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Schoolwork was hard for her due to her not knowing the basics of a lot of the subjects. Art, English, and Math she was doing well in, but History, Health, and biology she was struggling.
Now that mom knows that she wasn’t Luz, she was helping with basics and not just on grade stuff, but mom still had a job and there was a lot she didn’t know.
Her camp friends help as well, but a decent chunk of their meetups happen to relieve stress about school. This helped in its own way, just not academically speaking.
And minus the friends she made at camp, it appears that Luz had no friends at all. No kids, minus a few from camp, had come to talk to her in school when it started back up. Not even after nearly a month of school even had an old friend talked to. Not even someone getting mad for just ditching them. Which is sad now that Vee thinks about it.
Vee ponder why this was multiple times and came up with no real answers. Luz seemed nice when she interacted with her, and Luz had every right to be mad at her. So how did this happen to Luz? And always came up blanked
And she was doing exactly what she put on her book bag and was about to leave for home.
An unfamiliar voice breaks Vee out of her thought process as they say “There you are Luzer.”
Vee turns around to see a girl with blonde hair standing next to her. Confuse, she says “Do I know you?”
The girl laughs and says “Don’t play dumb with me, Noceda. We have done this for years, and you know darn well who I am. Unless you become such a Luzer during summer that you forgot everything. And in case that is what happened, the name Becky Crawford”
Vee could tell that if she didn’t get out of there now, that this girl would do something. And she was pretty sure she could outrun Becky judging by the way she slightly favors one of her legs when standing. Vee only notices that because of her natural ability to pick up on even the smallest detail of a person, which helps basilisks blend in if they change into that person.
The only problem was getting by the girl now. She was in a position that block most of the way out, and could easily move to block the way Vee went.
Thinking quickly. Vee says “I think I see a friend of mines flagging me down over there. I better go say high. It was nice to meet you, Becky.”
Vee hadn't even taken one step before Becky slam her hand into the locker on Vee's right.
For a split second, Vee saw a memory of the Warden doing that with prison bars, easily breaking them in haft as a warning to the basilisk of what happens if they act out of line.
Vee is quickly able to push that memory down for the time being, and finds Becky leaning in with a coy smile and begin saying “We both know that even if you do have friends, once they realize just how much of a freak of nature…”
“...freaks of natures that are so disgusting.” the Warden says
“… friends because your life is meaningless.” Becky says
“Life is meaningless for…” the Warden says
“You understand, Luzer?” Becky says before slamming her hand that wasn't on a locker before into the locker on Vee left, surrounding her.
Vee's mind was completely consumed by memories of the Warden at that.
Breathing felt insanely hard suddenly. And she could feel sweat pour down her back. She was so afraid of the Warden that she wasn't sure she would be able to stand for long, let alone run.
But she also knew that she needed out of this prison now. Because if she didn’t get out, the pain that would follow would make death seem welcoming. And that cause her to be able to move her limbs even if it felt like they way 1000 pounds
Vee kicks the Warden's left leg, which for some reason she thought was a weak spot. The warden falls to the ground after the kick, and she starts running down the prison hallway.
She reaches the exit of the prison quickly but knew she couldn’t slow down yet. That now the emperor himself would be after her. Somehow though, she knew a spot that was safe, and how to get there. She needed to get there fast as her whole body was cover in sweat by this point.
Running as fast as she could through the Bonesborough market, she is slightly shocked at how there was almost no one in it is today. That just means she needed to run faster though since there was no crowd to hide in. And her lungs were barely getting any air due to her panic state. She is honestly surprised she hasn't passed out yet it was so hard. And just the sure energy to move her limbs as well was.
After several minutes, she sees a tent that has a door with an eye in it instead of an open flap. She opens it and quickly steps through.
Why was the house she walks into familiar? How had she known how to get here? And why was she so certain it was a safe place?
Before Vee could truly process any of this, the adrenalin wears off, and the exhaustion from running for several minutes with almost no air catches up to her. She barely makes it onto the couch before exhaustion overtakes her, and she falls into unconsciousness.
---
As Camila pull into the driveway, she could instantly tell something was wrong because the front door was open.
