THE DARKEST HOUR;
part one
THE SIX FRIENDS SAT IN the courtroom, their families behind them, as their wrongfully accused friend stood at the front of the room. Both Renna's hands were sealed, one in Atticus' and the other in Kiaras, as she watched the boy she'd grown up with stand in a blindingly-orange jumpsuit.
The judge was talking, but half of it the blonde had droned out. She couldn't bear to listen to what was to come, but she forced herself to, because she knew she needed to. However, she already knew what the lady had to say. "-you are charged with murder in the first degree with aggravated circumstances. If convicted, the maximum sentence would be the death penalty." And she struck the gavel.
Renna flinched, eyes blinking whilst Atticus tightened his grip on her hand. JJ stood up. "Your honour, he's seventeen!" JJ shouted, standing up as the people on the other side of the aisle grinned.
"Stop," Pope mumbled, hand on the blond's chest.
"Let's go, this is fucked," Atticus seethed, pulling Renna up by the hand and leading her outside before they got into trouble. As soon as he was outdoors, he groaned into his hands - this could not be happening.
Renna listened to the voices around them, muttering their thank you's and gratefulness to the officers serving. She could deal with it, only just, until she heard one voice. "We did it, Ward." She looked over, a fire in her eyes. Atticus looked up too, eyes trained on the man as he started to step forward. Renna was quicker. "Listen, we've got to-"
"Hey, dick," Renna fumed, that same edge to her tone as that night. The night. The father turned around with wide eyes, trying to hide his anxiety behind his pupils as he let out a short breath.
"Renna, darl-"
"No, you can't call me that anymore, and you know it." People had started to look over at them. As Renna continued to speak, Atticus threw them a glare, causing most of them to immediately shrink away. Some, however, still stayed looking at someone else's business. "You've really got the nerve to come here. I'll do it all over again." Atticus smirked from behind her, eyeing the man who looked between the two.
Ward furrowed his brows. "Do what again? Richard, what-"
"No, you shut up," Atticus interrupted, walking forward to grab the father by his collar and shove him backward.
"You, both of you, are murderers!" Renna shouted, dragging the attention of the policemen nearby.
"Hey, calm down," Shoupe said, walking in-between the Pogues and the Kooks. Renna looked over the man's shoulder as he forced Atticus' hands away, who stepped down with a scowl in Ward and Dick's direction.
"I saw you with Gavin. I saw everything!" The man's plastered demeanour fell, his brows raising as he gulped. Ward slapped him once on the back, sending the face back on.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You watched him . . ." she continued, ignoring the older man. "You watched Ward- but you didn't do anything! Why didn't you do anything?" She shouted. Her voice was strong, it sounded strong, but it was tearing her inside. It was killing her like Ward had killed her friend's father as her very own watched.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He shook his head, stepping forward as he maintained a steady voice.
The fall. The punch. The blood . . . everywhere.
"Bullshit," Atticus spat.
"Get out of here, go on," Shoupe said among the other policemen scolding the group of friends.
"I'm so sorry you have to deal with this," Deputy Plum said to the men, looking between the two fathers sympathetically. Renna rolled her eyes before both her and Atticus jumped forward.
"They don't have to go through anything!" The girl yelled as she tried to move closer, but was grabbed by the arm and thrown back by one of the officers. Atticus instantly moved forward, pushing him back with a scowl.
"Don't lay even a finger on her, asshole," he seethed before turning around, checking on the girl.
"Lets just go," she muttered, sparing the man once her father a single glare before she turned her back.
Later, back at the Chateau, it was raining. Renna was staring out at the soaked backyard as Atticus stood beside her, back against the wood she was leaning against with her elbows. "I'm gonna testify under oath. I was there. I just need to get a hold of my sister," Sarah brainstormed.
"Sister?" JJ exasperated.
"Rei, do you have your phone?" The girl in question reached into her back pocket and held it behind her, feeling it pass from her fingers into someone else's. "Wheezie is the only other person that knows Rafe wasn't home that day."
"Wheezie?" JJ exasperated once more.
"I don't know what else to do. I got us into this mess, I'm gonna get us out," she mumbled with saddened brows, a frown drawing at the corners of her lips as she swiped about on the phone.
"Wheezie? Yeah, that'll work," JJ scoffed.
