Inferno Part 2

~151~ Sarah

Unsure if a trigger warning is needed, but there's a part in here involving Sarah that I'm unsure about. I want to be sensitive, so if you want more information before reading, please message me. This is a shorter chapter, but my plan is to get several chapters out today. 😀

Ellie's POV

Nolan and Taylor are at the kitchen table working on math homework. Math is NOT my forte. I'm so grateful that I have a smarty-pants husband who could shoulder the awful weight of mathematics. Alex used to do my math for me. Tests posed a little bit of an issue, but a lot of the times we were in the same class, and he was able to angle his test enough so I could copy. YES, I know I'm a hypocrite. Cheating was always the biggest thing of mine when it came to my kids.

'Do as I say, and not as I do' and all of that. They will never know about my cheating ways in school. Alex and I are taking that to our grave. Or, at least, he better...Or he will be seeing his grave sooner rather than later.

I'm baking some brownies when Alex comes in. I haven't seen him in a week.

"Hey!" I say smiling at him as I pour brownie batter into the pan.

"You're smiling at me?" Alex asks, stunned.

"Um, what would you like me to do?"

"Aren't you mad at me?"

I sigh and put my bowl down, coming over to him and hugging him tight. "Not even a little bit. Jeff was evil. Did you get any closure?"

He sighs and shakes his head. "No. I'll never get closure."

I kiss his cheek. "Want some brownie batter?"

"Do you even have to ask?" He smirks.

I chuckle as I hand him the bowl. He takes it, and starts dipping his finger in the batter, licking his finger. Then he turns his attention to Taylor.

"I'm sorry, Taylor."

Taylor stands up and pulls him into a hug too. "We even now? I'm sure you've still been pissed for throwing you under the bus with the money thing."

Alex just nods. "I'm good," he says simply.

"Me too," Taylor smirks as he goes back over to Nolan.

"Man you two were easy. I figured I'd have to grovel."

I shake my head. "Nope. How's Lilah?"

He licks some more batter off of his finger before he answers. "Thankfully she's so relieved that I'm home that she's forgiven me. The boys and I worked it out last night too."

I nod. "Liam told me."

He smiles, as he sits at the bar and continues to eat the batter.

"Man I'm going crazy. I miss working so freaking bad."

I nod as I hand him a soda. "It won't last forever."

He shrugs. "I'm still in contact with my unit. Honestly, I'm kinda just working from home, under the table. there's a huge case I was in the middle of before this happened."

"With Katie?" Taylor asks.

"I wish. We're looking into her now though. There's no way she should have been able to find out what she did about us. Not legally anyways. Most people can't even hack passwords on social media, let alone this stuff."

"When you take that witch down, I want in on it," Taylor says darkly.

Alex just nods as he continues to eat the batter.

We chitchat with Alex for a while, when suddenly our whole posse comes in. I'm kinda confused. It's a weeknight and everyone is here.

"What's up," Taylor asks as everyone is done filing in."

"No idea," Liam shrugs.

"We asked everyone to come over real quick," Jake says seriously.

We just nod and wait.

Sarah sighs. "I'm seeing a trend, and I wanted to tell you guys now, so if Katie tries to strike me down next, you guys already know. I told Jake a few days ago."

We just nod.

She sighs and starts to cry. Jake just holds her hand.

"I used to be married. When I was 21, I was married to my high school sweetheart. We got pregnant and had a baby. A little girl named Chloe. I....Uh....I put her to sleep one night, when she was 9 weeks old. When I woke up in the morning, she was dead. She died of SIDS," she says, starting to sob.

Jake holds her, trying not to cry himself.

When she gets herself back under control, she begins again. "I should have woken up in the middle of the night to check on her...But I didn't. The pain of losing her was just too much, and my husband left me. He blamed me for her death. Besides my family, I've never told anyone. Not ever. I moved away from my family a year after it happened and came here. I just wanted a new life. A fresh start. I still dream about her, though. I still dream that I'm holding my sweet girl in my arms. When I wake up, I sob, because it was only a dream."

She's crying so hard, she buries herself into Jake, as he rocks her back and forth.

When she gets herself back under control, she sniffs. "Anyways, Katie gave me a look after Alex's thing, so I know I'm next. I just wanted to do it now, so she didn't get the pleasure of doing it."

I go over to her and pull her into me. "I'm so sorry," I say, trying not to cry.

"She was so beautiful. She was my everything," she sobs.

We spend the next hour comforting her, and learning about her daughter. It was a beautifully tragic hour. Somehow this moment brought us all even closer.

Katie is somehow bringing us closer. Making us stronger. Making our village tighter.