Beyond Our Control

Chapter 22

 They yawned and waved goodbye, each one wanting to jump in their beds immediately. Whatever hopes and plans they had were up to tomorrow for decision. For now it was sleep.

Kenna and Faye were the last ones to leave, relieved that the first part of their plan had worked out.

She came to a halt when they turned toward the direction of their cottage.

"I need to go check up on Gibson and Annika, inform them on what happened and what we're planning."

"I'll come with you." Faye said.

Kenna fidgeted the tip of her white shirt, trying to find a good way to answer Faye. It wouldn't be a good idea to have Annika and Gibson see Faye in person right away.

"I think it would be better if it's just me...for now." She tried her best not to sound offensive.

As if remembering Annika's words, Faye looked down a little. "Oh."

Kenna reached for Faye's hands, she held them together like they were the most precious thing in this world. Without even exactly realizing what she was doing and what meaning meant behind it. But for some reason she just couldn't let Faye feel guilty about what happened, she didn't want to see the sadness in her.

It's not her fault. Not her fault.

"Go get some sleep, we have more to do tomorrow."

Faye yawned, Kenna couldn't tell if it was a real or fake one. "I guess you're right, be careful though, Ms. Edmund might have woken up from all that noise back there."

"I'll be fine, now go, sleepy head." She smiled and urged Faye to leave, who grinned in return.

She kept her smile up until Faye turned around. These days she found even smiling felt frustrating and hard.

Although there were more important things to worry about. Now that they have the support of everyone else, there is still Gibson and Annika. Who knew it would be their friends that might not go through with the plan? That frown Annika had was carved into her head for tonight. And even if Gibson didn't try to show it or didn't express anything out loud, she saw that look in his eyes. It wasn't even her who was involved in whatever happened two years ago, yet she still felt uneasy.

Their cottage wasn't far from the gathering place they had. It looked just like all the other cottages from here, just a different number. She stood at the door for a moment, anxious at whatever will happen once she goes in. What will she see? Will they hate her too? Do they hate Faye though? Are they mad at her too?

When Kenna finally got out the nerve to knock, as she was about to, the door slammed open itself.

Gibson stood in the doorway, he looked around with concern at first then quickly pulled Kenna in and closed the door behind them.

"What are you doing here? I saw your shadow wandering near the door for long moments." He hissed right away.

"Uhh, to talk to you and Annika about what happened after you guys left?" She looked around, anywhere else but Gibson's eyes. But even without looking Kenna can see the stress on Gibson's face and the eye shadows under his eyes that normally didn't show. Gibson and Annika were always the playful ones, especially Gibson who fooled around the most. This person in front of her was someone totally different.

The inside of their cottage was designed the same as her and Faye's cottage, but there wasn't a giant bookshelf. Just the table and two chairs that they have too. Otherwise it would've been exactly the same.

"Ms. Edmund could've been awake and seen you wandering here!" He shook his head, tugging back his curly black hair that fell near his eyes.

"Sorry, but this is important. Can we please sit down for a moment and talk?"