"It might?" Atticus said hopefully before tilting his head towards the girl facing the other way beside him. "Can't you just talk to your brother. I mean, he held Blake at gunpoint, didn't he? And you!"
Renna turned around solemnly. "What evidence do we have? Unless he admits it himself."
"We have the gun?" Kiara said.
"Yeah, but we've done as much as we can with that. It's a dead end." Atticus sighed, looking down at Renna's dangling hand before grabbing it in his own.
"It's okay, we'll figure something out," he muttered, his thumb running over the smooth edge of her knuckles.
"Our boy is PO-dub right now, okay? He's held captive by the enemy right now, maybe even scheduled for execution. Are we just gonna sit here?" Renna sighed.
"What's the plan? We kidnap Shoupe?" Kiara exasperated.
"Maybe? Like, that's not the worst idea, actually."
"No, J, that is the worst idea," Atticus nodded.
"That's bad," Renna agreed.
"It's pretty bad," Sarah said from inside the house. JJ turned around, looking through the open window.
"You know? Please, stay out of this. Okay, you guys, look, we've been doing everything your way, and Pope's way, and how has that been working out?" The blond passionately argued.
"Okay, but we cannot kidnap the sheriff, JJ!" Renna said.
"We'd been sent into the cell beside John B, it wouldn't do anything," Atticus exasperated.
"Okay, you two, just because you're together now-"
"Oh, is that was this is about?" Atticus questioned with furrowed brows, letting go of Renna's hand to step forward. She rolled her eyes, grabbing his shoulder to pull him back.
"Okay, okay, so what's your plan?" Pope asked.
"Calm down, love," Renna soothed in the background of the fighting, although she wasn't exactly calm herself.
"He's just- God!" He groaned, hands in his hair. "He's an idiot."
"I know, I know, but he's our idiot," she smiled. He sighed, dropping his hands from his head as he let out a quiet laugh, before looking over. He placed his hands on her cheeks, quickly pecking her lips, before he threw his arm around her shoulder and listened back into the conversation.
"No, fine, man. You sit, all of you sit in your comfy chairs. Do nothing. I'm gonna see what I can do. Make something happen, even if I have to do it by myself," JJ yelled, annoyance lacing every second of his spoken tone.
"Okay," Kiara said with a shrug.
"Should we be worried?" Pope asked once the blond had stormed down the steps.
"Yes, for sure," Atticus sighed. "I'll go."
"Wait, wait-"
"I'll be fine." He looked down at her, "I promise." He kissed her on the lips, staying there, bathing in it, for just a moment, before he took off after their blond friend.
"God, I knew it was gonna happen, but it still made me want to throw up," Pope retched, Kiara laughing from beside him. Renna rolled her eyes before looking through the window.
"Bye, Cam!" She waved, the blonde waving back, before she turned back to her friends standing across from her. "I'm gonna go talk to my mum, see if she can lend me some money for a lawyer or something."
"Aren't you already in court right now? You know, for the divorce and everything," Pope reasoned sceptically.
"Yeah, I guess, but like- she'll have the money, I'm sure of it," she reassured them, wide eyes flicking between the two with a smile. "I'll see you later."
She walked home, and by the time she got there, she was drenched. She walked in the front door, being greeted by Cameron and Blake almost immediately as her dripping clothes and skin watered the floor.
"Renna!" Cameron shouted, running over to the girl. She went to wrap her arms around her, but grimaced and backed away once seeing the water. "Gross."
"I'll get you a towel," her brother said quickly before rushing down the hall, opening the linen cupboard to get the girl a towel. He ran back towards her, wrapping the towel around her shivering shoulders. "Are you okay? Where did you go?"
"Did you see the news?" She shivered, unintentionally ignoring his question, because she wasn't okay. Anyone could see it.
Her brother gulped but nodded. Cameron looked between the two, brows drawing together sadly. "Your friend got caught, didn't he?" Renna looked down at the girl, forcing a smile before nodding. She frowned before wrapping her arms around the older girl - the part of her covered in a towel. Renna wrapped her arms in the towel around her too, burying her head in the top of the younger girl's hair.
"I'm sorry, Ren. I know he just got back," Blake muttered. She looked up at him, a small smile gracing her tired lips.
"Thanks, Lake."
