Life is Funny Like That

Tehn. My Most Pinterest-y Chapter

headphones on full volume for maximum results

have fun!!

Adrian only hesitates for a moment, finger hovering over the YouTube link. Headphones secured to his head, the video loads.

A saturated guitar riff rips through the speaker, jamming the notes up and down so fast, it's almost white noise.

He grips the wire, brain swelling inside his skull.

And then the screaming starts. The floor seems to drift from him, ears threatening to cut themselves off of his head. Noises filling parts of him, he didn't know existed, begin to shred through the layers of his composure. The sounds are so desperate for relief, so hungry for satisfaction. They are searching for some way to escape a sort of grief and rage in the very essence of the song.

It's unbearable. It's too much.

Breaths splitting into gasps, Adrian whips the headphones off and throws them to the floor. He wraps his arms around his knees, struggling to contain that out of control feeling as his throat closes up.

"In and out, in and out," he repeats through the coughs. His vibrating body sways back and forth in an attempt to mimic a rocking chair. 

His headphones still blare the noise of screaming and riff-slamming, making it no easier to calm his raging thoughts. All he can hear is the agitation in the screeching voice; sadness and brokenness beneath all the anger.

It mirrors his own.*****

...

Adrian's heart still races for no reason, minutes later. The phone now off and in silent mode, he stares at it distrustfully, waiting for it to burst into that agonizing volume at any moment.

Holding a cup of coffee in his shaking hands, the pale tan liquid, consisting of equal ratios of creamer to coffee, swishes in the mug with agitation. His hands have practically shaken out all of the heat. It doesn't bother to let out any steam.

An attack like that hasn't happened for a few months. It must have been building with all of the anxious thoughts he had kept tirelessly on his mind, day and night.

It's all because of Daffy.

Adrian releases a stiff breath, gripping the mug too tightly, his whole body shrinking in on itself like a fallen Autumn leaf. One that got stepped on. Broken into pieces and scattered. Crunched to smithereens by one footstep.

Although deciding who to blame the shoe on is difficult. Is it Grant or Daffy?

Oh well, it doesn't matter. What's done is done, and now he knows screamo is not the answer. Whatever the case, this situation he has found himself in has to stop before he gets hurt. Before he has to relive watching the plants die just like Clara's.

: Monday :

Adrian's palms slap the counter as he takes giant gulps of air, watching Daffodil. She cuts dainty bites of her waffle with such passion, she might burst at the seams. Her eyes close as she slowly chews.

He can't do it. He can't be mean to her. It just isn't right.

But the possibilities are overwhelming of what could happen if they keep getting closer, and closer, and closer, and...

Wrapping his arms around himself, he makes a beeline for the kitchen. Thank goodness the cooks' shift ended ten minutes ago.

Kimmy brushes her hands on her apron, watching the whole incident, from Adrian staring at Daffodil to the hyperventilating and his panicked exit.

The idea to bombard Adrian mid-attack might be a bad idea, but... She mulls the options in her mind, twisting her bracelets around her wrist.