Tyed - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

There's a moment of silence before Colby says, "... I'm not sure I am a good person, Tyler."
Tyler stares at him. "What do you mean?"
Colby takes a long, deep breath. "You've mentioned something you feared telling me because it would drive me away. You still haven't told me, but I think there's something I could possibly tell you that would drive you away. And I guess... now's as good a time as ever to tell you."
Tyler's anticipation locks up every muscle in his body. "Oh," he says, raising an eyebrow. He's not sure there is a single thing Colby could say that would divert him from the path he seems destined to go down at this rate. "...what's that?"
Colby sighs, taking a deep breath. "Please listen until the end."
Tyler nods, and Colby sits up a little straighter, so Tyler has to sit up himself to meet his eyes.
"Remember how I said that I left her there with Altan that night, and I drove?"
"I do," Tyler concurs, wringing the sheets in his hands. Despite what Colby could possibly say, Tyler doesn't find himself feeling too worried. Some part of him knows it's going to be okay.
"I shouldn't have, because I was still under the influence, but I felt I'd be okay. I went across the city."
"Did you hit someone?" Tyler finds himself asking before he can stop himself. When he's met with a cold look, he slaps a hand over his mouth. "Sorry."
"I didn't," Colby says. "Listen until the end, please."
"Sorry. Go on."
Colby looks away, gazing out the window at the dark street. "I went to Paul's house. He actually lived near Gem Varily, so for all I know, you might've already heard what happened. It was this huge modern house, four bedrooms and a pool, all this fancy... shit."
There was, in fact, a house near Gem Varily that sounded similar that Tyler was picturing, although it couldn't possibly have been the same one. Colby continued. "It was dark when I got there, and while all his lights were off I could hear voices inside. I snuck around the back, through the garage, and used the spare key Scarlett had- because I took it from the house, and I knew what I was doing. Paul was this thin runt of a man, and I knew I could take him. I just didn't know how far I would go. I want you to understand how awful what I was willing to do was. I saw it as a way of ensuring that my son would grow up with both of his parents together- how stupid was that, in hindsight? He died because of my actions that day. Not Paul. I always thought it was karma, afterwards. I was willing to kill Paul, and for it, Altan died."
"Did you go there with the intent to kill him?" Tyler clarifies, his heart pounding against his ribcage. He feels kind of ill. Would he accept Colby the murderer? Was it possible?
After all Tyler had done, it might just make them even. Maybe.
"Not necessarily," Colby says, "and I don't think I really would have. But I had it in my heart that I could have. I wanted to find him. That's all I felt at that moment."
"And did you?"
"Well, interestingly enough, no. I came in through the back, through his garage. I went into the living room where I'd heard voices, but it was pitch black. Nothing. The only light on in the entire house was his bedroom, which was a mess, but he wasn't in there. I checked."
A memory triggers in the back of Tyler's mind, and an idea that feels impossible begins to form. "And then... I know what happened next."
"Do you?" Colby's head tilts. "You heard it on the news? Then you know what I did."
"No," Tyler shakes his head. "I know that you didn't do anything. Because I was there."
Colby frowns. "What?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but... Paul's last name was Sandys, wasn't it? Paul Sandys."
"How could you possibly..."
Tyler laughs without humour. "You were there that night. Of course you were. The night I burned Sandys' house down."
---
Tyler's sitting on Lachlen's bed watching anime when he gets the call. Nancy never calls. He mutters a hasty apology to Lachlen as he stumbles out of bed, although he looks to the door and thinks better of running out and taking this phone call in front of Lachlen's parents. Lachlen stares at him from the bed, hair tousled and loose shirt showing off his collarbones; the urge to shove him against the bed and kiss down that neck is strong, as it often is. "Who is it?" he asks nervously, his voice high and wavering.
"Nancy," Tyler responds right as he's pressing the accept button. Lachlen nods briefly as Tyler puts the phone to his ear.
"T-Tyler, I d-don't know what to d-do," Nancy says, her voice shaking and faltering, dropping in and out of her preferred range of speaking. Tyler's heart rate instantly picks up.
"Nancy? What's wrong?" Tyler asks, and Lachlen sits up straighter, perplexed. "Where are you?"
"N-near Kilrond Drive," she answers. "I don't know h-how to get h-home."
Tyler swears under his breath. "What are you doing down there?"
"Come g-get me, please," Nancy begs, a broken and airy quality to her voice. "I don't know who else to call."
"Someone who can drive? I don't even have my learner's, Nance-"
"My sister can drive," Lachlen pipes up, although Nancy can't hear him.
