"You're leaving Phil?" Richy asked as no one spoke a word or move a muscle.
Phil suddenly grabbed Richy by his collar and dragged him inside before slamming the door shut. Richy let himself be pulled forcefully into the living room, where he was thrown onto the couch. Phil and Dan looked at Richy as if they wanted to murder him, Thomas wholeheartedly ignored him, Hannah and Lilly were the only ones looking back at the mechanic, while Jessy was crying her eyes out and ran into a different room, followed by Cleo.
"Sorry, I can't... do this right now," Cleo mumbled an apology to Hannah, without sparing Richy a look. Hannah could only nod her head.
Jake was sitting in a corner, just watching the event unfold in front of him, looking visibly tired.
"Look who came to greet us... the legend himself, the dark poultry, the man without a face," Dan leaned back and folded his fingers. He looked at Richy with disdain and disappointment.
"Dan... I know you are angry. I have fucked up..." Richy tried to find the right words.
"Big-time," Dan added.
"I have hurt each and every one of you, my closest friends," Richy's hands started to shake.
"Oh no, no you didn't. You just kidnapped Hannah, attacked Jessy, and lied to us all, making us worry sick about you after your "alleged" kidnapping. Hmm... am I missing something? Oh, yeah you threatened and traumatized Lia as well," Dan said in a calm voice as if he was talking about the weather.
"I also caused Amy to commit suicide..." Richy looked down in shame.
Phil looked at him with disgust.
"I have a lot to atone guys..." Richy looked up, smiling painfully, his eyes started to water.
Hannah got up and sat beside him on the couch. Richy sobbed and looked away.
"Why are you here Richy?" she asked softly.
Richy let out a small, nervous laugh. "I had to come after hearing what happened to Lia. I kinda also felt compelled to get you guys to believe me, that I have absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance-"
"We already know Richy. Jake found a video of Lia being held, hostage. The situation is very complicated, but we know who has her," Lilly explained.
"You know who has her? Jake is here?" Richy looked around, and his eyes fell on Jake who was at the furthest corner from him.
"Jake... I have not gotten a chance yet to thank you for saving my life," Richy nodded with a faint smile, but Jake didn't move and only stared back at him.
"Are you okay Jake?" Lilly got up and went to her brother.
Jake didn't answer, he was only staring. Lilly touched his cheek and Jake's head slumped a little.
"I think you are tired, try to sleep," Lilly's words made Hannah get up from the couch, and together they brought Jake to Hannah's bedroom. Jake didn't complain, nor did he protest. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he would lose consciousness any second.
A couple of minutes after that, the Donfort sisters, left the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
"He's out," Hannah made a hand gesture, indicating that Jake is for the time being, not able to talk with anyone.
"Poor guy, I think this was all a bit too much for him, first you, his half-sister, then his... well, the girl he loves," Richy shook his head with a sympathized look.
There was a silence, no one knew what to do or say until Dan broke it.
"So what now?" he asked at the same time Cleo left the other room, where Jessy was still inside.
"Now, I have to talk with someone," Richy smiled sadly before getting up and going to the room Cleo just left. He knocked gently on the door, Cleo sat beside Phil on the couch, and together they are all just watching Richy gently talking through the door to Jessy. They could hear her sobbing, Dan was gritting his teeth, visibly upset about the fact that Jessy was crying, but knowing the matter was between her and Richy, he didn't dare meddle in.
After two minutes of Richy coaxing Jessy to talk with him, the door opened a little and a hand reached out. Richy smiled, and his eyes were watery when the hand gently pulled him into the room. The group heard the two of them talking, sometimes sobbing in between, and after a while, there was even a little laughter when Richy talked about how he ran away from the hospital in stealth mode.
Cleo along with Hannah and Lilly smiled a little at each other, Thomas and Dan relaxed a bit, and Phil just had a serious look on his face.
In the meantime, Richy tried to extend an olive branch to Jessy. The red-haired girl was still unsure.
"You promise you will never, ever do anything like that again?" Jessy was holding Richy's hands.
"I swear Jessy. I was an idiot. A huge idiot for not being honest and letting everything get out of hand. I... I thought about taking a short way out, to, you know, pay for my crimes. If it weren't for Jake, I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be talking with you, seeing our friends again. I would have not had the chance to apologize and be honest, God you have no idea how liberating it is to finally be honest. It was not the fire that almost killed me or the bullets. It was the lies and the secrets, and now that I have a second chance, I won't throw it away so easily."
