When the Sun Dies

ONE

As the loud bells of Scarlett's highschool chimed, she shot up from her desk and waved bye to her in class friends before rushing to the parking lot where her best friends, Sommer, Brantley, Zola, Avah and unfortunately Nell were supposed to be waiting at. Scarlett loved her friends. Except Nell. The boy that was a year older than Scarlett yet still in the same grade as her. The boy with such an odd obsession with her she was unsure whether to take his comments seriously. Despite everything, Scarlett loved her friends more than life itself. And she loved her life. How could she not? It was finally her senior year and she couldn't have been any happier.
To Scarlett, her life couldn't be any more perfect.
Scarlett rushed out the doors of her California highschool with a smile pasted on her expression and as she hurried through the halls, she couldn't help but imagine what her weekend would look like. Ever since Scarlett began her senior year of high school she had been going out with her group of friends nearly every day. They would run around their city playing stupid games that somehow collected the attention of other teenagers, and their once small games would turn into a largely spread activity. Now at the beginning of August, Scarlett was a senior and couldn't have been more excited for the year's events to unfold.
Once Scarlett was at her dad's old Honda Accord he gifted her for her sixteenth birthday, she threw her backpack into the back trunk and leaned against the car door waiting for her friends to show up. Although after over only a few minutes, Scarlett became incredibly impatient and set back off into her school in an attempt to find her terribly late friends.
Wanting to see her friends, Scarlett weaved through the hundreds of passing students having brief conversations with the familiar faces but did her best to focus on finding her friends as fast as she could so they could all hang out before she had to pick up her brother Leo. Once outside, Scarlett hurried towards the second building of their school in an attempt to try and find them in their favourite teachers' classroom. But as she threw open the doors with a happy attitude it instantly shrunk when she was met with the familiar face of Nell. Alone.
"Hi Nell." Scarlett said in a low tone, attempting to keep him at bay until they were with her other friends.
Nell was six foot four and blonde. He had an impossibly high social status but unfortunately his fake up-beat attitude always seemed to drain off when he wasn't with a large group of people and was only with Scarlett alone. Almost every time the two were alone, he had an eerie edge to him that Scarlett was not oblivious to. He would make empty threats towards Scarlett but she continued to ignore the comments and be his friend, not wanting to hurt him or her other friends group dynamic.
"Where are you headed off to?" Nell asked in a raspy tone.
"I'm trying to find Sommer, Brantley, Zola and Avah." Scarlett paused, paying attention to Nell's unusual hoarse voice. "What's up with your voice? It sounds like you're sick." Scarlett asked in her casual upbeat tone, attempting to keep their conversion normal.
"I just saw Sommer and Brantley, they said they were on their way to your car. I'm not sure about Avah though. And yeah I'm a little sick, I have a cold."
"We should go to my car then, they'll probably be wondering where we are."
Nell nodded in agreement as the two turned their direction and started to make their way towards Scarlett's car.
It wasn't long before Scarlett and Nell were close enough to her car for Scarlett to let down her guard knowing Nell wouldn't try anything around the rest of their friends. And although their friends knew of Nell's liking towards Scarlett, they were unaware of her dislike and his eerie obsession. Scarlett never knew whether to tell her friends or to leave the situation alone, hoping Nell would calm down but throughout the summer, his behaviour continued and it only seemed to get worse. Of course Scarlett didn't say a word as she wanted to do nothing that could put her reputation or her friends' relationships in harm's way. Anything to keep the peace.
Feeling the intense heat on her black hair, Scarlett got into her car and unlocked the back doors for her friends who were waiting next to it so they could get in and away from the heat. It wasn't long that Scarlett's group settled into her car and began talking about their day as well as the gossip circulating their school. After an hour had passed, she hadn't seemed to realise just how much time had gone by and before Scarlett knew it she was late to pick up her little brother from his elementary school.
Realising her mistake, Scarlett immediately turned her attention away from their conversation. "Shit. Sommer can you get the car seat from my trunk? Leo's school got out twenty minutes ago and he is going to think I forgot about him."
"Yeah for sure. Tell him I said hi." Sommer replied as the group got out of Scarlett's car. Quickly, Scarlett and Sommer put together her six year old brother's car seat and the rest were walking towards their own car's when Nell turned back to Scarlett, catching the rest of the group's attention.
"I need a ride home, kid, my parents took my car."
