hacked // a newtmas au

00.004

Eden's house wasn't big by all means. It was one story, probably contained about five rooms and it was in desperate need of a few upgrades, but Lizzy loved it there. She went over to Eden's so often, it was almost like her second home. Of course that meant Newt was close with the girl too. They used to let him tag along often, they let him come to Eden's after school and gave him ice cream to eat while they talked about boys. When Newt told them he was gay, he was then allowed to join in said talks about boys. Eden was probably the closest thing Newt ever had to a friend, well besides Lizzy.
After Lizzy died Eden was messed up. She didn't come to school for weeks, she got quiet, closed off. She lost her other half, her best friend. Newt felt the same way. Eden probably loved Lizzy just as much as he did.

"You can sit," Eden said as she motioned to her bed.

Newt sat down as he watched her cross the room and close the door. He hadn't seen her in a while. Her brown hair had gotten longer, barely brushing her waist now. She was thinner too, not that she ever wasn't, but he suspected the grief really got to her. She dressed the same, in a lacy top and tight jeans. Newt felt something in his chest clench as he sat in that room again. It still wasn't right, they were missing one.

"Is everything okay?" Newt asked as Eden sat on the floor, crossing her legs under her.

"How much did the police tell you?" She asked as she watched him carefully.

"About-" He couldn't say it. "About what happened?"

Eden nodded.

Newt shrugged. "Not much, they made it seem like it was a suicide, but it wasn't. Lizzy would have never-"

"I know," Eden cut him off. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face. "Newt do you ever feel like it was your fault? Like if you just did something differently she would still be okay?" Eden looked like she was crying now. "If something was different Lizzy would be here, making fun of my stupid crush on that ex-track boy and-"

Newt got off the bed and sat next to her, squeezing her leg softly. "Yeah, I feel like that everyday."

"It sucks," she said as she looked at him with wet eyes. "I still miss her so much."

Newt hooked his arm around her and pulled the girl into his side. "I do too."

"I'm sorry I cut you out," she said quietly. "It wasn't you...it was just looking at you was too hard because I thought of her. You look alike."

"I get it."

She took a few deep breaths before sitting up and wiping her face with the palms of her hands. "I haven't talked about it, ever. It's like I almost pretend it didn't happen. My parents don't bring it up, no one does. It helps, sometimes, but it's so fucked up and wrong."

Newt didn't know what to say, he had a pit in his throat and his stomach hurt.

"Lizzy told me something, like before she die- yeah."

Newt felt his heart rate pick up then. "What did she tell you?"

Eden got up and pulled a small paper out of her desk. She unfolded it and smoothed it out against her leg. "She told me that she did something and someone was after her. She said not to worry, that she had it handled, but then she gave me this note and said to hold onto it just in case."

Newt took it, letting out a long breath as he did. It was the string of code again. "Jorge?" Newt asked as Eden nodded.

"I saw that code in the article and it matched this one and something isn't adding up. There's no way that Jorge and Lizzy just happened to put the same weird random numbers down before they..."