Panic was a stupid game, and the both of you were stupid to have been playing it.

The challenge was to go into the abandoned house, solve the riddles, whatever. Everyone split up, everyone chose to focus on their own level of the house. But Ray and Tyler ended up in a room together, and Tyler, probably already high before the challenge even started, decided to turn on a very old generator.

At the exact same time, Dodge had been poking around an outlet after solving a riddle. Once the generator sparked to life, it sent the current right through the wire Dodge was touching. Dodge had been electrocuted. Drew found him and after everyone escaped from the fire that started in the house, you brought him to the hospital.

That night, you had a dream about the fire. Except Dodge was the only one left in there after everyone else escaped. You couldn’t move Dodge’s incapacitated body, so instead… you laid right down next to him and let the smoke engulf the both of you.

The story was that it was a party gone wrong. That’s what everyone agreed on to tell the cops when they inevitably came poking around. But it was then and there, looking at Dodge’s tired and weak body as he struggled to wake up, that you decided Panic was no longer worth it.

A soft grumble escapes past Dodge’s lips as he minutely shifts in the hospital bed, attempting to get comfortable and ease the pain still ricocheting through his body. He feels your hand wrapped up in his, and he does his best to squeeze it.

“Hey,” he says, his voice so quiet and raw. His eyes crack open and he tries to smile at you.