It’s Raining On Prom Night ||
Synopsis: Effy and Leo are drawn to the woods as an almost year long cold case is closed. @juliette-palmer
Elizabeth had hung up her cell phone, her voicemail to Cole that danced dangerously close to the truth forgotten on one last gulp of her Mother’s whiskey. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. Maybe she’d just fall into bed and wait for the impending headache to kick in when the sun came up. Maybe she could wait until she felt better. Fuck, that’d take more than a night.
It didn’t matter.
They were almost free. Even if Effy could never get that night out of the back of her mind, at least they’d be gone. Out of Havensdale. They could start again, try and be better even. She really believed they could do it, you know? Effy and Leo might have been fucked up but they did love each other. Hell, they’d married each other. Forever and always, babe. Until death do us part.
Tonight couldn’t be over fast enough. Effy remembered wanting to bail, that undeniable urge to run. She was going to find Leo, to lose her conscience in his skin. They’d managed to survive almost a year now, dodging the consequences of their actions. Of her actions. Effy flinched---the sound of the tires that night, the deafening shatter of glass. The scars that would never heal.
When had she gotten so lost?
No, really... This wasn’t the way to Leo’s. This wasn’t the way to anywhere. When had she left the house?
All Effy could remember was that feeling- that pull, that squeezing hand- to get up, to go. But where had she gone...? Her feet were moving, that much she was aware of but the rest? It was as if she wasn’t in control of her own body. Not like being drunk, not like being high but something else. Something wrong. There was this foreboding chill in the air and as fucked up as it sounded, Effy knew it was just for her. That she was the only one that could feel it.
She felt like she was marching to her death. She felt like someone was walking over her grave.
Where was Lana? Effy felt a pang for her baby sister. Where was she? She should find her. She should tell her how fucking sorry she is for- for everything. For every last thing she ever did. For every single time she wasn’t there for her. Effy had told herself, that night, she had to stick around for Lana. For her sister. If Effy was gone, all Lana would have was Maryse and she was fucking useless on the best of days. That’s why she’d screamed and scratched, why she’d driven the car into a ditch no one would ever pull it out of.
Twigs crunched under Effy’s shoes now and she was vaguely aware of the trees surrounding her now. It felt like walking through fog, as if something else was guiding her. As if someone else was behind the wheel. She fucking hated it.
Effy saw the car first.
Then everything came crashing back into focus, violently, without regard. She barely had time to catch her breath. How did...? She had been so careful. (Had she? Had she?). Every scratch, scrape and broken light on the thing had been burned into her memory but how was it here? How could it be real? Suddenly she couldn’t move, couldn’t command her feet to move. All Effy could do was stare in horror.
“Babe-”
“Effy-”
“ELIZABETH!”
That’s when Effy saw him.
“Leo!” She threw herself forward, suddenly desperate to be with him, to be held. To stop shaking.
It felt like her blood had run cold. When their eyes met, she knew he felt the same. And that other, obvious emotion: terror.
“What the fuck?” she’d wanted to shout it but instead it was a rasp of a whisper.
Was it starting to rain?
The car loomed behind them, crushing them both under its very presence and all it meant. All the horrible secrets it held. All the shame. The death. This was hell... They were in hell...
She watched his lips move, barely hearing the words but the way Leo’s eyes widened said it all. Effy didn’t want to turn around. She wanted to run, she wanted to scream.
This was a dream. This was a nightmare.
Elizabeth turned around-------
“Ju- Juliette?”
