What Matters Most (H.S Fan Fiction)

Chapter 31: Isolation

Ryder's Point Of View:

"We should go to your house, what do you reckon?" Harry questions me in his thick British accent.

"We should check on Carter, it's been a whole day and I'm definitely missing her."

"I am too, come on." He stands up from the couch and grabs his keys from the counter,"I'll drive." I quickly agree and take the hands that he has offered to hoist me up with.

"We should stop by my house first, check on my mom and stuff." Harry agrees and together we walk out the door hand in hand.

* * * * * *

Making our way to the front door, I took my keys out of my pocket and slipped it into the brass lock eventually turning the door knob and shuffling into the house.

"Mom I'm home!" I call out, before I see her and Ella sitting on the couch. My mom looks up to me, her face red and blotchy, she glances at me with pure disgust and continues to sob into her hands.

"Where the hell have you been Ryder!" Ella stands up and walks over to me.

"I..."

"This is all your fault." She says to Harry,"You were with him this whole time!" She screams at me and I am still so confused it's not even funny. The vein in her forehead is bulging out, something that only happens when she gets mad. Yet the reason she is angry is still unknown to me.

"We were just going to see Carter but..."

She cuts me off with a wicked laugh,"You don't know?" She pauses once she sees my puzzled expression,"This is rich. You are so infatuated with this boy that you don't even know."

"What do I not know?" I say through gritted teeth, Harry the entire time stays quiet and watches my sister and I communicate with each other. I doubt that he knows this is my sister. I wait for her response, but she glances at Harry them back to me. I wonder of the lies my mother has told her of Harry.

"Ryder let's just go." Harry begins to grab my hand in his but I pull back, refusing to listen to him. A silence falls between us as Ella stands there, both of us waiting for something to happen. This whole time my mother is sobbing on the couch, louder than ever before.

And then it clicks.

A simple word drips from my lips,"Carter." Ella looks at me and I know by her absence of words something has happened,"Where's Carter?" I say, my voice cracking bit. Harry holds onto my hand, gripping it hard.

"She's dead Ryder." Solemn drips in her words.

Denial sets it.

"No she isn't, you're lying." I say with a straight face.

"Why would I lie about this!" She raises her voice at me. I shake my head over and over again.

"Ryder..." Harry starts but I push him away, as I stumble backwards I continue to shake my head.

"You're lying." I say and make a run for it.

My chucks pound against the asphalt, my head is pounding, my heart is beating wildly in my chest. My hair trails behind me, all I can hear is the wind whistling past my ears and the whipped at my exposed cheeks. Once I reach the hospital I run past the front desk and straight to Carter's room, the small sliver of hope that she is in there laying in the bed, watching Spongebob. And as I fling open the door that small hope withers away along with the rest of the feelings I had felt. The room was stripped, curtains drawn, the bed made and empty, and the hole in my chest only grew wider and deeper, and nothing could refill the eminent emptiness.