Chapter 3: Awake
Remy sat in bed staring up at the ceiling, still unconvinced that he actually saw what he thinks he did that night. He looks at his phone. It's 12:15. He hasn't gotten any sleep yet, and he doesn't think he ever will again. He glances at the table next to his bed. On it is another phone. Landon's.
When Landon had finally risen after... the incident, he started to head back to his car, heading in the exact direction where Remy was. Remy quickly hid behind the tree, but he was so dazed that he wasn't really focused on Landon or when he was passing. Each second felt like an hour, and maybe that was the reason why he prematurely stepped away from the tree, right into Landon's path.
Landon walked right into him, and though Remy was about half a foot shorter, he fell.
Or was about to fall. Remy grabbed his hand and caught him, and with the light of the moon, which seemed all too bright at the moment, they were able to see each other's faces and the wild look that rested in each of their eyes. They both froze for a second, just staring at each other in fear.
Then Landon ran off as fast as he could.
Remy was about to do the same when his foot nudged something on the ground. Landon had dropped his phone when he was about to fall, and here it was now. Remy took about two seconds in deciding whether or not to pick it up, but he decided that it would be evidence, and despite not knowing Landon, he didn't want him to get caught.
He was about to pick it up when the screen glowed with a notification.
How are you? Having fun?
It was Renee. Remy wasn't sure why she was asking such a casual question, then realized it would be suspicious for her to send concerned texts the night of her rapist's death. Remy's heart sunk, knowing what that creep did to her. He believes that murder is never right, or at least he did until tonight. That guy had it coming, and even Remy, who had lived a mostly sheltered life, knew that. He believed that people were mostly good, deep down, but after what he saw, he's not so sure anymore.
In seeing Renee's message, he also noticed the time. 9:30. How had it only been an hour? Remy felt like he'd been in these woods an eternity.
Unfortunately, the time wasn't the only thing he noticed. From the light of the phone, Remy could see something dark staining his hand, the one that caught Landon's and stopped him from falling. It was blood.
When he got back to the house, he went to his bathroom. His reflection in the mirror didn't look like him. His hazel eyes looked panicked, and his dyed black hair was a mess from the amount of times he'd run his fingers through it. He washed his hands, the pink water reminding him of the stranger's body floating down the river. He was lost in thought thinking about him, and when he came back to the present, the water was clear again. Even though there was no blood left, he still felt like it was all over him, in his hair, on his clothes, permanently stained into his skin. He took a shower, somehow feeling better, almost clean, afterwards.
When he stepped back into his room, there was a new message from Renee:
Did u get home from the festival ok???
Pls answer as soon as u get this. I'm worried
Remy felt a strange urge to reply, hating that she was worried for no reason -- well, almost no reason. He wanted to tell her that Landon was fine and that everything was relatively okay.
But he didn't know Landon's password and couldn't get into the phone to reply.
He tried a few of the standard passwords like 0-0-0-0 and 1-2-3-4 until he got locked out, but obviously, it wasn't that simple.
Now, hours later, he was still awake. He couldn't stop thinking about Landon's face, how broken he appeared when he looked into his eyes. He looked devastated and all-around exhausted.
Remy had never seen a look quite that heartbreaking in all his life. It made him want to do everything he could to make him feel better. But he couldn't. He didn't know how to find him or contact him. If he could just get into his phone, maybe he'd be able to do something. But for now, he's just stuck lying on his bed, reliving the horrors of that night, over and over and over...
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