Benjamin raised his head, and when he saw Parker looking behind him, Benjamin turned and Parker heard him gasp.
‘R-Rose? Wh-‘ Benjamin started talking, but Rosalie didn’t let him finish, taking a step closer to the sofa.
‘What did you two do?’ she asked, her voice was so forced and harsh that it almost made Parker jump.
‘I’m so sorry Rose’ Parker said, standing up. He wanted to comfort her, he wanted to do anything but tell her the truth now.
She took a step back, ‘What did you do Ben?’ she asked, all of her focus on her boyfriend who was wearing a very guilty expression, ‘I heard you, you did something to Chris, didn’t you? Before it all happened you two did something, didn’t you?’ He voice broke at the end, a tear falling down her confused and angry face. Parker was somewhat thank-full for the sofa which separated them.
‘Rosalie we didn’t mean for this to happen, I didn’t want you to find out like this’
‘Stop’ Rosalie said harshly, ‘What did you do?’ she asked, walking around the sofa to stand in front of Benjamin who was now standing.
Benjamin sighed, running a hand through his hair.
‘We, uh, we-’
‘Chris was violent’ Parker cut in, stepping forward to stand next to Benjamin.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Chris was violent, towards all of us. He was crazy, he would punch us and do awful things so we were worried about you and about our group’
Rosalie didn’t say anything, just listened.
Benjamin found his voice, ‘We thought that he was going to hurt you, that he was too dangerous. We thought that if we tried to tell you, that you would have just dismissed it because you never saw that side of him’
‘So what did you do Ben?’ she asked, her voice small and she seemed to become vulnerable before their eyes, the harsh angry girl fading slightly into the background.
‘Chris never cheated on you’ At the words Rosalie gasped, but didn’t say anything so Benjamin continued, ‘I told you that so that you would break up with him and he would leave our group alone. But uh, but’
He looked at Parker, who continued for him, ‘When Ben saw Chris at your house after school, we knew that he wasn’t going to go easily so we had another plan. I got photo’s off of Deon’s phone and left them at Chris’s doorstep, hoping that they would cause him to loose trust in you and that he wouldn’t want anything to do with you or our group’
‘What were the pictures Parker?’ Rosalie asked, her eyes filled with unshed tears. She had wrapped her arms around herself, almost like she was trying to hold herself together.
Parker looked down at his feet for a few moments before tentatively lifting his eyes up to meet Rosalie’s, ‘The photos were from Sadie’s party where you were making out with Mark. I changed the date stamp, so the thought that they were only a few weeks old. I-I made him think that you had cheated on him’
The tears fell freely down her cheeks now, ‘J-Just before the cops s-shot him, he said “how dare you h-hurt me, I loved you with all I had and then you-” but then he got s-shot. He wasn’t going to say ‘and then you broke up with me’ he was going to say ‘you cheated on me’ wasn’t he?’
Parker and Benjamin nodded sadly.
When Rosalie spoke next, it had been a few moments and she had managed to gather some of that anger back, but Parker could see through it to the sadness and hurt she was feeling.
‘I have been blaming myself all this time! All this time! And you two didn’t think to even mention this to me!?’
Both Parker and Benjamin opened their mouths to speak but Rosalie put her hand up.
‘I-I need a moment’
Parker watched as Rosalie left the room, going in behind the kitchen where he couldn’t see. Parker placed a hand on Benjamin’s arm as Benjamin stared at the wall guiltily.
‘She shouldn’t have found out like that, overhearing us.’ Benjamin said, his eyes not leaving the wall.
‘I agree, but it’s done now, we’ he took a deep breath, ‘we are just going to have to do what we can to make sure that she’s aright’
Benjamin nodded before turning his sad eyes to Parker, ‘She will never trust me again’
Parker didn’t know what to say, knowing full well that nothing he could say to Benjamin would reassure him enough, so instead he tightened his grip on his friends arm before letting go, turning his eyes to the ground.
After a few agonising minutes, Rosalie finally returned. When she spoke she wasn’t angry or overly upset, she had a calmness to her that was reassuring that she didn’t hate the boys as much as Parker assumed she would.
