Ethan Landry : Oneshots - Scream 6

Remorse

I've never been to jail before. I mean, the only knowledge I had of jail were what tv shows and movies had shown. I thought it was a dark horrible place. Filled with only the worst of the worst people.

I mean, it is filled with murderers and other horrible people.

Like Ethan.

How is Ethan here?

It's been a few months after... After those nights. Ethan survived against all odds. He was unconcious at the hospital for so many months. But now, he's been awake for a few weeks. As soon as he was stable enough, they moved him to trial. For multiple murders, attempt of murders and also so many other things. The list was long.

Ethan had never been sentenced to anything before. His defence had pushed on the "He was forced by his family!", which, I guess, is convenient. Since everyone else died.

He really has noone now, I thought to myself as I glanced over at him. Staring into the back of his head. He looked paler than I remembered. Weaker. His brown hair was messier than ever. The orange jumpsuit he wore and the handcuffs looked so wrong on him.

The jury decided so quickly on his fate. They barely needed time to discuss it before sentencing him to life in prison without possibility of parole. I remember how my heart sunk in my stomach as I heard it.

Ethan had glanced back over his shoulder, locking eyes with me in the courtroom. His brown eyes were tired, almost looking bored as the jury continued reading out what the jury had decided. He had given me a careful, apologetic smile.

I didn't smile back.

I've never been to jail before. Not before today. I walked through so many different check ups. But after all of that, I was finally seated across Ethan. We were in a small room, with only a simple table and two chairs.

I looked at Ethan as he entered the room. He looked surprised to see me. But a smile quickly appeared on his lips.

I didn't smile back now either.

He looked older now. Colder. Like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Oh, hi?" He said, but it sounded more like a question. Unsure of what to do with himself, he sat down on the chair across me.

"Hi." I answered, starting to regret ever coming here. Why am I even here?

"Why are you here?" He asked, tilting his head. "Don't get me wrong, I'd rather talk to you than the other inmates. These people here are scary, you know?" He chuckled for himself.

"Then you must fit in perfectly. You're pretty scary yourself." I said coldly. Ethan paused.

"You're not afraid of me, right? You were never in any danger. I would never hurt you." Ethan leaned over the table, his eyes set on me.

"I don't trust you anymore. You were my best friend." I stated quietly, feeling the burning sensation in my throat. My voice threatened to break, and I might actually start crying if I'm not careful.

Ethan looked... Hurt. Defeated.

"Please, Y/n. You have to let me make this right." He pleaded and tried to reach for my hands. I quickly pulled them away, which made him pull away as well.

"Oh, shut up! I don't have to let you do anything. Ethan, tell me. Do you feel any remorse for what you did to them? To me?"

He just stared at me. Black face. I can't read the expression he has at all.

"I-", he began, carefully choosing his words. "I don't understand remorse. I know that I should feel it, but I don't."

He looked away from me, and stared into his hands.

"I know that you want me to feel empathy for them. For our former friends. But I don't." He looked up again, catching my gaze. "I honestly didn't care about what happened to all of them all those months ago. I only cared about you. That's why I asked dad and Quinn... To leave you alone."

"Why?" I asked.

"How could I not? You're literally everything I want." He said and looked at me like I was a rare painting in a museum. I don't know how to feel.

"Y/n," Ethan adjusted the way he sat, and turned against me again. "Are you scared of me?"

"Yes," I answered honestly. Ethan looked pained at hearing my answer.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that what I had to do scared you. I should have protected you better from it."

"Come on, Ethan." I sighed and shook my head. "Don't try to say that you feel bad for scaring me, but you don't feel bad for killing people. Annika?"

He shrugged. What kind of crazy person just shrugs at that?

"I don't know what to tell you, Y/n. Hell, I'm already in prison. I'm gonna stay here until I die. I have nothing to gain for lying to you."

"You could be doing it just for fun." That made Ethan laugh.

"You've always been so cynical."

"You've always been crazy." I answered in return. He shrugged.

"Fair point." He said, smiling. It was a warm smile, but somehow it still made it turn inside my stomach.

Why was I even here? I can't trust a single word this guy says. Afterall, he hid who he was all those months ago.

I stod up from my chair and turned around to leave.

"Wait!" Ethans desperate voice made be stop dead in my tracks. I turned around, and saw that he was standing now as well. He held a (to me) comfortable distance from me. "Will you visit me again, someday? Seeing you today has been the best day for me for a very, long time. I get it if you don't want to, but... Yeah."

I stared at him. For some reason, I don't understand why, but for some reason, I knew that I wanted to visit him again.

I told myself that it was just to get closure. To get answers. But in reality, I just wanted to see him.

"Yeah, I'll visit again." I said, making Ethan smile wide. For a short second, he almost looked like a normal human being.

But underneath lays a monster. A monster, I hope I never have to see again.