They were all sitting around the table in the basement. Except Edmund, who couldn’t seem to sit, as though sitting was too much of a normal action for this crazy night. They had been meaning to get to work—they got the shovels from The Hamlet shed that was never locked. And they found a toolbox with a crowbar that could be used to pry up the floorboards—although it wouldn’t take much prying.
No one was talking. No one was looking at each other—except Amber and Tim. They were having a hushed conversation at the head of the table, sitting as close to each other as if they were lovers. Edmund watched them out of the corner of his eye, and saw that Rachel was watching them too.
The woman hadn’t moved for almost twenty minutes. She was really dead this time. The subject was now going to be how the group could live on. Not Tim, he would be fine—Amber had shown him the way.
But for the rest of them. They all felt it. They all felt bad. And they would make this ruin their lives. They would constantly be haunted by the woman’s bent form, lying there on the road. They didn’t feel any excitement over it—they felt regret. And regret was like a wave eroding a cliff—it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. In saving their own lives, they had also condemned themselves. He needed a fix. He needed some way of convincing the group that they would be absolved of this crime altogether, so they could continue to cover it all up—dot the i’s, cross the t’s—and then they had to go on living without this shadow over them.
He had to find a way for them to see that they could have a life beyond this. That they could still be together. And together was all that mattered. Tim looked around. Everyone was staring at the table. This wasn’t right—they should be alive, more than alive. They had just overstepped a line the majority of humans never would. They, collectively, had killed someone. And that was awful. But also kind of beautiful. They always said their friendship was strong. But now they were bound in ways they could have never hoped. So he stood up, and Amber stood up next to him. “I know what we need to do.”
The rest of them looked at him, expectantly, hopefully. Hoping that he would be able to fix it all. And maybe he could.
Tim smiled, a warm hearty smile that he truly meant, looking into the faces of the people he loved.
“We have to die.”