L O S T .

“I love the semi-annual chats with my mom. Explaining to her that I’m not pregnant, on drugs or homeless and living in a box is always a great joy. Oh, my favorite parts are when she tries to convince me that I’m wasting my life out here and am going to end up failing because of what I’ve chosen to do with my life.” She let her faux cheery smile fall from her face and instead let a grimace replace it, a heavy sigh lifting her already tense shoulders. “Are you sensing the sarcasm or do I have to try a little harder?”

Clara grinned, “Yes, you do.” she said, moving to open curtains before handing a coffee off to the other woman, “Come on, today we’re going to have fun. No more moping. I vote we go do cheesy tourists stuff that we can stick you in a wheelchair for. That way we have fun and you don’t have to deal with crutches. What about the aquarium? They have penguins. And it’s my treat!”

Noah smiled softly as he watched her testing the longer length of the pants before shrugging and giving a small laugh, “Well, I did shock them once I finally got taller then my sister.” he agreed, “Shocked her too, I think part of her honestly believe she’d always be the tallest.” he added in amusement before moving to sit next to her on the couch, setting his own drink on the coffee table before he reached for the remote to hand it to her. “Alright, anything you want. I’ve got Netflix too.” he assured her. He just wanted her to be okay now.

“Yes, yes, you do.” He corrected her, arching a brow as she continued to speak, dark hues falling to her hand as she held it out. Stepping forward, he took a hold of her hand, giving it a small squeeze. “You want me to come nap with you?” He asked, an offer that really did sound all too good to pass up with heavy eyes that he had been ignoring for the last four hours. “Then you’ll eat?”

Since the storm, you could say that Aviana was just a bit off—not really herself. She had been able to fool those who would take her first answer and ask no questions further, but there had been a select few that could tell the girl had something bothering her. Tucked away in her current living arrangement, the burgundy haired girl laid in her bed and tried to get herself to finally go to sleep. The last few nights had been rough, rarely getting sleep because of hr own thoughts. Now though, she was determined to get there, to drift off and be in her own safe place.

That’s what she wanted to think anyways, unaware that her dreams would only turn into nightmares within moments of drifting. Hands tucked under pillows, her head lay on the pillow an her mind left her. At first, her dreams seemed fine, seeing good images o her childhood or even little moments she had with a few of her friends here. Then, as if it had happened in slow motion, each person she was seen with slowly disappeared and she was left standing alone in the darkness. As if it was playing out in real time, she reached into her back pocket and grabbed her phone—flashlight app used to light her way forth.

Shaky steps moved her forward, trying to find a point where there was light other than the one leading her. As she took a few more steps forward she saw something else appear in the way— something that completely froze her where she stood. Her light shaking as her hand did, wide eyes caught a look at a frozen body, one that was dressed in her same clothes and hair pulled back like she normally wore. As she stared into its eyes, she slowly collected that it was herself; frozen, dead. When she finally got the courage to move, she turned to have her light land on two more bodies; her parents.

Instantly, they rose moving to grab at her, trying to speak to her. Taking careless steps backwards she bumped into something that spun her—that something was her own, dead reflection. Her mouth opened to scream, but instead nothing came out, silence. Body flinging upwards, a loud scream was heard throughout the hotel. Once she realized where she was, Aviana moved her hands to place against the bed as she was now pushing herself against the wall behind her. Knees curling up to her chest, she felt her breathing grow heavier and heavier. Tears started to stream down her cheeks, their warm hint giving her only a fraction of comfort. One hand moved to cross over her chest now as the girl tried to figure out how she was going to do this, how she was honestly going to ever  get herself back to normal. 

