Aarmau Short Stories ●A Purplla Publish●

|Story Three| Diary of a Runaway Teenager

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Silence. It's the first night since I've been back from University and the first night I've spoken to dad since orientation. Melissa and mom have their own conversation, but me and Dad stay silent. 

I certainly have nothing to say to him and he apparently has nothing to say to me. I don't speak until Mom says something to me to me. "Aaron, I heard you had mid term exams last week. How did you do?"

"I passed them all. The Dean is enrolling me into honors classes." I answer, looking up at my dad. He doesn't grin nor frown, he maintains a straight face. It kinda hurts to see him not have a reaction.

"I knew my baby brother was smart!" Melissa playfully punches him in the arm and Aaron scoots away, holding his arm. "Sorry. Just got too excited there."

"Congratulations, Aaron. I'm very proud of you." Mom says while taking a bite out of her broccoli. Now I just wait for Dad's say in this.

"Honors?" He asks and I nod, "Nice." That's it?

"Thanks, Dad." Melissa and Mom continue to talk and me and Dad fall silent again. I know I said there was nothing more I wanted to say but there is: Aphmau.  A girl. I really really like. I want to tell my family about her, but I know know how they'll react.

No, Aaron, you're an Ultima, you could get her hurt. You know the rules, Aaron, no dating, you know the consequences. You're too young to know what it's like to really like a girl. You're wasting your time, you can't be with her, no matter what you do.

"Anything else new with you, Aaron?" My mom asks and all eyes avert to me.

Yes.

"No." That's what comes out of my mouth. "Nothing else new." Melissa squints her eyes at me and I back away.

"Yes there is." Melissa says, "Something's going on." I'm going to kill her.

"No, there isn't, Melissa." Yes there is. "I'm the same Aaron before I left for FCU." That wasn't an entire lie.

"Sureeee baby brother. You can't fool me." That's the one thing I don't like about Melissa. She can look me in the face and tell if I'm hiding something.

"Aaron, I wanted to discuss something with you." My dad clears his throat. I guess I was wrong when I said he didn't have anything to say. "I've decided to double your watch on campus."

Excuse me? "I'm sorry, what?" I ask, "I thought I was doing well. All I do is go to my classes and then go back to the dorm."

"Yes, but you know the rules." Being an Ultima is like playing a video game. The more skill you have and the longer you play, the more you level up. Except you don't play the boss level, we are the boss level.

We learn more about ourselves as we grow. "I thought I have everything under control. I already don't speak to other people."

"And I know this, but you can never be too careful these days. You'll have your new watchers bright and early tomorrow morning." His phone goes off and he checks it.

"No." I say. Dad looks back up at me and Melissa and Mom keep their eyes on me.

"What did you say?"

"I said no." I repeat myself. "I already don't have any communication with anyone else. What makes you think I need more guard on by? I'm not a baby anymore."

"I'm doing this for your safety, along with others. We don't need anything happening on campus."

"Dad, nothing had happened on campus and nothing will. Why can't I live a normal life?"

"Because you aren't normal. You're an Ultima, whether you like it or not." I don't like it at all. "This is for your own sake."

"Oh, cut the bullshit." Mom gasps,

"Aaron, language."

"You've been telling me this my entire life, for the past 20 years. I don't think it's for my sake, it's the fact that you can't let go of what happened with you."

"Boy-"

"Well, guess what? We aren't the same person. We never will be." I stand up from the table. "I'm going back to campus before it gets too late."

"You're still getting that upgrade." Dad says as I grab my car keys off of the stands beside the door and unlock the door.

"Whatever."

~~~

I'm about ten minutes away from home and I'm on my way back to Falcon Claw. It lightly starts to rain but that doesn't matter. I can still see with my headlights on.

Do I really want to go back? To that room guarded 24/7? Having no physical communication with anyone? Is that really how I want to spend the rest of my life?

Scared?

I was about to turn onto the road with the large green sigh that has FALCON CLAW, EXIT 3A but I don't take it. Instead... I keep on driving straight away until exit 5b.

~~~

I close the car door and look the house up and down. I spot the window I need to get to. I look around to see if anything could help me. "Bingo." The large tree that hangs right above the house.

I start scaling the tree until I get to the window's level. A branch spirals towards it and instead of walking on it, I decided to hang from it and monkey bar it.

I finally reach the window. The purple curtains hide the light coming from the room. I use my foot to knock on it a few times then wait.

The curtains open to reveal a girl. My girl. She looks worried and unlocks her window and opens it. "What are you doing here?" I scale a bit closer until I can climb into the room. "You're supposed to be at campus." I close the window and turn to face her. "Are you okay?"

I get on my knees to her level and pull her into a hug. She gasps at my sudden affection. I tightened my arms around her waist and bury my head into her shoulders. She wraps her arms around my neck and shows me the same affection back. "What's wrong, Aaron?" I feel one of her hands on my head, her thumb rubbing the back of it.

I look up at her but my arms are still on her, "Do you want to run away with me?"

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Until next time,
~Purplla 💜