DENOUEMENT
xviii. house of rendezvous
❝LIVE ON THE WILD SIDE A LITTLE.❞
SYDNEY AND FABIAN (a very unlikely duo) found themselves going into Nina's and Amber's bedroom, twisting the doorknob and opening the door, although their eyes narrowed upon seeing it empty. It had been quite some time now, and it was odd that neither of the girls had returned yet - surely the clearing in the woods wasn't that far away, so it was rather peculiar that they hadn't returned and that they hadn't heard from either of the girls. Although, Sydney was pretty sure Amber had told her about how she'd gone over her limit for the month by trying to vote for a contestant on Celebrity Pop Factor - they didn't even win.
"I thought they would have been back by now; surely it doesn't take that long..." Sydney murmured, mainly to herself, as she walked further into the room and glanced around it, trying to see if there was any sign of them having returned, whilst Fabian turned to the girl in confusion.
"Where did they go?" He questioned, with worry written all over his face, and, after the information he had just acquired whilst he was back at the school, he had every right to be worried.
Not seeing much of a big deal about it, Sydney picked up the card with the secret message in that must have fallen onto the floor earlier, showing it to Fabian as she told him, "They went to see if Patricia was anywhere near where she was meant to meet Joy last night – the clearing in the woods."
"Oh no." Fabian groaned, alerting the female prankster to know that it was a lot worse than she already knew, especially since he was rubbing his forehead in frustration, and as he noticed the confused look on the girl's face, he elaborated and explained his panic, "Patricia is with Rufus – I overheard the teachers talking about it back at the school; they said that he's dangerous. We need to find them."
"Maybe they're on their way back?" Sydney suggested, trying to help him to calm down and to think more rationally - afterall, they didn't want to rush out to the woods to find out the two girls were already back at Anubis House, "Call them."
Agreeing to the plan, Fabian quickly slid his phone out of his back pocket and rang his crush. Unfortunately, when Sydney peered over his shoulder, she saw that the contact name was just Nina, instead of it being 'crush' or 'love of my life' like she had been hoping - she would have most certainly used that to her advantage, and that was probably exactly why Fabian didn't have the contact name as that. However, things seem to become even more unfortunate when the pair soon heard a ringing coming from Nina's bed, causing Sydney to glance over to the source of the ringing and to lay her eyes on the girl's phone - of course.
"Are you joking me, Nina?" Sydney sighed, picking up the ringing phone and showing it to the boy in the room, who rolled his eyes upon seeing it.
"Nice one, Nina." He muttered, before standing up with a look of determination on his face, "Okay, we'll just have to go to the clearing and try to find them. Let's go."
Sydney nodded in agreement, and that caused the pair of them to quickly rush downstairs, taking a few detours to grab their coats, before they ran out of the house without anybody seeing them (Sydney knew that both of her prankster friends would have many questions if they saw her leaving the house alone with Fabian Rutter, of all people), and they bolted to the bike shed, with the female prankster simply getting onto her bike and sending an irritated look to Fabian, who she was waiting for as he took his time with putting on his helmet.
Also, may it just be stated: if Sydney knew that joining Sibuna required so much running and bike-riding, she most certainly would have never joined.
As the nerd glanced over at the girl, his eyes widened with shock and worry as he noticed the lack of a helmet on her head, causing him to lecture her like he was her father as he yelled out, "You need to put on a helmet, Sydney!"
"And you really need to calm down." Sydney retorted, chuckling a little at how much he followed the rules - Sydney didn't like helmets, and perhaps that'd come back to bite her one day, but for now she brushed her fingers through her hair and instructed the boy to, "Live on the wild side a little, Fabian."
At that, the nerd rolled his eyes as he finally got onto his bike, with his helmet being securely on his head as he replied to the girl, "I think I'm already living a little bit too much on the wild side – sneaking into attics and going out of Anubis without signing out."
"Oh, we have ourselves a rebel here." Sydney stated sarcastically, causing the boy to scoff at her as the pair began to ride their bikes into the direction of the woods - although, they weren't particularly sure where it was as neither of them had been there before, so they just went into a direction and ran with it... or, rode with it.
"You know, I don't think Jerome and Alfie would agree with you not wearing a helmet." Fabian suddenly blurted out after they'd been riding for about ten minutes, clearly still not fond of the idea of the girl not wearing any protective gear.
"What they don't know won't hurt them." Sydney replied, a smirk on her lips as she shook her head at the boy, before telling him, "Either way, Alfie probably would laugh and Jerome probably doesn't use helmets either, because of his hair."
"Why won't you just wear a helmet?" Fabian questioned, exasperated as the two finally came to what appeared to be a clearing in the woods.
"Is this it?" Sydney inquired, causing the pair of them to slow down, examining the area around them for any sign of the two girls who had also gone missing alongside Patricia Williamson, but then seeing absolutely nothing, making the female prankster sigh, "It doesn't look like they've been here."
However, Fabian harshly braked. As he came to a complete stop, the sudden movement caused the girl who had gone slightly ahead of him to look over at him in confusion and worry, coming to a stop herself as she wondered what was up with him, before noticing that his gaze was fixated on the ground, so she looked there next.
An oil trail.
"Nevermind." Sydney stated, retracting her previous statement of saying that it didn't look like the two girls had been at the clearing in the woods, blinking a few times at the oil trail - of course something had to prove her wrong.
"We're following that." Fabian told her, beginning to ride again as he followed wherever the trail took him.
