Another World || Aiden Clark x GN!Reader

Episode 8

Y/N's POV

"I...it's.. it's smiling at me..."

 Why was it here? In this world? A fucking phantom, just standing in the corner, staring at me with its over-sized uncanny smile. It was right next to Ashlyn and Tyler, and I wanted to warn them, but the words got stuck in my throat. 

I buried my head into my knees, to which I saw from the corner of my eye that the phantom did the same. My head shot up as I saw this, and the black figure shot its head up too. I tilted my head, and the phantom tilted its head too. Why was it copying me?

"Why are you copying me..?" I weakly whispered. All I heard was its breathing, which was aligned with my own. I then noticed everyone else looking at me like I'm crazy. I tried to dismiss the thought that there was a phantom here, while everyone hugged me and told me how worried they were.

After a while, everyone else left because their parents were worried. Ben also left, but Aiden knew he was just waiting in the waiting room. Why was Aiden still here?

"Why are you still here?" I asked him, trying to keep my attention on him instead of the phantom in the corner.

"Something is wrong with you and you're going to tell me what it is." Aiden snapped at me, glaring at me. My eyes widened. I had never seen him so... serious. He was such a goofball, so this caught me off guard. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're hiding something from the rest of us." He started. "You act weird. First, the coincidence that you and Ash have sensitive hearing, to the point you both can hear the phantoms is unbelievable. It might have been possible, but there's more. The other day, you were hugging a pile of tires. A fucking pile of tires, of all things!" He said, pacing around the room. I was about to explain a lie when he shut me up. "And today, when you said something was smiling at you. And then you went on to ignore us as you tilted your head and stared at the corner. When I looked, there was nothing there. So explain yourself!"

I felt my words get caught up in my throat. I couldn't lie anymore. He had me all figured out. And I knew how persistent he was. He wouldn't just drop the topic. So I sighed and told him the truth.

"Fine, you want to know so badly? I have schizophrenia. Happy, bitch?!" I said, emphasizing the 'bitch'. I was frustrated with him. But it softened a bit when I saw his eyes go wide.

"Why didn't you tell us! That's such a serious topic, you can't just hide it. These things need to be known!" He said, basically scolding me. "How'd you get it?" He said when he calmed down.

I sighed again. "When I was 8, we got in a serious car accident. Me and my father were alright, but my mother died. The way I dealt with the grief was imagining she was still there. It blurred so well with my everyday life, so I believed she never died. When I was 12, we moved here, where I was properly diagnosed with it. They threw me into a room for 3 years, and after, I finally was able to go home. They said I wasn't fully cured, so they gave me these pills. But I've been seeing the phantoms since the day I walked into Mr. Thomas's class. There, and at the Sorrel Weed House, and even in the mirror of the bathroom. And then I figured it out in the last two weeks. I can hear the phantoms because of my condition. And the time I was supposedly hugging a pile of tires? I haven't taken my medicine in the last two weeks, so my illness is going bad. So I thought it was my mother. And just now..." I trailed off. I took a deep breath. 

"There's a phantom staring at me right now, from the corner of the room."

I looked at the phantom, and Aiden followed my gaze, but I think he couldn't see it. "It's been copying me for a while now. Whenever I do something, it does the same thing." I said, tilting my head again to test my theory.