Walk The Path

Chapter Four

The red, yellow, and orange leaves swayed and fell onto the ground amidst the crisp, autumn breeze. September had come and gone, making way for October, the month of Aang's birth. The tall airbender put the hood of his orange, hoodie over his head as he walked to his car in the school parking lot. In 10 days he would be 17 and his mind started to play about all the events of the past year like a depressing movie. He wanted to ball up everything that happened to him since he turned 16 and set it on fire. Death, loneliness, and humiliation all to be burned away and never mentioned again. On the positive side, he did have a solid group of friends for the first time since being announced as the Avatar. They were the only thing in his life making the mixture of sympathetic and dirty looks from the rest of the school manageable.

Since the embarrassing party, he can't walk around school hallways or classrooms without getting a sea of pity from people. This pity wasn't limited to other students unfortunately, as even teachers or other adults would look at him like he was a lost puppy. He hated the looks and everyone that thought of him as some broken toy. "Maybe I'm just projecting?", he asked himself. That's a word he's been saying a lot since he started therapy a few weeks ago. He wasn't sure if other people really felt that way about him or if he felt like something unable to be fixed.

As Aang drove speedily out of the parking lot, he put on a playlist made for him by Katara. He smiled and bit his lip at the thought of the gorgeous waterbender. It's been 4 weeks since Zuko's party where he had a panic attack in front of everyone. He groaned and became uneasy thinking about that incident. He resigned himself to never being normal. The kindness bestowed by his friends that night is something he will never forget. Sokka hugged him and explained his personal struggle with loss. After that night, Aang had become pretty close with Sokka, and for that he was grateful. They were as close as brothers now. He even got a reprieve from Toph's jokes for the rest of that night, only to resume the next day with her "fancy dancer" and "Twinkle toes" names yelled at him. He didn't take it personal and actually loved that Toph still made fun of him, it made him feel less fragile. Zuko was nothing short of apologetic on behalf of his sister, and made a point to ask how Aang was doing a few times a week. Aang always reminded Zuko that it wasn't his fault and thanked him standing up against Azula.

Although he had not seen Suki very often since she was homeschooled, they had found time to talk when everyone got together on the weekends. Suki was very connected to Aang's past life, Avatar Kyoshi, as well as training in the Kyoshi warrior fighting style. The two would spend long periods of time discussing spirituality, justice, and the art of war. And then of course there was Katara. He was forever appreciative that she was okay taking things slow. The last thing he wanted was to jump into a relationship and mess everything up. "How could anyone want to be with me now, I'm a basket case," he pondered. Any alone time they had spent together was platonic, which consisted of watching movies or practicing waterbending at the lake. By all accounts, their relationship status was still friends. He hasn't said anything to her about what she means to him and she didn't push the issue. He thanked her in his mind as he parked at his therapist's office, indebted for her therapy recommendation.

"Hi Aang, great to see you. Come on in," Ms. Wu said as she motioned for him to follow her to her office door. Aang smiled as he walked past the crystals and essential oil diffuser in the waiting room. The hallway smelled of orange and the soothing sounds of a waterfall could be heard throughout the entire building. He liked Ms. Wu, mostly because she believed in meditating, which was a rare quality among non-air nomads. The room was filled with comfy furniture of all shapes and sizes. There were scattered art materials and snacks on a few coffee tables. He sat on a big, green chair and began to doodle on some paper. Ms. Wu believed in encouraging freedom of choice in session with no pressure to talk. After a few minutes, Aang decided to finally speak, "So, I think I want to ask Katara out on a date, but.." His eyes continued to look down where he was coloring. He took a deep breath and looked at Ms. Wu, "I'm worried I'll mess it up. I have never been with a girl and I still can't think about my parents without having a panic attack. She deserves better than that."