Fire Starter

Chapter Eleven: When Things Start Crashing Down

Aiden was sitting in their normal spot waiting for Peter like she always did. She had her headphones in, but no music was playing. She wanted silence, yet it seemed to be evading her; she'd definitely over done it this morning. Everything was too much at the moment- she couldn't focus on drowning out the noise that was making her ears ring or on ignoring the pain that was pounding in her head. She had her head tucked in between her knees in an effort to block out the sun, which seemed to be brighter than it usually, and the noises that surrounded her. Her mind was still racing about the plan that she was forming and she needed an out at the moment to stop it all. She was itching to use the scissors in her backpack; they were extremely dull so it would be more work to do what she needed them to do, but they would work. No pain, no gain, the voice in her head whispered on repeat; she shoved the feeling down, knowing that her healing was already spread a little thin at the moment. As usual, she wearing her mother's ring and she was wearing the same jewelry from yesterday- the same small black studs that climbed her ears and the choker the was hiding the bruise on her neck- she'd never bothered changing them after her "meeting" with Killian that morning. She winced when she heard the blaring of a car horn as it drove by her. She was starting to become aware of someone approaching her, she looked up, the light blinding her as she narrowed her eyes. She realized that it was Peter, his big brown eyes brimming with worry.

When Peter walked up to the school, he saw Aiden in their spot they always met at; he frowned when he saw her seemingly curled in on herself. She had her spiky black headphones over her ears as always, but she was hugging her knees with her face buried into them- a habit that he'd never seen her do before. He quickened his pace over to her, becoming more and more aware that he wasn't hearing her music like he usually did. Her music was usually loud and full of heavy instruments, it was like she was trying to shut everyone and everything around her out when she listened to music, but today there was radio silence. When she looked up at him, her bright green eyes were squinting; he could see how tight she was gripping her knees. She didn't look good, she was paler than she usually was to where she almost looked blue and her eyes were bloodshot. Her usually pulled back hair was loosly draped over her frame and he could see that she was in a serious amount of pain, even without his spidey senses going crazy.

He knelt down in front of ehr to get a better look at her, placing his hand on she arm, "Are you okay?!!" he asked, his voice cracking slightly like it always did.

Aiden winced when she heard Peter's voice, it was loud and high-pitched, making her ears ring. Maybe she should've just skipped today. She numbly nodded her head, an action she immediately regretted when everything started to blur together. She pushed herself upright from the ground, immediately feeling her legs start to give out from under her as she almost fell onto Peter.

He frowned at her, catching her by her arms; usually she'd wince at the pain and stinging sensation that was caused at that action, but she couldn't focus on it at the moment. "You don't look okay Cruella," he whispered, his voice so low that if she didn't have super hearing, she wouldn't be able to hear him; it was dripping with worry.

Aiden gave him a forced smile, doing her best to make herself look perfectly fine, "I'm okay Pete." she replied, her voice barely a whisper.

Peter adjusted his grip on her arms, to where he was holding her up by her upper arms, trying his best to steady her as she started to sway slightly. She closed her eyes, blinking them rapidly to get the spinning sensation to go away.

He shook his head, "You're definitely not okay." he whispered again, he noticed her wincing when he talked.