"Um," Scarlett paused and looked at her friends that had 'match-maker' smirks pasted on their expressions. All besides Zola that was. "Well, don't you think Brantley could take you? You two could talk about sports or something." Scarlett replied awkwardly.
"I don't want Brantley to take me home. I want you to."
Scarlett's stomach twisted in knots and her face flushed with anxiety and discomfort. "Yeah, okay Nell. I'll take you home. But just this once, gas prices are going up again and my parents are on my ass for wasting gas."
Nell nodded to Scarlett before turning away from her and facing Brantley and making a motion with his hands that Scarlett couldn't see well enough to make out what it was. Already being extremely uncomfortable, Scarlett opened the driver seat door and got into her car before throwing her backpack to the backseat next to her brother's car seat. Before Scarlett could brace herself for Nell's obnoxious attitude and slightly terrifying ego, she jumped when she turned away from the back of her car and Nell was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Quit being so jumpy, kid, you're acting weird." Nell said in such a calm voice it put Scarlett even more on edge.
"Sorry, I just didn't know you were there." Scarlett replied quietly.
Nell gave Scarlett a suspicious look before turning his head towards the window and waving to Brantley before making the same gesture with his hands once again. Still, Scarlett was unable to tell what he was doing and shook it off as regular guy talk. Scarlett was quick to put her car in reverse in order to get out of her small parking spot before returning it back into gear and hurrying away from her school and down the dark pavement roads to get to her brother that was thirty minutes away. To Scarlett, it seemed as though time was passing slowly and instinctively she turned on her car's radio to try and drown out some of the uncomfortable tension and whatever Nell's loud thoughts were circling on about.
Nearly ten minutes had passed when Scarlett realised Nell's arm was touching hers. Almost immediately, she pulled her arm away from his and focused on her driving to avoid any more discomfort. Another fifteen minutes had passed before Scarlett felt sick to her stomach when Nell placed his hand on her thigh. Immediately Scarlett became tense and attempted to move her leg but that only ended in Nell grabbing her leg harder. "Calm down kid, stop being so jittery."
Scarlett instantly became cold from anxiety and felt almost nauseas to the fact Nell constantly called her 'Kid.' As Nell moved his hand farther up towards the hem of her skirt, Scarlett immediately switched to first gear causing her car to stall and allow Nell to fly forward due to the fact he had refused to wear a seatbelt.
"If you don't stop touching me like I'm some sort of hooker you can walk home. You hear me?"
As Scarlett watched Nell get up from his hunched over position after being thrown forward, he looked at her with absolute fury gleaming in his eyes. "If you try anything like that ever again there will be consequences. Now drive." Nell said in a low and angry tone.
Not wanting to cause anymore trouble, Scarlett took in a long a shaky breath before restarting her car and continuing to drive down the long and secluded road that took her to her brother's small elementary school. During the long trip to Leo's school, Scarlett constantly felt as if she were only balancing on one foot near a cliff and wanted nothing more than to pick up her brother and get herself and him to safety—away from Nell. Scarlett had been used to Nells weird behaviour but it had never gotten physical. He had always been the type to make remarks towards her and to make eyes at her while verbally displaying his interest but he had never become physical. Never.
After the torturous thirty minute drive had finally ended and Scarlett got her car parked, she hurried to the front office of Leo's school after instructing Nell to stay put. As Scarlett walked through the doors, she took in a breath of relief for temporarily being away from Nell. Although that relief was quick to settle and she refocused herself to the school's office to sign in, in order to pick up her brother from their after school daycare due to her being so late. As she signed in, regret built itself into Scarlett's stomach as she thought of the different scenarios she could walk into once she got to the daycare room.
"You can go now. Leo is in room 2109." Spoke the office lady grudgingly.
Scarlett found it odd that the office lady knew who her brother was before she even looked at the sign in sheet but as Scarlett's thoughts lingered on the topic she was quick to realise that it was normal the office lady knew the names by heart due to how incredibly small Leo's private school was. And because the school was so small, Scarlett was caught off  guard as she almost passed by the room Leo was in. Once Scarlett processed she was at the correct room, she stood still in complete silence for a short moment in preparation for Leo to be having a meltdown. Not wanting to waste anymore time, she opened the door and was met with a very happy and distracted Leo. Because of Leo's lack of annoyance or more so lack of tears, Scarlett's eyes immediately lit up and she smiled at Leo's growing independence.
