𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 | 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐰𝐧 ✅

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑    𝐓 𝐇 𝐑 𝐄 𝐄
ᴀɢᴀɪɴ

     SHILOH'S MASK quickly made its way back onto her face, the stains from her tears freezing in the frigid air. She looked devastated, like the entire world had been ripped from beneath her feet—again.

     Matt and Emily saw her approaching, looking over the shoulders of their rambling friends. Chris and Ashley had explained what had happened in broken sentences, the few coherent pieces creating an unbelievable puzzle for the couple.

     Emily jogged over to the brunette, eyes glistening with concern as she gently placed her hands on her shoulders. "Shy, you're okay. What happened? Chris and Ash said something about a maniac, a-and Josh being dead—"

     "They're telling the truth," she whispered, her voice breaking as she met the ravenette's eyes. "I-I saw everything... Josh, he—fuck—he got sawed in half, Em." She cried, blurry vision finding their blond friend over her shoulder. "Chris had to choose—Ashley or Josh—and... he chose her."

     Emily widened her eyes in shock, glancing over to the sorrowful pair behind them. She looked back to Shiloh, eyes burning with unshed tears. "Is it—uh—is it okay if I hug you?"

     Shiloh appreciated that she had asked, nodding weakly as she let the girl embrace her. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around Emily and sobbed into her shoulder; her knees felt as if they were going to give out any moment, but Emily didn't let go as she gently lowered to the ground with her exes sister.

     Matt found his girlfriend's figure, breath stopping at the sight of Shiloh. He doubted Chris and Ashley's broken explanation, believing that they were just having a really bad trip on something... until he saw the Munroe girl's devastation with his own eyes.

     The athlete jogged over, embracing her alongside Emily. Chris and Ashley followed him, both shivering from a mixture of fear and cold; the blond wanted to say something, and looked as if he were about to, but paused when he saw the hatred twinkling in his friend's eyes.

     He didn't know why he'd chosen Ashley over Josh, why he'd valued her over his best friend since third grade. He and Josh had been through everything together, they'd become like brothers... until Beth and Hannah disappeared.

     Chris felt horrible for not being there for Josh as much as he should've been, guilt slowly eating away at his heart for prioritizing his feelings for the beanie-clad girl beside him.

     And now, because of that, Josh's blood was on his hands.

     Just like Hannah and Beth's were on the rest of the groups.

     That was the point of rigging the saw, of making him believe he'd just slaughtered his best friend. Shiloh and Josh felt as if he could never understand their pain, so they'd decided to make him understand everyone else's. The feeling, the tormenting devastation, of knowing you'd caused something horrible to happen to your friends would haunt him for the rest of his life.

     Or, in this case, the rest of his night.

     Shiloh's sobs faded into mere sniffles, releasing herself from her friends' embrace and allowing them to help her to her feet. She stomped over to Chris, pain evident on her face, and delivered a crisp slap to his cheek. "Hope you're happy you didn't blow your shot of getting your dick wet, Christopher."