Ashes of the Future

Chapter 6

The next morning was hell. Most of them had slept, knowing the hangover that awaited them, but they'd all also slept at Nathly's house, meaning no one slept alone.

Matt was the first awake. After staring at Dan's sleeping body for a few moments, he got up and headed downstairs. The unfamiliar setting off put him at first, not knowing where the tea lay was the most painful thing. So instead he poured himself a glass of water and sat down on the kitchen floor, knowing the sofas in the other room were taken up. He propped his back up against one of the kitchen cabinets, but did not know what to do with himself. His phone had ran out of charge, no one else was awake, only his brain and his thoughts. So he weakly let them take over, wondering what everyone was going to be like this morning, wondering what would happen when Betsey's body was found.

But Avry saved him from overloading himself with his own dangerous thoughts, as she strolled into this kitchen, one hand on her head and the other hovering above her side. Matt understood the pain she was in. A hangover was bad enough, but dealing with the death of a friend on top of that, when never having heard of murder before, was something completely different.

"How you holding up?" He finally spoke, looking up at her, but only being greeted by her back, as she pressed some buttons that produced some food for her.

"Oh don't worry about me, or any of us really, we can cure hangover with one bite of this food"

Matt was shocked at how she had completely avoided talking about Betsey. Maybe she was completely in denial, but another thought had wondered into his mind. Some of them were so drunk that they might not even remember the events that took place last night, so he figured not mentioning it was the best option.

She joined him on the floor, splitting this weird delicacy in half, offering Matt some. He would have accepted, but he knew he didn't drink enough last night to even be mildly hungover. Avry shrugged his denial off, and began eating away.

But silence was one of Matt's least favourite things. Silence gave him too much time to think, and thinking was always going to be the death of Matt. "So why are you so quiet around everyone else, but perfectly comfortable talking to anyone alone?"

Avry dropped her food down on her plate, wiping her mouth of any crumbs and quickly swallowing her food so Matt would not have to wait too long for a reply. "I don't feel the need to talk when there's large groups of people, my contribution rarely affects anything"

"Well I think you should contribute more your voice is lovely..."

"Avry"

"Sorry I'm-"

"Bad with names I know, I remember Cody saying. Can't be good at everything right?" Matt tried to hold back a smile, but he couldn't. He found it flattering that she had even bothered to listen to them talk before, but the fact that she had paid so much attention to know that Matt strived to know it all really impressed him.

"What are you two stragglers up to?" Dragging his feet across the floor, Cody entered the room with a cheeky grin on his face. One he couldn't seem to wipe unless he was annoyed or angered.

"Just eating a hangover remedy, you want any?" Avry picked up the half she had previously offered Matt, but Cody did not hesitate in taking it off her. Shoving the whole thing in his mouth in one go, Cody slid down the side to sit on Matt's left, Avry taking up the space on the right.

"Is this some sort of breakfast club then?"

"Cody have you even seen the breakfast club?"

"No but we're eating breakfast and this feels like a club so I put the two words together and-"