Memories

LXIX

BLOOM

'My favourite colour is your silhouette
But it's hard to see you through the black
It could be purple or gold in the act'

⥎
⥐

Okay, so the idea for this part has been living in my head for a few days now, and I figured it should probably happen now. So yeah, that's why you get this off-script conversation between Aaron and Thalia. :)

⥎
⥐

Thalia sat upright, heaving in breaths of air into her lungs. She looked around, but it was pitch black. She couldn't see anything, much less figure out where she was. So Thalia panicked, because not knowing where she was wasn't good. She knew that much.

Thalia threw the sheets off herself and that's when it came back to her. She clutched her forehead when a headache plagued her mind. Thalia scrunched her eyebrows and got out of bed, slower this time. She felt her way across the room to the door, and opened it. There was a light on in the hallway, and she followed it to the stairs. Thalia went down the stairs and shielded her eyes when the light was too much.

Thalia headed over to the doors that were open onto the patio, and saw the outline of a figure leaning against the railing. It was short, and she could see small streaks of blonde hair. Thalia knew Andrew slept lightly, but he was probably comfortable with Neil, so this wasn't that twin. It was the other one. 

"Aaron?" she asked, her voice sounding hoarse. He turned, and Thalia saw that it was, in fact, Aaron. She walked over to him and he turned back to looking out at the view. "What are you doing up?"

"Nightmares," he whispered. Thalia didn't say anything more, just looked at the dark mountains with him. "You too?"

"Probably not about the same thing as you," Thalia said. Her head was buzzing and she needed an aspirin, but that could wait. She wanted to know what was bothering Aaron. And what she could do to help him through it. "But yeah. Nightmares." They were both quiet for a moment. "You want to talk about it?" he shook his head. Thalia didn't push him. She wouldn't like being pushed to talk about her nightmares, either. 

"You know, I never liked you," Aaron said eventually. Thalia looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. He turned to face her before looking back at the mountains and sighing. 

"Thanks," Thalia said when Aaron didn't offer anything else. "The feeling's mutual."

"But I'd never wish what happened to you and Andrew on anyone," Aaron said, still not looking at Thalia. "Not even you and Andrew." 

"Aaron," she started. He turned to her then, brows furrowed. 

"I know it's shit talking about your past - I understand that. I never wanted to tell anyone about what my mother did to me. But I need to know," he said. Aaron looked tired, as if he hadn't slept at all in weeks. Thalia wouldn't blame him if he hadn't. She definitely hadn't. Not in months.

"Aaron," Thalia tried again. She sighed and shook her head. "I shouldn't tell you about Andrew's experiences - that's for him to tell you when he's ready - but I will tell you about mine." He nodded. Thalia took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Come on, let's sit down."

So they did, and Thalia started her story. "I spent about six months with the Spears. In those six months, Drake introduced me to alcohol, though I'd already been drinking at my other homes, drugs, and his friends." Aaron's face morphed into one of disgust. "You asked. It's not a pretty story, and not too late to back out." He swallowed hard and shook his head. "Alright then."

Thalia told Aaron about how when she arrived at the Spears, she arrived with the threat of juvie if she didn't stay. She told him that she'd run away or been kicked out of all fourteen other homes she'd been in before then, and how she'd planned to do the same to the Spears until she'd been given an ultimatum. Thalia told him that Drake had still legally been her foster family when Aaron had killed him - which Aaron said sorry for, and Thalia told him never to apologise for what he did. "You did a service to the world, Aaron. Cass won't see it that way, but it's true. Every rapist killed or convicted is another life saved. That's how I see it."

"I never thought about it like that." he muttered, and then when Thalia was done explaining, they both remained silent for a few minutes. 

"Do you know the trial date yet?" she asked him. Aaron shook his head. "Well I'll be there, and so will Andrew and Nicky and Kevin and Neil. We'll be there to support you." he nodded and looked down.

"Will Cass be there?" he asked, though Thalia knew Aaron already knew the answer. She leaned forwards and took his hands in hers. Aaron looked up at Thalia with teary eyes. She had stone cold ones though, and looked Aaron in the eye.

"She will. She showed up to the Columbia house after it happened, you know?" Thalia said. "I threw her out because I didn't want her to see you or Andrew. I really wish she wasn't going to be there, Aaron, because she'll only see Andrew when you're up on the stand. She'll blame both of you for her son's death. But like I said - if he didn't die, Cass would have just taken in more children after I legally turned eighteen and more people's lives would be ruined." Aaron was quiet and took his hands back so Thalia leaned back too. 

"There were five kids between me and Andrew, and none of them would testify." Thalia said. Aaron looked up at her again. "And neither would Andrew or me, but now that Drake is dead, it changes things. There's no threat that he'll track us down and find us. Ruin our lives again. Because he's dead, Aaron. Because you killed him. You made sure he wouldn't hurt anyone ever again." she said. 

"Thank you," Aaron muttered. Thalia nodded. Then hesitated. Surely Andrew would be okay with Aaron knowing a little more. So she opened her mouth again and made sure she thought hard about the words that were going to come out of it before they did.

"Do you know why Andrew went to juvie?" she asked Aaron. She was toeing a dangerous line, but knew Andrew wanted to fix his relationship with Aaron, no matter how much he acted like he didn't care.

"No," Aaron said slowly. "But I'm guessing you do, and you're going to tell me." Thalia nodded. 

"He got himself sent there on purpose. It was obviously after he found out about you," Thalia said. "And he wanted to protect you." Aaron frowned.

"From what?" he asked. Thalia didn't respond, waiting for the recognition to show on Aaron's face. When it did, it showed as a raised eyebrows and slack jaw, wide eyes and disbelieving nonsense coming out of his mouth. "No." Thalia nodded. "How?"

"Drake found out about you, too, and apparently he wanted 'A matching set'." Thalia said. Aaron looked like he was going to throw up and scream all at once. "So Andrew went to juvie so you wouldn't visit him. He cares about you so very much, Aaron. You need to understand that. The deals he makes are to keep people close to him. So they don't run out on him." Thalia said. "If you can show him that you'll stick by him even with Katelyn around, I'm sure he'll let you drop your deal."

"And you're going to have to get used to Neil being around him, because I can tell that's not going away any time soon." Thalia added as an afterthought, remembering Neil and Aaron disappearing for a short period of time earlier in the night. They'd likely had a fight about Aaron and Andrew's deal. Thalia didn't care enough to figure out what it was really about, but she knew the two had to get used to each other if Neil was going to stick around in Andrew's life. 

"I know," Aaron said, putting his head in his hands. Thalia stood, and on her way into the house, she passed Aaron. Thalia put a comforting hand on his shoulder for a few seconds before she went into the kitchen, got a glass of water and a painkiller, and headed back upstairs. Kevin was still asleep, but Thalia took the pill and put the glass of water on the bedside table before climbing in next to him. Her back wasn't against the wall, and the nightmare she'd woken from had been a violent one, but she felt calm now that she'd talked to someone. Aaron, of all people, had helped Thalia realise that it was okay to have demons, and that it was okay that they haunted you for a while. But you could get over them, especially if you have someone there to comfort you.