It's Raining, It's Pouring

Testing, Section 23.B

Liz: Hey

Aaron: Whats up?

Liz: ......

Aaron: that bad?

Liz: ya....

Liz: can i talk to u?

Aaron: Sorry fell asleep.

Aaron: what do u want to talk about?

Liz: ....Just come over. Pls?

Aaron: ya be over in a min

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall....

Liz kept texting him as he walked over. It was a long ten minutes until he arrived. Aaron let himself in, he was close with the Wells family so, it was okay.

Liz was waiting on the couch in the T.V. room. The T.V. screen was blank and it yawned at her like a void opening its mouth lazily. Liz's T.V. was the biggest he knew of. Aaron thought back to some sweet gaming tournaments he and Liz had with their friends on that T.V., but he snapped out of it when he saw Liz.

Her dirty blonde hair, usually up in its trademark ponytail, was down and hung like a greasy curtain in front of her blue eyes. Her head was bowed, in what looked to be prayer, but that was preposterous.

Religion had been disbanded years ago, ever since the terrorist war ended in the Middle East. It hadn't really affected the U.S., so Aaron didn't know much about it. What did it matter anyway?

"Hey."

He sat next to her and sank a little into the luxuriant couch. He pulled out a throw pillow from behind his back and shook his black hair out of his face.

"Is something wrong? Are you okay?"

His voice had lost its usual optimistic tone.

Liz looked up at him slowly. "No", she didn't look at him. Her clear blue eyes were clouded over and she looked through him. Those eyes were rimmed with red and there were obvious signs that she had been crying. Aaron put an arm around her shoulders. Liz still stared through him like he wasn't there. He was about to wave a hand in front of her face when she spoke in a hollow, dead sort of voice, the voice of a ghost.

"I am dead."

Aaron almost pulled away in shock. "What? No. You're not dead."

But she was shaking her head, she put her hands over her ears and shook her head. She was a child again.

"No, you don't get it. I'm dead, I'm dead..." She repeated the phrase over and over, like some kind of sick chant.

It scared Aaron. No one in New Canada spoke like that. No one he knew, and least of all Liz, And yet here she was rocking like a baby before him.

Rock-a-bye, baby, on the treetop....

"Why?"

He said it louder than he had meant, and it echoed around the whole house.

"Why are you dead?" His voice was softer now.

Liz's voice faded and she stopped rocking. She looked through him, staring at his soul instead of his eyes.

"I am dead because I have nothing."

"But you have everything. You can get anything you want, your dad-"

"I don't want that. I want my mom's murder solved. I want my dad to stop yelling,"

She was an empty glass teetering on the edge of a table, a table with its top very high from the ground.

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down......

"I want you to actually care. I want to not be dead."

Aaron chuckled in spite of the seriousness of the situation.

"But I do care," he smiled, "I care a lot about you."

He tilted her chin up and met her gaze, even though it felt as though she was reading his thoughts. Reading his own personal book of life, where all his sins were written.

Now, really. What was it with religion today? Maybe it was because it's just so poetic.

"No," Liz jerked away, "You don't care. All you do is-"

Her phone buzzed on the couch next to her. A call. Aaron recognized the number. It was the local law enforcement. Aaron heard every word.

"Hello, are you Elizabeth Wells?"

"Yes."

"I am very sorry to call you about such a grave matter, but I must. It's about your father, Edgar Wells."

"What about my father?"

"He's dead."

"I'm dead." She whispered. The Officer didn't hear her though, and pressed forward.

"We found his body in Hotel Eagle just a few hours ago, with a gun in his hand. It was suicide, Miss Wells. Someone will be by shortly to pick you up. They'll take good care of you."

Liz nodded. "Okay."

The Officer hung up without a goodbye. Aaron stopped a smile from twitching his lip. Liz looked up at him slowly, her eyes inexplicably dry.

"My father is dead. He's... dead."

"I'm sorry."

Aaron's voice was full of mourning. His arm snaked around her shoulders and squeezed, but it lacked the feeling of warmth and comfort. His other hand slid into the huge pocket of his hoodie, wrapping around a surprise.

She stared at... No, through the yawning void.

"Don't be sorry. I knew it would happen. I know it wasn't suicide. I am dead."

Aaron didn't know if she was dead, but her voice certainly was.

Liz turned at the same moment Aaron pulled out his surprise. She stared at him with those vibrant blue eyes, no longer clouded over. They were clear with realization. They were clear with the thought that she had figured it out.

"I knew it. I am dead, Aaron." She held his gaze.

She saw all of his darkness and it made Aaron mad. It made him mad because she was like some awful, almighty god bearing down on him; fire and brimstone had finally caught up to him. He was mad because she was right.

None of his victims were right.

"I am dead, Aaron." She repeated, calm as the ocean.

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick......

He pressed the barrel of his handgun to her head.

"Yes," He breathed, "You are."

- - - -

Aaron didn't flinch as the gunshot rang in his ears; he only tore the headset off his head and sighed. It was too easy that time. This game was too easy. This game was set in the past, 2085. Games set in the past were always too easy.The testing official looked impressed as he jotted something down on a holo. Aaron didn't care.

"What's next?" he drawled.

"Math." The testing official replied.

Aaron looked outside. It was raining.

He bumped his head and went to bed and wouldn't get up in the morning.....