Ezekiel locks the door with trembling hands and sinks down to the floor. His chest clenches painfully as he tries and fails to choke back a sob. How could he have been stupid enough to care for them? Even worse how could he have been stupid enough to trust them?
"Maybe I should just leave then!"
His heart pounds painfully in his ears. He had been stupid enough to think that they would stop him, that they needed him.
"Maybe you should!" Jake is breathing heavily and Cassandra is looking down, saying nothing. The combination of Jake telling him to leave and Cassandra's silence is almost enough to make him break down right then and there.
He desperately tries to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Had they ever even cared about him? Or was it all his hopeless delusions?
"I guess I will then." He hates how weak and small he sounds. He hates that all it took to break his heart was a few words. Most of all, he hates himself for trusting them with his heart so quickly.
He can't breathe; he feels as if his lungs are filling with water. He curls in on himself, bringing his knees to his chest. His heart aches and he wishes that it didn't.
He turns and takes a step towards the door. Then another and another… His stomach drops and his heart begins to ache as he realizes that they're not going to stop him. Soon he reaches the door and he hesitates with his hand on the handle.
He wants to scream until his throat is raw and he can't anymore. He wants to punch a wall until he can't lift his arm anymore. He wants to cry until he's run out of tears.
His vision is blurry and his hands tremble. They clearly don't want him here, so why should he stay? Making up his mind, he opens the door with a shaking hand and leaves.
If they really cared, they would have stopped him from leaving. If he really was their friend, they would have asked him to stay. If they felt even a fraction of what he felt for them, they wouldn't have let him walk out that door.
Ezekiel gasps for air in between sobs, tears finally coming to a stop. How could it have gone so wrong?
He thought he had finally found a place where he belonged. He thought that maybe Cassandra and Stone could become home to him. He thought that he could be happy.
Ezekiel realizes now that all of that was just his own hopeless dreams. He realizes that while Cassandra and Jake were his friends, he never really was their friend.