"Kind of self-explanatory, but okay." Sydney mumbled under her breath, before beginning to ride her bike once again and catching up to the nerd, the pair of them following the trail despite having no clue where it led them - it even had the chance of leading them to a completely random person, rather than the three that they were looking for, but they had to try.
Soon enough (and after many more minutes of receiving a lecture from Fabian Rutter about bike safety and every single reason why a helmet should be worn), the oil trail case to a stop outside of a seemingly abandoned warehouse. They quickly got off their bikes and put them off to the side, before examining the place.
"They must be in there, right?" Fabian asked the girl, his voice a whisper - they didn't know who was around, and they didn't particularly want to find out.
However, at the question, Sydney's head snapped towards him in a confused glance as she replied to him, her voice also a whisper, "How am I meant to know that? You're the nerd in this group!"
Although, that didn't exactly have the effect that the prankster intended for it to have, with the pair engaging in a whisper argument as the nerd (who most certainly was a nerd) protested with, "I am not a nerd!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I am not!"
"Are we really fighting about this of all things right now, Rutter?" Sydney questioned, reminding him about their friends who were potentially stuck in an abandoned warehouse that they were outside of, "We have some people to break out."
"Yeah, we need to find the entrance." Fabian said, taking the helmet off his head and sending a pointed look to Sydney as he did so, before the pair of them began walking around the abandoned warehouse hesitantly and sneakily, not wanting to be caught, until they finally saw a door and raced to it, until the boy stated, "It's locked."
"Then unlock it." Sydney told him, causing the boy to roll his eyes at the girl as they didn't have anything to do that with - however, the female prankster noticed that there was no need for a key, and that you just had to pull at the latches, causing her to step forward and do the first one - that allowed Fabian to understand the simple mechanism and step forward himself to do the last one, before the pair of them swung open the door.
As they did so, they heard shrieks approaching them fast, causing their eyes to widen as they raised their eyesight to see Amber Millington and Nina Martin, the two girls who they had been searching for, rushing towards them with objects in their hands, ready to hit the two of them until they realised who was actually there - it certainly wasn't who they were expecting.
"Fabian! Sydney!"
The pair wrapped the two who had saved them into a tight and very grateful hug, with all of them having bright smiles on their faces. Sydney was extremely glad that her and the nerd beside her had rescued the two girls, and that they hadn't been stuck there for a long time.
"That was some welcome, guys." Fabian said with a chuckle, before they all pulled away from the hug and the boy continued to explain how the two found the girls who were trapped, "We followed the oil leak from the van; we didn't know if we were on the right track or not."
"I don't think I've ever been happier to see anyone in my entire life!" Nina exclaimed, and Sydney let out a small chuckle at her words, but then her eyes looked down and noticed the objects that the pair were holding, presumably to defend themselves with
"Nina... please tell me you weren't going to use a kettle to defend yourself against Rufus." Sydney murmured, causing everyone to see the object that the American had in her hands, all of them bursting out into laughter as they did so.
However, then a look of realisation and worry crossed Nina's face, as the name has caused her to remember why the pair had been stuck in the abandoned warehouse in the first place as she announced to the group, "Rufus took Patricia."
Soon enough, Fabian also informed them about what he had overheard, and told the group, "Mrs Andrews is trying to get her back - I overheard them at the school. They said Rufus was dangerous."
And with that information being laid out in the open, the group quickly made their way back to the school, in order to help save their purple-haired friend, Patricia Williamson.
Fortunately, as soon as they burst open the door leading to the corridor (they were very determined and eager to find their friend, especially since they knew that they were perhaps in danger), they set their sights upon the teacher that they had been searching for, who was already walking their way - perfect.
"Mrs Andrews!" Nina called out, causing the woman to snap her head up to see the four of them, confusion clouding her eyes as she looked at them and wondered what they were doing at the school so late at night when they were meant to be at their house.
"What on earth?"
"We know Patricia's been kidnapped, Mrs Andrews." Nina informed the teacher, causing a look of horror and shock to form on the teacher's face as she did so - she most certainly wasn't expecting that, and she certainly wasn't expecting what was to come.
"We know Rufus has got Patricia, and we also know that you know he's got her." Fabian chimed in, a smirk on his lips, as he knew that the teachers had to let the students help now - they knew far too much.
"And, we know that Rufus is dangerous." Sydney added to show that they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into - they weren't involving themselves on a whim decision, they wanted their friend back despite the risk it required.
"How-." The older woman began, but cut herself off as she began to stammer over her words, eventually getting out, "Where did you get all this information?"
"We know so much more than you think; we're totally up to speed." Amber told the woman, a grin on her lips as she did so - she wasn't wrong either; Sibuna knew a lot more than the teachers expected them to, and they were a lot smarter than they appeared.
"Yeah, so save us the crash course. I don't really think we have much time for that." Sydney instructed the woman, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so; honestly, this was perfect for her as she hated teachers on most days but now she had a justifiable reason to hate them and be sassy towards them.
"We just want to get Patricia back safely." Nina stated, letting the teacher know their intentions – they just wanted their friend back, and they'd stop at nothing to make sure that they did.
"As do I." Mrs Andrews agreed with the group, and despite her seemingly being a whole part of whatever was happening, she seemed like she actually wanted to help and as though she actually mildly cared about the students - Sydney still hated her, but perhaps that was also because of the many detentions the teacher had given her over the past few years.
"Okay, so what is the plan of action?" Fabian inquired as they were all eager to help to get Patricia back.
"The plan... is that you go back to your house, and get ready for bed, and I promise you, by the morning, all this will be resolved." Mrs Andrews told them before she brushed past them and continued to walk down the corridor, without sparing the group of four a single glance.
