “And this prank involves the Waylon Place?” William asked. “…yeah…cause Max is scared of ghosts and this place is spooky enough for ghosts to exist.” Noel explained.

William was silent for a good moment. “Theo, give me the bobby pins.” William put his hand out and Theo sadly gave the bobby pins to him. The sadness quickly changed to confusion as William walked past the younger siblings and started picking the lock. All the younger siblings looked confused and watched William pick the lock. After a few more seconds, William opened the door.

“…wait, you’re helping us?” Patrick asked. “I’m tired of Max messing with you guys, so, let’s give him a taste of his own medicine.” William said. Noel, Theo, and Bryce all smiled, happy to see their older brother joining them. Patrick just watched the four, but he was also happy that William was joining them. “So, how are we setting up the prank?” William asked Noel.

After Noel explained the plan, the brothers started working. Patrick would be the spirit of the house, Theo is a backup skeleton, Noel is giving the cues and doing the sounds, William somehow lures Max to the house, and Bryce films all of this. William came back to the house, “I planted the note. He’s on his way!” The oldest announced and quickly hid.

Noel used his walkie talkie to say, “let’s start mission piss boy!” “Why is that the name? We could’ve done a better name.” Patrick asked. “Cause not every name needs a whole meaning behind something else!” Noel argued. “Both of you, shut up and get ready!” William used the walkie talkie. The two quickly shut up and went to their positions.

Max came into the building, talking about how he needed to piss. “Is the plan a bad name now?” Noel asked, all the brothers knew the big smirk Noel had. “Noel! Shut up!” Theo whispered into the walkie talkie. “Hey everyone! It’s the Yäger-mister!” Max walked to where the siblings needed him. Noel cued the spooky noises, Max looked around smiling, thinking it was part of the party. Bryce thinks part of it was cause he’s drunk.

“Patrick, ghost call.” Noel walkie Patrick. “Max~” Patrick whaled. “Who’s there?” The siblings thought Max sounded a bit like an idiot at that moment. “Max Yägerman!~” Patrick whaled again. “Brenda, if you’re gonna surprise me, hurry the fuck up! I need to take a piss!” Max called out in the empty room.

Patrick then took his spot and did ghost-like movements. “You have disturbed the spirits of Waylon hall! And for that there will be consequences!~” Patrick said, trying to think of spooky things on the spot. “Your soul will be for…the one who feasts!” Patrick quickly improved.

“The one who feasts?” William radioed Theo. “Theo, what does that mean?” “I don’t know, but I do know that the Waylons were in some sort of- OH! GUYS! THE GHOST ISNT WORKING!” William, Noel, and Bryce looked over to see Max being stupidly and a bit drunkenly brave. “Time to say boo hoo! Bitch!” Max ran to punch Patrick and missed, due to Patrick fleeing for his life.

“Yes! I make the dead run in fear! I am Yägerman! I am god! Gooooo Nighthawks!” He yelled out. “Theo! You’re up!” Noel radioed. Theo, dressed as a skeleton, ran out to Max. “Ooga booga!” Theo screamed, waving his arms around. The siblings watched, before Patrick radioed “I’m giving him acting lessons later. This is painful.” “Ooga booga?! What the hell Theo?!” “SHUT UP YOU TWO! THE CAMERA IS STILL ROLLING!” Bryce whisper yell to the two eldest

“Oh shit! It’s a skele’on! I’m so fucking scared of skele’ons!” Max said, fear written everywhere on him. Max then started talking to himself, which the siblings didn’t really pay attention to. That was until he said, “Hey skele’on! I have a bone to pick with you, bitch!” Max ran and grabbed Theo by the collar.

“Theo!” William dropped everything and ran to Theo and Max. “Max stop!” William called out. Max looked over to William and dropped Theo, who scrambled to hide behind Patrick. “…who the fuck are you?” Max asked William. “Not important, but look. This isn’t real. This was a prank that me and my siblings pulled on you.” Patrick, Noel, and Theo slowly came out of their places.

“Cause you deserve it after bullying my siblings.” Max looked at all the siblings. “…you guys did this for me?” He asked. Siblings just kinda nodded. “We wanted you to have a taste of your own medicine.” “AH!” All the highschoolers jumped as Bryce said that behind Max. Max looked like he was processing the scare. “…this was actually really nice. Thanks.” He then smiled

The siblings looked at Max, absolutely confused. Did he just thank them for the prank? “Thanks? So you’re not mad that we pulled this prank on you?” Theo asked. “Are you kidding? Nono this is like- the nicest thing anyone has done for me.” The siblings eyes widened a bit, unsure how to react to that response.

