What Was Once Mine ~ A TPQ Horror/Amnesia AU

5: Hopefully, Stealing Brynne's Lasagna Was Worth it

I'm pretty sure my capitalization is wrong but like whatever.

So. Hi :D

I kinda ghosted this book bc I got writers block heh. So I switched up the pov-

Also here's a chapter dedicated to Aiden obsessing over Aru and Aru not giving a shit about him haha-

~*~*~

It was supposed to be just a walk. But as he stumbled into the part of the woods that he used to play in when he was younger, the part of the woods where he'd made so many memories with... her, his thoughts got a little messy.

He hated to admit it, but he thought about her often. It was weird how she'd just left. His mother, Malini, had always been against their friendship–she claimed that she saw something a little "feisty" in her.

She hates that word, he remembered. She would throw little tantrums every time someone called her "feisty", and though Aiden never would've admitted it in front of her, the word suited her personality quite well. (Feisty or fiery? Can't remember :/ )

As Aiden stumbled forward, he remembered that there was a tree in this part of the woods that they would climb. It was tall and sturdy, the perfect place for two children at play.

~*~*~

She climbed a little higher, the sharp rock still in her hand.

"What are you doing?" Aiden yelled from below, refusing to climb the tree. He was scared of heights, but she would tease him if she knew that. 

"You'll see!" She yelled back.

She propped herself up on one of the highest branches and placed a palm on the bark. She tilted her head, as if she was deep in thought, and bought the rock against the wood. Aiden staggered back a bit, attempting to get a good view of what she was doing, and then he saw it–in her scrawly handwriting, she'd carved a phrase into the wood: "Aru and Aiden's tree".

~*~*~

The words were still there. A bit faded, but easy to read once you looked close enough. He brought his fingers down to the bark, tracing the letters, feeling a little warm on the inside. He missed her. He missed teasing her, he missed having her tease him, he missed laughing with her and climbing trees with her and prancing around in the rain with her. He'd done everything with her, and she'd always been there, in all his childhood memories. So where was she now?

He desperately hoped she hadn't changed, and he knew somewhere deep down that she would never change. He wanted her snarky comments and sarcastic remarks back. He wanted the sound of her laughter back. Damn it, he wanted her back, though he kind of never expected her to come back.

Who was he, anyways? He didn't deserve to have someone like Aru in his life. She was in the city somewhere, probably with some fancy, high-paying job. And he was just a photographer. Even if they did meet again, they probably wouldn't be anything more than friends. And he was completely okay with that. She was his first friend, and she would stay as a friend forever. Just a friend. Yeah, that sounded nice.

His thoughts were disturbed when a faint sound echoed through the forest.

Voices.

His head snapped in the direction of the sound. For a while, everything was silent. He craned his neck, breathing softly so that he wouldn't make any noise. Unable to get a view of what was going on, Aiden took a couple hesitant steps forward.

Shah's old house, he realized. The voices were coming from, of all places, Aru's house.

Curiosity and confusion welled up inside of him, and he slowly walked closer towards the clearing in which the mansion resided. Nobody had any business near Aru's house. It had been abandoned for ages, and it was nothing but a worn out pile of wood, bricks, and dust.