"He should be back by now," Liam growled out through clenched teeth, the sound rugged and desperate as he paced back and forth on the tiled floor. His footsteps echoed around the lobby of the large house, frantic rhythm quickening as the clock pushed past the half-hour mark. He was getting more and more agitated by the second, hand embedded firmly in his hair as he strode from one end of the room to the other. His mind was racing, pulsing with all of the possibilities that could be unfolding just out of his reach.

Nate watched his friend from his position seated on the grand staircase in the middle of the lobby. His nerves were far more easily contained, expensive shoes tapping against the step below with a pace that increased with every minute that passed. He kept his hands occupied, folding and unfolding the edge of his blazer sleeve. Occasionally glancing out of the window in hopes of seeing a familiar blue car pull into the driveway.

No such luck.

Both boys had changed out of their school uniform, Liam in his usual attire of jeans and a white T-Shirt and Nate feeling comfortable in a pair of dark jeans, a white button up and a blazer thrown over the top. His outfit choice wasn't really anything out of the ordinary, having grown up in a world of suits and ties, but his hair was actually combed for once, which suggested an important occasion. He had meant to be driving out of town to meet his dad about another murder. He should have left by now.

"He hasn't replied to any of my messages." Liam was getting more frustrated by the second, pulling at the roots of his hair so much that it was really beginning to hurt. All of his fears were becoming hard to ignore, each spur of another dark thought causing him to pace a little faster than before. He was close to going out of his mind with worry, not trusting everything to be okay until he had physical evidence of it. 

Nate sighed, leaning his head against the bannister, looking out of the window almost longingly now. "Calm down, Liam. Flynn will be back soon. He's probably just chatting up Eleanor or something." His words didn't exactly have conviction, especially as he was close to going insane with worry himself, but it did the trick. Liam immediately stopped pacing, spinning round to face Nate with a deadly glare to which Nate only responded with a shrug, an amused smile tugging at his lips as his eyebrows raised in silent laughter.

Liam was so out of it that it took him a few moments to realise that his friend was joking, narrowing his eyes in annoyance before sulkily trudging over to the stairs where Nate was seated and sitting himself down on the step below him. He didn't really appreciate Nate's unsubtle method of trying to get his mind off where the hell Flynn was. And why he wasn't here with Eleanor yet. 

The three boys had been living together for years now, taking shelter under the wealth of Nate's bank account. Flynn and Liam had protested at first, of course, but had soon realised that they really had nowhere else to turn. Besides, Nate's father was out of town most of the time so they could pretty much do as they pleased. The house was filled with scraps of paper, post-it notes and stray thoughts relating to the visions they all had and a few leads on the murders happening in and around London. It was why Flynn was an idiot, really, to invite someone round when there was so much evidence of their secret.

There were laws strictly forbidding revealing their abilities to anyone outside the seer community. Breaking that rule was one of the highest offences in the seeing society, sitting right under the law of why it was incredibly important to never tell someone their fate. Especially if it involved a death of any kind. It was for these reasons that Liam was really, really hoping the counsel of elders never found out about his little phone calls to Eleanor. He really didn't fancy being locked up for the next few years of his life.

"What if this is it, Nate?" Liam's voice was quiet, barely meeting Nate's ears as he bent over to rest his head on his knees. "What if this is the night she dies? What the hell am I supposed to do if I never get to see her again?" His words contained a sort of ache that held a boundless pain in each syllable. His mouth was spewing all the possibilities he had been afraid to think. All of the things he had been pushing back in hopes of never seeing them again.

Nate closed his eyes, gulping as he tried to imagine a world without Eleanor in it. He still remembered that night so vividly, when Liam had come bursting through the bedroom door with news of Eleanor's death. His best friend's death. He had never quite recovered from that blow, holes being punctured in the wound faster than the cuts were healing. He could still feel the air being sucked out of his lungs, the way he couldn't quite breathe for a moment as he just sat there. In bed. In the middle of the night. Forgetting how to breathe as a single tear rolled down his cheek for the first time in years. 

