"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time."

— Laurie Halse Anderson

/ / l o u i s / /

"Louis?"

I don't turn around. I would recognize her voice even if I was miles away from her. I rub the back of my neck and bite my bottom lip. A part of me was hoping she wouldn't be here. I mean, why is she here? This is where Joe was killed by Harry.  I wouldn't even want to come back here. The other part of me is glad that she's here, though. I missed hearing her voice and her saying my name makes me want to hug her and never let go.

"Louis, is that you?"

Slowly, I turn around and look at her. My eyes widen and I automatically regret coming here. Evelyn's face is red and her eyes are puffy. There's something wrapped around her neck and I don't have a clue as to what it is called. Her hair is barely to her shoulders and I raise my eyebrows. What made her want to cut her hair?

"Evelyn, who's at the door?"

She's pushed away from the doorway and a much older woman approaches. She first looks at Zayn and she looks him up and down with disgust. Zayn smiles at her and waves. Of course, she doesn't wave back at him or smile. She just shakes her head and looks at me. As soon as her eyes land on me, her jaw drops and she looks frightened.

She screams, "It's you!"

"Huh?" I'm confused.

"You're supposed to be in jail!" she shrieks and Evelyn peeks through the doorway to look at me. She looks at the woman with concern and places a hand on her shoulder. "I had you put in jail!"

"Mother," Evelyn says through gritted teeth.

I look back at the woman and try my best to examine her. I see where Evelyn gets her looks from. She looks exactly like her mother. Twins, really. I clear my throat, "I'm no longer in jail, ma'am, as you can gladly see."

"Gladly?" she laughs a humorless laugh. "I'm not glad to see you! If anything, I'd be glad to see you dead!" I take a step back and try not to let her know that hurt my feelings. I suppose I deserve what she is throwing at me. "You deserve to be locked away in jail and you deserve to rot in Hell for what you've done! You've caused nothing but pain for my daughter. Look at her! She's in pain!" I look down at the ground instead.

"I would never hurt Evelyn," I whisper.

"Then why was she put in the hospital?"

"Yes, I'll admit it. It was my fault Evelyn was put in the hospital."

"No," Evelyn makes her way back into the conversation and Zayn bites his nails. "It was my fault. I should have listened to you. I was being too stubborn and if I had listened to you, we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

"I'm going to count to three," her mother tells me. "And when I get to three, I want you gone. If you're not gone, I'm going to call the police."

"Please," Evelyn shakes her head. "You don't need to do that. He went to jail for no reason, Mother. He didn't do anything to me but care for me. You were so quick to jump to conclusions and you sent him to jail!"

I intervene, "But I agreed to go."

"One," her mother begins to count.

"Don't do this," Evelyn begs and rushes out of the apartment. She throws her arms around me and looks back at her mother. "I lo—" She stops and clears her throat. "I care about him."

Her mother shakes her head, "You love him?" Once again, she laughs. "Not too long ago, you were crying about the stupid ring. Now, you're claiming that you love this man who took you away from your home. What ever happened to loving Joe?" Evelyn doesn't respond. "God, you're such a whore. I can't believe I raised a whore!"

"Hey, don't talk to her like that." I snap.

"I'm calling the police," she says and turns around to walk into the apartment.

"Wait," Zayn grabs her wrist and she pushes him off of her. He loses his balance and falls onto the ground. He stays where he his and closes his eyes. Evelyn lets go of me and I approach her mother.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on him." I snarl.

She smiles, "And what are you going to do about it?" I only stare at her. "Oh, yeah. That's right. You can't touch me. If you do, you'll go right back to jail. Come on, Louis. Show me what you've got."

"What is wrong with you?" Evelyn cries out. I look back at her and she's on the ground beside Zayn. She's holding out both of his hands and the palms of them are scratched up and bleeding.

"He deserved it. He shouldn't have grabbed me."

"He was trying to stop you!"

Evelyn's mother brushes passed me and points a finger in her face, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're nothing but a disappointment! God. You make me sick. All you do is embarrass me and I can't take it! You're the worst daughter that a mother could ask for! I'm calling the police." She hurries into the apartment and Evelyn races after her. I walk into the apartment and my stomach turns. I haven't been in here since I found Evelyn and Joe's dead body in the bathroom. It seems like it happened ages ago.

