Kneeling down next to Taylor, I thought to myself, wondering why this was happening to such good people. Why them? In that moment I made the decision to not rest until whoever was doing this was in jail, far away from my family. I cried into Taylor's chest, feeling horrible about this, about everything. I sighed, whipping my phone out of my pocket and calling the cops.
It was the same thing they'd said about Ben and Kaitlyn; no clues equals nothing we can do about it. The one helpful piece of information they gave me was that it looked like Taylor had died a few days ago, not today. It also looked like they lived alone since Kaitlyn died.
I took a look into Taylor's room before leaving, seeing things like posters on the wall that were half-torn off and ripped up. I felt even worse by looking at the state the room was in. Taylor really wasn't handling Kaitlyn's death well. We all grieve differently, I guess. I wished I'd asked if I could stay with them for a while. I wished I'd been there to help. I wished I could've protected them.
I knew I shouldn't have dwelled on it for too long, what's done is done. I sank into one of the comfortable chairs, back at home after a long day of getting everything dealt with. Evan sat beside me, squished. He was rubbing my back soothingly as I told him everything.
"I can't believe all of this," He breathed, leaning on my shoulder and continuing to massage my back. "So now you're the only one left?"
"I mean, apparently," I cried. "This is too much pressure. I'm so scared, Evvy.."
"It's gonna be okay," He kissed me softly, not quite reassuring me, but calming me down enough to stop hyperventilating. "I'm always going to be here for you. Always." I shut my eyes, wrapping my arms around him and just crying into his shoulder for a while. It felt nice to let go.
"You know?" I snickered.
"Yeah, I'm funny." Cameron whispered, wiping blood from his nose with his sleeve.
"That's going to stain, you know," I took his hand from his face and replaced it with mine. I wiped the remaining blood carefully, trying not to hurt him.
"Oh, well."
"You're crazy," I rolled my eyes.
"You're the crazy one," He narrowed his eyes at me. "That was an expensive sweatshirt."
"You think I care about a sweatshirt more than my friend?" I scoffed dramatically. "I'm hurt."
"Good," He grumbled in a strange voice.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, taking my hand back from his face and placing it gently in my lap.
"Totally!" Cameron made weird gestures with his hands as he spoke. "I stuck up for us for once and got beaten up, I'm fine, dude!" He teared up a bit, not hesitating to wipe the tears from his eyes. I knew I'd opened a Pandora's box. "My only interaction with the 'popular' kids at this school has been a fight! So now there's not a fighting chance I could ever.. I don't know.. Be one of them...?" He stared down at the ground, a tear dripping onto his jeans and making a dark spot on them. "I don't know why, it just sounds nice to be at the top, no humiliation or tormenting."
"Well, who wants to be tormented?" I shrugged as he looked over to me.
"You're right, that was stupid, I'm.." He glanced around for a moment. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, I get it." The sun coming from the slim windows was shining in an orange-pink shade, It made us both have a strange kind of glow in the early morning light.
I couldn't take seeing my usually comedic friend so upset anymore, so I wrapped my arms around him in a comforting embrace. "It's okay, dude." I whispered. "We don't need to be popular. We have each other," He brought his arms around my back. "-and Kaitlyn and Ben."
"I know, I know," He shook his head. "I just.. Can't help it. I'll get over it."
"Okay," I sighed, rubbing his back in a calming manner. "I love you.. Bro," I giggled.
"Love you too, bro." He laughed, pulling himself off me."
