The Color of Truth

eleven: aris

I woke up in a cold sweat, only seeing Greysen's pale blue eyes and hearing his screaming voice full of fear asking for mercy as he's strapped against one of the chairs that I recognize from his dining room table.

Just a nightmare, something I have a lot since I found Grey on the side of the road on that god forsaken day. I lay in bed and catch my breath for a moment taking in oxygen like it was going to disappear in seconds and that's when I realized how silent the house was. No music which is usually radiating from Greysen's room even if he's asleep. It helps him not have nightmares. He told me once that if he can't hear his thoughts he can't pull the pictures of his parents face together and he can sleep more peacefully.

Everything in the house was to quiet and the only thing that made sense to do was walk across the hall to Grey's room. When I knocked there was no answer and I prayed that he was quietly asleep on his bed after today overwhelming events. "He's at his house. He's not safe. He put himself in more danger." My conscience screamed at me.

I begged my inner voice to be wrong. I pleaded that he was asleep and safe in his bed here. But when I pulled the  door open my conscience laughed a little as it proved itself right. His room was empty and my soul felt that way to, like his absence made me as empty as this room that was barely lived in. His bed was made, his small amount of clothing all tucked neatly away in drawers. If you didn't know Greysen had been living here, you would've thought at first glance that it was an ordinary guest room. My breath hitched and my panic rose through the roof. A part of me, the most important part of me was gone.

I didn't know what to do, I paced up and down the hallway more times than I could count. Why didn't he wake me? Why did he go by himself? My mind was racing at all the possible and almost unthinkable things that could be happening at this exact moment and that's when it hit me. Grab your keys. Follow him.

I rushed into my bedroom and grabbed the keys off the desk near my door and rushed downstairs towards the front door. The security alarm screamed loudly in my ears and I realized that Greysen had sent the alarm for away when he left.

He'd thought about the chance that he may not return and I felt sick, physically sick like I could vomit any second. I disabled the alarm so my dad wouldn't receive an alert to his phone and ran to the downstairs bathroom and vomited.

I felt weak and like a failure sitting on the bathroom floor against the toilet. Everything I promised myself since the day Greysen moved in had gone to hell in hours. I should've never driven by his house. I should've never let him relive those horrible memories. I should've never let him feel that way again. I shouldn't have mentioned the man in the window. I SHOULD HAVE KEPT HIM SAFE. AND I DIDNT DO THAT. I told myself that I would keep him safe so many times and I couldn't even do that.

I pulled the emotional heap of myself off the floor. I needed to get to my car and get to him. Maybe I could keep him safe if I could get him out of his house fast enough. I didn't know when I'd fallen asleep I just hoped he had not been gone for to long.

I hurried out the front door just to find that my car wasn't in the driveway where I left it. Greysen took my car and went home. He left me here to worry with no way to get to him. And I had no idea what to do next. So I walked back inside and sat at the kitchen table. I put my head in my arms and cried. I cried for my best friend and I cried for his parents. I cried and I prayed to a god, someone's god that he would come home to me.

I don't know how long I sat that way for, my head wrapped in my arms and tears streaming down my face with sobs escaping my chest, but after some time I hear the front door open and that's when I saw him.

I saw his stupid face that made me happy, sad and really fucking angry all at once. Then I saw the photo in his hands, a photo that was sitting in his room at his parents house. A photo that proved to me he was there. That he was in that horrible fucking house.

"GREYSEN WHAT THE FUCK?" I screamed at him. He almost stumbled back at the sound of my voice. My entire body was shaking and I wanted to hit him more than I've ever wanted to hit anyone in my entire life.

After he regains his balance he ran to my side and pulled me into a tight embrace and held me. He held me and I knew he was actually there and he was alive.

"Air I'm so sorry I worried you but I just had to be sure that you saw what you saw. He was there Aris. He never left. He's still in my fucking house." He told me, desperation in his voice. He saw the man that killed his parents and nearly took his life. I felt the panic and anger rise inside me.

"We need to call my dad. We need to tell him. We need him to catch this motherfucker." I said sternly as I ran upstairs to get my phone. We may finally get justice for Grey and his parents and that's all I wanted. "He's going to be so pissed at us." Greysen whispered. I should've figured he'd be worried about that. "That'll be the last of his worries when he catches the pieces of shit that killed his best friends." I told him, full conviction in my voice. Greysen slightly nodded and just stared at me as I dialed my dads number and waited for him to pick up, I wondered what was going through his head but I would have plenty of time to ask after we let my dad know what was going on.