New Normal: A MyStreet FanFic

Part 6.3

Aphmau, Aaron, Zach, Eric, and Sylvana stood at the front door of Aphmau's house, thinking about what to do.

Melissa and Rowan approached them, curious to hear their conversation.

"We can't sleep there!" Sylvana exclaimed. "It's dirty and there are rats! We need to get the entire house into a washing machine three times!"

"Are you guys alright?" Melissa asked them all. Most of them turned to her. 

"The house is inhospitable!" she continued screaming. "There's a giant hole in the dining room and everything is dusty!"

"That's weird. All the other houses are fine."

"How?!"

"Dante managed to maintain the houses," Travis interjected. He, Dante, and Garroth joined in the commotion. 

"Most of them, anyway." Dante placed his hands on his hips. "Lucinda's house was already being used by someone else."

Sylvana faced him, her eyes filled with murderous intent. "Why didn't you clean ours?!"

He shrugged, though he still felt unnerved by the gaze of Aphmau's mother. "Well, there was. . .something that. . .bothered me. I didn't bother going there because the house felt haunted."

"Haunted? Are you crazy?! The last thing I want to hear about my daughter's house is that it's haunted!"

"Haunted how?" Aphmau cut in. She was genuinely curious, because the house had never been haunted before, even before they bought it. In fact, back then, her house was pretty normal.

Dante turned to her this time. "Like. . .there's someone talking in the wind. A--and there's always some weird sound when I try to go in. Faucets running even if they weren't supposed to. Creaking wood even if I didn't step on them. You get what I mean?"

"It is strange. . ."

They were all silent for a while.

"Well, either haunted or not, you can't sleep there, right?" Melissa stepoed forward. "We can just let Aphmau and Aaron sleep in your house, Sylvana."

"Right!" she said. "Come on, honey pie! Help me carry her. I'm sure they're getting cold."

Some helped Aphmau and Aaron into Sylvana's house, while others returned to their homes, a little annoyed that it turned out to be such a trivial matter.

-

"Let's bring you to this room!" Sylvana said.  "It's close to the bathroom if you two need to pee."

Eric and Sylvana lifted Aphmau and her now-folded wheelchair into the room, while Aaron tried to wheel the luggage. He ended up bumping into a wall. 

"Oh my!" she exclaimed. "Are you okay? Let me--"

"I'm fine," he responded gruffly. 

"Sure." She turned to Aphmau. "Are you okay in your bed, mija?"

"Yes, Mom," Aphmau answered weakly. 

"That's good." She took the luggage from Aaron's hands and placed them on the side of the room. "You should get settled in bed, you must be really tired."

Without another word, he started to lay down beside Aphmau. Before, Sylvana would've just started screaming. But she couldn't help but smile sadly at the two of them. She eyed Aaron's unnaturally dark scars all over his body, maybe from all of the magical happenings then. 

And her mija. . .her poor, poor mija. She couldn't even begin to understand what she was going through. 

"Um, sugar pie?" Eric placed a hand on her shoulder. "We should leave them now."

She blinked. "Oh, yes, yes! Right!" 

As they began walking out of the room, she gave them one last look. "Good night! Remember to wake up early tomorrow for breakfast! I'll be making some churros and hot chocolate."

Before they could reply, he turned off the lights and they went out of the room.

-

For a while, it was silent. 

"Churros. . ." Aaron mumbled to the ceiling. "Isn't that a snack? Why is it for breakfast?"

Aphmau looked at the ceiling too. "I don't know. It's how my mom works."

A pause. 

"You can't sleep?"

"Yeah. How about you?"

"Same."

"I didn't know we have a house."

"Of course you don't." Aphmau sounded exasperated. "We lived together because. . ."

"Because what?"

She sighed. "Good friends. We were very good friends."

"Oh."

"Yeah. . ."

"Are we still. . .good friends?"

"I don't know. How do you feel about it?"

"It feels. . .I don't know. It feels right. To be friends with you."

"That's. . .nice." He could hear the smile in her voice. 

Then, he also felt something watery brush against his shoulder. He moved to face her. "Are you. . .crying?"

"No. I--I'm not." She sniffled. 

She let her tears fall down in silence. Then, Aaron reached for her hair, felt around, pushed it away from her face, and wiped the tears falling from her face. 

"Please," he said, "don't cry."

If anything, that made her cry some more. 

"I'm just so. . .tired. I'm tired of everything, Aaron." She gently pushed his hand away and wiped her own tears. "Everything's falling apart. Everything's broken because of me."

"Th--that's not true. Everyone says you bring the best in them." His voice shook. "Meanwhile, I'm just. . .there, you know? I'm not doing anything important. I'm not even worth anything."

"Shut up!" she exclaimed. "You're worth everything to me." There was so much she wanted to say, but she hesitated. 

Now even his eyes were watery. "Because we're good friends?"

She paused and took a deep breath. "Y--yeah. Because we're really, really good friends." She smiled, even if he couldn't see it. 

For a while, they just lay there, weeping together. In the darkness, they both found solace in each other amidst the turmoil in their hearts. 

No words needed to be said. They knew that they needed to let the tears out. 

And in that comfort, they finally managed to close their eyes and sleep.