ART | chris schistad

seventeen

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as soon as aiden told his father that belle had left he booked a flight to go to them.

aiden didn't sleep that night, his father would arrive at 8 am and aiden was beyond nervous.

it was 4 am as aiden drank a beer in the kitchen. all his friends were sprawled out in his living room, everyone was asleep or so he thought.

he heard footsteps and turned, making eye contact with chris. aiden clenched his jaw before drinking the rest of his beer, not paying anymore attention to chris then needed.

chris walked towards him, grabbing a beer for himself and sitting on the barstool next to aiden.

silence passed before chris spoke first, "i love her." aiden just laughed. "you hardly even know her." aiden spat not caring that everyone else was asleep.

"i know a lot about her aiden, we both know that." chris said.

"chris please stop pretending to care!" aiden yelled causing almost everyone to stir in their sleep. "leave her alone, she's better off without you. i don't even know why i'm arguing with you. you're all going to leave before my dad gets here anyways." aiden said before going to his bedroom leaving chris alone.

+++

meanwhile belle was at a random hotel, passed out. the bike she found outside the hotel door.

she was about a hour away from her house and didn't have much of a clue as to how she got here. she just remembers checking in.

she was going to have a horrible headache the next morning.

+++

the morning came sooner then expected and as soon as everyone woke up at around 7:30 aiden kicked them out.

they all protested and argued with aiden but he just slammed the front door on them, forcing everyone to go home.

aiden sat on the couch, his hands sweaty as he watched a tv show he wasn't even paying attention to. a knock on the door broke him out of his trance. he ran towards the door and nearly hit himself by opening the door so fast.

his father stood on the other side of the door, a worried expression on his face.

"hello son,"

aiden gulped before responding, "hey dad." his father walked through the front door, setting his bags down on the couch. he looked around, staring at anything he could see.

he picked up a dusty picture frame of a younger belle and his old lover, the kids mother. he set the picture frame back down, his fingerprints leaving marks on the frame.

"have you called belle?" he asked. aiden quickly nodded before responding," her phone's been off since yesterday."

aiden's dad, james, nodded his head again before speaking. "okay, get in the car. i know where she is".

aiden looked at him with raised eyebrows. "how?" aiden asked confused.

"you forget one thing about your sister, she's so damn predictable." james said before walking out the front door.

+++

belle had checked out of the hotel 30 minutes ago. now she had reached her final destination, the cemetery. she placed her bike along the fence and walked inside the cemetery. her hands were shaking so much that the roses in her hands were also shaking. not only that but her head hurt so much.

belle walked past various tombstones before stopping at the most familiar one. she placed the flowers in a cup that was attached to the ground. she poured water into the cup, filling it up halfway then stopping.

her eyes wandered to the tombstone. her mother's name, birth, and death date was written along the stone. belle looked around the cemetery. it was empty except for a elderly man who was at a tombstone a few down from belle's mothers.

belle turned towards her mothers tombstone and burst into tears. "everything's so bad mom, i don't know what to do." she cried.

"please i just need you here mom. please." belle begged as she cried more. she covered her face with her hands and cried for a little more until someone's voice cut her off.

"who is she to you?"

belle jumped at the voice and turned around, her vision clearing up. the elderly man belle had seen earlier was standing behind her. "what?" belle asked.

"who is she, the women to you?" the man asked again gesturing towards the stone.

"oh, my mother." belle said.

the man shook his head before speaking again, "my wife of 67 years is over there. she passed last year of cancer."

"i'm sorry. my mom passed, um a few months ago. she overdosed." belle said not meeting the man's eyes.

"i'm sorry. trust me, it gets better." he said before walking off. belle stood, walking after him, "does it really?" she asked.

he walked closer to the entrance, belle following him as he spoke, "over time, yes."

then the man walked out the cemetery and left. belle walked out the cemetery too, trying to catch up to him before she ran into a hard chest.

"i'm sorr-" belle tried to say before she was cut off.

"you've grown since the last time i saw you."

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