Hidden In The Attic: An AJR Fanfiction

Chapter Twelve

↤↤↤↤↤ Danny ↦↦↦↦↦

After Adam left, we continued playing Monopoly for about another hour. Hanna won, managing to dethrone Ryan at the very end of the game. Everyone dispersed into their rooms and I went to the group chat without Adam, Jack, and Ryan, where we're all talking now.

Me: lmao adam was kinda weird earlier right
Jay: ur weird
Hanns: no but danny's right. adam WAS acting weird
Kib: adam was probably tired of everyones shit from earlier n wanted to sleep early
Julie: ok but what happened with jack earlier was also weird
Jay: this whole day was weird. im tired smh i'm going to sleep
Kib: night loser
Jay: :((
Me: good night jay :)

"Danny, you're right underneath me. You can just say 'good night' to my face." Jay peeks over his bed to look at me.
"Can I be nice to you without you criticizing my every action?" I look up from my phone to face Jay on the top bunk.
"Whatever. Goodnight, Danny."
"Good night, Jason."
"That's not my name."
I spend another ten minutes on the group chat. It's mostly Kib berating me and Julie sort of defending me, but also bullying me too. I text a "goodnight" to them and switch off my lamp.

I wake up and head downstairs for breakfast the next morning to find Ryan and Jack in the kitchen. Jack shouldn't be doing any sudden movements because he literally fell off the roof the other night, but whatever. I think he's moving slowly. I smell burning from the stove. I take a closer look and Jack's trying to hold the pan steadily with something charred stuck to it.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh, making french toast?" Jack lifts the pan over to the sink and drops it in. "Well, I tried to."
"I don't know where Adam went, so now we're stuck making breakfast for everyone." Ryan takes out a slice of bread and places it on a new pan.
"Don't you guys share the same room?"
Ryan shrugs. "Yeah, he wasn't there when we woke up." He turns to Jack, who's trying to scrape off the burnt toast from the pan with a spatula.
"You idiots didn't use butter or oil. That's why it's burnt."
I turn around and see Kib at the dining table.
"Hi Danny."
"Hi Kib."
Ryan heads to the refrigerator and opens it up. "I don't see any butter. I'll see if there's any oil somewhere else."
"Hey, if you know so much about cooking and shit, why don't you help us?" Jack points the pan accusingly at Kib.
"It's funny to watch you guys fuck up everything."
We turn to hear footsteps coming down two sets of stairs and see Adam still in his pyjamas, looking stern. Maybe angry.
"Adam? Were you just in the attic?" Ryan steps out of the kitchen.
He hesitates, as if shocked that someone would ask him anything. "Oh, yeah. I was, uh, looking for... some more bedding..." He gives a small grin. "It was cold."
Adam looks to Kib and stares at their wrist. I look as well to see why it's so interesting and I notice a leather bracelet. That wasn't there before. I only remember a watch and a different yellow bracelet on the other. Weird, but okay. He stops staring at it and looks back at Jack and Ryan.
"Well, now that you're here, you can make breakfast!" Jack waves around the pan. Why is he still holding onto it? Good look on him though. The chef thing, I mean. Moreso if he could actually cook, since right now all he's managed to make us for breakfast is a shrivelled piece of carbon in a small shitty pan. It smells like smoke, and I wonder why the smoke detectors haven't gone off. They probably don't work. That's comforting.
"B-breakfast?" Adam asks, still directly at the bottom of the stairs. "Yeah, of course. That's what I always do in the morning." He walks over to the kitchen.
Jack hands the pan to Adam, who hesitantly takes it. Both Ryan and Jack sit on the countertop to watch Adam cook something. Jack cringes as he hops up onto the counter, probably forgetting that he fell off the fucking roof. I sit next to Kib, who looks up to watch Adam as well.
"What are you gonna make?" Kib asks beside me.
He pauses for just a bit too long for it to be normal. "...Bread." Adam sets the pan on top of the stove less than gracefully, making a loud clang.
"You mean french toast?" I ask.
"Yes. French toast. That is what I am going to make."
Kib and I look at each other with suspicion, and then look at Jack and Ryan who do the same. We all watch as Adam places a slice of white bread onto the pan and lets it sit for a while. Kib looks like they're about to say something everytime Adam does anything.
"Adam. You forgot the oil." Kib finally speaks up.
"Oh, you're right. The oil." Adam almost stumbles around the kitchen to look for a bottle. "Where, uh, is it?"
"Check that cabinet." Ryan points to the one behind Adam. He turns around and grabs the green bottle, labeled "Olive Oil". He goes back to the pan, which has smoke coming from it, and starts to dump a shit ton of oil into it.
"Okay, that's enough!" Kib gets up from their seat and grabs the bottle from Adam. "Adam, just...sit down, man. You're going to give me a stroke if you keep doing this. I'll make breakfast." They push Adam into the dining table and he takes a seat next to me.
