do you love me? (Aaron)

[Aurora Cameron]

Aurora was having a better day today. Mostly because she found a dollar bill. She didn't know who it belonged to, if it was Derek's, or Aaron's, or Lily's, or Emily's. Who knew where Nesse was? But she found it in the bathroom. And, well, a dollar bought her a hot dog when lunchtime came around. Normally, she would steal a small package of tic-tacs or a candy bar. But this time she actually got a hot dog. Today was different though. Today, Rory was giving up. Her daddy and mommy had been gone forever (a week was an awfully long time for the five year old) and she didn't think they were ever coming back.

Jessa had told her that her mommy and daddy left her because they didn't love her. That scared the child. With both parents gone, her little mind led to only one conclusion: mommy and daddy didn't love her anymore. She knew they did, once upon a time. But that was before. Before daddy had to leave on Christmas. Before mommy spent all her time drinking grown-up drinks. Before both of them left without a word as to where they went.

It wasn't just mommy and daddy, neither. Aaron, Derek, Lily, Emily---they all stayed gone. And Nesse, she moved out altogether. Aurora truly felt alone. After what Jessa said, she didn't think any of them loved her. And if any of them were around to see that she wasn't going to school, and she was roaming the city....they would see that she needed them. She needed her entire family.

Rory carried her barbie doll--the doll that, when Ellie got sick, she chopped her hair off. When Ellie was constantly drunk, the barbie was in a bucket of water. And now, Ellie was gone. Rory was very somber in what she was about to do.

She entered the park and walked to the playground. She looked at her barbie doll. "I love you. But you don't love me. Goodbye, mommy" she said, hugged her doll, and placed it in the top of the trash can, which was almost full, so the Barbie was sticking out from the waist up.

With that done, she went to the swings. She was afraid of them, honestly. She felt like she could swing all the way over the top bar and hurt herself. She was told once that if she fell and broke her neck, she could die. But since nobody cared, then she decided she could take the chance. Sitting in the swing, she kicked off the sand and started rocking back and forth. She didn't get a chance to get high, though. Because the second she started getting scared, she put her feet on the ground and stopped herself. Tears were in her eyes. After over a week of not having mommy around, she finally let go and cried.

[Aaron Nash]

For months, Aaron always had something to do. He never had to think too hard on anything other than his next plan or what was coming up on his agenda. It started to become too much though. It started to interfere with more of his life than he wanted it to. The work at school was stressful and sometimes he felt a little too over his head. The seventeen year old wanted to get out of it. He wanted to go back to high school and spend his days being half-lazy (half-lazy for him was probably everyone else's busy). He didn't need all the pre-occupation anymore. He used to, back when his mom was sick. He couldn't handle that. He looked up to the woman too much and then everything started to go to hell. He didn't know when it started or if it ever really stopped. He was avoiding his life pretty well. But, he planned to stop it. Just today, he wound up bored and with nothing at all to do. He hadn't been shoved in any of the high school classes and that left him with the one in the morning and an entire afternoon of nothing. And so he left school and decided to walk. Frankly, he planned on heading home and doing something he didn't do much of. Just hang out there, by himself. It was as he cut through the park that he paused, noticing the girl on the swings. He didn't have to pause to recognize her. It was Rory. Immediately, he looked around, expecting to see either his mom, or one of his siblings with her. But no one was there... Absolutely no one. And she was crying. Quickly, he walked over.

"Kiddo?" Aaron questioned gently, standing beside the swing with a look of pure concern on his face. That was his baby sister, all alone, crying. It made no sense. He might not have been around often, but he expected that they were taking care of each other. No one was going to let a five year old wander all by herself! But, apparently he was wrong. Either that or not one knew. God, he hoped it was the latter and not just lack of responsibility. Maybe she sneaked away from school. "Rory-cake, hey, what's wrong?" He wanted to ask what she was doing out there, but it seemed like something that should come later. She was just a little kid! He had to address the more stressing part and that was her crying. He couldn't ignore that she was distraught and jump straight into figuring out why she was there by herself to begin with. A little kid probably wouldn't understand that strategy. It would be ignoring their problem. Aaron didn't see himself as the best person with little kids. He had only ever really been around his sister, but he had enough sense to figure that out.

