Richy was on his knees, his eyes closed, ready to accept everything that was going to be thrown at him. Beside him stood Jessy, looking worried as she was fidgeting with her fingers, torn between protecting Richy from the blow, or letting her friends vent out their anger and hurt.
"You hurt us, Richy," Cleo crossed her arms.
"Betrayed our trust," Thomas added, shaking his head.
Phil gave Richy another look of disgust before looking away, gritting through his teeth, "you made Amy commit suicide and kidnapped Hannah, making me get into jail..."
"Yes, I am guilty, and I am ready to accept anything you guys want to do to me," the mechanic's voice sounded firm.
"What about Hannah's kidnapping? What about you being the man without a face?" Dan asked, still looking angry.
Hannah intervened. "Richy and I have decided not to tell the police about who really kidnapped me. We are going to spin a story about it being someone else who wore a mask. We will, however, confess about Amy and Jennifer. That's for sure. I know we will probably end up in prison, hated by half of Duskwood... but we won't be hiding that truth anymore. I have forgiven Richy for holding me hostage, so I will not pursue judgment on that."
"I see," Dan nodded and leaned back against his wheelchair.
"I cannot tell you guys, how sorry I am for everything. And although I know, you guys probably won't ever forgive me, I can accept that. Whatever you guys feel and think of me, that is alright, just please, I beg you guys, let me help you in finding Lia. I want to join you all to save her. I owe her and Jake my life, and I promise you, once we have saved her, I will go to the police with Hannah, and we will confess about Amy and Jennifer," Richy pleaded as he bowed his head.
The others exchanged looks and either just nodded or shrugged. Phil didn't look pleased, but he was able to put his personal feelings about Richy aside for Lia.
"I guess we can always use an extra pair of hands..." Cleo sighed.
"If Hannah said so..." Thomas trailed off.
"Hmm, as if I can keep on hating your moronic ass for much longer...." Dan grumbled.
"Whatever," Phil leaned his head on his hand.
"I promised myself, as long as Hannah got back safe and sound... and everyone is alive, everything else doesn't matter," Lilly confessed.
"I'm just glad you're back with us Richy," Hannah smiled.
Richy let out a big sigh of relief and then, shyly, he grinned as usual.
"And you're okay with how he attacked you?" Phil asked Jessy with a frown.
"Well, if you think about it..." Jessy tapped her chin. "All Richy did was push me from behind and give me a scare. Okay, it was not cool, but it could have been worse. I just had some scrapes, all are healed. The shock wore off, and I'm not angry anymore... well, just a bit still," Jessy showed how angry she still was with the space between her thumb and finger.
Phil snorted, "you're too forgiving."
"So what if I am?" Jessy crossed her arms, looking a bit deviant.
"Not just you, but all of you," Phil pointed around. "I start to think I'm in a bad movie or something. There is a guy who, let me recap, kidnapped one of you, held her captive for weeks, made an entire town quiver in fear, made the police looking for someone, pushed a girl to commit suicide, threatened, scared, lied to each and every single person in this group, made me be thrown into jail!" Phil obviously had enough, and he was now standing up, visibly upset.
"Yeah let's forgive him. He and that person," he pointed behind him with his thumb towards Hannah's bedroom door. "Who made mess number two."
"We are sorry for what we did to you Phil," Cleo said in between Phil's words.
Phil stopped as if he didn't expect that sudden apology.
"I'm sorry too, Phil," Thomas added.
"Sorry Phil," Lilly looked at him.
"I'm sorry for telling the police that you might be behind my car accident, making them have a firm reason to put you into custody," Dan said with remorse.
"What?" Jessy and Phil shouted at the same time.
"Yes it was me, I made a false accusation, not deliberately, but I was so sure someone tampered with my car, making me get into an accident, which, I will admit it now, is obviously my fault because I drank too much alcohol. Yo... lesson learned, don't drink and drive kids."
"You! Seriously Dan? I thought you were the most decent one out of this group. Even after you stood me up when I gave you a chance for a job, even after knowing you are after my sister-"
Thomas' eyes became round as saucers and Lilly coughed, while Hannah exchanged looks with Cleo.
"Eh, you like Jessy?" Richy meekly asked, but didn't get a reply.
"You're no saint either Phil, in fact, you wanna know what I think of you? I think you are one, the big, asshole who thinks just because he had one sad pathetic childhood, he decides to act as he sits on a seat right beside God Almighty, as the prime judge of human morality. You're a buffoon, a sack of potato who flirts with anything that is female. You are one of the worst people I know in Duskwood, right after Poke," Dan said with no remorse in his voice.
Suddenly chaos ensued. Phil and Dan were throwing insults at each other, Jessy tried to intervene, Richy was still on his knees, and Hannah and Thomas tried to calm Dan down.
Suddenly someone started to pound on Hannah's apartment door, and everyone stopped. Hannah went to the door and opened it, exchanged a few words, before closing the door and went back with a red face, looking very embarrassed.
"Guys, it's almost five in the morning and my neighbor just complained to me because we are way too loud for too long. If we don't tone it down, he is going to call the police a.k.a. Alan," Hannah pleaded.
"Heavens, it's five already?" Cleo asked in disbelief, looking at her phone.
"This is no use, we have been fighting against each other for hours now..." Lilly sighed and rubbed her temples, feeling exhausted.
"Let's not forgive the most important thing," Richy stood up, his timidness and shame have gone for a moment.
The group went silent, feeling embarrassed of losing focus on their main concern.
"What would Lia say if she saw us right now?" Richy added.
Jessy rubbed her arms. "She would say we should not let our group be divided."
"She would say, that, we should remain strong together," Cleo whispered, closing her eyes.
"She would be there for us, listen to our problems," Thomas added, remembering how Lia was there when he went into the woods, thinking about Hannah after he peeked into her phone.
"She would not give up on us... just as how she did not give up on me," Hannah smiled sadly.
"She would..." a hoarse voice said, making everyone turn towards him. "She put herself aside to be there for others. Ignoring her own worries, fear, anger..." Jake walked slowly towards them, still very tired. He lifted his hand, declining help from his sisters as his legs were still a bit wobbly.
"She would trust us, no matter what," Richy lifts his head.
"Yeah, that's what Lia would do," Jake said softly, imagining Lia being among them.
Come on, guys! We gotta work together. We can do it.
"Let's save Lia," Jake urged.
The others had a myriad of expressions on their face as they thought about Lia and remembered her. Phil smiled, Jessy wiped a tear, Cleo sighed, Hannah glanced around, Lilly nodded, Richy looked down, and Dan leaned back.
Jake placed a hand on his chest where his heart was beating.
Lia...