Hidden In The Attic: An AJR Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Five

↤↤↤↤↤ Jay ↦↦↦↦↦

"Adam, you're so bad at this!"
    "I know. Don't judge me."
    Kib laughs, watching Adam next to them struggle to weave seven separate strings into a bracelet. We're all sitting outside at a picnic table, making bracelets. It was kind of a joke when Danny first brought up the idea of making friendship bracelets for each other, but we all decided to actually do it once we got home. I'm making Kib's, which is going substantially better than the one Adam is trying to make for Ryan.
    "My hands are still all scratched up," Adam jokes. "So, it's harder for me."
    "Yeah, okay," Jack laughs, looking up from his bracelet. "I'm doing better than you, and I fell off of the roof."
    "I punched a window," he counters. "Your hands are fine."
    "No, they're not. I scratched them in the forest."
    "Oh, my God, guys," Kib interrupts. "Let's compromise. You're both injured losers."
    Adam elbows them softly. "Hey, I'm not a loser. It wasn't my fault," he debates.
    "Fine," Kib obliges. "You're not a loser."
    "Hey!" complains Jack. "It wasn't my fault, either!"
    "You've always been a loser," they reply. "So, it doesn't matter."
    Adam and Jack laugh, looking back down at their bracelets, and we fall into silence for a bit, only hearing the sound of the light breeze and the birds outside. Adam's excuse might be valid, but he and Jack definitely aren't the only ones to take some physical damage from our trip. Julie and have scratches all over our arms and legs from fighting those fucking spiders. Ryan still has scars on his back from when he pulled me from the lake, and Danny's bruised from getting thrown in the closet. I remember those days with a shudder.
    "So, Adam," Jack says eventually, taking me from my thoughts. "Where are we camping next year?"
    "Shut up," Adam laughs, not looking up.
    "We are not fucking going anywhere," Ryan states, his eyes remaining on his bracelet as well.
    I, however, look up to stare at Jack and say: "I agree." There's no fucking way we're stepping foot into another forest, no matter where it is. Every time I see a bug I lose it, and I'm pretty sure that Julie feels the same. Right now, we're both wearing long sweaters and pants, despite it being the middle of summer, to prevent any bugs from touching our skin. And Danny avoids rooms without windows, staying as far away from the doors as possible. Whenever a door across the room opens without warning he jumps and grabs onto something.
And Ryan is just jumpy and odd in general. He still hasn't told us what happened to him, but he's just been weird. Adam asked him to pass a knife across the table at dinner the other night and he physically couldn't do it. He picked it up and started shaking and had to excuse himself. I want to ask what he went through, but I guess he has to deal with it himself. Maybe he'll tell us eventually.
    "It's better staying here," Julie adds. "I hate long drives, and it isn't haunted, which is the best part."
    Kib looks up. "Once I kill Jack, it will be."
    Jack stares at them, unimpressed. "Dude."
    I laugh before continuing to weave my bracelet together. After a few more minutes, I finish and tie the ends, completing it.
    "I'm done," I announce.
    "I'm almost done," says Julie. Hanna and Ryan both say the same. Kib and Jack don't respond, focused on their work.
    "What?!" asks Adam, about a quarter of the way finished his. "How are you doing it so quickly?"
    His bracelet looks like a mangled mess, as if he maybe threw seven pieces of string into a fan then pulled it out again.
I shrug. "I've done this before."
    "No, you're not tying it right." Ryan leans sideways to help Adam with it. "You have to leave the string at the end after you tie the knots, not bring it back. Like-" he cuts himself off as he starts tying a few knots into his brother's bracelet.
    Adam stares at Ryan's hands for a few seconds. "Oh!" he exclaims with a soft gasp. "Right, so the order stays. I get it now."
    Ryan laughs and leans away to work on his own bracelet again.
    "Wow, Adam, you have Ryan making his own bracelet," Jack jokes.
    Adam doesn't look up, but smiles as Ryan jokingly answers, "Yeah. At least it'll be good that way."
    We all hang out and joke around for a while after that. Kib finishes their bracelet, then Ryan, Hanna, Jack, Danny and Julie follow, leaving us all to make fun of Adam as he finishes last.
    "Okay, okay, okay!" Adam exclaims through laughter as we all cheer him on. He's tying the last knots of his bracelet. The whole table holds their breath as he finally ties the ends together, and we all yell as he drops the finished bracelet triumphantly in front of him.
    "You did so well!" Ryan says in a soft voice, clapping quietly.
    Adam purses his lips and nods before smiling fully again. "I tried my best."
    So we all exchange our bracelets now that we're all done. Adam gives his to Ryan, Ryan gives his to Jack, Jack gives his to Danny, Danny gives his to Julie, Julie gives hers to Hanna, Hanna gives hers to me, and I give mine to Kib, who gives theirs to Adam.
    The bracelet I made is a combination of gold, browns, white and black. I don't know why I chose that pallette, but it seemed right. It looks sort of Egyptian in colour. I thought Kib would like it. I hand it to them.
    "Oh, nice!" they say, slipping it over their hand. "Pretty."
    I look at it on their wrist, the knots kind of crooked and loose. It's not the best, but it looks better than the bracelet they had before. Much better. Because rather than coming from a demon, it came from a friend. And even if I die and end up haunting them all because of this bracelet, at least we'll still have a good time.
    I'm distracted from my thoughts once again by Danny laughing and slapping Jack in the shoulder, Jack giggling and leaning away. I look to see what the issue is and see Danny holding his bracelet from Jack in his left hand, while he slaps him with his right. The bracelet is a rainbow, and I'm assuming that's what's so funny.
    Danny puts it on. "Now everyone's gonna think I'm gay," he chuckles.
    About four of us all say "You are." at the same time. All Danny can respond with is "Wow."
    "You don't have to wear it," Jack laughs, putting on his own bracelet from Ryan, which is blue, red and green.
    Danny elbows him gently. "Yeah, I do."
    I look down at my own bracelet from Hanna. It's all purple and orange and pink, like a sunset. I smile at her and put it on immediately, and I soon realize that everyone else has, too. We look odd, all wearing various brightly coloured string bracelets from each other. It's like we're the same, but different at the same time. But that's okay, because I think it sums us up pretty well.