Soon, comes faster than Rory is prepared for. It comes crashing in, each wave swallowing Rory and leaving her gasping for air. The first time it hits her, It comes in the form of a simple text message from her brother the night prior. Rory had been expecting the message, but it still leaves her throwing up what little food she had in her.

The day she always dreaded is just minutes away, and Ayden won't let her forget. Out of all the things she can't remember, this day will always haunt her memories.

The second time it hits her is when the clock strikes midnight and Rory can only blankly stare up at the ceiling. Minutes turn into hours and time slowly passes on. The thought of the day to come keeps her up through the night and now the sun is creeping lower in the sky. Hues of orange and pink paint the evening sky and cast a warm glow into the bedroom. Rory is still curled up in bed, having not moved a single inch. Dread stares her in the face as she reads the message again.

Ayden (8:53 pm)
Dad's here...He expects us all to have dinner. Please come?

Of course her Dad was coming, he would never not come, he's always been the
same. But that's just the problem. Things are not the same, and they are never going to be the same. Rory has no desire to keep playing and pretend that everything is fine with them.

Rory finally closes out the message to see her other messages. She looks for one specific message, and opens it.
   
Ryder (9:34 am)
Good morning! Are you free to get lunch today?

The message was sent hours ago, it is now long past lunch time. Rory feels bad for leaving him on read, but she had no intention of doing anything today. She knows she could have at least replied- it would have been as easy as maybe another day? But, she couldn't even manage to do that.

Across the room, Asta sits in the armchair, legs folded and an unreadable expression in face. Rory isn't exactly sure how long, but she knows he's been sitting there for a while. So, Rory waits for him to say something. And she waits, and waits, until finally she looks in his direction, half expecting for him to not even be there anymore. She is only dully surprised to see him still there.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Rory mutters, throat dry from not having used her voice in a while.

Once again, she doesn't know why she's provoking the demon. She should be happy at the fact that he isn't messing with her, especially today of all days. But for some reason, Rory can't accept it. Something in the way he's looking at her doesn't let her accept it.

"What is it that you want me to say?" Asta replies coolly. He continues to look at Rory, face devoid of any emotion that Rory could pick out. But yet, his eyes hold a glint of something that Rory barely registers."I wasn't lying when I said I hated seeing you like this."

Ah. There it is.

Pity.
   
After hours of feeling nothing but numbness, Rory feels something in her snap. It starts off as a spark, igniting into a flash of red, hot fury. It has her sitting up in bed and flinging her sheets off of her body.
   
They all look at her the same. She catches the look her friends give her when they think she's not looking. She catches the look Ayden tries to hide everytime she comes over for dinner. She remembers the looks her past therapist gives her whenever she explains how her brother's death haunts her dreams and how sometimes, how she thinks she can hear his voice sometimes.

They all pity her. And now, this fucking demon, of all things possible, has the gall to feel bad for her.
   
Is being pathetic the only thing that Rory is good for? Is she really going to live the rest of her life like this? She doesn't want to keep rotting away in her room, haunted by her thoughts and memories. She doesn't want to keep avoiding the people she cares about because she's afraid of what they would think if they knew the real Rory. She doesn't want to keep living like this, she can't keep living like this.

Before her mind can catch up with her feelings, Rory is already stumbling out of bed and hurrying into the bathroom. One hand grips the bathroom counter hard enough that her knuckles turn white, while the other flings open the mirror cabinet. Her eyes land on the unmarked pill bottle and she takes it into her hands..

With a trembling grip, she fumbles with the cap, plastic digging into her skin as she tries to twist it open, but her hands won't stop shaking. Eventually, she gets the cap off. It bounces and clacks somewhere on the floor as a handful of white pills fill her palm. The room is eerily quiet, only the sound of her own haggard breathing echoing within the small walls.

She stares down at her hand. Underneath the collection of pills, the mark of the circle peaks out. Like a feather drifting in the, her brother's words suddenly float through head.

Picture the circle growing bigger and smaller.

The words encompass her, like a blanket. Like her brother taught her, she takes a few deep breaths. Slowly, Rory feels her heart rate slow into its usual rhythm and her shoulders fall, releasing their tension.Carefully, she pours the pills back into their bottle and searches for the fall cap. When she finds it near the bathtub, she twists the cap back on and returns the bottle to its place.
   
Ignoring the curious look that Asta is giving her as she heads back into her bedroom, Rory grabs her phone and reads through all of her unread messages. The messages are mostly from her group chat with Zane and Lux.

She briefly skims through their messages, mostly checking in to see if Rory was still breathing. She sends a 'thumbs up' and opens up her messages with Ayden. The same message stares back at her and she decides that she's not quite ready to face this one. Instead, she types out a message to someone. She only hesitates for a moment before she hits send.

Rory (9:34 am)
how about a late late lunch?

+++

Rory and Ryder end up meeting at a little Chinese restaurant tucked in a corner a few streets away from downtown. Every now and then, Rory sees a person or two walk past the store front. A steady number of people come in and out, but it's still considerably less busy than downtown probably is.

With downtown offering many shopping and eating options, many favor hanging around that area and don't venture off this far. Rory is glad that Ryder decided on this place because they don't have to deal with the rush of people trying to find food, and worse, tourists.

