R.I.P Chester! Your music will always have a special place in my heart! (Yes, this is how early I wrote this chapter. I'm sorry!)

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Alena always had superb timing, it's like she could sense when something was wrong with me, that one phone call had momentarily redirected my emotional state to now focus on my little sister. It helped in times like these where everything was slowly crashing down around me in my life. Alena was the only one who had the power to truly calm me down and make me focus on the bigger picture.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, I suddenly felt a sense of worry wash over me, I involuntarily looked around because of it. It was only then did I realise just how alone I truly was, the street was deserted and eerily quiet. Two elements I always tried to avoid, I was about to calm down until I noticed the black car that was driving at a really slow pace. It wasn't normal for cars to drive this slow, was it? I contemplated whether I should just walk up to the car, ask and confront them about what their problem was. That idea lasted two seconds when I realised what happened last time I tried to do something I shouldn't have.

"I didn't want to do this Ava!!"

I shook my head in fear just as the memory of Noah's fist had connected with my jaw. Now was not the time to reminisce about that night. I knew I had to just ignore the car and keep pushing forward, I couldn't show that I was somewhat scared about the possibilities of it being Noah. After a few more minutes, I slowly turned my head to try and discretely look behind me, sure enough the car was still there. I knew for a fact, this car was following me because I had been walking for a good ten minutes now. All ideas were thrown out the window as I started to pick up the pace and walk faster.

Just as I predicted, the car picked up its pace, only making me panic more as my heart started to beat faster and louder in my ears. My mouth went dry as I thought about Noah, I didn't want to go through this again. I didn't think I was emotionally stable to do this again. I successfully made myself go into panic overdrive as I started to run, full speed ahead. I placed a hand over my stitches on my stomach to prevent too much movement in that area as I ran. I didn't want to run home because I didn't want him to know where I lived so I tried to think of the safest place that was closest to me.

'Drew'

With that in mind, I started to run in the direction of Drew's house, as I turned left I could hear the car skid as it turned. I grabbed my phone from my back pocket, unlocking it to call Drew. What I didn't expect was the car to abruptly turn right, leaving me alone once again. I immediately stopped in my tracks, confused about what had just happened. Had I been imagining this? Was I that paranoid that I thought this car was following me, when in fact it wasn't? What was happening to me? Was I officially losing my mind?

I looked around and once again I was in fact alone, slowly walking to a bench, I sat down before bringing my knees up to my chest. Leaning my forehead against my knees, I needed a few minutes to calm down and bring my heart rate back to normal. A sob escaped my lips as I tried to hold my cries in like I had been doing for the last week or so. Tonight, I wasn't that strong and finally let myself cry. Cry because of everything that has gone wrong, cry because of the state that Noah has left me in and cry because I felt like I was losing myself. I wasn't sure if I was slowly losing a sense of myself or if I had already lost it and I just haven't registered it yet.

After a few minutes, I recollected my thoughts and my emotions. I looked up at the stars, taking in a deep breathe before exhaling out through my mouth, sighing in the process. Picking myself up, I got up and walked home, occasionally looking back to make sure I was in fact alone and wasn't being followed.

The sight of my front door came into view and I instantly felt relaxed and safe. Maybe it was because I could see Isaac's car at the front and knew that he was home. Lightly jogging to the front door, I quickly opened it to go in, closing the door with my back as I leaned my head against the door.

"You okay?" Isaac called out in worry from the kitchen.

I looked to my left to see him standing there, in nothing but his sweatpants with a glass of orange juice in hand. I swallowed the lump in my throat while contemplating whether to tell him or not.

I shook my head before smiling, "I'm fine, just glad to be home."

I watched as his eyes roamed over my face before slowly nodding, uncertainty washed over his face as his eyebrows creased slightly at me. I could tell he wasn't sure if he believed me or not but he didn't press the matter, "If you say so. I'm off to bed. Night BooBear."

He kissed me on my forehead before walking up the stairs to his room. I watched him until he disappeared from sight before letting out a shaky sigh. I knew I could have told him what had happened but there was no point. We were both already on edge as it was with the unknown whereabouts of Noah, I didn't want to add more stress over something that was probably irrelevant.

Walking into the kitchen, I filled up a cold glass of water before going to my room. These holidays were going to be really difficult for me, despite all the drama I had not so long ago, I still had the school environment to distract me and keep me busy. Now, I was alone in my room and alone with my thoughts which was never a good thing for me.

