All Chapters of Dissonance and Harmony: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

I pull away and see her eyes flutter open.  She gives me a confused, almost hurt look.“I’m not going to do anything unless you give me the go ahead, Ryan.  Verbally.  I’m not Tommy and I don’t want to give you a reason to confuse the two of us.”I release her and turn back to the dishes.  After a few seconds, she stands beside me and grabs the utensils from the strainer, drying them.  We work quietly for a while, only talking to tell her where things go.I’m unplugging the drain and rinsing off my hands when she says, “Hey, Carter.  Can you help me out?  I can’t reach where the plates go.”Sure enough, I turn to see her on tiptoes, trying to put the plates onto the shelf.  I qu

“Thanks, man,” Patrick mutters before clearing his throat.  “So, I know that I’ve been really rough on Ryan in the past - “ “Pendejo,” Ayo mutters. “Ayo!” Lucy exclaims.  “Let him talk.” “Fine,” Ayo growls.  She folders her arms across her chest and glares at Patrick.  “Go ahead.” Patrick's eyes widen and he stares at Ayo for a second.  I realize that I don’t think that Patrick and Ayo have ever had an actual

Mr. and Mrs. Miller turn to me and I steel myself for what will not be a pleasant conversation.“So, Carter,” Mr. Miller starts.  “Do you know what Ryan has been through?”“She told me what Tommy did to her,” I reply.  At the mention of his name, both Mr. and Mrs. Miller visibly flinch.“Has she told you anything about what happened after or about the trials?” Mrs. Miller asks.“Not really,” I shake my head.  “I know that she had an episode today, related to her PTSD.  I know that the episode was about the first trial and Tommy attempted to attack her then.  I know that the episodes have been happening fairly regularly since that night.  And I know that she has an appointment

“I was put into Brook Haven for a month,” I said.    The local psych ward.  I mean, it made sense, since she tried to commit suicide.  But I can’t imagine Ryan there.  The people there have a reputation for being walking zombies.  I can’t imagine this smart, funny, vibrant, beautiful girl stuck there..    “It was...hell.  There was no privacy, no autonomy, no...control.  Funny how the cure to my losing control of my body is for them to take control of my body.”  She gives a mirthless laugh.    Ryan sits up and I let her

Things settled into a routine pretty quickly after that.  I drove Ryan to and from school, except for on days she had lessons or therapy.  We hung out with our friends most days after school.  They were getting surprisingly close.  Funnily enough, once the ice melted between Patrick and Ayo, they found out they had a lot in common.  It was...weird to see.  And, of course, I kept my promise to Mr. and Mrs. Miller.  At least once per week (though it tended to be a lot more), I stayed over and either ate dinner or watched TV with the family.  It was actually fun after the initial hesitation on her parents’ part.  Jake was a pretty cool kid, too.  He would get along with my little brother.  They even agreed to come to the cookout.