The cement of the pool deck was hot, absorbing the heat of the day. The palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze that was little relief from the heat. The sound of cars on the highway drifted around the abandoned motel courtyard.
Evan stared at Jonathan, trying to understand what he had just said.
No one moved.
Jonathan watched Evan intently, waiting to see if he would snap.
"How?" Evan whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at Jonathan. "How?" He repeated, raising his voice loud enough to make Jonathan jump.
"You are the Glitch...You became a Glitch without even noticing…" Jonathan managed to say. He curled his hand around the gun, keeping his eyes on Evan. "I don't want to lose you, Evan...but I'd rather do this than make you suffer any longer."
"Jonathan don't...Please. I'm Evan!"
"No you aren't! Sydney was right!" Jonathan sobbed. "I promise I won't let you suffer!" Jonathan grabbed Evan around the throat, throwing him down onto the hot pool deck. Evan struggled against him, his eyes wide with fear. He struggled to breathe, trying to pull Jonathan's hands off his throat. He gasped, his hands falling to the pavement when the lack of air became too painful to handle. Just out of reach from his left hand was a long, very sharp, shard of glass. It glinted in the sunlight, the light almost blinding to Evan. He stretched his hand towards the shard, keeping his eyes on Jonathan whose tears dropped onto Evan's face. He took his right hand off Evan's throat to grab the gun, pressing the barrel to his forehead. "Please forgive me...Please...I'm so sorry, Evan."
"Don't…"
"I'm sorry." Jonathan suddenly screamed in pain, the glass shard stabbed deep into his side. Evan threw him off on to the hot pavement, the barrel hitting Evan's forehead with enough force to bruise.
Jonathan screamed in agony as he tried to pull the glass from his side, blood dripping onto the hot pavement.
The sound hurt Evan's heart.
Evan scrambled to his feet, running towards the motel, picking up another glass shard along the way. He found an unlocked room, stumbling inside and locking the door. He made his way to the bathroom, pushing open the old wood door. Setting the glass shard down, he gripped the sink as he stared at his reflection. Sunlight coming through the small window glinted off the mirror. Dust floated through the air.
Tears fell from his glitching eyes.
They seemed to almost have a glow to them like they were a computer screen. They glitched aggressively, different, unnatural colours flashing in his eyes. He didn't feel like a Glitch. He didn't want to kill Jonathan. He remembered what the Glitch Hunters had said. If he could turn people into a Glitch simply by being around them, then he just had to make other people Glitch themselves. He had torturing his friends this whole time, making them turn themselves into Glitches with their antics.
"Pinch yourself and you'll wake up." Brock's words floated through his mind. They meant nothing to him now. This dream had become a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from.
He heard a loud bang from the other room, seeing a burning hole in the door.
"Fuck…" Evan grabbed the shard, holding on to it tightly. He was surprised that he could still see with Glitching eyes. He smiled because Luke was at least wrong about one thing.
He could hear everything. He could hear Jonathan on the other side of the door, breathing heavily as he lifted the gun to shoot the door again. Evan leaned against the wall beside the door, wishing he didn't have to do this.
The door flew open, the sound of the gunshot ringing in Evan's ears. He stepped in front of Jonathan, hitting him hard in the face. He could hear the sound of bones breaking under his fist.
Another gunshot deafened Evan, pain blossoming from his side where the bullet had skimmed him and hit the mattress in a burst of feathers behind him. Jonathan stumbled backwards, trying to stop himself from falling onto the glass covered pool deck.
He swung at Evan, the barrel of the gun hitting him hard in the face. The noise that Evan made from the sudden pain was inhuman.
His shriek echoed around the courtyard.
Evan fell back against the wall, blood trickling down the side of his face as he stared at Jonathan with angry, glitching eyes. Jonathan and the Glitch stared at each other, waiting for the other to move first. The shard of glass in Evan's hand had cut through the gauze and into his hand, dark blood dripping onto the deck. Jonathan held the gun tightly, tears in his eyes as he stared at the monster who had just a few moments ago, been his best friend. The pain from the hit to his head had triggered something inside of Evan. He couldn't think anymore, only about the rage he suddenly felt towards Jonathan and the need to slit his throat open.
He didn't feel like Evan anymore.
"Evan…" Jonathan whispered. He didn't get a response.
