*Sorry for the lack of updates! The next few chapters you'll get some more background on AJ. Hope you all ejoy!
An hour and a half later I finally saw the tower in view. I'm really dreading going up there but I open the front door and nod to the security guard. He let's me in and I step into the elevator.
"Welcome back AJ," Friday says.
"Thanks Friday," I say as we go up.
It's silent for a moment before I ask, "Are they mad?"
"Mad would be an understatement. They are waiting for you in the living room."
I sigh, "Great. Are you programmed to be so blunt?"
"Yes."
"Good to know," I mumble and we drift into silence as we approach the pent house. The elevator door dings and I step out. Pepper looks up and Tony jumps up.
"Where in the world have you been?!"
I don't know why my first instinct is to say, "Nowhere."
His eyes narrowed, "Obviously you've been somewhere because you've been missing since 5 and it's 9."
He looked like he was going to say more when Pepper put her hand on his arm to calm him, "AJ, why don't you come sit down."
I swallow and go sit across from them while Pepper forcefully forces Tony to sit down too.
She turns to me and looks me in the eye, "Now, where have you been?"
Somehow the way she does it, it's even scarier than the idea of Tony losing it on me.
"I walked to see a friend and get a sandwich," I answered truthfully.
Tony's eyebrow shot up, "That took you four hours?"
I looked down, "It was in East Harlem. I wanted to stretch my legs."
"You walked all the way to East Harlem?" Tony asks with alarm in his voice.
I shrug, "I've done it before."
Tony drifts back into silence, contemplating his next question.
"Why didn't you call and tell us where you were? Or that you needed a ride?" Pepper asks quietly, but I could hear the sterness in her voice.
I reach into my pocket and pulled out my phone. It was all cracked up and I saw a look of surprise on Tony's face.
"I um… dropped it."
Tony picked up the phone and looked around it, "You just casually dropped it while walking?"
I look down again, not really wanting to answer that, "No?"
"You don't know?"
I stare at my hands again, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
"AJ?"
I look up, "I might have been running."
Tony groaned, "Might? Kid, you know this will be easier if you tell us the full story, right?"
I sigh, they're going to be mad anyways might as well get it over with, "I decided to walk to East Harlem to visit my friend Lou, who owns a sandwich shop. I was going to go, say hi, grab a sandwich, and take the train back. I figured I'd be getting back around the same time Peter would be."
"Why didn't you call and tell us?" Tony asks.
I shrug, "Didn't cross my mind," I lied.
"Uh huh," Tony mumbled.
Pepper cleared her throat, "So, why didn't you take the train back? Did something happen?"
"Um...you could say that? On my way there I um...found this guy's wallet on the ground. He found me after I got my sandwich and chased me towards the river. I dropped my phone, his wallet and my wallet while I was running away. Eventually I ditched him and found my phone and wallet. My phone broke when I dropped and the homeless guy took my money from my wallet, so I had to walk back."
Tony looked at me, "So let me get this straight, you decided to sneak off for an hour or so to see a friend, somehow ended up with a some guy's wallet, who then chased you to get it back? By the way, I know you pick pocketed the guy. Nice try with the lie though."
I look downwards and waited for their punishment.
Pepper lifted my chin so I was looking her in the eye, "Why?"
I shrug, "I don't know. I just felt like it."
She continued to stare me down.
I swallow, "I um… I just wanted to feel normal. It's um… not that I don't like living here. I like you guys and the idea of um….you know having people. Like parents and stuff. Theoretically, it sounds great. It's just that I spent the last six years without having any parents and the last two and a half years without any family. It's a lot to adjust to. And now with the school thing...It's a lot more structure than I'm used and I just panicked. I'm sorry for worrying you guys. You know, it's creepy the way you do that?" I realize as I finish my ramble.
Pepper smirks, "Yet it works."
"Don't I know it," Tony mumbles.
We drift into silence while Tony and Pepper have a silent non-verbal conversation.
We sit like that for a few moments before I say, "So what's my punishment? Chores?" Something else I think.
