effy’s left upon the ground as cook forces himself back to his feet, her eyes falling to her hands stained with the blood that coated the hand she had just grasped. her own were SHAKING from the overwhelming amount of emotions being poured onto her all at once, and there’s a soft sob that elicits from parted lips the longer she stares at the crimson tainting her small hands. she would’ve FLINCHED at the collision of cook’s knuckles and the wall if she wasn’t so focused on the BLOOD. a mixture of cook’s and the man he had murdered. the man who had murdered freddie. there’s an aching in her chest that’s almost TOO MUCH to bear, her head shaking rapidly in FULL DENIAL of the situation at hand. freddie couldn’t be gone. not yet. SHE NEEDED HIM. she loved him. SHE FUCKING LOVED HIM. ❝ you’re lying. ❞ words remain soft and broken as they leave her, glossy eyes lifting to view the male who stands. she suddenly looks just as bad off as he is — tears streaming down ivory cheeks and collecting at her jaw, dripping down to seep into the fabric of her shirt, reddened eyes, and denial burning just as bright as her blue eyes.
❝ you’re lying. WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU LYING TO ME? ❞ she’s on her feet and allowing palms to clash into cook’s chest, giving him the hardest push backward she can muster up. another sob elicits from the brunette and she’s caving into herself, mouth and nose being buried into her shirtsleeve to muffle whatever else may leave her. ( i’ll break your heart / MAYBE I’LL BREAK YOURS. ) the words spoken with the smile accompanying them resurfaces within her mind and her eyes squeeze shut once more, the aching within her chest growing by the second. HE HAD BEEN RIGHT AFTER ALL. she’s snapped back into reality at the feel of cook taking hold of her hands, eyes snapping back open to lock with his own as she sniffles. brows furrow and her head feels as if it’s about to explode at any given moment from the amount of information being thrown at her. foster killed freddie / police questioning / cook needed to leave / SHE NEEDED TO LEAVE. it was all too much. too fucking much. how… how the fuck could this be REAL? guilt pools within her stomach before consuming every part of her, her head shaking once more to deny the confession. ❝ no… no… he couldn’t have. he wouldn’t have — he wouldn’t have done that. ❞ her voice is as weak and small as she feels, the tears finally coming to a stop. she isn’t sure there’s much else she can let out. she had known that foster had never really been helping her, NOT REALLY. he had only forced her to push people away and lose herself a little more, but how could she not have noticed what was truly happening there? maybe she could’ve stopped this if she had.
she’s got no time to linger in what could’ve happened, or how FUCKING INSANE this all sounded. ( if this is another play on reality, it’ll all be over soon anyway. OR SO SHE HOPES. ) fingers grasp tightly onto cook’s hands and she looks at him with widened blue eyes, a plea evident within. ❝ don’t leave me. ❞ she starts, her tight grip upon the male unwavering. ❝ PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME. let me — let me come with you. ❞ effy’s unsure if she could manage all of that on her own, she had HARDLY even taken in every word he had spoken. she knew she had been shit to cook in the past. she had USED him in every way possible, but she needed him now. MORE THAN SHE EVER HAD. ❝ please, cook. i can’t — i can’t do that on my own. PLEASE. ❞
body is quaking as mind is cast back continuously to what he had just done, what he had made happen through the flurry of overwhelming emotions. he had struck a man with his bare hands until there was nothing left and with every moment that passes as snippets of the memory replay within his mind, his skin crawls. the worst thing about it is that he gained nothing from the act, in fact when it happened, he acted purely on instinct due to the red mist that had descended over his vision and judgement leaving him purely animalistic due to the fury that bubbled within every single particle in his body. every atom was somewhat infected with anger. he knows he has to run, of course he does, but he couldn’t have left without telling her, god she deserved to know that he didn’t desert her. chest feels as though it’s going to cave in, erratic breathing spilling from chapped lips as he tries desperately to regulate it. FREDDIE WASN’T COMING BACK. and he had killed foster. what did it gain him other than justice for his friend ? he knows deep down that his best friend, his BROTHER wouldn’t have wanted him to land himself deeper in the shit but he also knew that freds wouldn’t have wanted him to let that waste of oxygen come after eff. over cook’s dead body. there was an indescribable emptiness that could only be likened to an endless darkness consuming him which causes him to hit out at the wall with blood stained fists --- hoping to feel something, maybe an attempt to remember that he’s human, that he does have emotions other than this, but there’s nothing. no pain. he’s stuck in a mix of emotions he can’t decipher, he wants to fucking bawl his eyes out because he has nothing now. ( YOU’VE GOT ME ! ) mind replays memories of the two of them, his father’s boat and him crying over effy, it feels so long ago but he had been there for him --- now there was nothing. he felt sick to his stomach. the nothing was taking over and he couldn’t find his way again.