When Rory first arrived, she was a bundle of nerves, her previous conviction having steadily faded to an ever present anxiety. Ryder had greeted her with a smile so warm, Rory almost felt silly for thinking he would be upset for having to come out last minute. She's glad he agreed to come, she needed to get out of that apartment. Plus, she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little...curious about the red haired- boy.

The hunter's stomach still turned in the presence of her friend's brother for reasons she couldn't quite place. She had felt it the first time they met, but now in her sober state, she can confirm that she has never felt a presence quite like Ryder's.

It didn't necessarily feel bad. It isn't slithering and seething, like that of a demon, but it couldn't be compared to that of a hunter. Rory hasn't seen any indication of the hunter's mark so she's pretty sure he isn't one.

The thought of Ryder being a hunter hadn't crossed Rory's mind until this moment. She supposes that wouldn't be a crazy thought, with Zane being a hunter. The closer one is to the circle, the more likely they are to get trapped in the cycle. Just being around Zane would naturally draw in other worldly energy. So if he isn't a demon, and he isn't a hunter, then who the fuck is he?

After their waitress comes by and takes their food orders, Rory has by now realized that her social skills have noticeably deteriorated. She's used to Lux, who fills in any silence that she can; used to Zane, who understands Rory with no words needed. Now, sitting here with Ryder, Rory wonders what the fuck normal people talked about. Ryder would say something, and Rory would reply, but not enough to keep the conversation going and the two would lapse into silence, like they are now as they wait for their food to be brought out to them.

Ryder doesn't seem to mind the silence. He smiles and engages whenever Rory does say something, but gives no signs that he's annoyed at their lackluster time together. Rory, on the other hand, begins worrying less about the origins of the boy sitting across from her, and starts fretting over her apparent lack of social skills. Her face shows her usual uninterested expression, but underneath the table, her hands grip at her pants as she tries to calm her bouncing leg. She needs to say something, anything, and she was, but Ryder beats her to the chase once again.

"So, you and Zane seem pretty close," He says, no hint of question in voice as if he's simply stating a fact. Rory can't stop the scowl that comes to her face at the name of her friend, causing Ryder to chuckle. "Maybe not?"

"We've been friends for a while, I guess. I've tried to get rid of him, but I can't seem to manage," Rory explains and Ryder nods along.

"I can see that. He really cares about you. I asked him for your number and he went all mama bear on me. He kept telling me to watch out."

"Oh?" Rory cocks an eyebrow, "He's trying to protect me from you?"

"Actually, he was warning me about you." Ryder admits. That elicits a laugh from Rory as she covers her mouth. Ryder laughs along with her and Rory can feel her nerves dissolving with each chuckle. Rory leans back in her chair and crosses her arms against her chest, a smirk tugging at her lips. "That bastard. What did he say?"

"Oh, you know..." Ryder teases, "Nothing much, just that you would chew me up and spit me out without a second thought."

Rory hums and nods her head at this, "What do you think?"

"I think you could easily take me in a fight."

"Yeah, I could." Ryder lets out a dramatic gasp just as the waitress arrives with their food. She sets a bowl of steaming noodles in front of Ryder and a plate of fries rice in front of Rory. They thank her and Ryder immediately starts digging in. Rory continues to wait a few moments, staring down at her food.

She hadn't eaten much the last few days, so she thought that at least she would be hungry enough to eat today. Rory didn't order too much, figuring that she could handle the fried rice. But, as she looks down at her food, she feels no desire to eat.

In fact, her stomach starts to churn at the thought of consuming anything. But, she couldn't not eat when Ryder invited her out. She doesn't want him to think she's weirder than she already is, so she takes a spoonful of rice and shoves it into her mouth.

"How is it?" Ryder soon asks, stirring around his noodles. He's using chopsticks and Rory notes how well he uses them compared to Zane, whose solution to using chopsticks is to just stab everything.

"Good," Rory answers, even though she can't taste anything. Disgust wells up in her stomach as the food slides down her throat and she has to force it to stay down. The two fall into silence as they finish eating their food. The more bites Rory forces herself to take, the easier it gets and surprisingly she manages to eat everything.

Ryder pays the bill and the pair find themselves lingering outside of the restaurant. When they entered the restaurant there was still light out, but now the stars hazily glow behind the cloudy night. Rory's breath clouds in front of her as she pulls her scarf tighter around her necks. Despite the weather, Ryder is wearing a light jacket, his hands shoved into his pockets.
  
"Thanks for the food," Rory says.

"Anytime," Ryder smiles, and Rory can't find it in her to smile back. "I'll see you around?"

Despite everything, Rory is glad she came out. The thought of going back has Rory hesitating. She doesn't want that. She doesn't want to go back there. She doesn't want to enter that lonely apartment. She doesn't want to, she doesn't want to, she doesn't-

"Rory?"

Rory looks up at Ryder, but doesn't say anything. The words die on her lips as fast as they are born and Rory isn't sure of what she wants anymore.

Ryder continues to look at her, his blue eyes searching for something. Rory doesn't know what he's looking for, but he seems to have found it when he says, "It's still pretty early, do you want to go for a walk?"

Rory doesn't know it yet, but she's found something as well.