Fates Fickle Ways

Chapter Six

I made my way down to the caution tape wrapped around the trees, my friends laughing amongst themselves. They'd been through so much it was nice to see them laugh. Jessy spotted me first as I raised the caution tape and walked underneath. "Ella!" She yelled as the others snapped their heads in my direction. She ran to me so fast I had to prepare myself or she would've knocked me over when she hugged me. "You saved Hannah, and Richy. Thank you!"

"Richy? How is he?" I looked for the police car he was in earlier but it was gone. They must've taken him to the station already. "He's shaken up, not himself. Alan has questions to ask him, but they think he just got scared." She sounded sad. Understandably. Over her shoulder I saw the rest of the group walking over. Including Hannah.
"You weren't supposed to come. We agreed on that." Dan didn't approve of my being there. I imagined many of them would be upset to see that I came here, but happy to see me. "You guys agreed on that. I didn't. I was already on the way when I got the text." None of them would have changed my mind on that. Especially not once Jake offered to go instead of me. "And they call me stubborn..." Dan laughed while he rolled his eyes at me.

The whole group exploded in laughter, the heaviness in their hearts finally lifted after days. Hannah walked up to me and hugged me. I wasn't entirely sure how to respond so I just lightly hugged her back. "Is Jake safe?" Lilly popped in thankfully breaking the awkward hug. "Yes." Her face lightened a bit, and I could tell she was very worried about Jake. I wondered if she had told Hannah that he was their brother.

It was different seeing the whole group together, in person. The day had definitely taken more of a toll on me than I first noticed and I had another day of plans tomorrow. "Can one of you show me back to the hotel? I need a place to stay for a little while." I was hoping Jessy would offer, but before she could say anything Thomas spoke up. "I'll show you. I need to talk with you anyway." The group looked at each other. Were they just as shocked as I was? "I'll probably be around for a few days. We will have to meet at the Aurora so you can show me the hype." Everyone laughed and started talking about their favorite drinks there as we were headed into town. Teasing Dan for his undying obsession for whiskey.

Once Thomas and I split from the rest of the group I could sense he was uncomfortable. We walked for a bit, I could tell he was searching for the words to say what he needed to say. "So uh. I guess I want to start by apologizing to you." Apologize? He was shifty and unsure of himself. "You have nothing to apologize to me for, Thomas." He turned on his heels and squared off in front of me. "I never should've asked you to go to the mine to save Hannah and Richy. I was so willing to put your" "Thomas, stop. I don't blame you at all. And it wouldn't have mattered. I had my mind made up. I would never have asked you to put a stranger over your girlfriend or your friend. I would've done the same." He looked shocked to hear that and before I knew it he had pulled me into a hug and was crying on my shoulder. "You went anyway. Even with everyone asking you not to." He pulled back searching my face. "If it were Jake, and it was you being asked to go I would've lost myself in the moment too. Jake deciding to go instead of me took away any doubts I had of going." I wanted to settle any upset he had over that conversation. He owed me nothing. He was concerned for Hannah and I understood in that split second how easy it'd be to ask a stranger to risk it all.

He nodded and moved so we could continue walking. I could tell that conversation was what was making him uncomfortable because now he's a bit more relaxed. I was in my head for a bit thinking over my plans for the next few days when he startled me. "Ella?" I had so much on my mind I had honestly forgotten he was beside me. "Sorry, I zoned out for a minute. What's up?" He kinda chuckled to himself before turning to me with all seriousness in his face. "I wanted to say thank you. I want you to tell Jake too. We were so lost trying to find Hannah, then you both came in. Even if we didn't really trust you at first," he grinned, reminiscing on our first conversations together versus where we are today. "You both really did find Hannah. We couldn't have done any of it without you two. So, yeah, thank you." We were coming to the steps at the hotel and I wasn't sure what to say, so I just nodded. I never expected a thank you. I'm not good with thank you's.