Three weeks passed before they broke up for study leave; three weeks in which the situation remained pretty much static. Isaac’s false smiles never faltered, and Jared stumbled further into his tangled denial of anything. He and Willa avoided any conversations that dared go past the surface. Cosmo might’ve noticed that Jared wasn’t himself, but he was wrapped up in the joy of the honeymoon period of he and Stella’s relationship and spent most of his time around the house humming and beaming, easily accepting Jared’s grunted-out ‘yeah, I’m good’s.
On the Saturday after school broke up Jared got a call from an unknown number. He slid ‘answer’ without thinking and was unprepared for the choked out,
“Fuck you,” that greeted him.
“What?” he fumbled, taking a step back from nothing in his own kitchen. “Who is this?”
“It’s Rosie, Jared. And whatever you’ve done- whatever you’ve done to him, I need you to come round right now and fucking fix it.”
She sounded on the brink of tears, and Jared felt like his blood had turned to ice, his stomach clenching in on itself. His words fell over each other as he started walking to the door, grabbing his keys and shoving his shoes on.
“What- Rosie what’s happened? He hasn’t- fuck- Is he okay?”
“No of course he’s not fucking okay,” she bit at him, voice so harsh with hatred, and she was full on crying now and Jared’s hand was shaking as he tried to hold the phone to his ear.
“Are you at home with him?” he managed to ask, straining to hear her answer over the roaring of blood in his ears, his heart pounding so fast there was hardly a gap between beats. “He’s not tried to-? I saw him yesterday; I would’ve noticed-”
“He’s not tried to kill himself again, if that’s what you’re trying to ask,” she cut him off, cold and mocking.
“I’m coming round now,” he said hastily. “I’m- I have to get the bus, but I’ll be there.”
“You’d better,” she said.
--------o--------
Rosie opened the door to him, cheeks tear-streaked and arms crossed tightly over her chest. She was looking at him with eyes so full of loathing that he would’ve been scared of her had all other feelings not been replaced with this all-consuming fear for Isaac.
She said, coldly,
“He’s upstairs. It’s just me and him.” Jared nodded and made to go past but she caught his arm, and said, voice cracking slightly,
“I came back this morning- our parents are away all weekend with Joseph- and he’s- I haven’t seen him this bad since the summer. I mean it, Jared. Fix it. I don’t know what to do- just fucking fix it, okay?”
Now she sounded scared, and somehow that was worse than all the hatred that’d been in her voice before. He nodded again, everything in him twisting and aghast.
--------o--------
Upstairs he knocked on Isaac’s door three times with no reply.
“Isaac? Isaac, it’s me. Jared.”
YOU ARE READING
Invincible
Teen Fiction"I didn't know you had friends like Isaac," Willa said in greeting. "I don't," muttered Jared. Isaac rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you don't. You have //one// friend like Isaac." His voice turned into this stupid mock whisper and he leaned towards Jared c...
