Chapter Text
Everyone was born with a thread, it told you how much more time you had left in the world. In a life, dangerous decisions shortened a person's thread, more often than not. So for a teenager to have such a short thread, they’d either led a dangerous life or made bad decisions, and they don’t know how to get out of it anymore. Small mistakes could be fixed, until they started to pile up and the thread would be permanently damaged.
In a world where everyone had something to tell them how much time they had left, it was scary for some people. People who had short threads from birth, telling them they wouldn’t last as long as everyone else. Edward was a person who had a short thread, and it was only getting shorter by the day. He was only sixteen and his thread was almost gone already.
Telling people would only cause trouble, so he pretended like he still had his whole life ahead of him. However, he knew every day he was losing time, and Edward was terrified of dying. Going after Felix all the time wasn’t helping him either, the constant fights making his thread grow smaller by the day. He needed to let someone help him stay out of trouble, but that would only cause concern over him that he didn’t need.
Edward didn’t like how little time he had left, but he was snapped out of his worried thoughts by Louis, “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, just a bit stressed about a few small things,” he tried to brush off the worry his companion had for him.
“If something is wrong, you can tell any of us,” Louis was giving him a concerned look.
“I know, I will if I require your help,” that was effective at stopping Louis from trying to pry more.
“Alright, if you say so,” with no other things to talk about, Louis left.
—
That afternoon, after school, Edward heard that Felix was causing trouble again. He knew that he shouldn’t get involved, his thread was far too short to go and intervene in something potentially dangerous. It was obvious to him that he could die here, trying to keep Felix out of trouble. Edward decided that he had to, though, his friends had already gone to try stopping him, and he didn’t want to make them feel left behind.
—
Running through the halls of the mansion, Edward realized he was lost and alone. He tried to stay calm, but when he glanced at his thread, he froze. It was almost gone, meaning this very well could be the last few moments of his life. Behind him, he could hear footsteps approaching, and he turned around at the last moment.
Felix had come to see who had been so close to finding the room where he was hiding out. Upon seeing Edward, he began plotting how to throw him off, not wanting his plans to be ruined again. He thought it would be genius to knock Edward out, then he could lock him up and kick him out later. What he didn’t expect was for Edward to turn around when he went to hit him in the back of the head. The crack was a sickening sound, and blood began dripping from where Edward had collapsed on the floor.
“Oh fuck,” Felix backed up and ran, leaving the weapon he’d used behind.
—
Edward’s friends were looking for him, they’d gotten separated earlier, and they were all a bit worried about him. Cody was the one to find him, bleeding from the head and barely breathing. He picked up the limp body and ran, going for the exit. Outside the house he called an ambulance, worrying, but assuming his friend would make it. There had been no signs that Edward knew he was going to die soon, so he should make it.
The others heard the sirens and came outside, seeing their leader bleeding out, while an ambulance pulled up to the mansion. Cody mumbled what he said when he was on the phone with his friends, explaining that he’d said that they’d been separated because the house was easy to get lost in. Then how they went to look for him and found him bleeding on the floor. He’d said he assumed someone broke in and reacted violently to seeing someone there.
All of them drove home after making sure Edward was on the way to the hospital. Justin offered to drive Edward’s car to his home, having come with him in the first place. He was okay with talking about what had happened, since he assumed that he’d be fine.
—
Justin got to the Quinton household, where he knocked on the door and told Janet what had happened. She was worried, but was able to remain calm. They all thought it was impossible for Edward to die, he always acted like he had his whole life ahead of him.
Later that evening, when Edward’s family went to check on him in the hospital, they heard something that shocked them. He was dead. The injury to the back of his head had been more severe than any of them had thought, and it had nearly killed him. But after a few hours, his head injury had ended up claiming his life. It left everyone in shock.
Edward hadn’t told anyone about how close to death he had been for so long. He’d known he was going to die soon, and yet he planned a future he’d never be a part of with his friends. There was a feeling of betrayal in the people closest to him, since they weren’t given time to say their goodbyes or accept what was about to happen. His friends were trying to stick closer together in his passing, while Geno spent all his time in Edward’s room. It was the only thing to bring comfort to the child with his brother gone. Their parents weren’t handling the death well, and they were overbearing to their remaining child.
Losing someone without warning truly broke them all.