John’s Point of View:
The moment the phone kept ringing I knew something was wrong. Maybe it was because it was nearly three in the morning or maybe it was the fact that when we visited the hospital, Kelsey was hysterical about the fact Justin had left—and not the hospital, but her life.
Which wasn’t a part of the plan at all. It made no sense to me, but as the minutes carried on and silence took over, the excruciating pain of what was happening in the wake of it was down near frightful because I knew the silence that overcame Justin and it never, under any circumstances, ended good.
They say the devil always has a way of coming back and I worried that maybe, just maybe, his demons were probably coming back again. And God only knows if he can fight them off this time.
Slamming my palm against the steering wheel after the tenth time of trying to get in contact with him and only hearing his voicemail pick up, I threw my phone inside the cup holder of the car before pulling out of the parking spot in the hospital and driving down the street.
"He still didn’t pick up?" Bruce questioned, adding onto the thickness in the air. He knew just as much as I did that none of this is good.
"No."
Tension suffocated us in the tight space causing us all to shift uncomfortably. None of this made sense. Why would Justin walk away from the one thing that kept him together? Why would he let go of the girl he loved?
I knew part of it was because of the pain she endured on behalf of all of us and the mere thought made me want to punch my fist through a wall. She was the innocent party in all of this and because she was associated with us, she took the hit.
It was an ugly revelation that no matter how hard we tried to protect those around us, someone found a way to hurt them.
He loved her though and his love for her was stronger than anything else in the world. The reason he'd end his own life in order to ensure hers is enough to prove that all in its own, but something must have happened and it made me wonder, who could have possibly convinced him to throw her away again?
"I'll try him again," he reached for his pocket.
I didn’t say anything. Instead, I focused on the road ahead of me, never knowing what lied ahead. Life was like a game of pool, one wrong hit, and you lost the game forever.
Glancing over at Bruce, he shook his head before ending the call and hiding his phone away in the tight space of his back pocket.
Nodding, I clenched my jaw before stepping harder on the gas knowing fully well that he was contemplating the idea of something and that never ended well for either one of us, especially him.
Not when pain was his only way out of a tough situation.
And I was afraid that if I was too late, I could walk in on the job finished.
Turning the corner, it wasn’t long before I drove up the driveway and killed the engine. It was raining by the time I arrived only adding onto the feeling that what I was about to witness was a reflection on the darkness that overwhelmed us.
