Hold On (Book 1 of It's Not Over)

The Nightmare at Halloween: Part 1

Warning: implied history of self-harm, Remus

—

I'm not sure how they managed to do it, but they did it. They talked me into going to spending Halloween at Disney. And so, here I was, by some freaky miracle, sitting in the back of Remus' van with Roman. Patton and Logan sat in front of us. And De sat (slept) in the passenger seat up front.

We all stayed the night at Roman and Remus' house the night before. I was informed that it was mainly to prevent me from being able to back out at the last minute. I had been stupid enough to inform them that it was bold of them to think I wouldn't jump out of a moving vehicle to avoid going to an event that would undoubtedly be crowded and noisy. That's how I ended up in the back of the van with Roman, and no access to a door. It didn't help that my anxiety was through the roof being on the freeway in a van with big truck zipping past us.

We took frequent pit stops to allow me a chance to ground myself. Patton and Roman took turns walking with me to stretch my legs and breathe. I learned the night before that Patton had explained to the others why I had freaked out about getting in Remus' van. So they decided that we would be leaving out early to allow for frequent breaks.  What should've been a three hour drive tops became a five and a half hour drive. If not for me the longest it would've taken to get from Gainesville, Florida to Orlando, Florida is three hours. And that's with avoiding the toll roads. Thanks to me an extra two hours was added to the trip. And one of those hours was because a semi had cut in front of us and I went into a full blown panic attack.

Yeah, I'm a mess and I'm seriously confused why these guys are even friends with me. It's been over a month and they still seem to like me. It's confused the hell outta me.

When we finally reached the park it was close to lunch time. As we piled out of the van, and De congratulated me on having only one attack, we brainstormed on where to eat. Roman grabbed a map as we checked into the park, still discussing what we all wanted to eat.

We eventually decided to hit up the 50's Prime Time Café for lunch. Roman and Patton walked ahead of the group, the princely boy telling my brother about all the fun things there were to do at the theme park. De and Remus told us that they wanted to hit up one of the gift shops with quick and would catch up with us at the cafe. Logan and I followed Ro and Pat to our destination, both of us silent.

"Thanks for talking me through my panic attack back there," my voice was soft and my head lowered.

"There is no reason to thank me, Virgil," his response, like Logan himself, was stiff.

"I don't know why you guys even wanted me to come along. You would've gotten here quicker and would probably have more fun if—"

"Shut up, Virgil." I stared in shock at the taller boy. The voice in my head telling me I pissed him off and that he now hated me. "There is no way we would have more fun here without you. Would we have gotten here in less time? Yes. Would we have been happier to spend the day here without you?"

"Hell no!" Roman chimed in, startling me. Where the hell had he come from.

"You are our friend, Virgil."

"Like it or not, hot topic, you are a part of this ohana." We all stared at Roman. "Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind. That even means you, Brad Pittiful." I rolled my eyes and Logan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That reminds me. Sunniva said she'd meet us for the parade at around 8:30."

"Splendid!"

"That is satisfactory."