“Oh! When the ghost came here!” He went to where Patrick was earlier. “My heart was like- DUH DUH DUH DUH!” Max made a fast heartbeat motion with his hand. Patrick covered his mouth, hiding the smile that was forming from this appreciation for his acting. “Oh! And the skele’on!” Max gestures to Theo. “That was really special to me.” Theo didn’t know how to react but just nodded.

“You guys should do more stuff like this. Especially for Halloween! Cause you guys know how to throw a killer pr-AAANNNKKK!” The floor gave up on Max as he fell about three stories. William and Patrick were going to try and save Max, but it was way too late to do that. “Oh shit…” William mumbled. “DID MAX DIE?!” A new voice yelled in concern. All the siblings looked over to see Wendy, who looked terrified. The younger ones instantly knew what to do.

“IT WAS WILLIAM’S FAULT!” They yelled and pointed at an offended William.

Chapter Text

“Did you really think this was a good idea?!” Wendy asked, frustrated at William, thinking he was the one who led Max to die. “NOT NOW WENDY!” William snapped. “Guys, come on!” William ran down to check if Max was somewhat okay. The younger siblings followed, Bryce dragging Wendy along.

Turns out Max wasn’t okay. Not in the slightest. Some of the wood had impaled his stomach, he was coughing up blood, and he pissed his pants. That last part he was upset about the most, complaining about that more than the fact wood was in his chest.

“So…mission acco- MPH!” Noel was quickly silenced by Theo, making Noel quickly shut up. “Max!? Oh god, uh, don’t worry! We’ll call an-” “SHUT UP WENDY!” Max interrupted Wendy, who was trying to help Max. “You!” Max looked over at William with pure anger. “This is all your fault!” William didn’t even want to try and argue. “You fucking nerds! You! Your siblings! All the nerds will pay! Nerdy…prudes…must…die!”

Max finished his sentence as he slipped into his eternal slumber. Leaving the siblings spiral into a massive panic. “Why did you think this was a good idea?!” Wendy asked William. “Noel! We’re going to get sent to jail! Why did we do this?!” Patrick snapped at Noel.

Noel was just staring at Max’s body, as if he was trying to block out what he’s seeing but also try to understand what just happened. Noel felt a tidal wave of guilt consume his frozen body.

Why did he think this was a good idea? They could’ve done anything else! They could’ve done it at a different location! But no! They all decided to listen to Noel and this ridiculous plan! Why did they listen to him?!

He looked around to see Patrick freaking out and yelling at everyone, Theo pacing in circles while rubbing his sleeves, Wendy trying to understand the last bit of events that unfolded in front of her, Bryce watching everyone as if he was in the same state as Noel, and William trying to calm everyone down while also in a panic.

“EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!” William yelled out, everyone stopped talking or doing whatever they were doing and turn their attention to William. “Bryce recorded this prank, right? It would show that this was an accident!” The youngest brightened up a bit, “yeah! The video!” but the brightened expression quickly vanished.

“…what?” Patrick asked. “I turned off the camera before he fell….” Bryce answered. “And Bryce and I were recording getting the materials for this prank, oh god WE SEEM MORE GUILTY!” Theo panicked. “I’m too young for jail!” Bryce yelled as now the younger siblings spiral into another state of panic.

“Everyone stop!” Wendy said, making them look at her, a bit surprised she stayed. But all six of them knew deep down they were making it her problem too. “You guys aren’t going to jail-“ “cause we won’t tell the cops! Amazing idea Wendy! But what do we do about Max’s body?!” Theo interrupted Wendy with so much panic in his voice.

“What- no, we have to tell the cops. But,” “Wendy, what makes you think telling the cops what happened by saying something like ‘we tried to do a prank and accidentally killed somebody’ is a good idea?!” William snapped. “How about we just bury the body?” Noel asked. “This house is old, and because of the stories, no one is going to buy this house.” Noel said, staring at Max’s body.

“I’m down!” Bryce said, looking for an axe. “We can chop him into pieces to make things easier.” Bryce then added. Patrick and Theo decided to help to avoid jail. William and Wendy weren’t sure what to do. This was wrong. Very wrong. But William wanted to make sure his siblings were safe. Wendy’s motives were unclear.

So they decided to help…

What can possibly go wrong?

Chapter Text

After they buried the body, the siblings went home in complete silence. When arriving home they didn’t talk, they went off to do things that would occupy their minds. Wendy and William ended up arguing about this whole situation, Patrick stayed in case it escalated, Bryce wrote in a journal he hid, Noel was gonna binge eat but decided not to, and Theo went to build his legos.

