《The Ending They Should've Gotten - Monty and Winston》Part 3
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Winston was walking down the street when he saw it. Students from Liberty were celebrating something inside Monet's. From what he could see, they were all staring in awe at pictures hung on the wall.
How dare they be celebrating anything when just a few days ago, Monty was... Winston pushed the thought down and tried to put a brave face on as he texted Ani to meet him outside.
He saw her look down at her phone before glancing around and making her way to the doors. She stepped outside and Winston turned to face her.
"What did you tell the cops?" Winston demanded.
"Look, Winston-" She tried to say.
"He didn't kill Bryce. He was with me." Winston breath hitched in his throat. His mind was flooded with images of that night. The best night of his life.
"What did you tell them?" He asked.
"Winston... He was already gone." She explained.
"He was a human being, okay? He was a human being. He didn't deserve to die like that." Winston said and Ani nodded.
"I know." She said solemnly.
Winston turned away from her and walked away, not wanting to hear her voice anymore.
He knew what Monty did was wrong, but he didn't murder anybody and he definitely didn't deserve to die. Winston felt tears spring in his eyes when he thought about it again. He'd already spent the past few hours crying. He was completely devastated.
His phone buzzed in his coat pocket. He reached for it and saw that he had a text from an unknown number. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Who was texting him? He assumed it might be from a wrong number at first, but when he read the message it became clear that it was meant for him.
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Winston tried to think of who could possibly be texting him, but came up with no ideas on who it could be. The only people who knew Monty that also knew him were Clay and Ani, but it was pretty obvious that they had no intention of clearing Monty's name.
Winston shoved his phone back into his coat pocket and walked to his car. He turned the keys and began to drive. It was almost six, so he had a full hour to decide whether or not he was going to Rosie's Diner.
He knew it wasn't smart to go and meet some stranger, but at the same time, if it would bring Monty justice, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.
After driving around in circles for half an hour, Winston had made up his mind to meet this mysterious person. He pulled into the Rosie's Diner parking lot and looked through its windows at the people inside. There was an older couple toward the back, a few people ordering, and a young girl sitting in the front alone.
He got out of his car and made his way to the entrance. The girl's head turned immediately at the sound of the door opening.
"Are you Winston?" She asked, apprehensively.
"Yeah." He responded, "I'm assuming you're the one who sent this text?"
She grinned, but he saw pain behind it, "Guilty."
Winston sat down across from her as she extended her hand.
"I'm Estela." She said. Winston's eyes widened as he gripped her hand to shake it.
"You're Monty's sister?" He asked, surprised.
She looked down, "Yeah. I guess was is the proper term for it now."
Winston's heart broke for her, "I'm so sorry about what happened."
Estela nodded before rubbing her eyes with the corner of her sleeve.
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"I- I know. Me too." She said tearfully.
"If there's anything I can do, just let me know, okay?" Winston said and she looked up, like she had suddenly remembered something.
"Actually, there is something..." Estela reached into her backpack that was on the seat beside her. She rummaged through it for a few seconds before pulling out a journal.
"I wasn't going to show this to you yet, but Diego's running late and this is probably as good a time as any." She placed the journal on the table and slid it over to Winston.
He opened the journal hesitantly. In it was multiple entries from different days.
"What is this?" He asked, flipping though the pages.
"I found it under Monty's mattress. I think it was his journal or something. I never knew he kept one, but I thought it could have something useful in it."
His heart dropped when he realized he was reading Monty's writing. He ran his fingers down some of the letters, taking comfort in the fact that Monty was the one who wrote them. He came across a page that had a heart with a 'W' inside it. Next to that heart was a phone number. His phone number.
Estela seemed to realize what Winston was looking at, "That's how I tracked you down. There are a few more entries after that page. All of them are about you."
Winston looked up at Estela. She had a look of understanding in her eyes. He could tell that she knew about him and Monty. Before he got the chance to turn the page and read more, the door to the diner opened. Both he and Estela looked up to see a boy around their age walk through the doors. He was tall and wore a Liberty High Varsity Jacket.
He had an apologetic look on his face as he made his way to them, "Sorry I'm late. Practice ran a bit long."
"A bit long? Diego, it's seven." Estela pointed out.
Diego held his hands up in defense, "I know, I know, I'm sorry. I would've gotten here earlier if I could've."
Diego's eyes landed on Winston, "Who's this?"
Estela rolled her eyes, "I told you, this is Winston. I think he can help us."
"What am I helping you with exactly?" Winston asked, closing the journal and putting it on the seat next to him.
"Diego and I have been meeting up everyday for the past few days. It began as us trying to help each other grieve, but soon we both realized that neither of us believe Monty was a killer." Estela said quietly.
"You were friends with Monty, right?" Diego asked as he took a seat next to Estela. Winston nodded.
"Any friend of Monty's knew he wasn't capable of actually killing anyone. Especially Bryce, that guy was like a brother to him." Diego said in a hushed tone.
"He didn't kill Bryce. I know he didn't." Winston said and both Estela and Diego looked at him with questioning glances.
"How are you so certain?" Estela asked.
"Because..." Winston paused, "I was with him that night."
Diego and Estela looked at each other, their faces slowly turning into grins.
"We have a plan." Diego said.
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