Fabian turned around to face the woman, and called out to her, "You're going to meet him, aren't you?"
"Keep out of this, Fabian." The woman demanded him, stopping in her tracks to face the boy with a look of anger on her face - she didn't want any of the children involved, yet they were already too far in; Nina and Amber had literally just been held hostage in Rufus' warehouse.
"We're already in it, can't you see that?" Sydney questioned with a scoff, shaking her head at the same time as it was all so ridiculous that they weren't allowed to help.
"We want to come with you and help find Patricia." Nina told the woman, pausing for a second and glancing around at her friends before she added, "We're not scared of Rufus."
"You have no idea what you're walking into, and besides, I couldn't possibly allow children to get involved." Mrs Andrews protested, clearly against the idea, despite the children already being involved - she seemed to not understand that part at all.
"Well, then you better have a time machine, because we're already really, really involved." Nina retorted to the woman, simply wanting to help and get their friend back, yet it didn't seem like they'd be allowed.
"Remind me, where are Joy and Patricia?" Sydney rhetorically questioned, sending a pointed look to the teacher whose mouth was agape whilst the prankster continued, "If we're children, then so are they. I hate to burst your little bubble here, but-" Sydney poked the air, faking to pop an imaginary bubble, saying, "Pop! Children are already involved."
"You can't go alone; he's far too dangerous." Fabian insisted to the woman, already being aware of the risk of the situation after their friends had been kidnapped and held hostage by him - however, that point seemed to help Mrs Andrews' argument.
"Precisely, and that is why you have to stay here." Mrs Andrews retorted, causing the prankster of the group to roll her eyes in annoyance as she let out a small groan, the teacher ignoring it and continuing with, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get my car."
And with that, the woman walked out of the building.
"What do we do now?" Amber questioned, considering that their plan of forcing the teacher to let them help clearly did not go as they expected it to, and now they had to think of their own plan – thankfully, they had their own secret weapon: Fabian Rutter.
"We get on our bikes, and we follow her." Fabian told them their new plan, determined to help find their friend and prove the teachers wrong – they knew exactly what they were getting into, and they did not have to be pushed aside and away from it, and this caused him to let out a scoff as he said, "Children? We'll show her."
"You know what, Fabian, I like this side of you!" Sydney called out, putting her hand up to high five the boy who rolled his eyes at her, before running away with Nina and Amber following behind him, leaving the girl stood there with her hand up as she called out to them, "So, no high five? Wow, you're evil!"
Putting her hand back down, the girl chased after the secret group and eventually caught up with them as they made their way to the bike shed again, quickly getting onto their bikes and all of them putting on their helmets - minus Sydney, who rolled her eyes at them all being so safe, especially when Fabian sent her a pointed look and motioned towards the other two girls who had worn helmets. However, before an argument had the chance to begin, they saw Mrs Andrews car drive past and began to follow it, keeping a bit of distance between the bikes and the car so that she didn't notice that there were four children (the exact same children who she did not want to be involved) following her.
Eventually, the car came to a halt, and thus, so did the bikes. Mrs Andrews had stopped somewhere near the clearing, presumably where she was meant to meet Rufus in order to get Patricia back. Due to this, all of the members of Sibuna got off their bikes and snuck up behind her parked car, crouching down behind it as they could faintly hear on the phone to Rufus, saying something about wanting to talk to the missing girl.
However, the car began to move once again as the phone call ended, causing the nerd of the group (despite how much he denied it) to begin to stand up, "Back to the bikes."
"You know what we need right now?" Amber asked, causing them all to remain crouched down as they turned to her in confusion, allowing to her to elaborate and answer her own question as she told them, "A car - a convertible, actually."
"Honestly, I thought you were going to say a horse and carriage." Sydney commented, letting out a small laugh as the fashionista tilted her head slightly, considering the option, whilst Nina and Fabian shook their heads at the pair of blondes.
"Well, we have to make do with what we have." Fabian stated, causing them all to finally stand up and begin to go back to their bikes before they lost Mrs Andrews car and wouldn't be able to find Patricia – they had to act fast and couldn't get lost behind.
However, as they begun to go back to the bikes, a small screech was heard from their fashionista, causing them all to snap their heads back to face her as they wondered what was wrong, only to let out a small sigh as they saw it. She had stepped in something on the road, which had ruined her shoes – Amber's worst nightmare.
"Oh, come on, Amber, there's more to life than new shoes." Nina assured the girl, knowing that they had to hurry to catch up with Mrs Andrews, or else they could have lost the chance of saving their friend from the dastardly man who had taken her/held her hostage, "We have to help Patricia."
With that being said, they rushed back onto their bikes and rode a little further down the road, before getting off them once again and laying them on the side, before crawling into the woods and through the trees, peering through all the shrubbery until they finally saw Rufus, who was leant against his red van, and Mrs Andrews, who was next to her car as she locked it. However, there was one person missing from that equation – Patricia Williamson, and as Sydney's eyes scanned the area, she realised that her purple-haired friend/roommate was nowhere to be seen.
"I can't see Patricia." Amber whispered to the group as their eyes frantically darted around the area in an attempt to catch sight of their friend, though they couldn't, which was peculiar - the girl shouldn't have been hard to spot, considering that her hair colour was dark purple with bright strands of pink and blue in some places.
"She must be in the back of Rufus' van." Fabian stated, all of them watching with curious and confused eyes as their French teacher tossed Rufus her car keys, presumably because he instructed her to so that she didn't immediately drive away after getting what she wanted – a smart move, on his behalf.
