Crystal Tears

Chapter 5

Rylan paced the dark hallway infront of Greyson's room, sighing ever so often. She cracked his bedroom door open again, checkin on her friend. Greyson slept peacefully, just like every other time Rylan checked on him. She quietly shut the door and walked across the hall, slinking onto the floor.

Axel peeked around the corner of the stair case, silently watching Rylan as she slid down the hall wall, looking as if she was going to cry. Axel grazed Rylan's body with his eyes, he loved her short facique. He found himself staring into her deep green eyes, earching them for signs of what she was feeling. Gathering his confidence, Axel jolted upright and rounded the corner, only to stop mid-step, not knowing what to do. Should he comfort her? Hug her? Maybe even kiss her? Memories of their first kiss flooded his mind, the sparks, the tingles, the rejection..

"Axel? What are you doing up?" Rylan questioned.

"Um..I-uh- really don't know." Axel stammered.

Well can I help you with something?" Rylan inquired.

Axel stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Did he want to talk to her? Should he ask why she rejected him? Did he care? Of course he did. He loved Rylan and always will, even if she did reject him, but he wanted to know why.

"Axel?" Rylan questioned.

"Huh?"

"You spaced on me?" she said it like a question.

"Oh! Sorry I was just thinking about hthe other night." He informedher, looking towards the floor. When he heard Rylan sigh, he quickly looked towards her. She looked confused, angry, but most of all..hurt. He hadn't meant to hurt her, but he wanted answers. And shouldn't it be him that is hurt? I mean she did reject him, not the other way around.

Axel sauntered towards her, stopping to slide down beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and comforted her while she silently wept. They sat there for what seemed like ages before Rylan took a deep breath and looked into Axel's big, blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "I can't tell you I love you."

Axel felt his heart shatter, as he took in those seven words he never expected to hear,. She doesn't love him? But what about the kiss they shared. It was so passionate and so full of love. Or was it lust?No it was love, at least for him, anyways.

Axel saw Rylan stand from the corner of his eye. "Wait!" he shouted, jumping to his feet. "You can't just tell me you don't love me and expect me to believe you, when we shared such a passionate kiss not even 48 hours ago! And the chemistry we had when I helped you overcome your fear of heights. What about all the flirting and cute banter we always do. If you don't love me you have to at least like me right?"

Rylan sighed again before looking into his eyes. They were so full of pain and confusion. "Axel, I never said I didn't love you. I just said I couldn't tell you." And with that she walked around the corner and into her room.

*****

The den was filled with mindless chatter, everyone anxious to know what happened to Greyson. Jade sat wrapped in Beau's protective arms, pestering Rylan about why she and Axel weren't going to be together. Rylan remained silent on the matter only replying with an aggravated grunt and an eye roll.

Addison sat curled up in the single lounge seat, staring at her phone and blaring All Time Low from her earphones. Not speaking or looking at anyone in the room and letting single, silent tears roll from her red, swollen eyes ever so often.

Axel and Josh ever in the kitchen silently fixing snacks for the crowd in the living room. They made awkward eye contact sometimes, quickly looking away. Andrea, Blake and Bentley were sitting under the flat screen, shuffling through the hundreds of DVDs.

"What about this one?" Andrea asked with a smile, holding up Titanic. She was met with a chorus of BOO's from the guys in the room, while Jade chirped excited YES' over and over. Rylan and Addison remained silent. Axel and Josh entered the room carrying buckets of popcorn and chips, as Bentley joked about Brokeback Mountain.

"Hey! I like that movie!" Josh defended.

The entire room burst into fits of hysterical laughs, even Addison giggled a little.

"Of course you would." Came a sarcastic voice from the top of the stairs, causing the room to go silent.

Everyone rushed to the bottem of the stairs, on edge and ready to act if anything happened. Greyson took each step slow, wincing in pain every other step, out of breath by the time he reached the bottom. Once he made it to level ground, Greyson let out a shaky breath and leaned against the wall. "That's harder than it looked." he commented with a weary smirk.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Rylan demanded.

"I'm hungry. I feel like I haven't eaten in days," he answered lightly, his slight Australian accent more distinct than ever.

"That's because you haven't," Beau informed.

"Yeah, you've been out cold for the past two days," Rylan added. "We tried waking you but no one got an answer."

"Oh, well I guess its a good thing I woke up then." Greyson deadpanned.

He started off towards the kitchen, grunting in pain every other step he took. Once he made it to the kitchen he found a pack of ramen noodles and continued to cook them in the microwave. Everyone had followed him into the kitchen and gathered around the kitchen table, waiting. Greyson continued to prepare his five minute mean, ignoring the stares and quiet whispers. When his ramen noodles were finished he sat at the island in the middle of the room, with his back facing the rest of them.

Axel had had enough of Greyson ignoring them, clearing his throat loudly, gathering everyone's attention he asked, "What happened to you the other night?" Greyson froze at the question. It took him a few moments to gather his courage to face them. Greyson slowly turned towards them looking at each of them in turn before letting out a ragged breath. Looking toward the floor, he began to tell his story, "I heard Jade and Molly talking about me and when Molly called me a freak i got mad, so i went for a walk. I thought about just heading for the house but changed my mind. So I headed for the woods. I walked for a good 20 minutes or so before I found an abandoned cabin. My curiosity got the better of me, I went to look around but before I made it to the porch someone grabbed me and put a black sheet over my eyes. They started asking questions and when I wouldn't answer, they cut me. I thought I was gonna die. The pain was horrifying, I passed out before they finished their questioning. I don't know what happened after that. When I woke up I was outside our cabin." Greyson finished his story still looking at the floor. He only looked up when someone asked a question he didn't want to answer.

"What were they asking you about?" someone in the crowd asked.

"They were asking about..you," Greyson answered, looking Jade in the eye, completely oblivious to the other people in the room. "They are after you. They said something about a sacrifice ritual. That's all I remember before I passed out." The room had gone silent, no one moved. Greyson remained still shooting sad glances at Jade. Jade's mouth had dropped, shock was clear in every aspect of her stature. Beau quickly snapped out of his trance and wrapped Jade in his arms assuring her that everything was going to be okay and that no one would hurt her as long as he was around.

Beau looked at Axel, forming a plan that he quickly understood.

"Everyone, pack your things, but bring only the essentials. We're leaving tomorrow."