The pain he felt was renewed every time he saw her, every smile she made making him want to wrap it up and store it away forever. It was a painful torture, knowing the person you loved was doomed to die. It made you miss them even when they were here. For now, anyway. It made you view them as a walking corpse, just something to be remembered and not something to be loved. Just a memory that it was best to cherish before it was ripped out of your fingers forever. It wasn't the right way of thinking, he knew that much, but Nate had experienced so much death that it was impossible not to feel that way. He had had so much ripped out from under him, everything he loved tumbling out from beneath his feet until all he had left was a useless father who preferred to never look his son in the eye rather than to talk to him. It was one of the reasons he valued his friendship with the other two boys so much, they were more of a family to him than his own dad.

But Eleanor was...had been...she was something else. She made him smile and forget for a little bit. She made him think that...that maybe everything would be okay. And, although their friendship may have not started off on the most honest terms, he had found himself falling more in love with her day by day. And that had been as torturous as it was blissful, because he could never have her. Liam cared for her so much that he barely talked about anything else and...and it wouldn't be fair. Liam could never make a move with Eleanor. And he had made that sacrifice. It would be wrong for Nate to take advantage of that, his friend had lost far too much already. Possibly more than he had. He had never told Liam of his feelings towards her, and he never intended to. Because, knowing Liam, he would tell him to go for it. And Nate didn't want to see the pain in his eyes as he said it. "Do...do you think she might love you back?"

Liam chuckled, but it held no humour. As a matter of fact, he almost sounded close to tears. "How can she?" His voice was exasperated, resigned. He had given up, it seemed. And it made Nate want to punch the bastard who decided to take a girl out of life so early. She was more precious to the people around her than even she knew. "I've made her life hell for years."

"Liam, that wasn't your fault."

"I didn't have to do it, Nate. I could have just stayed the hell away from her. I could have just...I could have just let her go."

"Liam-"

"Besides, I...that way he couldn't possibly suspect it. That...that way he...he won't come after her...because he...he just won't know." He sounded as if he was trying to reassure himself more than anything else. And Nate couldn't possibly do anything but agree, because he knew, deep down, that, in Liam's position, he would have done the exact same thing. He wouldn't have had the willpower to stay away.

He didn't get the chance to respond, though, because a flash of beaming headlights hit the large, stained glass window and both boys were immediately on their feet, racing down the stairs and towards the large, heavy, wooden front door. It was Liam who attempted to yank it open, twisting the knob in such a scrambling manner that Nate had to use a steady hand to open it for him.

And they opened the door to a dark, rainy night, the streaks of water almost appearing to be tiny silver bullets raining from the sky. They swirled around the large driveway, obscuring the vision of the dark blue sports car pulled up on the gravel. The wind was whistling a sorry tune, almost haunting as the cold began to seep into the boys' skin.

It was Flynn who got out the car first, blonde hair the only bright thing in the dark scene as he raced towards the boot of the car. His friends were confused at this action, not remembering him taking anything worth that amount of hurry in his haste to leave, but their attention was soon stolen by the shaking figure emerging from the passenger door, figure shivering and almost appearing terrified as she slammed the car door shut behind her. She was wearing the red leather jacket under her coat. 

Both boys had to refrain from sprinting down there to wrap her up in their arms, feet both taking a step forward in unison before they caught sight of what Flynn was struggling to retain from the boot of his car. It was a large thing, and looked heavy too, like a deformed shadow dreading the break of dawn. But, upon the narrowing of eyes and taking a step closer, the two boys soon recognised the item to be a body. A human body to be exact, tall, muscly and wearing a soaked red T-Shirt. A boy with very familiar ginger hair.

Liam froze. 

Nate almost forgot how to breathe.

"You guys gonna help me carry this heavy ass body inside or not?"