Ever since Leo was able to think like a real human, he had always been clingy. He never did well without his family longer than absolutely needed and for the first year he was in school, Leo was put in a special program because he was unable to attend a full day of school without becoming home sick and crying till the point where he would begin throwing up. Although Leo was only six years old and in first grade, Scarlett couldn't help but become impressed with his improvement and ability to be away from his family just a small amount longer than usual without becoming home-sick and having a meltdown. As much as Scarlett wanted to stand in place, watching Leo begin to blossom into his own person, she knew she had to get back to her car and take Nell home as well as get Leo to his speech therapy session on time.
Knowing the small window of time Scarlett had to get him to therapy, she began walking towards Leo who was playing near a classmate while building legos together in silence. As Scarlett approached Leo he immediately waved to her and wrapped his small arms around her in a tight embrace. Once Leo had let go of Scarlett, she said hi to the boy Leo was building legos with but when he didn't reply Scarlett assumed he was just shy. Eventually, Scarlett got Leo up and walked him up to the teacher that had been watching over the boys. Leo clung to Scarlett as she spoke to the teacher in a concerned and almost insulted tone after hearing her comment about keeping him in the special needs daycare. "What do you mean you put him in the special needs room? And why would you separate the special needs children from the children who don't need accommodations? The best thing for these kids is to get them in a safe and positive space with multiple other classmates, not the nine other special needs kids at this school. Leo's therapist had already sent a letter to the school implying that he thought it was best if Leo was with others that didn't need any special accommodations, and not to mention the fact some of these children thrive off of social interaction. I just don't think it's right that you are separating the special needs children without choice just because you consider them different."
"If you have an issue with our special needs program you can take it up with the administrator." The teacher replied, paying Scarlett little to no attention, not caring what she thought about their decisions.
"Do you have a card with a number I can have my parents call or should they just come in for a meeting?"
Because of Scarlett's upbeat sounding response to the teacher's harsh tone, she scoffed and walked to her desk before writing down a nine digit phone number on a sticky note. "Call this number and you can schedule a meeting."
"Thank you." Scarlett replied still in the same happy voice as she turned to leave the building with Leo.
Once the two got outside the school building and closer to Scarlett's car, she stopped walking and knelt down to Leo's height. "There's a boy named Nell in my car right now. I know you won't but don't talk to him because he isn't a friend, he can be really mean. We are just taking him home because his friends couldn't. And if he starts being mean while you're in there don't try and help me just close your eyes and I'll take care of it. Got it?"
Leo nodded in agreement as Scarlett got back to her feet and continued making the short walk back to the car. Once the two were at her slightly beaten up Honda Accord, Scarlett whispered to Leo, "Remember what I said, okay?" Leo looked at her with a sense of worry and confusion but nevertheless climbed into his car seat before letting Scarlett buckle him in.
After only a few moments, Leo was buckled into his seat and Scarlett pulled it tight across his chest like she always did to make sure he would be safe in the event of a crash. Once she closed his door, Scarlett hurried around her car and to the drivers side before starting the car without a word and beginning to drive out of the parking lot and towards Leo's therapy centre. As much as Scarlett wanted to take Nell home first she wanted more to keep her brother safe and calm so in his protection she took him to therapy a bit earlier than usual. And Scarlett knew that even if Leo had to wait in the lobby for longer than he was used to, he'd be safe and that was all she could manage to care about.
It was as though Scarlett's luck had run out for the day when all of a sudden Nell suddenly began talking to Leo. Except when Leo didn't reply, Nell became frustrated. "Why doesn't your brother talk?" He asked sternly.
"He has selective mutism, stop being rude." Scarlett replied in a similar tone Nell had used with her, her fingers wrapping tightly around her steering wheel.
"So you're a mute?" When Nell didn't get a reply he just laughed to himself before facing out the window and waiting until they arrived at Leo's therapy centre—surprised that Scarlett hadn't said something to defend her brother.
Once the three pulled into the parking lot of Leo's therapy building, Scarlett was quick to park and take Leo inside. As she left Leo in the lobby of the building and made her way back outside, the tension of being slightly afraid of Nell was still there but nevertheless Scarlett was relieved to get Leo away from Nell's taunting and disrespectful behaviour. Eventually after a very slow walk back towards her car, Scarlett opened the drivers side door and pulled out of the parking lot before speeding to get to Nell's house as quickly as possible without him trying anything with her again or making a remark about her brother.