oceanic orbs scan up to meet the ones mirroring him as her words come out accusatory, and he lets her hit at his chest, knowing that this was what she needed. she needed to get the disbelief out of her system. he remembers the stages of grief so well, like a fucking mantra that freddie himself had recited after the loss of his mother when they were younger --- it had all sounded like bullshit then but it clicked more into place now, making the most sense of all and he finally saw it. how hard it had been for the male when she left them. because he had lost someone vital to his life. cook’s parents didn’t give a fuck, all he had, had was freddie and now he had no one. effy was there but he couldn’t stay, even if his heart was begging him to cling to that fragment of familiarity, to find himself and his heart a new home. he couldn’t drag her into that shit. hands lock on her wrists, stopping her striking him, tears have collected, blurring his vision as he stares down at her. pulling her into his arms, he held her tight, words falling from his lips. ‘ eff, i’m not. i fucking swear to you, i wouldn’t do that. he was fucking everything to me. you gotta know that. you gotta ... he was all i had. ’ he mumbles into her hair, head rested against hers. comfort coming in small waves from knowing she was safe from that psychotic prick. a burn pulls at his chest, and he has to take a ragged breath to try and somewhat keep calm because the man had been dealt with. pulling back a few moments later, eyes scan the shed and he feels a wave of nausea once more --- memories resurfacing from the years of friendship, the shed being the base they’d had. he swallows hard. he can’t let this get the better of him. things need to be done. the disbelief effy had makes his heart feel like it’s shattering to a million pieces, and he knows instantly she’ll blame herself. ‘ what happened isn’t important now, babe. you’ve gotta leave okay ? they’ll link you with foster and you’ll be a suspect because of it all. because of what he did to freds. ’ pausing, hand reaches to take hers and he gives it a squeeze. ‘ i know it’s hard to believe. but he did it, i fucking swear, he had this obsession with you. he was going to kill me too. but i couldn’t let him come for you either, freds would never have fucking forgiven me. and besides, he didn’t deserve to get away with what he’s done. ’
as her hands grasp his, he sees the desperation lingering with her eyes and he feels his heart ache, and for a moment he’s considering it, he felt so fucking alone. maybe, maybe her being with him meant he could keep an eye on her, he could keep her safe. but he doesn’t wanna drag her down with his shit. he’d already done so much. he’d killed someone, his blood will be found at the residence and then she’ll be convicted of being an accomplice. he didn’t want his shit to ruin her life. ‘ eff ... ’ he sighs, worry filling his gaze, a sigh leaving his lips. ‘ you’re gonna get caught up in all this shit if you come with me. i don’t want you to get hurt or in trouble because of what i’ve done. ’ as he’s gazing at her, he can see how adamant she is by the clear need blatant on her features, she needs him --- he can hear freddie disapprovingly telling him to man the fuck up and be there for her, and that leads the next words to fall from his lips as he pulls her back into his arms. ‘ i won’t leave you. i promise babes. but you gotta be sure you wanna come with me. this is dangerous shit. you need to know what you’re getting into. they’ll think you helped me if i get caught, i can’t bare the thought that i’ll be ruining your life eff. ’