Intertwined

The Aftermath

Hey guys! It's finally here!!! The start of the ending arc! I can't believe we've made it, wow. After around 4 months, we're wrapping up this amazing book. First of all, shoutout to Watermelon. If you didn't check her out by now, please do. She's awesome. Thanks to everyone who stuck with us all this time, we're wholeheartedly appreciative of you all! Now onto the chapter...

Matt was destroyed.

He didn't know how he could bring himself to walk to school after what happened, yet there he was. On his way to either certain doom, or a harsh friendship end.

I deserve it anyways.

The depressed boy kept his head low, unaware of his surroundings as he walked closer to the school.

Mara was walking up to the school as well. She spotted her friend coming closer, looking uncharacteristically downhearted.

Mara frowned and walked over to him, greeting him gently. "Hey Matt"

Matt barely looked up. He recognized the voice and looked aside, freezing in his tracks. "Mara..."

"I'm sorry about what happened, Matt"

There was no point in beating around the bush. Mara knew why he was despondent, and she knew why she was apologizing.

Matt took a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head. "Don't be. It's my fault. Everything is my fault. I should've said it from the start but I didn't wanna hurt her, then I started to care about her and I just..." The boy stopped himself from speaking as he choked on a sob.

"What I told her yesterday was a lie..."

Mara sighed a little. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Matty" The girl tried using his nickname in hope of lifting his spirits.

"If you guys didn't hate me before, you sure will now"

"We didn't hate you, Matty. Some of us may just be a bit upset at you, but I wouldn't go as far as to say we hate you" Mara insisted, her desire to make her friend feel better getting stronger.

"Well, you wouldn't. You're just nice, Mara. I know for a fact that the others do. And if they don't kill me, her dad surely will" Matt felt a shiver go down his spine as he thought of Mr Miller's reaction to this whole ordeal.

Mara sighed a bit again. "You don't know that, Matt"

"No matter...Let's just go in. But thank you anyways...for being my friend" He finally smiled a bit at her gratefully.

"No problem" She smiled a little back at him.

At least he appreciate me being here for him.

Matt started walking inside the school, with Mara beside him. They didn't walk that far when a voice stopped them.

"Matt! Mara!"

It was Mike.

Matt's eyes widened.

Oh no...

Mara stopped walking and looked around for Mike.

Mike ran up to the two and took a few seconds to catch his breath first. He didn't peck Mara like he'd normally do, making Matt raise his eyebrow.

What's up with him?

Mike finally straightened up and looked at Matt.

"You guys heard? Someone from our school died" The brown haired boy exclaimed. Matt sighed.

"I know, Mike. Don't need to be preemptive, I already know my demise"

Mike looked genuinely confused at him, turning to Mara briefly with a puzzled face before looking back at his friend.

"Matt, this is not the time for your dark jokes! I'm telling you someone died, they were killed!"

It was Matt's turn to look at Mara in confusion.

"Wait what?" Mara responded, tensing up. "Y-you mean like....a-actual murder?"

"Yes! Now, let's meet up inside with the others. I'll explain on the way" Mike started walking away, not waiting for the two.

Matt looked at Mara.

"Only a serious matter would turn him into that"

"Yeah...."

So just a quick ending note, we still haven't finished the whole thing as of writing this but we wrote quite a bit so far and I figured I start dividing and publishing as I have time for now (tests are coming soon so yay...). Anyways, I hope you enjoy! And we'll try to get it done as soon as possible! Thanks again and see ya on the flip side!