The Darkest Night Solo with iNPC Finished

Interacting with: N/A Mentioning: N/A Date: N/A

Word Count: 1032

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Avery took a deep breath as she stared at the empty Courtyard. She had told Dylan to meet her there after lunch so she could finally tell him everything. She was nervous. How was she supposed to break the news to him? She was only a kid. Shouldn’t his mother have told him? Or had his mother already told him and all of this wasn’t worth anything? Her head hurt from her constantly reeling questions. Honestly, she was scared. Scared of what would happen when she finally admitted what was really happening. Would she finally completely break apart and lose control? She hoped not. She paced a small length of the Courtyard as she waited. Deciding on what she was going to say to him. Cracking a joke or giving a smile didn’t seem right. He didn’t deserve that. He deserved to know the truth head on. Even if it wasn’t easy for her to tell. Suddenly, she heard what she thought was footsteps along the stone floor. She quickly snapped her head up and expected Dylan to be there. Waiting. Of course that wasn’t the case. Giggling students walked past her. Completely clueless that she was standing right there watching in confusion. It seemed that they were very invested in whatever they were talking about. Avery smiled a little at that and let out a small sigh. A short amount of relief filled her, though it didn’t last for long. Dread was still quick to take over. Avery sighed and leaned against the wall of the Courtyard. She couldn’t stand waiting. All it did was make things worse. It also made it harder for her to be able to build up the courage to tell him the truth. All she wanted was for him to be there in that moment so she could finally rip the bandage and take the weight that had been weighing down on her for so many months. That’s when she heard another sound of footsteps. She didn’t even raise her head or attempt to move. She was at the point of breaking where she didn’t even care what happened to her. All she wanted was for the pain to stop. “Avery? Are you okay?” A quiet but gentle voice asked. Familiar arms wrapped Avery into a big hug as she was carefully turned around and embraced. At first Avery didn’t react. It was as if she was a statue. Stone cold. Then she melted into his familiar embrace and held in the tears that threatened to fall. She had to be strong. She couldn’t break. Not yet. Not now. “I’m fine. There’s just. . . a lot on my mind.” She mumbled into his shirt. Once their hug had broken, he wasn’t convinced. The concern for her was evident on his face. “Come on Avy, you know you can’t keep anything from me.” He gently joked in an attempt to lighten the mood. Avery froze. The last time she had ever heard that nickname was a long time ago. So long ago that she could barely remember. That just made things worse. She knew that he was just trying to make her smile, but instead he had just turned things from bad to worse. “I-I don’t know how to tell you this, but things haven’t been great lately. With our family, I mean.” Avery managed to get out before she swallowed hard and waited for his reaction. He paused and his face turned grim. “My mother hasn’t told me anything since I learned that our grandfather was sick. Has your father told you anything?” Avery took another deep breath and closed her eyes before saying, “It’s been the same for me. Radio silence. Well, until I forced my dad to give me permission to go to Wales so I could get some answers.” He stood there with his mouth open in shock for a moment before saying, “How was he? Was everything okay? What did the house look like? Was everything how we left it?” It was Avery’s turn to stand and stare in shock as he stopped talking and mumbled out a sorry for all the questions. Or, that’s what Avery thought he said. “For starters, yes. Everything was still the same. As for if everything was okay. . . well, I’m just going to say it. Our grandfather has dragon pox and on top of that, he refuses any and all treatment. Of all the things to be stubborn about, it had to be this.” Avery sighed out as she held back tears. It was already hard enough to see herself in the mirror every morning looking exhausted and worn down from all her worrying and crying, but to see a mirror image of her reaction when she found out on Dylan’s face broke her. Tears began to fall freely from her eyes as she watched her cousin take in the news. She couldn’t hold back now. Couldn’t be strong. Just like when her mother dragged her away. It wasn’t fair for Dylan to be comforting her all the time. They needed to comfort each other. They were in the same boat. They were going to make it. “Why did it have to be dragon pox, and why does he have to refuse treatment?” Dylan said brokenly as he let out a long sigh and stared at the ground as if he had given up. Avery took a step closer and embraced him. He quickly melted into her arms as she felt tears drip down onto her. She, too, was crying. At this moment, they were kids again. Saying goodbye for what they thought would be forever because of an argument that tore their family apart. It was almost unbearable to think that after Spring Break they would go their separate ways until summer came. It would be the same cycle over and over until they eventually graduated. Maybe someday his family would move back to Wales, so he could attend Hogwarts, but, for now, she just had to keep saying goodbye. “We can do this together. Even if it gets hard. At least we have each other.” Avery whispered into his shoulder as he gripped her tighter.

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