The night was quiet, perfectly still. The moon was high, shining bright and luminescent through the window, casting light through the parted drapes.
Angel was watching it intensely, trying to admire beauty in something that she knew, at one time, she found inspiring. It would have been perfect if she had been admiring it from anywhere else but here... and living the life of anybody but herself.
Because the person she was right now barely even qualified as being a person. She was a shell. An 'it'. And 'it' jumped at noises made by an aging house. 'It' snapped and shut down at anyone that got too close. And it waited... it waited for the infliction of pain, sometimes hoping that it was physical because at least that was escape from the mental torment that she was afflicted with every moment of every day.
Lior pulled the blankets further over her, up to her nose, peering out over the edge. Eyes were ringed with dark circles, indication that sleep had been evading her for a very long time. She couldn't. She was scared. She was scared of her dreams which were filled with him, and terrified of the reality she was in because he occupied it as well.
This was hell.
Death would have been better... although she wasn't even sure she would have escaped from him then. Because what if she became trapped here? What if she became bound to the house just like he was? What was even worse was that if she died there would be nobody there to protect her family. Nobody there to curb Daemon's bloodlust. And he would-he would ki-
"Lior?"
Angel froze under her covers and, before she could contain it, a fearful whimper escaped her lips. It was something that never would have happened in the past... especially when it was Aaron standing at the entrance to her room.
"Angel, are you alright?" his voice was concerned now, laced with worry, and it came closer signalling his approach.
You can't be here. He'll get so angry.
She twisted, pulling the blankets further over her, "I'm fine" she wasn't, "I'm fine, you just... you just startled me is all".
The weight shifted on her bed, making her entire body tense up.
"Were you sleeping?"
"No" she murmured softly, "Just... thinking".
"About...?"
"Nothing".
"Sounds riveting" he deadpanned, kicking his feet up off the floor and onto the bed as he laid back with his hands behind his head.
Angel's entire body tightened from an action that usually made her relax.
She liked Aaron being here. Aaron was safety, no matter how real or imagined it was. But there was none of that right now because what if Daemon was watching? She wasn't supposed to let Aaron sleep with her anymore... it was a rule. And the reason Aaron was here right now, she knew, meant that he was probably expecting for them to do what they had been doing since they were little kids.
Her knees curled upwards, towards her chest, "...what are you doing here?"
"Do you not want me to be?" the question was straightforward, unavoidable.
"Aaron" she answered, voice weak and on the brink of breaking, "I'm just tired, okay?"
There was a moment of silence that broke through the room, thick and tense, filled with things unsaid. There was a shifting on the bed, the sound of weight being transferred but not removed, as Aaron turned onto his side. He didn't say anything for a few seconds before his voice eventually punctured the quiet, "...will you talk to me, please?"
Angel clenched her eyes shut, glad in this moment to be facing away from him.
"Angel" he placed his hand on her shoulder.
There was no curbing the reaction his touch caused. She flinched. And her voice came through, a tight little thing, that spoke of fear that had never been there before, "Don't".
The weight on the mattress shifted again, Aaron off in a second as he turned the corner of the bed and kneeled in front of her. His face was filled with frustration... with concern that she had only seen there once before, back before she had gone into the hospital.
He looked at her, refusing to break the gaze and demanding that she keep it just the same, "Angel, please..." he cupped her cheek, watching as she flinched just the same from that, something that had never happened before, "please talk to me. What's happening?"
She couldn't restrain them as much as she tried. The tears came, leaking down her cheeks, breaking under the comfort of his hand.
God, all she wanted was for Aaron to hug her... to tell her that things were going to be alright, that he would protect her, but she knew it wasn't possible.
Aaron couldn't protect her against something that he couldn't see. And if he tried, Daemon would kill him.
"I'm sorry, Aaron" she whispered, not able to find the strength to move his hand away. Just for a minute, she wanted it. She wanted to feel okay, to feel the comfort that she had always shared with her brother. But she was terrified all the same that there was something, someone, here that would punish her for getting too close to him, "I-I just..."
Aaron didn't ask for her to move over. He didn't ask her if he should stay or if he should go. He simply pulled back the blanket that she had wrapped so tightly around herself, slipped under, and brought her into his arms.
Her shoulders started to shake. Angel was so broken... so lost... so hopeless. Everything was crashing down around her, everything was out of her control, and she couldn't take it anymore.
This was hell. It had to be. Because only hell could be responsible for this constant fear, and pain that didn't leave even when she was sleeping.
She couldn't take it. She was falling apart at the seams... and every day she felt just a little bit farther and farther away from herself, who she had been, like the pieces kept splitting apart.
Her face was already buried into her palms, and the back of her hands were pressed into his chest. He needed to leave. He
had
to leave.
...but she was petrified that he would and she would be alone again with either her living or nonliving nightmares.
If actions spoke to anything, though, it was that he wasn't going anywhere. His chin rested on top of her head as he held her to him, and there was a pause before he took a deep breath inward, "Angel, I'm..." another pregnant pause followed, something that was completely unlike Aaron, "I'm worried about you".
Lior winced, trying to blink away tears that were clinging to her eyelashes.
"Something's wrong. You've been so distant... and I know something is going on, I can feel it, and you won't tell me" his arm tightened, "we've always told each other everything".
She didn't know what to say to him. What could she possibly have said to ease him any?
Of course he noticed when she completely separated from him. There wasn't even a possibility that he wouldn't have considering how much time they had always spent together. He was right. She used to tell him everything. But she couldn't tell him this.
"Tell me" his voice was quiet, hushed, something inflected that she rarely ever heard, "please tell me. Let me help... let me do something, anything".
Aaron was never the fragile one. He was strong. He had always been the strong sibling, the one without fears and problems. So why... why did he sound like that?
Angel nuzzled down, "I hate it here".
