Arcane Guardian ↣ Avenged Sevenfold

37 ☼ simple

"Stop," Matt said as Arden tried to go for his hand. "Just, stop."

"Please let me explain."

"I really don't..." he trailed off, uncharacteristically quiet. "You were so familiar at the party, you looked like you needed a friend, and you actually knew me. How do you know me? Were you there when I died?"

"So you know it was you?" She asked.

"No fucking shit, I just saw myself die!"

"Sorry. I'm getting used to channeling. Your friend Brian is actually the one who taught me." Or in other words she observed him doing it for years.

"That is so fucked. Okay, wait, were you there when I died?!"

"May I please take your hand?" She asked. He was hesitant, but slowly obliged.

After the plunge into freezing cold water, he tried his best not to inhale, but eventually it was like his lungs turned to ice as he choked, and the sound of his sister screaming became further and further away.

"Brian?" Matt jumped as the vision ended. Arden nodded. "Does he kn..." he trailed off as she shook her head.

"No."

Matt shifted in his seat. "Show me the rest."

She didn't let on that it was giving her a migraine and the shakes to transfer so much of other peoples painful memories. She started, she would end it. Someone else had to know. She couldn't be alone with it.

Zack didn't take the effort to make sure the knife was unclean as he sunk it into his wrists. A feeling similar to the way Matt died engulfed him; a cold heat and dizziness as his life left him, with a painful drop and a headache.

"Why did he..." Matt asked.

"He killed his dad."

Matt sat in silence, not looking at her. "Is there anything else you want to know?" She tried to subtly rub her temples without his notice.

"Jim." Matt said, looking slightly angrier. "I want to see how Jim died the first time."

"I-I don't know if I can." She said. "He died twice, I don't know what I'll show you. Or if it'll overwhelm me."

"Overwhelm you?! How the fuck do you think I'm coping right now!" He scooted closer to her as she scooted away, but eventually he harshly grabbed her wrist and they both flashed to a memory.

Jim sitting with pills and alcohol all over the kitchen sink, with a partially wet scribbled note. The water was running too and his glasses were smashed on the floor.

This made Arden run back, grabbing her head. "No," she whispered. She had seen his entire death play in front of her in far more detail than she ever needed. "Not like that, no." She held her head in her knees.

Matt looked at her from the other side of the room, regaining the sympathetic stare. "I'm... how do..." he scooted closer to her, touching her shoulder gently. "How do you know us."

She tried to even out her breath as she looked up, tears in her eyes. "You raised me." She laughed. "Could I try again?"

He nodded as she touched his hand.

"She has to sleep some time," Shadow said. Him and Ellowyn had made a blanket fort. Or at least thats what they were calling them sitting up under the covers like a tent as her mother screamed in the other room. "She'll tire herself out."

"I don't think so," Little Ellowyn shook her head. She had finally quit crying. "I just want to make it stop."

A blunt object hit her locked bedroom door, and she scooted closer to Shadow, cuddling up into him. "Come here teeny." He used his old nickname for her, because of how itty bitty she was in comparison to him.