‘Why didn’t you guys just talk to me?’ she asked, ‘I would have been angry but I don’t blame you for their deaths’
‘You don’t?’ Benjamin asked shyly.
Rosalie’s eyes turned to him in an instant, ‘What you guys did, it was wrong, on so many levels, but if you two weren’t the ones to set him off then something else would have. I-I knew that something was off with him, but I didn’t do anything about it. I don’t want you guys feeling guilty’
‘But you blame yourself Rose, how can we not blame ourselves too?’ Benjamin asked sadly.
She looked down at her feet.
Benjamin’s question and what Rosalie had been saying caused something to click in Parker’s mind.
‘We made mistakes, all of us, and yes our actions didn’t help, but Chris, he’s the one doing all these awful things. Not us. We can’t keep carrying around all this guilt, it’s destroying us. I know that it’s destroying me’
Rosalie nodded, and so did Benjamin.
‘You’re right,’ Rosalie said, ‘I know you two were trying to do the right thing, and even though I am still upset with you both, I don’t blame you for what you two did’ Rosalie said before dropping her eyes to the floor again, those eyes still holding that sadness that made Parker want to wrap her in a hug and protect his friend from the big bad world.
Parker watched as Rosalie looked back up to he and Benjamin, there was still betrayal held in the back of her eyes, but he knew that she understood the guilt they had been carrying around. Parker was now somewhat glad that Rosalie knew, now she could share the burden with them, not having to carry it alone. Parker knew that a part of himself would never forgive himself for his actions, but right then they all needed to stick together and Parker couldn’t afford to be consumed by guilt.
‘I’m so sorry Rosalie’ Benjamin crossed the distance between him and Rosalie, pulling her into a hug. Rosalie’s arms unwrapped themselves from her torso slowly, like she was unsure if she could trust him for a moment, before she firmly pressed her arms around him, pressing her face up against his chest.
‘I’m going to go check on Sadie, I’ll be back.’ Parker mumbled out as he left the room, hoping to give them some privacy.
His shoes were loud against the steps as he walked up the dark staircase, cursing whoever made this place for not putting a light bulb over the steps. Reaching Sadies door, he knocked, but received no answer.
‘Sadie?’ he called out, opening the door slightly.
He entered the room, taking note of the empty sheets, and he walked around the room, not finding the blonde. Turning, he checked all of the other rooms quickly, his heart race increasing with each empty room.
Now he was worried.
Sadie wouldn’t have left the cabin, would she?
He hurried back down the stairs, finding Rosalie and Benjamin sitting on the couch.
‘Where’s Sadie?’ he asked and two pairs of surprised eyes greeted him.
‘What do you mean? She’s upstairs right?’ Benjamin asked, looking at Rosalie.
‘Didn’t she go upstairs after she came down here?’
‘She didn’t come down here,’ Parker said, not having any memory of seeing Sadie since he watched her and Rose come in after discovering the slashed tires.
‘Yes she did. When I went upstairs to check on her, she was coming down here to get Deon’s jacket or something’
‘No I didn’t see her,’ Parker said.
Benjamin then jumped from the sofa going straight for the table before turning fear filled eyes towards Parker and Rosalie. ‘Deon kept his jacket in his car and his keys are missing.’
‘Shit,’ Parker, looking out the cabin window into the darkness.
‘How long ago did you see her?’ Benjamin asked Rosalie.
‘Uh twenty minutes maybe.’
‘Damn it,’ Benjamin cussed before turning to Rosalie and Parker, ‘You two stay here, ok?’
Rosalie barely had time to nod before Benjamin was running, first he ran into the kitchen, emerging only seconds later with a knife and a torch. Benjamin ran past both of them, going straight for the cabin door and running onto the porch. Parker and Rosalie followed him, both of them standing in the light from the cabin door, not daring to venture out into the uncertainty and dangers that lurked in the darkness.
‘Ben! Come back!’ Rosalie screamed, but it was no use.
Benjamin had already been swallowed up by the darkness.
A bit of a shorter chapter today, sorry about that, next one will be back to its usual length. I have just started a new story called 'Faking Normal' and I would be so grateful if you could check it out and tell me what you think :) Much love x