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"I don't want you to come." Ethan says for a second time. I love him, but I ignore him as I hurriedly grab my coat from the hanger. "Hey, look at me." He softly grabs me by the shoulders, making me face him.
"There's no fucking way I'm letting you near those two lunatics on your own." I say. "If you think I'd do that, you haven't met the real me yet. We're going to do this together, whether you like it or not."
He scans my eyes as I say that, clearly contemplating what to do. A sad expression forms on his face, but he doesn't insist anymore. "Okay." He gives in. "We're doing this together."
Quickly putting on our coats and grabbing my phone, we kiss both Sara and Lizzie goodbye. They do seem to realize the phone call wasn't a usual one, but they don't try to hold us back. As Sara let's go of her son and wraps her arms around me, she whispers. "Please look after my son." I bite my lip at her words. I will.
Within five minutes, we've managed to decide we're going together, we've called a cab, said our quick goodbyes and are stepping into the cab. Ethan gives the address and asks for an estimated time. "Twenty minutes." The man says and starts driving. Good.
As we're on the highway, rain starts pouring from the sky, heavy clouds causing a grey shade to fall upon the city. I used to believe the rain washed away the sins of people, the things they do on earth. How could it? A worldwide flood wouldn't be enough to save us from ourselves.
"Here, take this." Ethan whispers closely into my ear, shoving a pocketknife into my hand. My heartrate accelerates. "Put it somewhere close to your body. Don't let them take it and don't hesitate to use it." I nod at his instructions and take a deep breath. But what about you? Why don't you have a pocketknife, Ethan?
The driver looks at us through his rearview mirror, seeming to be confused at our secrecy as Ethan tries to block his view. I take the spare hair tie from my wrist and tie the knife to the inside of my pants, shoving it near the inside of my right thigh. It's uncomfortable, but they won't find it this way.
The drive feels like it's taking merely a few minutes, but an eternity at the same time. As we get closer to our unknown destination, I glance out of the window. I have no idea where we are. Ethan lays his hand on my thigh, rubbing the same spot repeatedly. By the trembling of his fingers, I can tell it's not only his way of calming me down, he's trying to calm himself down too. I lay my hand on top of his and place my head on his shoulder. We're together, at last. We'll get out of this.
My phone starts buzzing in my pocket, causing me to get startled. I take it out and see it's Cole. Ethan follows my every movement as I do so.
"Tell him." He says, earning a confused look from me. I mean, it makes sense, but our instructions were clear. Only us, or we lose Lexi. "Tell him to wander around the place but not show up, for our safety." Instead of telling Cole myself, I hand the phone over to Ethan. I feel my chest tightening at our reality. We're walking straight into the lion's den.
