Happy — NF

Aiden

When I enter the room filled with the smell of salt and sweat that is named the men's locker room, my eyes fall directly on my target. I push myself against the door and turn the handle until it bends to my will and locks it closed. Preventing any unwanted students to witness this.

"Hello, Mason."

"You lost?" He eyes me over the shoulder before continuing to dry his red hair.

The corner of my lip curls into a sinister smile. "No." I say, right before my eyes blare a burning bloody red gaze at him. "I'm exactly where I need to be."

After I interrogated Mason, I found many stolen goods from inside his bag that he willingly gave me. One of the goods being Rory's stolen watch that I made sure Souline would return to her, while telling Soul not to mention my name. It's been a week, and Rory hasn't wanted to talk to me and has avoided me at all costs. I didn't want her to hate me even more, so when Souline told me about Penelope Decker, it made sense to give my sister space.

Now when I found a retractable walking cane in his possession, I lost it. And when I say lost it, I mean I made sure Mason would see his Hell-loop in full spectrum. For a few seconds, of course. Which equaled a good few weeks probably to him. Maybe more, I didn't really care.

I found myself searching for Cecilia's locker and made sure she would eventually find her cane there when she came back to school the next morning.

After school was over, I decided to go by foot. Charlie was at basketball practice, Rory didn't want to see me, and the last thing I wanted to do was to show up at the house where my apparent "stepfather" might reside in.

Even thinking about it makes me want to vomit.

I know Chloe and Donnie aren't married—I checked—and for reasons I don't know, he's here to stay, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Dad would know what to do. He would never stand for this. He would definitely conduct a grand plan on how to eliminate Donnie Tarick from the picture. Maybe not by murder, but something permanent.

Here's to hoping I find my father.

When I take a turn around the block, as vehicle that was following me before, is now closer. Close enough that it slows down until its equal to my pace. The passenger window lowers until the persons face is visible. Call me stubborn, but I shove my hands in my jeans and keep walking.

"Aiden, get in. I need to talk to you."

"I'm sorry," I say, "but my parents raised me never to speak to strangers."

"I'm not a stranger!" Chloe fires back, just before stopping the car, getting out and around to face me.

"Funny, cause I don't know who you are anymore."

"I know I'm not the Chloe who raised you, but I am the Chloe who cares about her children, and right now, one of them needs me." She says almost as if out of breath, like she's been running around the city. Searching.

"I'm good." I say curtly. "You can stop worrying about me."

"Not you." My mother's answer surprises me. "It's Rory. I can't find her."

"What do you mean?" I lean against the car and cross my arms.

"I'll explain on the way." She opens the door, gesturing me to get in.

I lean my hand over the door and close it, making her even more angry. "Sounds like she doesn't want to be found. Believe me, she's been doing a very good job of it for the past week."

I've barely seen a glimpse of Rory, and usually it's been at school. What makes Chloe think my sister could be found when that's the last thing Rory wants.

Chloe pulls the door open again, and I still keep my hand on it, ready to disappoint her again when I shut it. But just before I do, she tells me something that makes my heart sink.

"When I came home from work today, Rory's room was wrecked. The furniture was flipped, the pillows where torn, and there were claw marks on the walls."

I'm speechless. Was this what Rory was going through these last days? She must be so scared and freaked out of her mind, if this was her first time being in the Devil's skin. Instantly, I feel a bang protectiveness surround me and my head screaming at me to find out where my sister has hidden herself and reassure her.

"So..." I barely register the small clicking sound and my mother walking away to head back to the front seat, "When I say get in the damn car, I mean, get in the damn car."

My eyes fly to my detained hand against the car window. Cuffed and secured.

I forgot who I was speaking to.

I start to pull at it. "Really, Mom, handcuffs? Is this how you make your children spend quality time with you? By force?" I reluctantly get inside. "I don't know why I'm even surprised, considering no one can ever say no to you."

This piques her interest. "How am I like in the future?" She pulls the vehicle onto the road.

"You're the Queen of Hell. What else is there to say?" I look out the window, watching us pass through the city streets. "You always know what's best."

"That can't be true."

It is.

"Do you..." She pauses. "Do we get along?"

"Of course we do, but sometimes you're just too... overbearing." I swallow. I don't how I manage to tell her this, I never do back home. In the Grand Castle, she keeps me in a bubble, always thinking of my safety first and foremost. Which I can understand, and yet despise it sometimes.

"And your father?"

I smile. "He's the best." I pull my hand, that's still stuck uncomfortably. "I miss him. Where is he, Mom? And don't evade the question by telling me he's in Hell. He's not. I checked."

She sighs, making a left turn. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"You're just going to have to trust me on this, Aiden."

"Says the woman who's dating another random man instead of her own husband."

"He's not my husband yet."

"Like that makes a difference."

