The Thing about Falling ✓

Thirty • And Then There Were Two

Athena

Weeks have passed since Elliot and I stumbled upon Owen's weird text, telling me that he's in Rockefeller. And that he's lost his wheelchair. I remembered that day like it was yesterday, even.

We found him inside one of the first floor dorm rooms, his expression blank. Owen looked sullen and deeply aggrieved by what happened and it only intensified once he saw that Elliot was with me. He looked even angrier, even without saying a single word.

I knew I should've called Fitz and asked him to take Owen to our dorm instead of letting Elliot take him back. I remembered how annoyed Owen looked when I told him Elliot will be carrying him back to the dorm while I search the place for his wheelchair. I was surprised when Owen raised his voice at me, telling me he doesn't want Elliot to carry him. He doesn't want anyone carrying him.

In a way, I understood. He doesn't like feeling helpless especially when the thing that makes him him got misplaced or lost. Owen likes being independent. I was sure of it. He doesn't want people helping him around but that time, asking for help seemed unavoidable. He really needed it.

I found his wheelchair on the second floor of the building, hidden amongst the clutter of red plastic cups, all dirty and sticky with the residue of alcohol. I spent my time in that place cleaning all the dirt off his wheelchair. I didn't know how it got there or when it got there but I was sure that I would never ask Owen why he was there.

I could only imagine his frustration as Elliot hesitantly scooped him up and carried Owen back. I don't want to risk escalating his frustration by bombarding him with questions when he obviously was still fuming from what happened. Still, I don't want to ask him about anything yet.

I brought Owen his wheelchair back after cleaning it. It seemed to be in good condition and thankfully, nothing broke. I went into our dorm. Elliot was standing at the farthest corner of our room with his arms crossed over his chest and Owen did the same, this time, on his bed with a frown on his face.

It's been weeks after it happened. Ever since, Owen's anger piped down a bit, I felt good about that but something changed. He was as unsociable as ever, similar to how he acted the day I met him. He rarely smiles now and whenever we talk, we just greet each other and sometimes, ask how each other's day went. These talks were very brief. He rarely even talks to Fitz now and weirdly, he's completely avoiding Maya.

Fitz was a bit worried about Owen and Maya kept telling me to ignore him because Owen was acting like such a child. I didn't say anything back to her. I know Owen has his reasons and I was beginning to speculate that how Owen is acting right now must had something to do with her.

And I think how he saw Elliot and I together made him even more frustrated with the whole situation, causing him to avoid telling me things. God, I never thought things would get this messy.

Fitz and I were slumped in his room eating Cheetos while playing video games. Every single time we began another round, I lost to him terribly. Usually, I would get all worked up over losing but after everything that happened these past few weeks, I didn't feel a thing.

"Wow, you are getting worse every level. Something wrong?" Fitz asked as soon as we cleared out a round of Mario Kart. He ended up getting 2nd place (lost to a bot) and I ended up 8th. 

I shrugged.

"You know, the usual." I said plainly.

There was no denying I have gotten quite used to how Owen's been acting lately, and so has Fitz. These days, I think I spend more time in Fitz's room playing video games, eating, or watching a movie than I do with Owen. Ever since he started acting unusual, I didn't know how to move around him. There was no way I could go ask another girl (Maya) for advice and Fitz is the closest person I could go to. We could go be clueless together.