Still Waters Run Deep

Chapter 8: Fall to Pieces

Chapter 8:

Fall to Pieces

When Lily didn't answer any of her texts or calls, her friends started to worry. They'd suspected something was wrong, but they never could have imagined how bad it truly was. Telling Lily had been hard enough, but breaking the news of Grace's death to the rest of the kids had nearly shattered all of their parents. They all reacted vastly differently.

Eli had been the first one to find out. Initially, Spencer and Toby had planned on telling their kids together, but it hadn't exactly worked out that way.

Harper's soccer team won their game, thanks in large part to her scaring the players on the opposing team into submission. To celebrate, the team was going out for Fro-yo. Eli didn't want to go, so Toby took him home while Spencer went with Harper.

On the way home Eli asked to stop by Grace and Lily's house. When Toby told him he didn't think it was a good idea, Eli pressed him on why. He saw his dad's mood shift drastically. He knew something was up and he was tired of sitting on pins and needles waiting to find out what it was.

"Dad, what's going on?" Eli faced him with a frown.

Toby hadn't responded right away. All he could think about was the site of the crash and the look of pure heartbreak on Ali's face when he'd showed up on her doorstep with the news.

"Please don't tell me my baby is dead." Those words would haunt him forever.

"Dad?" Eli asked again, shaking Toby out of his trance. "Are Lily and Grace okay?"

Fortunately, Toby's phone rang, interrupting what would have been a very emotionally taxing conversation in the middle of rush hour traffic. It was a robo-call, but Toby faked a phone call the entire ride home, pretending it was work. But when they pulled in the driveway, Eli had wised up to his act.

"Why are you going out of your way to ignore me?" Eli questioned.

Toby sighed.

"I'm not ignoring you, Eli." Toby turned the car's ignition off.

"You and mom are being weird. I know something is wrong. Please just tell me what it is."

"Your mother and I wanted to talk to you and your sister about this together..."

"Talk to us about what?"

He looked over at his son, and when he saw his large pleading eyes staring back at him he knew he couldn't put the news off any longer. So he told Eli about the wreck, and about Grace. Eli had always been a pretty easy-going kid, so Toby wasn't entirely sure how he would react. He tried to prepare himself for anything. He was startled, but not surprised when Eli ripped his seat belt off and nearly flung the car door off of its hinges to get out of the car. Toby had to stop him from bolting out of the car and sprinting to the DiLaurentis-Fields' house to be with Lily. He explained that Lily needed to be with her mother for now.

Eli nodded absentmindedly, the news still not fully sinking in. He hadn't even realized he was crying until they got into the house and he caught a glimpse of his face in a wall mirror. He didn't say much to his father. He withdrew into himself, completely heartbroken. All he could think about were Lily's haunting words after her nightmare,

"It's not me I'm worried about."

He had never seen Lily so upset before. He was kicking himself for not doing more for her, especially after that night terror she'd had. Then he started thinking about how they should have done something differently, or that maybe he should have figured out that the way she had been feeling all day was related to her sister. He ran over every scenario in his mind about how Grace would still be alive if maybe they had convinced her to skip swim practice and hang out with them instead. He was upset that he hadn't been able to protect either one of them. There were so many 'what-ifs' he couldn't shake.