𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 ☽ 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙠𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

10

The longer it took to get to their destination the longer horrible thoughts lingered in Elizabeth's mind. As badly as she wanted to ask Layla about what happened that could lead to their divorce, she opted not to, not wanting to upset her childhood friend.

They have been friends for as long as she could remember, it all started when they were young and their parents brought them over for dinner, ever since then, Layla and Elizabeth had grown closer with both of them growing up to be aspiring archeologists. Layla had graduated first, being four years older than Elizabeth was.

Elizabeth barely had contact with Layla during her time at school, knowing then that she was a busy woman now. But then the events of what happened at the dig site their parents both worked on happened and it was like they had never known each other at all.

The last text she got from Layla was telling her condolences to her Mother and Elizabeth did the same to her Father.

Deep inside, Elizabeth hoped that she wasn't the cause of their separation. She entered this relationship with Steven, not knowing he was already married.

Although, that fact alone broke Elizabeth's heart.

When it was her turn to tell Layla about how she had met the man, she only told her what she needed to know as she is still married to him, excluding the moments when the two were basically inseparable and behaving much like a couple. She also left put the part where she has fallen in love with him.

When Elizabeth saw Layla nodding as if she was convinced, she released a soft, relieved breath before her eyes darted to the mirror, where she noticed that Layla had put on a relieved look on her face, as if she was glad that she found out that they just friends. Seeing this made her heart drop.

Now arriving at their destination, Layla had the motorbike parked behind the tall buildings of the village to not be seen by its inhabitants. Elizabeth immediately felt dread seep into her the moment her feet touched the ground, it was as if this place had that effect on her every time she was there. Then she remembered her sister, who could be in here and would try to stop her if she spotted Elizabeth.

"Uhm, Layla?" Elizabeth turned towards the woman, whose head perked up at the mention of her name, "I think we should separate."

"What? Why?" Layla asked, her voice mixed with surprise and worry as she rounded her motorbike to get to Elizabeth.

"My sister's in there. If she sees me with you, she'll do anything to stop us." Elizabeth took the scarab out of her pocket, Layla asked her to hold on to it as she was worried that it might fall out of her pocket when she was driving. Elizabeth grabbed her hand and placed the scarab on her palm before closing her fingers around it, "Go."

Layla glanced down at the scarab in hand as she drew her hand back towards her. "But what about you, Lizzie?"

"I'll find my way in. I'll help with everything I've got. Just..." Elizabeth joined her hands together and breathed in, trying to calm her nerves as she thought of what they could be doing to Steven right at this very moment. "Just make sure he's okay."