Hollow Woods ✔

Leaving

~Dean~

It's been two days since we buried her. Two days since we have been waiting for them to come. We knew it would happen. We knew it was part of being there.

Sophia couldn't deal with the pain and the memories that came with this town. Nora felt like she needed an escape from it all as well. They left together, back to where Sophia works. All the way to New York.

Rhydian and I moved in together. Apparently, Ex left the four of us a fair split of her money. She was loaded but she never spent it on herself, it was always spent on us. We each got a cool five million, she had a savings account that she would constantly put money in, only keeping food for the week after each fight.

We ended up giving all that money to her family and that Dorian kid and his mom. Ex would only save him if she saw the good. She could always see past your bullshit.

Rhydian and I moved into an apartment. We all agreed that Ex's old house went to her grandparents who were raising her son but when they declined they suggested we give it to Dorian.

We all wore a gold ring on a gold chain around our necks. Like I said before, I planned on giving it to them after graduation, but I never expected this. She was strong but they beat her to her limit.

She could only beat death once.

A few days ago at hospital

Ex's family had just left the hospital after her death as Mary, Ex's head nurse, came to find me and asked a rather interesting question.

"Who was the father?" I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.

"She doesn't have a kid besides Zoran." She frowned.

"Dean, she was two months pregnant. Do you know anyone that could have gotten that close to her?" My mouth dropped slightly.

"She hated being touched by anyone besides the four of us. I have no clue." Her eyes held sadness.

"Well, I'm sorry to say this but the baby didn't make it either." I knew exactly who the father would have been and I felt a tear knowing that he didn't even know about it.

End of memory

We all stood at the airport, saying our goodbyes to Sophia and Nora.

"Before you leave I have some news." They all fell silent. "Ex was two months pregnant." They all gasped. I held my head low. "The baby didn't make it."

"You don't have to feel guilty for not telling us sooner. We all have problems right now. This is something that should have come at your own time." Nora rubbed my shoulder and gave me a warm smile.

I returned it and they walked to board their plane. They were leaving and we were moving. Life was getting some sort of balance back, but nothing felt right. There was always this gut feeling that someone was watching.

When Rhydian and I got back to the apartment we sat on the couch and stared at the black TV screen.

"Who do you think did it?"

"If you mean the father of her baby then I would say she was raped. Ex would never let a guy touch her. I think it was some asshole too high to know what the hell he was doing." I said, giving him a side glance to see if he bought it.

"I never got to ask why she doesn't like people to touch her. I got a few bits here and there but I never got the full story." I gave him a fake smile and sighed.

"It all started..." I told him her story, the one that she told me mixed with the new information from the hospital.

~Sophia~

I sat looking out the window as Nora drove to my apartment in the city. It was full of life, people walking in every direction, birds flying freely, everything looked normal.

"So when do I turn?"

"Next left coming up." She nodded her head.

I went back to staring at everything we passed. Cars seemed to go slow but we were moving fast. I faced Nora and she had the same confused look. Everyone was out of their car and looking terrified as they looked out onto the road.

In a sudden flash, all I could see was red. Blood covered my vision. I tried reaching for Nora but a sudden flame blocked my way.

"Say 'Hi' to the bitch for me." Someone yelled over the roaring flames.

The flames grew and began to roast me alive. Nora yelled in pain as the fire heated a cut on her head. I did the same when it hit my head.

I could barely hear but I knew that I heard someone dumping a liquid over the car. It must have been some fuel because the flames engulfed the car and weakened us. My eyes fell and everything went black.

It's over

~Dean~

I got a call and expected it to be Nora or Sophia but it wasn't them. Rhydian came out of his room yawning. He mouthed 'who is it.' When I got off the phone tears fell down my face in a rush.

"That was the police. Nora and Sophia have been murdered." I pulled at my hair and paced around the living room.

"How, who, why, what!?" Rhydian couldn't find the words.

"Someone hit them while they were driving home from the airport. Their car was flipped and it caught fire but before anyone could help someone dumped the car in fuel making the flames grow. They did it on purpose, it was fucking planned!"

I hid my tear-stained face in my hands and cried into them. Rhydian sat next to me and cried into my shoulder at the same time as he tried to soothe me. We both broke down and it lasted for hours.

A knock on the door caught us off guard but we shut up right away. We decided to act as if no one was home. We quietly hid out of sight and waited for them to break down the door. And they did. Two buff guys walked in and while they wandered around the place Rhydian and I dashed out of the door and straight to his car.

As he was starting the car a bullet shot through his window. It went straight through his head. Rhydian's head fell on the steering wheel and a look of shock and anger crossed my face. I got out of the car, ready to throw down but as Sophia once said, Gangs don't play fair. The guy shot my right shoulder and then my chest. A wave of pain quickly spread through my body and I placed a hand over my chest. As I pulled it back to look at it the guy shot again this time right in the center of my head.

"Say 'Hi' to the bitch for me."

That's the last thing I heard before I fell to the floor in a puddle of my own blood.