Trigger

twenty four • sorries

Finn is smiling.

It's a scary sight, considering Finn's smile is laced with the entity of manipulation and evilness. Richard hasn't changed at all since we last saw him- he still wears the same cold, expressionless look in his stony blue eyes. This time, however, there is a slightly smirk on his face, as if he's actually amused by the outcome of events that has occurred in the past twenty-four hours.

Hannah moves behind me, her head held up high, but I can feel her doing something behind me. The cold metal of something pretty small presses behind me, but I don't have time to think of what she's doing before Richard raises an eyebrow. Hannah's body goes rigid behind me and a shiver shoots up my spine when he smoothly says, "You know, it's not nice to go through people's conversations without their permission."

"You know," I mock, "It's not nice to fuck around behind people's backs. Or tamper with someone's medication. But you're right, I'm the goddamn devil for going through your phone."

Finn rolls his eyes and nudges Richard. "She thinks she's tough."

Anger shoots through me. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sure I look foolish. I forgot that to be tough, I have to be the reason for someone's suicide."

"Quit with the fucking sarcasm," Finn snaps.

Hannah lets out a breathily, nervous laugh from behind me, obviously a little shaken from the venom in Finn's tone. I try to keep a straight face- I don't want them to see that they actually have some sort of affect on me- but it's hard. If I didn't know for a fact that Finn was evil enough to do that to his own cousin, maybe I would have felt more at ease. But I do know. I know exactly what he's capable of, and it's terrifying.

Even if it's difficult, I don't let my straight face falter, and snap, "If it pisses you off, I'd rather not."

Richard rolls his eyes, exasperated. "You both sound like fifth graders bickering." Finn shoots him a sharp look, but Richard ignores it, continuing on with, "Can we just get on with this? I can't be late for curfew."

Hannah scoffs quietly behind me, murmuring, "What a dick."

I ignore them all, voicing out, "What the hell do you want? Why'd you stop us?"

"Where are you going?" Finn shoots back, answering my questions with his own. It makes me frustrated and wanting to lash out on him, but I know that that was will just probably get me killed, so I refrain from calling him every curse word that is building up in my head right now. Finn takes a step forward, continuing with, "To the police? You really think I'm going to let that happen?"

Hannah's breathing is against my shoulder, her head down- she's doing something behind me. What exactly, I don't know. But I have a feeling it's something that she doesn't want Finn and Richard finding out. So I have to keep them distracted. "Well I'm sure we have one hell of a story to tell the police. You know, how you lied to both them and Levi about who really was driving that night."

Finn's eyes flash, whatever expression of smugness that was once on his face now quickly erased. Richard's jaw stiffens even more so than before, but he keeps his shock a bit more subtle, simply raising an eyebrow at my words. Obviously, they didn't expect me to actually figure that part out. Finn gulps heavily, his breathing beginning to get just slightly laboured. I can tell he's trying to keep himself composed- to continue to use intimidation against us- but his attempts aren't as effective as before. I have something against him- knowledge.

Richard is the one that speaks up. "Wow. Didn't actually think you were smart enough to figure it out. How the hell did you do it?"

Hannah suddenly appears behind me, seemingly done whatever she was doing behind me, and says, "Our friend Clayton helped us out. But I'm sure you know all about that, Finn. Richard really made sure that you weren't left out." Hannah- still a good enough actor to cover up her fear- smiles mockingly. "You should really delete your text messages, Clayton."