Squading Through Time and Space

Chapter 1 - Rory

Rory sat in his basement and listened to James' faint footsteps overhead. His friend had been over so many times, Rory didn't bother answering the door anymore. James just came in and found him.

The basement had gotten cleaner over the past few weeks. The carpet was spotless with the exception of a few wires. There even seemed to be less dog hair. Rory never came down here anymore, instead he spent every day in his room. He almost never went to school. His parents had given up trying to get him out; no amount of threatening seemed to phase him. His sister had learned to give him a wide berth. He spent his days staring at the posters on his walls and the bright laptop screen.

No one else was home today.

"Heya," James gave a small smile as he launched himself onto the couch. Rory grunted a reply. James was wearing his usual green sweater and Rory wondered if he ever took it off. His friend had come over to play Super Smash Bros and try to recapture some sense of normal, since they hadn't really hung out since the funeral, two months ago. Rory really didn't care to play. The only reason he agreed was because his friend almost begged him to. And he didn't have anything else to do anyways. He never did.

"So you ready to get rekt?" James elbowed his friend. Rory grunted again.

"Quit grunting all the time, jeez," James muttered as Rory peeled himself off the couch and turned on the Wii. Then he sat back down.

"Well, are you going to get the Wiimotes?" James asked.

Rory grunted again. He peeled himself off the couch and walked back over to the Wii and grabbed the two Wii remotes. He threw one at James before sitting back down.

The Wii menu came to life and James aimed his remote at the screen. The cursor didn't appear. The blue lights on his Wii remote wouldn't light up when he pressed at buttons with a pale thumb.

"Welp," James said. "We need batteries." He turned to look at Rory.

Rory groaned internally. He already wished he was back in his bed. He hadn't moved this much in days.

So Rory peeled himself back off of the couch and started to rummage around the basement for batteries. Eventually, he pulled out two small pellets, cold in his hand. He handed them to James and sat back down, again.

His phone buzzed and he looked at the display. He had another text from David, to add to the dozen unanswered ones. Rory had stopped replying to his 'friends' and muted every group chat he was in. Not that he really needed to mute the one with him, James, Emily, and Sam. They hadn't touched it since...

Rory pushed back the sudden memories. No. He had to keep his mind blank, or the pain would be too much. He couldn't deal with the pain anymore. He couldn't.

Anyways. Him and Emily and Sam. They were barely friends anymore. Emily had developed some sort of post traumatic illness and was in the hospital all the time. Sam kind of just disappeared.

Their whole world was washed in grey and black.

"I'd hate to bother ya," James broke through his thoughts. "But you forgot to put the disk in the Wii."

***

James and Rory played for a while, but James won every round they did. Rory's heart just wasn't in it.

"Jeez, man," James said. "You're absolute shit today."

Rory glared at his friend, anger piquing in his throat. "Thanks a lot."