Remora

Chapter 7

Ashley was seated at the back of the car as it began to move

"Hey Kiddo." Benson said from the passengers seat.

"Oh dad you're here?" Ashley said surprisingly "Hi Dad."

"Of course he's here. I sent you a text." Teddy said

"I didn't check sorry."

"and I'm not surprised. How are you though?"

"Yeah, how was school?" Benson added

"It was alright." Ashley replied shortly and put on some music which she listened to with her earphones. The music drowned out all the unnecessary noise and kept her calm. How was she already in the cheerleading team? she thought that was way too soon. The thought of a certain long haired guy from rem fest crossed her mind. She remembered how he told her that he would see her in school. She definitely didn't see him. Maybe he lost his good guess streak.

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The night of the first day of school was rough for Zel, like other nights, his parents were not at home. He felt relieved a bit of his burden for this sole reason.

He walked into his little bathroom, looking at the mirror that mocked him with its reflection. There was a deep scowl on his face as he inspected how he looked. His hair was loosing the shine it once had. He was getting way too lean and looking paler.

"What ever is happening to me will pass." He repeated to himself as he looked the mirror sternly, holding the sink tightly for support before bowing his head in defeat and releasing a sigh.

Zel made sure to make the shower settings very hot. Yeah it hurt, but he shut his mind against the short lived five minutes of self torture. Remembering was worse than the hottest water.

"Hey, what's eating you up?" He remembered that very question. The heat wasn't hurting that much anymore compared to this.

More good memories played in his head, the times when they stayed together, laughed together and much more until it ended suddenly as it always did.

"Stop it! Stop it please!" He could hear screams in his head that quickly became distorted, taunting even and they kept on playing on repeat and looming in his mind which brought him to his knees, allowing hot scalding water drop furiously on his back. He couldn't even scream, he just bared the pain for a little while before turning off the water shortly after.

Zel felt empty as he just sat there in the misty shower for a long while.

The voices were still taunting him, daring him to shout at them.

"Yo Zel! You home?" He heard from outside his bathroom door as he sat down on the shower floor. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't tell much, the other voices were still playing.

"Dude! your motorcycle is outside, stop ghosting me and come out already!"

Zel willed himself to stand up and come out of the heated shower. The mirror showed him that he was very much red. He shrugged this off, wore his bathrobe to hide most of his reddened skin and stepped out to his room where someone was waiting for him on a chair.

"Brody." Zel whispered.

"Yeah of course it's me," He said "go get dressed man, you look like you need a time out."

"How did you know I'd be home alone?"

"Doesn't matter. What matters right now is that you need fresh air, because you look red as fuck and you're wearing a bathrobe. You're not fooling anyone."