Author's Note: Short chapter, but intense. Hope you like! BTW, bought the tickets for the show. I'm about 6 rows back. :D can't wait!
Chapter 36: Hurt Those You Love
Peter didn't understand what happened. He'd been looking for Micky and Mike after they disappeared and suddenly he was in his room. He looked around and found himself alone in the room. He tried pulling the door open, but it wouldn't move. He knew that Davy had been alone when confronted with an illusion of his greatest fear, so he knew that was probably about to happen to him. He took a step back from the door and readied himself for whatever was about to happen. He didn't have to wait very long when he heard a laughing behind him. He turned around to see the Devil sitting on his bed laughing at him.
"Leave me alone," Peter said sternly. "You can't get to me. I won't let you. I'm not afraid."
"You think so?" the Devil answered.
"I am not afraid," Peter repeated. "Nothing can happen to me. My friends will always be there for me."
"Will they?" the Devil asked. "I don't see them right now."
"You did something," Peter answered. "They're in my heart and that's all that matters."
"You seem so sure they will always feel the same way about you that you do them," the Devil sneered.
"I am," Peter answered. "And there's not a thing you can do to change that."
"What if I told you there was," the Devil said with a sick smile on his face. "See, they're being exposed to their biggest fears right as we speak."
"Leave them alone," Peter said.
"I'm having too much fun with this," the Devil laughed. "Seeing them writhe in pain brings me great pleasure. See, you boys think you keep defeating me, but you're not. You've been subjected over and over again to my tortures and you're friends are near their breaking point. Terror is filling every inch of their souls and they are begging for it all to end. And soon it will end for them."
"What did you do to them?" Peter demanded unconsciously clenching his fists.
"I offered them a solution," the Devil answered. "A way for them to end their suffering and pain. If they sign their souls over to me, their pain will end."
"They'd never do that," Peter quipped.
"Never?" the Devil asked. "Everyone has a price. Yours was a harp. You signed your soul over for a harp and the ability to play it and by doing so you put your friends in danger."
"I didn't know!" Peter snapped.
"It doesn't matter if you knew it or not," the Devil laughed. "The fact is that you did. They had to bail you out and they put themselves in the line of fire for you."
"I didn't mean to," Peter said starting to crack a little.
"I know you didn't, Peter," the Devil said smiling at him. "But not to worry, their suffering is over. They've broken and now they belong to me."
"No!" Peter yelled.
"Yes," the Devil laughed waving at something behind Peter. "It's over, Peter." Peter whirled around and saw Mike standing in front of the door. He looked weak and pale. Peter ran over to him and hugged him.
"Mike, I'm so sorry," Peter said trying to hold back tears. He didn't want to appear weak in front of the Devil, but he was worried about what had happened to Mike. "This is my fault; I'm so sorry."
"Get off me," Mike said gruffly pushing Peter away from him.
"What?" Peter said looking at Mike incredibly puzzled.
"I told you, Peter," the Devil laughed behind him. "They belong to me."
"How could you do this to us?" Mike asked Peter. "After everything we've done for you and you go and make a stupid mistake by signing a contract without reading it! You're right this is your fault, Peter! I can't believe you didn't learn your lesson the first time when you signed that lifetime dance contract!"
"Mike, I'm sorry," Peter said no unable to hold back tears.
"Because of you, we've been through nothing but hell the past several months!" Mike said now advancing on Peter menacingly. "We've all almost died! I nearly killed Davy! My best friend!"
"I'm sorry!" Peter cried not knowing what else to say or do.
"That's all you've got?" said Micky's voice behind him. Peter turned to look at Micky who looked just as weak as Mike, but still somehow full of rage.
"Micky?" Peter asked apprehensively unsure if Micky was as mad at him as Mike was.
"I'm sorry?" Micky echoed Peter's own words back at him. "That's all you've got after everything?"
"What do you want me to say?" Peter asked.
"How about an explanation?" said Davy now sitting on his bed.
"I'm sorry," Peter said again, the words sounding hollow now. "I don't have one."
"I do," Mike said pushing Peter against the wall. "You're an idiot. You are a stupid, naïve, idiot who only thinks about himself!"
"No, Mike, he'd have to think in order to think about himself," Davy said getting up and advancing toward Peter, too.
"What are you guys doing?" Peter asked.
"Don't you see, Peter?" Micky said. "You are the cause of all this. Without you around, we wouldn't be going through any of this. We'd be safe."
"So I'll leave," Peter said trying to inch toward the door. His friends were talking about hurting him, killing him perhaps. He knew they would never do anything to hurt him. This couldn't be his friends. This was an illusion. But it didn't make sense; he wasn't afraid of his friends turning on him because he knew it would never happen.
"You can't leave, Peter," Mike said moving to block him. "You're leaving doesn't fix anything."
"The Devil is still mad at us," Micky added. "He still wants his revenge. There's only one way to give it to him."
"Ok," Peter said. "I don't understand what's going on here. You're obviously not my friends; that much I figured out."
