No Closer to Heaven{Sequel to Cardinals}

Two

Song: All Back by Chris Brown💖

~Ryder

I wake up the around midnight, groggy as usual. I really didn't sleep, but I don't have to worry about it, since I don't have to worry about school in the morning. I'm not really sure when I'll go back, or if I'll even go back at all...it's just hard being around the people that are kind of responsible for your boyfriend being exiled to hell.

Sighing, I play with the ring Theo left me, on my finger, as my door opens.

It's my brother, and Lydia.

"I found you a tutor." He says as Lydia waves at me. The tension is so thick, you can cut it with a knife.

"I don't need-" "You still wanna graduate, right?" I don't say anything, which was enough for them.

My brother leaves, and it's just Lydia and I.

"Ima go shower and shit," I tell her as I get out of bed. "I'll be back."

                     
                          *20 minutes later*

After I return, wearing nothing but a pair of Theos boxers and a tshirt, we get started.

"Okay, this is weird." Lydia says, 15 minutes into this tutoring sesh. "I miss you, Ryder. We all do. Me, Scott, Liam, Mason, Corey...even Malia. We're so sorry about what happened to Theo. You're my best friend, Ry. With Allison....you're just all I have left."

"You guys didn't think about me when you decided he needed to be exiled back to hell. How can you sit there and tell me all this bullshit, when you didn't even think about me when it happened!"

"Then help me understand!" She says, calmly. "What is it about Theo you love so much, that makes all the bad things he's done...non existent? What did the Dread Doctors do to you...?"

I haven't talked about this in a while...and I feel like I'm ripping open old wounds. But I love Theo, and maybe, just maybe Lydia will find a way to help me bring him back. "Do you remember how it feels to walk in a room, and have all the breath knocked out of you as soon as you see him? Or the feeling you get when you see them right after class, even though it's only been an hour? Of even waking up next to them...feeling safe? Like nothing else mattered? When you're with him...it's like you two are the only people on earth. Theo was the first person I saw in the morning, and the last at night..."

"I did....he turned into a werewolf." We don't really talk about Jackson. He moved to London, so me, Allison and Scott decided we wouldn't bring him up anymore.

I'm about to say something, but my phone goes off. I pick it up and just look at it.

"What's wrong?" Lydia asks.

"I-I thought it was going to be someone else calling, but I don't know who."

"What does that even-" Out of nowhere, Lydia stops and holds her head. She looks like she's in so much pain.

"Lyds, what's wrong?"

"You don't hear that?!"

"Hear what?"

"That train?!"

"There's no train, Lydia. There hadn't been one in years..."

What the actual hell is going on here?

***

The next morning, I have a meeting with Lydias mom, so I head to school with Lydia. People are actually glad to see me back, which is weird because they didn't even check on me, not Scotts pack, after Theo "went missing."

Yup, that's the story they told everyone.

Anyway, we go to Lydias locker, and she stops, looking really confused.

"What's wrong? This is your locker, right?"

"No, it's not...but I feel like I was supposed to meet someone here..."

"Who, Scott?"

"No," She touches the locker without a lock on it. "I don't know.."

The bell rings, signaling Lydia to go to class, and I go talk to her mom in guidance. I may have said terrible things about her in the past, but she's really a good listener.

Anyways, I give her my finished work, and we have our usual conversations. She sometimes brings up Theo, which obviously is a soft spot. I always shift the conversation to something else.

*About an hour later*

Our meeting is finished, and Lydia said she'd give me a ride home after her first class..which should be over in a few. I decide to go wait outside for her to avoid people talking to me.

Out of nowhere, I hear neighing. My arm gets pulled, and a random voice starts speaking in my head.

"You know me? Oh thank god, you know me!"

I get pulled into another direction, and the voice keeps speaking.

"They're everywhere! Will you forget me....?"

"Ryder, look out!" I hear a voice say and a horn honk. I'm pulled away from the street and onto the sidewalk. "Are you okay?" It's Malia.

"I'm fine." I say, yanking my arm away from her.

"What was that? What were you doing?" This time, it's Lydia.

"Trying to remember."

***

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"You know I can tell when you're lying, right?"  My brother comes in my room with a shit load of comfort food, making me smile a little. "Lydia told me you almost got hit by a car..."

"That's not exactly what happened." I say, taking the box of pizza.

"Then what did?"

Sighing, I finally give in. "I had like...I vision. I heard someone's voice that was telling me no to look...and-"

"And?" My brother pressures on.

"And-and to remember he still loves me."

"It wasn't Theo, was it?"

It takes a while for me to answer, but I finally tell him no. I start crying, also. This is was too confusing. I know for a face that I've never loved anyone as much as I love Theo...except my brother, but that's my brother.

"Stiles..."

I nod again.

"You're confused." He hugs me, making me break down even more.  "That's perfectly normal."

"To be confused between the guy I love and a guy I don't even remember? Yes, because that's perfectly normal."

"Well, you're not normal, kid." He says, wiping my tears away. "This is one of those moments where I wish we had a mom to walk you through his, but we don't, so I'm doing the best I can. My advice, just listen to your heart. I know what can be confusing...but trust me. That's life. You're trying to remember someone who's been erased from all of our memory, and your still trying to find a way to bring your boyfriend back..that's not normal...but remember kid, it's Beacon Hills."

He's right.

100% right.

If i'm going to try to going to bring Theo back, I have to be my own pack and do it myself. I'm not normal, I'm a damn Japanese mythological animal, I don't need anyone's help.

And with that, I lay my head on my pillow pet that I put on Aaron's lap, continue to eat out pizza as we have another horror movie marathon.