Safe and Sound

Begin Again

Aria stood up immediately and looked at Ezra with her hazel eyes big and wide. There was an eerie silence for all of ten seconds, until there was a huge thud in the apartment above theirs.

"What do you mean?! Why can't we leave?!" she shouted, beating her fists against her thighs.

Ezra let out a heavy breath, walking towards Aria. "Just... something's have come up. I can't right now, Aria." He scratched the scruff under his chin and looked to the side. "I'll think of something."

"Ezra, we can't stay here. I'm scared."

"Babe, I'm sorry," Ezra continued apologetically. "I really am sorry." He didn't sound very apologetic to Aria at all.

Aria stormed past Ezra as he walked towards her; she ran out the door and down the stairs. Panting and sobbing, she finally reached the outside and bent over for about five seconds and then started running again. Screw Ezra. Didn't he know what a risk it was to stay in Rosewood? Did he not care about her enough? This was about their relationship. Their lives together. Had none of that even mattered to him anymore?

Ping!

Aria pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. Tiny drops of rain hit the pavement, making a tapping noise. The sky turned grey as the clouds moved overhead. The phone screen blinked and Aria looked to see why it was chiming. One new instant message.

Hey. It's me again. Are you still interested in lucid dreaming?

Aria stared at the phone for a minute before she began typing.

Yes. Very much. What can you tell me?

Well, there are risks. But there are benefits to it as well. Where did you want to start?

Aria looked up to the sky as droplets of water poured forcefully. Little drops, then big ones. She took huge leaping steps down the street and around the corner. Finally, she came to The Apple Rose Grill-- a spot that she frequented before things with her beau and clique of friends became all haywire. The pressure of what she had done and what she was about to do, along with all the secrets she had been carrying, suddenly started weighing heavily on Aria's mind. Not that she was going through the day with ease to begin with. She sat at a window booth and her bag clunked on the table loud and hard, a pool of water surrounding her. Aria began typing in her phone again.

I don't need to know the risks. Just tell me how to start.

And so her new acquaintance did as told-- Aria received numerous links about lucid dreaming. Instructions. Pictures. Methods. She scrolled and clicked, clicked and scrolled. Aria felt the numbness in her thumbs as she sat back and put her nose towards the ceiling. She let out a bit of a groan when a server walked up to her table.

"Can I get you anything, Miss?" the server asked in a low tone.

He was about Aria's age. Chalky skin and light brown curly hair that set up top his head. His white collared shirt was crisp and clean, tucked neatly in his black slacks underneath a black apron.

"Just a green tea. And a green salad with goat cheese," Aria replies after exhaling deeply.

Aria's whole body felt tense. No one could understand this feeling. No one she knew had taken a life away from this world. No one she knew could understand what she felt ever since her first breakdown and trip to Radley. She didn't want to put Ezra through that again. No, Aria had to take care of things herself this time. She had to be an adult for once. Take things into her own hands. And this time, she knew how.

I'm going to start tonight. But I'll need some aide to get me to sleep.

It wasn't a minute long before Aria saw a reply on her screen.

Leave me an address-- I'll leave a package.