"-although I am going to find a way. Hold on one second." Tyler takes his ear away from the phone to speak to Lachlen. "Could your sister drive us to pick her up?"
"I'll go ask," Lachlen says, jumping out of bed and heading out into the hallway. As he does so, Tyler turns his attention back to Nancy.
"Okay, I might have a way of getting to you. But why are you all the way out there?"
"I- it's a l-long story," she says, still breathing heavily. "My ribs. I think- at least, at least one is broken-"
"Oh, shit," Tyler hisses. "Okay. We'll be there soon. Kilrond Drive, you said?"
"Go- go to the park on that street," she says. "and, uh- can you, can you st-stay on the phone? You don't have to say anything, it's just... I... want to know you're there."
"Of course," Tyler says as Lachlen comes back into the room and starts putting shoes on. "We'll be there soon."
Lachlen's sister drives like she has a vendetta against the road. Which is good, because it means they're going quickly. Lachlen briefly explains that their friend is in trouble, having overhead Nancy's words on the phone, and Freya, Lachlen's sister, doesn't seem to mind too much. Tyler doesn't say a word, and neither does Nancy on the line until they're approaching Kilrond Drive and Tyler confirms where she is.
Spotting her on the side of the road is easy. She's only about five feet tall, and her clothes are, having already been skimpy, torn. There's a suspiscious stain that looks like blood on her skirt. Her eye is swelling and makeup cried off runs down over an open cut in her face.
"What the fuck," Freya mutters, summarising it well.
Nancy limps into the car and says nothing except, "I'm sorry."
"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Freya says. "I guess we're going to the hospital, then?"
"No," Nancy answers quickly. "I don't want to go through that. I don't. I'm sorry."
"You said you think your rib is broken," Tyler argues, hanging up the call as they peel off back onto the road. "You've got to at least go to hospital for that."
"Okay, well," Nancy mutters, "I'm gonna lie to them."
"You're not going to lie to me," Tyler snaps. "Tell me what happened. Now or later, I'm going to find out."
Nancy looks down at her nails. "Later."
It turns out to be the next day, as she's allowed to take a walk out into the hospital gardens. They find their way to a bench away from everyone else's earshot, and Nancy chews her already well-chewed nails.
"I don't really want to talk about it," she says.
"I don't care," Tyler rebuts. "I'm your best friend and you will tell me why you were on Kilrond Drive with the shit kicked out of you. Spare me details if you want, but I need to know, Nance."
She goes from looking slightly anxious but mostly calm to immediately sobbing, the most zero to one hundred change Tyler's ever seen, in the fastest time. It takes a while to console her, and Tyler hugs her patiently as she cries.
Finally, she talks.
"It was stupid of me," she says. "He messaged me on Instagram and told me he was looking for models, for a music video. He told me he'd pay, and sent me pictures of the money. It was like five hundred dollars. I was promised I'd be there for a few hours and all I'd have to do was dance with some other girls and look pretty."
Tyler knows where this is going, at least to some degree. He can think of only one reason that someone looking for pretty girls would end up kicking the shit out of Nancy, but this already sounded even shadier than that.
"He came and met me outside of the house. He was like... in his 30s, I think? Kinda ugly, but not so bad that nobody could like him. He said to call him Mr Sandys. He gave me half of the money before I even went inside, and that's what made me feel like it was legit. So I went inside. He told me I was the first to show up and had me sit in the living room. I remember pain and then blacking out. And then..."
That's where the story gets hard to tell. Nancy takes a few deep breaths before saying, "I don't want to get into it."
"Well," Tyler asks, having had many a conversation about sexual abuse before, "...did he just beat you up?"
Nancy shakes her head. "Not until... a while in. When he realised. He said all the shit you'd expect, you know, calling me a trap and that... it was-" she starts to laugh, hysterical, barely able to get the words out. "I was in hell, but I couldn't help- I couldn't help but think how funny it was, when he said- he actually- he made an attack helicopter joke-" her laughter mixes with sobbing- "as he was hitting me, as he was raping me, it was- it was, wow. Wow. It was funny."
And then she goes silent.
Tyler turns his phone on, but doesn't unlock it. He just stares at the lock screen.
It's a picture of him and Kevin. Tyler looks the same, although his hair is a little longer. Kevin had just cut his hair short. It was a selfie at Tyler's house. Kevin never once looked happy in his life, but in that picture, he looks the closest Tyler had ever seen him come.
Tyler knows what Kevin would've done in this scenario.
"I'm going to get revenge for you," Tyler says. "Do you want to come?"
