EPHEMERAL.

[ 09. CHAPTER NINE : EVEN WHEN SHE WAS DEAD, SHE WAS STILL BITCHING AT ME : ❝trust breeds trust. you have to give it to get it.❞ ]

♀♀♀♀♀

"Honestly, guys, this is a tough one to talk about. I mean, I've covered some terrible things, but last night, I felt it. The hunt for Tyler O'Neill ended in tragedy and another Lakewood teen lost her life. Another was close to losing hers. And the press will be hyping the curse of Brandon James and looking for someone to blame, but I've met these kids. Their loss is impossible to describe. So I'm not gonna try. My heartfelt condolences go to the friends and family of Riley Marra. I'm so sorry for your loss. And to Mallory Thompson, I wish you all the best in your recovery."

Mallory couldn't help laughing through her tears when Piper mentioned her name. The podcast had only just been uploaded and she wanted to hear what the author had to say. She was touched by the considerate message, although she had broken down into tears when Riley's name came up. It had been less than twelve hours since she had felt her best friend die next to her and she wasn't taking it well.

Her chest was still tight with loss and grief as she sat in her hospital bed, the sheets bunched up around her waist. She had to stay positioned on her side because of the wound in her ass. When the doctor had told her about it, she had laughed then too. What a stupid place to get stabbed, and of course it had happened to her.

Noah was sat on a chair only a few feet away from her bed, breathing lightly as he slept. She didn't want to disturb him since he had looked so exhausted when he turned up in the middle of the night to see how she was. Of course she wasn't okay in the slightest, but she felt better when he was with her.

A knock on the door pulled Mallory out of her thoughts and she turned towards the sound, eyes locking onto the figures of Emma and Brooke. She smiled softly, reaching up and wiping away the tears from her face.

"Hey guys." She greeted, shifting her body so that she was facing them and not putting any pressure onto her wounds.

As she looked closer, she could tell that both of them had been crying. She didn't blame them; a member of their circle was dead. The nicest and sweetest, yet brutally murdered and left to die in the cold. It was horrible the way she had gone and they were all harboring anger and rage over the situation.

"Mallory." Brooke spoke first, walking over to the girl and gathering her into a hug. Mallory hissed at the contact with her shoulder wound which made Brooke retract. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you."

"It's awful." Emma added, joining Brooke at the bedside. "I found you. Noah called and he was screaming, telling me to go to the police station. He was completely hysterical, said you were dying. I thought it was a joke at first, thought you were safe there." She sucked in a breath through her mouth, having to pause to stop herself from breaking down. "I was so wrong."

Mallory sniffled, glancing at the sleeping boy and then back to her best friends. "I miss her already. It's not even been twelve hours and I just want her here. I want to hug her and laugh with her and..." She had to stop too. She was going to get worked up if she continued to speak too fast. "I want her back so bad."

Emma looked down at Mallory's body, noticing the slight red tint where the gown rested against her shoulder. "How are you holding up? You lost a lot of blood on that rooftop. I mean-- it looked like a lot. You looked dead, Mallory. You almost were."

She sighed, gnawing on her lip as she began to feel the dull ache in her wounds again. The pain in her chest had distracted her from the stitches, the antiseptic, the gauze. But when Emma had mentioned them again, the pain came back and she looked to the two girls. "I mean, I got viciously stabbed in my shoulder and ass--" She paused when she heard Brooke snort, and she couldn't help but laugh breathily at saying it loud. "It's so stupid. Out of all the places he could've aimed, it had to be there." She sighed again, releasing her lip from the harsh grip of her teeth. "I'm surviving, Emma. The doctors have been really great, Noah's been here all night, keeping me company. I nearly fainted when Piper mentioned my name on her podcast. I mean, it's hard but I'm alive. That's something."

Brooke furrowed her eyebrows, looking over at Noah, who was still curled up in the chair sleeping, before looking back to Mallory. "All night? He hasn't gone home once?" She scrunched her face up further in confusion. "I thought it was just a little crush. Damn Mal, you have a keeper."

Mallory snorted this time, smiling lightly at the blonde. "I like him a lot, Brooke. He's been here, he's gotten me snacks and books, he held my hand, he let me cry onto his shoulder for nearly two hours." She licked her lips, wondering if he was pretending to be sleeping so he could eavesdrop, or if he was really still sleeping. "I called him when I was on the roof. No offence to you two, you're my favorites, but I think his was the face I wanted to see before I died. I mean -- if I died. It was probably cruel to put him through that but he was all I could think about. I didn't want to go without saying goodbye to him."

Emma was stunned by Mallory's words. She looked at her friend and just knew that she had found someone to live for. In the middle of this murder spree, Emma knew that Mallory would throw herself in front of a knife for Noah, even if it meant that she would die for him.

"Wow, Mal." Brooke was also in shock as she stared at her friend. "That's pretty deep."

After only a second of silence, there was a pinging sound from Emma's phone. Retrieving it, she looked at the screen to see her reminder for the speech that would be given at their school from Mayor Maddox and Sheriff Hudson. She nudged Brooke and the blonde also read it, rolling her eyes at it before nodding.

"We've got to go, Mal." Emma sighed. "There's some speech at school all about what happened last night. We're going to attend just to see what they say about Tyler."

Mallory inhaled deeply, nodding at her friends. "Tell me what they say. I want to know if it was really him that did this to me, to our friends. Whatever they say is what makes me decide whether to spit on his grave or not."

Brooke laughed at her friend's ruthlessness. If it was Tyler, she knew that Mallory would stop at nothing to put him down for what he'd done. If it wasn't him, Mallory still wouldn't stop. She was determined and ruthless; she wouldn't stop before the killer was dead or imprisoned. Brooke knew that Mallory would prefer him dead.

"We'll see you later, sweetie." Brooke leaned over and kissed Mallory's forehead, Emma doing the same. They waved her goodbye as they left the room.

Mallory sighed once again at the silence in the room before smiling to herself. "I know you're not asleep, Noah." When she turned her head towards him, his eyes were open, looking at her, and he was smiling widely.

She couldn't help but smile back.

♀♀♀♀♀

i have nothing to say but that i'm ashamed of myself for taking so long to write this chapter. it has been nearly 2 and a half years since an update and i'm just deeply ashamed that i'm this terrible. i want to say sorry to everyone that you've had to wait this long in anticipation and that it wasn't an up-to-standard chapter for everyone. it's pretty short (about 1200 words) and is only one scene. i wanted to write the entire episode but it'd take me even longer to try that and i didn't want to end up leaving it at 3 years for an update. i'm not going to promise anything but i am going to try and update sooner with the actual episode (which shouldn't be too hard as there's not that much to write for). i also want to say merry christmas to all my lovely readers and i hope you all have/had a fantastic day!!