~Can You Fix The Broken~ [Monty De La Cruz]

.Chapter 15

   As I opened my eyes, squinting with a nervous expression printed on my face, I didn't see a gun in between my eyes, nor did I see Seth standing in front of me. Instead, I saw his body on the floor by my feet with blood pouring from a small gunshot wound in the side of his head, and his handheld gun on the floor that had fallen from his hand.
   Had he shot himself?
   I felt sick, and my legs felt as if they could collapse from underneath me. I used the bonnet of the car to keep myself upright, my hands gripping the metal but slipping from the sweat that was on my palms. Thoughts about how I would cover this up or how I would tell the police about this fogged my mind and thinking process and became the spotlight in my brain. I would obviously be seen as a murder suspect, and I could not have a record of that, especially with the history I already had behind me.
"Shit Sadie, are you okay?" The voice had made me jump, and my heart began to beat faster than it had before... somehow if that was even physically possible.
   I looked over to where the voice had come from, and a little up the hill from where the dirt-track had ended, and I saw Monty running down, a gun similar to Seth's in his hand, his hands shaky and fear on his face. As soon as he reached me, I threw my arms around his neck and held tightly onto him, shivering, petrified, unable to think. There was a clatter of the gun on the floor as he dropped it, his arms then attaching to me around my waist.
"You... you shot him?" I stammered, my voice quiet and barely able to get a sound out.
   He didn't move. Or reply.
   I knew that meant a yes.
I pulled away, my hands holding his arms to keep me upright, "Why did you..?"
"He-" Monty was as shaken as I, taking deep breaths before trying to talk again, "He was going to hurt you, Sadie."
I shook my head, "If I didn't go with him, he was going to hurt you."
"And you think I care if he hurts me?"
"I care." I said to him, my voice raised a little, but I returned it to a quieter tone, "I care if he hurts you, Monty. I- I couldn't live with myself."
He scoffed, biting his lip and almost drawing a drop of blood, "What have I got to live for? A shitty life? Being abused? Relying on everyone else to have a roof over my head and to have food to eat?" He looked back at the bloody body that lay motionless on the dirty riverbank, "I promised myself that I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. I'm not going to break that promise."
   His words made my eyes water, and I didn't expect him to be capable of such emotional words. I went onto my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around him again, almost suffocating him with how tight I embraced him. This time, he didn't return the hug, but I could feel his chest rising heavily and quickly against mine as he breathed, more so panted, and he quivered as he stared blankly at the body behind me.
"What are we going to do?" I asked him, looking back at the body, my hands draped over his chest, "We can't leave him here?"
   He was silent for a moment, his hand sneaking up to around my waist. There was a cold breeze in the air, and I could feel it against my skin, as well as a few drops of rain that came down on us as if they were the tears of sorrow from Seth's dismayed and undoubtedly pissed ghost. That thought didn't make the situation seem so bad for a millisecond.
"Oh fuck, Sadie. We need to leave. Like right now!" I heard Monty exclaim, realising what time it was and dragging me towards the dirt-track as if a switch had suddenly flicked in his head.
"And leave the body?" I questioned back, stumbling after him, almost falling over my own feet a couple of times as the panic began to set in.
"I used the same bullets that were loaded into Seth's gun," he told me, continuing to drag me towards the town, "It'll look like a suicide. We'll be fine!"
   And it was a bad decision to believe him.
"Okay! Okay!" I couldn't think, my head was a scramble and my body was unable to operate as I was being pulled by the wrist, "How did you know what gun it was?"
He hesitated, rushing me, "I called Justin. I'll explain later I promise."
   Though he was still shaken up by the situation, he was definitely calmer than I was. The fact he could even form an understandable sentence was a shock to me. I didn't think I could.
We'd made it to the bus stop a small distance from the top of the dirt road, and as casually as possible we got on a bus towards school, using our collected amount of spare change we found in the pits of our pockets to just afford two tickets. It was empty, with only a few elderly people sat towards the front, making awkward chatter about anything that came to mind no matter how boring it was, leaving me and Monty breathlessly sitting at the back, tense and nerved.
"How did it go from me investigating your confusing family life," I began, trying to stabilise myself as I spoke, "to us running away from a murder scene?"
His head fell back against the fabric seat, "I- I don't know."
"I knew you'd be interesting, but fuck I didn't expect this." I tried to crack a joke, or lighten the mood somehow, but all it did was silence us.
As the bus travelled further and further into the centre of town near school. The energy drink and whatever else Monty wanted to buy was long gone, I assumed on the floor outside the shop in a cheap plastic bag, and with Seth lying dead with a hole in his head by the riverside; I couldn't even process anything. A jumble of thoughts raced in my head as fast as they could, but all it created was a thick fog of dust from the fight. I looked over at Monty, but his eyes were closed but his eyebrows stressfully furrowed and his lips forced into a firm tight line, emphasising his sharp jawline that could easily cut paper without effort.
"Monty?" I whispered, not sure what to say after, but just wanting to check if he was awake I suppose.
"Hmm." He didn't move, only making a slight sound.
After not hearing a reply, his eyes opened and he looked over at me. The bus rumbled from underneath us, and as we passed over the bridge with Seth body a few miles below us, we found each other's hands with our eyes still locked, gripping them together and intertwining our fingers.
"They won't suspect a thing." He told me, gently squeezing my hand, trying his best to smile at me but the effort was poor and unconvincing.
I shook my head as I moved it towards his shoulder, then letting my head rest upon it like a pillow, "I hope not." I mumbled, closing my eyes, feeling his head against my hair as the bus continued to the other end of the bridge, trying my hardest to not think about what was down below.

