What if... (hfjONE-shots)

...Airy Returned to Earth (Pt.21)

Whaddup Edgelings!

I'm finally back with another chapter! I promise I'm writing, but my inspiration is being so stubborn with me. Anywho, I'm currently on vacation with my partner but the curse lifted long enough for me to write, so naturally I dropped everything and wrote like my life depended on it lol.

Hope everyone is doing well, and hopefully I'll keep this motivation streak going! Thank you all for your ongoing support. I promise I couldn't have gotten anywhere near this far without your comments and interest. I would've burned out so long ago. So thank you.

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Amelia waved at Chaya as she prepared to head out of the studio for the day. She kept up the same smile that she wears every day. A mere article of clothing. A pleasantry. Nothing more.

It fell off as soon as she walked out of the front door, but she had to pick it back up and stick it on again as one of her students greeted her. Finally, she was able to make it to her car. With a sigh, she folded the grin neatly and tucked it away, allowing the neutral expression to take over.

She should be happy.

For the first night in months, she got a full night of sleep. Completely uninterrupted. The new prescription worked miracles. Her savings account was twice the amount that she originally thought it was. Aaron was doing amazingly at his new job, and before long he could move out of her apartment. Finally out of her life.

But yet...

Earlier that day, as Aaron, June, and Sarrah left her first class, she watched them. Aaron's small smile as he listened to his friends talk, occasionally chiming in. Amelia felt so very empty at that moment, watching them leave together. Going to hang out in town. Meanwhile, the teal candle was stuck at work, with still another yoga class to teach.

Stuck. And so very alone in that glass room.

Wasn't this what she wanted? Didn't she work so very hard to make sure Aaron was successful? Why did it feel so awful to see it actually come to fruition?

It just wasn't fair.

Here she was. Alone in her car, barely hanging on in a society that she no longer felt a part of. So very isolated. Nothing more than a decoration on a shelf, watching life happen around her. Yet Aaron of all people was actually adjusting. He was... happy...

Amelia longed to spit the sour taste out of her mouth as she started the car engine. She thought she had gotten over this feeling. She thought she let it go that night that Aaron helped her. But here it was again. Just as overwhelmingly strong as ever before. Of course it wasn't that easy. Nothing ever was.

How many more times does she have to push the past away for it to stay behind her? How many times will it creep up on her and choke out any growth she had made? When would that stupid weed finally die and let her see the sun?

Dark scribbling thoughts covered the canvas of Amelia's mind, and she barely even noticed that she parked the car in front of the post office in town. Still several miles from her apartment.

Not knowing where she was going, she slid out of her car and slammed the door behind her. The sidewalk was hot under her feet, but not unbearably so. The sun was partially hidden behind the west side of the street, a wall of continuous brick buildings lining both sides of the downtown mainstreet.

She headed down the street in a daze, not an exhausted daze like she was so familiar with, but one of complex emotion. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar silhouette across the road.