She glances at me before directing the conversation away. "Let's focus on finding Rory."

I start toying with the cuffs and let her talk.

"Donnie brought her home after school and when I came home from work, she wasn't there."

"She's pissed off and hiding somewhere." Whatever happened at school must've triggered something for Rory that's been building up in her for a while. "Did you check Lux?"

"We're heading there right now."

"Does she do this often?" I can't help but ask.

She sighs. "Too often."

I finally manage to pull the damn cuffs off and place them nonchalantly in the back seat. "We'll find her."

My mother scoffs. "I knew it." Her head shaking.

"Knew what?" My brows narrow.

"You didn't have to come with me, and yet you did. You could've easily uncuffed yourself earlier and walked away, but you didn't." Her voice turning warmer by the second. "Why?"

The familiar burning feeling creeps up my neck and onto my face as my throat dries up due to her statement, and my own stupidity. "I guess..." I admit. "I was tired of avoiding you." Tired of being mad at you.

Silence remains in the car as we make our way to the nightclub. However, it's a peaceful kind of silence this time. And eventually, I feel her warm hand find mine and squeeze.

I squeeze back.

By the time we reach the building and make my way up the elevator and step inside the penthouse, the blaring sound of rock music is the first thing to greet me. An obvious sign that my sister is here.

Due to my mom's persistent advice, we both decided that I would be the one to go and talk Rory into coming home. I needed to make up with her and find out what is bothering her lately.

I manage to find the remote and turn off the music. "Rory!" I call her but receive no answer.

Wasting a good ten minutes of going through room and room, until I decide to head I into the main bedroom. A small bedside lamp is the only source of light as I enter the dimly lit room. "Rory." I say this time with a more softer tone of voice. I hear the sound of sniffing and my gaze flies to the floor. Kneeling, I check under the bed and soon enough see a small figure wrapped in a blanket, crying alone. "Rory?"

Another sniff and a muffled. "Go away."

The corner of my lip turns upward. "Unfortunately, like it or not, you're stuck with me." I answer and try to coach her to come out. "If you want to get rid of me, silly, then you're going to have to try a little harder than just hide from me."

"I...I'm not hiding from you." She says quietly.

"Then come out."

Little by little she manages to wiggle her way out. I patiently wait like I have all the time in the world for my sister and her like it or not, childish ways of doing things.

"See." I say once she's finally out and sitting in front of me. "That wasn't so... hard." My voice quiets at the end as my eyes finally register the way Rory is looking and suddenly a lot of things make sense as to why she's acting the way she is.

Rory's instinctively pulls the dark blanket tighter against her.

"What happened?" The moment I ask, I catch a sight of a rouge tear escape her eyes and I immediately backtrack my question. My jaw clenching. "Did Mason?"

She shakes her head, and the only part of her human form is her short black hair flowing as she moves it. "No, and I don't know why this is happening. All I want is to get rid of this pizza face, so I can go back to being normal again." She cries the last part out.

I lift a brow in question. She thinks she's not normal. "Fuck normal." Her red eyes lift to mine at my outburst. "Who ever said that you should be consider normal should rot in Hell for the rest of their entire pathetic existence."

She sniffs her nose. "Look at me, Aiden. What part of me says that this is any way okay?"

I look at her. Truly look at her. Her skin is covered in red patches, her hands have black talons, and as soon as I stop my inspection, a long smooth black tail woops out from under the blanket.

Her face falls, and without thinking I gently grab ahold of her hands. "Then look at me and tell me what you see." As soon as I finish, I let myself morph into the thing she thinks is apparently a tragedy. Starting from my hands, until it spreads to my arms and up my body, finally to my neck to cover my face. My blond hair the only thing that's left untouched.

Rory's eyes widen, not with disgust, but with clarity. Just what I was hoping for.

I hold her hands tighter. "You. Are. Not. A. Monster." I say each word with purpose, leaving no room left for debate. "I may not know what you are going through, but I do know what it means to be alone. Never in my life have I lost anyone I cared about. And I can't pretend to even comprehend what you must be feeling right now because I have no experience in loss or grief for that matter."

More tears escape her eyes, but I keep going.

"But what I also know is that I have a sister who has always had trouble communicating about her feelings. Especially to bare her soul and open up to the people she loves."

"I understand if you don't want to see me here right now, but know that I will always, and I mean always, make the time to be at your side and to hold your hand when you need me the most." I pause. "And... now that I've said what I said, I can go and-" She doesn't let me finish and suddenly her body is against mine as she wraps her arms around me.

I quickly do the same, scared that this might be just a dream, and hold her tightly to me. It literally feels like years since the last time I hugged my sister and finally let my tears flow freely down my cheeks.

After a moment, Rory says with muffled sound against my shoulder. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For caring enough to be here." She says while holding onto me so hard it would choke a normal human to death.

I love you too, Sis. Love you, too.