She Saved Me | Tom Riddle

Falling Apart

Hey friends! Did anyone catch my subtle story title reference in the last chapter?? I just thought it was fun to put in. And if anyone is curious, the reason I chose this particular song is due to the emotional and dramatic tone of it...which sort of fits the direction this chapter took. Just thought I'd put that out there too.

Listen: Pas De Deux by Tchaikovsky

36| Falling Apart

The first few days following the first night home proved to be difficult. Gwen and Carmine were warm and comforting to be around, but not even they could chase away the arising issues in the house. Lizzie was perfectly fine of course. But Ava was still reeling from her dream about Voldemort. And Tom...well he was just as unsettled. Ava's unusual behavior had started to rub off on him. He was now experiencing his own troubles with sleeping.

However, Tom's insomnia was due to something more than conjured up scenarios. The holidays brought up something much deeper. His thoughts had been plagued by memories of the orphanage, where he had spent every Christmas while at Hogwarts. Depressing years of joyless holiday seasons in a decrepit building full of mistreated children.

His childhood was the sole reason why he didn't care for Christmas, or his birthday. There was never any celebrating, or at least nothing significant to qualify. So the annual traditions he was being included in with the Merins perplexed him. He had no idea how to participate, but he at least pretended to enjoy it. And no matter how much they involved him, he couldn't chase away the haunting childhood memories. Even though he wished to.

Then the dreams started. He was aware of them enough by now to know what they were. Memories from Voldemort's time, flashes of certain actions he took throughout his years of terror. All the dreams end the same way; lifeless bodies lining the ground. They were so intense and so disturbing, he was even at a loss when it came to acting normal.

Tom knew the others noticed how withdrawn he became. Even when Ava seemed to get over her own issues. He noticed the odd looks she threw his way when he didn't even have the energy to read. It had gotten so bad that he couldn't stand to be around anyone else, especially Ava. Of course this was mostly due to one particular nasty dream. He was almost positive it wasn't a memory, which both relieved and horrified him. He could still hear her scream ringing in his ears, and the image of her pale empty face plagued him. It was all beginning to become too much to handle.

Downstairs at that moment, like Tom was suspicious of, Ava was being questioned by her mother regarding him. Gwen had convinced Ava to sit with her for a bit under the guise of asking about classes. But after one cup of tea, she made her play.

"So," Gwen started, "have things also gone well for Tom in your opinion?"

Ava swallowed the tea in her mouth. "I think so."

Gwen nodded slowly. "That's good."

Ava looked at her mother critically. There was something else behind her question. "What do you really want to know?"

"I'm just interested in knowing how he is," Gwen said with a shrug. "I knew it wasn't going to be an easy transition."

"But there's something else you're asking," Ava said with a small smile.

Gwen set her cup down with a sigh. She should've known her daughter would pick up on that right away. "Alright, you got me." She smiled a bit when Ava leaned against the table in preparation. "I know there's something going on with Tom. What's wrong?"