The Suicide Master (October Writing Challenge)

Chapter 5: The Warm Room

Chapter 5

The Warm Room

"I can't take this!" Riley exclaimed, throwing his head back.

"Maybe we should do something," Charlotte said. "It's not gonna get any warmer."

Aaron and Lucas came into the living room. "We couldn't find a thermostat anywhere."

"Ugh!" Riley cried, falling back into the couch.

"Like I said," Charlotte repeated, "we should do something."

"What should we do though?" Amily wondered.

"We could set up a warm room..." Emery muttered.

"A what?" Charlotte asked.

"A warm room," she explained. "Basically we can go around and get all of the cushions, blankets, pillows, et cetera, and put them all in one room where we'll hang out and probably sleep."

There was silence while everybody thought.

"Okay," Ethan agreed. "Let's do this."

"Oh, no, you don't," Charlotte stopped him. "You can't even walk!"

"I want to help!"

"He can come with me," Emery offered. "We'll split up. Gather all the sheets, pillows, cushions, and blankets that you can."

"Okay."

Everybody dispersed among the room, heading out each way.

"Come on, let's set the couches up for now. We can just wait for everybody, okay?"

"Alright." Ethan pushed himself off the couch into the floor and pulled the throw blanket off the back of the couch.

"How should we set this up?" Emery asked.

"Hmm... We could make a fort?" He suggested. "You know, like the nine of us used to."

The group had been friends since they were toddlers. With mutual friendships between all of their parents, the nine kids always had a lot of time together. They'd all hang out at Amily and Emery's house, making forts and playing typical children's games. They were all very close with each other. They know each other's secrets, thoughts, and feelings. They put all of their trust in each other.

Emery smiled widely and nodded. She took the throw blanket and set a corner on the small end table and put the lamp on top of it, holding it down. She then took another corner and attempted to hold it to the back of the couch.

"Here," Ethan handed her a few hacky-sacks that would weigh down the blanket.

"Thanks." She put the hacky-sacks on top of the couch and tied the last corner to the small chandelier, causing it to drape over most of the couch. The corner in between the lamp and the hacky-sacks fell down, blocking the light from the window.

"There," Emery said standing back to view her work.

"Wait," Ethan said and pulled the cushions off the couches, creating a sort of bed on the floor.

"Here you go," Lucas said breathlessly, coming into the room with Aaron. They both carried huge armfuls of blankets: comforters; throws; small, fluffy blankets; large, not as fluffy blankets. With a huff from both of them, they dropped the bedding in the floor.

"Are you making a fort?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"Yes, we are," Ethan answered with pride.

"O...kay..." Lucas said with a questioning edge in his voice.

"Right," Emery clapped her hands together. "Go find more stuff!" And with that, the two boys walked out of the room.

Emery immediately started to put the comforters on the cushions on the floor and set up the sheets above, tying all of the inner corners to the middle chandelier. They made a canopy over the living room, shrouded in warm light.

"Wow," Ethan awed. "It's been so long since we've done this and I can't even help..." He dejectedly stared down at his foot.

"Hey," Emery crouched down to where he sat on the floor. "Stop it. It's not even your fault that your foot is all jacked up. You're here, you didn't drown or die of hypothermia, okay?"

Ethan stared at her, his brown eyes reflecting off of her hazel ones. "Okay..." He whispered.

"Good. Now I'm gonna close these curtains." Ethan sat up onto his knees and stood on his left foot, careful not to put pressure on the bandaged one. He put his knee on the couch and closed the curtains in front of the window. Emery smiled to herself, and Ethan's sour expression faded away before he knew it.