The White Room

Chapter 1

Aaron let out another groan. Why did he do this? Every night since he'd gotten here, he'd groaned in his sleep. At first, Ari assumed he simply couldn't sleep, but then she found out that he groaned for no apparent reason. Ari dragged herself out of bed and across the room to Aaron, curled up on his air mattress. She shook him awake. He grumbled some gibberish and rolled over. She sighed and began shaking him again, a little rougher this time. He slowly sat up and looked at her sleepily. "What's going on..?" He muttered, stretching his arms above him. "You keep groaning. I haven't slept at all. Can you be quite?" She asked. The words came out sharper than she'd meant them to. "Oh..." he said, getting up and lumbering towards the bedroom door. "Where are you going?" She asked. He mumbled something inaudible as he made his way down the hallway. Ari shrugged it off and climbed back into bed.

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Aaron had spent the remainder of his night on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. It wasn't often that he fell asleep peacefully, even with the help of his calming pills. Maybe Ari wouldn't give him such a hard time if he explained that to her, but there never seemed to be an appropriate time to do so. When he'd first arrived, he'd slept in his older cousin Micheal's room. Micheal complained to his parents almost immediately. They were a bit hesitant, but decided to try placing him in Ari's room. At about eight o'clock, Aaron heard Ari's alarm go off. He immediately got up and made his way to the bathroom. He knew it'd be a while before he got to use it once Ari was in there. Once he'd finished getting dressed and all that, he left the bathroom and went to the kitchen. He always tried not to eat anything that could possibly belong to Ari or Micheal. He preferred to stick to foods like toast and cereal, avoiding the muffins that regularly appeared on the counter.

He heard Ari's bedroom door open, as well as the bathroom door close. Twenty minutes later, Ari came out of the bathroom. "Hey, uh... You didn't sleep on the couch or anything, did you?" Ari asked, sitting on the couch. "It's not a big deal," Aaron said. "Okay... Please don't tell mom," Ari said, a bit of desperation in her voice. "I won't," Aaron said. "Thanks. Do we have to-" Before she could finish, Aaron handed the her the remote. Without thanking him, she took the remote and changed the channel. Before long, it was time to head to school. Ari usually walked with Aaron on the way to school, unless of course, she was mad at him. They were both in 6th grade but had none of the same classes together. Once they'd arrived, they went separate ways, and Aaron went to join his friend group while Ari joined hers. All of the students tended to gather in the covered area by the main entrance of the school before the first bell rang and they were allowed inside. His friends didn't seem to notice him as he walked up to them, and only when he announced his arrival with a 'hey' did they see him.

A few of them gave a small wave and continued talking, not bothering to try to include him in their conversation. The group had five boys. Of course, with and odd number, one of them always had to be left out when they had to choose partners or during group projects. That person was typically Aaron, since he didn't have a particularly good relationship with anyone. Other than his friend group, he didn't know anyone else. Aaron knew he should try to make some friends, maybe someone more interested in actually getting to know him, but he felt it was too late in the year for that. They were only a few months into the school year, but he couldn't just walk up to someone and force them to be his friend. After all, this was middle school, not kindergarten. After a few minutes of Aaron awkwardly being in the presence of his friends, the bell rang and went to first period: science. Once everyone was settled, the teacher, Ms. Rattington, got straight to the lesson.

"Alright, class. Today we're going to work in partners and fill out this worksheet," she said. Immediately some kids met eyes and began whispering to each other. "And I've already assigned you partners." She finished. Almost everyone in the classroom groaned. "You guys have to learn to work with different people," Ms. Rattington continued once had quieted down. She announced the pairs, and Aaron soon learned who he was working with: Lauren. Her friends giggled when their pair was announced. "Okay, you can get together with your partners. The worksheets are on my desk. I expect one worksheet for each partnership," Ms. Rattington said. Lauren glanced at Aaron but quickly looked away. She, along with some others, went to the front of the room to get a worksheet. After retrieving the worksheet, Lauren went to Aaron's desk.

"So..." she said, writing her name at the top of her paper. Lauren had wavy dirty-blonde hair, and she almost always dressed the same. Aaron hadn't payed much attention to her before. "Should we each do half or something?" Lauren finally finished. "Sure," Aaron said, trying to sound confident when he spoke. "Okay, I'll do the first half," Lauren said. The top of the worksheet was notably easier, but Aaron didn't mention that. They finished before the period ended, and they sat in awkward silence for a long while. Aaron noticed that her gaze kept drifting back to her friends. Ms. Rattington glared at her, and Lauren immediately turned to face him again. "So, uh... What's your next period?" She asked. "Math," Aaron answered.

"I hate math. Erm... not to be offensive or anything. I'm just sort of... bad at it," she said. "I am too. I don't know anyone who actually enjoys math. Not with Mr. Arthur, anyway." Aaron said. "You have him too? He's my least favorite teacher. I think he hates me. I don't know what's wrong with him, but he always calls me to the front of the room to answer some stupid math problem. If someone else was raising their hand, then why would purposely call on someone who isn't?" Their conversation continued, but Aaron soon felt a little overwhelmed. After school, Aaron walked back home with Ari. After a couple hours of homework, it was time for dinner. While the conversation had been awkward, Aaron had explained to his Aunt and Uncle about his "sensitive stomach" and how he couldn't handle anything remotely spicy. Aaron had temporarily moved in with them after his parents had both gone out of state to see their sick parents. Aaron found it strange that both of their dads could get the exact same illness at the exact same time, but he shrugged it off. They were gone a little longer than expected, and both of them hadn't answered any of their calls or texts. It scared Aaron, but his Aunt had convinced him to give it a little longer.

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The next day, Saturday, Aaron woke up to the doorbell. He had gotten a decent amount of sleep that night. It was around eleven in the morning, and everyone else seemed to be awake. Aaron climbed out of bed and peeked out of the bedroom door. Ari was heading to the front door to answer it. Aaron snuck to the bathroom so he wouldn't have to make small talk in his pajamas. He quickly got himself looking decent and went to check who had come. Two girls he didn't recognize. One was tall with short, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Aaron guessed she had to be in high school. The other looked to be more more his age, though she was much shorter than him, with deep brown eyes and long brown hair. Aaron assumed they were siblings. "MICHEAL!" Ari shouted. Micheal rushed out of his bedroom. "Oh. Hey, Rachel. I forgot you were coming. Who's that?" Micheal asked, looking towards the shorter one. "My mom made me bring her. That's my sister, Lila. Don't worry about her, she won't cause a problem," Rachel said, grasping Lila's arm tighter.

Lila tensed but didn't say anything. "Uh... Alright. Let's go to my room," Micheal said. Aaron's aunt, who was preparing food in the kitchen, eyed them suspiciously but didn't intervene. Lila stood hesitantly in the doorway before stepping inside and closing the door behind her. Lila warily looked around. "Hello,"Aaron greeted. Lila looked him up and down, examining him, as if checking for impurities in his soul. Aaron felt slightly uncomfortable as he waited for a response. "Hi," she finally said. Ari was already sitting on the couch, watching cat videos, and Aaron decided to join her. He sat in his usual spot. Lila sat with them as well, somewhat distanced from both of them. A couple hours passed, and Rachel re-emerged from Micheal's room. "Lila," she said, saying her sister's name in a sharp tone, as if calling to a dog. Lila jumped. Aaron got the slight impression that she was more scared than she was startled. Lila then quickly stood up and made her way to her sister. They hastily left before Aaron had the chance to say goodbye.