There's No Such Thing As Happy Endings - Book Three of the Why I Run Series

Chapter Ten

GUYS
I GOT A MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP
FOR 500 DOLLARS :D
AND DIANA GOT A SCHOLARSHIP TOO - ALSO FOR 500 DOLLARS

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD DAY THAT I HAD TO WRITE A CHAPTER SO ENJOY LOVELIES!!!!!!!!!

____________________

Point of View: Virgil, First Person
Timeline: Present Day

"Hey there, kid," I said, wrapping my arms around him - stunned.  Sparks barked excited, jumping around, trying to press her nose into my hands, curiously.

And then I realized the danger we were suddenly all in, by Ollie being here.  How did he even get here?!

"Guys - please don't - don't say anything," I stammered, mind working overtime trying to remember everything I needed to tell Patton and Logan about Ollie, about Sparks, about... gosh, there was so much.  Even beyond the fact that it was already a such a shock that Ollie was even HERE in the first place - 

Logan and Patton looked at me confused.

Ollie looked up, noticing Patton and Logan for the first time.  His hands tightened fearfully on the bottom of my hoodie, whimpering slightly.  His breathing became faster and I could only imagine what terrible things were racing through his mind.

"New, new, new," Ollie whimpered, burying his face in my hoodie.

I immediately knelt down, down to Ollie's eye level.  "It's okay, kid," I forced a smile.  "They're nice, promise.  They're my friends," I explained.

Ollie tentatively peeked at Patton, who gave him a bright friendly smile.  Ollie couldn't help smiling a little back, a bit shy, but still clinging to me.

I twisted towards Logan and Patton.  "This... is Ollie.  He's my brother," I explained, carefully counting my words.  "He's... from the Dark Mind Palace."

Ollie smiled brightly up at me, merely hugging me tighter - gripping the bottom of my hoodie.  "I have to tell you something!"  His large lavender iris's behind his large glasses (identical to Patton's and Logan's) - with the same exact frames as Logan and Patton, giggling slightly.

"One second, Ollie," I said carefully.

"But - But - Veeeeeeee-"

"Ollie please wait -"

"But it's important!"

"Ollie please wait just one second -"

"It's about Roman!"

My world froze.  I can't speak, w-what did he mean? What - what - what -

Patton knelt down, making himself closer to Ollie's height, eyes shining with unshed tears.  "What is it, kiddo?"

Oh no.

Oh NO.

Ollie immediately froze slowly turning towards Patton - hands starting to shake.

I grabbed Ollie, forcing him to face me.  "You are strong, you can do this.  Just breath Ollie, nice and slow.  Yeah, that's it," I managed, forcing myself to be as calm as possible.

"Three, three, three," Ollie muttered, clearly distressed - hands coming up to press against his temples - tapping on them three times, pausing, and tapping again.

"You're going great - keep it up," I bit my bottom lip, anxiously.  "Three, three, three," I said with him.  I didn't always do this, but I needed him to calm himself before -

Ollie hardly seemed to acknowledge me, eyes squeezing shut tightly and whimpering slightly.  "T-Three, three, three," he choked out, sobbing as his knees gave out and I caught him just in time, running my hands gently through his light blond hair.