Harder Than You Know

"Too many shirts. We need to buy more bottoms to balance it out."

A grin slowly spread across Michelle's face. "I love the way you think, Ari."

Ari giggled as Michelle dragged her into the next store. The other three girls were still in the previous one, preferring to take their time.

Zacky and Brian wearily followed Ari and Michelle, grateful to see that this store provided chairs.

Nighttime shopping was the best. For some reason, there weren't that many people during the night in this part of the city. And it seemed that new shipments seemed to come in during midnight. Yeah, it was pretty weird, but Ari wasn't complaining. She liked this. And she liked watching Zacky pay for everything with his black credit card. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER.

They were now in the largest store and Ari was quite lost. She had just emerged from the fitting room.. The lighting was dimmed and she was getting kind of freaked out.

"Z-Zacky..? Michelle..?"

She could have screamed, but she didn't want to make a scene for something as silly as getting lost. After walking around and around, she realized she was going in circles and was getting more frustrated than scared.

"Hi, there."

Ari gasped and jumped. From behind her, a man chuckled. "Sorry about that. But you seemed lost."

He looked nice enough unlike Ryan. And she had no choice anyway, so she answered, "Y-yeah.. C-could you help me find the store entrance?"

"Sure," he nodded. "Follow me. Why don't you tell me your name?"

"I'm Aria.."

"Nice meeting you. I'm Damon."

They started to make small talk after that. For some reason, she couldn't see the store entrance, though they walked for quite a while, but didn't realize that.. She just followed and followed, never feeling suspicious. She was kind of sleepy, too, and it felt like she was in a trance of some sort.. But she blamed it on the lighting and the fact she woke up a bit early today.

Ari! Ari! Aria!

Ari stopped dead in her tracks. Damon looked back, "What's wrong Aria? Keep following, I'll lead you out."

Aria!

Suddenly, the walls of the store melted, and she was met with the cold, night wind. Instead of being in the mall, she was outside, in the dark, alone.

Someone grabbed her hand and yanked her back. She collided with whoever it was and was momentarily frozen.

It was Zacky. He looked frightened and was out of breath.

"Ari! I-- How the fuck did you get here?!" he practically yelled.

She was just as stunned as he was. "I.. I don't.. Damon.."

Looking back, though, Damon had disappeared. "I.. I was following Damon.."

"What-- Ari. Who's that? There was no one there! You were walking by yourself. I'm surprised you're not hurt. Do you know how long you've been missing?!"

"It's.. It's only been a few minutes--"

"You've been gone for three hours, Ari! I was so worried-- fuck, I don't even know.. God, Ari. I was so fucking scared.."

She suddenly felt fearful of what had just happened as the shock began to sink in, and tears slowly trickled down her face. "I.. I don't know what happened, Z-Zacky.. Hon-honest.."

Zacky breathed deeply a few times to come back to his senses. He searched her with his eyes for any wounds or injuries, relaxing a bit when he saw none. "You honestly can't remember anything?"

"W-well.. I was lost in that- in that store.. And Damon, he- he said he'd lead me back t-to the entrance.. S-s-so I followed him.. and then.. this.. and.. I don't know.. Zacky.. W-what happened? I'm sc-scared.."

She tried to wipe her tears away, but found it useless, and felt safer when Zacky finally pulled her into a hug. Her sobs were muffled by his chest.

"It's not your fault.." he mumbled into her hair. "I.. I should have been more careful, especially since it was midnight.. But, god, do you know how scared I was? I thought.. I thought I lost you.."

"I'm-I'm sorry.." she cried. "I d-didn't do it on p-purpose.."

"I know you didn't, I know, Ari.. It's okay.. I won't let it happen again.. I promise. Don't cry now.. I'm here, and we're gonna go home, and you'll be safe, and I'll stay in bed with you for as long as you want tomorrow.. and we'll eat whatever you want, and I'll do whatever you want, and you won't be in danger.. So.. Don't.. Don't cry.."

Noticing her shivering, Zacky quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her. "I'll call one of the guys and they'll bring a car. Let's wait over there."

Ari was in a daze. She didn't remember much after that. She felt herself moving, yeah, but only because Zacky was carrying her. She vaguely remembered entering a car, and.. was it Johnny that picked them up? It was kind of hard to tell. In the car, she drifted in and out of consciousness and when they finally got home, she recalled some of the girls crying and she thought that she might have said something to them.. But she couldn't say for sure.

Zacky told her to wash up, and somehow in her zombie like state, she did. When she was finished, she saw that Zacky had washed up in the guest bathroom. He was watching her intently from the edge of the bed, wondering if what had happened earlier would cause side effects. He saw none, though, except for her state from the shock, which was expected. But you never know..

As she lied down, Zacky turned the lights off and lied down next to her and brought her closer to him and sighed against her hair.

"..I'm so tired.." Ari mumbled, voice weak.

"Then sleep, sweetie." Zacky whispered. "It's alright now, Ari. You're perfectly safe at home."

Ari chose not to respond and instead focused on trying to rest. It was.. a huge relief to be back at home, in bed with Zacky. It scared her so much when she thought about what would have happened if Zacky couldn't find her..

Eventually, though, sleep found her, but it was a restless, fitful night. She felt Zacky cuddle with her and calm her down during her one of her fits. She knew she was only half asleep but couldn't wake up fully, even though she wanted to. Her body was too exhausted.

Did she dream? Probably. But she couldn't remember anything but darkness and Zacky's voice. It must have taken hours before she finally calmed down and slept soundly. But what time was it?

"Yeah.. No, it's alright. I don't know when she'll wake up.. It might get cold... Don't worry about it.. Thanks, Val."

Ari soon felt a hand rest on her face and another running through her hair. Tired as she was, she leaned into Zacky's touch, and heard him chuckle.

"Sorry, darling, did I wake you up?"

"No.." she replied softly, still not wanting to open her eyes.

Zacky frowned although Ari couldn't see. "Are you feeling alright, Ari?"

She just nodded and mumbled, "Please lie down again."

Ari sighed in content as he complied to her wishes and buried her face in his shirt.

"You sure you're alright, sweetie?"

She could nod in reply, causing Zacky to furrow his eyes in worry. This wasn't right. Even though she only had a few hours of sleep, she shouldn't have been this tired.

He wondered if any of the guys had come up with any theories. It would have been nice to get out there and discuss what happened with the others.. But he made a promise to do whatever she wanted, and he didn't plan on breaking that.