Finding the Sun

Chapter 10

When Aster woke up the next morning, she was in a cold sweat.

She looked over at the alarm clock on her bedside table, taking note of the fact that it was only 5AM. Damn she thought, I was really looking forward to sleeping in.

Aster always considered herself lucky, because if she wasn't having a so-called "demigod dream", her nightmares were usually pretty vague. Flashes of events and people, horrifying things yes, but Aster could never really remember exactly what the nightmares were about.

This didn't mean that she was going to be able to go back to sleep, though. Sighing, she hauled herself out of bed and into the hallway towards the bathroom. After she was showered and dressed in a pair of leggings, and black long-sleeved athletic shirt, she headed downstairs towards the kitchen.

She was surprised to see her father standing there, holding a pot of coffee. It was still only 5:30 AM, she thought he would still be asleep.

"Good morning." Aaron said, slightly caught off guard to see his teenage daughter up and ready to go so early.

"Oh, hi." Aster looked around the room, it was just the two of them.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked, his brow furrowing.

"I couldn't sleep. I was thinking of going for a run.. If that's okay?" she said in reply. She wasn't really used to informing people of her whereabouts, she usually came and went as she pleased, and none of her previous foster homes ever really had any issue with it. But she supposed that she couldn't expect the same things she did from foster parents from Aaron, and it would make sense for an FBI agent to want to know if his daughter leaves the house at 5:30 in the morning.

"Really? That's fine of course, I appreciate you letting me know." Aaron asked. He quickly followed up. "I actually go running most mornings, I was planning on going today, just around the neighbourhood. I could come with you, if you'd like?"

Aster was going to decline, but then thought for a second. He could show her around the neighbourhood for one, and she would feel really bad if she told him no. He looked so hopeful.

"Sure, yeah. I'd like that."

...

The sound of feet hitting the pavement was the only noise breaking the silence, for at least the past 15 minutes.

Not a word was spoken between them, except for the occasional direction. Aster thought that this was a good enough time to bite the bullet, so to speak. Slowing down to a regular walking pace, she took a deep breath and started talking.

"I thought about what we talked about last night."

Aaron perked up, looking at his daughter. "Okay, that's good. Do you think you want to try?" he asked hopefully. He knew it would be good for her, and that it was something that was going to have to happen sooner than later. He just didn't want to have to fight her on this.

"Yeah, I think so. I don't particularly want to but.. I imagine this isn't something you're going to drop easily." She smiled slightly ruefully at the ground. Aster didn't love the idea of going to therapy, but she knew it would be better than Aaron walking on eggshells around her forever. And maybe subconsciously Aster knew it wasn't healthy for a 16 year old girl to process trauma all by herself.

"But," she continued, "I want to be involved with choosing them. I don't want to just show up to some rando's office one day with no clue who they are."

"Fair enough." So his daughter was a negotiator, it seemed. "Thank you Aster, for trying this. It will be good, I promise."

Aster just gave him a half-hearted smile. She knew that she wouldn't be able to find a therapist she could spill all her demi-god secrets to, but she was starting to grow okay with that. Maybe it was time to acknowledge that the only trauma in her life wasn't just from her godly side of the family.