"No, Peter," Davy said coming up behind Peter. "Friends don't put each other in the line of fire. You're right: we aren't your friends anymore. You've done nothing but drag us down anyway." Before Peter could react, Davy pushed Peter into Micky who gripped his arms tightly and held them behind his back.
"What's going on?" Peter asked. He felt afraid, but still couldn't understand why. He knew these weren't really his friends. There's no way they would ever hurt him, so this couldn't be his greatest fear. He didn't really know what to say or do; should he fight back or let things happen as they may?
"You really are stupid, aren't you?" Davy said. "We've just explained it to you!"
"No," Peter argued as he tried to wriggle out of Micky's grip. "You aren't my friends. You aren't Mike and you aren't Micky and you aren't Davy!"
"Yes they are, Peter," the Devil said from the corner of the room. Peter hadn't seen him since Mike showed up, but guessed he'd been watching the whole time. "I told you: I own them now."
"Make them stop!" Peter pled.
"We can't, Peter," Micky said gripping his arms tighter. Peter felt pain through his arms, but couldn't bring himself to fight much harder. Even though he knew these were illusions, he still couldn't hurt his friends.
"This is how it has to be, Peter," Mike said. "We have to save ourselves. We're tired of suffering because of you." Mike pulled a very sharp looking knife out of his back pocket and Peter suddenly turned very cold.
"Don't do this," Peter said. "Make them stop. I know these are illusions! They aren't real."
"Then they can't hurt you," the Devil laughed. "Illusions aren't real, so they can't hurt you."
"Please, stop," Peter pled trying to pull away from Micky.
"They are real, Peter," the Devil said as Micky twisted Peter's arm tighter behind his back and pain shot through his whole back. "They are going to kill you, Peter. What are you going to do?" Was the Devil right? Were these his friends? Surely an illusion couldn't hurt him like Micky was. But what did that mean for Peter? He couldn't fight back if these really were his friends.
"No," Peter begged. "Make them stop."
"This is their choice, Peter," the Devil said. "I offered them the choice and they're making it."
"What choice?" Peter asked getting angry. "Kill me or keep suffering? If they kill me, they'll be safe? Is that it? I hate you!"
"Oh, that burns," the Devil laughed sarcastically. "What are you waiting for, Michael? Kill him."
"No!" Peter yelled pulling harder against Micky.
"Oh, come now, Peter," the Devil said as Mike raised the knife above his head. "Surely you can do better than that. I thought you said these were illusions? They aren't your friends so you should be able to fight back." Time seemed to move in slow motion as Mike brought the knife closer to Peter. Instinct overwhelmed Peter and forced him to fight back. He threw his head back and slammed into Micky's face. Micky cried out in pain and let go of Peter just before Mike stabbed Peter. Instead, the knife plunged into Micky's shoulder. Peter turned and stared horrified as his friend cried out in pain and dropped to the ground.
"Look what you made me do!" Mike yelled turning on Peter and charging him. Mike's face was full of rage and instinctively, Peter ran out of the way.
"Mike!" Peter yelled trying to get his friend to snap out of whatever hold the Devil had over him. "Please, don't do this! Snap out of it!"
"Shut up, Peter!" Davy exclaimed trying to advance on Peter from the other side. Peter backed into the wall as his two friends boxed him in. His eyes fell on Micky moaning in pain on the floor holding his shoulder. Blood was already starting to pool beneath him.
"No," Peter started crying. Illusions didn't bleed, did they?
"You even messed this up!" Davy yelled. "You mess everything up! You hurt everyone around you!"
"No," Peter said sinking to the ground and sobbing. "I'm sorry. I didn't want any of this to happen. I…I…"
"Shut up, Peter," Mike sneered. "You don't get to talk anymore."
"I'm impressed," the Devil laughed standing over Micky. "I didn't think you'd actually fight back. But you did. You hurt your best friend very gravely. He could die."
"Please help him," Peter said.
"What makes you think I can?" the Devil laughed.
"I didn't want to hurt him," Peter sobbed.
"But you did," the Devil said with a sickening smile and disappeared. Mike and Davy disappeared with him. Peter finally understood what was happening. This was his greatest fear. He'd actually hurt his friend. Peter stared at Micky on the ground and couldn't move. Blood was coming out of his nose from where Peter had hit him. Micky was in pain and dying by Peter's hand. He didn't care that the Devil had tricked him into making his worst fear a reality. He had been right about their entire situation having been Peter's fault. If Peter had never signed that contract, they'd all be fine right now. They'd all be happy and safe. If it weren't for him, Davy's leg wouldn't have been burned; Davy wouldn't have had his heart toyed with; Micky never would have been assaulted by train robbers and they never would have nearly died in that ghost town. And worst of all, it had been Peter's actions that had directly resulted in Micky being seriously injured and he didn't even have the courage to do anything about it. All he could do was sit there while his friend lay bleeding on the floor. Because of him.