Jessy sniffled and smiled, squeezing the hands of her best friend. She still felt hurt by Richy's actions, but it was a step towards feeling better after they had a heart-to-heart talk.
"I owe Jake and Lia so much..." Richy trailed off. "I owe Jake my life and Lia my sanity. You know, I had planned to end it all, way before I staged my kidnapping. Way before I painted the symbol on my garage door. I was going to do it, was going to drive into the blackwater lake. Let myself get drowned," Richy wiped another tear, as Jessy was looking horrified at him.
"But I couldn't, you know. I just couldn't. Not after everyone, especially Lilly were accusing Lia and Jake to be the kidnappers, especially Jake. I had no connection with Jake, we never talked, he was not a friend, but Lia was fiercely protecting him, and took most of the blow for him, while she was being good and friendly towards me. I could not help but feel a connection with her, even though we had only known each other for a couple of days. The strangest thing was that I knew Lia trusted me, she genuinely trusted me, we weren't friends, nor did we know each other in real life, but she trusted me. She had no reason to, but she did."
Richy was looking down while placing both his hands on the back of his neck.
"She was a good person, so I just wanted to scare her away. To make her leave so that the others would stop accusing her or being suspicious of her. Lia had nothing to do with us, she was 100% innocent. I didn't want to drag her further into my mess. But she stayed, and worst of all, she hid her own pain. She didn't tell me a single word about the man without a face threatening her. I was surprised she didn't share that with anyone. I can imagine she must have been terrified, but for us, she remained strong."
Jessy looked away. "I think it was way later that she shared that with us, I think it was around the time when Jake joined the group or so. I don't know, my memories are all over the place."
Richy smiled as he lowered his hands. "I think, because of how selflessly she trusted me, I decided to stage my kidnapping and then me rescuing Hannah. I just never expected it to get way, way out of hand. One thing led to another..."
Jessy looked up. "I just don't understand one thing; why did you end up coming to us to the house in the middle of the night? After you threatened us, warning us that you will be coming. Did you not expect us to fight back? To not use weapons?" Jessy asked bewildered.
"Oh that," Richy grinned while rubbing the bandage on his arm with a painful look. "That was all my stupid brain's fault. I thought if the man without a face showed himself, while you guys saw the "lifestream" of me and Hannah being together, you guys will surely not suspect that I was the man without a face. I would have staged the rescue, and it would free me of all suspicions. Totally slipped my mind that you guys would retaliate... with a real gun nonetheless. I mean come on, it was only supposed to be Thomas, and you three girls. Thomas couldn't harm a fly, he doesn't even know how to punch a pillow," Richy grinned and Jessy let out a snort.
"You, Lilly, and Cleo, I just thought you girls were going to lock yourself in a room. I was going to just make a couple of noises in the house, maybe break a plate or two and then run away. I totally did not expect Dan, out of the hospital, with a real gun. Where did he get the gun anyway? Don't tell me he owned one."
"Oh, Lilly admitted it was her father's. She got into huge trouble because of that, but Hannah's return kinda overshadows that. Still, you should have seen her father's face. He is also not pleased with all that Alan still has confiscated the gun as evidence or so."
"Hm, remind me to never try to spook you guys again," Richy scratched the back of his head.
"Not even during Halloween?" Jessy pouted.
"Eh, I think I will pass being scary for the next twenty years," Richy grinned and then the two laughed.
Richy patted Jessy's head, before she hugged him, saying, "thank you, for returning to us."
Richy looked shocked before he had a soft look in his eyes and hugged Jessy back.
"Thank you for not giving up on me."
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A.N.: I just want to write a quick thank you to everyone who has commented and voted on the chapters of "The Color of Your Eyes". Who would have thought that I would connect with many people who actually enjoy my writing?
At first, "The Color of Your Eyes", was simply going to be a short fanfiction, but after writing the first ten chapters, it just developed way further. I wrote so much at first, that I was able to even upload a chapter every day, but now that I have been overwhelmed with some responsibilities, it has been a bit difficult to keep up with updating every day. Nonetheless, I will keep on trying, as it's very fun writing this and seeing the positive feedback I get.
Once again thank you, guys! You all rock!