THE NEXT MORNING MALLORY WOKE UP BEFORE LOUIS, but she never really slept for however long she was supposed to anyway. She spent a while just staring mindlessly into nothing, as she was so wrapped up in her head that she didn't process anything within reality. Everything was quiet. There were no footsteps outside the door singling that someone else had been awake, but there probably wouldn't be a lot of noise this morning anyways considering the circumstances.
No one trusted AJ and Clementine anymore, in fact, most had verbally expressed their disgust towards the pair. They waited a couple of days to do anything, however, allowing Mallory some time to breathe before they carried on with business. Yet, there was a sinking feeling in her chest and she did not feel completely rejuvenated from the hours she did manage to spend in a peaceful slumber. She knew she could only delay the inevitable for so long.
Today was both Marlon's and Brody's funeral, a time in which she would fully have to grasp that losing her twin brother was, in fact, her hellish reality. She dreaded saying goodbye, as she knew that once she completely let him go, she would have to survive with all her guilt. That she had a faltering relationship with the one person who was supposed to understand her the most.
Despite her stomach growling and begging her to satisfy herself with food, Mallory felt no inclination to eat this morning. She felt sick to her stomach as the moments dragged on, nothing she could've filled herself with would've been worthwhile. She scratched at her arms, effectively creating deep marks that broke the skin. Her fragile nails tore and instead of grabbing her nail clippers from her room, she dismissively chewed until her nails had become so short it was painful.
She didn't want to go outside, even when Louis finally managed to drag her halfway down the hall. She didn't want to see Clementine and AJ and feel nothing but the fiery anger that their actions had left her with. She wanted them gone, and if she caught sight of them when she was at her lowest, she didn't trust herself to have control. Hatred burned so passionately within her, the feeling being both foreign and familiar. It was only normal considering her parents and Marlon had fueled their life by finding a reason to be angry at any situation they found themselves in. Now, it was lonely being the only one programmed a certain way.
The moment they walked through the doors she wanted nothing more than to turn on her heel and disappear inside herself. She spotted the others by their grave sight, leaning over the graves they had dug for both Marlon and Brody. She felt numb as she willed her trembling legs further across the courtyard. She felt hollow as she caught sight of the exact area in the yard where Marlon had been shot, the bloodstain now looking darker and older than it was just a couple of nights ago. And so when she finally stepped foot alongside the other teenagers, she could feel their sympathetic gazes burning holes in the side of her head.