Nancy sniffles. "What do you mean, revenge?"
Tyler laughs. "I'm gonna burn his house down, what do you think I mean?"
Nancy stares at him. "Tyler, you can't just- you can't just do that, you're not- you're not serious?"
"I'm dead fucking serious." The rage is there, but all Tyler feels is a cool calm. "I'm going to burn his house down. What's his address? I hope he's inside it."
"You can't-"
"Can't burn down the house of a transphobic pedophile rapist? Why ever not?"
"...just do that. It's not that easy, is it?"
Tyler's fury grows in his stomach, as does the icy promise of revenge. For Nancy. "Of course it is. You know how much shit I burned down at Darkfilly Copse?"
"We've got police, though."
"You don't have to come with."
Nancy pauses and thinks. "No, I... I want to."
So that night, Tyler goes to the car and drains some petrol. Not a lot, but enough to get a fire started.
The anger boils inside of Tyler as he waits. The night they decide on- Nancy still tentative and scared, but willing, and Tyler sees the hint of a righteous anger and a hope on her brow, and it makes him smile- they meet in the park on Kilrond Drive. Tyler has a backpack, in which sits a half-full canister of gasoline and three boxes of matches.
He feels no remorse as they march up to Sandys' house. "Are you sure about this?" Nancy asks, and Tyler just nods, hearing the ghost of Kevin's voice around his ears, the memory of Kevin's hand in his as he burnt down that shed. He didn't realise at the time just how much that memory shaped him, but he realises it now. Nancy isn't Kevin; his heart doesn't beat for her, like it did for him. But he sure as fuck cares about her, and he sure as fuck hates pedophile rapists more than he hates anything else on earth.
The house is dark when they arrive. Nancy creeps up to the front door, shivering even though it isn't that cold. "I don't think he's home."
Tyler tries the door, gentle in case it opens. To his surprise, it does, and he quietly shuts it again. "Maybe he's just not in the front room. He could be in his room."
"Who leaves the light off when they're home?"
"Well, someone who lives alone might only have the lights on in rooms they're in?"
Nancy shrugs. "Are you sure you want to go inside? Is it safe?"
Tyler takes a deep breath. "We don't need to. We could set it alight from out here. But a fire that begins in there will spread much better, look a lot less like arson, and be more likely to destroy the shit he really cares about."
Nancy stares at him, her eyes blinking in the dark. "You sound a lot like you've done this before."
Tyler shrugs. "Never a house. A shed. A forest, accidentally. A Bible once. But destroying awful things is my speciality."
Nancy takes a deep breath. "If we're going to go in... I'd at least like the money I was promised."
Tyler barks a laugh. "Cool. Let's go, then."
He opens the door again, as cautious this time as he was the first. He's met with a dark hallway, and on either side of him are doors leading to bedrooms, both open. He peeks in the left door, and then the right, before giving each a closer look; Nancy creeps up behind him, looking at the door he's not checking out. One is a simple guest room and the other is a study, both pretty obviously empty unless someone were to be hiding. Tyler creeps into the study, using the light of his phone to look around. He pulls out drawers, and finds nothing but papers and pencils, nothing he cares to look closer at; until there's a bottom drawer with a suspiscious black box.
It's not exactly what Tyler expected. It's a bunch of jewelry, mostly rings, but also old watches and bracelets, most of them gold or having precious gems. Tyler holds it up to Nancy under the light of the phone, and she glances into it, squinting, before pulling out a little silver charm bracelet and putting it around her wrist. Tyler thinks for a moment she just liked it enough to steal, until he realises he recognises it- it was her Christmas present from her parents last year. Tyler raises his eyebrows, and Nancy shrugs, closing the box lid and putting the box in Tyler's backpack for him.
"I want cash, if we can find it," she whispers in his ear. "If we're really going to do this."
Tyler revels in the spirit of revenge, grinning. He stands, making his way down the hallway to the living room. Using the light from his phone and listening out for any movement, he looks around the room to also find it empty.
Nancy moves ahead, gesturing for him to follow, and they move down into another bedroom. Tyler again sweeps the room with his light and finds nothing, but Nancy turns the light on now.
"The lights aren't on anywhere," she says in a normal tone. "He's not home."
"He left the front door unlocked?" Tyler asks, raising an eyebrow.
Nancy shrugs. "I'ma search his room."
Tyler backs out into the living room and checks the last door, other than the garage. From the outside, he hears a small sound, like snoring, and something else that mightve been like a TV. Tyler opens the door cautiously, and nearly jumps out of his skin when he realises Sandys is, in fact, home.
