Her

Part 2

Aria pulled into his driveway then let go of the wheel, he wondered why his hands were so sweaty before realizing he hasn't once let go of the wheel since the crash. He turned the car off, got out, grabbed his bag then walked to the entrance off the gate. The puppies, one a poodle and one a cocker spaniel, both ran to him, excited to see that he came back. Lex, the cocker spaniel, jumped up and down, trying to get Aria's attention while Bear, the poodle, ran around in small circles, wagging his nub of a tail. Aria smiled while laying his bag on the sidewalk, then he sat beside it, allowing the Lex to jump in his lap. Bear laid beside him, he was old and didn't really want to be as playful as the younger dog. Aria started petting them both.

A few hours passed and Aria still remained in the same spot. His mother peeked through the front door, "Well when did you get here?" "Not long ago. It's only been about ten minutes." "What? You're usually here by 3:45 and it's 5 o'clock." "Oh..." His mother rolled her eyes "Just take the trash out." She walked back inside. Aria gently picked up Lex and sat her back on the ground before standing up and walking inside. Once he made his way into the kitchen, he pulled the trash bag out of the container, tied it shut then walked back outside.

As he approached the garbage bin, he noticed a figure standing in the distance. He started to panic. "She only stands that far when something bad is gonna happen.." He tossed the bag in the bin, watching her slowly walk closer. She was near a street light and as soon as she walked under it, he saw that she was actually one of the neighbors walking home. He sighed "What an asshole." He stated before walking back inside.

Aria sat in his bed, on the second floor of the apartment. He was about 13 years old at the time. The tv was converting from cartoon network to adult swim. He looked out the window, the street lights illuminated the other apartments. Something caught his eye, the figure of a tall woman standing under the streetlight. They just stared at eachother until Aria decided to close the blinds. "I'm just hallucinating from a lack of sleep.." He mumbled to himself before laying back onto the bed.

The 17 year old boy walked into his room, grabbed his laptop off the desk and climbed onto his bed. He opened it to see a slip of paper slide out. He cocked an eyebrow, opening up the paper and reading it. It contained instructions to write a short story for the newspaper also stating that it is due tomorrow. He groaned "Why do I keep putting important stuff in this thing? What's wrong with me?" He turned the laptop on and stared at the screen before opening up google docs.

A few hours passed, Aria remained with his face glued to the laptop screen and his fingers hitting the keys rapidly. He stopped and sat up, stretching his back and arms. "Woah it's already 1 am. I must've been writing a lot." He said happily to himself. A voice gloomed from the left corner of the room beside the closet "Read it again..." Aria huffed at her and looked back at his screen.

                                           "It's nice to know that when everything goes bad, raccoons will never judge you. Only haunt your waking nightmares with their tiny, tiny hands."

He stayed silent for a moment. "That's it? That's all I've got? What the f--?" He stopped "I used to write so much but this is it? What's going on?" "It's the depression." Her voice now heard from behind him. "It takes away every single thing you love. It makes everything you once loved to spend weeks doing become bland, tasteless, disgusting. Isn't that quite sad? Something you were passionate about is now nothing. The love for your creativity is now withered like a dead flower. So why still try? It's completely pointless, Aria."

Aria stared down at his hands, listening to her before taking a deep breathe. "No, it's...It's just a writers block. I'll come up with something, I just need alittle more time. The teacher will understand." He said calmly, trying his hardest to stay positive. He knew well that his illnesses were eating him away but he also knew the only way to heal was to fight back. So he could never stop fighting, even if it meant having to deal with her horrible words for an eternity.

Aria walked through the halls with his head hanging down, he didn't get any sleep like always. He made his way to his English teacher's room. "Mr. Myrr?" The teacher looked up from his papers and smiled at the boy. "Hey, there's my author in training. What's up, kiddo?" "I, uh, kind of didn't do so well on the story." Myrr tilted his head like a confused bird. "What do you mean?" "I'll just show you rather than explain it." Aria opened his laptop and showed the teacher what he wrote. Myrr started to chuckle "Well, that's definitely something. We can still add it." "What? Really?" "Of course. It's weird and short enough to catch the other students attention. I'm sure It'll give them a nice laugh." "Oh...well. Okay" Aria seemed to be a bit confused "Well, I'll send it to you in a bit." Myrr nodded as Aria walked out, sticking his tongue out at Her as he passed her.

Soon lunchtime rolled around. The boy sat in his favorite classroom with his head on the desk. He loved that he had a nice place to be in to avoid the noisy cafeteria. He just laid there, remembering the time she really screwed up his life.

"And this is your room." The nurse said, looking at her clipboard and gesturing towards the room. Aria, the small 14 year old, looked into the room containing two beds, two nightstands, two book shelves, a desk and a medium sized bathroom with no door. "You might get a roommate in the middle of the night so don't be surprised to wake up with another boy in the other bed." She spoke in a monotone voice. "Oh...Okay." Aria walked into the room. "Goodnight." The nurse said before shutting the door. Aria looked around the room, the light blue paint on the walls made him feel sick. He sat on the bed and just continued to stare at the walls. "I can't believe this. They call me a liar about her then send me to this place?" He sighed and laid back on the bed, shutting his eyes.

"Aria?" He heard a soft, familiar voice calling for him. "Aria?" He opened his eyes to see Lave standing there with a worried look. "Hey buddy, you dozed off for a bit. Did you not sleep last night?" Aria rubbed his eyes "You've known me for four years, you know that the last good night's sleep I had was when I was a fetus." Lave chuckled, "Sorry, grumpy. Have you tried sleeping pills or hot tea?" "Yeah, I've been on every sleeping pill you can name and they never work. As for the tea, I haven't tried it." "I'm sorry man." Lave patted Aria's back.