Blame

The Accused

There was a long pause following Arlen's words.

"Well? Are you going to share or not, Arlen?" Mister Afton asked impatiently.

"I think it was Elizabeth."

In an instant, everybody's eyes were on her.

It felt like an eternity before she could form any sort of response.

"...Wh-what?" Her voice cracked a little.

"Seriously, Arlen?"

"Yeah, seriously, Jesse!"

"That's a serious accusation to make. What makes you think that? Do you have any proof?" 

"I --, just look at her! She looks like a deer in headlights!" Arlen sputtered out.

"I think most people look like that when you accuse them of attempted murder, dipshit."

"Okay, listen, you're going to need to find something better than that before you start pointing fingers."

"Don't worry, I will. I just need a few minutes."

"This is entirely ludicrous."

"No, you know what? I'm not sure if I disagree with Arlen," Bon-Bon chimed in. "That clown is really strange, and I honestly wouldn't put it past her."

"I'm not... I w-would never..."

Nobody heard Elizabeth. Her quiet voice was quickly drowned out by the loud argument that erupted after that dummy's words were uttered.

"That's a fucking ridiculous thing to say and you know it!"

"She's weird! She's so weird and quiet! And the quiet and weird ones always end up being violent!"

"Plus, she clearly has a liking for sharp things. Don't you remember what she did before she became a clown?"

"I saw her leaving the tent right around the same time as Laura!"

"Me too. She ducked right past me!"

"Yeah, you idiots, 'cause she was heading out to grab the keys like Mister Afton had asked her to!"

"She could've stopped and stabbed her and then got the keys and acted like nothing's wrong!"

Elizabeth felt like she was in the middle of a shouting match between her parents, unable to break it up.

Everybody was speaking all at once, making their words difficult to understand.

She could only pick out things here and there.

Accusative things.

Terrible things.

Things that hurt her.

It was all so overwhelming.

She felt like she was suffocating.

She couldn't breathe.

She needed to get out.

She needed to get away.

She pushed past whoever was standing behind her and ran outside.

The night air was cold and the rain had stopped, but she didn't even notice. She felt numb.

There was a small metal bench a good six feet away.

Without really thinking about it, she took a seat on it.

Despite being the focus of conversation in there, and despite the fact that many of them apparently thought she was dangerous, nobody came after her. Or probably even noticed she was gone, for that matter.

But that was fine.

Elizabeth preferred it that way, actually.

She needed to calm herself down.

She was shaking.

She couldn't feel her face.

"It'll pass, it'll pass..."