"Okay, we all know what to do. Let's go." Nina instructed them, before she paused and each member of the group shared a wary look with one another, being very hesitant to continue with the plan – which the American soon noticed, as she slowly asked the group, "We do all know what to do, right?"
"Not exactly, no." Sydney responded, not exactly reassuring anybody as she shrugged her shoulders, a faint but worried smile falling on her lips as she said to them, "But, I'm going to presume that we're doing what we always do - just winging it."
"Just... try not to let anyone see us." Fabian murmured, letting them all know the plan which they nodded in understanding at, although it was easier said than done – try to rescue Patricia Williamson from the back of her hostage's van without letting the person who took her, or the teacher, see them or hear them.
Despite how risky the task was, the members of the secret group still went ahead with it and very carefully began to sneak around to the back of Rufus' van (thankfully, without being caught) – some people would have called them crazy, and honestly, Sydney would have agreed, but that's what made Sibuna what it was.
Fortunately enough for Sibuna, Rufus was still distracted talking to Mrs Andrews. Their conversation was dull chatter within the background of the situation for Sydney, who blocked it out as the group finally got to the back of Rufus' van, with Fabian, who had led most of the way to get to the van, instantly going to grab the handle and pull on it. However, it didn't seem to budge no matter how many times he tried to open it, which led them all to come to a realisation that they should have expected that Fabian soon vocalised to the group, turning to them as he stated the issue with the door.
"It's locked."
If it wasn't for them having to stay as quiet as possible, Sydney would have let out a rather loud groan – thankfully, she managed to restrain it, and simply rolled her eyes at the news. Although, as she did so, movement inside of the van caught her eyes, causing her to glance back to the window and see Patricia Williamson within the back of it, looking physically unharmed, though the expression on her face was pure fear.
"Patricia!" Nina whisper-yelled upon also having seen her, causing the rest of the group to also notice the girl within the back of the van, them all approaching the window in which they could see her through whilst the American asked her, "Are you okay?"
That was a stupid question, and the female prankster made sure to vocalise her opinion on that as she turned to the girl who had asked it, confusion on her face as she bluntly said, "She's stuck in a van – I don't think she's on cloud nine."
"Get me out of here!" Patricia yelled out through the window, reminding them that they had very limited time before the man who had took her returned – their only hope was that Mrs Andrews continued to talk to him for a few more minutes until they figured out how to get the goth out of the back of the van.
"Hang on, Patricia, we're on it." Fabian assured her, reaching into his bag and pulling out a crowbar, using it in an attempt to pry open the door, although it appeared to be a lot harder than people in movies and shows made it out to be as he continued to struggle with it, and presumably the people yelling at him to hurry was making the stress even worse.
"Hurry up, please!" Patricia cried out as they continued to try and wedge the door open, and the prankster within the group began to wonder if they'd be able to open it in time, "Please! Quickly! Can you get the door open?"
"We're trying, Patricia." Sydney assured her, whilst she watched Fabian continue to try to pry the door open using the crowbar with worried eyes, before she decided to glance around the side of the van, witnessing Rufus get inside of the van, clearly about to drive off, and her eyes widened with shock as her heartbeat managed to get even faster, with the girl whisper-yelling at the boy, "Fabian, hurry!"
They only had seconds left.
The sound of the engine starting up made them worry more, along with the sounds of Mrs Andrews yelling at Rufus and crying for him to give her the purple-haired girl within the back of his van. Everything seemed to be going too fast, almost as a blur, until Fabian finally threw open the doors.
Thank God.
Hastily, Sydney reached forward and grabbed the arm of the purple-haired girl inside of the van, harshly yanking her out of the van to make sure that she was safe and out of the hands of the man who had kidnapped her, whilst Fabian closed the van doors seconds before Rufus drove off, unknowingly without his hostage, who was now being forced into an extremely tight group hug with Sibuna, all of them with bright smiles on their faces.
They had done it.
They had actually managed to rescue Patricia Williamson and get her back from that maniac of a man, and as of that moment, he was completely unaware of that fact. Finally having the girl back, the group let out small chuckles after that chaotic mission as they all felt so relieved and glad to have the girl back safely. However, as they pulled away from their hug, they noticed that Mrs Andrews, who was yet to notice that Patricia was safe and sound, had her head held in her hands with a devastated look on her face.
Although, she soon noticed the presence of the purple-haired girl as soon as she moved her hand away from her face and had glanced up from the ground, her eyes widening and her mouth slightly agape as she saw the five students approaching her – it was safe to say that she was completely and utterly shocked, "How on earth?"
"How's that for "children"?" Sydney asked, remembering exactly what the teacher had called them earlier with a smirk on her lips – they had most certainly proved the teacher wrong, considering that they had managed to save the student which she had failed to save – they weren't just children, and if they were, then they were pretty damn good children.
"Oh, Patricia, I've been so worried about you!" Mrs Andrews exclaimed, ignoring Sydney's remark as she went to hug the girl and make sure that she was okay – however, it was already evident that the purple-haired girl was not fond of the teacher and wanted answers to everything; she had not gone through that entire ordeal to not get answers.
As the teacher went to hug her, Patricia pushed the teacher away from her and stepped back, clearly not wanting to be touched by one of the people who had potentially kidnapped her best friend, and she let out a snarl, "Yeah, right."
"Patricia?" Mrs Andrews breathed out, seemingly confused by the hostile behaviour from the student – she really should have expected it, however, and Sydney couldn't remove the smirk from her lips as she witnessed the sassy and determined behaviour from her friend – she was not going to give up until she got what she wanted.