I hear them arguing in the kitchen and I follow the sound. Evelyn's tugging at her short hair and her mother is holding her cellular device. "Please! Just give them some time to get out of here. This isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair," her mother says and begins to dial the three numbers that everyone knows so well. Evelyn lunges at her and tries to get the phone away from her. "Get off of me, Evelyn!"

"Don't do it, Mother!" she screams and reaches out for the phone. Her mother is much taller than her and she is holding the phone high in the air. "If you do this, I'll never forgive you."

"You've said that to me so many times, Evelyn. It's time to grow up!" She pushes Evelyn back and I take a step forward.

If Evelyn gets hurt, I'll have no choice but to jump into this argument. Evelyn catches her balance and she looks on the kitchen counter. She's quick to grab something and I cannot see what she is holding. She runs at her mother and jumps on her. I hear her mother scream out and it sounds like she is in a lot of pain.

"Oh, God," I hear Evelyn say and her voice is shaky. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, dammit!"

I run into the kitchen and see Evelyn sitting on top of her mother. In her right hand is a knife and there's blood on it. My eyes widen and I try to get a closer view. Her mother lays on the floor and her throat is slit. I gag at the sight and Evelyn turns her head to look at me. Her eyes are glossy and her cheeks are already wet. I approach her and slowly take the knife out of her hand. I toss it into the sink and begin to run water over it. 

When I turn back around, Evelyn's hands are gripped tightly on her mother's shoulders and she is screaming, "Wake up! Please, wake up! I didn't mean it! Please!"

I sit down on the floor beside her and when she looks at me, her face is redder than how it was earlier. "We need to go."

"I didn't mean to do it!" she yelps and as the words slip out of her mouth, a rainfall of tears come out of her eyes. "I just...I didn't want her to..."

Her shoulders heave up and down and I pull her close to me. She buries her face into my neck and her sobs are loud and full of pain. I look at her mother's lifeless body and swallow hard. Her eyes are open and so is her mouth. Blood is still coming out of her throat and it covers the floor. We need to get out of here. Someone had to have heard the screaming and they are probably calling it in. Evelyn grabs a fistful of my shirt as she cries and I rub her back.

Zayn comes into the apartment, "Zayn needs to pee." He looks at Evelyn and then looks back at me. "What...What's going on?" His eyes then lock on the dead body and he scratches the back of his neck. "Zayn did not sign up for this."

"Go to the bathroom," I tell him. "We're getting ready to go."

I have to practically shout because Evelyn's sobs are extremely loud. I run my fingers through her hair and kiss the side of her head. I know she didn't mean to do what she did. It was a reaction from when her mother pushed her. If she didn't push Evelyn, she would probably still be alive right now.

"I'm a murderer," she whispers and her body starts shaking. "I...I..." She starts crying all over again and I force her up to her feet. I wipe her cheeks and press my forehead to hers.

"You didn't mean it," I reassure her.

"She's dead," she shakes her head. "My mother is dead!" 

She brings her hands to her face and screams out in pain. I pull her bloody hands away from her face and start getting the blood off of her skin. Some of it smears but it is barely noticeable. It may become noticeable when her face's no longer red, though. The tip of her nose is extremely red.

"Ssh," I say and her bottom lip trembles. "I'm going to get you out of this mess."

"How?" she asks.

"Does your mother have a car?"

"It's outside in the parking lot," she wipes her face and moves her hair behind both of her ears.

"Do you know where the keys are?"

"They should be in...in her purse."

"Where's her purse?"

"In my old bedroom," she replies and looks down at the floor.

"Stay here," I tell her. "I'll go get them. Once Zayn comes out of the bathroom, we're getting out of here."

"What about her?" Evelyn looks at her mother. "We can't just leave her here."

"We can't take her with us," I shake my head. "Her blood will get all over the inside of the car and if we somehow manage to get pulled over by the police, they'll see it."

Evelyn places her hands on her forehead, "O-Okay."