Tony turns to me, "No more chores than usual. Nothing physical either. You're grounded for two weeks. You can't go anywhere without one of us. You'll also have to get used to the whole family enviroment. As for the school thing, you're still going. If it becomes too much, we can homeschool you. AJ, we get that this is a lot for you to adjust to. You should've just talked to us."
I nod, "I'm sorry."
I look back up at them, "Can I go now?"
Pepper nods.
I stand and start walking out of the room. Just as I'm about to turn the corner Tony calls, "AJ?"
I turn and he smiles, "Good night, kid. Sweet dreams."
I give him a small smile, "Night you guys."
I turn back around and Pepper calls, "Good night. We love you."
I freeze at that. I hadn't heard those words in a long time. I turn and give her a slight nod before I walk off to my room.
Two Weeks Later:
"Come on Jarvis! Do you really want to stay here all day?" Dani asks me as she stares at the fence.
"No...but Mama doesn't want us wandering outside by ourselves. We'd get in trouble!"
"Don't you miss school though?"
I shake my head, "Mama said it would be better for us."
"It's boring being homeschooled though," she said with a sigh as she glanced wistfully at the fence.
She looked back at me, "We could hop the fence."
At seven years old, she was the more rebellious of the two of us, "Dani! No way!"
She shrugs, "I'm going to do it."
I turn around, "I'm not helping you."
"Fine but when they're at recess, don't be jealous when I'm the one who gets to play."
"I won't be!" I huff as I hear begin to scale the fence.
I stay like that for a few minutes before I hear a crashing sound. I whip back around and see Dani on the ground.
"Dani?!" I call out in concern as I run towards her.
She sits up slowly and I look at her, "Are you okay?"
"Ye-ow," she says rubbing her chest. Suddenly she's gasping for air.
"J….help…..me," she wheezes.
"MOM! MOM! SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH DANI!" I scream.
I turn back towards my sister and she's unconscious.
"Dani! Dani! Wake up….wake up…."
Suddenly she grows older before my eyes. Her limbs lengthens. Highlights start to appear in her hair as it grows longer and her face lengthens. She's now aged by three years. I look at myself and I've also aged. Our settings changed as well. We're no longer in our childhood backyard.
I look back to my sister. She's pale. Her skin had always had a nice sun kissed complexion but that is long gone. She's not moving.
I'm shaking her, "Dani, come on, wake up! Please….please...wake up!"
It feels like someone is crushing my chest. She's not waking up this time. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
I wake up with a gasp. I groan as I feel my muscles being sore at falling asleep on my desk. Said desk was covered in homework assignments. Since the initial first week of school is over, teachers have started to pile on work. The math and science ones haven't been to hard, even though Nolan has been complaining almost everyday at lunch. Well complaining about that and the fact that I only ever appear for the last ten minutes. The rest of the period I have somone tutoring me to help me get caught up, but he doesn't know that.
"Kid, you alright?"
I jump about a foot as I finally notice Tony's presence in the room.
He gives me a soft smile, "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. Fri said you appeared to be in distress. I came to wake you up but you flew awake as soon as I touched your shoulder."
I smoothed my hair back, "Oh um...thanks. It was a dream."
He sat on my bed, "Do you want to talk about it?"
I shake my head, "Not really."
He glanced at my computer, "Does it have something to do with that?"
I turn and see my English assignment. The assignment was to write about how our lives and our family's lives were affected by the five years.
I shrug, "I guess."
I glance at the clock and saw it was 2 am, "Why are you up?"
"To check on you," he answered quickly.
"And you had time to make a cup of coffee while you were on your way over here?"
He looks down at his coffee mug and chuckles, "Guess you caught me. Um… today is kind of a rough day for me."
I glance at the date on my computer, "Oh...today's the day…"
He sighs while staring off into space, "One year ago, we brought everyone back."
We drift into silence since neither one of us wanted to talk about our problems. He glances over at the clock, "You want to watch a movie with us? Pete and Pep are already up."
I raised an eyebrow, "Do I have to go to school still?"
He shakes his head, "No."
I grab my hoodie and nod, "Sure then."
