𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐑; ethan landry

chapter twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE
"if she wished hard enough everything would just go away."

THE GROUP WATCHED in the lobby of Gale's apartment complex as law enforcements ran crazily; stretchers wheeled past them with plastic sheeting over it and officers and doctors sprinted across the tiled flooring. Their eyes grew distracting, their thoughts compiling into a jagged mess. They told themselves they would come up with a plan right then an there, but now, with their lives a blur, they didn't think we could.

"Can we just postpone this thing? Just by a day, because I can't think straight right now," Chad mumbled as he pushed his head back into the cold wall. Ethan nodded beside him, catching the eyes of his girlfriend across their huddled circle.

"We'll meet up again tomorrow then . . . there's just no way we can do this now," Sam nodded with an uneasy shrug. They all shared looks, would they regret this? Yes, yes they would, but there was nothing else they could do about it. 

"Get a good sleep, guys . . . well, try to," Juliet said with a smile, patting the backs of Mindy and Tara, who were closest to her, before stepping away from the group.

"Hold on, I'm coming," Ethan muttered quickly as he pushed through the group, walking in a fast pace out the other side.

Chad grinned as he watched, a smirk moving to rest on Mindy's face even when it was the last thing she wanted. She didn't want to trust Ethan, he was an easy suspect, but then again, he'd been there for everything. He was there when Juliet was almost killed, there when they searched the park, there when Gale was slashed in her apartment. He had solid alibis, but Mindy needed to distance herself from someone, so she chose him.

"Have fun, you two! But not too much fun," Chad shouted after them, receiving a flip of a bird from Juliet and a panicked look from a boy with flushed cheeks. The older boy laughed as him and Tara shared a look, receiving odd glances from Sam and Mindy around them. Suddenly, it clicked, and he turned to them with wide eyes and parted lips. "Oh, you guys don't know!"

"Know what?" Mindy asked, sharing a look of confusion with the eldest Carpenter sister.

"Ethan and Jules . . . they're together now."

Meanwhile, the two in question were enjoying their peaceful stroll back to the girl's apartment. Their hands were joined, swinging in the winter breeze while the lives of many continued on around them. They were merely in the background, entering the life of one for only a second before walking back away. However, Juliet couldn't help but think, if she was in the background, why did she feel like she was front and centre?

They spoke through the silence, smiling and laughing to forget about their grief-filled and tragic reality, until the dial of a phone sliced through the air. In the midst of a laugh, Juliet blindly reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, answering it with a swift press of her finger before dragging the device up to her ear. She didn't even see who was calling her, but if she had, there was the guilty possibility that she could've saved the close tragedy of the remaining night.

"Hello, Juliet," said the voice, that one, menacing voice. She gulped, freezing in her steps as her eyes locked on the world around her, spinning. Her hand fell out of Ethan's, causing him to turn around. She didn't notice. She was too busy realising that now, right now, was the moment she stepped out of the background and became the main character.

Just by the sheer panic on her face, Ethan could tell who the person behind the call was. His eyes too darted around, landing on every person around them, which is when he realised, there was nobody but themselves. Of course they were alone.