What if... (hfjONE-shots)

...Airy Returned to Earth (Pt.11)

Heyo Edgelings!

Dying Sanity AU (Pt.13)

So, as I said before I was planning on writing Aaron's first day of work in this chapter, but he took too dang long to tell Amelia good morning so I didn't get that far... Geez Aaron, start being productive already... /jk

And yeah... yummy angst mini-chapter at the end :D

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Aaron woke up with a gasp of fear, jolting up into a sitting position. Cold sweat poured down his face, and breathing came in shallow gulps of air. His mind was scrambled with terror, a fuzzy vision lurking at the corner of his brain, just out of reach of his waking mind. He couldn't remember why he was terrified, but for some reason he felt like curling into a ball and sobbing.

Trying to distract himself, he checked to see what time it was...a comforting warm orange ray of sunlight peeked through the crack underneath the door, declaring the night over and a new day begun.

It was just a dream... he repeated to himself for the millionth time... Aaron felt slightly more in control of this particular fear. He knew that nightmare had been different from his usual ones. He could always remember the normal ones, they haunted him for hours after he woke up, but this one was different. He had no idea why he couldn't remember it.

But he felt like it was important somehow...

He slowly uncurled himself and stood up, stretching. There wasn't much room to stretch in the small closet space, but that was fine. It was comforting to feel tucked away, hidden from... well he wasn't sure what he was hiding from anymore but it still felt like a good idea... just in case...

He bent over and scooped his blanket and pillow off the floor, shaking them out and folding them neatly before stacking them on one of the shelves. With his 'bed' made, Aaron turned the cool chrome doorknob and stepped out of the closet.

The first thing he did was scan the room for Amelia. The ocean breeze scented candle was nowhere in sight, and there were no dirty dishes in the sink. She must still be asleep... or at least still be in her room...

Hmmm... he needed something to distract him from the cold pit of fear that still knotted in his stomach. It wasn't paralyzing, but it ached nonetheless.

Without much else to do, Aaron walked over to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher, which he started last night before going to sleep. It was only halfway full when he turned it on, but it was enough to justify running it. As he began stacking the freshly washed dishes into the cabinets, an semi-transparent blue bottle with a white lid caught his eye. It was that bottle of pills that Amelia stopped using a while ago...

...why was it noticeably more empty then?

Aaron finished putting away the dishes before picking the pill bottle up and shaking it gently, listening to the rattling sound of the small white pills within. Hm... didn't Bryce say that Amelia should stop using these things? Weren't they bad for her or something?

He knew why she started using them again. As far as he knew she hadn't slept at all the past few days. Whenever he walked past her room he could hear her pacing or murmuring something to herself. She was restless over the fact that after eight days there was still no sign of Bryce. Her anxiety sky-rocketed when, on Friday, she called his apartment complex and learned he had been evicted.

She was worrying herself sleepless.

Aaron frowned, slowly turning the bottle of pills in his hand as he thought. She needed to sleep, and while these pills gave her energy during the day, they probably also made it harder for her to rest at night. She was in such a fragile emotional state that strong stimulants probably weren't the best idea...