"If i had to pick anyone in the whole world to be with me when things got bad - I'd pick you!" - Allie

PART TWENTY SEVEN
↳ the secret's out

HARRY AND NELL WALK IN SILENCE to Luke's house. Both lost in their own dark thoughts. The weight of the future continued to crush Penelope, so much so that at time's she genuinely felt a panic attack coming at the thought of everything still to come. She wasn't sure how much longer she could bear to carry this weight on her own. 

She watched Harry inconspicuously from the corner of her eye. He seemed to be doing much better since their talk on Grizz's front porch, but she still didn't feel right about telling him her secret yet. Grizz, she decided, it would have to be Grizz.

They finally reached Luke's front door and it had been left slightly ajar is if someone had rushed through, forgetting to close it behind them. Penelope shrugged in Harry's direction before she pushed the door all the way open and stepped inside. 

"Hello? Luke? Is anyone here?" She called, noting that the house seemed rather empty at first glance. 

"Nell is that you?" That sounded like Grizz's voice. Penelope followed the sound until she reached a door she didn't recognise. She'd only been to Luke's house a handful of times but she had never seen this door. 

Before she could ponder it any longer the door burst open, revealing Grizz's familiar face. Penelope couldn't stop herself from flinching at the sudden reveal. 

"Damn, Grizz. You scared me," she gasped.

Grizz's face remained grave, he didn't so much as smile as he regarded the couple. "Come on, he's down here.

Harry and Nell shared a look before hurrying after Grizz's retreating form. He lead them down into what appeared to be a cellar. Penelope's suspicion was confirmed when they reached the bottom of the stairs. 

The room was separated into two sections by a solid glass wall. Inside the compartment lay what appeared to be a couple hundred bottles of wine and curled into a ball in front fo them, sat Greg Dewey.

"Bro, how come you never told us you had all this wine down here?" Jason demands, with eyes only for the many, many bottles of alcohol.

"This isn't just wine, Jason. This is a collection." Luke drawls in a tone that suggests he disagrees. Nell is sure that his parents forbade him from ever touching anything inside this room. 

"Someone has to make sure that he gets food and water." Allie demands, ignoring the boys banter and getting straight to the business at hand. 

Will nods in agreement and turns to Luke, "Luke, can you bring someone down here? Keep an eye on him?" 

"Yeah, we'll do shifts." Luke agrees. Penelope zones out as she stares through the glass at Dewey's hunched up form. He looked miserable. But was it because he was guilty and had been caught or because he was an innocent boy locked in a cage? Nell desperately wished she knew the truth for certain. 

If there was a next season of this show, and it revealed the killer for sure... Penelope was completely screwed because there was no way she would ever see it. 

Harry's warm hand brushing against her own, brought her back to the present. She offered him a small smile and zoned back into the end of Allie and Will's conversation.

"-what he did to Penelope and Cassandra, he's not getting away with it," Will finished, a determined look about him. 

"Then why don't I feel any better?" Allie sighs, turning to meet Penelope's eyes.

"How do you feel about all of this Penelope? You are the victim here," Allie questioned her gently.

Penelope stepped forward until she was less than a metre away from the glass wall that separated her and her accused attacker. Greg Dewey finally looked up and met her gaze with an unflinching calm about him. 

She could only manage to hold his gaze for a few seconds before the corner of his mouth tilted up in the briefest of smiles and she flinched back a step. Harry caught her before she tripped over her own feet and he didn't say a word when she rushed out of the room, only followed closely behind her.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Penelope leaves Harry with the boys at Luke's house after insisting that she just needs some time to think to herself. He had reluctantly let her go, but pulled her into a tight hug before she left. He seemed to be trying to tell her that he was here for her, and as much as she appreciated the support she needed some time to breathe

The red haired girl wandered aimlessly around town for at least an hour, consumed by her own dark thoughts. The more time she spent alone, the more trapped she felt by her own mind. She was getting bad again, she recognised the signs at least. 

This was exactly how she had felt when her mother died and her father simultaneously fell off the deep end. The longer she walked the empty streets, the more she craved the sweet releases that she used to feed to her body. In more simple terms, she wanted to get high. 

But she wouldn't let herself make those choices again. She could overcome this, she was stronger this time. Her feet led her to Elle's house and as she glanced up from the concrete below her feet she was surprised to see Elle crouched down beside a dog.

Penelope approached, a small smile already upon her face. The dog was very sweet, he reminded her of her own dog back home that she missed so very dearly. 

"Hey Elle, who's this?" Nell crouched beside her friend, immediately reaching out to pet the dog.

"Oh hey, Nell. I don't know, I found him wandering around out here. I think he looks like a Charlie though, don't you think?"

Penelope smiled, her troubles had left her mind for the time being, "Yes, he does."

