𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 ✶ RAFE CAMERON

017

Gianna's head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Her olive green eyes were paired with dark, purple-ish bags under them and heavy eyelids.

Her mind felt fuzzy, and the last fourteen hours felt like one big blur. Though, she wished she could remember Rafe leaving her on that porch the night before. She wished she could say he turned and walked away, leaving her crouched on the ground, a sobbing mess. But she couldn't.

Gianna could remember Rafe helping her up the stairs of her house, quietly as the two snuck into her bedroom. She could remember him turning on the shower in her bathroom. She could remember him picking out a pair of pajamas and leaving it on her bed.

She knew it was probably more for his own benefit than her own. He couldn't risk Gianna's distress, he needed to be assured that she was calm and wouldn't open her mouth about what he had done.

But Rafe could've very easily left Gianna on that porch, and yet, he didn't.

Gianna wished he did, it would've made it easier for her to condemn him. She knew he was a criminal. She knew he needed to go to jail for his action. She knew that, if he had killed someone once, he could easily do it again.

Then why did she desire against him getting caught?

Why did the very thought of the authorities getting to him and handcuffing him and putting him away in prison bother her?

Gianna didn't know, she only blamed it on the exhaustion.

She spent the night awake, sitting on her bed with her gaze fixated on the wall in front of her, occasionally looking at her phone to check the time, seeing hour after hour pass.

Gianna also didn't remember how she managed to wind up at Marisa's backyard, sipping on margaritas with Amelia and Tiffany, acting as if it were nothing but a regular day in the middle of summer.

All she knew is that she was there, but wasn't really there. She wasn't aware of her surroundings, yet too aware of them at the same time. She'd zone out, her friends' conversation muffling into the background as the loud ringing made itself present in her ear again.

Gianna felt like a ghost. Like she had died and her spirit had come back to Earth as merely a spectator. Perhaps she died of dehydration from crying too much, or drowned whilst in the shower.

Or maybe Rafe shot me.

Gianna jolted at the sudden thought, gaining attention from Marisa, Amelia and Tiffany.

"Jesus, Gia. Are you okay?" Tiffany brought her perfectly manicured hand up to her chest.

Gianna blinked, humming as she slightly nodded. She knew she looked like shit, she knew people would notice her demeanor, she knew people would probably talk. But, for the first time in a while, Gianna didn't care. Not because she didn't want to care, she physically couldn't.

Marisa made her way back out to the backyard, a large pitcher filled with fresh margarita. "Who wants thirds?" She exclaimed, filling up her own glass with the liquid.

Gianna heard the other two girls cheer and laugh, but couldn't make out what they were saying. She noticed boats passing in the marsh, but couldn't focus on what kind of boat it was.

She didn't know what was happening to her. She didn't know what this was. She didn't know why she was feeling this way. She just wanted to evaporate.