Olivia

Wednesday, July 24th, 9:38pm.

There's a sudden pounding at the front door and I freeze from where I'm sitting on the couch. Emily's dark eyes look soulless in the light of the flickering TV screen as we sit in the tense silence that follows. She had chosen to watch 'Silence of the Lambs' of all things tonight and the images of a potential, gruesome death fill my head as I hesitate.

"It's me," a muffled voice calls from the other side of the door and I recognize it as Elijah's.

With my heart still hammering in my chest, I get up and smooth at my pajamas, thankful that I usually wear a sports bra until I'm ready to go to bed. I open the door to see that he's got a hand braced against the doorframe as he leans uneasily to the side.

"Eli...?"

"I'm sorry," he blurts as he stumbles into the entryway.

"For what?" I ask, puzzled at the statement as I close the door behind him.

"The graduation party."

I stop moving.

I stop breathing.

From her place in the living room, I can hear Emily move as she peeks over the top of the couch, her eyes locking onto mine.

"Eli, I don't know what you're getting at," I protest, even though it feels like someone has squarely sunk a fist into my chest.

"The video-."

"Stop," I snarl and he blinks in surprise at my tone.

Even I'm surprised by my tone as he stares at me.

I take a shaky breath to quell the terror that is pooling in me, but it feels like a dam has burst. I'm nothing but a paper boat in the path of the oncoming flood.

"I don't want to think about that night ever again," I rasp.

"What he did...it was wrong, now the police are trying to pin his disappearance on someone but Livy...," he steps into my line of sight then, his eyes bright, "Olivia, Derrick deserved it."

"Deserved what?"

The cold terror is climbing up my back as the hairs on my arms prickle. He blinks at me for a moment, like he's slow to take in what I'm saying to him.

"I won't blame you if you told me you hurt him, I'll help cover for you," he volunteers and my skin feels icy.

"Eli, I didn't do anything to him, why would you help me if I did?"

It's something that doesn't make sense...he couldn't possibly know everything about that night...

Or could he?

A small part of me wants to ask but I don't.

His face darkens at this, his brows drawing down the same time his mouth does. There's an anger boiling under the surface that I've never seen before as he takes a breath and I tense.

"Derrick screwed me over, if I can help keep him missing...then I wouldn't mind that much at all," he says and a chill darts through my veins, quick and cold.

"Eli-."

There's a knock at the door that interrupts us and I spook at the noise. We freeze, three sets of eyes staring at the door. It was a surprise for Elijah to show up, but for another person to show up unannounced the same night?

"Who...who is it?" I dare to call out and the knocking stops.

"It's Paxon," his familiar voice calls and my shoulders drop from relief.

I rush over to the door and open it before I fall against his chest. His warm arms wrap around me and I can feel his worry as he surveys the entryway.

"What are you doing here?" he asks Elijah, his voice wary.

Eli hesitates at this and I wonder then what his endgame is.

"I'm here to help," Eli replies and I flinch.

"What do you mean?" Paxon asks as I step back to let him into the house.

As he crosses the threshold, I can almost believe that Elijah shrinks away from him as I shut and lock the door behind him. Paxon has never been intimidating to me, but I can see how he would be to others as he towers over us, his dark eyes boring into Eli's.

"I know someone had to have done something to him that night, I want to help keep Derrick missing," Eli offers, though he sounds less sure of himself now.

"Eli, no one did anything to him," Paxon says as he side-eyes me.

"Pax...you don't have to lie to me," Eli pleads.

"I don't understand why you would want Derrick to stay missing...you-, you weren't at the party the whole night," Paxon begins to say, but Eli cuts him off.

"Does it matter?" he interjects.

But it does matter, because he wasn't there the whole night so he can't possibly know about-.

"It does," I whisper, more to myself than anyone else.

Three sets of dark eyes land on me and I'm instantly self conscious of the fact that I'm in my pajamas. I look anywhere but Paxon and Eli, my gaze instead landing on Emily. She looks pale as her eyes peer at me over the top of the couch, the TV screen behind her paused on a gruesome scene that makes me shiver.

"What?" Eli says.

"I said that it does matter...Eli...something happened that night," I begin to say, but Paxon desperately shakes his head at me.

"Livy-," he warns.

"I know, the video," Eli begins but I cut him off.

"No, Elijah, something else happened, something that Derrick did to all of us," I murmur and Paxon steps forward then.

"Livy, you can't tell anyone," he hisses as Eli looks from me to him.

"You want to know why I want to keep Derrick missing?" Eli interrupts, like he hasn't heard us talking at all.

We both pause and he gives us a shaky smile as we look to him. There's something different in his face, like he's devoid of most everything except for this moment he's living in right now.

I know then that I don't want to hear what he's about to say.