"Come on! What's the big mystery? Why is Rufus after Joy, and where is she?!" Patricia yelled the questions at the teacher, knowing that she was involved in the situation and had the answers that the group desired, and they had the perfect threat to get the answers they wanted, "Tell me, or I'm going global."
"Don't threaten me, Patricia," Mrs Andrews instructed the girl, her tone sounding somewhat solemn as she did so, before she informed the group, though, more specifically the girl who had threatened her, "you have no idea what you're getting into."
"Don't threaten me, Daphne." Patricia spat the words back sharply at the teacher, clearly not taking any more excuses or threats from the teachers, and thus causing smirks to gall on all of the students' faces at her words.
They had enough with all the secrets and the lies, and Patricia was the person who was most sick of them – she had been suspicious about Joy leaving Anubis House ever since day one, and now she had been kidnapped and was very much aware of the fact that Joy had been as well, and that caused her to continue to speak to Mrs Andrews, or Daphne as she had referred her as, with hostility and anger laced in her tone.
"I'm already in it."
A few minutes before the incident had occurred which had thrown Sydney's world upside down, she was having a conversation with her parents. She was sat in the back of her car, her head buried deep within her phone whilst she texted Jerome, as her parents attempted to converse with their daughter, being sat in the front of the car and turning round to her to catch her attention at times. In all honesty, Sydney could not recall a single word said in that conversation, as she was more focused on her phone than her family and wasn't paying attention to the conversation – she only remembered having it, though the words said during it were a blur to her, being background noise through the drive. At the time, she didn't know that those words would be the last words her parents would say, or else she would have paid a lot more attention, and perhaps even remembered their final words.
However, Sydney didn't pay attention to that conversation, until she heard a terrifying screech escape from her mother's lips – one of the many screeches that continued to ring through her ears, haunting her both in her nightmares and within her day. The screech caused her eyes to dart up from her phone, tearing away from the text conversation she was having, so that she could see what the commotion was, although the scene merely flickered before her eyes, happening so fast that she couldn't even comprehend it.
Her mother attempted to grab the steering wheel to get them out of the way, but it was far... far... too late.
The sound of pained and agonised screeches coming from those whom she loved with a mix of her own thrown in there, although she couldn't really distinguish them properly; the sound of a million shards of glass shattering; and the intensified sound of bones crunching filled the girl's ears, lodging themselves in her mind and being trapped in there for seemingly the rest of her life, as they would not allow her to forget the memory.
Then most of the sounds came to a halt. She could hear a faint buzzing noise, and some far away chatter and yelps for help that seemed as though they were coming from outside the vehicle, although she didn't pay attention to it. The shallow breaths of her parents were apparent, but they were worryingly shallow, and Sydney wondered why they weren't calling out.
It seemed as though the world was flicking a light switch, as her vision went from bitter darkness to blinding white light repeatedly, her not being able to make out much. Although, she could taste something cold and metallic within her mouth – blood, of course – which grazed her teeth and soaked her tongue, tainting it. She could feel the aches and cracks in her bones, as it felt like her entire body was being crumbled and smashed into a tiny box which even contortionists wouldn't be able to fit into.
However, before she could even try to figure out if she, or her parents were okay, the world stopped flickering it's figurative light switch, and the blinding white light slowly turned into bitter darkness as a blanket of darkness took over her vision.
Letting out a loud gasp, Sydney shot up from her bed with wide panicked eyes as she woke up from her nightmare - the same one as always, of course. Her nightmares were always about the crash, like she wasn't able to escape it and the memory was there to haunt her forever. It was like her mind was telling her that experiencing it once wasn't enough pain, and that she had to endure even more to get past it, and that was if she could get past it - Sydney wasn't exactly so sure if she was able to get past it anymore, it felt like a part of her that she despised and that she'd never be able to get rid of. That thought scared her. Still panicking, the prankster continued to take deep breaths whilst she grounded herself, letting the fear that was coursing through her veins slowly fade away until the blurriness in her eyes subsided, allowing her to notice the confused and worried eyes upon her and the girl beside her bed who was trying to calm her down - Mara Jaffray, again.
"Sydney, you're safe." The nerd whispered to her, which evoked the first response that she had gotten from the prankster - a nod, which made her try to begin an actual conversation with her considering that it seemed like she was finally replying, at least, physically, "Another nightmare?"
If Sydney hadn't just woken up from a nightmare in which she had to witness her parents die again, she would have responded to that question with some witty remark, saying something along the lines of how she just liked to jump up from bed for no reason and begin to panic - who didn't love that? However, she bit back her witty remark and simply nodded, brushing her hair back from her face.
"Are you okay?" Mara inquired, still evidently worried as she watched her roommate's expression with narrowed eyes and furrowed eyebrows, like she was analysing her for any trace of a lie as she continued, "You've been having a lot of nightmares ever since term began, and I don't remember you ever having this many last term or the term before that - if I remember correctly, you had two last term and they were about the-."
"The Grim Reaper." Sydney interrupted, remembering when the figure of death used to be her biggest worry, and in a way, it still was - her biggest fear ever since the crash had been death and losing those who she loved due to it; she'd already lost quite enough at the hands of death, and perhaps The Grim Reaper if it truly existed.
"Was it about The Grim Reaper again?" Mara questioned, a small look of amusement on her face as she thought that the phobia of the scythe-wielding figure was rather funny, because she believed in science above everything else and The Grim Reaper was most definitely not scientific.