I place my hand on her shoulder and give it a tight squeeze before walking down the hallway to her room. I remember where it is. As I approach it, I can hear Evelyn start crying again. I enter her bedroom and find her mother's purse on her bed. There's also a garbage bag and I look through it to see clothes. I decide to take it with us. Evelyn will need to change her clothes and I cannot help her with that unless we take this bag with us.

I go through the black purse and find the keys. It does not take me long to find them and when I do, I throw the garbage bag over my shoulder. The purse falls off of the bed and the first thing that falls out is a diamond ring. I bend over and pick it up. Is this the ring Evelyn was crying over? I hold onto it and walk down the hallway to the kitchen. Evelyn's no longer standing up where I left her. She is kneeling down beside her mother and she is shaking her head. I stop walking and listen.

"I'm so sorry," she says and rubs her mother's face. "I don't know what came over me. Please, please, forgive me...wherever you are. Maybe you're with Dad? I hope so." She kisses her forehead and stands back up. Her eyes widen when she sees me. "H-How long have you been standing there?"

"I just got here," I lie. "I got the keys and I found this." I hold up the ring and Evelyn gasps. She's quick to take it from me and she slides it onto her ring finger. "What's it for?"

"Thank you," she says, completely ignoring my question. She looks at the garbage bag. "Why do you have my clothes?"

"It would be wise to take them with us."

"Why?" she asks. "You and Zayn don't have any clothes."

"We'll make it work."

"No," she sighs. "Take some of Joe's clothes."

"We can't do that."

"I insist," she says and slaps her forehead. "The door to his room if locked. I completely forgot. I...I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I say. "Did Zayn come out of the bathroom?"

"He's standing outside."

"Let's go."

I let Evelyn walk out of the apartment before me and I stay close behind her. Zayn is standing in the middle of the parking lot and Evelyn leads us to her mother's car. I unlock the doors and toss the garbage bag into the back of the vehicle. Evelyn gets into the passenger's seat and Zayn gets into the back with the clothes. I get in and start the engine.

"We're going on a trip..." Zayn hums. "...in our favorite rocket ship. Soaring through the sky...Little Einsteins..."

"I completely forgot about Blue."

"Who?" I glance over at her for a split second before turning my attention back to the road.

"Joe's dog," she sighs. "He's at my mother's house." Her voice chokes up. "With her...gone...he has no one to take care of him. He'll starve and eventually die."

I shake my head, "No, he won't. Someone will eventually find him. We can't go get him, if that's what you're thinking. We have too much on our plate at the moment." She doesn't say anything and I turn the car to the left, leaving the neighborhood. I don't know where we are going but I keep driving. I will think of a place for us to go soon enough. Zayn continues to hum in the back seat and this motivates me to turn on the radio.

Evelyn turns the volume down and speaks, "I never hated her, you know."

"What?"

"My mother," she explains. "I never hated her. She was always so hard on me and I didn't know why. Then when we found out about me being bipolar, she became even more hard on me. It was a nightmare."

"Do you have your medicine?" I ask her.

"No," she says. "I haven't had a pill since yesterday."

My grip tightens on the wheel. Could that be why she killed her mother? Because she isn't on her medicine? I nibble on the inside of my cheek and hope that isn't the reason. If it is, Evelyn could possibly snap at anything. I have witnessed plenty of people who are bipolar snap when I was put in the mental hospital. It isn't pretty.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Okay."

"Did you mean what you said back there?" I don't look at her. "About you loving me?"

"Now isn't the right time nor place for me to answer that," she says and I nod.

"Zayn loves both of you," Zayn says. "He thinks you're great. Zayn even loves the big, scary man."

"The big, scary man?" Evelyn asks.

"He's talking about Harry, who by the way, got his powers back."

"What?" she shrieks. "When did this happen?"

"Today, actually."

"Fucking hell," she says, her voice shaking. "We just aren't allowed to catch a break, are we?"

"Fucking hell, indeed."

"All right," her tone is calm but I know she is freaking out on the inside. "Where are we going?"

"I was thinking we could go..." my voice trails off.

"...Go where?" she asks.

"My mother's," I say. "I was thinking we could go to my mother's."