in the midst of a storm | yandere x reader

06. his friend or his foe

HE'S DOIN' IT AGAIN—

—playin' with his collar all nervous-like; all meek and shy and frail.

There's sweat stickin' to his skin, rolling off it like them dead bushes you see every now and then. It makes his neck glisten, draws your eyes over to the way the ball in his throat sinks down real slow, real low.

"I, uh—"

His words ain't clear, stuttered out like his throat's stoppin' him; like you're holding a gun straight up to his face as he talks.

"It's a simple question, Will: didja see anythin' that night?"

Your arms fold over one another, gaze narrowing into stone-cold steel, and lips pullin' as taut as the ropes keepin' the cattle from leavin' the ranch. It's hard; the expression what greets him when he looks up, when his doe-like eyes of brown fall over your own for a second or two 'fore they continue their journey, trailin' higher and higher and higher—

—'til they screech to a halt and dart to the side.

"The lady asked you a question."

The Sheriff's voice is gruff behind you, and you can't imagine what type o' expression is on his face to have Will's pupils shrink and shake and shiver like he damn-near saw the devil himself, but it sure as hell weren't nothin' good.

"Well, I, um..."

You huff, jaw tickin'. "Out with it, boy."

"There, uh, there was a shadow."

"A shadow?"

"Huge—bigger than me, bigger than your pa."

You purse your lips.

Will quivers. "It ran at me."

"At you?" you have half a mind to think it's you asking that question, that it comes outta your lips with your voice and your name written all over it. But it don't. The voice what says it is deeper—rougher—and it's comin' from behind you.

Will nods.

"Is that why you didn't come to the ranch today?" you whisper, eyes squintin'. "Yer scared?"

He says nothin'.

"Didja see any more of that thing?"

Again. Nothin'.

"Will, talk to me."

This is startin' to get on your nerves.

"So much for gatherin' intel." And from the looks of things—it's startin' to get on the Sheriff's too.

Breathe, Y/N, breathe.

Your lids fall shut for a moment, and everythin' 'round you stills: the wind, the birds, the fallin' sand—all of it.

It all stills.

Then your eyes open again, the air shifting to give you more room as the colours swimmin' through it grow lighter, shine brighter. The sun burns you no longer, now hugging you with a warmth that massaged the knot straight outta your shoulders, loosening the rope what once kept them tense.

"Will," you repeat his name, features softer, "I don't blame you for runnin'. It musta been scary. It was able to take a bite outta my daddy after all."

Will's eyes fall over your own, pupils widenin'.

"That's why I gotta know anythin' you know 'bout it. So I can gut it for 'im." Your expression hardens a little, though not too much, not enough to scare 'im off. Just enough to get his sympathy, to have him hear you, to have him listen.