I Don't Do Sadness // Jyrus

funk

When his step-father got home and had a talk with his mother, he flew up the stairs and tore open the door to Cyrus' room, to find it empty and the window wide open without a screen.

A facebook post had been made by his mother before his step-father was able to finish a text to his father, asking if Cyrus was there. After receiving the text that his location was unknown, his mother got in the car, leaving his step-father behind to wait to see if Cyrus went back. She said to not call the police because it wasn't worth it. But his step-mother did anyways. She texted Buffy and Andi, asking if either of them were with him and then she too left, leaving his father at home in case Cyrus turned up.

When Buffy and Jonah were leaving The Spoon, they saw Andi and Bex run in, frantic. Buffy laughed before saying, "What's up?"


Andi looked deep into Buffy's eyes and asked, "Have you seen Cyrus?"

Buffy shrugged it off, saying, "Yeah, after school, but then he left."

"Do you know where he went?" Bex asked.

"No, I thought he went home. Why?"

"No one knows where he is."


Jonah felt his heart stop beating after the words left Bex's mouth. His eyes widened and his mind spun, feeling frozen in place and not sure of where to go in order to help. He felt Buffy's hand on his arm to stop him from spiraling into panic. He didn't feel like he could hear the rest of the conversation as he looked back and forth from the three girls. Buffy had asked where they had looked and they said that they went straight downtown and to The Spoon.

Buffy pulled Jonah out of the diner and they ran to the park, where they decided to look while Bex and Andi rode around on Bex's motorcycle. Cyrus' mother cruised around town, texting people about his disappearance while his step-mother went around the outskirt of town, going to neighboring cities to look. 

Jonah was athletic and could run, but Buffy was significantly faster, beating him to the park and running throughout it. Once Jonah reached, out of breath both from running there and from his racing heart. He could see Buffy's hair bouncing around and his eyes drifted to the forest surrounding the park.

He found himself wandering into the woods, into a more peaceful realm of the park. As he walked through, he started to get a bit more nervous about finding Cyrus. He had no idea how long he had been gone or where he could be, but he had a feeling that the peaceful sounds of the woods would attract him.

And sure enough, he was right. Sitting with his head up against a tree a few feet in front of him was Cyrus. "Cyrus!" Jonah said in a scream whisper out of excitement.

Cyrus snapped awake and looked at Jonah with fear in his eyes before grabbing his bag and starting to stand up. "Wait," Jonah said to him before approaching him.

Cyrus stared at him with a guilty face while Jonah asked him, "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged and looked at the ground. "Well, Buffy's out there looking in the park and we can go get her. She has her phone so we can-"

Cyrus started to cry out, "No!" And sat back on the ground. Jonah followed and sat beside him. "I didn't want anyone to find me."

"Well, everyone's been running around town looking for you."

They cared.

"Who?"

"Me, Buffy, Andi, Bex, and probably your parents."

Cyrus groaned at the mention of his parents. "They wouldn't."

A cold wind blew over them, shaking the trees. Jonah shivered, catching Cyrus' attention. "Are you cold?" He asked him.

"A bit."

"You should go home."

Jonah turned and looked at Cyrus. "You should, too." Cyrus leaned his head back against the tree and said, "No, I shouldn't. I can't."

Jonah laughed and said, "Well, what were you going to do? Die here?" It was a joke, Cyrus knew, but it was his plan. He shrugged and started to play with the sleeve of his sweater.

Jonah didn't know what to do. He didn't want to poke at the situation and make Cyrus admit anything, but he also knew that Buffy would be wondering where he was soon and would discover him with Cyrus. And he knew that he wasn't going to leave Cyrus and there would be no point in trying to get him to leave his spot. "Well, you could come with me," He said out of panic. 

Cyrus' head shot over and he looked at Jonah. "What?"

Jonah realized that what he said was wrong and tried to take it back, but couldn't get any word out of his mouth. "Like I could stay with you?" Cyrus asked, his eyes wide and full of excitement. 

Jonah was frozen in his place. A nervous smile appeared on his face. "Sure," he squeaked out.

A wide smile stretched on Cyrus' face. He stood up and picked up his bag, saying, "Okay let's go."

Jonah popped up from the ground, his mind retreating back to Buffy. "Oh, not now," He said to Cyrus, horridly looking through the woods to see if he could spot Buffy. "Um, I'll go home and then sneak back out to get you. Everyone's still patrolling around and will surely see us walking home, and Buffy's in the park."

Cyrus nodded and said, "Oh, okay," before settling back down on the ground. Jonah waved and said goodbye to Cyrus before jogging out of the woods and back to Buffy.