Bryce then heard all the three older siblings arguing but continued to write as he slowly tuned it out. He kept writing and writing until his wrist got tired. By then, the argument died down outside. “…Noel…what have you done?” Bryce mumbled. He then hid his journal and went to bed, wondering what tomorrow would be like.

On the first day of Max being dead gone. Everything seemed tense. The popular kids continued to hang out with their groups, a bit on edge as they don’t know where Max is. The other kids didn’t know how to feel, nervous if Max would just appear out of nowhere in seconds!

Halfway through the week, things seemed to be less tense and just awkward if anything.

Then a new week rolled around, everything seemed pretty casual. Like everyone has always gotten along. Getting rid of Max made school more bearable. It felt like it’s how things should have been for a long time.

“Bryce, are you coming to the football game?” Stacy asked Bryce, the two have gotten along pretty well as they both enjoy listening in on drama. In media and in real life. “I’m not sure, I don’t know how football works.” Bryce answered and Stacy simply nodded. “I don’t think anyone does but the football players, but the cheerleaders get to do fun routines!”

Bryce has come to learn that Stacy has a strong passion for cheerleading and that she is a bit muscular for basically holding everyone up. “Hmm..I can ask William, I’ll text you if I’m going or not.” Bryce then added. Stacy just smiled then excused herself to get ready for the big game.

Bryce found William and asked about going to the game, which he agreed and the other siblings also decided to tag along, even Wendy. This made Bryce really happy. It seemed like accidentally murdering a negative influence brought them close, in a weird and creepy way.

None of the siblings understood anything about the game, but when their side was booing and cheering, they joined. Bryce then left, needing to go to the restroom. William nodded a little as Bryce left.

Bryce went to the restroom and looked at his reflection. He smiles a little, but the quickly faded as the guilt decided to eat him up, bit by bit. “…it wasn’t your fault, it was an accident…” Bryce mumbled to himself before leaving. Bryce was about to go back until they heard a terrified voice nearby.

“ANYONE! HELP PLEASE!”

Chapter Text

Bryce heard the terrified voice nearby, but decided to ignore it, not letting his curiosity get the better of him. He was better than that! He wasn’t going to fall for one of the stupidest things you can do in a horror movie.

“PLEASE HE-“ the cry was cut off.

Bryce had to see. He ran and snuck into the locker room to just see a pool of blood. He quickly covered his mouth, eyes wide and terrified. They couldn’t recognize the body, they just knew it was the person under the Zeke the Nighthawk suit.

A creak was heard, cueing him to hide as quickly as he could. ‘Who did that?!’ Bryce thought. Not wanting to make a sound. If the person was still here, he would be caught…but what if he quickly left like he was never here to begin with.

Bryce left their hiding spot only to be stopped by

MAX?!

“I thought I smelled some more nerds here.” Max quickly grabbed Bryce by the throat and slammed him onto the lockers. The air quickly escaped from the younger one’s lungs.

Bryce tried to free himself but Max’s grip tightened. “Oh wait, I remember you.” Max smirked, “You’re one of the siblings that killed me!” How was Max alive?!

Bryce couldn’t scream or say anything. Just stared as fear and guilt filled his being. His vision started to go dark until Max dropped him, letting Bryce gasp for air. “M….Ma…x?” Was all the small freshmen could wheeze out. “Surprised to see me?”

Bryce was but was too lightheaded to nod or anything. “Awww, if you die right now, where would’ve been the fun of that?” Max stood in front of the gasping Bryce, then squatted. Letting Bryce see the hole in Max’s stomach that they caused killed him.

“Tell you this, I feel like being mister nice guy. As you didn’t contribute much to my death. I will give you a minute. If you can make it safely to everyone else in the audience, I’ll let you go.” Bryce nodded quickly. He wanted to swear he wouldn’t say a word vocally, but he couldn’t. Too terrified to speak.

“But,” Max pulled Bryce closer “let’s make it more of a challenge!” Bryce didn’t even register what Max said before being grabbed by the collar and getting his left eye pulled out.

Bryce wanted to scream, but Max grabbed him by the throat again. Max then grabbed Bryce’s phone out of his pocket and crushed it in front of him. “You have a minute.”

Max then vanished, dropping Bryce. Bryce knew he didn’t have a lot of time! He needed to get moving now! But he was so dizzy and lightheaded and everything was a bit blurry, now that his better eye was gone. Bryce used the closest locker to get up as quickly as he could.

After bumping into a wall, he left the locker room.

Bryce was going as fast as he could, but he was stumbling around as the dizziness was hard to handle. He was struggling to see how close and far things actually were as things were blurring up more, tears threatening to form.