He's asleep, stretched out on a couch with earphones in, his phone beside him. Tyler can hear a soft voice from the earphones, but he can also tell it's turned up to maximum volume, something like ASMR. Tyler figures that if God is real he's on their side with this, because that stroke of luck to not get caught is insane.
Tyler creeps up to his sleeping form. The bastard is pretty ugly, in Tyler's opinion, but he would probably think that about any rapist. Tyler doesn't risk the light of his phone, instead just squinting at the table next to the couch and finding nothing. He creeps back out, shutting the door behind him.
He goes back to Nancy, who's chucking things around recklessly, searching pockets and upending drawers. "He's here," Tyler hisses. "He's just asleep. But he's got headphones in so he probably won't hear us. But be careful anyway."
Nancy scoffs. "Who sleeps with headphones in?"
"People who fall asleep to ASMR, I think. We got super lucky. We better be quick."
Nancy shrugs. "I got what I want," she says, holding up a wallet with a fat wad of cash in it. "I knew he had to have money to lie to girls with. He just never intended for me to keep it, obviously."
They make their way back out into the living room. It's open plan, so the kitchen, the best place to start a fire and get away with it, is there as well. Tyler sets his bag down and takes out the gasoline, uncapping it.
"I find it very weird," Tyler says as Nancy picks up his bag, "that he stole girl's jewelry. It was mostly rings and stuff in there too, that looked like engagement rings and stuff."
"Of course he's got some weird fetish or whatever. He probably thinks of them as trophies."
"Gross," Tyler says, wrinkling his lips. He picks a spot and is about to slosh the gasoline when he hears movement.
"Fuck," Nancy suddenly whispers. "Is he awake?"
"I don't think so-"
"Who else could it be? Fucking hide!"
Tyler slaps his hand over the gasoline to keep it from spilling as Nancy grabs him and pulls him behind the couch and down to the floor. Tyler puts the gasoline down silently to keep his hands ready to be thrown into fists.
From the darkened hallway, the direction that only the garage and spare room Sandys was sleeping in are, a shadowy figure emerges, walking slowly with careful steps. Tyler can see, from this angle, only a pair of legs, each step slow, walking on eggshells. Sandys, knowing there are intruders in his house- there's no other explanation.
As his silhouette passes in front of the bedroom with the light still on, Tyler can see a little better. Sandys is bigger than Tyler thought he was from looking at him asleep; both taller and more well built. His hand rests against the doorframe, but all Tyler can see is the black outline of him against the light from the door; he can't see his expression, or even the details of his hair or clothes. He seems to scan the bedroom, and then he turns around and scans the living room too. Tyler stays completely still, completely silent, Nancy lying beside him.
And then he moves towards the front rooms. Tyler goes to move, but Nancy drags him back down. There's a few shuffling sounds from the front rooms, but then he comes back down the hallway, each step light as a feather on the carpet, before taking a turn down and heading back where he came from in the first place. Tyler hears a door open and shut again, and climbs to his feet. This time, Nancy doesn't stop him.
"I'll be quick," Tyler whispers, taking the gasoline and sloshing it around the kitchen, making a trail leading to the couch and the living room. Nancy stands by the wall, Tyler's bag in her hands, ready to bolt the minute Tyler says so.
Tyler walks to the stove and turns all the burners on. He didn't slosh any gasoline on the stove; he's not stupid enough to light himself up like that. No, the match he takes from the bag and throws heads towards the island counter across from the stove. It alights on the counter and the fire spreads across the liquid like water soaking into fabric, like water that's about to clean the stains out. This house is stained with an awful horror that Tyler doesn't need to know. Doesn't want to know.
The flames are mostly yellow, but in the redness, Tyler can see Kevin's hair swinging as he ran in front of him, ran in the last futile hope that they could escape Darkfilly Copse.
They eventually did in name, but Kevin never truly escaped. Sometimes, Tyler's not sure he did either.
"Tyler," Nancy mutters, pulling at his sleeve. "Come on."
The fire begins to spread across the counter, heading towards the stove. But Nancy is pulling Tyler towards the front door, pulling him away, not letting him see. Not letting him watch the horror get destroyed, get burnt to the ground.
"Tyler, please. We have to go."
And suddenly Tyler remembers he's supposed to be running.
This time, no effort is made to be silent or secret. He speeds towards the front door, still gripping the empty gasoline canister, while Nancy holds the bag with the money and stolen jewelry. Tyler smacks into the door hard enough to slam it open, and into the night they run, running off down the street towards town. Nancy's shorter and not as fast as Tyler, but she can still run like hell.
