FDD 8

Michael Voorhees crawled on the ground like a dog. Luca struggled to get away from the scene. But his speed was incredible.

Bang!

Michael Voorhees slammed his head against the hard table, just like an angry goat headbutting. His horns protruded from the table, making it look as if the table itself had grown horns.

The table was pushed back by Michael Voorhees’s headbutt, leaving Luca and Noah completely exposed.

The two quickly grabbed the table legs, slipped aside, and stood up. It would have been fortunate if they could immediately escape, but unfortunately, there was only one door in the room. That door was closer to Michael Voorhees. Then, Michael Voorhees jumped to his feet and leaped onto the table.

Thump!

As soon as the sound of his heavy body rattling the wooden board filled the room, he immediately lunged toward Luca.

“Ugh!”

Clang! Luca quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher and managed to block the knife Voorhees brought down. However, the killer paid no heed and continued to swing the knife at Luca, and the latter struggled to move the heavy extinguisher to block the blades Voorhees struck.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The rhythmic sound of metal clashing filled the room. Despite his attacks being blocked, Michael Voorhees seemed amused by the sound. It was a very disconcerting situation for Luca. With a hand movement that looked light but was heavy, Michael Voorhees thrust the knife toward Luca. The latter quickly blocked the knife with the extinguisher, but the blade slide smoothly across the round surface of the extinguisher and struck Luca’s stomach.

Luca felt the knife stab him in the stomach. It stung and hurt. Fortunately, it only touched the clothes and the outer skin, but if he had used a little more strength, it would have easily pierced Luca’s delicate skin and thrust right into his intestines.

“Luca!”

Just as the knife was about to dig deep into Luca’s body, a saw came flying from the side. However, Michael Voorhees blocked the saw Noah swung. It wasn’t because Michael Voorhees’s arm was made of steel. He felt no pain, so he was simply numb to the saw that had severed his arm.

However, it was enough to stop the knife from piercing Luca’s stomach, so he slammed the fire extinguisher down and struck Michael Voorhees’s hand. As a result, he dropped the knife, leaving a long cut on Luca’s clothes and a wound on his stomach. It wasn’t fatal, but the deep cut was painful enough.

He couldn’t let himself die just because of a wound, so Luca immediately picked up the fire extinguisher and smashed it into the goat’s head. The fire extinguisher was heavy, which caused his arms to tremble, but thanks to that, he was able to land a strong attack. As Michael Voorhees staggered from the blow to his head, Luca threw the extinguisher with both hands at him.

The extinguisher struck Michael Voorhees’s shoulder, causing him to falter briefly.

Luca grabbed Noah’s hand tightly and ran forward. He ran, oblivious to the blood gushing from his stomach. Behind him, the heavy footsteps of Michael Voorhees could be heard. Fortunately, however, the killer was not running.

If this were a horror movie, no matter how fast Michael Voorhees walked or Luca ran, he would have been caught and killed by his hand in no time. Fortunately, Luca was not in a movie.

The hallway was filled only with the sounds of Luca and Noah running and Michael Voorhees’s heavy footsteps. Luca opened a nearby door and stepped inside once only the sound of his and Noah’s footsteps filled the hallway.

He quickly locked the door, and in the meantime, Noah, who had brought a box from inside the room, used it to block the door. Both of them gasped for breath. Fortunately, no particular sound was heard from outside until their ragged breathing gradually slowed and stabilized.

Noah, after bringing another box to block the door, unfolded an old folding chair he had found somewhere and offered it to him. Luca, whose stomach hurt, did not refuse and slumped onto the chair without a word. Noah knelt down on one knee in front of him.

“Luca, are you okay?”

Noah looked up at Luca with a worried gaze. But Luca was more concerned about Noah sitting in front of him than his wound. However, because Noah was looking at him so worriedly, he answered habitually to reassure him.

“I’m fine.”

Luca pulled up his shirt to show his condition. But he was not fine at all. His abdomen was slit open. Fortunately, his internal organs were undamaged, and it was only a cut on the skin, but it was still a wound that required stitches. Blood flowed from the gash because he had been moving around.

“What do you mean ‘I’m fine’? It hurts…”

Noah looked even more upset than the injured Luca. When he saw Noah’s expression, Luca thought of Puss in Boots and laughed, but then frowned as the wound hurt.

“What’s so funny?”

Noah scolded Luca in a sullen voice. Yet, he looked around for something to stop the bleeding.

The room was filled with dust and there was nothing unusual. Luca unfastened his backpack and rummaged through the front pocket. It was full of cafe napkins. Luca had a habit of taking napkins whenever he went to a cafe. He pulled out a handful of brown napkins and tried to straighten the crumpled ones, but Noah snatched them away, which left him unable to do so. Noah straightened the crumpled napkins into a thick layer and pressed them against Luca’s stomach.

“I can do it.”