Not wanting to tell her that her nightmare was about the car crash that killed her parents before term started, Sydney simply nodded - she'd have to remember that lie in case she was asked again what her nightmare was about, and made a mental note of that.
"Patricia's back." Mara commented, sending a brief glance over to the purple-haired girl's bed; she was still sleeping soundly, probably catching up on the sleep that she had missed whilst being in the grasp of Rufus Zeno.
Knowing that the nerd was not aware that the sleeping girl had literally been held hostage, Sydney nodded once again and lied to her roommate, "Yeah, she returned from the hospital late last night - she woke me up when she came in, but she said that her uncle is fine now and that there was no need to worry."
"Oh, that's good!" Mara exclaimed, before she glanced over at the time and her eyes widened with shock, "We need to go and say goodbye to Mick - he'll be leaving now."
Mick Campbell - he had a try out for a sports scholarship that day (hence all the training that he had been doing), and he was leaving early in the morning. It was weird to think that if he managed to get the scholarship, then he wouldn't be at Anubis House any longer - it'd be another student gone that term, like Joy Mercer, except he wouldn't have been kidnapped like she was.
"Should we wake Patricia up?" Mara inquired, sending a glance over to the sleeping girl.
Instantly, Sydney shook her head in disagreement as she knew that their roommate needed as much sleep as possible after the past few days that she had, and the prankster quickly came up with yet another excuse as she told the girl, "Like I said, she didn't come in until late last night - she'll be exhausted. Let's just go."
Thankfully, Mara listened to her roommate, which led them to quietly leave their room (leaving Patricia still asleep) to go downstairs. Of course, Sydney had grabbed her camera first before they left, and the pair of them ran into Amber and Nina along the way, who must have also had the same idea as the two and wanted to wish their fellow Anubis House resident good luck. However, knowing that Mick and Mara had something going on (though nobody knew exactly what), they let her go down first to have a private conversation with the boy, and then the three girls made their way to the top of the staircase and looked over the railing, watching the goodbye, and it seemed like they weren't the only ones.
"Sorry to gate-crash your tender goodbye." Jerome (very insincerely, because he really was not sorry) spoke from downstairs, causing the couple to break apart and glance over at the boy, who had clearly come to say goodbye along with the rest of the boys who lived in Anubis House.
"You could sound more sympathetic, you know." Sydney called down to him, which announced the presence of the girls at the top of the staircase, causing everyone to glance up at them before the jock looked back over to the boys.
"We just wanted to wish you good luck, dude." Fabian told him, the pair of them doing a small handshake as he sent the jock a reassuring smile - honestly, it was kind of weird to think that the try-outs that Mick was attending determined whether he stayed at Anubis House or not, and it meant there was a chance of him leaving, yet Fabian still told him, "Sock it to 'em."
"Oh, cheers. Will do." Mick responded with a grin on his lips, putting his hand on his suitcase and picking up all of his bags as he took his leave from Anubis House, everyone waving goodbye to him – of course, Sydney snapped a picture of the scene.
It felt weird to see the boy leave Anubis House, knowing that it had the potential of causing him to leave forever.
Another thing that was weird, at least to Jerome and Alfie, was the disappearance of the third member of their trio halfway through the supper, and they never saw her again until that morning - it was odd indeed, hence why they had decided to hassle her about it as they made their way to class with Mrs Andrews.
"I can't believe you bailed halfway through the meal!" Alfie complained once again (for what seemed like the hundredth time) as they made their way down the corridor, Sydney rolling her eyes at the boy.
"Especially with Rutter, too." Jerome added, glancing over at the girl with a suspicious look in his eye - of course, Sydney and Fabian had many conversations beforehand and had spent some time together, but it was always with a group of people, "You didn't even come back after. Where'd you run off to?"
"That's what I'd like to know as well - you ditched me with my parents, of all people to ditch me with!" Alfie exclaimed, mildly disappointed and upset about the girl having left the supper - after all, she always supported him and defended him against his parents.
"Here, there, everywhere." Sydney cryptically answered, not revealing too much but also not lying as she sent them a teasing smirk, trying to make think that she was just being playful rather than trying to hide things, before she pointed at Alfie, remembering something that she always said after seeing his parents and had done ever since the first time she had met them, "Oh yeah, I still hate them."
With that being said, the trio let out a small chuckle at the words as they made their way into the class that was due to start at any second, with the two boys going straight to their desk, whilst the girl noticed the other group that she was involved in - Sibuna - sat at their desks, having a conversation with one another.
Of course, Sydney intruded as she approached the group with a smile on her lips, kneeling down to sling her arm around Amber's shoulder (she was already in her seat), as she greeted them with, "Sup', losers. What are we talking about?"
"Do you think I overstepped the mark demanding answers?" Patricia questioned, referring to how she threatened Mrs Andrews to tell her all the answers that they needed/desired - they hadn't got any answers at that moment in time and were told that they'd get them eventually, but were soon dismissed back to the house due to their strict curfew, which they certainly were not happy about but reluctantly went along with, as they knew that they were able to easily use Patricia's threat against them to get them to tell them the answers another day.
Instantly, Nina shook her head, a small smile on her lips whilst she quickly assured the purple-haired girl, "No, you were amazing!"
"Who's ready to bring these suckers down?" Patricia asked, a little bit more determined after the reassurance, and thus everyone nodded in an agreement with the girl, matching grins on their lips.
"Sibuna." Amber called out, putting her right hand over her right eye and causing everyone else to mimic her actions, showing that they were all in it together and that they were going to bring down the teachers and find out the truth.
"Sibuna."
