STAY WOKE ✔︎ || A. Grande

ғᴏᴜʀᴛᴇᴇɴ

Ariana opened Briar's cell door and walked into the cell only to be met with a messy room and an anxious looking Briar. She put Briar's journal under her pillow while Briar was looking around the desk before sitting on the bed and looking at Briar with confusion.

"What are you looking for?" Ariana asked making Briar's head snap up to her. Her eyes were completely black and you could see her veins which were also a prominent black. However, Ariana was dazed by this at all. She continued to look at Briar, expecting an answer from the younger girl.

"My journal! W-where is it?!" Briar continued to rummage through her stuff, trying to find the book with her multiple drawings. Ariana decided that she would play along and try to find Briar's notebook as well despite knowing where it was. "Have you checked under your pillow?" Ariana asked. Briar quickly got up noticing that she hasn't checked under her pillow. She threw her pillow across the room with so much force that you would've thought it was a rock. Her eyes immediately changed back to normal once she found the book. Ignoring the mess, she sat down on the floor and began to write in the notebook.

Ariana was amused with how quickly Briar seemed to calm down when she had her notebook. She could easily tell that the younger girl loved her notebook a lot. It was actually quite cute to see the girl so excited to draw. And she was a good drawer as well; a dark drawer, someone who liked to draw demons and stuff like that, but a good one.

"Hey, Briar? Do you want anything to eat, maybe?" Ariana suggested in a sweet voice. One that sounded motherly. It made Briar blush a little, "o-okay." She whispered, not looking up from the piece of paper. Ariana nodded and got up from the bed and walked out the cell, going to go make the girl some breakfast.

As soon as the door closed, Briar let out a sigh. She continued to sketch the picture she was making. It was a picture of Ariana. She wanted to give it to Ariana as a present of appreciation. No one has ever done as much as Ariana does for Briar. It only made since if she got some sort present.

"Really? You're going to give that to her? It looks like shit, Briar." Briar winced as the voice entered her head. She tried to blur them out but it was no use, they only continued their bullying on her. "I can't believe you think that Ariana will like that. She looks like an alien." The voice spat out. Briar quickly wiped her tears before they could fall.

"W-Well maybe she l-liked aliens-"

"No girl likes aliens, Briar. Try again!" The voice yelled out. Soon briar couldn't feel control over her body. She screamed and cried as one of her demons ripped out the drawing and balled it up, throwing it on the trash. As soon as she had control over her body again, she dug her head in her hands and let out a loud cry. She had worked so hard on that picture and now she had to start all over.

"Stop being a ducking cry baby and start again. If you really want Ariana to be pleased, then you better do it right." The voice whispered harshly. Briar nodded her head and began to sketch out Ariana again, this time following everything the voice said, not wanting to anger it again.

———

"Briar, if you could go anywhere on earth, where would it be?" Ariana asked the younger girl, breaking the silence that the two once had in the room. Briar has been in her journal all day and it was beginning to drive Ariana crazy. Maybe she would buy some more stuff for Briar, something to entertain her or something.

Ariana waited patiently for Briar's answer. She knew that it was going to take Briar a little while to do so since there were a bunch of places on earth.

"I wanna go to an aquarium." She whispered out. Ariana tilted her head, that was sure an interesting place to go, especially when there were plenty of places on earth to travel to. "And why is that?" Ariana asked, wanting to hear more of the girls voice and also wanting to know why she would pick that place other than any other place.

"Because Zachary went there and he said it was cool. He saw sharks and a bunch of pretty and ugly fish and animals."

Zachary? Ariana has never heard of a person named Zachary come out of Briar's mouth. "Who's Zachary?" Ariana asked. Briar looked up and smiled a little bit, remembering her best friend.

"He was my best friend. He came here with Clarissa every once and awhile. He said he was an e-explorer and went around the world. He would get me presents and sneak them in here." Briar got up and reached under her bed and pulled out a box. She opened up the box and pulled out a bunch of cool looking stuff from different places. Ariana's eyes widened at the sight. If she had all this stuff to play with, why was her journal the only thing that was keeping her company?

"Oh! And this is my favorite!" Briar took out a weird looking toy in Ariana's eyes. It looked like a boy riding a bike of some sort. "And what is that?" Ariana asked, generally confused for herself. "It's a Galimoto boy from Africa. You push him around with this." Briar pointed to the string. She stood up and demonstrated. After she was done she sat back down on the floor and studied the toy, making the room go back in silence.

"What happened to Zachary?"

Briar's whole demeanor changed at the question. Ariana but her lip knowing she did something wrong, but she waited patiently for Briar to answer her with a 'I don't want to talk about it' or to explain what happened to the guy.

"I don't know what happened to him..." Briar said after a short while of more silence, "he didn't come back after Clarissa d-died." Briar stuttered making Ariana frown. She snapped out of her thinking process when she heard a sniffle come from Briar. "I-I think I-I did so-somethin'..." Briar said, trying her hardest not to cry. Ariana moved to the floor where Briar was at and rubbed the girls back, letting her cry on her shoulder. "You did nothing, baby. Nothing at all."

———

Briar was now asleep but Ariana decided to stay a little bit longer and clean up Briar's room since it never got cleaned from earlier. She was throwing something in the trash when she noticed something in the trash already. It looked like a ripped page out of Briar's notebook.

She took the balled up paper out and opened it up only to be surprised by what she saw. It was obviously a picture of her, a good picture indeed. Ariana couldn't help but wonder why Briar would throw such a masterpiece in the trash. She gently folded the paper up and put it in her pocket before throwing the other stuff in the trash.

After she was done, she left the room and walked to Dr. Benjamin's office. She knocked on the door and didn't come in until she heard Dr. Benjamin say something. She then opened the door and there sat in the chair was Dr. Benjamin, but beside him was a man who looked highly like him. "Dr. Grande. Pleased to see you." Dr. Benjamin and Ariana shook her hands. Then Dr. Benjamin pointed to the guy beside him.

"This is my son, Zachary."

"So that's Zachary."