my face gets hot as the temperature in the church increases. i wander outside into the late may air and refresh my cheeks. i breathe in, cleansing myself before hearing an argument between two previous lovebirds...
"what's your problem?" the masculine and low voice wonders out loud. i'm nearing the grass on the front lawn, but still hear the sounds from behind me—almost a sense of deja vu.
"apart from the fact that you were drying her tits?" the girl of the two ask. i turn my head slightly to make some faces to these people: harry bingham and kelly aldrich.
"by accident..." harry efforts to say, but kelly boldly tells him to 'go fuck' himself.
"i didn't mean anything by it!" he says as the two grow closer to my back. "you don't mean anything by anything." i move away to the right to give the two some space. i try to go unnoticed, but spot harry's eye's glancing over at me slowly heading back to the church. kelly seemed to be pretty occupied, though.
"i was just trying to have a little bit of fun! it's not like we own each other!" is all i can hear as i turn into the church, seeing kelly leave her man as i do. i look back on lonely harry before walking inside.
"evan! hello!" a tipsy allie swoops me up at the entrance. "allie, what have you been up to?" i lightheartedly ask as i've barely even seen allie intoxicated—or cassandra for that matter.
"just some stuff, it's not like anyone will know..." she stumbles with me into the main part of the church. "right, right, have you seen grizz?" i ask her. "nope, uh but i think he was at the altar." she says while we walk down the center, before she runs off in will's direction. i let her go, and search around for grizz. i cant find him, so i resort to the outskirts of the church building. a blonde girl exits a doorway while i walk through it.
i catch campbell turning away as i walk in, stopping in my tracks. i haven't spoken to him in months, and don't plan on doing it again. i quickly head back into the main area, hearing campbell's "hey, evan, wait!" as i do.
"yo, evan!" jason calls over as i find grizz, clark, him and gwen by the bar station. grizz looks like he's had maybe a drink or two, but isn't a lightweight so i trust that he's fine.
"we should get going." i say as the party's begun to die down.
"can you drive?" grizz asks me after saying his short goodbyes.
"'course i can drive." i poke while we walk out into the lot.
i don't think i've ever been quite close with any foster siblings i've had. out of the 11, grizz is the best i've gotten. i also think that our social standings were convenient too. i mean, i wouldn't doubt if grizz would avoid me if i joined the math squad over the cheer team.
i wake up to grizz calling at me: "EVAN, WAKE UP!" and hear him pounding down the stairs. i hop out of bed and slide on a clean top and jean shorts.
"cassandra said we have to meet at the church, just a few of us so keep it on the downlow." my eyebrow raises but i comply, heading to the church in the passengers seat.
"someone has to find out where everyone went." i hear cassandra say as we walk up. allie offers me a small smile as i spot luke and harry sitting hungover in the doorway.
"we can't all go." cassandra finishes as i figure out the issue at hand. harry offers to lead the search, in which cassandra strikes back "you're sober?"
"fuck you." an irritated harry bites back. if you ask me, harry's already down the road to alcoholism despite his salutatorian reputation, but still, cassandra's question was a bit out of pocket.
"luke you want to see if we can get some of the guys to come with? grizz, help me out here man." harry asks while i look to see grizz's blank expression.
"yeah, yeah let's go." i hear from luke, separating grizz and i. i take a seat next to allie and see the signed conversation between her cousin, sam, and her.
"the smell, it's gone." i pick up sam pointing out. that's something i just remembered, the vile stench that haunted the town for weeks just...disappeared.
"or are..." i begin to speak but pull back on my words as i comprehend the possible reality. as i perceive allie and sam's attention, i complete my sentence.
"or are we the ones who are gone." it's a dark sentence, but it might as well be our reality. so far it's been almost 24 hours with no returning families in sight. we stay quiet after my words and await our next move. i hear cassandra brainstorming as we lean against the brick of the church. cassandra pulls out her phone before proclaiming: "we need to go to the bridge. now."
i lean against the edge of the red overarching solid as a group forms. the original group, with the addition of clark, kelly, gordie, helena, and unfortunately campbell, surround each other while we discuss the groups findings.
we're trapped.