"Okay, settle down quickly, please!" Miss Andrews demanded of the class as she entered the class, clearly eager to start the lesson and causing the female prankster to quickly go to her seat whilst the chatter in the room died down, allowing for the teacher to continue, "Thank you. Now, it has come to our attention that some of you are not as occupied as you might like outside of class."
At that, Sydney's eyebrows furrowed as she wondered whether that comment was a small hit to Sibuna, and what it meant exactly - if it was more homework, she was already preparing herself to grab her bags and walk out of the classroom door and never return.
"You can say that again! Bring on the new girls, Miss!" Jerome called out to the teacher, a grin on his lips whilst he did so, and he managed to turn his head and glance over to Sydney just in time to see her roll her eyes at the boy, subtly shaking her head at him, which caused him to let out a very faint chuckle.
"So, we've decided to run elections for a school representative." Miss Andrews continued, ignoring the boy and not even sparing him a single glance as she continued to inform the class on their new plan to keep the students busy.
Honestly, Sydney let out a huge sigh of relief upon hearing that it wasn't additional homework.
"The school representative would be an ambassador for the school and would also act as a conduit for relations between staff and students." Miss Andrews explained to the group, providing more information about the role of school representative, until a certain sassy, purple-haired girl who just so happened to threaten the teacher last night put her hand up, causing the teacher to glance at her warily, saying, "Yes, Patricia?"
"I don't like the school rep idea, Mrs Andrews, but I might be interested in starting a school paper - the gossip, the news, the scandal, the truth. What do you reckon?" Patricia inquired, a threat buried deep within her words that none of the other students were able to recognise as she sent a strong glare to their teacher's way, and Sydney had to restrain the chuckle that she wanted to let out at the purple-haired girl's words, simply leaning back in her seat as she watched it all happen - Patricia Williamson was definitely feisty.
"I think you'll find, Patricia, that that little matter is already in hand."
At that, Sydney's eyes narrowed in curiosity, leaning forward in her chair as she was rather intrigued. Instead of paying attention to the actual lesson, which soon began after the teacher had answered Patricia, Sydney found herself wondering how the matter was 'already in hand' like the teacher had stated, and what it exactly meant - they'd received no answers as of yet, so it was completely confusing.
And after a long time of not paying attention in class and her mind creating a maze out of Mrs Andrews previous words, the class soon ended and Sydney found herself walking alongside her two prankster friends down the corridor, who were talking about Jerome's homework business. Mara and Patricia were linking arms as they walked in front of the trio, and Sydney heard bits of their conversation, which was mainly the former talking about Mick and wondering how his try out was going, whilst Patricia seemed like she'd rather be elsewhere and didn't look like she was paying attention in the slightest.
Sydney's assumption was soon proven to be correct, as the purple-haired girl quickly turned to her friend and apologised, quickly telling her before rushing off, "Sorry, I'm just gonna' have to go and talk to those guys. Sorry, Mara."
With that being said, Patricia left Mara stood there alone and rushed up to the secret group, sending a small look to the female prankster that told her to do the same - it was presumably so they could talk about what Mrs Andrews said in the lesson about the matter being in hand, so she sent the girl a nod which told her that she'd come over in a second.
"Aw, Mick's away and Mara's got no one to play with." Jerome teased the girl as the pranksters approached her, with him letting out a small chuckle as the nerd simply walked away from the trio with a tight-lipped smile, before he turned to face Sydney, questioning her, "Are you going to run away to them, just like Patricia did?"
"Actually, yeah." Sydney mumbled, wincing slightly as she did so because she knew that neither of the boys were particularly fond of it, so she quickly tried to leave to get to the secret group, but a hand quickly reached out and took her arm, keeping her in place.
"I thought we were going to spend time together this lunch." Jerome reminded the girl, his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed as he glanced down at her, seeming mildly confused with a hint of sadness on his face - he knew that she'd become a lot closer to that group, especially the fashionista of it, but he didn't understand why she had to keep running off.
"I'll find you later, I promise." Sydney assured him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it for a second as she sent the two boys a tight-lipped smile, before she quickly made her way over to the secret group that she was in, the boys watching her leave.
"'Bring in the new girls, Miss.'" Alfie repeated the words that the male prankster beside him had said in class, before he motioned to their mutual best friend with a slightly amused look on his face as he told him, "Looks like you're happy with the old ones - or just Sydney." At that, Jerome sent the boy a glare and a scowl, though that only seemed to further his point as he added with a nod, "Yeah, definitely just Sydney."
Meanwhile, Sydney was over with Sibuna, them all huddled in a group as they spoke about what their teacher could have meant as she told them the matter was in hand - although, they soon figured out exactly what that meant.
"You are to come with me." Victor's voice was suddenly heard from behind the prankster, who quickly snapped around to face the housekeeper as he glanced at all the members of the secret group, soon adding, "If you want to know the truth."
So, that was what Mrs Andrews meant by the matter being in hand, though the housekeeper didn't exactly provide any more information as he turned around and began to walk away, expecting the group to follow.
Shrugging, Nina was quick to follow the man in order to find out the answers, which soon led to the rest of the group following her - except Amber, who soon whispered loudly to them, "What are you doing? What if they stuff us in a hole with no food or drink or mascara for sixty-two days?"
Thinking that the chance of getting answers was worth the risk, the group shrugged at the fashionista before taking off and following their housekeeper down the corridor. Sydney, however, stayed in place with her hand against the door to keep it open, sending a glance to her fellow blonde-haired friend in hopes that she'd come with them.