Parker ran down the stairs, a pair of headphones hanging from his neck. "Oh, Renna! You're back!" He cheered, running down the stairs. She smiled, watching as Cameron pulled away only for Parker to take her spot.
"Since when do you have headphones?" She asked, voice quiet and strained.
"Uh, since forever," he grinned, pulling away.
"Sony? I'll be taking them one day," she mumbled through a pulling smile as she looked at the edge of them. He frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Cameron answered for her as her eyes flicked up from the headphones to meet his own - frozen. "Her friend, the one on the run, was sent to jail today," Cameron mumbled, Parker's eyes widening as he looked back at her.
"Really? I'm- I'm sorry," he stuttered, his lips morphing into a downward curve.
"It's okay, buddy. Not your fault," Renna dismissed with a wave of her hand.
There was a knock on the door, the booming sound floating throughout the ground floor of the Lewis house, as the twins flinched back. Blake furrowed his brows, him and his sister staring at the door with confusion. "There's a doorbell for a reason," he mumbled, which made Renna think. Only one person ever knocked on the door.
"Wait, Blake, don't open it! Lock it," she said quickly, rushing forward as he turned around with squinted eyes.
"What?" She flicked the lock herself, just as someone had tried to turn the handle.
"Mum!" She shouted, desperation present in her tone. Blake peered through the stained glass window at the side to look outside. He immediately widened his eyes before looking at the girl.
"How did you know it was him?"
"He's the only one who knocks," she said without looking at him, rushing towards the two kids. "You two need to-" She was cut off by the sound of a key pushing into a lock, twisting it. She flung around with wide eyes, seeing Blake holding the same expression as he backed away from the door. It flung open, everyone jumping back just a step as the Larson man stepped through the open doorway, a grimace on his face.
The door banged against the wall, rattling the window as it nearly shattered. "What do you think you're doing here?" Blake asked, putting on his deep voice as he stepped closer to the man. He smirked.
"I have a key, don't I. It's still my house." Renna shifted forward, pushing the two kids behind her with her arms. Richard scoffed, moving away from his son to stalk towards his daughter. "Who are they?" He nodded his head towards the children.
"It doesn't matt-"
"It does matter!" He boomed. Cameron shuddered, reaching out to hold her brother's hand behind their half-sister. He tried to step closer, but Renna stepped up and placed a hand on his chest.
"Not a step closer," she whispered, voice strong, as shook her head. He scowled, his fingers curling into a fist by his side, until someone pulled on the back of his shoulder.
"Look, dad, I think you shou-" but Blake never got to finish, because their father had spun around and punched him in the face, sending him flying across the floor. He groaned, as the two children screamed, hands flying to their open mouths.
"Jesus ch- You son of a bitch!" Renna yelled, pushing the man back by the shoulders before her eyes flickered over to the boy bleeding from his nose on the ground. Two people ran down the steps loudly.
"What was that?" Ivelle asked, until her and Victor landed on the tiled floor and took in the strange scene around them.
"What's going on here?" Victor asked as he walked forward, a scowl on his face as he placed himself in front of Renna. She turned around quickly.
"Go up to your room," she told the kids, who immediately nodded and ran up the steps with connected hands. As soon as they were gone, she rushed over to aid her brother.
"Who do you think you are?" Richard asked with raised brows, finding amusement in a situation lacking it.
"I'm Victor, and you're Dick, now get out of this house," he seethed, two fingers pressed against the man's chest.
"Are you okay, Lake?" Renna asked as she fell to the floor beside him, helping him sit up as he brushed his fingers beneath his nose.
"Yeah, fine . . . just a friendly old punch from my dad," he laughed dryly, looking down at the blood on his fingers. He bit his lip, staring off, before he was crying. "God, why? Why does he do this?" He cried, bringing his knees into his chest as his hands held his temples. Renna frowned, looking across at her bleeding brother. She knew exactly how it felt, exactly, because she'd been there just weeks before.
She shook her head, her own tears coming to her eyes, before she pulled him into a hug. They stayed on the floor pressed against the wall - the siblings with a messed up dad, messed up family, and messed up life, as they tried to hold each other together. They ignored the fighting behind them as they focused on themselves and the water travelling down their face. They would be okay, is what she told herself, but she was far from it.