There were a great deal of things that Elliot didn’t like, in fact he was pretty sure that list was so long that it didn’t really have an end to it. But this was something he hated the most - being unable to do anything to help someone he cared about. This was never a great situation to be in, on either side and he just wished there was something that he could do to make this whole situation ever the slightest bit better. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m blaming you.” Because the last thing any of this was was her fault. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to do something to help people, he just wished that things hadn’t gone so terribly for her. No good deed goes unpunished was apparently truer than he realized. It would make life so much easier if there was the perfect combination of words for him to say to make everything magically better  - but, well, he knew far too well that sometimes nothing could be said. Of course, that hardly made him feel better about being only slightly higher than useless in this entire situation. Aviana had been such a…bright spot in his life that he only wanted to be able to do half as much for her as she’d done for him. He reached forward to gently rub his hand against her cheek, tucking some stray hair behind her hair. Just little gestures that he hoped were even the slightest comforting. “Hey, of course. Of course. I’m not going anywhere. Let me take care of you for a change.”

“Well, too bad.” Anthony replied, letting out a soft sigh at the woman. He understood that she might be tired, but sleeping all day wasn’t going to be of any use to anyone. Anthony understood that thing hadn’t been the best for her lately, and that was exactly why he wanted to help cheer her up. “I am here to cheer you up and I refuse to leave until you get out of bed and do something fun with me.” Anthony replied, knowing that it wasn’t good for her to be locked up and avoiding the world.

Something in him panicked then. A feeling he’d kept long locked away, awakened in his chest, and made his heart collide against his chest, as if it wanted to escape his body and embrace her for him. As if he wanted to give her his heart to keep herself alive. Because he could feel her own breaking in his arms, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to hold her up, when she was so desperate to keep falling. He knew she expected him to let her go, to let the waters take her. Like it had taken her parents. But just like Noah and others that cared for her, he would never do that. He couldn’t even fathom it. So he just held on tighter, leaning onto the counter behind him to stable them both, and resting his head atop her own. “It’s not your time Av…and it won’t be for a long time. Not unless you let it. Which I know you won’t. You’re stronger than that. I know you don’t believe that—but you’ve made it this far haven’t you? Haven’t you?” He brushed her hair out of her face, holding her upright by her shoulders and forcing her to look into his eyes. He needed her to understand that he wasn’t going anywhere. At least he hadn’t intended to. Not for a long time. Not until she was ready for him to let go. If that was never, that would be fine. Just as long as she kept on fighting. It was a curse Dakota had been marked with since his brother died, caring for people so much he was willing to do whatever it took to keep them standing. Even if it meant he would soon fall. A loss of care for his own life in replacement for the care of someone else’s. “Things have been shitty…but if we keep going I know they have to get better. Alright they have to. Life isn’t that fucked up..” He hoped his words weren’t lost in the wind. He hoped she heard them, and it stuck. “Why don’t we sit down alright..”

Zak sat the bag among the kitchen counter, before heading towards the girl’s room. Where he was sure she was still coped up in bed. He was right. Her words immediately hitting him, causing him to take a seat in the chair opposite the bed. “Not even for food?” He asked, “You’ve gotta eat, Av.”

Noah nodded when she said that she could find the clothes and agreed to the honey, “Good, I’ll, ah, I’ll finish the tea and bring it into the living room for you then.” he told her with a small smile before stepping back into the kitchen to do just that. After a moment he headed back for the living room, setting her tea on a table by the couch, next to the bottle of advil he had gotten out earlier, and the ace bandage he had found. He had draped a couple of blankets over the back of the couch, and hoped it would be enough that she would be comfortable.

He smiled a little as he looked up and saw her, other then the sweatpants being a little long, it all really did fit her almost perfectly. “I’ve always been pretty small.” he said with a shrug, “Used to be pretty short too, I was glad when I finally grew a few more inches.” he admitted. It had been embarrassing as a teenager to barely be taller then his sister. “I’m glad they do fit though. Do you, um, do you need anything else?” he asked, wanting to make sure she had everything.

Her eyes dropped to the bottom of the sweats, how they hung a bit long on the back of her ankle. Moving her good foot about, she felt the fabric go underneath her foot for the moment before she shook it a bit and placed it back on the carpeted flooring. Eyes falling back over towards him, she laughed at his quick comments. “There’s nothing wrong with people a bit small at first..just means you get to shock everyone when you finally grow a bit,” she shrugged, before she started to make her slow walk around the couch. 

