Running || A Garrance Fanfic

Chapter Seven

Aphmau's POV

Aaron and I hear a loud banging coming from the door. I drop my fork as Aaron gets up and rushes over, flinging it open to reveal an extremely frantic Zane. He starts speaking incoherent nonsense at first that neither one of us can decipher. I get up and walk calmly over to him.

"Zane, calm down," I say in a soothing, motherly tone. I place my hands gently on his shoulders as I see him take a breath.

"What happened?" Aaron asks, now standing at my side.

"G-G-Garroth...he's not at the house...been gone since 2am..." he says in between breaths.

"Have you tried calling him?" Aaron asks. Zane swallows and nods.

"H-He won't pick up... He only picked up once when I first realized he was gone... Said he was at the groceries..."

"That... doesn't sound like Garroth at all..." I say, dropping my hands to my sides. Aaron grabs one of them.

"No, it doesn't. Especially leaving without telling anyone. He leave a note or anything, Zane?"

"No. Nothing. I checked his room earlier... but everything was gone..."

"What do you mean 'gone'?"

"I mean all his personal items and stuff weren't there. It's like he'd packed it all up."

"Why would he do that? He wouldn't just vanish like that... it's just not him..."

"Maybe you should try calling him, Aph," Aaron suggests. "If he won't pick up for Zane, he will for you."

"Y-Yeah. Gimme a minute," I agree. I let go of Aaron's hand and pull out my cell phone, dialing Garroth's number and holding the device to my ear. It goes immediately to voicemail. I try again. Voicemail. This time, I leave one.

"Garroth? It's Aphmau. Call me back when you get the chance. Everyone's worried about you... Please call me or Zane back soon. I hope you're safe."

I end the call and put the device back in my pocket, sighing. Aaron comes over to me and puts his arm around me comfortingly.

"I'm sure he's fine," he tries to reassure us. "He'll call one of you back soon, saying something like he got lost coming home or something."

I laugh a bit while Zane remains stone-faced. I break away from Aaron and approach Zane. His gaze is towards the floor. He's obviously worried.

"Aaron's right, Zane. Panicking won't help anything. He will call you back; I'm sure of it. Why don't you go to Kawaii~Chan's and try to relax?"

He hesitates for a moment, then nods in agreement: "Y-Yeah... I'll do that. Thanks guys."

"I'll call you if I hear anything."

"Yeah, okay. I will, too. I'll see you two later, then."

We walk Zane to the door and watch as he disappears down the street. Aaron shuts the door and we walk over to the living room. I can't stop worrying about him. It just is so out of character for Garroth to disappear without a word.

"Did you talk to him yesterday?" Aaron asks.

"Yeah. I saw him while I was giving out the invitations."

Aaron nods and stares over at the window. I get the sudden feeling that he knows something that I don't. I brush it off as just a random thought and sit on the couch. He joins me.

"First Laurance...and now Garroth," I say with a sigh. I lean back against the couch and shut my eyes.

"I almost forgot about Laurance," Aaron says. "Maybe Garroth went to look for him?"

"He would have told someone."

"I guess."

There's a bit of silence before I say, "Though he has been talking about him a lot recently."

"Obviously. Weren't they super close?" he asks and I nod.

"Yeah. They've been best friends since high school." I smile. "I remember how upset Garroth was when Laurance said he was going to a different college than the rest of us. They wanted to stay together even after high school and college."

----------

"W-What? What do you mean you're not going to FCU?" Garroth practically shouted during lunch at Laurance. Laurance frowned, which was out of character for him.

"I'm sorry, Gar. You have no idea how much I want to, but mom and dad need help at the farm so Cadenza and I have to go to a college closer to them."

I'd never seen either of them so upset...

"I'll text you every day, I swear," Laurance said and Garroth just shook his head.

"It won't be the same. You'll literally be days away. I won't be able to see you for four whole years."

"I know, but I don't really have a choice. Mom and dad need us."

Garroth didn't respond. I had nothing to say. I felt like this affected those two rather than all three of us, so I stayed out of it. Neither of them had even looked at me the whole time. They were so focused on each other...

"Garroth-" Laurance reached across the table to put his hands on Garroth's shoulders. "-I promise nothing is going to change. Yeah, it'll be hard, but I'll make it feel like I never left and before you know it, we'll all be living on the same street and I'll be forced to have you as my roommate."

Garroth laughed at that and looked back up at Laurance. Those two had a connection I don't think I've ever felt with anyone. I'll be the first to admit, I was jealous of their friendship. It was cute.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

----------

I reminisce for only a few seconds before I come back to the present time. Aaron speaks again.

"Which is why it's weird that Garroth seemed to know nothing about why Laurance left 2 years ago," he comments.

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing. I just...I think he knows more about Laurance's disappearance than he says he does."

"But why would he lie? He knows how worried we all are about him." Aaron shrugs.

"I don't know; it's just a thought."

I bite the inside of my cheek and stare out the window beside the couch. Aaron feels how tense and anxious I am, so he reaches over and wraps his arm around my back. I lean against him, sighing in comfort.

Be careful...both of you...

~~~~~~~~~~
I just finished rewatching season 1 of MCD yesterday and I am still crying! I'm broken! Why do I do this to myself!?!?