Glitch | #ONC2020 ✔

Chapter Eleven

Aira

There she sits, wrapped up in a blanket with one to many holes in it. A cup of lukewarm tea is in her hand as some of the people in the hideout are informing her of the current world issues and why she is here.

There I sit, staring at my friend who doesn't seem to remember me. The feeling of loneliness engulfs me as I just sit there without a care. I do not have a blanket wrapped around me, but I wish I did.

Aira's hair is messy, making it evident that she was asleep for a long time. She couldn't walk so I carried her to the base, but she thought I was just a good samaritan.

She doesn't know me.

The truth of the matter engulfs me as I want to just disappear. Aira doesn't know who I am and I probably freaked her out. How would you react if some random person was staring at you when you woke up.

I should have expected this. Everything else I dreamed about when I was connected to the system was true. Why did I believe that Aira and I were actually friends? It was just an internal hope that I wanted to happen but never actually happened.

I'm pathetic.

I wanted to be close to her so much that the system inserted her into my perfect world. If I wasn't like that I wouldn't have known who she was.

"Hey, you're the one who disconnected me right?"

I jump at the voice of Aira. My head snaps up to look at her green eyes. I nod quickly, my body reacting faster than my mind. "Yeah."

She looks me over for a second before sipping out of her cup. She scrunches up her nose, putting down the cup immediately. "Get me a brand new tea would you?"

I tilt my head at her words. What does she mean? "What?"

She points to me, her hand is bony because of the lack of movement. "You," she then points at her cup, "go get me a new tea. The contents in this are cold."

I hop up and grab her cup. Maybe if I'm nice to her we can actually get close. "Of course!" I scurry awake and dump the cup of tea.

I fill the cup with hot water and grab for a tea bag, my hand that is reaching for the tea bag is slapped. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Aeryn!" I gape at her. She is glaring at my cap of pure water. "What's wrong?"

She points at the cup. "We don't have enough supplies to get her tea all the time."

I grab the tea bag and plop it in to Aeryn's dismay. "She's still shaken up, let her have one more glass."

I stand up and start to walk back to where Aira is. "Or you are trying to get on her good side."

I freeze at her words. How did she even guess that? "I don't know what you're talking about."

Aeryn huffs at what I say. "Fine, whatever you say. Just know that everything you saw when connected to the system was an absolute lie. If you knew her in the system, she might not be the same person that you think you knew."

I brush her off and walk back to the room and set the tea on the table near Aira. The red head doesn't say anything, instead she takes a sip of her tea and nods in content.

I sit back in my chair, a little disappointed that she didn't say anything. Is it too sweet? Maybe the contents burned her tongue and she can't speak. But she didn't look like she was in pain so that wouldn't make much sense.

Or maybe she just doesn't like me.

That probably is it. Is what Aeryn said true? Aira isn't who I dreamed she was.

No that can't be true. She still is Aira. She is a good person. I need to absolutely remember that. Aira may not know me, but she will. I'm sure of it.

"So when did you wake up?" Aira is actively trying to speak to me. I am right about her, she is really nice. In her mind, she doesn't know me after all.

For a second, I just gape at the girl. She was actually talking to me. Quickly, I clear my throat in an awkward way. "A few weeks ago."

She nods and sips from her cup. She hasn't changed since we picked her up so I have to avert my glance. Like everyone who has been connected to the system, she adorns a very thin hospital gown that doesn't exactly leave much to the imagination.

I grab my bag and immediately fish out a few items of clothing that I borrowed from an item locker. From what I can remember, the clothes we went to the building with were stored in a locker. And while I couldn't find my locker, I did find one a week after I woke up.

Guess it was a good idea to grab as many hoodies as I could.

"Here," I say as I throw a pair of jeans and a hoodie. "I don't know if those are your size, but it's better then a hospital gown."

She stares at the small pile of clothes that now reside on her lap. "I think I can get my own clothes."

I continue to dig through my bag of stolen clothes. Thoughts of her just not liking them run through my mind. "I'll try to find something more fitting, don't worry." I feel an impact of fabric on top of my head. My head tilts and the fabric falls onto the ground. As my eyes scan the clothes, they are evidently the clothes I just gave Aira. "What was-"

"I don't want those clothes!" She interrupts me and begins to glare.

She still is the Aira I want her to be. right?

Chapter WC: 1004
Official Book WC: 11459