Evan let out another shriek as he lunged forward, stabbing the shard of glass into Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan screamed in pain, throwing the Glitch off. He managed to get his hand around Evan's throat, pushing him against the wall with all his force in an attempt to bash his head open. Evan shrieked, pushing him off and swung the shard at his throat. Jonathan stumbled backwards towards the pool, flailing his arms to stay balanced.
He raised the gun, pointing it towards Evan who tried to hit the gun from his hand as he pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed in Evan's ears, the bullet burying itself in the sun warmed wall behind him. Evan swung again, the shard cutting Jonathan's wrist. Blood spurting onto the pool deck. He dropped the gun, putting his hand to his bleeding wrist. If he didn't stop the flow, he'd bleed out.
Evan smiled a bloody, monstrous smile.
He stepped forward and shoved Jonathan backwards with all his strength. Jonathan screamed as he fell backwards into the deep end of the pool. He landed in the shallow dirty water that began to slowly turn red. Evan stared down at him. The rage he had felt faded and exhaustion came over him. He dropped the shard to the pool deck where it shattered into tiny, bloody pieces.
"Jonathan…?" There was no answer. "Jonathan...I...I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me…" Evan said as he moved around the edge of the pool. He reached the shallow part, jumping down onto the hot cement. "Jonathan? I'm sorry...I didn't mean to push you...I don't know why I did it...Please say something." Evan moved towards the dirty water and Jonathan's body. He knelt down, the water soaking through his clothes as he pulled Jonathan into his arms. His head had been smashed in from the fall, his wrist bleeding excessively along with his many other wounds. Even if he had survived the fall, he would not have survived the blood loss. "Jonathan?" Evan shook his shoulders aggressively, tears filling his glitching eyes. "Jonathan! Say something! Please!" Evan leaned his head against Jonathan's chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry…"
Evan wasn't sure how long he had stayed there, sitting in the dirty rainwater turned red with blood, holding Jonathan's body tightly. He knew that Jonathan was going to Glitch, it was just a matter of time, but he knew he wouldn't attack him.
Glitches wouldn't attack him because they could recognize other Glitches. He realized now that that was why Arlan, Brock and Marcel hadn't wanted to attack him. That had been why the Glitch in the ring wouldn't fight him until he hit first and the Glitch was forced to defend itself.
The Glitches had known all along.
As the sky began to darken, rage began to overcome him. Evan was furious at this world, at everything that had made him into a Glitch.
His despair.
His anger.
His pain.
Evan wailed, pressing his face to Jonathan's chest as he screamed. His voice became more inhuman the more he shrieked, clinging to the body of his friend. He was furious at those who had surrounded him, who had all tried to destroy him. He wished they had.
As the sun set on the horizon, Evan realised what he had to do. He had to bring this horrible, disgusting world down and let it rot.
After dragging Jonathan's body into one of the motel rooms, taking his mask and hoodie off, Evan emptied the gun's bullets into Jonathan's skull, blood covering the mattress. With every gunshot, Evan wailed, tears streaming from his glitching eyes. He couldn't let Jonathan Glitch and see what destruction he was going to bring to this world. He couldn't let Jonathan see the monster that he had become.
As the moon rose higher into the sky, the Glitch left behind all the mercy he had left. He left behind the Evan he thought he had been. He pulled on Jonathan's bloody blue hoodie and his mask. He threw his red jacket over the fence and followed it, climbing up and over the fence. He picked up the jacket, opening the car door and sitting down in the driver's seat. On the passenger seat was the owl mask, staring at him with bright yellow eyes. It was the last reminder of Evan. He sighed, grabbing the mask and walked back to the fence, climbing back over it. The glass cracked under his feet as he walked back to the room, placing the owl mask on Jonathan's chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to Jonathan's bloody forehead. He returned to the car, turning the key. The car engine roared to life.
Stepping on the gas and speeding down the street, he left Evan and Jonathan behind.
He should have realised it before. He should have seen what he had become before. It was so obvious. Glitches heard everything. He heard everything. He wasn't attacked by the other Glitches because he was one. He had replaced his identity after the fall and taken away his own memory so he wouldn't even know what he had become.
He hadn't even noticed he had become Glitch.
The realization dawned on Evan as he drove back towards Los Santos and the apartment that he had always belonged to this world. The memories in his mind of somewhere else weren't real. His memories of being a youtuber had never existed. He had never done those things. He had been right when he said that he had memories of this he had never done, but the Glitch he had become had tricked him into thinking all the bloody memories were false.
