Conflicted Eyes, Confusing Feelings | Complete

s e v e n t y - n i n e

Chapter 79: Things come to light 

Cue the hyper-emotional Asian drama OST :/

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You're the person I could never let go of

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They didn't know where they were going, and they didn't know what they would find. Carter provided instructions to say that Xander said he was headed north to his mother's beach house, and Randall suggested that he'd probably take the freeway to get there; hence their situation at that moment, blazing down the freeway, edging closer and closer to the unknown.

Sage sat in the backseat, stuck in his head.

The words pounded in Sage's head.

Over.

And over again.

They echoed like a distant cry. Like a wrenched scream in the distance, a sound Sage later found out that he emitted. The tide of poison rose up to his throat, throttling him, strangling him, poisoning him and sapping his strength until the depression was all he could feel, all he could hear. He was sure he would pass out from the weakness, but then Carter squeezed his hand, bringing him back to the current moment, where Randall was at the steering wheel, swerving through cars like they were in a high-speed chase. The rain pounded on the windows and roof of the car, and soon that was the only thing Sage could focus on to keep himself from losing his mind. Meeting Carter's eyes, Sage squeezed his hand back.

At that moment, only one word echoed in his head.

Xander.

Randall slowed down at a stoplight by a busy intersection. He apprehensively tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. The tense silence hung over them like a foreboding spell, choking them and swallowing any words of encouragement Randall wanted to offer. In the end, he ended up simply holding Carter's hand and trying anyway.

"It's going to be okay."

Carter looked at him. The vulnerability in his tearing eyes dampened Randall's spirit too, but despite everything, Carter forced a smile and nodded, but said nothing in response. The car sped off at the first sight of the stoplight, heading onto a more narrow strip of road, blocked by a series of cars moving at snail pace usually whenever an accident occurred. Carter perked up in his seat and peered over the windscreen, ignoring how his head sunk to the bottom of his stomach.

"We have to move. Drive!" Carter demanded, and Randall attempted to swerve the car into the other lane, but was intercepted by a stream of cars pouring down the street.

"Shit," Randall cursed, having no choice but to reverse into the correct lane. In the back seat, Sage's panic grew. The traffic didn't let up, and with each painful second that ticked by, the feeling of unease, panic, and defeat grew within Sage, to the point he felt as though he would explode in another series of tears, or worse, a heart attack.

The blond didn't give it much thought. He hunched over in the back seat and grabbed the umbrella lounging there.

And flung the door open.

"Sage, stay in the car!" Randall instructed, but Sage already had a foot out.

If there was a chance.

Even a 0.1% chance that the next bus hadn't left as yet, or Xander happened to be at that bus stop, Sage was willing to take the chance. He opened the umbrella and swung it over his head, despite that his clothes had dampened as a result of the initial raindrops hitting his hair, clothes, and face. He ignored all that, as well as the accidents he nearly caused as he sprinted across the road. He fell back into the lane, running between the two lanes of cars going in the opposite direction.