RED: Welcome To Fayetteville | Complete ✔️

Chapter 56: The Bag

"I can't tell you enough how bad I feel," Natalie rose her hand and placed it under her left eye. She looked up, preparing for a tear to drop.

"Natalie, listen! It's okay. It really is," Evelyn reached forward and turned off the radio. "I'm a forgiving person. I feel like you have to forgive people in life. You don't need to beat yourself up over something that's over. It's in the past. I may have a pretty scar on my side to tell my kids one day," Evelyn giggled. "...but it's just a scar. It's just a story. The damage is done... but that's what scars are for. To show you the damage is done."

Natalie listened, and she knew. She knew Evelyn was right, and it made her cry a little more.

"Thank you, Eve." Natalie moved her bag from her lap to the floorboard. "I needed to hear that. I've been feeling down and upset about this whole thing. RED left a big scar... and he's still out there. It rocked my world... it really did."

"I don't think the scars from RED are fully here yet. We're still healing and trying to turn the wound into a scar... and that's okay."

Evelyn turned off the highway and onto the long backroad. Natalie let the silence linger in the car...

"I've felt like the wound for so long... I'm ready for it to just be a scar."

"Me too..." Evelyn looked down at the potholes in the road. "Me too, Nat."

Natalie thought of her gun in her bag and pulled it from the floorboard and onto her lap. She felt like her guard was down, and strangely enough, she felt safe at the same time. But that was just Evelyn. At the lake house, she'd have the gun ready and close.

Evelyn parked the car behind Zach's in the dark driveway. She leaned over and grabbed Natalie's bag for her as she hopped out of the car. Natalie looked down and reached for it, but Evelyn bounced out of the car and shut the door too quickly. Natalie opened her door and slammed it shut. She spun around to Evelyn in front of the car. Evelyn smiled at Natalie.

"Thank you, but I've got it," Natalie reached forward.

Evelyn pulled away. "No, it's okay! I know you shot me and all, but let me carry it for you!" She giggled.

"No, really, I've got it." Natalie's voice was more stern. She stepped forward again.

Evelyn tightened her grip on the bag. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. She pulled back away from Natalie again. "Why are you being so weird, Nat?"

Natalie took a deep breath and lunged forward. She snapped her hand around the black bag, but Evelyn's grip didn't change. Natalie huffed.

She brought her other hand up, but this time didn't go for her bag. She grabbed Evelyn's side where she shot her and squeezed. She let her nails dig a little harder into the scar.

"Give. Me. The. Bag."

***Evelyn and Natalie had a conversation they both needed to have... but will Evelyn question her more and continue this struggle over the bag? Or will she give it up?

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