Never Love an Anchor {The Umbrella Academy}

Best Funeral Ever

The world doesn't revolve around Aurora Hargreeves. Aurora Hargreeves won't always get her way even if all the adults around her don't have a clue about what's going on.  And Aurora Hargreeves needs breath before she passes out. More and more unhelpful thoughts swirled in her head as she paced her room.

Maybe she should apologize. Her reaction was a bit extreme. They just want to protect her and besides, she doesn't have time to be mad at them. She needs them to focused on saving the world, not arguing with each other let alone with her. The only problem is that it feels really good to be angry.

Rory stops pacing and takes in a breath. The funeral should be starting soon. She knows she'll regret it if she misses it. Her relationship with her grandfather could only be described as complicated. He was always strict and mean. There was never any talking during dinner or fun and games outside of fun and games time. Messes, noises, mistakes, and     rebellion were punished or at least they would be if Aurora made any.  On multiple occasions, her grandfather would remark that she was very unlike her father.  Where he was erratic, she was orderly.  Where he did everything he could to block out his powers, she would do anything to understand hers and develop them. Where he couldn't do anything right, she could do no wrong. She would not allow herself to do anything wrong.  It was an unspoken agreement between the two.  As long as she was perfect, she would be loved. She wanted that more than anything. She cherished the moments when they would sit in silence together listening to audiotapes about climbing safety, classical music, or whatever interested her grandfather. She never much liked it but she did like being with him.

She had his favor,  but she was always sitting on the edge of the cliff waiting for her to do something wrong and be pushed into the abyss below.

Two weeks ago she had a vision of the apocalypse during breakfast. While it was a meal like any other, the vision took on a life she had never experienced before and can't seem to make herself see again. She sat on the opposite end of the table, zoning out while Herr Carlson droned in the background. In a moment, her vision blurred and the walls around her began to crumble to the ground and burst into flames. Her plate which once held eggs as fluffy as clouds was now covered in dust and roaches. Rory stood up knocking into the table on her way up causing dishes to clank to the ground. Beyond the rubble of the academy she saw five bodies, all of them practically skeletons, but she intuitively knew who they were.

She wanted to scream but when she went to take in a breath she found that there she couldn't make her lungs expand. Her breathes came in and out in short wheezes. Her body wouldn't move no matter how much she willed it to.

This isn't real she told herself over and over again, but she wasn't sure. It felt real, but it must be another vision. Maybe this meant she was improving? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. This was enough to allow her to force herself to the ground to hide under the table.

Behind the rubble, a ragged man crouched. For a moment it looked like he saw her, but if this was a vision, that wasn't possible. Still, he looked at her. She couldn't tell if he wanted to attack her or whatever it was he saw in her direction or run from it.

"Get off the ground and stop whimpering. You are interrupting Herr Carlson."

As fast as a blink, the world on fire and the ragged man was gone. Rory looked around. The dining room had returned to its polished state. Grace had already cleaned up her eggs and returned the dishes to their proper location on the table. The only thing that was out of sorts was her. She sat on the floor clinging to the leg of the chair unable to put together a proper sentence.

"Are you even listening to me girl! I said get up and return to the table. This is no time for hysterics. I will allow you 20 minutes of time after breakfast. Until then there will be no more interruptions!" Her grandfather said.