Our Symphonies | satosere

25 ;

「 twenty-five 」

"he's not okay"

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"Serena?"

Lillie was pouring herself a glass of cold water from the refrigerator, but she tossed the chilled bottle away once we locked eyes. The mist of sleep evaporated from her face, and she was quickly jogging over to prevent me from scrambling outdoors.

I heard him whimpering on the call, and it squeezed my insides three times over.

Lillie stroked my shivering shoulder, her concern-laden gaze wandering on the phone at my ear. I had lost the mental stability to process a thing, the world was just a black and blue blur— and it just seemed to fade away.

I struggled to not let my knees buckle when she tapped me again, this time more adamantly. "Ser, are you gonna say what on earth's wrong?"

"Ash," I hunted for the keys near the front door like a blind maniac, my tears at bay. "Lillie, he... he's not okay."

She analyzed my trembling statement, taking a deep breath. "It'll be alright," She said in her doctorly voice. Grabbing the car keys from the shoerack drawer, Lillie clasped her palms with mine for confirming it to me. "Nothing's gonna happen to him, okay? Come with me."

She guided me outdoors, and I was stumbling half the way downstairs and begging for Ash to not hang up the call.

Once inside the car, I respired into the microphone when he went quiet all of a sudden. "Ash, please talk to me," My voice broke like pale celestine stones,  and I brought the phone closer to my ear while strapping the seat belt. "Say something. Anything."

"I – I was at –" He gasped for air. I nodded supportively, although he couldn't see me. Lillie started the engine and I gestured her to go for the highway. "– at the cinema hall and, it was so crowded? I excused myself for the washroom and did my best to stay calm—"

"You're fine. You will be fine," I reassured, but couldn't figure whether the words were meant for him or me. The traffic signal turned red, and I coiled the hem of my oversized nightshirt as Lillie kicked the brakes, restlessly drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. "Can you tell me which mall you're at again?" I whispered out.

The wateriness clogged his voice at uncertain intervals, and he erupted into a fit of wild coughs. Since the phone was on speaker, I gave my sister a scared look as she heard it too.

My knuckles were turning milk white from clenching, mouth dry and jaw tight.

"Ash, you need to take deep breaths, okay? Don't let your mind trail off into dark places. Stay still. Look around for help." Lillie advised him softly, though her upper lip was stiff with cool composure, a striking contradiction to the crying disaster that I was.

He couldn't cope up with the heavy breathing to thank her, but ultimately rasped out, "Central Mall. Next to Green Grove Park."

"Okay. Okay, stay there," I gulped at his clipped phrases, then added, "Was May not there with you?" My head was spinning with the weight of emotions— the last thing that I had ever imagined to be real. But Ash made me believe in them: in flying griffins, star-shaped tears and astrological fate.

Then, he gasped again. There were muffled noises on the line, and I selfishly wished that it was only a whisk of wind and not his restless sobs and sniffles.

"I didn't want to ruin her big day. She was having so much—" He took three seconds to drink the longest breath, "—so much fun, you know? I couldn't. And I'm sorry for troubling you so late at night. I should just –"