Sweet Charlotte

「 thirty-one: strange requests 」

"Are you going to listen to me this time?"

Willow smirked, closing her backpack. Seth's father had offered to carry it for her. Originally Seth offered, but his mother went into a fit worrying about his stitches tearing if he tried to lift something.

"It isn't heavy, Mom." He'd said.

"I don't care, Seth." She'd said.

Willow smirked at Delaney's comment, delicately passing her bag to Seth's father and hushing a soft 'thank you.' "What, you mean by not coming back?" She asked.

"Yes," Delaney sighed teasingly. Willow could see glints of light reflecting off the glassiness of her gaze. "You have a life to live. You can't live it in here."

"Technically, this isn't your ward." Seth tossed back, smirking.

Delaney studied him, smirked, then rolled her eyes. "You know how to pick 'em, Willow." Willow only smiled.

Seth was still the one to place a hand on the small of Willow's back, guiding her toward the elevator, making sure she wasn't moving her arms in a way that would tear her stitches. Willow could feel the eyes of his parents settling on her back, watching his motions. She could sense the question marks floating over their heads, but they stayed quiet. They were silent as they made their way to the ground floor, out the front doors, and to their car.

"Are you okay, Seth?"

"Yes," he answered quickly, dismissing his father. His attention was fixated on Willow, gingerly holding onto the underside of her arms, guiding her into the backseat. His primary focus was making sure she was seated safely. Despite his concern, Willow seemed perfectly fine and comfortable. Really though, it was because she wasn't paying attention. Her mind was elsewhere.

Now that she was out of the hospital — now that they both were — life would continue on. It always happened whenever she was discharged; she realized that the life that she'd felt like had paused had actually continued on. Now, she was merely living it. But this time, everything was different.

What was going to happen when they went back to school? Could they go back to school? How different would everything be since Mara and Sunni's arrests? Did students know? She withheld the urge to scoff seeing as no one else in the car was in her head. Of course the students knew. Gossip travelled around their school faster than a virus.

As her thoughts swirled, Seth slipped into the seat beside her, reaching over to grab hold of her hand. She squeezed, watching from elsewhere as his parents slipped into the front seats.

Where were Sunni and Mara? They must be in holding at the police station. Even if they refused to confess to Charlotte's murder, they would definitely be charged with attempted murder, or at the very least assault on both her and Seth. Was there a way they got out? That their parents had pulled strings and set them free? That somehow they had a way of coming after them.

A breath lodged itself in her throat, and she unintentionally attempted to ball her fists instead squeezing Seth's hand. He turned, eyes wide and bright, reaching over with his second hand to touch her. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.

Swept back into reality, Willow snapped to her side. "Yeah," she breathed. She knew it was unconvincing. Seth did too.

This always seemed to happen when she first escaped the hospital. She was so lost in her thoughts about what the 'real world' would be like when she got out that she forgot to actually live in it. She was so distracted worrying about what her life back would be that she missed the entire drive home.