Tyler skids to a stop as soon as he hears sirens, which is only a few doors down. "Go left," he commands, throwing the gasoline cannister as hard as he can into the bushes to his right, "and I'll keep going."
"Why-"
"Just do it!"
Nancy takes a turn and begins heading down the court that Tyler suggested. Tyler keeps running forward, acting like he was running alone. The police car first drives past him, before turning around and suddenly braking. Tyler keeps running, feeling his heartbeat in his ears. He risks a glance over and sees two cops get out of the car; one  points in Nancy's direction and shouts at the other one, a less fit man than the yelling one who immediately starts chasing her. The one who yelled takes off after Tyler, and he's still sprinting with all his might, as much as his lungs are starting to burn, but there's only so much he can do.
When he's tackled to the ground, he just prays that Nancy escapes.
The graze he gets from hitting the sidewalk burns as he's pulled to his feet. The cop is asking him questions, but his mind isn't in the present moment. It feels just like his mother grabbing him and Kevin from the forest on that day. The day they should've escaped.
How did the police get here so fast? Sandys must've called the police when he came out. Tyler curses under his breath.
"We've had a call about a breaking and entering," the cop says, validating Tyler's theory. "Suspect was a male over six feet tall, house broken into was up that way. Caller said there might have been more than one person. If it wasn't you and your little friend, I'll..."
The other cop returns empty-handed and Tyler breathes a breath of relief. "I chased after her, boss, but I've got no idea where she went," he said, out of breath. "I got a good look at her, and could probably identify her if I saw her again. But I lost her. I'm sorry."
The first cop curses. "We'll get an investigation team on this. Don't worry, we'll find her."
Tyler's taken back into the station for questioning, and it's only when he's sitting in a cold concrete room handcuffed to a table that the police learn about the fire that burnt that house down. A different cop is sitting across from him when the news is whispered to her, as the first guy is standing, arms crossed, against the back wall, glaring at him.
"You're lucky the man is alive," she tells Tyler, bemused, and he disagrees. Sandys should be dead for what he did. "But you still broke into his house and committed arson, so don't think you're out of trouble yet. We have proof that you did it."
"You don't," Tyler disagrees, arms crossed.
The cop raises her eyebrow. "You say that with such confidence. I can tell you exactly how you did it already. We only have a preliminary report from the firefighters, but what they said matches what we already suspected. There were two of you."
"Impossible," is all Tyler says. He's prepared to go to jail and take the fall. Sandys deserved it, and Nancy deserves to be happy, even if Tyler has no hope of ever finding happiness himself. It's fine. It's all fine.
He spends the night in jail contemplating every way he's going to dominate the jail yard and make himself feared. That's the best way to avoid the pain, after all. He declines the opportunity to contact his mother. The cops told her he's been arrested, and that's all he really cares to tell her.
In the morning, the cops demand a cheek swab from him. He has no idea why, but doesn't object- can't, anyway. He had expected perhaps to be fingerprinted, but he's not. They possibly didn't find the gasoline canister. Tyler wonders if God is real for a moment, because that sure feels like it has to be more than luck.
He spends one more night in jail before they come in and tell him he's free to go.
Tyler raises an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Why are you free to go?" The cop laughs. "Are you trying to confess?"
Tyler shakes his head. "Why did you change your mind?"
The cop shrugs. "No evidence, so we can't. We found male DNA at the scene that wasn't yours. Since your accomplice was female according to the officers at the scene, it wasn't hers. Unless she was a he, huh?"
Tyler was completely unaware of the weight on his chest until it lifted. "So I'm free to go?"
"You're still a suspect," the officer corrects with a glare, "...but you are no longer under arrest."
When Tyler gets home, he's met with a slap across the face from his mother, then a tearful apology and a big hug. He wasn't sure what he expected, really, but it wasn't that. "I'm fine, Carol," he says, her name tasting bitter in his mouth. "They couldn't prove I did anything wrong."
"But did you do anything wrong?" she asks with a frown, wiping away her own tears.
Tyler shrugs. "Not really."
Even in the late 2010s, the possibility that Tyler's accomplice was trans didn't occur to the police- or at least, without having caught Nancy, they couldn't prove Tyler was there at all. While that was the more likely answer, there was always a quiet joke between Nancy and Tyler that while her Y chromosome had given her trouble, without it, Tyler would be in jail.
Sandys was in hospital for smoke inhalation for weeks, and he left the country after that, presumably because too much investigation into him would prove how awful of a person he was. Tyler always assumed he had the full story.