"Lifeless. I had no thoughts, no visions, I didn't move. Just, dead."// In which boyband member Zach Herron must face torments, find himself, and also fight for his young requited love.
completed: december 25th, 2018
thank you again to @happyforherr...
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"Is he dead?"
"Oh my God, Jack! Shut up!"
"Sorry, just wondering..."
I hear Daniel and Jack. It was a dream. Damn it. I open my eyes, startling both boys on my bed.
"Zach! You're alright!" Daniel exclaims, relief etched in his voice.
"Hey, man," Jack says, his brown eyes showing concern.
"Hey. What happened?" I ask, rubbing the back of my head that is hurting for some reason.
"You passed out. That or you decided to take a nap on your tile floor. But we did hear a scream," Jack states.
"Corbyn went to get you an ice pack," Daniel adds, rubbing my shoulder.
"Where's Jonah?" I ask, feeling bad for having yelled at him and Esther.
"Him and Esther went out for his birthday. He doesn't know about this," Daniel replies.
I wonder if I should tell them about my dream. I decide against it because they'll probably make me see a therapist or something. But the "dream" felt too real to be just a figment of my imagination.
Corbyn walks in and hands me the ice pack. It doesn't feel good against my head, but I do it to make them all happy. "How are you feeling?" my fragile blonde friend asks me as he sits at my desk.
"Better," I say simply because there aren't many details.
Corbyn stares at me for a moment. "Guys, can I talk to Zach alone for a minute?" he asks, looking between the other two boys in the room.
Daniel nods understandingly and walks out, but Jack looks very offended. "If this is about April, I hope you realize all three of us love her," he spits at Corbyn.
Corbyn sighs, "Jack, please."
Jack huffs, but walks out, slamming the door behind him. I turn to Corbyn. "What was all that about?"
He looks at me. "You're clearly doing as bad and honestly worse than I am, Zach. I know exactly what you need, though."
"If you say a therapist-"
"No. We need to find April," he says, staring into my eyes with full seriousness.
"W-well, how do you expect us to do that?" I ask, really pondering whether I should tell Corbyn. He is the first person to say something against leaving it to the authorities.
"Zach, you both had a connection. I'm one to believe in love and that it has strong forces. There must be some place that your gut thinks might help us. I'm open to anything," Corbyn basically pleads. After all, he loves her possibly as much as me.
"Well... there's one place," I say, thinking about what April said in my "dream." I refuse to belive it isn't more than a dumb dream.
"Where?"
There's suddenly knocking at the door. Corbyn groans softly, but gets up and lets the person in.
"Hey, Daniel told me what happened," Jonah says, coming in and sitting beside me.
"Weren't you out with Esther?" I ask.
Corbyn had left. He was probably frustrated, but I'll tell him tomorrow. "Yes, but Daniel called and told me you passed out. I came home immediately," he says, patting my knee.
That makes me feel even worse about yelling at him. "Jo, I'm so so sorry about yelling at you. Lately, I just explode and that's no excuse, but still. I've been awful to you. Especially on your birthday, but I'll try making it up to you." I follow it up by yelling out, "Corbyn!"
Corbyn comes running in. "What happened?!" It looks like his voice is doing better. I think that plan of getting April back ourselves is giving him hope.
"Bring me Jonah's present, please," I say.
"Oh, right. I'll bring mine, as well," he replies and walks out to get my gifts. Jonah turns back to me.
"Zach, I forgive you. I know this is all really hard for you. And you didn't need to get me a present," Jonah smiles with his white, little teeth.
"Of course I did. You're twenty now!" I exclaim.
"One more year," Jonah whispers, making me chuckle and him smile.
Corbyn comes back in with Jack and Daniel close behind him. They carry neatly wrapped presents of their own. Corbyn probably did it for them, it's one of his many talents. "Open mine first," I order.
Jonah does as I say and rips the orange wrapping paper off his new matte black MacBook. "Oh my God! Zach! Thank you so much, bro," Jonah exclaims with happiness as he squeezes me.
I laugh a little and pat his back. He opens the remaining gifts and thanks the rest of the boys. Corbyn got him the fifty dollar Amazon gift card, Daniel got him this gorgeous new guitar so he can keep learning, and Jack got him a Gucci belt. Jonah is beyond grateful and we all wear smiles for a while. I won't lie, it feels nice to have even a slither of happiness for a little.
Of course, when everyone goes to bed, I can't. It's normal, I'm obviously thinking about April. This time, I feel more hope towards her situation.
I hear my door creak open, but it's dark so I can't tell who has walked in.
"What's the place?" Corbyn whispers.
I sit up and turn my phone on so we can see each other. "You want to go now?" I ask since it's literally two in the morning.
"Yes," Corbyn confirms.
I sigh, fear coursing through my body, but I won't allow that to hold me back. "Let's go, then."
