Shattered Mirror [Rewriting]

Chapter 9 - Breaking the Habit

If there was one thing Aaron prided himself in it was watching and never interfering unless he had direct orders to. Whether a situation concerned him or not, if it was not in his assignment’s best interest to react he would remain stoic and sometimes painfully so. Several times in the past had seen him wanting to step forward and put a dagger in the gut of the perpetrators of several distasteful situations but all his hard won self-control had made him turn a blind eye. And he often hated himself for it. Aaron found himself in such a situation that night as he had umpteen times in the past three days since the attack on Corliss at the school. Every night like clockwork his creator would wake screaming into her pillow at one o’clock in the morning and no matter how much he wanted to step forward and reassure her she was alright, he stayed in the shadows. Observing. Aaron had expected it to be simple but as the nights wore on his conscience ate at him, needling him for not comforting her. For not doing anything despite it not being his duty or place. The guilt only grew worse during the day when he watched Corliss refuse to eat or interact with anyone, her eyes hollow and bloodshot. Beyond telling them what she knew of the villains, she’d said nothing more and kept mostly to herself in her room where she would sit in a corner and stare at nothing. She often muttered to herself but Aaron was never close enough to hear her words and when he made his presence known, she would grow silent and look anywhere but at him. He did not take it as an insult because she did the same thing to everyone else including Nom when they’d sent her in to try and bring the girl out of her shell. Her reluctance to speak with her best friend was starting to have a negative effect on Nom who was in turn becoming short of temper and extremely drawn, vanishing into her own mind for periods of time that were only growing more extensive with each lapse. Even Liss’ parents had noticed the difference but Liss barely even acknowledged them, mumbling poor excuses about not feeling well. When they’d offered to take her to a doctor she’d shot them down, hollering that she was dealing with personal issues before she’d pulled the blanket over her head and said nothing more on the matter. Between the writer, her best friend and Josh, Aaron was sure he and Bavita were the only ones not blaming themselves for the ordeal they were in. Liss’ emotional state, however, the assassin felt partially accountable for no matter how ridiculous the notion was.

“If this continues we’ll be of no use to her,” Aaron commented to the seeress on the fourth day, his arms folded tightly across his chest to stop the overwhelming guilt that was urging him to speak of his treacherous acts. ‘I have done nothing wrong,’ the assassin thought angrily, crushing the emotion before it could pull him under. Or rather, he attempted to.

Bavita nodded, “I know but…it’s a lot to deal with.” She was chewing on her nail, a nervous act she’d developed over the last few days, “I can sort of understand where they’re coming from,” the seeress continued, her eyes flitting between Nom and Josh, “Nom feels bad because she succumbed to Seth’s charm and Josh…I think he’s beating himself up for letting Seth go.”

“Yes but we cannot allow such trivial matters to distract us from the task at hand,” Aaron insisted, “or we will have another tragedy on our hands and-.” He broke off before he blurted an observation he’d made. An observation that would let anyone paying close enough attention know that he too felt the guilt the others were feeling. That was something he could not allow.

“And?” Bavita prompted, frowning at him.

“And nothing,” he slunk backwards into the shadows but unnervingly the seeress’ eyes followed him as if she could still see him and, for a frightening moment, he feared she could but before he could confirm she turned her attention instead to Josh. The shifter must’ve felt her gaze on him because he turned, annoyance on his features.
“What?”

Bavita’s frown only deepened, “We need a plan of action.”

“You come up with something,” Josh shrugged, looking away again. Aaron didn’t believe that the shifter was so unmoved by the situation, that he didn’t want to help defeat the threat looming before them.