Chapter 12: Friend

Sara stood outside on her way to walking home from school, one chilly afternoon. She held her phone up to her ear. When it was said that the call didn't reach the person she didn't get ahold of, she groaned in frustration.

"Come on, pick up already." The phone beeped, signaling that the person she was trying to get ahold of couldn't be reached. Sara groaned in frustration as she put her phone up in her pocket. She decided to start walking to her house, when she saw a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. The figure was none other than Wirt's little brother Gregory.

The little boy continued to walk, staring at the ground with a sad look on face. He has had a lot on his plate, lately. When Greg got close enough, Sara waved to him. "Hey Greg." She said, waving to him. The little boy looked up from the ground and up from his thoughts to acknowledge the girl standing in front of him. "Oh, hey Sara." Greg said with sadness in his voice.

Sara frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked him. "Oh, something's just going on, it's complicated." "Oh, well I noticed you were walking home by yourself, and I was wondering if maybe you'd like me to walk you to your house." Greg looked up at his brother's crush and smiled. "Yeah, I guess that's okay." Sara smiled, and the two started walking in the direction of Greg's house.

Sara decided to start up a conversation to pass the time. "So, I've been trying to get ahold of Wirt to see if he wanted to do anything after school, but he won't answer, do you know why that is?" Greg frowned and stared back down at the ground. A tear fell from his eye as he thought about what was happening and what was soon going to happen. Sara noticed this and frowned.

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." Greg looked up and smiled at the girl. "You're nice, no wonder Wirt has a crush on you." Sara blushed, and Greg giggled. The rest of the walk to Greg's house was silent. Greg was still sad, and still thinking about how he was going to defeat the curse. He didn't know how to do it, and he wasn't sure if he was even capable of doing it. He didn't want to lose his brother though, that much he knew.

The two stopped when they arrived at Greg's house. Wirt usually picked him up, but due to his moods and the curse, Greg had started to walk home by himself. He waved goodbye to Sara as she started making her way to her own house. Greg left the chilly air of the outdoors for the warm welcoming pleasure of the inside of the house.


Wirt couldn't hide his look of annoyance as his phone rang for about the hundredth time that day. It was Sara who was calling. Why did she care about him? Nobody cared about Wirt. He was destined for a life alone without anybody to drag him down.

The older boy growled at the phone that kept bugging him for the past few hours. He was wondering why he hadn't thrown the thing out the window by now. He then figured that the only way to get the thing to shut up, was to just answer it. He growled, and pressed the button.

"What?!" he snapped at Sara. On the other end, Sara was taken aback by Wirt's sudden outburst. "Um, I was just wondering if you and I could do something later." Wirt was disgusted by the sudden proposal. He wanted to be alone, and he was going to do everything to make sure that everyone who asked got the message.

"No, why would I want to do anything with someone like you?!" Wirt said this in the rudest tone that he could muster. "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting this way?" "Because I am sick and tired of dealing with people like you! Just get off of the phone, and don't call back!" Wirt hung up the phone and threw it out the window, where it shattered into pieces when it crashed up against a tree in the backyard.

Wirt had been receiving a lot of calls from his friends lately, or at least the people who claimed they were his friends. He had been receiving a lot of calls from Sara, and even some from Jason-the human-Funderberker asking if he was okay. Wirt didn't want any of it. He just wanted to be left alone. He had no friends, despite what everyone kept saying. He enjoyed being lonely, and thought that, for the rest of his life, he could just be the lone wolf, purposely stranded from his pack.


Greg didn't know what to do. Winter Break was almost upon them, and he still had no idea on how he was going to save Wirt. He had to get back to the Unknown, he just didn't know how. Jason hardly had any idea as well. All Wirt had been doing lately, was locking himself up in his room, and ignoring everyone who tried to get him to come out.

Greg still had no idea how hateful his brother had become to everything and everybody. He wanted to save his brother, but what was he supposed to do, if his older brother wouldn't even open the door to him when he knocked? Greg had been in tears a lot lately as he thought about Wirt, and how the curse was affecting him. |

Whenever his parents tried to get him out of his room, they were always unsuccessful. Every day, Greg cried for his brother, and cried because he couldn't find a way to save him. He was losing his brother, his role model, and his hero all at the same time. Greg couldn't even bring himself to work on his hero assignment, because it reminded him too much of the hero he once had that wasn't there anymore.

It was hard for Greg to think that there would never be anyone to comfort him after he had nightmares, or no one to help him when he ran in to trouble, or no one who he wanted to be like someday who would try and lead him down the right path to be the very best he could be. It hurt Greg to think that he could never again have that.

He could not let that happen.

But it was happening. It was happening, but he couldn't just accept the fact that he would never have a brother again, or he would never have a hero again. If something ever happened to Wirt, then Greg knew that he would still be his only hero.