We walk out of my room and head towards the living room where Peter is laying down on a couch and Pepper is stretched out on the other part of the L shaped couch. It looked like Tony was in the middle when he got up.
Both of them look up as we enter the room and Peter nods. Pepper opens up her blanket and I go sit next to her. Tony climbs inbetween them and I'm surprised Peter readily slides closer to him. Pepper too is curled up next to him on the other side.
Peter looks over at me, "Nightmares?"
"More like memories. You?"
"Same."
He looks over at Tony, "Grown Ups?"
Tony nods and Peter asks Friday to put the Adam Sandler comedy on. I try to pay attention to the movie but I can't help it when my head ends up on Pepper's shoulder and I slowly start to drift off.
I chuckle as I count the money I stole from this guys wallet. I weave around the cars stationed permanently on the road as I look for more untouched wallets. Most streets had cars that had never been moved in some weird homage to those who had disappeared.
I find a blue minivan that I see a large purse in from the window. I make my way over and reach my hand into the car, drowning out my surroundings as I did.
Just as I grab the bag I feel resistance and a woman shouting, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
I turn and look back at her in surprise. She wasn't there not two seconds ago.
"I'm uh...sorry. I thought this was my mom's . Sorry," I say as I stumble back. Suddenly, there people popping up left and right.
What the hell is going on?
I leave the street and run towards Lou's. He'll know what's going on. On my way, I see more and more people appear out of thin air. Were we under attack from aliens again?
I rush into the shop and see Lou, "Lou, what's going on?"
He didn't answer me. He just stared at the tv in shock. I saw the headline, 'The Disappered Are Starting to Come Back'.
I look at him and then at the tv, "I have to go."
I sprint out of the shop and down the street, running as fast as I can. I see more people coming back. Families being reunited on the street. I keep running. I needed to know.
It takes me twenty minutes before I get to the hospital. It's more crowded than it's been in years.
I can't help the smile that spreads across my face as I round the corner. The person I'm looking for should've appear right at the beginning. I turn the corner and I see doctors leaving the room. They're covered in blood and shaking there heads. One of the doctors sees me. He knows me. He's shaking his head, telling me to stay away. I push past him. I had to see.
I open the door and the room as blood all over the floor and on the walls. The person in the bed was covered in blood. I looked at the heart rate monitor and it was flat. There was no steady beep. I look at the person. There chest wasn't rising and falling like it should be.
I rush over and start shaking them.
"No….no. No! No! NO! NO! NO!"
The doctors are grabbing me.
"NO! STOP IT! IT'S NOT FAIR!"
They're dragging me from the room.
"SHE SHOULD'VE COME BACK! EVERYONE ELSE CAME BACK!"
"Come back!" I shout as I wake up and lurch forward. I'm breathing hard as I try to make the images go away. It takes me a minute to realize that Pepper's rubbing my back, whispering my name quietly and telling me to breathe. I take a breath. It takes me a whole nother minute to realize Tony has been talking to me the entire time.
"AJ, kid, are you ok?" I finally hear him say as my senses come back.
I blush, "Um… yeah. Sorry for that. I'm fine."
Tony raises an eyebrow at that as he takes a seat next to me, "Fine is not the word I would use to describe you."
I close my eyes, focusing on the circles Pepper is rubbing on my back. I don't remember the last time I let someone touch me, "I don't want to talk about it."
"Talking about it normally helps," Peter pipes up from across the couch.
He shrugs, "I've had my fair share of trauma."
I open my eyes and glare at him, "Well somethings are better left buried."
Pepper looked at me, "Not if they're hurting you."
I see Tony glance at Peter and Peter seemingly gets the message because he stands and says, "I'm going to try to get a few more hours of sleep. See you guys later."
Tony nods as he leaves.
They wait a few more minutes before Tony says, "If you don't want to talk about it with us, a therapist can be helpful."
"A shrink?" I say shaking my head.
"It's not healthy to keep things buried," Pepper pipes up.
"Kid, trust me, I know what it's like to want to bury your trauma. It doesn't work. It always come back," Tony says genuinely.
"So," he continues, "What was the dreams about?"