She slowly walks into the house with her a hand in her purse, ready to act if needed.
The first thing Camila sees is Vee out on the couch, clearly sleeping. What gives Camila pause though is the fact that Vee still had her bookbag on and her ears were not human at the moment.
Camila knew that Vee tended to into her natural form when freak out, and must have only done so slightly this time. Something must have happened today to cause that. But for her to be sleeping probably meant the threat was gone.
Camila closes the door and quickly scouted the rest of the house just to be sure. After seeing nothing was missing, she rejoins Vee in the living room.
Calmly, she says “Mija, are you ok?”
Vee's eyes flutter open and blink a few times at that. After a few seconds to wake up, Vee says “How did I get here?”
“I don’t know Vee. But I’m worried since your natural ears are showing. Can I sit next to you so can figure this out together, Mija?”
Vee sits up and makes room for Camila and says “I would love that mom. And… I must of partially transform… because… oh.”
Camila sees Vee's face go pale at the last bit as she sits down and carefully grabs the girl's hand to offer support before asking “What oh about.”
“I was… at school, and this girl came up to me. She seems to know Luz and called me Luzer. And then next thing I knew… I was back in the demon realm. And I ran here, somehow.”
Camila realizes that she was missing something here and asks “If you up to it, can you briefly describe a few things this girl said and what happen after you were on the isles?”
Vee nods slightly before saying “She was annoyed that I didn’t recognize her, saying that we have done something for years. I'm not sure what since this was the first time I saw her myself. And she slams a hand against a locker, which made me remember the time in the isles with the warden. And as she was talking, I kept on going back and forth between the isles and school during it but she wasn’t reacting. And then she slams her other hand into the locker and I was fully in the isles. I just needed to escape at that point and hit the Warden in his left leg, which I knew would down him somehow, and ran here. I'm not sure how I knew how to get here though.”
Camila is concern about this. Not just by what Vee had said, but by the implication of a part of it. That this girl, whoever she was, had done this to Luz. And it sounded like bullying base on the brief description Vee gave. But Luz had never told her about this. And the fact that it happens for years without her knowing? How had she failed that badly?
She pushes the thought away for now and focuses on everything else Vee says for a second. It takes a few times for her to replay what Vee says to know there was something off. The warden sounded scary base on the way Vee talked about them, so to be taken out by a simple kick seemed unlikely. Unless it wasn’t the warden in reality.
“This girl you mention. Did she have an injury in her left leg?” Camila says
“She was favoring it slightly. Chances are she had an injury to it at some point. How you know that.”
“I have a theory, but I need a bit more info. When you were swapping between realms, where the girl and the warden said the same thing?”
“Yes… which is super odd now that you mention it.”
“Vee, I don’t think you were ever on the isles today.”
Vee blinks before she says “What you mean by that?”
“I think you hit the girl that was talking to you instead of the Warden. And then the running was you running home from school. Base on a semester of psychology in college, which is by no means enough to make a formal diagnosis, I think you have PTSD Vee.
“What does that mean?”
“PTSD is short for post-traumatic stress disorder. It deals with stress that happens after a traumatic experience. But after could be a day or 10 years. And how bad it is can change by the day. And certain things, I'm guessing words and sounds here, can trigger episodes. They can be minor, or so bad that you are completely consumed by them.”
“Is there a cure for it?”
Sadly, Camila says “Currently there is not, Mija. And there might never be one. But their ways you can make it easier to manage.”
Vee frowns and says “Oh… I see. So I'm just going to be like this forever then. All alone in my…”
Camila squeezes Vee's hand slightly to offer reassurance and says “Vee, you not alone anymore. We can figure out how to manage it together. And if you ever feel conferrable enough telling them, the friends you made at camp sound like great kids that will help you as well.”
Vee slowly smiles and says “Ya, Persephone, Sam, and Dustin would help for sure. Thanks, mom, for reminding me that I don’t have to do this alone.”
“No problem, Vee. Now, why don’t we make your favorite meal today since it's been a long day for you.”
Vee quickly hugs Camila before breaking it and running into the kitchen and saying “You the best, mom!”
Camila chuckle, and walks into the kitchen to start working on dinner.