Special - Ryden

Chapter Two

Trigger Warning: death of a parent

I jump at the sudden sound and my dad becomes alert.

BEEP BEEP BEEP! 

"Ryan..."

That's not the sound it makes when it's out of battery.

"I think we should go!"

We rush out the door without thinking. I have to get out before I get hurt. Or the fire eats up all of the oxygen and there's a backdraft when we try to leave.

I nearly fall over opening the door, but it wasn't open so I more fell into it.

I get outside and I'm missing something. 

Mom!

I stare at the burning house. I hear myself screaming but I have no control over myself and I'm not even completely aware of everything else going on.

My dad is holding me back. 

"You can't go back in, it's not safe, stay out here!"

"Mommy is in there! She's-she's-"

"Don't worry, they'll get her out, she'll be here soon."

Ten minutes. Ten minutes passed and she wasn't here. There's no way she's okay, the fire had weakened and collapsed parts of the house.

She was upstairs in her room dad had been down with me. Her room doesn't have windows, she couldn't get out. I'm pretty sure bedrooms have to have windows and they have to be of a certain size for fires. It's the builders fault, whoever they are—

One of the firefighters walks out of the burning house, now completely engulfed in flames, parts of it blackened. 

The firefighter pulls my dad aside and I turn to watch the other firefighters using their hose to put out the fire. 

I look back.

My dad is crying.

He never cries. Never.

"Ryan... I have to tell you something... your mother... she's-"


I wake up in a cold sweat. My breathing is heavy and my blankets are all on the floor.

I check the clock. 1:48 a.m. Great. I'm never getting back to sleep. This will be fun.

I try reading. I play music. I watch YouTube. I just lay down not doing anything. I put back on my blankets and try all that again and... nothing.

I try writing. That definitely doesn't help me get to sleep, but it distracts me from how tired I am. It's nothing much and I know I'll never get to sing it, at least in front of people, but I love writing, so there's not really a problem. 

It kind of goes no where, just a verse and part of a chorus, and it doesn't sound good and I wrote it in pen so whenever I messed up (which was a lot) I had to cross it out.

I continue writing until I hear my alarm go off. It makes me jump too. Like a lot.
"Fucking hell," I mumble under my breath.

I really don't want to have to go to school today but I don't exactly have much of a choice. No way would I want to stay home with my dad, not that there's a chance in hell he'd let me. Why would he want me around longer than I have to be?

I stand up and get dressed in what is pretty much what I wear every day: ripped (from wearing them) black skinny jeans, a black t shirt, and my dark (nearly black kind of dark) olive green hoodie. My dad hates when I wear all black. He'd hate if I wore any color. It doesn't matter. He hates me as a whole.

I brush my teeth and take a really quick 5 minute shower and dry and do my hair before going downstairs to eat half a bowl of cereal. I rush out the door, leaving 10 minutes before I know my dad will be up, which means I will arrive at the school... 30 minutes early. 

I walk quickly but still winded from my rush to get ready.

I get there and am surprised to see 3 kids sitting on front of the school already-the three I met yesterday. "Did you guys sleep here or something?" I ask, and they all look up at the sound of my voice.

"We may have. We may not have. You decide." I think this was Dallon who said it, as long as I'm remembering who was who correctly.

I sit down on one of the benches that isn't theirs out in the front lawn of the school. The air is cool with a slight breeze, and the leaves are swaying slightly. I hear the man-made river about 50 feet away from us running, it's really calming. It's the opposite of me.

"So, Ryan," This one I think is Brendon. "What brings you to this high school so early?"

I don't say it, but I think my bitchy dad and my dumb fear of him. I do say: "the world may never know. It's kind of like how you guys may or may not have slept at this school."

"Touché."

I sit staring down at the ground until the bell rings and I need to go to class.

•               •               •

During my class with Mr. Foster, I don't even bother trying to go to class. I head straight outside where I find Dallon, Brendon, and Awsten in the same place as yesterday.

"Ryan!" Brendon's voice calls.

I walk over quietly, I try to smile but it really doesn't work. So, I keep a straight face.

"You decided to join us again?" Dallon says this, and he sounds genuinely shocked.

"Yeah." I ignore how shocked he sounds.

I sit down on one of the tables about 15 feet away from them. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Brendon staring at me. I ignore him. For the rest of that period, we sit outside in silence. We go back to class, we finish our day at school and all go our separate ways to home.

A/N: This is short. Sorry, the next chapters will be longer.