Talking About It at Last

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah did not know what to say or what to do ever since his sister had sent him the letter telling him that his parents and youngest sister had died on their way back to the country. He hadn't told his friends what had happened yet just because he couldn't muster up the courage to face the reality of not having them around anymore. He'd been avoiding them ever since it happened just because he knew that he couldn't control his emotions if they would ask him why he had been so quiet lately and avoiding them, however, one of them had asked him to meet him in the room the three of them had discovered here not too long ago. He did not want to walk up to the sixth-floor corridor and meet Marisol in the Room of Requirement, but after not having said more than ''hello'' or ''mhm-hm'' for almost five months, Asaiah felt that he owed her an apology and an explanation for his attitude towards her and their other best friend over those five months. As he approached the corridor and saw the door to the room appear in front of him, the teen sighed deeply. Asaiah pushed the doors open and walked into the room, smiling weakly when noticing his friend.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol didn't know what was happening with her group of friends this year. If it wasn't for classes or practice she hardly ever saw them. She knew this year was going to be different for them all but she hadn't expected it to be like this. It seemed like each one of them was dealing with different things that they didn't want to talk to each other about. Thankfully she had Noelle to spend all her time with so Marisol wasn't ever alone, even if she missed her best friends all the time. But after Wyatt had written her a letter saying he had been diagnosed with depression which explained his distance from them, she was beginning to worry about Asaiah. So she asked him to meet her at the Room of Requirement so their privacy could be guaranteed. Marisol had arrived already and was chipping away at her nail polish as she waited for the Slytherin to arrive. When she heard the door open she looked up and saw him standing there, looking as if he hadn't slept for days, or weeks, and Marisol weakly at him. "Hey you, " she said, walking over to him. She wanted to hug him for some reason but she held back and said, "Thanks for coming."
​

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah was tired and had not had a good night's sleep for weeks but right now wanted nothing more than to go back to the library to distract himself from the thoughts running through his head. He wanted to turn back and walk out of the Room of Requirement while he still could because he knew what was going to happen once she asked the question he figured was on her mind, but also knew that she deserved to know what was going on with him as he had been avoiding the girl ever since boxing day. ''Hey,'' the teen said as she approached him. He nodded his head. ''If you are here to rub Gryffindor's championship in my face, I'll warn you now, it won't happen again,'' Asaiah said jokingly in the hope that it would lighten up the gloomy mood already present in the room but also to stall whatever she was going to ask him next.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol chuckled weakly when Asaiah brought up their recent Gryffindor championship and briefly flashed him a triumphant smile. "Isn't this the second year in a row that Slytherin loses the cup by a few points?" she taunted him, reminding him of how close Slytherin had been to a championship before. The fact that he could still crack jokes about Quidditch made her feel somewhat better about how he was but she could tell something was still off about him. Marisol threw herself down onto a bean bag chair that was in the room and gestured for him to join her and said, "What's up?" She tried to sound casual but she was anxious for some reason. Before waiting around for much of an answer, she decided to ask what was on her mind to get to the bottom of what she thought was wrong with him. "Are you okay? Did you and Jessica break up?"
​

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah shook his head while chuckling slightly at his friend's response to his teasing and said, ''You just wait, next year we'll be kicking your asses again.'' He was glad to see that she did not choose to ignore his teasing because he hoped that by teasing each other about Quidditch and other things, he would successfully avoid whatever she was going to ask him since he was not sure whether or not he actually wanted to let the girl in front of him know what had happened over the Christmas holidays even though she was his best friend and deserved to know the reason as to why he had not said anything to her at all. When she gestured him to follow and sit himself down onto a bean bag chair as well, Asaiah hesitated for a moment but eventually made his way to her and carefully sat down. He looked up at Marisol when she asked him what was up and shrugged. He was about to answer Marisol's question about what he'd been up to while he had avoided them when she asked him another question. Although he expected the first question she asked him, the Slytherin found himself surprised by her second question. ''No,'' he said, choosing to ignore the first one. ''Jessica and I did not break up.'' Truth be told Asaiah wasn't even sure about their relationship status at the moment, as he had ignored any letters coming from the pink-haired girl as well. ''What about you? How are you doing?'' he asked in return, once again trying to lead their conversation to something else other than how he was doing.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol playfully scoffed at Asaiah's comment about his team beating hers and shook her head. "No way Gryffindor's rise to the top is coming, this championship was just the beginning of it all," she said pridefully, though aside from bragging rights she really didn't care about the House Cup. She was just glad they weren't in last place and she hadn't cost her house lots of points this year. Mari had caught how Asaiah had hesitated to join her but didn't think much of it until his response to her questions. When he first said 'No' she thought he was replying to her initial question if he was okay, but then he clarified that it was an answer to the second question. "Oh okay, well that's good," she said with a small crease on her forehead. She was glad her best friend was still dating someone but now she had no leads as to why he could be so distant and somber lately.

