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Aaron was doing the dishes while Sky was alone in the living room. She had been doing better lately, eating more and getting out of bed every day. He should have guessed they were due for another setback. He dropped the plate into the sink when he heard a scream from the living room, and hurried to see what was wrong.
Sky was standing in the middle of the room, her hands fisted in her hair, eyes squeezed shut.
“Sky?” Aaron asked, taking a step closer.
She flinched black. “No!” she screamed.
He stopped where he was, but that didn’t help. Sky curled in on herself until she was crouched on the floor, shaking her head.
“No! No!” Over and over, until Aaron started worrying that their downstairs neighbors was home and would hear her,
He went into the room and sat down beside her. “Sky, please,” he said, and she screamed again. He felt completely helpless, and finally put an arm around her, hoping that was okay.
“Don’t touch me!” She scrambled away and glared at him. “Leave me alone!”
Aaron held his hands up in a calming gesture. “Okay, I won’t touch you,” he said, keeping eye contact. “But I need you to be less loud. Please.”
She was quiet for a few seconds, and then screamed again.
“Sky!”
“That’s not my name!”
He knew that. He’d known for a while now, since Maya told him, but he hadn’t known how to bring it up.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Then… what is you name?”
For a moment it looked like she was going to tell him, but then she crumpled in on herself, sobbing. Aaron didn’t move closer.
“I’m sorry,” he said after a while. “I don’t know how to help you, but I’ll try if you can tell me how.”
She was shaking, and he wondered if he should try to hug her again, but she moved before he could decide, crawling to him and wrapping her arms around him.
He sighed. They’d been here many times before. He held her and stroked a hand through her hair, slowly, until her breath calmed down.
“How are you feeling?” he asked quietly, when she seemed calm. She shrugged. “Okay,” he said, and they were quiet for a while.
“It doesn’t have to be now,” he said later, after thinking it over. “But when you’re ready to tell us, we really would like to use your real name.” Her grip on him tightened. “If you want us to.”
The quiet lasted a long time before she answered, a muffled sound against his sweater.
“It’s Sarah.”