Chapter Text
CRACK
That was the only noise Finney Blake could hear as he Stood up in that cold basement. That horrific deafening sound of the grabbers neck snapping under the pressure of that haunted telephone wire. The sound that almost felt like it was bouncing around his head, reverberating off the walls of his skull.
I know that I have no reason to feel any guilt for the death…murder? No, the death of that man. It was him or me, he wasn’t going to let me leave this place alive, he had a weapon, an axe. He had kidnapped, abused, touched me, and murdered five boys before his death and left one alive…me. He hurt my one true friend. I have no reason to feel guilty for that horrible man.
That’s what Finney kept thinking to himself as he left that basement, like a sick mantra to remind himself that he had no choice, that there was no other way out at that point. As he opened the door the thousands of thoughts running free in his brain fueled by anxiety, and adrenaline were put on hold by the faint sound of many cars, and sirens. “Has someone found me?” He thought cautiously.
He started walking up the grimy concrete stairs quickly and quietly just in case there was someone here or his dog decided that I was worth fighting after all. As he unlocked the front door he took one more look at the lock, the lock of Griffin Stagg. Finney easily remembered the combination. The combination that will be forever carved into those cold walls tainted by the memories of what happened in that basement.
Griffin was the second to disappear, after Billy. The thoughts surrounding the bike lock were ones that made his skin shiver in discomfort for many reasons. One of which was why the grabber thought he would need the lock. Was it precaution In case one of the other boys made it to the door without being seen or heard, like himself ,or did Billy do something in his time here that warranted the taking of the lock. Another thought was how the grabber got the code, Finney was willing to bet that Griffin probably hadn’t given up the code easily, or willingly. His blood nearly froze in his vain right then and there from the sickening thought of what Giffen might have had to deal with before his faithful end.
He opened the door. The first thing he sees is a black body bag being wheeled away on a Gurnee across the street. He wondered who it was, was it Robin Arellano, his only friend. Maybe it was Griffin Stagg the boy who lost his whole future, or maybe it was Vance hopper one of the toughest kid you’ve ever met, or Bruce Yamada the baseball kid with a bright future, or Billy showalter the hardworking paper boy, or it could be some other kid that was unlucky enough to meet a horrible end because of the Grabber, a kid that Finney had no knowledge of, he doubted that it was the case because there was no other soul that tried talked to him through that black phone besides those five boys, but it wasn’t a very comforting thought.
The second thing he noticed was his sister, Gwen, sitting across the street with her back against a fence and her knees tight against her chest with her arms and head on top of them. When he noticed her it seemed she noticed him at the same time. Then time seemed to slow for just a second as he breathed out a relieved breath of air that he hadn’t known he was holding. Gwen yelled out to him “FINNEY!” and started running towards him, a few tears slipping out of her eyes and down her face. A few long seconds later she crashed into him with all her might, and gave him the biggest hug her 11 year old body could muster.
Suddenly he and Gwen were sitting side by side in the back of an ambulance after they had checked him over for any serious wounds or infections that would require immediate attention. Abruptly the man he calls father is coming towards them crying. rambling about how he shouldn’t have let this happen, and how he wants to be a better father. Finney isn’t sure how to feel about these words but he doesn’t have much time to consider them when an ear splitting ring booms out of nowhere, a loud excruciating ring. He covers his ears and looks up “no one else seems to hear it” he thinks panickedly. His vision starts to cloud with tears and little black dots then…nothing.
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Finney bolts out of bed at 5:47 am, May second, a quiet Tuesday morning crying as he frantically looks around, “I'm home?” he whispered, a confused look making its way across his face. He takes a second to breathe…in…and out, and thinks of everything that he can remember.
“I left the basement, found Gwen and……oh…I probably passed out” he realized thinking back on the black dots that had danced across his eyelids. “I must have passed out from a lack of nutrition, or adrenaline loss, or stress…or something” he thinks trying to rationalize the fainting spell in his head. He quickly turns towards the sound of the door opening.
Gwen comes in, panic morphing her face. She spoke quietly, worry lacing her voice “Finney what’s wrong?” as she said this she moved towards him slowly and soundlessly as possible in hopes of trying not to wake up their alcoholic Father.
“Nothing Gwen, I'm fine, just a…nightmare, did you hear me?” he questioned.
Gwen seemed calmed by that statement “oh…that makes sense, I mean who wouldn’t have nightmares in a place like this” she responded with a faint sense of malice in her voice “and i was sitting in the living room so of course i heard you. I was waiting for it to be like…6:20? so i wake you up for school. I was watching cartoons while I waited”she said with a look of pity making its way across her face.
Finney, slightly confused, goes to ask a question, but after seeing that she’s leaving goes to ask a far more important question in his eyes “what's today’s date i didn’t get a chance to ask yesterday” he should probably ask what happened after he passed out to he thinks.
“ummm…Tuesday May second I think” she says “why”?.
Finney, shocked says “oh…um nothing! just wondering”
Gwen looks at him confused for a second but decides it’s not worth it. So she closes the door to return to her morning cartoons.
Just then time stopped…literally
“WHAT!?” He thinks there was no answer besides an eerily familiar sound of a phone ringing. Its ring was the only sound in the room. He slowly turned his head to the opposite wall, scared of what he would see, and sure enough there on the wall was the black phone from the basement, the thick cord still tangled from his last encounter with the Grabber.
Finney didn’t want to answer it so he ignored it. He ignored it for as long as he could, but its ring got louder, and louder until he couldn’t take it anymore…so he slowly got up and answered the phone.
He picked up the phone and as the sweet, slightly distorted, voice from the phone started talking all air left his lungs “hello sweetie” she spoke softly, it was his mom’s voice, a voice he thought he would never hear again.
Finney was so shocked and confused that the only words he could form was a sad quiet “mom?” he asked, a few tears slipping out of his eyes.
She Shushed him kindly “Now sweety i don’t have much time so i'm going to need you to stay quiet so i can explain as much as possible, I wish I could have explained this to you before the rewind ” she hissed . “First, I am still dead”…”I'm just here to explain everything to you” she said quickly “second do you remember how i used to hear things that weren’t…really there?” the distorted phone only relaying static as she stopped speaking.
He uttered a soft quite “yes”.
she started speaking again “well we are able to do that because we have special abilities”. “We can contact the dead or see glimpses of the future to stop things that weren’t meant to happen when we are alive, but when we’re dead we’re known as guardian angels” she stated. “We protect and guide people through their lives, we also have one chance to rewind time to a certain point to help someone in desperate need of a second chance”.
“I used my gift on you” she said her love poured into each word.
Finney couldn’t fathom this so he asked a frantic and tearful “why?” to his dead mom.
she was both confused and saddened by his response “why… because i love you silly”. “You and those other boys didn’t deserve a single thing that happened to you” she cried “that's why i decided to help you. You and those boy have received another chance at life”
Finney couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Shock and happiness was running through his veins, but still he had to ask “So what’s the catch”
She sighed “you, my dear, are the only one that truly remembers what happened so you are the only one who can can change anything”.
finney felt all air get sucked From his lung in a weird mix of panic and happiness, but in that moment all he could muster out of his mouth is a heartfelt “thank you”
“you’re welcome” she said, the static getting louder. “Oh dear, I'm afraid I’m running out of time” she said frantically. “finney one last thing before i go, one thing you must not forget is to always think your actions through you won’t get another chance”
Finney hurried out another “ ok mom I won't, and I love you”!
“I love you too” she said as the static cut out leaving nothing but a deafening silence.