Chapter 2 FLIGHT TO THE UNKNOWN

"Where... where am I?" Aria said, staring at the ceiling in absolute confusion.

Her head throbbed, a heavy pressure settling behind her eyes. She tried to lift her arm, but it felt weak, almost numb. Nausea twisted in her stomach, leaving her mouth dry, with an ugly chemical taste lingering. As she placed her hands on her forehead as if to ease the pain, it all came back in slow, disjointed waves.

She had taken some of Cassie's prescription anxiety pills, the little blue tablets Cassie always said helped her "relax" during exams. They weren't meant for her, not really, but Cassie practically begged her to try just one to take the edge off. Aria had been anxious, desperate to feel something other than the constant humiliation and restlessness that had dogged her life since the move. She couldn't remember exactly how much she was supposed to take; in her frustration, she took a wild guess and swallowed three. Three pills shouldn't have knocked her out, should they? She remembered her pulse hammering in her ears, the room spinning slightly, her skin clammy and cold despite the sweat on her back.

Cassie had told her a little bit of dizziness was normal, but this had felt heavier: a fog settling over her mind, her limbs growing heavier as she tried to stand. She thought she might just lie down for a minute until it passed. The next thing she remembered was this sterile ceiling. She tried to focus, fighting the waves of grogginess and the sick churn in her gut. "I can't be in a hospital," she thought, but even thinking felt slow, like her brain was wading through mud.

Aria's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound from the door, and she saw her dad walk in.

"Aria, oh my goodness, are you okay now?" Her dad said as he rushed immediately to her bedside and held her hands

"Don't ever scare me like that, okay? The doctor said you took an overdose of a certain drug or something, Aria. Why would you do that? So, it's no longer drinking, you're doing drugs now?" He said, shaking his head in a mix of anger, sadness, and disappointment.

"No, Dad, I promise it isn't what it looks like, I'm not into drugs, Dad, I just wanted to..."

"Wanted to what? See how it feels to throw your life away? I was worried sick. I went to your room, and I found you unconscious, Aria, you were unconscious! I thought I... I thought I lost you, Aria," he said, almost at the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry, Dad, okay? I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I promise I'll change. I don't like seeing you like this."

Aria swallowed hard, her throat tight as she looked at her dad's face; tired, aged, scared. She had never seen him like this before, and the guilt hit harder than the headache pulsing behind her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak again, but he let out a deep breath, the kind that sounded like it had been trapped inside him for years.

"I know you say you'll change," he said quietly, sinking into the chair beside her bed, "but Aria... this isn't the first time I've heard that."

She looked away, blinking back the sting in her eyes. "Dad, please. I mean it this time, I'll try, I want to".

He was quiet for a moment, rubbing his forehead as if picking his words carefully. When he finally spoke, his voice was softer but weighed down.

"That's why I made a decision."Aria's heart sank. "Dad, what do you mean, what decision?"

She hesitated, and that was how she knew this wasn't small.

He never hesitated.

His lips parted like he wanted to soften the blow, but the words caught in his throat. He let out a shaky breath. "You're... leaving tomorrow." He didn't look at her when he said it, as if the sentence itself weighed too much.

For a heartbeat, Aria's mind went completely blank. Then her thoughts crashed in all at once, panic chasing cold denial through her veins. A roaring filled her ears, hot and sharp, and she felt her fingers go numb where they twisted in the bedsheets. It was like the floor tilted under her. No. No, this couldn't be happening, not like this. Her heart pounded, wild and desperate, and for a split second she wanted to yell, to run, to do anything except sit there while her whole world tilted on its axis. The words bounced around in her skull: leaving tomorrow. Her breath stuttered, shallow with disbelief and the beginning of anger that hadn't found words yet.

"You're going to stay with your mother for a while. I can't do this anymore."

Aria froze

She stared at him, shocked, as if he'd just spoken a different language.

"What? Dad... No, no, no. You can't do that." She pushed herself up on the bed, the movement shaky. "I'm not going there, Dad, I don't even know her anymore. And her husband? and those rich..." She cut herself off, breath uneven. "Dad, please."

"Aria, " he said gently, "I can't keep watching you spiral like this. I love you more than anything, but I can't do this alone. Your mother and I talked. She thinks she can give you more structure right now...more stability".

"Stability?" Aria let out a humorless laugh. "In a mansion with strangers who don't even want me there?"

He stood, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder. "It's already arranged. Her husband is sending a private jet tomorrow morning. You'll be safe there. You'll get a fresh start".

Aria's chest tightened as tears finally slipped off her cheeks.

A jet.

Tomorrow.

Just like that.

Her whole life, Brooklyn, her friends, her boyfriend, school, and her dad ripped out from her.

"You can't just ship me off like this!" she screamed.

Her dad sighed and whispered, "I'm trying to save you."

Aria turned her face away, staring at the wall as if it could somehow swallow her whole.

Her fists clenched against the sheets.

She was leaving tomorrow.

And whether she liked it or not...

Her entire life was about to change again.