What's she Worth to You?

Not Your Fault

E R I N

She sits in the passengers seat of the car, wrapped in Kim's blue blanket. She's still shaking, and she thought that the blanket might help her.

I glance over at her and sigh. She just looks so broken.

"You did what you had to do, Noah," I whisper and she nods absentmindedly, continuing to stare at the floor of the car.
"Hey, look at me," I say softly and she automatically does what she's told. She greets me with sad eyes, which chips at my heart just slightly.
"Nobody in their right mind is going to blame you for what you did, okay?" There's a considerably long pause before she responds.

"I," she starts, but her words fall out. She clears her throat and starts again.
"I killed someone..." Her voice shakes, she's trying so hard not to start crying again.

"Yeah, honey,  you did, but-"

"No," she interrupts, and her face slightly pales.
"I don't care who it was, even if it was Seth, somebody had a life and I took it away."

"Noah it's okay-"

"No!" She yells, but automatically looks like she regrets it.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I," she stutters, shaking her head. I let go of her hand and reach over to her shoulder but she flinches away hard, hitting the door of the car.

I pull over into an empty school parking lot and step out of the car, walking over to her door. I open it slowly, just in case she's leaning on it I don't want her to fall out. I try to help her out but she's already moved to the other side of the backseat.

"Noah, c'mere babe," she shakes her head violently.

"No, I-I promise I'll be better, I promise," she whispers, her body shakes even worse than it did before.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna-" before I can finish my sentence, she opens the door to the other side and sprints out, running into the empty parking lot.
"Noah, no!" I yell, and start running after her.
She's limping, it's not gonna be hard to catch her.
"Noah!"

I turn my head and my heart falls to my stomach.

A bright red car is turning into the parking lot.

And she doesn't seem to see it at all.

I up my speed and finally catch up to her, but our impact is too strong, I take her straight to the ground. The car just barely misses us.

We land on the hard concrete, her body beneath mine. She doesn't seem phased by the fall, though. She automatically struggles hard against me, trying to push my off her.

"No, please!" Her voice cracks as she yells, tears falling down her face.
"I'm sorry, sir, I won't do it again!" She pounds her hands against my chest, growing increasingly more panicked.
I don't know how I'm going to break her out of this, but I know I've got to do it soon.

I hate to confine her, because I know it'll just make this worse, but she's got to stop struggling. I grab her hands and hold them at her sides. I was right, it only makes it worse. She screams loudly.

"Help me! Help!"

"Noah, hey, hey!" I try to speak over her crying and yelling for me to stop.
"It's me, it's Erin, it's okay!" She shakes her head.