Dangerously Close (Aris x Reader)

67) Suspicions and Theories

Aris’s P.O.V

I couldn't sleep. I could barely close my eyes. My mind was too full of worries. It’s not a question of if something is happening to her. It's the questions of what, why won't she tell me, and how do we fix it.

Slowly running my hands up and down her arms, since I couldn't exactly run it through her ponytail with a knife in it, I tried to think of anything. What could make her jumpy, sleep the way she used to to feel safe, and pull away from everyone? Not just pull away, but snap at? In her entire friendship with him, she’s never actually yelled at him. She’s jokingly insulted him, but he plays along. I mean she has voluntarily given him a hug. The list of people that I know she's actually hugged is me, Mary, Abby, and him. It's like a once in a lifetime thing.

She looks so tired all the time now. She always seems so drained. The only time I’ve seen her come somewhat to a state like this was when Cain was meddling in her life.

Is he back and she doesn't know how to tell me? Am I going to wake up without her? Is the one thing I’ve been begging not to happen going to be a reality?

I don't know, because she’s keeping it from me. All I can do is guess, and that ranges from someone hurting her to her being overly stressed.

Taking a breath, I sat up for a moment, looking at her, only to realize something was off again. She was mumbling in her sleep as sweat dripped down her face. Turning her on her back, I confirmed that she was just barely breathing quicker.

“It's not real, poet. None of it's real,”I said loudly, shaking her shoulders. With her words becoming more incoherent, she may as well have been casting a spell. “The house isn't real, Y/N. None of it is,”I promised, shaking her harder. Somehow she was both unconscious and hyperventilating, like she would pass out while already being asleep.

“Y/N!”I yelled.

Finally, she opened her eyes, still panting.

“It isn't real. Alright? That wasn't real,”I coaxed, cradling her face in my hands. She stared up at me with those scared eyes, as though she would run off at any second. “It's okay. It's not real. None of it's real,”I repeated, kissing her temple.

Without a word, she pulled my hands away before sitting up and resting her head on my chest. Rubbing her back, I held in a sigh as I kept trying to figure out what was actually going on with her.

× ~ × ~ × ~ ×

“You're sure she hasn't told you anything?”

“For the last time, she is not going to tell me anything she wouldn't tell you, Thomas, or Mary,”Minho repeated.

“That’s true. I just-I don't know what's going on. And we can all see something’s going on, right?”

“She yelled at Thomas and from what I heard the other day, has been getting pretty snappy with Mary. Something's definitely wrong.”

“What’d you hear with Mary?”

“She offered to help her with a bruise on her eye, and Y/N said that she had it.”

A pit I couldn't quite explain formed in my chest. It was as though I was getting pieces I had no idea what to do with.

“She didn't have one last night?”

“I know. The whole conversation was weird.”

“Weird how?”

“Mary asked her what happened, and she told her someone accidentally elbowed her. Mary said she didn't have that just a second ago before she went to grab another bandaid or something like that. Y/N told her it was fine. Mary asked if she could help, and Y/N said no. She asked again but really slowly, like she knows something's off about it. Y/N just snapped and told her that she doesn't need help for any of her injuries like she's some stupid child and to stay out of her business before storming off.”