Ashes of the Future

Chapter 16

Matt's eyes rang with water, as he rubbed and rubbed them, as if it would make the tears disappear, the pain disappear. It didn't, of course it didn't. But he hadn't cried in so long, he didn't know what it felt like to cry, not since Cody's first outburst seven years ago.

But this girl, this one person that had only stepped into his life so recently, had made such an impact. She showed him raw emotion, connected with him in a way no girl had really ever bothered to, welcomed him into her healthy family home, something he had never experienced. Avry made the effort to love him, a feeling he couldn't shake off.

And now he stood, attached to the same person he always was, the tanned boy tangling his fingers in Matt's dirty blonde hair as he wept into his shoulder. Whenever Dan broke down, over school, over boys, over anything, Matt was always there to pick up the pieces, mold Dan back into one with some simple words.

But it had never been the other way round, and quite frankly Dan didn't know what to do. He just embraced Matt so tightly, pressing his eyes shut as he dreamed of a time they only felt happiness. A time when it was just the two of them, being boisterous young children.

Cody didn't feel anything, however, his body overcome by a numb sensation as he froze up, Charlie eyeing him up in worry. But Charlie's worry was soon occupied by a grieving Nathly, Elise being the one to worry now.

She noticed his brain locking up again, she'd seen him do it before, seen him switch off in a state of panic. Elise had been the one helping Cody deal with all his problems with Freya, giving him her mothers spare phone so they could communicate, Cody spending most his nights tapping away at the screen to talk to her.

During the night of Avry's death, they'd spent most their time together, discussing Cody's past, every single bit of it. Elise had vowed to look after him, protect him, help him deal with his depression, in return for him not running away and taking Freya with him like he'd planned.

The Cody without his mental illness at it's peak would never leave the boys, not even dream about it. But in the state he was in, nothing mattered to him.

His body shook forward and backwards as Elise forcefully gripped him, in an attempt to get him to unlock. But he couldn't. He could feel her there, feel the cold touch of her soft skin, but he couldn't wake up.

Elise, with the help of Vykter, carried a zoned out Cody to the sofa, forcing Kecia off of it as she realized what was going on. Before she could open her mouth, Yousef stopped her and took all the others aside, Kecia fighting against him to get to Cody. But he knew she wasn't stable enough herself to see Cody like that.

The rest of the night was hell, Elise's parents not coming home again for the third time in a row. Elise had given her double bed up to Matt and Dan, while Charlie and Yousef took one sofa each, Elise choosing to sleep next to Cody, her armed wrapped around him for comfort.

The others were left to fight it out between who wanted the spare room beds, and who wanted the double bed in her parents room, Braidn frantically trying to leave, after finding out what he did, but Damiron and Britni had already fallen asleep.

So instead he opted to just sit over them, not actually sleeping himself.

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The next morning wasn't any better, the haunting memory of last night preventing most of them from sleeping, aside from Kecia of course. By 7am she was wide awake, prancing around the house, searching for the kettle. Doing so awoke Charlie, Yousef, Elise, and surprisingly Britni, but Cody still slept through it all.