OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

Skull Rock

Eddie felt like he weighed another 10 kilos as he dragged himself out of the lake, the water dripped from his clothes and hair, and made him feel so cold.

Ellie stood on the ground, wringing her shirt out as she watched Eddie walk out of the water, in any other situation she would've made a comment about how she reminded him of the guy in the pride and prejudice book they had to read in 8th grade.

She looked through her wet hair that was hanging over her face and in the distance could see Jason reaching the shore with Patrick's body.

Eddie followed her line of sight. "Somehow they'll blame me for that too." He told her.

She nodded in agreement, "He literally saw that you had nothing to do with it."

"Doesn't matter."

"It's fucked." She huffed, running her hand through her hair to get it out of her face.

"You'll be blamed too." He told her, concern filling his voice.

"I don't care."

"You're not going to be able to go home." He told her, his mind racing with thoughts about how he'd doomed her too.

"I don't care."

"How can you not care?" He asked her, his voice becoming more forceful, "Look at us! We're literal outlaws. I can't believe I dragged you into this." He told her, pacing back and forth between the line of trees they hid in.

"You didn't drag me into it, I chose to be here." She told him.

"Why? Why would you choose this?" He asked, stopping the pacing and turning to look at her.

"I..." she tried to think of how to word it before she was swiftly interrupted.

"What if I handed myself in?" He asked as the idea struck him.

"What?" She looked at him horrified at the thought.

"I could tell the cops you had nothing to do with it, you'd be safe." He replied.

"Not a fucking chance."

"You would be!"

"No, I meant not a chance you're handing yourself in." She stated, crossing her arms.

"You shouldn't be here, Ellie, you should be safe at home."

"Hey, I made this choice!" She shouted at him. "You didn't drag me into anything, I chose to do what I did, and I chose to be here with you."

"Why?" He asked again, this time his voice was laced with sadness.

"Eddie..." she began, before the sound of sirens pierced the air. Their eyes went wide, "We need to go." she told him.

The sound of the leaves crunched under their feet as they ran, their clothes catching the breeze more so than usual, making the night air feel freezing.

———————

"Where are we going?" Ellie asked, breaking the silence as they meandered through the darkness.

"You'll see." He told her, sucking in a breath of air as he tried to make it look like he wasn't struggling to breathe from the exercise.

Ellie nodded to herself, wishing the last cigarette of her packet wasn't currently soaking wet in her pocket right now.

Eddie pulled back some foliage, revealing the large arrangement of rocks. The moonlight shone between the trees casting a bit of light for them to be able to see.