Guilt: A Fractured Minds Novel

Chapter Twenty Seven

 Long ago the sun slipped behind the mountains leaving me standing alone outside Olivia's house. She's dead, my sister is dead and I'm possibly one of the only ones who knows except the killer... I can't believe she's dead. Why would anyone want to kill her? Why is she dead? Where is her body? Why would Victoria's friends lie when questioned by the police? What is the new information they found about my sister's disappearance? They're still investigating and haven't given up yet. They probably don't know she's dead.

Tears fall from my eyes and my feet give out from under me. A strangled scream escapes my open mouth while my vision blurs. The taste of salt stains my lips as the world around me falls apart. The cavern inside my chest grows larger along with the absences of my emotions. The green grass tickles my arms that lay spread out far from me as if disgusted to be called a part of this human laying on the ground.

Sobbing I gasp for breath as the sky quickly darkens leaving me lost in time while everything moves onwards. It feels as though my body is sinking underneath the waves of a dark and brooding ocean. My thoughts scatter around in my brain. This can't be happening. She can't be dead. She's not dead because I made all of this up. Everything I've "remembered" recently is just wishful thinking on my part. None of it is real because she's still alive...

Closing my eyes I watch as a figure walks up to me. Reaching down he helps me to my feet before asking what's wrong. Not being able to respond I shake my head while he leads me to my car.

"Where are your keys?" He asks me as tears fall from my face. Handing my keys to him he unlocks my car before helping me get inside. Looking up into his face I see haunted grey eyes almost hidden by black hair that won't stay put no matter how hard he tries.

"Jared?" I ask only for him to shut the car door. I watch as he walks away when suddenly the passenger door opens. He climbs in and shuts the car door.

"I'm not going anywhere this time. I promise Ally."

"B-but you left me." At my words he closes his eyes looking pained as he does so. Turning away from his I feel the tears leave trails down my cheeks. It's then I feel him grab my arm causing me to turn around.

"I'm sorry Alexandria. I'm sorry for immediately dismissing your ideas and thoughts because they didn't parallel my own. It isn't fair to you and I shouldn't have left you while you were crying. I was just so frustrated that I was afraid that if I stayed I'd say something worse and I didn't want that to happen. I want you to trust me like I trust you, but I can't do that if we're on bad terms. I'm sorry because it's all my fault."

Turning away I break down once again as I remember that she's dead. I open my mouth only for nothing to come out. All everything is on the outside is silence while chaos resides inside of me. My body shakes with emotion as the world blurs.

"Ally, what's wrong?" He asks as he pulls into his arms. Holding me close warmth seeps from him skin and onto mine.

"S-she's d-d-dead. J-jared, I-I wa-as r-r-right." I choke out closing my eyes tightly wanting to block out the world. He holds tight as if to hold all of my pieces together while he softly asks me, "What? Who's dead?"

"V-Vic-t-tora! D-don't you s-see? I-I'm r-r-right, but-t I don't want-t t-to be."

Taking a shaky breath in I mutter, "Why?"

Rubbing patterns into my arm he instructs me to breath and push it aside for now. Shaking my head I hiss, "It's not-t th-that easy Jared. My sister is d-dead."

"Alexandria I know that you're hurting, but-"

"Oh, do you?"

"Yes and keeping this in mind I'm trying to be patient."

Keeping quiet I clap my hand over my mouth to quiet the sobs. Moving his hand from my arm to my hair he starts to play with it. The feeling distracting me for a moment. His hands pause before he tells me, "I need you to call someone because you're in no place to drive home. Okay?" before continuing. Reaching for my phone I pull up the contacts. With everything blurry I blink the tears away for long enough to read a few of them.

Clicking on one I hold it up to my ear while listening to the rings.

"Hello?" Hearing the familiar voice I quietly ask, "Ethan?"

"Yeah Alex?"

"C-can y-you c-come p-pick me up-p?"

In the background I can hear someone talking before he says, "Uh, sure. Are you okay? Where are you?"

Looking up at Jared I frown for a moment before mouthing, "Where are we?" after he tells me the address I recite it to Ethan.

"Okay, Alex. I'll be there in a few minutes." He says before quickly ending the call causing me to stare down at the phone in my hand.

"Who's coming to pick you up?" Jared asks me while opening the car door letting a small breeze skim it's fingers across my arms and face. With each breath I take it feels as though there's a weight that I can't seem to find nor lift off of me. The world feels as though it's stopped.

"Ethan..." Is all I'm able to get out as how I'm getting home is the furthest from my worries. Slowly he somehow manages to slip out of the car without me tumbling out with him. He stands in front of me holding out his arms.

"Come here. You wanna be ready to leave once Ethan comes to pick you up. Right?" He ask me while beckoning me to get out of the car. I shrug my shoulders unsure as he pulls me from my spot in the passenger's seat.

Leaning against him I watch as he shuts the car door. Pulling my keys out of his pocket he presses one of the many buttons and just like that the car locks itself. Pulling me further into his arms I hug him back with what little energy I have left. The crickets play their nightly song as we pull away from the hug he brushes a strand of hair out of my eyes, "I'm always here for you Ally. I'm just a simple text or call away from you and I mean it." At his words I nod my head in understanding as he leads me to the other side of car.

Walking around the back end we lean against the side and blankly gaze at the other houses on the street. All of them are just about as sad looking at the one I visited earlier today. It's then in the silence that my thoughts come back to the front of my mind. Of course they couldn't stay at the back if my mind forever. One of the only thoughts in my mind is that Victoria was murdered by someone. I can't believe that she's dead and that I forgot about her death. How could that have happened?

A car turns down the street lighting us up with it's headlights for a moment. I watch as the car slowly drives as if looking for something or someone. It's then I realize that it's Ethan's car.

"He's here." I say to turning to look at Jared. His straight nose twitches and strong set jaw clenches as if holding back something.

"Okay Ally. Call me soon." I nod my head at his words at Ethan's car slows to a stop in front of me. Without looking back I climb into the car. The lights turning on as I do so. Shutting the door I curl up on my seat facing Jared, my car, and the house.

"Alexandria what happened? Are you okay? Why were you out here all by yourself?" Ethan quickly asks me as he does a three-point-turn to get out of the street. As we drive past the house I don't see Jared standing there anymore. He must've gone home.

"Alexandria can you at least tell me if you're hurt?" I can feel Ethan's eyes on me as he looks from me to the road.

"No, I'm not-t hurt-t." My voice sounds hollow even to my own ears. Not caring how I sound or what Ethan is saying I tune him out. The swaying of the car is soothing me to sleep. While shoving my fists into my pockets I feel something cold in the right side. Pulling it out I realize that it's my car keys.

Running my fingers over the rough edges of the cold key my eyes beg my to close them. After everything that has happened today I know that I deserve to sleep and not wake up for a very long time. Letting them close I let out a breath of air that I had been holding in.