the replacement project :: c.h.

twenty three » answers and confrontations

a/n - my heart broke writing this, i'm hoping you guys are satisfied with all the answers here.

also! this is not the last chapter, there'll still be two more chapters after this + a character q/a & answers :-))

are you guys ready for this omh

stay happy,

x bri

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[ cara ]

"This is a joke."

Heather pursed her lips together and shrugged both her eyebrows up once, sarcastically, "Mm, if that'll help you sleep better at night, then sure, we can call it a joke."

I watched in astonishment with my mouth agape as Heather stalked over towards Emma, Kariana stepping aside to make room for her to squat down. The sound Emma made after Heather squeezed her face in-between her fingers had me wincing all the way from across the room. This wasn't happening. It was Heather...?

"I heard you made a little get-away, earlier," Heather arched one of her eyebrows and snickered, visibly tightening her grip on Emma's face. Emma whimpered. "You don't think we're completely dumb, do you? There's literally a chip inside of your neck right now, honey, if you even twitch, I'll know- all from one app on my fricking phone. Isn't modern technology great?"

"You're going to end up alone in a shack in Iceland that smells like cat piss and feet and I'm not going to feel sorry at all." Emma spat, no later receiving a harsh slap to her right cheek. The last time I'd ever actually seen Emma cry was when she, El and I were maybe eleven years old and Elena beat her at a round of Guitar Hero - the fact that one slap of Heather's hand colliding across Em's cheek had her in tears made me feel like strangling somebody.

I choked, "Heather!"

She really was batshit. It wasn't even just the fact that her referring to me using my real name that had me struggling to breathe, but more so the fact that she really must've taken the time to do all of this. This all must have taken weeks of planning, whatever Heather was trying to do for whatever reason she was trying to do it must have taken so much of her time and dedication and something inside of her had to have been so damn broken to make her actually want to do this. Suddenly, the part of me that'd once felt guilty for cutting her out of my life freshman year had disappeared.

Heather shot me annoyed look, eyebrows knit together and mouth lined in a sneer. "You know what, you're getting annoying too! You're being awfully ungrateful, right now, Cara."

Even though it was already kind of a given at this point that Heather knew the difference between Elena and I, that I wasn't really Elena, my heart still stopped in my chest for a moment. It'd been so long since someone other than my parents and Emma referred to me as 'Cara' and not 'Elena' - I blinked, and struggled to sit up straighter, groaning and giving up at the pain and swelling I was feeling at my hipbone. "I'm being ungrateful?! Explain to me what I actually have to feel grateful for right now, Heather, enlighten me!"

"I'm not exactly bitter, I'm doing this all for you!"

"You're beating the shit out of my sister and my friend for me?!"

"Yes! That's all this has ever been!" Heather's voice had started to not only rise, but break. She took a couple of deep breaths before slowly walking over to where Em and Elena were laying motionless on the cement ground, and lifted Emma's shirt so that the large bruise on her side was visible. She pressed on it with the pads of her fingers, ignoring Emma's grunts and instead turning to look at me defiantly. "This? I'm doing this all for you, Cara - because I care about you. Do you really think I'd go around bruising and hurting people for the thrill of it?"