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They both look down at his body.
Sam’s mind flashes back to those moments trapped on the ground, the agonizing minutes she thought she was going to die today, and she sucks in a sharp breath, “You saved my life today.” She can’t help but let her words betray her fears, “The least I can do is offer you a few corny jokes to lighten the mood.”
Returning her gaze to the corpse, Raven speaks her absolute truth, “I’m glad he’s dead.”
Sam pictures the marks on Emily’s body, re-feels the blows to her own body, remembers the evil spark of joy in his eyes, “Me too.”
Basking in their shared moment, the two are sharply ripped back into the moment at the sound of crunching gravel at the end of the driveway. An unfamiliar vehicle is slowly driving towards them and they scramble to cover the evidence of Raven’s crime staring up at them with dead eyes.
Emily flings her door open and bails from the car before it has even come to a complete stop. She has seen Sam’s face and knows he made his way to her when he couldn’t get in her bedroom window. Guilt swallows her up and her heart aches knowing she brought him into their lives. She races to Sam and crushes her in an embrace meant to show her the immense love Emily feels for her. She wants to plead for forgiveness and confess how deeply sorry she is, but Sam feels so stiff and tense that Emily knows in her soul that her words will never be enough. She can’t blame Sam either, she would be angry herself, but none of it will stop her from squeezing her friend so tight.
Leaning back and taking Sam’s battered face in her hands, Emily begs, “Please forgive me. I am so sorry I let this happen to you.”
Sam’s tense stare softens, “Oh, good grief, Em. This is not your fault. At all. He’s just a dick.”
“I’ll second that,” Callie says as she approaches the group.
The apprehension is now so thick you could cut it in two with the proper farm implement. Emily wants desperately to make it all better and be sure that they all embrace Callie for the wonderful friend she is, “Callie came to my rescue today.”
Raven smiles nervously, “I knew she would.”
Callie’s cheeks flash red and both girls glance down at the ground. Sam and Emily exchange a glance…
Sensing the scrutiny, Callie scrambles to fill the silence, “I wish I had realized you would be on his list too, Sam. I would have come for you, too.”
Emily’s concern churns in her gut again and she gently places her hands back on Sam’s swollen cheeks, “I just am so sorry I brought him into your life. I feel completely responsible.”
Callie cuts her off in anger, “I just wish he would push the wrong person around for once and finally get himself killed.” The entire group goes silent while Sam and Raven share a wide-eyed stare. Callie continues, looking self-conscious now, “I just think he’ll never stop and the world would be better off.” She shrugs off the silence.
Finally, Raven bursts into uncontrollable giggles. Sam quickly joins her and the pair struggles to find words. Eventually, Raven manages, “It seems that’s a pretty common sentiment today,” before cackling some more over the sheer absurdity of the situation.
The others smile at one another knowing they’re in agreement. He isn’t worth the space he takes up in this world.
Raven’s radiant face looks up and locks eyes with Callie’s. The spark between them is visible even to onlookers and Emily feels warm inside seeing the way they gaze at each other. At least something positive could come from this horrific day. She smiles as she speaks, “You two would be a really cu-”
Callie cuts her off mid-sentence, “Uh… I don’t mean to interrupt and I know this is going to sound supremely weird… but Sam, I think your truck is bleeding.”
Emily gazes down to see drops of deep red splatter on her clean, white chucks. She gasps and stares up at Sam and Raven whose faces are now terrified and as pale as Emily’s shoes.
Callie gazes at the growing red puddle at Emily’s feet, tracking its origins to the truck bed covered in a thick blue tarp. Upon further inspection, that tarp appears to be draped just right to conceal another person hiding away under there. Without even thinking, Callie reaches for the tarp. Sam jumps to stop her, but Raven reaches out and stops the protest. With a nod in Callie’s direction, Raven gives her permission.
“Sam, just let it happen. It’s all on me anyway,” Raven says, holding panicked Sam’s hand in hers now.
Sam’s eyes look on the verge of tears and her breathing is quick and harsh. She gazes at Raven for a long moment before throwing her hands in the air and pacing away, “Willow is going to fucking kill us.”
Raven nods to Callie again and moves to help her pull back the giant tarp. The two hold eye contact as they reveal the contents of the truck bed. Callie looks down and sees him lying there; white, bloodless, and cold. She sucks in a harsh breath, but can’t look away. Emily screams then and covers her eyes to avoid the corpse. Callie, though, can’t tear her eyes from his lifeless form. She does not scream or wail or speak.
Trembling voice, Emily asks, “Is he… dead?”
Callie doesn’t need to hear a response. She can see he is clearly long gone.
Raven begins talking and the anxiety in her voice is rising with every word, “I walked in on him beating up Sam. He was on her and she wasn’t moving. I didn’t even think. I just acted. All I could think about was stopping him. I should have done something else, anything else. I just didn’t have time to think.”
Something in Raven’s voice brings Callie back to reality. She turns to Raven and wraps her in an intense embrace, “Don’t you ever feel bad about this. He did everything to deserve it. The things he does, did, to people… He was a terrible, evil person.” Leaning out of the embrace to cradle sweet Raven’s face in her hands, Callie continues, “He has stolen things from people that they can never get back or replace. You, beautiful girl, have just done the whole world a favor.”
Callie wants desperately to kiss this girl, this hero. She has to draw on all the self-control in her body not to because this is one hundred percent not the time or place. She hugs her again instead and tries to somehow transfer her own joy into Raven through touch. She wants Raven to feel the ecstasy of freedom she has just been given. She wants her to feel how fully she means it when she says this is a good thing, a positive contribution to society. Basking in her complete joy, she squeezes Raven even tighter as she hears another voice enter the conversation.
Willow says, “I found you a half-empty bag of peas. It’s all I could find in the-” before coming to a dead halt, staring blankly at her sister in Callie’s embrace. Her eyes dart back and forth between Callie and the exposed corpse, “It’s not… uh… what it looks like…”
