✓ | WELCOME TO DEADTOWN → original

seventeen

                    "IS EVERYONE, UH, HERE?" AIDEN CLEARED HIS THROAT, SURVEYING THE ROOM. He counted in his mind- remembering with a jolt that Eliza would no longer be with them, no longer breathe, no longer sleep in Lex's arms. Even though he had only known her for a short period of time, it felt much longer. It made his insides hurt with guilt. They absolutely had to figure out who was doing this before anyone else ended up dead.

He did have one thought that kept creeping up in his head- that it was his fault.

He could practically hear his father hissing into his ears, "She's dead, and it's all your fucking fault. You killed her. You did. You're gonna kill everyone else in this damn town too, you piece of shit."

He shuddered slightly, trying to push it away. It was making him sick to keep thinking about it. He was trying, wasn't he? Trying to stop all of this before it got too out of hand. But there were four dead bodies now, and they were as close to figuring out any of them since the murders had first begun, besides the one fact that Kyle Becker, everyone's prime suspect, had nothing to do with them.

He looked back up at the group, steadying his heart rate. "Okay, well. . .you're all here. That's good, I suppose."

He took another deep breath, his eyes unconsciously going to Kayden's. She looked away, her blonde hair falling onto her shoulder, and he remembered that she had been talking to Kyle before they had left the house. It hurt, but what could he do? She was thrown in deep with him- for God's sake, she fucking loved him.

Aiden rubbed his face with his hands before dropping them back down to his sides. "Eliza. . .Eliza is dead, as you all know."

He swallowed as he saw all their bodies stiffen at once. Alexis was pulling at a strand of her hair, looking out the window. She hadn't spoken a single word since they had seen her, but Aiden needed her to talk. It was the only way they were going to be able to take more steps forward in finding out who had done this.

"Alexis?" He said softly.

Her head jerked up, and she moved her hands slightly up to her body, as if bracing herself to get hit. When she realized it was just him, a red blush crept up her neck and she dropped her hands, trying to regain ahold of herself. A wisp of brown hair fell into her eyes, and she blinked before saying quietly, "Yeah?"

Aiden pressed his lips together. "I know- I know this might be hard for you to talk about, but I really need you to try. We have to start doing something right now. Tomorrow's Sunday, and I just got the alert that they're opening the school again Monday. I don't know when we'll all have the time to be together again. So if you could please tell us everything you saw or know about Eliza's- about her, um, death, we would all as a whole be immensely grateful."

He expected her to withdraw again, to say "no", but instead she lifted her chin and said, "Can we sit on the floor so I don't have to be in front of you like I'm presenting a project or some shit?"

He let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Yeah, of course."

He sank down to the floor, and the group imitated him. Kayden sat down on his left, Milo next to her, and so forth until they were all in a circle. They all waited patiently for Lex to collect her thoughts before she took a deep breath and started talking a voice barely about a whisper.

"It was at Kyle's party, when she started acting weird," She began, twisting her hands into a knot. "I didn't really know what was wrong with her, I guess. She asked to go outside because it was quieter, and I said yes. When we got out there, she grabbed my hand and said, 'Wanna see something cool? I found it on a hike with my mom the other day. It's all this sea glass down by the river.'"