He had never been Vanoss.
He was Evan and that Evan had become a monster.
He left the sports car a few streets over from the apartment, pulling Jonathan's mask down over his face and pulled the blue hood up to hide his dark hair. He carried his red and white jacket, blood still dripping from the leather. As he got closer to the mob of Glitches, he pretended to stagger with every step, not knowing who could be watching from above. He made his way through the mob, the Glitches around him moving away from to make way for the powerful Glitch.
Evan stopped when a blonde Glitch moved past him. It's face was crushed in and it limped on broken legs. Evan placed his hand on the Glitch's shoulder. Brian jumped, spinning to stare at Evan with glitching eyes.
"I'm sorry that we did those things to you. I'll let you have your revenge." Evan stared at Brian for a moment longer before letting go of him and continued towards the apartment building.
The Glitches followed him.
Evan reached the door, pushing it open suddenly. As it began to close, Evan looked back at the Glitches outside. He held onto his red and white jacket tightly as he punched the glass out of the door with his other hand, the glass cutting his knuckles. "Come on in." Evan smiled a monstrous smile.
He headed up the stairs, passed stains of blood on the stairs and walls. The gauze had become unraveled from his hands, now trailing on the stairs. He could hear the Glitches below, making their way into the building. Luke's body was still on the stairs, his head now bloody and smashed. Evan stepped over him as if he were nothing. He reached the top floor, pushing open the door to the hallway and knocked on the apartment front door. The door swung open suddenly.
"Jonathan?" Daithi stared at him with wide eyes. Daithi knew that something was different about him but he couldn't place what it was.
"I did it." Evan wasn't sure how he was doing it, but when he opened his mouth, Jonathan's voice came out. "The Glitch is gone." He said, pushing past Daithi into the apartment. Tyler, Sydney and Lui stood up in the living room when he walked in, all of them shocked. Daithi kept his distance, glancing at the gauze hanging from his hands and the blood that dripped from the cuts.
"What happened to your hands?" Daithi asked. Evan turned his head, glaring at Daithi so darkly he had to move away from him.
"It was a bad fight." Evan said, Jonathan's voice echoing in his ears. "He cut my hands...I'm horrible at bandaging." Evan turned his head towards Sydney and held the red and white jacket out to her. "I thought that you would want this." She took a slow step towards him, taking the bloody jacket from him.
"I'm sorry you had to do that, Jonathan. I know it must have been really hard for you." She said softly.
"Yeah...I'm sorry too."
"Jon…" Tyler was closer now, staring at him. "Can I see your hands?" An electric energy ran through the room. Under his mask, Evan smiled, his eyes glitching wildly.
"Of course, Tyler." Evan held his hands out, the gauze swinging from his hands. He could hear the Glitches getting closer, struggling to push open the door. Tyler stepped towards him, taking his hands. On his right hand was a deep cut from the glass shard he been holding. His knuckles were also cut from the glass door. On his left was nothing but the scabbed burns.
"Did Evan burn your left hand too?" Tyler said quietly, looking up at Evan.
"What? Oh…" Evan shrugged. "I don't know."
"Where did you leave his body?"
"At an abandoned motel in Long Beach. No one is going to find him there."
"So if you took me there...We would find Evan's Glitched...but destroyed body?"
"Yes. I could take you there myself."
"Why don't you take that bloody mask and hoodie off and just relax for a little bit. I'm sure that you have just been through something very traumatic."
"Oh I have."
Silence hung heavy in the room. No one moved. Evan could hear the Glitches in the hallway now.
"Take off the mask, Jon."
"Why? Do you not believe me, Tyler?"
"I do…"
"You know...He said the strangest things before I bashed his head in. He kept talking about how he believed that he was from another world. It was so strange...He thought that he had never done all of those horrible things that he did to us before. He scared me, Tyler."
There was a sudden bang on the front door.
No one moved.
There was another bang.
No one said a word.
Another bang.
"Go get the door, Daithi." Sydney finally said. Daithi nodded, moving towards the door. Evan smiled and let Jonathan's voice fade away. Evan smiled as he pulled the mask from his eyes, his eyes glitching wildly.
"You can't destroy me...But I can destroy you."