Luca said, but Noah pretended not to hear and pressed against Luca’s wound. There was quite a bit of blood coming from the wound, so the napkins quickly became soaked. Noah reached into the front pocket of Luca’s backpack to look for more napkins, but aside from three or four napkins, there was nothing else there.

“Luca, do you have any more napkins?”

Luca thought he might have packed some napkins in his jacket pocket as well, so he reached into the inner pocket. However, the inner pocket was empty. Luca rummaged through his bag and pulled out a zip-up hoodie. He reached into the hoodie’s pocket and ended up dropping a small plastic bag.

Luca absolutely did not want Noah to see this, so he tried to quickly pick up the plastic bag and put it away, but Noah was too fast. He picked up the plastic bag and was speechless. Inside the bag was finely ground white powder. Luca made a lame excuse to Noah, who was silent for a long time.

“…That’s powdered sugar. I got it from the cafe.”

Noah didn’t want to fall for such a flimsy excuse anymore. He clutched the bag Luca had dropped, and questioned in a low voice.

“Luca…….What’s wrong with you?”

“……”

“Marijuana would be shocking enough, but cocaine?”

“That…… is crack (*crack cocaine. A cheap drug made by mixing cocaine with baking powder and burning it to create a gaseous state for inhalation)…….”

Luca’s desperate excuse only fueled Noah’s anger.

“You know that’s even worse.”

“I’m in pain, Noah.”

Luca tried to get out of the situation by feigning pain (strictly speaking, it was painful since the cut was deep), but Noah’s attitude was firm.

“I get that you smoke. I can understand that. No, actually, it’s not really a matter of whether I understand or not. It’s bad for your health, but let’s just leave it at that. ​unauthorized copy​I know it’s not my place to interfere. But this is cocaine. Where on earth did you get this? Luca, what is wrong with you?”

“Noah, I’m bleeding.”

Luca’s words were meant to avoid Noah’s scolding, but the latter sighed and pressed another napkin against Luca’s wound. Perhaps because he was a little more emotional, it hurt more than before. Noah spoke without softening his rigid expression.

“Luca! If you get caught possessing this, you might end up in jail. Why are you acting like this?”

“…..”

Luca, who had been listening to Noah, suddenly felt a surge of anger. It was already bad enough to be in pain from a wound, but he didn’t understand why he had to be scolded like this for drugs he hadn’t even managed to take. And of all people, it had to be Noah. Luca couldn’t hold back.

“What business is it of yours what I do?”

“I’m just worried about you.”

Noah’s voice was affectionate and filled with concern. That made Luca even angrier.

“Why are you worrying! Stop it. Don’t interfere in my life. Let’s just pretend we don’t know each other!”

Noah listened quietly to what Luca was saying and let out a sigh. Then, in a calm, stolen content low voice that contrasted with Luca’s, he said:

“I can’t pretend not to know you for the rest of my life.”

“…..”

Luca didn’t bother to ask for the reason. Because he knew the answer without hearing it. He didn’t want Noah to speak. Nevertheless, when Noah moved his lips, Luca covered his ears with both hands.

“I can’t pretend I don’t know you because I like you. I’ve liked you ever since the first time I saw you.”

“……”

Even though he covered his ears, Luca could hear what Noah was saying. It clearly struck Luca’s ears more than any words he had ever heard before. Luca pretended not to hear what he had said. Although he knew Noah’s feelings better than anyone, he had to pretend not to. He had to deny them.

Luca looked down to avoid the mistake of making eye contact with Noah. There was a scratch on the floor, probably scraped by something sharp, and dust was rolling around. Dust was the last thing Luca should have cared about. Yet, he poured all his attention into the dust as though he had been given a mission to stare only at the floor. However, paradoxically, that attitude showed that Luca understood what Noah was saying. Noah paid no heed to Luca’s struggling attitude and continued speaking.

“You keep saying we weren’t anything to each other, but that wasn’t the case. No, sadly enough, even if you didn’t know it, I really, really liked you, and I still like you. And I will continue to like you. Don’t deny that.”

“…..”

Luca knew that covering his ears was useless. However, he refused to let go of his hands. Noah let out a deep sigh as he watched him. Read on Even in that moment, he was so lovable and cute to Noah. He laughed mockingly. It was directed at Noah himself, but it was Luca who reacted.

Luca did not notice that his body was trembling slightly. But Noah saw it clearly and smiled once more. That smile was directed at Luca, and it was because he could not resist his loveliness. Since there was no sound, Luca could not tell. Noah used the clearest pronunciation and voice he could muster and said,

“It’s really hard when you act like that. It hurts every time you do. So much so that it’s surprising I can get hurt even more. But… I still like you. Luca. I like you so much. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

Noah’s words made Luca’s breathing quicken, but he held his breath and ignored them.

“…….”

‘Fuck.’

It was a look that said he absolutely did not want to believe what he had heard. Luca looked more desperate than ever, and Noah could tell that his confession had definitely reached him.