Day five, and he still wasn’t sure how he wanted to do this. It had to happen eventually. Every day he waited, the higher the chances were that he would be found out. And he didn’t want to be discovered just hiding from him. But Aiden was definitely struggling with how he was going to just waltz back into someone’s life after pretty much telling them I’m leaving and probably not coming back, and never made any attempts to ask them to come with him, either. It didn’t matter that he’d been spooked by the authorities – it’d been a rash, in the moment decision that he’d made on his own, knowing full well it would do nothing but cause more harm. In the end, he wasn’t sure there would have been a way for it not to cause harm. It could have been done better, though.
Wasn’t that the issue with him though, always?
That he needed to do better.
And routinely, consistently, failed to meet potential.
Stress, uncertainty, and miserableness were nothing new to Aiden Morgan. The man seemed to carry this terrible luck with him throughout life. He single-handedly managed to ruin everything in it, all the time. Every time. Without fail. He was just a god damn disappointment. He hated that these thoughts and feelings had been slowly receding and now they were back, in full force. He’d needed the ring a lot sooner than the full moon this time. It took a moment before he realized the path he was on – not for the first time since being back, either – and Aiden cursed, suddenly plopping his bottom on the bench besides the other person without further thought. Because he wasn’t ready. “What?” his brows furrowed, the question coming out a bit more roughly than intended as he gave the woman a quick side-look, rubbing a hand over his anxiety-ridden features. “Oh,” now his gaze dropped to the cookies in her lap as he caught up to what was said, “no… thanks..” Aiden continued to stare at the cookies. “On second thought–” He suddenly snatched up three all at once and shoved one into his mouth, thinking maybe she did have a point. Maybe eating something would quell that queasy emotion inside.
THE STRESS CASSANDRA WAS FEELING was nothing new — in fact, it was a feeling she was all too familiar with. as of late, though, she found it increasingly difficult to push the feeling aside && get through the day. between work deadlines that needed to be met && her mother's slipping mind, cassandra felt that she was being pulled in all different directions && had so little left of herself to spare. she was, in essence, wearing herself thin. working at hollow's creek chronicle was more demanding than she anticipated && cassandra is an assiduous journalist; she pores over every line && every word to ensure that each op-ed && article she writes is beyond substantive. then, there was the matter of her mother. her darling mother whose dementia was rapidly deteriorating her mental state. her darling mother who was no longer herself. though it was still safe for cassandra to leave her mother alone for hours at a time, the worry that something would happen to her was always on her mind eating away at her ability to think. that was the reason why she sat alone on a park bench shoveling cookies into her mouth. it was her way of coping when the stress became too much && she would be the first to admit that it wasn't the best coping mechanism one could come up with.
when the stranger suddenly sits beside her, cassandra scoots over to the far left of the bench to allow some space between them. she was stressed && on edge, && before she realized what she was doing, she had offered him cookies. it was embarrassing — no, it was mortifying. she was chewing && speaking at the same time, words mumbled. it was no wonder he responded so harshly at first. cassandra must have looked strange && mawkish: her hair messily sitting atop her head in a bun, eyes heavy with desolation, && a family-sized box of cookies on her lap. then, as suddenly as he sat down, he stole — or rather, accepted — three cookies from the box she held out to him. she eyes the man curiously before placing the box between them in case he too found comfort in eating. "for a second there i thought you might eat all three at once," cassandra says, eyebrows raised as she glances over. it occurs to her that the stranger beside her might also be having a difficult day, && this is something she finds the tiniest bit of comfort in. strangely enough, it was nice to know the word wasn’t out to get her specifically. "but i'm glad you didn't because i don't know cpr." it's meant to be a joke but there's truth in her words. had he chosen to eat three at once and choked — she would have freaked out, called 911, then added another event to her mental list of 'why today absolutely sucks ass'.
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