It was only a few seconds later when the fashionista gave up and took the risk of being stuffed in a hole without mascara for sixty-two days, deciding to follow the group and catch up with them as she released a huff, "Oh, wait for me!"
Thankfully, Victor didn't stuff the group into a hole and leave them without food, drink, or mascara for sixty-two days, and instead led them back to Anubis House, where the kids all entered warily as the feeling of unease and worry began to wash over them. They had all began to regret following their housekeeper back. Sydney had earlier slung her arm around Amber the moment the fashionista had caught up with the two, and they were still like that as they entered Anubis House, with the two of them sharing a worried glance. As they had continued to follow the housekeeper, the more they had begun to regret their decision of following.
Sydney should have stuck with Jerome.
The housekeeper ushered the five students inside of the house, where they're met with a friendly face – Trudy Rehmann, who was polishing the sarcophagus in the entrance hall. Unlike a typical day, even the personification of happiness itself, Trudy, was not able to make any of them feel better, and she seemed to notice that as she turned to face the students, her face contorting into one of surprise as she saw the students back at the house when they were meant to be at school.
"Oh, you lot look terrible." Trudy exclaimed worriedly, before she glanced over towards the housekeeper who had brought them back, who was now leading them up the stairs, as she asked him, "What are you doing dragging them here in the middle of the day?"
"Don't let us keep you from your duties, Trudy - supermarket, yes?" Victor instructed the woman dismissively, waving her off with his hand before he turned to face the students, motioning for them to continue going up the stairs despite how worried they all looked, "Come, come, my office - up, up, up, up, up."
Following his instructions, the five students warily and very much reluctantly entered the office, whilst their housekeeper continued to talk to Trudy, making sure that she was gone from the house and doing her chores. Meanwhile, as soon as they remained in the office, Sydney began to hear faints pants and turned her head to see Patricia with her hand on her chest as she continued to breathe heavily, almost like she was hyperventilating.
It seemed that Sydney wasn't the only one who noticed, as Nina soon gripped on to the purple-haired girl's arm, whose breathing only seemed to be getting worse and worse with each second, and questioned her worriedly, "Are you alright?"
Not being able to get out a response due to her panicking, the girl shook her head as a response, clutching onto her chest as she her breaths continued to get quicker and harsher, especially when the housekeeper finally entered the room after having finished his conversation with Trudy and making sure that she was gone from the house.
Taking her arm away from the fashionista's shoulder, Sydney quickly approached her roommate and grabbed her arms, making sure that the girl paid attention to each word that the prankster said and could focus on something that wasn't creepy (for example: Corbierre), before she began to instruct the girl calmly, "Listen to me, you need to focus on your senses and ground yourself, okay? List five things you can see."
"We need a paper bag." Nina stated quickly, becoming panicked herself at her friend's shaken up state as her eyes began to dart around the room, looking for something that would help calm down the girl as she yelled out once again, "We need a paper bag!"
"I can't- I can't breathe." Patricia stammered out through her quick, deep, and panicked breaths, ignoring what her prankster roommate had instructed her to do as she glanced over at their housekeeper, who was blocking the door as she continued to cry out at him desperately, "I need to get out of here. Let me out!"
Although, Victor did the opposite of letting the girl out, and instead locked the door (which was their only exit, unless one of them wanted to jump through a window and risk breaking a bone) so that they were trapped inside of his office, all of their eyes widening at the sight and beginning to panic themselves. Meanwhile, their housekeeper's expression did not falter a single bit as he moved and sat down at his desk calmly.
"Victor, you heard her! Let her out!" Fabian yelled at the housekeeper, shocked that he was acting so calm and didn't care that one of the people in his care was having a panic attack and banging against the door to his office, relentlessly trying to open it and pull at the handle, though it was to no avail.
"Me too!" Amber chimed in, her eyes wide as she watched everything happen with a frightened look on her face – she was getting more and more scared as the seconds passed, and she really regretted catching up to the group earlier, hence why she also wanted to be let out as she continued with, "I'm too young and too pretty to die."
"You wanted answers." Victor spoke loudly over the purple-haired girl's repeated and constant cries to be let out, ignoring her (and now Amber's) attempts to open the door and their frantic calls to be let out of the office whilst he opened a laptop and turned it around to face the students who looked at it confused as he continued and told them, "Well, here they are."
Sydney's confused expression turned into one of shock as an image popped up on the laptop screen – one of a very familiar girl who they had seen a few days ago, yet weren't given the chance to speak to as she had to rush off stage. It was Joy Mercer, the missing resident of Anubis House, looking a lot more normal than she did a few days ago considering that she wasn't wearing her disguise anymore. Instead, she seemed to be in a pink hoodie, though she still seemed worn out with the bags under her eyes evident – she looked exhausted, and still broken.
"Patricia?" Joy's voice called out through the screen – it was a video chat – and at the sound, the purple-haired girl's breathing slowed down, instantly becoming calmer as she snapped her head to face the laptop, her eyes wide as the girl on the screen continued, "Are you there?"
"Joy!"
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[25.05.2020]
NOTE: fabian and sydney never have many scenes together by themselves, but when they are together they're rather iconic and hilarious because of how opposite they are and i absolutely adore writing them - it's perhaps one of my favourite smaller friendships that sydney has. also, this chapter is mainly sibuna-related rather than jerome, but i can assure you that the next chapter is filled with sydrome content.
additionally, you may have gotten an update for 'ACT ONE.' and this is because i have decided to put a divider/start a new act where each season begins - it's nothing that important and you could skip it, but it includes a song from the playlist and a gif that both give a hint of what sydrome are like during that season.