She looked up when he asked about her and she shrugged. "I've been okay, mostly hanging out with Noelle," she said with a small smile. "Not that I'm not happy about that, but you and Wyatt have been kind of distant lately. Did I do something wrong?" she asked bluntly as the thought occurred to her. Though now she understood why Wyatt had pulled away from them because he had explained his condition to her, but she didn't know if Asaiah knew about it and it wasn't her secret to tell so she didn't mention it.
​

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He nodded his head when she answered his question and smiled at his best friend, happy to hear that she had been hanging out with Noelle whilst they weren't around since he did not want his friend to spent her spare time alone. ''No,'' Asaiah said firmly when she asked him if she'd done something wrong. ''You... It's has nothing to do with you,'' he added with slight difficulty. He did not want Marisol to feel like it was her fault that they had not seen or spoken much to each other during those five months he'd distanced himself from his friend because he would have never let that happen in any other circumstances. He just couldn't bring himself to talk to either of his best friends about it the moment he found out what had happened. Asaiah took a deep breath and felt the control he was having over his emotions slipping slowly. ''I... uh... look, I just...'' He was trying to get the words out, had them all lined up in his head, it just wasn't happening. He sniffed and looked away from his friend, hoping that she hadn't noticed that his eyes were getting watery.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol should've been reassured that Asaiah's distance had nothing to do with her but if anything she was even more worried for him. Since Wyatt had just come clean to her about his depression, she was beginning to come to the same conclusion for him. So many thoughts ran through Marisol's mind as she tried to figure out how best to approach the situation, but before she could settle on something she heard the tone in Asaiah's voice. The Gryffindor looked over at him and bit her lip. His voice seemed to quiver as he struggled to get the words out, but couldn't and Marisol was suddenly alarmed. "Asaiah, whatever it is you can tell me," she said, scooting closer to put her arms around him in a hug. She didn't know what it was he was going through but she knew he could definitely count on her for support.
​

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

When Marisol put her arms around him in a hug the teen couldn't stop himself from doing the thing he'd promised himself not to do in front of her before he stepped into the room. A single tear slid down from his honey-brown coloured eyes, followed by another one, and another one, until soon a steady stream of salty tears flowed it's way down his cheeks, releasing the sadness and sorrow that had been held inside of him for months while noisy sobs echoed through the Room of Requirement. He then buried his face in the girl's shoulders, hands clutching her arms. It'd been the first time he was crying since he had received word from his oldest sister back in December so everything he'd felt in the meantime was released by tears and sobs.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol hugged her best friends all the time, she had trouble respecting boundaries especially when she was close to someone, but this hug somehow felt different, as if Asaiah had needed this all along given the way he hadn't let go yet. At first she didn't notice he was crying but soon enough she could feel his body shaking as he sobbed openly and hid beneath her shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked, alarmed, but she didn't know if he could hear her with how much he was crying. The latina hugged him tighter and rubbed her hand up and down his back trying to soothe him while he cried and tried to calm him down. "Asher, what is it?" she asked again, using his family nickname to get his attention. Her voice was tight with anxiety as she wondered what could make her best friend react like this and hoped for an explanation.
​

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah had known all along that if he would lose control over his emotions he would not be able to move any of his muscles, so rather than answering his friend's questions, the Slytherin continued to sob whilst holding onto her tightly. It felt good to let it all out finally but it also made him feel guilty for being relieved that he was at last showing some sort of emotion toward one of his friends. Over the course of five months, his feelings had time to develop as he read the letter over and over again, hoping to receive another letter saying that it had been a really bad prank set up by Hannah and that she was now sorry for pulling it on him, as he would feel terrible for receiving such news. Instead, the teen tried to ignore his feelings and emotions by avoiding those closest to him and focusing on school as much as possible in the hope that at the end of the day he'd fall asleep from reading a lot earlier that day. Asaiah looked up at Marisol, tears still running down his face. He was starting to calm down a bit, though the tears and heavy breathing did not stop. ''They died,'' he told his best friend after a couple of seconds, wondering if she could recall him telling her and Wyatt the reason as to why he was going to spend the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts rather than at home like he usually did.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol had no idea what would cause such a reaction from Asaiah but she waited patiently for him to let out what he had clearly been holding in for a while. She hated seeing him this way but all she could do was hug him tightly to let him know she was here for him. She felt guilty for not trying to check up on him sooner throughout the semester. He'd been really distant all year but given how moody all three of them were at any given point and time, she hadn't thought too much into it and just gave him the space he had wanted at the time. Now she wished she wouldn't have done that, but right now it didn't matter because she was here now.

Marisol watched him carefully as he seemed to compose himself enough to answer her. At first she didn't understand, she thought she had hallucinated what he said, but then she realized it was her brain purposely trying not to accept it. "What?" she said in disbelief. Her throat felt tight as she asked, "Who?" Her first thought was his family but she didn't want to believe that could actually be true, but she had to ask just to make sure. She bit her lip as she looked at him, feeling a lump forming in her throat. She couldn't cry, she had to be strong for him. But she hated the idea of Asaiah carrying around that pain by himself for so long and it made her heart ache. Marisol wrapped her arms around him again, squeezing him tightly as if trying to absorb the pain from him. "Asaiah I'm so sorry," she whispered.
​