He worried and worried quite a bit. The family was screwed up when he stopped paying attention. But, he thought that it would pull itself back together and never get to the point where someone was hurt badly or that the youngest was wandering around crying by herself. Someone should have been with her, or at the very least, she should be at school. Aaron wasn't sure of her schedule, but he knew she shouldn't be at the park alone. What if something happened? There were creeps around and the last thing he wanted to think about was someone trying to snag his baby sister off the streets because no one was paying attention to her. If he had known, he would have dropped everything. He wouldn't just get busier and busier, knowing that she needed someone. But Aaron hadn't been observant enough. He hoped this wasn't something that happened often. He hoped it was an isolated incident that could be rectified. But why the hell did he have that sinking feeling like he was so very, very wrong? It was unexplainable and he hoped that it meant nothing at all.

[Aurora Cameron]

The five year old had never seen her big brother, so she didn't expect him to come traipsing up to her...or rushing, which is what he did.She looked up slowly, wiping her eyes. He still called her Rory-cake? She loved that nickname, mostly because he was the only one who ever gave her one. Aaron had been her best friend. Her role model. And then one day, he wasn't playing with her anymore. He wasn't coming home until late, and he was only around to sleep. The child had never thought it was her fault. Not until Jessa's parents abandoning her for lack of love was mentioned.

"I want them back. I'll be better. I just want everyone to love me again" she whispered, looking down. It was that simple. To her, anyways. She didn't even know what she did to make Aaron leave. She didn't remember him being mad at her, right before he disappeared. She knew she was being horrible around the time that her other siblings stopped being there, and right before her mom left. She hadn't wanted them to stop loving her. She just wanted them to pay attention.

[Aaron Nash]

Where had everyone else gone? Aaron didn't think that the rest of the family was practising their vanishing acts too. But, the truth was, that he didn't know. Everytime he thought about what he expected, he reminded himself that he didn't have any idea. He came home to sleep and barely noticed his siblings. He basically made a beeline for his room, to his bed, then started it all over again the next day. He assumed there was always someone around. The family was huge and he doubted it was possible for them all to be off, missing. Yet, he kept in mind the fact that he could be completely wrong. They could have been thinking the same thing he was. But, he assumed someone was responsible. That someone had to be taking care of things. And yet, there was the youngest of them crying in the park all alone. Aaron wasn't even sure how she got there. The thought of her walking alone didn't sit well with him. The city was big and there were no doubt freaks around. He didn't want to think of her as being unsafe or unguarded. If something happened to her, what if no one noticed? It was what she said that forced a frown onto his face, as if he had just been stabbed straight through by her words.

"Hey, I still love you." Aaron posed gently, and he did love her. It was his little sister. Of course he loved her. "You're my buddy, remember?" He asked. He always got along with his sister. Aaron had other younger siblings, sure, but he'd been little when they were born. And when Rory was born, he was more excited than he had been with the others. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps because being as little as he was before, he was more selfish and not thinking so much about being a big brother and a role model. Sure, being a big brother crossed his mind and he loved the idea as a kid. But, he felt it more when Rory was born. He loved that little kid! And he couldn't believe he let this happen, or at least, helped add to her being alone. He didn't know where everyone else was, but he was irritated at the thought that they might have just all went away.

[Aurora Cameron]

"I was" she answered, looking down. "But you left. And-and Jessa told me..." she drifted off, not wanting to repeat it. Rory had been stunned by the news that Jessa told her. She never thought that family could do that. In her five year life-span, Rory had felt secure, as every kid should. But when Jessa delivered the news of what her family had done, it made Rory re-think her own family. Everything had gone wrong, everyone was disappearing. Aaron was just the start. Sean followed, then Nesse. Followed by Lily and Derek. And finally, Ellie had left. Her entire world was upside down, and all Jessa managed to do was provide a reason: they stopped loving her.

"Where were you?" she asked him, now looking up at him. Rory had looked all over for him until she found out Megan was in the hospital. She got on the bus and rode all over the city looking for her brother. But she never found him. "I was looking for you" she informed him. She had even gone to the University campus and had walked around. But she had never found him, and she had grown tired so she took a nap in a building. When she woke up, it had been dark outside. The buses had stopped running. Aurora had never been so terrified of the dark as she was that night. Thankfully, Michaela spotted her and asked what she was doing there. Rory lied and claimed that she had been told to wait until Aaron got out of class, but she fell asleep and didn't know where he was. Michaela bought it, and took her home. It didn't matter anyways. Nobody was home but the maid. And as soon as Michaela left, even the maid left, stating that she wasn't responsible for little brats.