THE GUARDIAN 彡 the society

FIVE

"ARE YOU OKAY?" Grizz jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked over to see Charlotte softly frowning at him.

Before Campbell could storm out with a few others, the doors to the church opened to reveal Luke carrying Emily, who was unconscious. They shortly realized that she was deceased by the faces of the ones who went on the search with her.

After finding out that Emily died from a snake bite, and after Helena prayed for her, everyone silently made their way out of the church, leaving Emily's lifeless body on the table.

Charlotte was one of the last people to leave the church, and she noticed that Grizz was standing at the doorway, but he was frozen in his spot. Her heart felt heavy as she watched tears stain his cheeks.

Grizz shrugged and pursed his lips, "I don't know.." Charlotte watched him silently as his eyes found its way to hers. "As soon as Luke laid her down, I knew that she was done. There was no point of trying—" Grizz gulped as he shook his head.

"You guys tried your best." Charlotte whispered, her eyes glancing over at Emily who was on the table on the other side of the church.

"She wanted her mom.." Grizz trailed off, keeping his eyes on Charlotte or the ground. He couldn't bear to look at Emily again.

Charlotte blinked a few times, "We all do. Maybe she'll find her mom on the way up."

Grizz looked straight at Charlotte after staring at the ground for a while. "Char, you don't think—"

Charlotte shrugged, "I don't know. But all I know now is that we only have each other."

Grizz stayed quiet, as he felt tears form in his eyes again. He simply clenched his jaw as they ran down his face again.

Charlotte let out a quiet sigh and opened her arms out wide. "Come here." She whispered.

Grizz glanced at her before slowly moving toward her. He leaned down and sinked into her arms as she held his head with one hand and had her other arm wrap around his shoulder. Grizz had his face buried in her shoulder while his arms wrapped around her waist.

Charlotte closed her eyes and listened to Grizz's uneven breathing, as he tried to hold back his tears. She simply stayed quiet and gently stroked the back of his head.

➖

"Will you be okay?" Grizz quietly asked Charlotte as she stood in front of his house. He was staying with Clark and Jason.

Charlotte half smiled, "More like will you be okay. You just witnessed something that everyone fears in their life."

Grizz nodded, "Yes, I will be. But I meant by you going home by yourself at this time." He looked up at the dark sky with the bright moon.

"You should've let me walk you home, it's the right thing to do."

"Says who?" Charlotte snorted, "I'm capable of walking home by myself. It's not that far from here."

"It's almost across the town," Grizz frowned.

Charlotte shook her head with a chuckle, "Now you're just being extra, it's not that far. I'll probably just sprint home."

"Let me walk you home,"

"Why would you need to walk me?"

"Because you're afraid of the dark." Grizz stated.

"I'm not—"

"We were friends in fourth grade, Char, I know some things about you."

Charlotte pursed her lips. Aside from spiders, Charlotte was kind of afraid of the dark. Well, walking through large spaces in the dark, and they both knew that walking through the dark town scared her shitless. Only a few people knew of Charlotte's secret fear of the dark and that consisted of Helena, Xavier, Cassandra, and Grizz.