What We'll Survive Together (UD One-Shots)

Josh and Matt- Not Truely Forgiven

Matt considered himself one of the lucky ones after the Blackwood incident. He wasn't too injured physically, and his mental state was definitely one of the better ones. He hardly got a moment to himself for several weeks. He was constantly checking up on Jess, who desperately needed his support in her frail condition. When he wasn't with her, he was with his younger sister who was nearly six years old. He feared that she understood more of the situation than his parents thought, which would explain why she was practically glued to him at every chance she got. She could probably sense that she almost lost her big brother.
     The few times he WAS alone, however, Matt found himself thinking about Josh, Hannah, and Beth. He, like the rest of the group, felt horrible about what happened. What was even worse, at least in his eyes, was that he was the one who filmed Hannah being led on. This is why he often wondered why he wasn't more involved with Josh's prank. It seemed that he targeted Sam, Ashley, and Chris the most, who were the least involved with the twins.
     'Maybe he had more planned for the rest of us.' He assumed. 'He was really upset with me after what happened with the video...'
    Matt remembered sobering up pretty quickly after Hannah and Beth ran off. Mike, Jess, Emily, Ashley, and himself all sat in the living room while Sam tried to wake Josh and Chris up. When she eventually did, the group had no choice to admit what they had done.
     "You did WHAT?!" Josh had screamed at Mike, holding him by his shirt collar. "SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
     "Josh, relax, they'll be back-" Matt tried to calm him while pulling him away from Mike.
     "YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK! YOU FILMED IT ALL!" Josh yelled, turning his attention and rage to Matt.
     "Josh, they're all sorry. It's already done now. We'll deal with all of this when the girls get back." Sam reasoned, putting a hand on Josh's shoulder. He tensed up, but let Mike go. Matt was thankful that Sam had been there; Josh always listened to her.
     When Josh stormed off, the rest of the group looked at one another nervously. Sam and Chris decided to go after Josh, leaving everyone else behind. After there was no sign of the twins for a few hours, they started getting more restless. Josh was calm, but nobody dared approach him. They knew that if they tried, he'd get all riled up again.
     Sure enough, a search party was sent out after three days. When they came back with nothing, the Washingtons would pay for another one. This went on for eight months, and eventually everyone lost hope. If Hannah and Beth were alive, they would've been found. Josh ended up dropping out of college, since he had a hard time coming to terms with the loss. This was why Matt found it odd when Josh approached him one day after school. At he left the building to walk home, Josh was waiting by a tree out front.
     "Hey, Matt." Josh greeted as he walked side by side with Matt.
     "Uh, hi Josh. Whatcha doin here?" He asked, trying to be polite.
     "I wanted to ask you for something." Josh answered.
     "Oh, sure. What's up?"
     "Do you still have the video?"
     "What video?" Matt asked.
     "The one of... H-Hannah..." he replied, his expression dropping for a split second.
"Woah, what? Why?" Matt asked, suddenly feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"My mom wanted to see it." Josh explained. "Do you have it or not?"
"Well, I-I uh, I deleted it off my camera roll... but it probably got saved onto a flash drive somewhere. I can make you a copy if you want." He answered.
"Sounds good, but please try to make it quick. My mom isn't always known for her patience." Josh warned as he started walking away.
"Sure thing, I'll get right on it. Oh, and Josh?" Matt called.
"Yeah?"
"I'm really sorry... for all of this. I never-"
"Hey, don't worry about it. All is forgiven, I just miss them sometimes. Don't stress." Josh had reassured him.
Unfortunately, Matt knew better now. He knew that he, just like everyone else who was involved, was never truly forgiven for what happened. He proved as much when he made them think he was dead, THEN that there was a maniac on the loose. Even still, Matt felt incredibly guilty about the whole situation. Everyone did some awful things, but none of them, not even Josh, deserved what they went through. He would never wish such a thing upon his worst enemy.
'I knew better than to think things would all be alright. I should've known that I was never truly forgiven. I wish I could talk to him one more time. I wish I could make him understand how sorry I am.' Matt thought to himself as he sat alone in his bedroom, waiting for his sister to get home from school.