“No!” Lydia shouted, and she pounded her fists against Garrett’s chest. “You have to tell him, Garrett!” she pleaded. “You just have to! He’s gonna go through with it if you don’t.”

She wiped her face on his shirt and gripped it tightly with her right hand. “Do something!”

Garrett stared at Lydia, long and hard, his fast blasting into a blanched shade of grey. He averted his eyes towards Eddie, who was stumbling in front of them, barely managing to stay on his feet. His eyes were sliding towards the ground, but he knew he had to protect them.

They were the only friends he had left.

A gust of warm air hit them like a bitter memory- slapping them across their faces. The darkness was closing in on them now. If Garrett didn’t say something…

It might be too late.

“Eddie!’ Garrett yelled over the howling wind, his brown hair soaked with sweat and matted all over his forehead. “Eddie, listen to me!”

For a brief moment, Eddie turned around, a look of something unrecognizable flickered across his ashen face. His messy red hair was staggered over his eyes, curtaining them from despair.

“Please!” Garrett begged. “You don’t have to do this, Eddie!” he yelled, struggling to be heard over the melancholy chuckles of the icy wind. “You don’t owe me anything. I’ve held this over your head for too long. You don’t need to be guilty anymore, okay?”

Eddie blinked at him, his eyelids heavy and eyes glazed over. “You don’t get it. I do owe you something. I’ve never been nice to you- not once. Now’s my chance to fix that.”

Lydia’s blonde hair whipped Garrett’s reddened face. “Eddie,” she spoke softly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We shouldn’t have…”

“Save it, Lydia,” Eddie cut her off, tension spilling through his words as if it was drool. “You’ve done enough. Just please let me handle this.”

The shadows were consuming him now, eating away at his aura, chugging down his soul. “Go!” Eddie encouraged. “Before it’s too late!”

“I’m not leaving you!” Garrett screamed. “I’m not!” He gently pulled Lydia to her feet. “Get outta here. Save yourself, please.”

He planted a kiss on her forehead. “I love you,” he whispered, and then Garret staggered forward, joining his brother in the shadows.

“No!” Lydia screeched, her voice sharp as nails, and she charged towards them, knocking them to the ground. “Garrett...Eddie, I-”

Her words froze upon her lips, leaving them unsaid. Her electric blue eyes shuddered shut, and Eddie and Garrett rolled her off them. They knew it wasn’t long until they were devoured as well.

“Lydia,” Eddie breathed, and Garrett stared at her.

Spots fluttered across his eyes, and his breathing became thick and creamy. Eddie keeled over, clutching Lydia’s hand, and slumped to the ground, all color vanishing from his face as though it had been drained in an instant.

Garrett’s legs crumpled underneath him and he sailed towards the ground, his body twisting. He tried to yell in agony, but no words came out.

There had been so much he had wanted to say.

And he’d had the time to say it, he’d just chosen not to.

With that last thought of dread, fleeting through his mind like a guilty pleasure, he sunk into despair, his death creeping in. His heartbeats ebbed away, and he, too, lay on the ground, still, pale, and sickly.

Two brother, and their best friend.

Dead.

Killed by the thoughts that ate away at them.