Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 84 - Frozen

When you get home later that day, the unfamiliar car on the drive is gone, and so is your mum's. Marlon must be inside, though, as the door is unlocked. It creaks as you enter, and you step on the backs of your shoes lazily to get them off, before heading into the kitchen, where Marlon is sitting on his phone.

"Where's mum?" you ask, when he doesn't even look up.

"Gone out." he replies, typing vigorously on his phone.

You decide to try your luck with Marlon, seeing if you can find out any more information about the man that was at your house a while before. "Did you see who she was with earlier?"

He looks up, but only for a second. At least you've piqued his interest. "No, why? Who was it?"

"A man. I don't know who he was, though." you reply, feeling a twinge of disappointment at your brother's ignorance. You were hoping he might have seen the man, and perhaps even recognised him, but you suppose you'll just have to ask your mum when she gets home. "Did you enjoy your surf?" you ask your brother pointedly, emphasising the last word, but Marlon barely looks up. Perhaps he's grown even more confident in the art of lying.

"It was fine." he responds, picking up his phone again as if he needs a distraction.

"What are you doing this evening?"

"Getting an early night. Like you should." he gets up, the phone still glued in his hand and a glass of water in the other. He nudges you as he leaves the room casually, and you follow him out into the corridor.

"Not going to be hanging out with Poppy?" you say, grateful to see his face finally flash with a hint of recognition. He hesitates a moment, then shrugs.

"Why would I be?"

How has he still not caught on?! "No reason." you shrug. Maybe nothing happened. Maybe Poppy told Marlon she wasn't interested.

_____________________

The sound of a car wakes you at some point in the late evening, around half eleven, maybe later and the noise of the front door slamming shut follows shortly after – it must be your mum back. She's late, you think, but it's not worth thinking about now, not with the comp tomorrow.

You turn your pillow over to the cool side and slump back down on it, willing yourself to go back to sleep. But you don't think it will ever come until you wake up again, realising you must have fallen asleep, at least for a little while. You suddenly realise what woke you up, and you turn to see your phone vibrating on your bedside table. You turn it over confusedly, squinting your bleary eyes at the name on the caller ID. Wren. What on earth is she doing calling you at this time?

A twinge of anxiousness pinches your gut as your mind races through all the possibilities of why someone who hates you is calling at quarter past 5 in th morning.

"Hello?" you say, holding the phone to your ear.

"Y/n?" Wren says, and you can hear her breathing fast, which doesn't do much to help your anxiousness,

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Look, I didn't want to call you but I've tried everyone else I can think of, and no one's picking up."

She stops talking, as if you should be guessing what's happened. But you have no idea. Nothing. Your ignorance turns to annoyance as you snap at Wren on the other end.

"What is it?"

You hear Wren take a shaky breath in, then her words come flooding out. "I'm with Ari right now, and we were just hanging out and talking and he started like, panicking, and...and, I didn't know what to do, I just-"

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"Yes, of course, but he just won't calm down, and I don't know what to do!" she exclaims, the sound of a half-sob echoing through the phone, although you can't tell who it came from. Which worries you. If it was Wren, then it must be really bad to make her this upset. "Look, can you just come over and help me?" she snaps, forgetting herself, then lowers her voice. "I'm sorry, but please, I...I really need some help."

"Okay, where are you?" you say, trying to keep your composure as you clamour out of bed in the dark, stumbling over a pair of shoes which you then grab to put on your feet.

"We're at my house. Elo was out of town last night, and Bax left early this morning, so we're alone."

"Okay, I'm coming, but I can't stay on the phone on my bike, so I'm hanging up now, okay?"

"Wait, Y/n, what do I do?" Wren says, almost in a whisper; she sounds like she's crying - she obviously doesn't want Ari to hear her, and you dread to think how Ari's coping while she's wasting time on the phone to you.

"Wren, just pull yourself together and go talk to him, help him steady his breathing or something." you say, holding your phone against your ear with your shoulder as you pull on your coat.

"Okay," she replies, taking a deep breath herself. "I can do this."

"I'll be there soon." you say before hanging up and unlocking the door.

The sun is nearly making an appearance as you step outside, the cool air hitting your face almost immediately, whipping your hair back. Your bike is stashed in the garage where you left it, and you pull it out forcefully, knocking over a plant pot at the same time - you'll have to explain it to your mum later. Hopefully the noise didn't wake anyone up.

You've never been to Wren's house, but you know roughly where it is from what Bodhi has mentioned about it - her and Wren have been hanging out a lot recently. You eventually pull up on Wren's street, and there's only three houses to choose from. One has about twenty cars parked outside, and from what Wren said about Elo and Bax being out, you doubt it's the right one. Unless Elo has some sort of love for cars she's never mentioned before. The other two houses both have no cars on the driveway, and they look incredibly similar, but the thing that gives it away is the surfboards balancing against the outside wall of a garage - one of them is undoubtedly Wren's.

The house is big, with grand oak wooden doors and a protruding balcony coming from one of the side bedrooms, no doubt with an incredible sea view. You make your way to the front door and knock twice on the wood. It echoes eerily throughout the seemingly empty building, but within a few seconds you hear a key in the lock twist and the door swings open to reveal a very flustered Wren. She's wearing an oversized t-shirt and her hair is a mess, but relief floods her face when she sees you - an emotion you never thought you'd see her direct at you.

"He's through here." she says, wasting no time as she directs you upstairs, practically sprinting to the first floor before pulling you inside the first room she comes to. At first, you're taken aback by the size: compared to the rest of the house, it's tiny. Smaller than your bedroom, definitely. Even smaller than Ari's, too. It's painted a pale pink, gold framed certificates line the walls and plush blankets and pillows are stacked high on the single bed pushed into the only corner of the room it will fit.

"Y/n!" Wren's voice snaps you back to reality, and suddenly the sound of Ari's pained breathing makes your own breath hitch. He's sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, his legs drawn up to his body. "Do something!" Wren says, and you're suddenly struck with a realisation: you don't know what to do. The last time Ari had a panic attack and you were there, it was new to the both of you - even Ari didn't know what was happening. Now, he's been seeing a therapist, he has routines and exercises for this sort of thing.

You're completely frozen.