𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝙒𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙀 ᵉᵈᵈⁱᵉ ᵐᵘⁿˢᵒⁿ

☼ 10

; P L A N
paralyzed by JAMIE BOWER

When the others had taken off to get some food, Matilda had fought the urge to offer to go with them. Not because she wanted to bring distance between her and Eddie, but because she had no idea how to process everything they'd just learned without making it weird for him. She believed him, yet she wasn't sure how to be around him after what he'd told them about Chrissy.

     Matilda didn't know what to think. Chrissy hadn't been her friend. They'd never really been close. But the girl had always been nice, never engaged in Jason's mockery or anyone else's, for that matter. She had not deserved a fate this horrifying. She had not deserved to die. Not in the slightest. And while Matilda wasn't sure what she would've done, she couldn't help but feel weird about Eddie running away, leaving Chrissy's body to be found by someone else.

     "I'm sorry", he suddenly said, not looking up from the ground. While Matilda was still sitting against the wall, he had sat down on a fishing boat in the middle of the house. He had nervously fiddled with his hands for the past half hour, trying to get himself to say something. Matilda hadn't tried. She'd just stared into the void, hoping to wake up from this really weird and terrible dream.

     "You don't need to—"

     "Yes, I do." Now he looked up and tried to find Matilda's gaze. She was hesitant, but also in desperate need for peace. "I know you two were... I don't know, close? I— I shouldn't have run away, I just... I had no idea what to do. And then, you were there, about to find your— Your friend. Dead. In my trailer." He trailed off and rubbed his eyes rapidly. "Not to blame you. I probably would've run away either way. But..."

     "Please, stop", Matilda mumbled, waving him off. He gulped and stopped talking, obviously not content with the way his apology had been taken. Matilda sighed and buried her face between her knees, unable to catch a clear thought. She didn't think she was actually mad at Eddie, just at the situation itself. At herself, for getting wrapped up in it. And for wishing she didn't, because she didn't want to imagine how Eddie would be feeling if he had been alone this whole time. "I don't blame you. No one blames you. I think running from a supernatural entity that snaps bones and crushes eyes within mere seconds is a quite common instinct many humans would have if they ever ended up in a similar situation." While her voice indicated a poor attempt at a joke, her face was still covered by her knees. She couldn't look at him.

     "I don't need you to make me feel better, I just need you stop acting like I'm about to murder you." You looked up immediately, frowning, and your eyes interlocked. "Bad choice of words."

     "Yeah." A slight smile crossed Matilda's face and as if her expression had been what had stopped him from moving even a centimeter, he smiled too and got up.

     "Where do you think you're going?"

     "Just getting a beer."

     "There is no beer."