Pain came in waves. Dakota had learned that a long time ago. It crept up your body like the waves encroaching on a shoreline, and swallowed you whole as it crashed. He’d dealt with enough of it to know when the current was in the process of crushing someone else. Which is why when he looked at the girl standing before him, he didn’t have to see the tears beginning to well in her eyes to know that she was seconds away from breaking. It’s why he’d wrapped his  arms around her and willed her to find him to be the shelter she need to block the rough waters. She wasn’t going to drown this time—get so close to death that it became her. He could feel her bones rattle and shake beneath him as she sobbed into his chest. And she’d never broken before—especially not in front of him—but he was thankful that it had been him to catch her before she’d fallen. The two rocked back and forth, Dakota stabling them every time her knees buckled. He ignored the way her nails dug into his skin when she twisted her hands into his shirt, gritting his teeth to block out the pain. If he needed to soak some of hers up he would. “But it didn’t, Av…and it’s not going to.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly, hoping she would accept his attempt to bring her back to solid ground. Afraid if he didn’t, the waters wouldn’t give her back. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you…okay? I’m not going to let anything happen to you—you’re NOT going anywhere.” Words fell quickly from his lips in an attempt to calm her. “I’m right here…you’re right here.”

Staying quiet while she talked, because she deserved the courtesy of being listened to if he couldn’t really do anything else to help, he awkwardly chewed on a fingernail of his free hand, just doing his best not to overly worry. It wouldn’t be useful, for either of them, if he vocalized his feelings, but he figured that she probably already knew, even without him saying anything. “I also remember you telling me you weren’t going to freeze to death.” Biting down on the inside of his cheek, he almost immediately regretted saying that. Even when he was trying to be useful, he still managed to be an asshole. That could almost be considered a talent if it didn’t suck so much. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have - I’m sorry.” He let out a deep breath, shaking his head, mentally cursing himself for a moment before he turned his attention back to her, hoping this time he would be useful. Oh, he knew that feeling unfortunately too well, knew what it felt like to close his eyes and think he wasn’t going to wake up. It was…slightly concerning, just how much they had in common. “Hey, hey. But you’re not. You’re here and you’re okay. Trust me, I know how terrifying it is, but try to take some comfort in knowing that you managed to get yourself out of that situation.” Not knowing what he could say or do to make sure this got any better - if there even was anything that he could do. He wasn’t sure if there was, but he figured that could at least just listen. Sometimes that did a world of good. “I know you wanted to help, but you don’t always need to be the hero. Just - is there anything at all that I can do to help? To try and make this a little bit better.”

“Hypothetically speaking —-” He began, probably more then aware of the answer already. If he knew his children, at all, he knew this answer. But he really only cared to ease his mind of those chances, by taking a poll. “If you have a date, say with the "Hottest guy” —“ He paused, giving a small shrug, and tilt of his head, ”— or girl. Whatever your preference happens to be, and you spent a couple of hours getting ready for this super hot date—“ He couldn’t suppress the eye roll that followed, "but then this date comes to your door, but you’re still not ready. Therefore, your father answers, and he immediately decides that he doesn’t like him. Therefore, might have or might not have threaten to put said date six feet under if he ever came near you again. Ruining the date, and over all what you claim was your "social status”— how long would it take for you to forget and forgive?“

Charlotte had been back in Atlanta for six months and she still had barely anything in her apartment. Maybe it was because she did not want to be there as she had told herself she was going to do something different with her life. Or maybe it was because she was too busy working her dream job to care. But with the long weekend, she finally decided to go out and get things to fill her apartment as she realized this was not temporary and this was what she wanted despite the job being back in Atlanta. However, as she was walking back with her hands, she was not paying that much attention which caused her to bump into someone “I’m sorry,” she said looking up at the other with an apologetic smile.“I need to pay better attention to where I am walking. I am an absolute klutz "