Beyond The Fence

Chapter 18:

"So what do we do now?" Clary asked, unable to hide the anxiety from her voice.

"We get out of here," Austin spoke, his voice controlled, which surprised Clary. She had to admit, his ability to keep his voice calm in such a crisis loaded situation was quite admirable. However, his ghostly pale face was giving him away.

"And how do you think we'll be able to do that without arousing any suspicion?"

Averting his gaze away from her, Austin directed his line of sight to the window, beyond which officers from the law enforcement stood. He looked at them for a moment, before turning to face Clary. His jaw was set, his eyes shining with determination.

"We create some drama."

*****

"What did you do to him?" Stephanie demanded, her voice barely a whisper, her aquamarine eyes throwing cold glares at Clary. Despite the situation she had herself in, Clary couldn't help but compare Austin's anger with his friend's. It wasn't that Austin had never looked at Clary coldly- he always looked at her that way. But when yelling, it was as if all the ice would melt, replaced with a furiously burning fire. One time, Clary could've sworn she had seen flames dancing behind his eyes. However, Stephanie's anger was different. She would throw icy stares, with the tendency to freeze lava which came right from the Earth's core. Just meeting her eyes when she was furious, was like having a trip to the Arctic. Clary mentally patted herself on the back for not having shuddered.

She watched Austin silently, who lay on the ground, his eyes half-open. The scene replayed in her mind again- of Austin crumpling to the ground like a puppet released of its strings. His acting skills were laudable. Everyone seemed to have fallen for the trap- even the restaurant manager, who sat on his knees next to Austin, clutching a bottle of citrus juice in his hand. Clary was finding it increasingly difficult to keep a straight face.

"Can someone give me a hand? I wish to go home," Austin's voice echoed through the restaurant, coarse and dry. It was eerily silent now, all eyes on the young boy who had just drifted back to consciousness after fainting. Or so they thought; only Clary knew the act he was pulling off.

"Don't you think you should go to the doctor's first? You still don't look well to me," Stephanie suggested, while holding out her hand for Austin to take. His eyes widened a fraction, before returning to their normal size. Shaking his head, he took Stephanie's hand, who pulled him up on his feet.

"No, I just want to catch some sleep right now."

Extending his right arm for the support Austin didn't need, he wrapped it around Stephanie's shoulders, who placed her left arm around his waist, so as to help him walk. The two walked out of the restaurant, followed by Clary and Jason.

Jason had been strangely quiet during this entire episode, still in shock of what had happened. He didn't expect Austin to faint like that and Clary feared he was a bit suspicious of what had happened.

The four of them walked to Stephanie's car, passing the law enforcement. Clary took long strides to get away from them as fast as she could, thanking God silently once she was seated safely in the car.

Stephanie felt that Austin couldn't drive on his own, so she chose to drop everyone off in her car, since Jason had parked his own at Austin's house.

Once seated, Jason started ranting about how he wished to finish the dinner he had stopped eating when Austin fainted, as Stephanie placed the keys in the ignition; starting the engine.

Clary was so relieved that she didn't notice when they made their way towards the car, even though they had passed by her window.
Only when they knocked on Stephanie's window and shone their torches did Clary recognise the similar blue uniforms, the posture that spoke of authority.

She swallowed.

It was the law enforcement.

*****

Author's note: Hi guys!
Don't you think it's strange that the law enforcement officers were standing outside the restaurant the entire time?
Do you guys have any theories on that? If you do, don't be afraid to let me know your opinion in the comments!
And thank you for reading! <3