Inciting Events

Chapter 13

Cyrus Anders

Cyrus tiredly opened his bleary eyes. Everything around him was a bit blurry and muffled, but his senses quickly came back to him as people started to stand over him and talk in rushed voices. However, they were all pushed away by a blonde girl that came to the forefront of his vision.

“Hey, hey. Are you okay?” His vision came more into view, and he saw that it was Brynleigh hovering above him.

She started asking if he needed anything and holding up things like a water bottle or a granola bar. He smiled a bit at the gestures, but the smile quickly dropped when he remembered that he still didn’t know where he was. He tried to get up, but he was quickly pushed back down. He tried to remember how this had happened, and everything that had happened the previous night came flooding back to him, and he started panicking a bit. He tried to sit up, and this time, he wasn’t stopped.

Trying to calm himself down, he began to look around his surroundings. He quickly came to the answer that he was in Holiday’s bedroom again, but he had no idea why he had been brought there of all places. He looked up at all the people that were around him and saw Holiday, Brynleigh, Badger, and Magnus. All had very worried expressions displayed on their faces, a bit of relief too, he guessed, but Holiday and Magnus also looked a bit angry. He wasn’t sure why, though.

He was about to ask about that, but Holiday started talking first. “He’s not going back there.”

Magnus looked at her in indecision and was about to say something, but she shushed him. The two pulled each other into a corner to discuss, though it sounded more like arguing. At first, he wasn’t really sure what Holiday had meant, but listening to the hushed words made it make a lot more sense.

With Magnus saying he had to go back for the plan and Holiday saying she couldn’t give two shits, it wasn’t safe. Cyrus understood they were talking about going back to live with Tempest. It didn’t seem like either of them really liked the idea of him going back there, but at the end of the day, he agreed with Magnus. It was part of the plan, and it would all be over soon either way.

Eventually, the two seemed to be done with the argument for right then, and they came to sit with the other three in silence. All of them sat on the bed, but none of them really knew what to say. They would all occasionally glance at each other, but that was about all they got for a good half an hour.

Finally, Holiday asked if any of them wanted some snacks or to stay the night. All of them knew they should be getting back to their respective areas and that it was risky to stay the night. But on the other hand, they were also all way too tired to actually care about what happened.

So, every spare blanket and pillow from around the house were brought into Holiday’s room and laid down on her floor to make the biggest bed ever. But then, halfway through assembling the bed, Badger pitched the idea that they also make a huge fort. Which was a bit ridiculous.

But still, half of everything was used to set up a grand fort while the other half continued to be used for the purpose of the bed. Everyone began to put in their best effort to make the dream come to life, and Brynleigh, of course, made it a competition. One team would make half the fort and bed, and the other team would make the other half.  Cyrus and Brynleigh vs. Magnus and Badger, Holiday as the judge.

Both teams worked to make their side the best it could be. The building and unbuilding lasted two hours while Holiday was on the phone with her girlfriend. The competition came with minimal cheating and sabotage, thankfully, but there was still some malicious intent involved with the work.

After a long time of labor, put into the constructing of the perfect sleeping area, and another anxious ten minutes of holiday very meticulously judging their work. She walked around with a clipboard even. She ended up declaring Brynleigh and Cyrus, Team Cyleigh, the winners because of the use of tall chairs for structural support, Team Badgus had only used boxes, and the decorative addition of fairy lights found in the hall closet. Magnus had said it was unfair because Cyrus was related to the judge, but that hadn’t changed the ruling in the slightest, much to his irk.