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Aiden sits down across from his parents at the table, the silence louder than any words they’ve spoken since they came home.
“We got a call from your school,” his mother eventually says, putting her spoon down next to her bowl.
“Ok, about what?”
“They said that you skateboarded off of the second story balcony.”
“Well that doesn’t sound like me.”
“Look, I don’t know what phase you’re going through. You used to be such a sweet and well behaved boy, but we need for you to get your act together. You can’t keep acting like you were raised by homeless people,” his father says, glaring at him.
Phase? Sweet and well-behaved?
“Of course.”
I’ll be more discreet next time. I just didn’t figure you’d pick up if they did call.
“Good, now, we have a few other things we need to discuss with you.”
He doesn’t really listen at that point, just nodding when it seems convenient. Either they realize that he’s not listening, or they just finish up, because eventually it gets quiet again. They finish eating in silence with Aiden not even touching his food or utensils. Neither of his parents comment, or tell him to eat. He stands up at the same time as them, leaving his food on the table.
“At least take your dishes into the kitchen,” his mother says as he walks towards the stairs.
He doesn’t respond, taking the stairs two at a time. Ben is out with his family, so it’s completely silent upstairs. He takes a deep breath, heading into his room. It’s brighter than it used to be, just like everything else about him. However, now it doesn’t feel like enough. There are times where the darkness starts creeping back in. With it comes all of the loneliness and emptiness. All of the dark feelings that he bottled up and shoved away.
He throws his phone onto his bed before crossing the room to open the window. He looks down at the tree a story below him.
I probably shouldn’t jump down there again. If I miss the tree, I could really hurt myself.
He climbs out to sit on the ledge with a small shrug. He jumps down, one hand managing to catch one of the sturdier branches. He grunts from the impact, but quickly climbs down. He takes off across the yard, making sure to get out of sight as quickly as possible just in case someone happens to come out of the house. Pure energy thrums through his veins as he laughs. Eventually he just collapses, out of breath, but his head blissfully empty.
You know, this isn’t such a bad way to handle everything. I should chill out here for a bit.
He looks around the small shaded area that he’s in.
I’m probably about half way between my house and Ash’s.
He drops his head onto his arm. He looks up at the leaves above him. Eventually his eyes drift closed, the adrenaline ebbing and leaving only exhaustion in its wake. When he wakes up again, it’s dark, really dark. He sits up immediately, tapping his watch.
“It’s eleven thirty?! I had dinner with my parents at seven!”
He stands up, feeling a little dizzy. He grabs a tree branch, trying to steady himself.
Woah, maybe I should have eaten some dinner earlier.
Aiden shakes his head, trying to reorient himself. He looks around, but it’s too dark to see much of anything other than the distant streetlights.
“I’ll just head over there, and I can follow the road back to my house,” he says.
He starts walking towards the road, tucking his hands in his pockets. He glances at his watch once he gets to the road, and it tells him that it’s eleven forty.
“I guess I better hurry. I gotta get home before midnight.”
He squints to the right and then the left. Then he takes off at a jogging pace back towards his house. He keeps a little ways away from the road just in case he doesn’t make it back in time. The road feels so much longer than it should, and he has to stop after just a few yards.
“Ugh, I feel terrible. Maybe I’m catching something?” he whispers, putting a hand against his pounding head. “Nevermind, it’s probably just a headache from lack of sleep. I have got to get my sleep schedule under control. I need to get home before midnight.”
He barely makes it to his own yard before midnight hits. He opens his eyes to the inside of the graveyard. He’s alone in one of the buses.
“Shit, what was I doing in here? Right, right, I was supposed to be looking for usable supplies on the spare buses. I have gotta get my head on straight.”
It’s only a minute before Ashlyn rushes onto the bus.
“Aiden!”
She crosses the space between them quickly.
“Where were you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean in the real world. Where were you? Your parents said that you ran away. That you were missing. You weren’t answering your phone, you weren’t in any of your normal spots, and we couldn’t find you anywhere else either!”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that they went looking for me. I left my phone in my room, and went out of the window,” he says, like that’s a normal thing for someone to do. “I was perfectly safe. I was just hanging out somewhere.”
“Where? Why did you leave your phone? You know that’s not safe.”
“I’m sorry, Ash. I didn’t realize that they were going to look for me. I definitely didn’t think that you guys would be worried. I fell asleep outside of my house. I was in a shaded area with a few trees. I was just really tired, I guess.”
“Why did you jump out of your window?”
“I thought it would be fun. I live pretty high up, and it felt like a good idea at the time.”
I was avoiding my parents.
“I just thought it might make a good thrill. You know, doors are so boring sometimes.”
I never would have gotten out of there otherwise. You would have been more upset about what I would have done to myself if they’d confined me in the house.
“Aiden.”
She looks at him for a minute before sighing heavily.
“Fine, let’s go talk to the others. They were worried about you too. The group chat was blowing up.”
She walks back out. He hesitantly follows her, hanging his head a little. He perks up before they get to the group so no one sees him down. Ashlyn explains what he told her, and he just stands there awkwardly.
“You need to be more responsible,” Ashlyn says softly once she’s done.
“Yeah, you’re right. Silly me.”
“Yeah, something could have actually happened to you,” Taylor says, her face set in a deep frown.
“Can you text us next time?” Logan asks.
Aiden feels his ears burn.
“Of course I will. Like I said, I just didn’t think they would come looking for me before I came home.”
Ben gives him a worried look, but Aiden avoids eye contact with him. Tyler just stands with his arms folded.
“Hey, we’re glad you’re alright,” he says before immediately walking off to get started on more work.
Aiden feels something heavy lift off of his chest at Tyler’s words.
All of this is just coming from a place of worry. They’re not trying to upset or hurt me. I’m the one who decided not to tell them what actually happened. It’s my fault that they’re all fussing at me anyway. I need to suck it up.
Ben puts a hand on his arm, and he blinks rapidly. Everyone else has already wandered off, leaving the two of them alone.
Ben grabs his phone to type out, “Are U ok?”
Aiden nods.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just got in a fight with them earlier. They were mad about something that happened at school. They told me… nevermind. It doesn’t really matter what they said. I’m going to finish looking for anything usable on that bus.”
Ben nods, but he looks angry. Aiden brushes it off, heading back towards the bus instead. None of them speak to Aiden for the rest of the night, and he wakes up on the lawn outside of his house. He sits up, wiping wet grass off of his face with a small cough. He pulls himself up on aching legs, and drags himself to the door.
Normally he’d try to get back in through a window on the first floor so he could slip past his parents, but everything hurts too much right now. So, he just walks through the front door, and ends up spending the next hour and a half getting yelled at.
Ben is in his room when he gets in there near two a.m. Ben is asleep sitting up on his bed. Aiden feels a small smile stretch across his face. He’s glad that Ben decided to wait for him even if he did end up falling asleep. So, he settles down next to him and closes his eyes, feeling better than he thought he would.