𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑰𝑨𝑹𝒀

𝟎𝟗; 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐽 𝐴 𝑌 𝐷 𝐸 𝑁

--

mom and I watch the news on the couch together.

I didn't exactly know why I bothered watching at first, but now I knew why. I needed to make sure sequoia and I were safe. and so far, the cops didn't have any leads or witnesses, sequoia made a smart move to burn the branch. but the entire situation made me think about the woman in the woods again, was she his daughter? wife? friend? I knew she didn't see me kill him since she was standing too far, but why didn't she report us running away from the crime scene? it made no sense to me.

when the news went on commercial, mom stood up. "ugh, how horrendous for that man's family," mom then looked down at me in pity, "i'm sorry this horrible thing happened around your birthday, son."

I wave it off since it's the only thing I could do right now to appear innocent, "it's alright, mom. my birthday has long been over."

mom smiles at me as if she's proud, my guilt stabs at me. "you're so selfless nowadays, I love it. should I thank sequoia in hugs or in cash?"

I laugh too hard at that, and so does mom. it's been a long time since we've done that together, and I'm just now realizing that I've missed it.

mom goes over to the safe in the coat closet to get the pistol before she grabbed her michael kors purse, putting the gun inside the huge bag.

I laugh a little as I watch her, "where you going?"

mom fixes her shirt and smooths out her pants before she grabbed her car keys, "oh the store, we ran out of stuff for me to cook."

"why do you need the gun then?" I can't help but laugh harder when I ask. mom rolls her eyes at me before she leaves, locking the door behind her. the news comes back on. the police have found nothing yet. I breathe easy.

then there's a knock at the door.

I get up and see that it's sequoia, I open the door with a smile. "back so soon?"

sequoia doesn't smile back, she just stares at me, looking at me as if she had forgotten what she needed to say. my smile fades, "you okay? come inside," I lightly pull her arm to drag her in before I shut the door. sequoia sits on the couch with her head down and her hands in her lap.

I sit down next to her and grab the remote to mute the tv. once the room was silent, I wrapped my arm around sequoia's shoulders and pulled her close to me. "quoia, what's wrong?" sequoia moves herself away from me to look directly into my eyes, she's about to cry.

"I can't see you anymore."

the words completely fly over my head, I hear her, but it's all gibberish. "what?"

sequoia sighs, looking up at the ceiling. "I didn't wanna text you this so instead I'm saying it face to face, jayden." she looks back at me, "I can't see you."