Red Herring ✔️

37. Looking for a Way to Get Out

*Sensitive content*

Creeping quietly out the front door, Amelia and Mazie parted ways - Mazie squatting to sit down on the porch steps, Amelia scurrying off to her car - when Christian arrived with his phone clutched in a death grip. Eye on the prize, Christian nearly barreled into Amelia at the bottom of the steps.

"Hi, Christian," Amelia whispered.

Christian steadied her with a hand on her arm when he accidentally bumped into her. "Oh....I'm sorry. I didn't know you had your friend over."

"It's alright. Amelia was just leaving," Mazie assured him.

Amelia smiled at Christian, subversively checking him out as he pivoted stiffly towards Mazie. Before he informed her of the purpose of this sudden meeting, Mazie knew without a doubt that it was something that bothered him deeply.

"Drive safe, Amelia," Christian added to make himself look like less of a jerk for colliding with her.

"Have a good night, you two!" Amelia announced, waving gleefully as she jumped in her little Honda Civic and drove away, beaming a proud smile at Maize. Mazie just shook her head and prayed that Christian didn't notice.

"So listen..." He wasted no time getting to the point. "I wasn't gonna tell you about this, but I have to. I have to tell you," he said in a rush.

She studied him, watching him pace back and forth at the bottom of the porch steps. An icy chill ran down her spine as her adrenaline punched her mind into high alert. "What's wrong?"

Christian stopped for a moment, holding his phone up for her to see though the screen was black. "I got this thing yesterday morning. Someone sent it to me. It's...really bad. I didn't want to tell you because it's so bad."

In the midst of his turmoil, Mazie forced herself to remain calm, to be the eye of the storm. "You can tell me. It's okay."

Christian resumed pacing, his wide steps beating a path into the pavement. "But I want you to be warned that it's bad. I could barely sleep last night. It's disturbing, Mazie."

What could it be? She prepared herself for the worst but she didn't know what that was. To Mazie, their whole predicament already felt like worst case scenario. How could it get any worse? "I believe you. I can handle it."

"And..." Christian ran his fingers through his frazzled hair, sticking up at odd ends, and puffed out hot air from his cheeks. "I feel guilty for even having this. It feels like I know something I shouldn't."

Mazie tried to smile. "Christian, it's okay. There's already lots of things that we know and have done that we shouldn't."

He nodded. "This is different."

Her patience wore thin the longer they discussed something that she couldn't understand. "Will you show me please? That will help us be on the same page."

Stopping abruptly at the foot of the stairs, Christian whipped out a pair of earphones from his jacket pocket and jammed the jack into the bottom of his phone. His speedy movements canvased the fact that his hands were shaking. While he fiddled with his phone, Mazie analyzed his expression - hard stoney features, knitted worried brow, jaw clenched uncomfortably, inflexible rigid lips pressed together firmly, and bright dangerous eyes. Whatever it was, she didn't like how it affected him.

"Put these in," he instructed, holding the earphones out to her.

She hastily shoved the buds in her ears and cupped her bare hands around her ears to block the midnight wind and the earthy sounds of the night. "Okay, I'm ready," she told him.