x. the end is here

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The four teens left alive were interrogated by the police. They all kept to the same story and even though it was clear that Sheriff Goode was going to blame Kate and Simon for all the terrible things that had happened, he seemed as if he was willing to believe a different story. But they couldn't tell him, so that was the story he went with.

Sam, Josh and Sydney waited for Deena's interrogation to be over and as soon as it was they left the police department.

They were greeted by Sam's mom and Sydney's brother. Sam's mom had a complete freak out over seeing her daughter holding another girl's hand. But clearly Sam had become more comfortable in her sexuality because she kissed her girlfriend and agreed to see her tonight in front of her own mom.

Derek looked at his sister impatiently. Sydney looked back and Josh and Deena. "Any chance I could come over tonight too?" She asked them. They smiled and nodded as she turned back to her brother and they left.

Neither one said anything until they got into the car. Where they sat until Sydney cleared her throat. "Are you gonna drive or-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Derek interrupted her.

Sydney shrugged. "My doctor says I have a strange growth pattern." She told him.

Derek glared at her. "I can't fucking believe you!" He yelled at her. "Mom and dad never liked Kate, you know? Were you in on those murders too?" He asked her.

Sydney fell silent for a bit. Hearing Derek talk about Kate made her want to punch him, but she didn't. She could only use her words or she would be grounded for life. "Kate and Simon weren't murderers." She defended them. "You don't know anything so stop trying to act like you do." She spat at him.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Come on, Syd. It's not like you've known either of them your whole life. You met this Simon guy like last year. You never know how crazy people can be." He reminded her.

"Fuck you!" Sydney snapped. "Don't talk about my friends like that ever again. I swear to god I will make your life a living hell if you do!" She screamed at him.

Derek went silent and stared at his sister in shock. He started to car and for the whole ride he said nothing to her. He refused to speak to her even when they entered the house. He just stood awkwardly as the two siblings faced their parents.

"Sydney Carter!" Her mom yelled at her. Sydney watched as Derek tried to suppress a smile from forming as his sister was getting yelled at. "You're never going out again! I can't believe you would do this to us! We always warned you about Kate and Simon but you never wanted to listen. Were you in on whatever was going on? You definitely can't see Deena anymore so say goodbye to her." The words of her mother felt like rubber bouncing off of her.

Sydney didn't care about the words coming from her mom. She just walked past her as her mother began screaming at her for ignoring her. Sydney locked her door and curled up on her bed, tears spilling from her eyes.

She thought about Simon and how she had wasted her time with him. She thought about Kate and how she felt it was her fault her best friend was dead. Sydney wished it was her in their place. But she couldn't die now, not after she promised Kate to stay alive for her.

For a while she didn't feel like she could cry over them. She kind of hoped that this was a bad dream and that Kate and Simon would be tapping on her window so they could go out. But she was stuck in her house with her parents and Derek.

Sydney knew running away definitely wasn't an option but she wished it was. Her parents would call the cops for sure. So the only thing she could do was face them.

Opening her door, she walked down the hall to where her family was. They were gathered around the kitchen table, whispering like they were all in a on a secret that Sydney wasn't supposed to know.

They all turned to face her as they saw her approaching. "Do you have an apology for us?" Her dad asked.

Sydney shook her head. "I could ask you the same thing." She told him.

"What do we have to apologize for?" Her mom asked, pursing her lips.

Sydney crossed her arms and stared back at her mother. "For being horrible parents and being a horrible brother? You guys don't even know what happened, so don't lecture me without having your facts straight. You've always treated me like crap! Like I was some pet and...and you were just waiting for me to die and I'm sick of it!" She ranted, leaving her parents gaping at her. "Letting Derek terrorize me when we were younger didn't help your case, in case you wanted to know." She added.

The kitchen was silent after a moment and Sydney thought about just leaving the house. She was angry about a lot of things and they had just pushed her over the edge. "She's right." Derek muttered. "I used to bully her, a lot." He explained.

Sydney felt a little happy he had agreed with her, but there was still no apology. "Exactly...now if you'll excuse me I'm going for a bike ride! Don't call at Deena's if I'm not home by late because I won't be there." She sharply turned, grabbed her bag from her room, and marched out the front door.

Hopping on her bike she rode all the way to the park that her and Kate used to go to. Although Josh claimed Sydney didn't know Kate her entire life, they had been friends since 4th grade and it felt like they've known one another for an eternity.

Getting off her bike and letting it fall she sat on one of the swings. She just sat, refusing to think about the events of the night. If she thought about Simon or Kate any longer she might just die.

She thought for a moment of going to Deena's possibly staying there for as long as possible. But before she could even get up, she felt a sharp pain in her back. It hurt like hell and she reached to see what had caused it, she felt an object in her back, as well as a different hand that was attached to the object, feeling the object sink deeper into her back.

Quickly turning around she made eye contact with Skull Mask, who only stared back. Sydney didn't scream, she just stared in shock. She thought they had ended it, but apparently she was wrong.

Accepting that she was going to die, Sydney allowed the knife to sink deeper and deeper, blood spilling and tears coming from Sydney's eyes. She collapsed on the ground and stared at the sky. There were no stars for her to look at, only pitch black as she felt herself bleed out.

Sydney was content with dying. It wasn't something she wanted but she welcomed it. But as she felt herself coming closer to death she remembered her promise to Kate, and felt even more guilty than before.

She had broken Kate's promise and it was too late to try and fix it. Sydney let herself close her eyes before dying and had let herself die, but for a moment since before Kate and Simon died she was happy.

Happy with herself for the first time in a long time.

THE CHAIN,  simon kalivodaWhere stories live. Discover now