Both of their phones buzzed with a group message notification and Nell was the first to check hers, "Allie's called a town meeting. Come on, let's go."

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Elle and Penelope walked through the doors of the church together and Nell was so consumed by her own thoughts that she didn't notice Campbell until she felt Elle clench up nervously beside her. 

She followed the blonde girls gaze towards the psychopath sitting beside Harry. Penelope frowned at Harry, wondering why he was sitting beside Campbell but then she remembered that nobody had really been keeping him in the loop. 

Campbell had turned towards the girls and was giving them a knowing smirk which Penelope ignored and quickly steered Elle in the opposite direction. Harry finally looked up and met his girlfriend's gaze from across the room but his smile dropped when he realised she'd seen him but not chosen to sit beside him. 

Penelope brushed his concern off, she could explain herself to him later, right now she was only concerned with Elle. "Just ignore him, okay? He's an arrogant dick."

Elle almost smiled at Nell's comment and did her best to look anywhere but at Campbell. Thankfully it didn't take long for the rest of the crowd to filter in and find their seats. Allie began speaking almost immediately.

"Hey, everyone. Um I just I'll keep it brief. I just wanna give you an update on everything... everything that's happened," she paused briefly and some whispers began throughout the crowd. 

"There was an arrest this morning. Greg Dewey," the crowd grew louder at this, their indistinct chatter almost drowning out Allie's voice.

"We're keeping him in an undisclosed location until we figure out what happened, you know, if there was anyone else involved. We're taking care of him. Making sure he has everything he needs. Cassandra I know she would have wanted that, so..."

From Penelope's side, Elle seemed surprised. The girl often had to remind herself that not everyone was up to date with everything that had been happening, most people didn't even know Dewey was a suspect. 

"Greg Dewey, really? You think that's who shot you?"

Penelope thought back to that moment earlier this morning in Luke's cellar, "Yes, yes I do."

Elle's face falls, worry evident in on her face as she watches her friend. She wants to question her further or at least attempt to make her feel better but is interrupted by Grizz just as she goes to open her mouth.

"Hey Elle, can I borrow Penelope for a minute?" Elle forces a smile, already planning her escape route away from Campbell and nods at Grizz. 

"Of course, I was just leaving anyway. I'll catch you later, Nell."

Penelope barely watches her leave, something dark lingers in her expression. Grizz sits beside her as people begin to filter out of the church. He watched his best friend with concern as she stares into space.

He notices Harry making a move towards them but meets the boys eyes and subtly shakes his head as if to say, 'not now.' Harry hesitates, his gaze lingering on Nell but eventually he sighs and leaves the two friends alone in the church.

"What's going on Nell? You haven't been yourself today? And I know it's not just Dewey, there's something else going on here." Damn Grizz and his fantastic skills of observation. He knew her too well. 

Penelope was silent for a long while as she considered how exactly to approach this subject. After some thought on the matter she decided there wasn't much else she could do but simply tell him the truth. The whole, unbelievable, terrifying truth.

"Well?" Grizz tried again, observing her every facial expression carefully. 

"Do you remember that day on your porch? It was about a week after that girl died from the snake bite and you asked me how I knew it was going to happen."

"Yes, I remember. You said it was a coincidence, that you didn't know." He responded warily.

"Well, I lied. I did know it was going to happen."

"What?" Grizz choked out a laugh, certain that he had heard her wrong.

 "Just like I knew Cassandra was going to be shot, just like I knew it was Dewey that did it and just like I know exactly what's going to happen to everyone in this fucking place," she continued, as if in a trance.

"Penelope what are you talking about? How could you have known any of that was going to happen? And are you saying you can see into the future? I don't understand."

She turned to meet his eyes unflinchingly as she continued, "One day, I woke up on a bus next to a boy that I only knew from a television show. Then as I spent more time in this world, memories started to come to me. Memories that weren't mine but at the same time, they were mine."

She continued to speak for what felt like hours. Grizz didn't appear to move a muscle for the entire time that she spoke. He simply sat silently, and listened. He didn't say a word, not even after she had finished and sat silently beside him, anxiously awaiting his response.

"Fuck," he expressed, finally.

"Yeah, you can say that again." 

"Fuck."

Penelope met his gaze and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he offered her the smallest of smiles, "This actually makes a whole lot of sense. I knew you were hiding something, I just never would have imagined this."

"So you believe me?"

"I don't think you could lie about something like this Nell, besides, why would you?" he explained, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. 

"I'm glad you trusted me. You know you don't have to be alone in this now? We'll work it out together." He urges, squeezing her against his side. 

Penelope looks up at him, tears forming in the corners of her eyes and the utter relief evident in her voice, "Thank you, Grizz."

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TWO updates in ONE day?? who am i???? 

hope u enjoyed xx