𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛 ✔

𝟒𝟖. 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄

A tear fell evaded Cara's defenses as she watched him break down.

"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say.

"Don't be. It's not your fault." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's mine."

She shook her head before kneeling on the floor beside him.

Not this again. He's far too selfless.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I....I didn't want to burden you."

"You're not a burden, Aiden! How many times do I have to tell you? It's been months, Aiden, almost years. And you're still thinking you're at fault.." Cara sighed. "Why do you think these things? It's not your fault. You're not the one who killed her, there was nothing you could do."

"She's a psychopath. I could have stopped her! But I hid. I was fearful, and because of it, Bree's gone."

She sighed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "You could've tried, but you would've been hurt, too. It's in the past. Don't beat yourself up about something you couldn't control. It's only going to hurt you more. Bree would have wanted you to be happy."

"I miss her," he said quietly.

"I know you do. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for pushing you when you had this huge thing going on that I was being insensitive about."

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't yours, either, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now come on, you need to rest."

_*_

Taelyn frowned as she left the office, heading for her and Cara's bedroom. After a few minutes, she had wondered what was taking them so long, but at a second thought, she just decided to stay there, thinking that maybe it wasn't her business.

However, over thirty minutes had passed, and the girl had begun to become worried.

Are they hurt? Did they go out? she thought as she skipped the steps, two by two until she reached the upper floor.

"Cara-" Taelyn's eyes widened at what she saw, but then they softened right after.

Cara and Aiden were sleeping soundly, almost baby-like. The latter had his arm around the former, and it was a soft sight to see.

"I'll just let you.." Taelyn quietly whispered, smiling to herself as she inched back out of the room, closing the door softly.

I'm sleeping on the couch tonight.

After she got back to the office, Taelyn shut the door and took a seat at the computer table, looking back at the article she was looking at previously...

"J-U-S-T-I-C-E."
Written by: Anonymous Kelly

"Justice"...what could it mean? Taelyn thought as she frowned at the screen. There's no other content on this article. Just the title, written like that. Was it for style? Or...

She heaved out a sigh, stumped. After looking at it for another lingering minutes, she shook her head.

I won't get anywhere with this today. Maybe Cara or Aiden will have an idea....

_*_

"Aiden..." the girl whispered softly, a flush rising to her cheeks as she tapped on his shoulder.

"W-what..?" Aiden blinked, his voice groggy as he sat up. "Come on, Tiger, I was just sleeping."

"I can tell," Cara rolled her eyes. "But I was going to ask if you wanted to leave?"

He looked at her, his eyes puppy-like. "You want me to leave? I mean, that's, um, fine, but I just thought-"

"No, no, it's not like that," she shook her head. "I just thought maybe you didn't want to sleep here like this."

"It's fine," he stretched over to look at the time. "It's 2 am? Maybe I should go. If, you know..."

She sighed. That's not what I meant.

But she didn't protest as he threw the cover over and left the room.