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"Look at her!" Ethan's loud voice thunders through the darkening room, addressing Lexi several times. "How dare you do this to her?"
Lexi doesn't speak, she just continues to look down, not daring to look either one of us in the eye. Ryan and Noah left the room a few minutes after Lexi walked in, leaving the truth half told. Ethan has been yelling at her ever since, not receiving any response other than silent sighing and nervous glances at the floor and walls.
"Fucking hell!" Ethan yells out in frustration, "What the hell did you gain from this? From this betrayal?"
The room becomes darker with the minute, an orange glow falling on the opposite end of the single window. As it is slowly fading, Ryan and Noah seem to be hastily discussing something somewhere close by in the abandoned pharmacy.
"Fucking answer me!" Ethan yells, my ears piercing with the harshness of it. If his hands weren't tied to a chair like mine, I could imagine them around Lexi's neck, squeezing every answer out of her, perhaps even until her last breath. I'm not sure if I would flinch at that sight or let out a relieved breath. Perhaps I am no better than her.
"Nothing." She murmurs so softly, I'm not sure of I heard her correctly. I might have started imagining things, I think. But she continues. "I get nothing out of it, I, I—" She stammers on, looking up. She nervously glances between Ethan and me, lips trembling as she tries to find excuses.
I can't think straight, I can't speak. I just stare at the stranger in front of me. The one person I was so sure about, the one person I thought was my strength and guidance through it all. She was nothing but a brick tied to my ancle, trying to drown me in my already existent ocean of misery. How did I not see it? Why did I not focus on her more?
"You what?" Ethan spits, no more patience left.
"I didn't know it would come to this." She brings her thumb to her mouth, chewing on her nail. "They said they just wanted to talk and settle family matters. They were supposed to just talk. They were supposed to just talk..." She keeps repeating her final sentence.
"Even you're not that stupid." I manage to choke out, finding strength in the anger caused by the betrayal. "These people are murderers Lexi, did you really think they were planning on having a decent conversation with us? Did you really?"
She doesn't answer, she knows how mental she's sounding. There is no excuse.
It all starts somewhat making sense. Noah asked her to bring me along a few times. I just repeatedly denied because I was either too busy or was simply not in the mood for third wheeling. They tried to get me to go on a double date, but I'm realizing there maybe never was a person they wanted me to see. They were simply trying to lure me in. It would not surprise me at this point.
Or maybe there was another person that would get involved, just to get me fucked up even more. There were always voices behind Lexi whenever we spoke on the phone. She would immediately respond to text messages whenever we were together. My naiveness fooled me into thinking she was just addicted to her phone, busy with her crush on the guy we ran into at school. The guy that was none other than Noah. Meanwhile, she must have been texting everything to them. That's how they were always one step ahead of us.
