12:34 A.M.

two

7:14 A.M.

Aria placed her cup upside down on the top shelf of the dishwasher, letting the excess of the brown liquid she couldn't finish drip as she closed it. The medley of ceramic clanging together coupled with the groan of the dishwasher door closing took Aria's attention away from the rain outside. The rain pounded against the glass of the windows, wind howling, and thunder rolling. Aria couldn't see the lightning, but she knew it was there. She kept looking to the spot in the trees where she saw the figure, hoping it would return. Actually, scratch that, she doesn't want it to return. Whoever, or whatever, it is, sure doesn't seem like a welcome character into Hillswood.

Her dad has locked himself in his office again, about twenty minutes ago, and Adrian sat at the table, staring blankly at the paper from two days ago. Aria didn't have to be inside his head to know he was reading the headline over and over and over again. She watched the way his bright, hazel eyes scanned from left to right repeatedly.

"Adrian, it's not going to help if you keep reading the paper over and over again," Aria muttered, ripping the paper out of his hands.

"Aria!" He yelled, reaching for the paper, eventually crinkling it with his grasp and tugging.

Aria pulled back, her goal to keep the paper away from him. The sudden lurch sent Aria stumbling to the ground, a slight echo of the paper ripping in her ears. She hit a chair, knocking it over with a loud clang and a small cry of pain.

"Aria! What the hell?" Adrian yelled, pushing his chair back, creating a low groan across the tile. The crinkle of the paper in his hands as he waved his arms in anger made Aria's head hurt.

There was too much sound for her. She slapped her hands against her ears and winced, closing her eyes and curling her legs to her chest. "Stop it, stop it, stop it, be quiet!"

The sudden actions of Aria scared Adrian. He didn't know this Aria. He knew she was quiet and preferred to listen, but she never acted like this. She never did this at school assemblies or in large crowds. 

But of course, a lot happens in two years.

"Aria," Adrian whispered, setting the paper on the table and kneeling down to her. He sat next to her, an arm outstretched behind her as if to touch her and comfort her, but redacted the action with a sudden movement back to his side.

The sound of rain and thunder echoed in Aria's ears, side by side with slow, heavy breathing. The sound of Adrian's heartbeat was fast for a couple seconds before it slowed to it's normal pace. Aria's hands dropped as she looked at Adrian, her eyes shifting back and forth on his eyes, trying to focus on both but only finding one.

"It's too loud," she whispered to Adrian, trying to block out the pounding rain, rumbling thunder, whistling wind, and the sound of Adrian's heartbeat.

"What do you mean?"

"It's too loud, there's too many sounds."

"Aria."

"Never mind, you don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"Just drop it, I can't explain it," Aria blurt as she walked off, trying to shut out the sound of Adrian's heartbeat.

Her mom used to get it. When Aria said it was too loud, she knew. She taught Aria exercises that seemed to separate Aria from her body and block out all of the sounds. She used them at school assemblies where the group of 134 students would talk all at once, feedback from the microphone before Principal Hunt's voice boomed through the cafeteria, everyone's heartbeats moving at different beats, and the creaks across the small stage as different teachers and administrators walked around. She used them at parties her friends dragged her to or events with incredible crowds. She used them at school during lunch with everyone else. It was especially noisy when she sat with the eighth graders. The boys seemed to get louder and rowdier every year. She used them on stormy days when she could hear every single rain droplet hit all over the town, the thunder rumbling low, and the wind whistling through the windows of the buildings in Hillswood.

She glanced at the clock before exiting the kitchen, hoping to see a later time than she knew it was.

8:05 A.M.

The stairs creaked with her weight as she walked upstairs, her hands covering her ears until his heartbeat disappeared from her range. She pressed her door closed and walked back to her bed, slipping under her covers and looking to the clock.

8:07 A.M.

She watched the seconds hand tick in a constant circle as the minute hand moved at a very slow pace. The hour hand moved even slower. She hoped it would be at least 9:30 to do something that wasn't in this house. A deep sigh left her lips, as she sat up again and glanced out her window. She looked into the trees, finding the spot where she saw the figure earlier that day. She found an empty tree line. Aria didn't know if that was a sigh of relief or disappointment.

The birds crowed and cawed, creating a racket as their wings flapped and leaves fell off of the branches that they stood on as a huge flock took off from something that scared them. Aria's head snapped in the direction of the birds, scanning the area to see just what it was that made them fly away. She kept scanning and scanning, going as deep into the trees as the light would let her see, skimming from left to right and back again.

Aria gave up, sliding her feet across the carpet towards her closet. Despite whatever the time on the clock was, she was taking to the trees to explore. It was more of an excuse to get out of the house more than anything else. The sound of the clothing folding as she slipped it on seemed louder than the thoughts inside of her head. It seemed to distract her, which wasn't a bad thing per se, but it was unusual. Her thoughts always seemed to be louder than everything else with a volume switch stuck on HIGH. She exhaled, relaxing herself to focus on getting dressed and out of the house. 

She left through the front door without saying goodbye. 

----

Cracking twigs and crushed leaves didn't help in Aria's attempt to be sneaky. Whatever was there had been long gone, so sneaking around was less than necessary, yet Aria felt she somehow needed to. Looking into the dark forest, Aria tried to find the figure lurking somewhere in the trees. In no way was she expecting anything to show, it had been three hours since she last saw the figure, but she kept looking. Her gray eyes darted between the trees, looking to falling leaves as ravens took flight, cawing in despair. The watch on her wrist jingled as she fidgeted with it in nervousness. 

10:27 A.M.

The rain pattered against her coat, echoing through the trees. A snapping twig echoed above the storm, making Aria's head snap in its direction. Her eye scanned the trees, until they caught a black figure standing the trees. Aria blinked and looked back to the spot she saw the figure, but it had once again disappeared. She sighed again, and turned around, taking the trek back to her house. 

Before she had a chance to scream, a cold hand was placed over her mouth. It's fingers were long and cloth-like, yet represented skin. The ends of them seemed to taper off like the Grinch from the Dr. Seuss story on How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 

Aria's gray eyes met with darkness that sucked her in violently, and before she knew it, darkness was all she could see. 

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author's note: 

                             this is long overdue, but it's longer than the last one and i hope it inspired more questions, yeah? my goal was to have it done before american horror story and I DID IT. Of course it wasn't posted until after because I got a little invested into AHS. Season 6 holy shit, my dudes. 

so, here's the long awaited update and i promise there will be one next wednesday, now that i have more time !

thank you all for the support, comments, and constructive criticism (it's very appreciated and makes my writing better !) <3

hopefully some questions may be answered in the next update. 

- amanda :)