   I felt him shake me awake, and I opened my eyes to an unmoving bus parked outside our school. He got up from underneath me, gently pulling me up to my feet and helping me to the front of the bus: I was thankful that there were not many people on the bus to watch me stumble to the front.
   I was surprised we even came back to the school regarding the whole situation, and I wasn't even sure I could compose myself for the next three-four hours. Maybe Monty could, but it wouldn't be the first time he had to act at school.
   Me, however? I usually acted how I felt, but right now I couldn't. That would be suicide into prison.

"We need a story." He said to me, leaning against the fence outside of school, hidden away from the view of Liberty students that would be pouring out of the doors at any minute for their lunch break.
I felt sick.
"Hey, Sadie." He became agitated and snappy, "Do you want to go to prison for the rest of your life?"
"No." I managed to mumble.
   His hands grabbed my shoulders, holding me upright. I could've sworn I looked drunk or stoned — maybe even both. Just a he was about to speak, the lunchtime bell sounded from the school, and within seconds the shouts of students could be heard piling from the doors, cheering of the footballers and the squeals of the cheerleaders above all. I'd forgotten all about what had happened with Bryce a few hours before, which was probably a good thing as I would've wanted to knock him out with one solid punch in the face.
"We need to find Tony and Justin." He said, pulling me towards the doors in the opposite direction to the crowd, gaining us stares of confusion and misunderstanding (assuming we'd skipped school to do something other than murder someone, if you know what I mean).
I followed on after him, my anxiety shooting through the roof, "Wait? What will they do? They might tell on us?"
"We obviously won't tell them the whole story," he reassured, pulling me aside once we were in school, away from the constant flow of students, "Just that we saw him and we had to threaten him a little. That's all."
   I wasn't convinced. Tony would figure it out eventually, no doubt. And Justin, he wouldn't care that he was dead, but I feared he'd be angry at me for simply being his long lost half sibling, or something along those lines.
"Fine. Whatever."

I am so sorry for the delay on posting this chapter. I've had a rough few weeks since last updating but that's kinda irrelevant.
I'm really not sure when I can post the next chapter, and obviously my mental health must come first. I'll try to be as quick as I can though, as I don't really want to become one of those writers who post once a month, but it seems I'll probably be heading that way which I do apologise for.
And again, I'm sorry for the delay but I hope this chapter was good enough.
       ~ Gracie xx