"Are you okay, dude?" I whisper to him. "If you're like, on drugs or something, you can tell me. I'll keep it a secret."
"Drugs? No. I'm perfectly fine." He gives a terrifyingly wide grin. That's very uncomfortable.
"Morning, homos." Jay walks down the stairs, followed by Hanna and Julie. He makes eye contact with me as he says the word "homos".
"I'm not gay, Jay."
"You sure?"
I scoff and roll my eyes. Adam doesn't call Jay out for basically assuming my sexuality. Weird. Usually he does, since this happens often. But he stays quiet, staring ahead of him as if the front door is fascinating.
Jay, Julie, and Hanna take a seat at the table and watch Kib make breakfast.
"Why isn't Adam making breakfast today? I don't trust Kib with our food, especially mine," Jay asks, watching as Kib sure-footedly navigates the kitchen.
"Because Adam's fucking stupid this morning for some reason." Kib's about to take some plates from the cabinet above them, but can't reach it. "Ryan or Jack or whatever, help me grab some plates."
Ryan gets off the counter and reaches over them to take out some plates. They place a bunch of slices of french toast onto a plate and brings them over to the table.
"Here, losers. It's 'french toast'."
"Why'd you say 'french toast' like that?" Hanna asks.
"Because it's not actually french toast without cinnamon or eggs, which we have none of. So basically it's just plain toast with no butter."
Jay picks up his toast, inspecting it. "My favourite. Thanks, Kib."
"Hey, it's better than what Adam and Jack were trying to make," they defend, sitting down in a chair next to him.
Everyone  starts to eat their breakfast, except for Adam. Is he upset that Kib took over making breakfast this morning? He's staring at them strangely. I think he's looking at their wrist again. Sure, the bracelet is new, but is it really that interesting?
"Dude, why aren't you eating?" Jack asks Adam with his mouth full of toasted bread. "Did you already eat breakfast or something?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm full right now." He pats his stomach softly. "You guys can take my... toast, if you want. I'm going to go and shower now." He gives another uncomfortable grin to the rest of us and heads upstairs. Fucking weirdo. That guy is definitely on drugs or something.
Everyone at the table seems to want to talk about him, but we all just stay quiet.
"What are we doing today?" Julie asks, breaking the silence.
Ryan shrugs. "Adam's the one who's in charge of the activities. We just follow whatever he says, since he's usually good at planning shit."
"I can go ask him!" I shoot up from my chair.
"Why?" Hanna asks interrogatively. "Did you move on from Jack and now you're trying to pursue Adam?" She says with a giggle. The rest of the table laughs, except for Jack who looks confused and concerned.
"I don't like Jack or Adam!" I retort. "I'm not gay."
"Okay, okay." Hanna raises her hands defensively. "Go ask Adam what we're doing today already."
I head up the stairs and check the bathroom, but he's not in there. I walk to his room and find him sitting on one of the beds, staring at the window. Oh, he's definitely high.
I give a small knock on the door. "Yo, Ads."
Adam turns his head to me and I swear, I see something on his face for a split second. Something weird. It was probably just some shadows, or my eyes being fucky, but it still throws me off a bit.
"What?" He responds. His voice is a little bit lower than usual. Maybe he's got a sore throat. He needs some saltwater.
"Uh, everyone wanted to know what we're doin' today." I lean against the doorframe and Adam fully turns his body towards me. Kind of weird.
"Oh." His voice is back to normal now. "We're just gonna stay in the cabin for the whole day. You guys can do whatever you want here, but you shouldn't go outside. Don't."
Weirder. "Why? Because of what happened with Jack?"
    "Yes. Exactly because of Jack. That is correct."
I raise my eyebrows slightly. "Uh, why are you sitting in the dark? Didn't you wanna take a shower or whatever?"
"I was planning on doing that soon." Adam then stands up. "In fact, I am going to do that right now." He walks past me and heads to the bathroom. He is definitely on something and I kinda want whatever he's on.
I walk back downstairs and tell the group what Adam told me. I can tell that they all think it's a bit weird that Adam won't let us outside, but we can kind of understand. Kind of.
The rest of the day, we all chill out in the living room, playing a variety of board games, and everyone collectively bullying me for no apparent reason. Adam comes down after a couple hours, but no one bothers to question him as we were all thrown off by his weird energy today.
Hanna and Julie are back in a burrito blanket, watching Jay and Kib play cards. Ryan made Jack go back upstairs to rest his back and now sits on the couch next to Adam, who's been awfully quiet the whole time. Ryan's legs are kind of angled away from Adam, and he looks a bit uncomfortable. It seems like everyone is noticing his strangeness.