I looked around this room I claimed as my own but looked nothing like it. I smiled at myself when I remembered the day Isaac went shopping for "a few things" I apparently needed for my room. Now as I look around, I still couldn't believe this was mine. A perfect room painted in white, to the right hand side sat my queen sized bed, a fluffy grey rug sat innocently in front of the bed. To the left side of the room there was a cute white desk with one of Isaac's laptop's I was borrowing and directly in front of me was the balcony where I seemed to always spend most of my time.

Walking in, I placed my glass on the bedside table before laying on the bed in a starfish position starring up at my ceiling, watching the fan move in a slow circular motion. I growled at myself before getting back up, a little too fast because I felt a stab of pain rip through my stomach causing me to hiss out loud.

I walked over to the corner of my room near the balcony doors to face the full length mirror. Slowly I began to lift the bottom of my shirt up until the bullet wound came to view. It didn't look as bad as it felt but I always tried to avoid looking at it because it always gave me nightmares about that night. I wasn't going to lie, all that running took its toll on me and I was now hurting physically. My eyes involuntarily moved to my desk where my painkillers were sitting peacefully, I started to bite my bottom lip as I contemplated taking another one, I hadn't had one in a few days.

Before I knew it I was walking over to the prescription box to open it, but was shocked to see that I only had three left. Have I really taken that much in such a short amount of time? My mind started to race as I started to wonder if the doctor would give me another write up. I made a mental note to call the doctor asap because these were the only things helping me get through life as normal as possible, even if the relief was temporary.

After taking one of the tablets the pain immediately started to evaporate. Letting out a sigh of relief I walked out to the balcony to sit on the swing. I watched the empty street before staring off towards the distance, where the city looked so quiet and peaceful from where I sat.

"Knock knock"

I broke away from my stare and watched Isaac as he came to sit next to me.

"Hey BooBear" it was evident in my tone that I was feeling deflated.

"What are you doing out here on your own?"

I ran my fingers through my hair anxiously as I tried to form the correct words, "Just have a lot on my mind."

I tried to ignore Isaac's stare, even though Isaac knew my problems were deeper than I tried to make it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He watched me closely as I shook my head before smiling at him. It was a smile people used to try and deflect the concern, it was a tool people used to make you believe they were fine but in fact, their eyes told the real story. Right now I knew my eyes were screaming for help, I was in pain but didn't know where to begin. One of the things I loved about Isaac, he knew first hand not to push me further, when I was ready to open up he would be the first person who would always be there. Until then he knew he had to give me space. He kissed me on my temple before getting up to go back into his room.

"I'm here when you're ready to talk okay?"

I smiled warmly at him while biting my inner cheek, it was something I found myself doing lately when I tried to prevent myself from crying.

"Thanks Isaac."

Once upon a time, nothing ever used to faze me, issues were always brushed off the shoulder. The only issue I ever had was my step-dad and Noah but I was always able to manage, now I felt like the list was never ending and didn't even know where to start. Was I supposed to make a mental note of all the things going wrong in my life? Should I write a check list of things to achieve? I was slowly feeling like I was drowning in problems and had no idea where to start.

I let out a tired sigh, whispering to myself, "God, give me a sign. I'm dying over here."

After a minutes of silence, I heard my phone beep in the background. Getting up, I walked back into my room to pick my phone up, I eyed out the home screen which had Drew's name sitting there innocently. Lately, the messages I'd receive weren't that great and always had some kind of catch to them, they were always mainly about Adrian; our dad. A subject I certainly wasn't ready to talk about. I stared nervously at my phone, debating if I should unlock it and read what was sent.

I involuntarily started pacing in front of my bed before abruptly stopping, letting out a chuckle for my overreaction.

"You're being a drama queen." I mumbled to myself as I grabbed the phone, unlocking it to read the messages Drew had sent.

Tue, Mar 29, 9:45 PM
Drew: Dad is still busting my balls.

Tue, Mar 29, 9:46 PM
Drew: He really wants to meet you guys

Tue, Mar 29, 9:50 PM
Drew: Avery?

"I should have fucking ignored the messages." I mumbled to myself angrily.

'You wanted a sign' I mentally reminded myself.

Shaking my head, I tried to think of how to respond to Drew in the most polite way possible.

Tue, Mar 29, 10:00 PM
Avery: Tell Adrian to go to hell

'So much for being polite'

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A/N: Another chapter done! Yay! I'm trying to work on a schedule for you guys for updates so that you know when to expect the next chapter. But in the meantime, give this one a like xx

Next Chapter: Its decision time for Avery.