The Forest

Collateral Damage

Alex couldn't stop crying. We were all thinking the same thing; why did it have to be him? Why did the killer attack our friend group? What did we do to deserve this hell? 

"We h-have to do something..." Alex could barely muster out those words between sobs.

"I know, I know," I said as I wrapped Alex in a tight hug. He continued to sob, so we all just sat in silence. Delilah wiped tears from his eyes, while she was crying herself.

"Jinx.. He wouldn't want us to sit here mourning his death. He'd want us to be celebrating the life he lived; the people he touched, the lives he changed," Autumn said, trying to be positive for once in her life. "Bishop, help me out here..."

Bishop took a deep breath and spoke these words, "I didn't know Jinx that well... But from the time that I did get to know him, I could tell that he wouldn't want us to be like this. He wouldn't want us to be upset to the point that we would stop looking for the killer. The one that killed the both of them... Let's attempt to be semi-okay today, and we can mourn tomorrow."

Bishop had a good point. I knew that we were supposed to be positive and focus on finding the person that ended those two beautiful people's lives. It made no sense. What did we ever do to have this happen to us? What did Jinx do? What did Loren do? What did any of us ever do? 

"Let's do this," I said pausing, "for Loren and for Jinx. We need to do it for everyone who's lives were taken from their families prematurely. We do this for those who were put to the test; those who failed. We do it for everyone in this town and beyond. Because, we could stop a serial killer. I guess what I'm saying is, we need to do this. For all those without a voice."

We all stood up. "Hands in!" I said, "On three; 1....2....3"

"FOR THEM!" We all shouted.

"For them," I repeated.

"So," Bishop said, "where do we go from here?"

{A/N: I know that this is a shorter chapter and I apologize. I've been working on the shared account's book and I needed to finish this chapter as well. The next chapter that I write will be longer. Stay tuned!}