He didn’t know how long it took, but he was almost there!

He needs to warn the others!

He needs to warn everyone!

He needs to!

HE NEEDS TO!

Bryce heard people booing and cheering. “WILL-“ “times up.” Max appeared, grabbing Bryce by the head and slamming it into the ground. ‘no…nonononononononono! NO!’ He was so close! He just needed to finish going through the entrance! He was halfway there!

Bryce started to crawl, as a small hopeful attempt. He was too tired to yell or cry. He could only crawl. Max grabbed Bryce by the ankles, “I said, times up!” He started dragging Bryce away.

‘NO NO NO! PATRICK! THEO! WILLIAM! NOEL! ANYONE! HELP ME!’ Was what Bryce wanted to say. “Want to make sure you don’t alert the nerds what’s coming for them. Especially all your siblings.” Max smiled.

Bryce only had one last thought before Max could do his worse.

‘I’m sorry…’

As he was dragged back to the locker rooms, trying to stay awake.

Chapter Text

William was worried that Bryce just suddenly vanished during the game. Maybe he found a friend of his and stayed with them and forgot to tell the others? For the last day? That’s what William liked to believe as he paced around the house. He started getting snappy as his worries increased.

Patrick was also worried. Didn’t show it on his face, but Theo and William noticed him tapping a pencil faster than usual. They kept reassuring Patrick that Bryce knows how to take care of himself, but it didn’t help that much. Patrick started drowning out other voices in the house as time went on.

Theo was also worried, but he knew Bryce better than Patrick and William, so it wasn’t as bad as the two eldest’s fear. Noel hadn’t noticed Bryce was gone, as he assumed Bryce found a better hiding spot than before. Wendy….no one knew or really cared to know how she felt about this.

A knock was heard from the front door, William was quick to answer, concern bleeding into his voice, “Bryce?!” It wasn’t Bryce, but two officers. “…Hello officers?”

“Hi kid, are Mrs or Mr. Hawthorn here?” Theo’s ears perked up as he heard that from the kitchen, he then quickly ran to get Patrick. Quickly, they both ran to the hallway to listen. “No, but I’m the official guardian for the Hawthorn brothers.” “Okay, Mr…”

“Blackwood. Just call me William.” William quickly added. “William, I’m Detective Shapiro and this is Officer Bailey.” William looked at the two, receiving a quick ‘don’t look at me’ from Officer Bailey, fear increasing.

“…did something happen?” William stepped outside and closed the door behind him. To stop any of his siblings from listening. But unbeknownst to him, Patrick and Theo quickly went to the front door and pressed their ears against it.

“We have unfortunate news about Bryce Hawthorn.”
“…is he okay? Please tell me he’s okay.”
“William, he was murdered” Detective Shapiro replied gently.
“…what..?”
“Head was found in the john, eyes gone.”
“…head?”
“Got swirlied! Then the killer left the trophy in the toilet as we lost to Clivesdale!”
“Bailey”

Officer Bailey then went on about the crime scene, still upset about losing to Clivesdale. The two were then radioed that they found a third body, but in the old Waylon place. Shapiro said her goodbye and condolences to William as Bailey was already gone.

William was frozen. The news spinning in his head like a hurricane. Bryce was dead. Max was found. Someone in his family was dead. William turned around and shakily quickly opened the front do- “OW!” Two voices yelled in pain, both sounding upset.

William squeezed through the crack he made and saw a teary eyed Theo and a horrified Patrick. This was the first time William saw Patrick this horrified. They obviously were listening. “…” “please tell me this is some fucking prank by this town’s shitty cops!” Patrick yelled at William.

William could only mutter “I wish…” Patrick got up and shoved William to the ground. “NOEL!” He yelled with anger slipping out onto his tone, going into hungry sibling’s room. William looked at Theo, who had tears falling from one eye while the other was watery. William extended his arms and Theo threw himself into the eldest’s arms.

Wendy heard everything outside her room. The argument between Noel and Patrick and the loud cries of Theo. Wendy wanted to comfort them. But didn’t. She didn’t know how. She then felt a strong force outside. She looked out the window, “…something’s here.”

Something she was sure they had awakened, making her worried about her family’s safety.

In town,
News were spiraling around, that they lost to Clivesdale and that three Hatchetfield High students had been brutally murdered. The mayor announced a curfew for individuals 18 and under. But after that announcement and some questions, people started pointing fingers to each other.

Didn’t matter if you were
A cop
A teen
A lawyer
A counselor
A wealthy person
A religious person
A random individual in or out of town
None of it mattered.

They needed to know
Who did this to the quiet town?