The Missing Stranger

Chapter 14

¤Afternoon; Jan 10, 2009
The abandoned observatory
Mt. Alliance¤

It had been a few days since Katelyn officially decided to stay, and tension between Aphmau and Aaron was growing by the minute. No matter what was happening, if one went near the other, there would be dirty looks flying. Katelyn started to worry about Aphmau, but Aleena was more concerned about Aaron. It was as if they were split in two, with Katelyn and Aleena trying to be the peacemakers.

"Why are so mad at him? I mean, I kinda get why, but you two have been avoiding each other all week and giving dirty looks!" Katelyn would say to Aphmau.

"Well, maybe he shouldn't have pushed me every single day, Katelyn!" Aphmau would always say and storm off.

"Any luck with Aaron?" Katelyn said after recalling her talks with Aphmau.

"No... he just won't talk to me. He keeps ignoring me." Aleena said.

"It's the exact opposite for me. Aphmau yells at me every time I try to talk to her." Katelyn said. They stood there for a while, until Aleena got an idea.

"You should go talk to brother and I will go talk to sister! Sister won't yell at me, and brother won't ignore you." Aleena said.

"I guess we could try it." Katelyn answered. For her, anything was a good idea. As weird as Aaron was, she didn't want to deal with Aphmau hating him for no reason.

"Where is Aaron?" Katelyn asked. Aleena pointed to one of the two balconies. This balcony was not the one Katelyn knew to be the one Aphmau had gone on normally.

"Okay, Aphmau... is..." Katelyn looked around. Aleena had dissappeared.

"Eh. Whatever." Katelyn shrugged it off and climbed the balcony. She saw Aaron standing in front of the wall. The wall had a bunch of scratched on lines. Two chunks were marked off individually.

"Year 1"

"Year 2"

Katelyn looked at a few lines that were left out. There were 10 lines.

"He's been counting the days since he got up here." Katelyn thought. She also noticed that the lines and writing marking them out got increasingly messier as the days went on.

"I've never lost track." Aaron said, still watching the wall, as if expecting it to write on itself.

"You've been counting the days since you got up here...?" Katelyn asked, shocked. Aaron looked down from the wall for the first time.

"Yes. I have. Two years I've been up here. Each one effecting me more and more. No one had gone looking for me, no matter how much I hoped they would." Aaron said.

"Why didn't you just go back?" Katelyn asked.

"Because... I was scared. Scared of what would happen if I did." Aaron answered.

"It's a long story. Now why are you here. Surely it wasn't just to have a interview with me." He said.

"What happened with you and Aphmau? She practically hates you for no reason." Katelyn asked.

"There is a reason she hates me, probably." Aaron said.

"If you haven't figured it out already, I haven't really treated her like royalty." Aaron said. Katelyn had guessed that Aaron treated her like a hostage, but she never asked.

"I kinda figured. But she wasn't acting like this before, was she?" Katelyn asked.

"No. She wasn't. I pushed her past the limit when you came up to get her, and when I made you leave with Aleena. We both pushed each other. I would make her leave myself, but..."

"She would die." Katelyn finished for Aaron.

"Yes." Aaron murmered.

"Well, maybe you should try and talk to her." Katelyn said. Aaron looked to the wall again.

"Tell me, Katelyn. When you look at these markings, what do you notice?" Aaron said.

"Uh... I don't know. I guess the writing gets more and more messy...? As if a crazy person wrote it." Katelyn answered confused.

"Exactly. Every day, I become more and more corrupt. More and more... insane. Why do think I hate it so much when people call me that? It's because I know it's true. The worst part is, I have no intent on changing. Honestly, The only people I care about at this point are Aleena and Tony." Aaron explained.

"But what does that have to do with talking to Aphmau?" Katelyn said, confused.

   "Let's just say, that given my current state, I'm not one for talking." Katelyn decided not to press further. She went down the balcony to meet with Aleena.

   "Well, I think my meeting went well. He talked to me." Katelyn said to Aleena.

   "Sister practically ignored me..." Aleena said. Katelyn groaned.

   "This is just annoying. Aaron said he didn't think they should talk, but he still talked to me! Aphmau is just completely--"

   "JUST GET AWAY FROM ME FOR ONCE!" Katelyn turned her head. She saw Aphmau screaming at Aaron, shoving him away.

   "Calm down." He said.

   "Calm down?! Are you serious?! I'll 'calm down' when let me go!" She screamed.

   "You know why I can't do that." He said, starting to get annoyed.

   "I don't care anymore! It's been a week and nothing's happened, yet you won't let me go!" She said.

   "She's lost it..." Aleena whispered to Katelyn.

   "You're being completely irrationable! If you want to throw your life away, then go ahead! You're clearly to idiotic to avoid death anyways." Aaron yelled. Katelyn noticed his eyes turning red again, but something in his tone told Katelyn that he was losing control. She remembered what Aaron said.

   "Exactly. Every day, I become more and more corrupt. More and more... insane. Why do think I hate it so much when people call me that? It's because I know it's true. The worst part is, I have no intent on changing..."

   "Idiotic?! Says you! I'm not the one who ran away because I lost someone! We all lose people!" Aphmau looked like she was almost in tears, but she was clearly more angry then depressed.

   "I didn't run away just because of Lily! But you never bothered to ask, so you wouldn't know! You, of all people, should know--"

   "Should know what, Aaron?! I know enough! You're crazy, and I'm leaving! I'm going home, and guess what?! I don't even care what happens to you! You've tortured me, abused me, and now, you've crossed the line!" Aphmau interrupted Aaron. Aphmau was too... occupied to notice, but it felt to Katelyn and Aleena like a dark aura was growing around Aaron as there fighting continued.

   "C'mon, Katelyn, think! I have to do something..."

   Now it's your turn. You can decide what happens. Should Katelyn...

   Side with Aphmau

   Or...

   Side with Aaron

Comment on which option you prefer. Your decision will effect the story for chapters to come. Good luck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Of course, I got inspiration from Meteora Valley. This is something that I decided to do to connect with you guys more! Since you like this book, you get to decide what happens! Good luck!

   Thanks for reading! ♡ ♡ ♡

   Check out Aphmau:
   Empress_Aphmau
   youtu.be/ChallengeAccepted

   Check out the game that inspired this story:
   "Life Is Strange"

   Writer:
   NylodnewgPlaZ
   Editor:
   NylodnewgPlaZ (Yay!)