Kingdom of isolation - you can't hide

Twenty Two ~ Aurora

Aurora

Age 19

"You're grounded."

My eyes skitter over to my saviour for a fleeting moment. Save me, my sweet Aunt Clara, from your tyrannical husband.

"Don't even think about it, gremlin." He warns me, as if he too can sense the telepathic message I'm trying to convey to his wife who watches me with pity in her eyes. Baby Levi is fast asleep inside his crib, something I should be doing as well. It's like 5 in the morning and I really need to get some sleep after the night I've just had. I'm exhausted, both physically and mentally. It's not fun travelling the streets of London alone after midnight. My paranoia elevated itself and I practically sprinted home like the grim reaper was after me. To be fair though, he kind of was at some point.

"I risk my life only to get grounded? How unfair, Uncle Noo."

"This isn't funny!" My uncle practically roars, hazel eyes glistening with pent up anger. The mood instantly changes, a chill settling over me like a wet blanket. My shoulders sag. This isn't how I imagined my reunion, being scolded like a little child and all. Truth is, I barely got out of HRU and made it home just in time to see our belongings already packed into boxes ready to go. I expected it but that doesn't take away from the fact that it sucks.

"I never said it was funny.." I say, my voice barely audible. Uncle Noah sighs in exasperation, running his fingers through his already tousled hair. He looks so tired, like he hasn't slept in days. I've to remind myself that the man is still in his early thirties and I need to go easy on him. Last time we got together, it ended in a minor disagreement with me running away—once again—back to HRU. He didn't try to stop me but I could sense his disappointment when I refused to be smuggled out into another country like I was some criminal.

"I almost lost you today, Aurora." He says, slumping into the recliner chair. My brows furrow.

"You..didn't. I'm here, aren't I?"

Uncle No shakes his head. "Do you have any idea what I went through these last couple of months knowing I sent you somewhere I shouldn't have? To make things worse, you were out there on your own for god knows how long before I got the distress signal. Fuck!"

Yeah, that was disconcerting, especially when I really wanted to get out of HRU but couldn't until he'd contacted me. It genuinely felt like I was trapping myself into the unknown by being careless. Never doing that again.

"Do you know how fucking scared I was when I couldn't find you? I.. can't even remember what was going through my head."

Okay, now he's being a tad dramatic but I continue listening to him anyway. An eerie sense of déjavu washes over me in that moment, as if I've had similar conversations in the past. But I brush the odd feeling off, focusing back to my uncle having a complete meltdown.

"I screwed up. I screwed up, okay? I knew I shouldn't have sent you there against my better judgement. Jesus, Aurora! You've no idea how lucky you got."

It sure as fuck doesn't feel like it. I swallow the bitterness coating my mouth and sit down in front of him with my legs crossed.

"Did anyone follow you?" He asks me suddenly, grabbing hold of my shoulders. "Did anyone recognise you? Aurora, tell me! I need to know everything!" I don't have a moment to myself as he continues bombarding me with an onslaught of questions I don't quite have answers for.

"Uh..no. I don't think so. Wait, there was this one.." I trail off. I don't want to tell him about that demon I encountered one too many times, it doesn't seem that important. Besides, it's not like I'll ever see him or be in his 'territory' ever again. He was just a one-off kind of thing. An anomaly in my boring life. Uncle Noah watches me intently.