"You ready?" Bill asked. Ralph nodded, and Bill adjusted his sunglasses and grinned. He had a plan for the day. First they'd go wander around in the park for a little bit, and maybe, if they could, have some… fun times behind a tree somewhere. Then they'd go get groceries.

And then go home.

"I thought we were getting groceries?" Ralph asked when Bill headed for the trees. Bill grinned at him. "Bill, where are we going?"

"We're just taking a shortcut," Bill said. Ralph raised an eyebrow. "Okay, it's not actually a shortcut, but we can goof off a little before we get groceries."

Ralph turned pink, and the two began to wander through the park, ditching the more populated area to delve into the forested, solitary area. It was a nice place to walk – it was a little cold, and a light dusting of snow crunched underneath Bill's feet, but overall, it was just… nice. Nice to be walking with someone he liked, someone he cared about, someone he enjoyed being around-

What was that?

Bill spun around, looking for the source of the shadow he could've sworn he'd just seen. Nothing. He must have imagined it.

"What's wrong?" Ralph asked. Bill shook his head slowly.

"Nothing," he said. "Just thought I saw something… must've been an animal or something, I dunno. A dog, maybe."

If it was a dog, then why aren't there any tracks? Bill wondered. But he was just being silly. It was just his imagination; or maybe a large branch had moved into the sun, or maybe it had been a large cat climbing around in the-

Okay, now he could hear someone following them.

Ralph obviously heard it too, because he grabbed onto Bill and glanced fearfully around. "I don't think it's nothing," he said. "I think it's something. Is it Jack? Or Roger-"

"Don't be silly," Bill said, though he felt a little unnerved himself. "Jack's parents keep him locked up and Roger's… Roger's in an asylum, remember?"

He couldn't tell Ralph that Roger had escaped, not now, not ever. After all, if Ralph knew that Roger was on the loose-

"Is he really in an asylum?" someone asked; someone that wasn't Bill or Ralph. Bill whipped around just in time to see a small, dark-haired figure exit the cover of the trees, grinning wildly, holding a knife in one hand. Bill felt Ralph shrink against him and fought to stay standing tall. "Is he really… oh, who are you, anyway? I don't recognize you… Robert? Henry? Bill? You all look the same to me."

Bill was totally certain that this was Roger, but he didn't really want to confirm it. He didn't want it to be Roger, for both his and Ralph's sakes. "Put the knife down," he said, very calm, very steady, very in-control. "Put the knife down and leave us alone."

This someone laughed, and it was a terrifying laugh; a laugh that would haunt Bill's nightmares for the rest of his life. Bill winced, pulling Ralph behind him. "It'll be okay," he said, trying to convince himself as much as Ralph.

"You must know who I am by now, Ralph," the someone said, ignoring Bill's presence entirely. "Insane? Check. Escaped asylum? Check. Going to kill you? Ch-"

"But Roger didn't escape," Ralph said. His voice sounded small. "He… he's still."

Roger looked at Bill at last. "You know that's not true," he said. "Hiding it from him? Hiding a lot from him, I'd guess."

Bill stayed silent, crossing his arms over his chest. Roger laughed again.

"Oh, how threatening," Roger said, grinning again. "Are you gonna protect your boyfriend?"

Bill narrowed his eyes. "Get out of here," he said. "Or I will hurt you."

"Can you?" Roger asked. "Can you really?"

He spent a couple of minutes studying Bill, taking in his hair, build, and stance, then nodded.

"Bill," he said. "That's who you are."

"What if I told you I have no idea who the hell 'Bill' is?" Bill asked. Roger raised an eyebrow.

"So forgettable you even forget yourself?" he asked. "Tell me, why is Ralphy hanging around you, anyway? Doesn't he know you tried to-"

"Shut up!" Bill shouted, losing his cool at last. Roger looked surprised.

"He doesn't know? God, Bill, you're more forgettable then I thought," Roger said. Bill narrowed his eyes. This wasn't right. Roger wasn't acting right – of course, had Roger ever acted right? No, no of course he hadn't. "Well, Ralphy, let me tell you all about Bill."

Bill looked back at Ralph. He was frozen, eyes wide, like a rabbit about to get shot. "Roger," Bill said, voice low and dangerous. Roger didn't even look at him.

"Bill was one of us," Roger said. "A choirboy. A savage." He said the last word in a sing-song fashion, grinning.

"I- Bill-"

"It's not true," Bill said, turning to look at Ralph. "I-it's not-"

"He lied to you about me being locked up," Roger said. "He lied about this, too."

"I- no, I-"

Ralph took off through the trees and, with no hesitation, Roger followed him.

"Shit," Bill muttered under his breath, chasing the two. Screw the fact that Ralph would probably never even look at him again. If he didn't hurry up, Ralph would be dead, and there would be no opportunity to fix this.

Roger came into sight and Bill leaped for him, catching him around the waist and knocking him to the ground. Roger was both shorter and lighter than Bill, but he had a knife. Bill managed to pin Roger to the ground, sitting on his back, while Roger hissed and growled and struggled, arms whipping around crazily. Bill was about to pin the arm holding the knife down when Ralph reappeared. Distracted, Bill glanced up to meet Ralph's eyes and was met with a searing pain in his hip. He gasped and tipped off of Roger, looking down. There was a knife. Oh, there was a knife stuck in his hip. There was blood, there was blood and a knife and pain and oh God everything was spinning and spinning…

He laid his head back down, closing his eyes and trying to will away the pain. He heard Roger laugh again and knew that he should probably get up and help but how the fuck was he supposed to he'd gotten stabbed it wasn't fatal he didn't think but God he'd been stabbed.

Another voice, a familiar voice that Bill couldn't quite place came into the picture. "Roger!" it shrieked, and then there was struggling and Roger shouting that he'd be back and screaming and fuck, it hurt

Someone put their hand on his face and he opened his eyes. Someone he'd never seen before in his life was kneeling beside him. He tried to speak but couldn't find the words.

"It's alright, we'll get you to the hospital," she said. Bill nodded, closed his eyes, and blacked out.


dun dun dun

yeah bill got stabbed

but it's not fatal so

don't worry

unless it gets infected

wouldn't that be a shame