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❝ we all need someone to stay.
hear the FALLEN and lonely,
cry out. will you fix me up?
will you show me HOPE? ! ❞

someone to stay, vancouver
sleep clinic.

FINNEY EVENTUALLY WOKE up, only to find himself back on the mattress in the same old basement. he brought his hand up and touched beneath his nose, holding it out and seeing some blood on his hand, "son of a bitch."

after he said that, the phone rang again. he looked at it, "no..fuck you.."

after the phone wouldn't stop ringing, he got up, "dammit."

he picked up the phone and sat back down, "what?"

he was greeted with nothing but silence, and finney only grew more annoyed, "you gonna say something? do you even know who you are?"

"what the shit kind of question is that? do you even know who you are?"

finney was taken back, but nonetheless was curious. he knew who's voice this belonged to, but he needed to make sure first.

"i'm finney blake."

"yeah? well nice to fucking meet you finney blake. right here. this is it!"

"this is what?"

"the horrifying nightmare end to your pathetic little life."

that's when finney confirmed his thoughts, "holy shit..you're vance hopper! i remember you..you used to scare me."

"trust me, finney blake. if you knew what you had coming you'd be fucking terrified. today's the day, motherfucker!...have you tried stacking the carpets to reach the window?"

"i've tried everything."

"no! not everything. when the grabber saw that i had done, that was it. and he took his time with me too."

"what did you do?"

vance scoffed, "oh that fucker had to spend a fortune to repair all the damages.."

"what did you do?" finney repeated.

"i'm getting to that, cuntwad! or do you have some other important shit you have to do right now?" vance told him, irritated.

finney immediately stood up, "no no no, i'm listening."

"..there's an outlet in the shitter, across from the john."

"yeah, i've seen it."

"on the other side of the wall there's a storage room. you can't get into the room because there's a big ass upright freezer in the way."

"okay.."

"break into the wall about two feet above the outlet, until you get to a panel with screws in it. get the panel off, and you're into the freezer."

"and then out to the storage room." finney nodded.

"..get her out for me, finney blake." vance's voice calmed down a little.

that's all he ever wanted: for her to get the hell out of there.

jaelin and vance had sort of an older brother-younger sister type bond. both of which had little to no father figures in their lives, and so when they shared that common fact, vance took it upon himself to be there for jaelin, just like how she was always there for him.

he didn't want to be like his father, or like jaelin's father. sure, his anger issues got in the way, but deep down he swore to never be like them. to leave like they did. to not be supportive like they were.

jaelin was unaware that he knew of all the quarters she sneakily put on the side of the pinball machine, just so he could play longer. it surprised him, because no one has done something as thoughtful as that towards him, ever.

that was one of the many small things jaelin would do for him. he found it a little too sweet for his liking, but that's just him. he appreciated her a whole lot, but he would never verbally say it- jaelin would always remember him saying that wasn't his 'forte' or something like that.

but she knew he was grateful, deep down. he didn't need to say it, but him just being there for her already told her everything she needed to know. actions do speak louder than words, after all.

so alas, even in death, vance would still continue to look out for little jaelin noelle covey. it's the least he could do.

"i will. thank you."

"for what?" he returned back to his harsh tone.

"for helping me."

"helping you?..this isn't about you. fuck him!" vance screamed into the phone as finney moved it away from his ear.

the loud echoes wouldn't stop so finney covered his ears and sat down against the wall. finney yelped, closing his eyes and putting his head down. meanwhile, two empty sprite bottles came flying towards either side of him, hitting the wall and shattering.

once the noise was gone, he looked up and uncovered his ears. he was breathing heavily, and he was pretty sure his eyes were glossy. he hated loud noises.

he then turned his head to see jaelin hopefully asleep on the mattress. he stood up and went over to her, "aylin? aylin! wake up! aylin?"

after shaking her multiple times, the girl stirred and fluttered her eyelids open. finney sighed in relief, moving back so jaelin could sit up.

she rubbed her head, "ugh, if he drugs me one more time i think i might die of overdose."

"he drugged you again?" he frowned.

she nodded, "yeah, after he knocked you
out-" she stopped mid-sentence after seeing finney's glossy eyes.

she immediately grew concerned, "what happened?"

he was surprised how she didn't hear the loud echoes and glass shattering, but nonetheless shrugged it off, "nothing..just the pain of the punch, i guess."

jaelin knew he was lying, but didn't question it. "c'mon, we need to try another way out." he took her upper arm and dragged her up and towards the wall which vance told him to break.

on the way there, she saw pieces of broken glass everywhere on the floor. she furrowed her brows, "what the fuck-"

"don't ask."

jaelin whipped her head around to face him, putting her other arm up in surrender, "wasn't gonna."

"mhm." finney nodded sarcastically.

FINNEY ROUGHLY EXPLAINED what they had to do, and she understood and got to work. whilst finney was breaking the wall, she scanned the inside of the compartment behind the toilet and tried to find something to unscrew the panel with.

half an hour or so later, finney managed to reach the panel. jaelin found an outline of a screw and finney was able to use that to unscrew it.

after successfully getting the panel off, they were met with the freezer. jaelin grimaced at the amount of meat in there; they ended up throwing some of it on the floor so it was out of the way.

finney and jaelin both situated themselves so their upper arms and shoulders were against the freezer door. "3..2.." on the count of one, both of them tried to shove the freezer door open.

however, it wouldn't budge. they did this multiple times and even tried using their feet to kick it open. still, it wouldn't budge.

both of them were breathing heavily, having been using all their energy into trying to get it open. it seemed as though nothing was working.

jaelin stared at the freezer door in defeat whilst finney slowly got out and collapsed into the corner, leaning his head against the wall and crying.

jaelin couldn't believe it. she refused to. but they've tried everything, and nothing worked. the girl hated the fact that she was slowly starting to give up, even though she didn't want to.

if this was her fate, then so be it. she was tired, really tired. she couldn't get finney out, she couldn't save robin, she couldn't even help prevent the others from getting kidnapped.

and she couldn't even comfort finney when he needed it the most.

she sighed and put her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and bringing her head down. i'm sorry robin. i really, really am.

she sat there, deep in thought. she didn't have the energy to follow finney when he got up, most likely towards the phone, and listen to whoever it was again. what was the point? it didn't look like they were getting out.

although, that all changed when her ears perked up at a certain someone's name being said.

ׅ𖥔 ۫ iloveblondead speaks ! ⋄ 𓍯

you guys r not prepared
for the next chapter oh my...

also, in one of brady's interviews
(i'm sure there's a clip somewhere
u can find) he mentions that he
portrays vance as a character who's
parents weren't supportive &/or
weren't there for him, so i wanted
to add that portrayal in my book :')

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