flawless. five hargreeves

15

THIS IS MORE THAN A FRIENDSHIP
I MADE IT, I MAKE IT AWKWARD

Awkward - SZA

I was sitting on the ground against the minivan, my head held in my hands.

Blood dripped from my lip, and my face throbbed from the deep cut where the glass shard had been. Lila had carefully removed it while I was unconscious, but the pain was still raw, sharp.

Ben's voice cut through the pounding in my head. "Leave it to this clown car of a family to botch a simple search and rescue."

I rolled my eyes, annoyed but too exhausted to retort. "Who were those weirdos with the fanny packs?" Viktor asked, still dazed.

"Was it me, or did they smell like wet sheep?" Lila chimed in, wrinkling her nose.

"I thought more like goats," Luther added.

"Who cares? And why did they call you Nancy?" Diego's question was sharp, cutting through the banter, and I furrowed my eyebrows, suddenly uneasy.

An eerie silence fell, the air thick with unspoken tension.

"Their names are Gene and Jean," Five finally said, his tone flat.

"Well, that's convenient," I scoffed, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling creeping up my spine.

"They run an underground organization called the Keepers," Five continued, his voice carrying a weight that made my stomach drop.

The name sent a chill down my spine, bringing with it memories I'd tried to bury. It hadn't clicked until it came out of Five's mouth. I had hoped it would stay in the past, forgotten and irrelevant, but now, it was rearing its ugly head again, forcing me to confront something I wasn't ready to face.

"The Keepers. Oh my god. Oh, my god!" I exclaimed, my heart pounding as I stumbled to my feet, the pain in my head sharp and insistent. "The one thing you couldn't leave alone, and you continued, even after I left!?"

Five's face was a mask of indifference, but I caught a flicker of something in his eyes—regret, defiance, something that only made my anger flare hotter. "I did what I had to," he said, his voice steady, almost too calm.

"You had to?!" I snapped, my voice rising as the betrayal hit me full force. "You promised me, and you still—"

"I didn't have a choice," Five interrupted, his voice cutting through the air like a blade, each word laced with frustration. His usual calm demeanor had given way to something sharper, more defensive. "You know that."

My retort was on the tip of my tongue, anger simmering just below the surface, but Diego's voice sliced through the tension like a knife. "Enough, both of you. We'll hash this out later. Right now, what the hell are the Keepers?"

The room seemed to hold its breath, the weight of Diego's question hanging heavily in the air. The silence was thick, suffocating, as all eyes turned to Five, waiting for an explanation.

Five took a measured breath, his gaze dark and distant. "They're an extremist group. They believe they have memories of an alternate timeline." His words were careful, calculated, but I could see the turmoil beneath the surface. Lila let out a bitter, humorless laugh, shaking her head. "And some of those memories are freakishly accurate."

"They call it the Umbrella Effect," Five continued, his voice steady but lacking its usual confidence. The words sent a shiver down my spine, the term stirring something deep and unsettling within me.