In Our Heads

Chapter 44

*****

Cassian frowned glancing at his watch again. There were hours of school left, it seemed like the minutes were dragging by and he felt restless.

He figured the feeling would die down in a couple of days as he got used to worrying about Theodore and Zion while away from them.

After being absent for a couple of days, his parents made him go back to school citing that there was not anything he could do about the situation so he might as well try not to fall behind and keep attending and focusing on school.

He thought they were right, and it was better that one of them went to school so he could help Theodore catch up once he was ready for that. Theodore had not left the hospital at all, barely ate anything and was incredibly uneasy about leaving anyone other than the doctor or nurse alone with his brother, which was a little concerning, but Cassian figured that was a natural response.

Their parents had just disappeared, running away to avoid arrest. It made Cassian's blood boil knowing that they had not even been the reason the ambulance arrived, the police had called an ambulance after the neighbour he spoke to called in a noise complaint. They must have run when they heard the sirens and even if they decided to run because they were afraid of getting caught with drugs, why had they just left Zion there on his own?

Cassian released a sharp sigh through his nose, glancing at his watch again. He felt his shoulders slump at the realisation that only a minute had passed since he last looked at it. It felt like that class would never end, let alone the school day. Looking back up to the front of the room, he decided that trying to focus on the lesson would help distract from the time and hopefully make it pass faster.

He was right and once he got into what was happening, the lesson seemed to zoom by leading into lunch. He grabbed his things while yawning and headed out of the class, slowing down to walk beside Lance once they were in the hallway. Cassian had not had time to meet his friends in the morning as he arrived right when the bell rang because he always stayed with Theodore for as long as possible.

"So, Theo's still at the hospital?" Lance asked as they walked.

"Yeah." Cassian glanced at his phone to see if he had received any messages from his parents or Theodore.

He was surprised by how much his parents had been home in the past couple of days, switching between the hospital and the house as they checked on Theodore and spoke to some people about him, only occasionally disappearing for a couple of meetings.

There were no messages from those three people, so he shoved his phone back into his pocket without checking any of the other notifications on the screen.

"Should we come by? Maybe bring a teddy or something?" Amber bit her lip after she asked, and Cassian shook his head.

"I don't think it's a good idea. Theo doesn't really talk at all, he's just kind of in a daze. I doubt he's ready to see people right now. Maybe in a couple of days. I'll ask him if that's alright."

The pair nodded on either side of him as they headed to the cafeteria, but he stopped once they reached the door and he spotted the rest of their friends. He really didn't feel like dealing with Kian or anyone else despite not knowing how they would react to having him there. The thought of them being insensitive about what had happened was more than enough to make him turn around.

"Where are you going?" Lance asked, sounding confused.

"The roof. Don't tell anyone where I am," Cassian responded.

"I'll come with."

He didn't argue as Amber grabbed his arm to walk with him.

It was as refreshing as always stepping into the cold air, but it made him pause as he heard Theodore's voice in his mind and saw him standing on that ledge mumbling about how it felt like he was falling when he was in the wind.