I check the time on my phone and it's almost 11pm. This would be the time where Adam scolds us to go to sleep, like the dad he is, but he just sits there quietly on the couch. He's not watching Jay and Kib like the rest of us; he's staring straight ahead. I look to see what he's staring at, but it's just a wall. Adam glances at me for a second and I give a look back. It's a strange look he gives; not just an innocent glance. But I don't have much time to evaluate because suddenly, out of nowhere, I'm thrown across the room and into the closet, the force knocking the air from my lungs.
My back slams into a shelf and I hear a click. Was that me breaking something? Did the door lock? Ow. What the fuck?? It was probably Jay who threw me in here, since he was right next to me, but Jay's fucking weak, and I didn't feel anyone push me. It was more of a strange invisible force type thing, but I don't know. I groan and get up to open the door, but it's locked. Of course. Okay, this sucks. I bang on the door.
"Hey guys, this prank is lame and it hurts. Can you let me out?"
I hear muffled voices, but it's hard to decipher them. I press my ear against the door and feel something...wet? I pull away and brush my fingers over my ear, pulling them back to look. My fingers are wet. I hear a small trickling sound and look up to see water seeping from the top of the doorway. Wow, these guys are extra with their pranks. But it's kind of a fucking stupid thing to do.
"Danny? Can you hear me?" I think that's Julie's voice.
"Jukie, what the fuck? Can you let me out now? Why are you pouring water inside? That's weird and the wood's gonna get ruined."
"W-water? What are you talking about, Danny?" That's Jay now. "Is something leaking? It's not raining." I can see and hear the knob jiggling. I look up again and the water starts pouring more and more from the cracks in the room where the wall meets the ceiling, covering the floor and getting my socks wet. Ew. In a few seconds, the water grows higher, my lower legs completely submerged. I try to climb a shelf to get away from it, but they're old and one snaps under my weight, causing it to fall and splash into the growing pool of water at my feet. I press myself against the wall and kick at it, confused and trying to escape somehow. How is it filling up? There's so many cracks and holes in the walls! And where's the water coming from? I turn and start smacking the door now, frantic and cold.
"Guys, come on. What the fuck is going on? This is going too far now."
"Dude, we're not doing anything! What's happening?"
    I hesitate. Can they really not see or hear what's happening? "Wh- there's fucking water filling up the closet. Open the door already. What if I fucking drown in here, guys??" I kick at the water some more, trying to push it out through the crack at the bottom of the door, but it doesn't move. Why is it confined to this closet, and why am I the only one aware of it?!
I continue to hear muffled noises outside. "We can't open the door. The lock is broken or something."
The water pressure gets more and more powerful, with the levels rising higher every second. The water's seeping through the walls and the ceiling, coming in all around me. Panic overflows my senses and I begin hyperventilating.  Oh God, oh fuck. Why won't the guys let me out? Do they hate me this much that they're going to try and drown me? On a camping trip? I pound on the door some more, fear spreading through my body faster than the cold from the water.
Items get knocked off of the shelf and hit me. I'm treading water now, my limbs burning and my chest heaving. There's almost no space to breathe and I have to tip my head up to get any air. They still haven't let me out! What the fuck kind of prank is this?
I swim in the little space the closet has, over to the door and start yelling at everyone. Water splashes around me as I pound on the wood.
"HEY THIS ISN'T FUCKING FUNNY ANYMORE. I WON'T BE ABLE TO BREATHE SOON. I'M GOING TO DROWN. OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR. NO--"
I'm interrupted by the fact that I might not have enough air soon. I take an insanely huge breath, my nose pressed to the ceiling, and swim down to the door knob, furiously trying to shake it. The actual realization that this is not physically possible sets in. How they wouldn't keep this going on for long without Julie or Jay protesting; how the water is somehow sealed in with a door with more cracks and holes than swiss cheese. The world slows around me and the silence in my ears fills me with utter dread. My limbs are so heavy; I just want to give up. Is this really how I die? Honestly, I expected it to be cooler. Like I died a hero's death by saving Jack or something and he finally recognizes how awesome I am. My chest aches. If I die like this, I'll never see him again. Or any of my friends. Oh, God. I can't hold my breath much longer. My lungs are burning furiously, but I refuse to let the water in. My limbs give in and my vision becomes clouded. My brain slows down until I can't think anymore from lack of oxygen.
Then everything stops.