Safe Haven

Chapter Twenty-Five - Ben

"You okay?" I mumbled, sitting by Matilda on the porch steps of the bar. The police had taken down each of our names and were making calls before they took us down to the station for questioning. Oliver was crying, and Cameron was rolling his eyes superficially as he told him that everything would be fine now. I found their relationship entirely too confusing to unpack, especially after Osmond left. Something about the way they looked at each other had changed; something about it was a touch awkward.

They both looked like they wanted to say something to the other.

Matilda startled out of her mind, and not for the first time I wished that my powers were mind reading instead. She gave me a weak smile that even a complete stranger (which to be fair, I sort of was) would have seen the pain behind.

"I just can't get what Mr. Osmond said out of my head," she said, eyes falling back down to the dirt below. Her fingers played with a loose thread at the cuff of her shirt.

"Understandable," I replied.

"He killed her." She looked up at me, eyes suddenly shining with tears again, lip wobbling just the same as her voice. I immediately hushed her and wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders to try to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Til... She's a piece of sh—"

"But how am I any different?"

"What do you mean? You're completely different from him," I argued, face scrunching up in disgust at the idea of someone I was pretty sure I was in love with even remotely resembling a kidnapping, sadistic maniac. In my eyes, Matilda was the complete opposite of him: innocent, naive, and caring. Especially caring.

"I killed him!"

"You couldn't control it. He would have killed you if you gave him the chance. You saved us."

"Maybe." Her head fell onto my shoulder, and she heaved a sigh that spoke a thousand words. "Anyways... Oliver and Cameron look weird, huh?" Some of the life had returned to her voice, and despite knowing that she wasn't in the best spirits, I thought I could hear a hint of a sly tone.

"Yeah," I smirked, "Think something happened between them?"

"I don't know. They look at each other like maybe something did happen between them." Matilda's hand stopped fiddling with her own sleeve and, instead, reached over to mine, gripping it as if her life depended on it. I drew it in closer to my chest.

"Okay. Let's get you all to the station." One of the police officers, a man who looked on the brink of retirement, approached. By now, it was probably nearly five or six in the morning, and the sun was beginning to peek up over the uneven landscape. What seemed like the entire town had gathered around, wondering what the loud noise had been, how their town's pub got destroyed, and who the strangers were that likely caused it. Some looked on with sympathy, while others seemed to be mad at us. Understandably, to be honest. "I can get two of you in one squad car and two in the other."

Eager to stay with Matilda, I stood the two of us up, and gripped her hand. Taking the hint, the old officer opened the door to his own squad car and gestured for us to get in. I pushed Matilda in first, making sure she crawled across the leather seats safely. Then, I looked back to make sure that Cameron and Oliver were also getting into a car. Cameron had already climbed in, and Oliver was doing the same. He looked a mess, but calmer than he was before.

"Don't worry, kid. We'll make sure they're fine," the officer assured me, catching the protective look in my eyes. I guess after a week of somewhat leading the group, I felt like I had a duty to keep them safe. Matilda and Oliver were so naive, and Oliver had already been injured, so it felt like my job to make sure that never happened again. And Cameron... I felt like he'd been in the community for so long that it had messed with his brain or something. I had to make sure he didn't have some sort of emotional breakdown. Not that that hadn't already happened thanks to Oliver. Yet, I still couldn't work out exactly what was happening between them. Did they love or hate each other?