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She blinked.
A drop of water from the gutter above dripped onto her nose, dripping onto her lip before she wiped it away with the heel of her palm. She shuffled up a few steps, letting the water drip onto her shoes, slowly drifting her gaze towards him.
He looked different from the last time she saw him a little over a year ago. Dark circles around his eyes, deep scars embedded into the layers of his skin as a reminder of what he had done, now and for years to come, a lack of light in his eyes; he was so different, yet the same.
She swallowed the saliva that had been sitting on her tongue, clearing her throat. She wanted to say something, anything, but she didn't even know what to say anymore. She had rehearsed this exact conversation a million times; over 365 days, she'd been waiting for this, but now, with him next to her, she had nothing to say. Nothing to yell, scream, cry. Just nothing.
"Enid."
So, he filled the gap because she couldn't. After everything she had done and overcome, she couldn't even mutter his name, but here he was after she had almost killed him, speaking because she couldn't. She wasn't going to let him do that to her, not now, not ever.
"I don't know why you're back here, Tyler." She said warily, not surprised by the drop onto her hand - it wasn't from the gutter. With a shaky breath, she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater and continued. "I don't get you. What do you want? Revenge? Or is it Wednesday that you want?"
Tyler just stared at her for a moment, big brown pits digging into the side of her head. She hated it. He hated it, too. He hated what people saw when they looked at him; he was no longer the friendly but awkward barista or the Sheriff's son; he was a monster.
"That's not…" He started, but his words faulted as if he didn't know what to say either.
He stared at her a little longer - she could hear his heart in his chest.
"That's not what I want, I swear."
"Then what do you want, huh?" She pressed, her eyes meeting his. "You turn up here like you didn't murder multiple people. You're messed up; get help."
He scoffed.
He had no right to scoff at Enid of all people; she should be the one doing so. But, she did say anything, just sat there, tired.
"I'm on probation." He looked down at his Converse, an old brown pair he found in the mess of his bedroom. His dad never had the heart to change anything about it. It hurt knowing that his dad thought he was dead and that people thought he was dead and were relieved by it. "I don't want to be like this anymore."
Enid knew what that was like. A heavy feeling fell onto her chest, and a small lingering feeling of sympathy filled her heart.
Tyler and Enid were alike, one in the same. They'd both been shunned, hated on, demonised for things they didn't want to do. He didn't want to transform just as much as she always had wanted to. But she hated him, and deep down, he hated her too.
And they loved Wednesday.
"You're fucked up, Tyler." She moved to her feet, taking a few steps forward, letting the rain dampen her clothes and hair. "I can't believe you did that to her." Enid turned to him, faltering back onto her left leg slightly, getting ready to run at any given moment, she didn't trust him. "She let you in and you betrayed her. Do you know how fucked up that is?"
He looked down somberly, guilt covering his heart like thorns to a rose bush, pricking at his arteries.
"I did like-"
"Save it." She scoffed this time, eyes burning holes into his brown hair, seeping into his brain. "She doesn't need you anymore and I'm not letting you ruin that, you've done enough to her."
She left. She left him on those stone steps with his body and soul and not much else, not that she thought he needed anything else.
He was alive, she was alive, and most importantly, Wednesday was too - all coexisting in the same fucked up world with fucked up opinions on each other.
