Chapter Text
She woke up that morning with a headache. Not super bad, but just enough that she’d be thinking about it until it went away. She got up and out of her bed just as the sun was about to come up as usual. This had become a habit of hers after having to wake up early to help out with farm work or breakfast.
“G’Mornin’ Anne!” Is what she was met with as she walked up the stairs to the kitchen.
“Hiya HP.” She said tiredly. To be honest she wasn’t a morning person. And with this headache she has, shes really not feeling it.
“After yer done yer breakfast, I need ya’ to come help me with the farm, okay?”
“Yeah, alright.”
She loved working on the farm, really she did! Just not in the morning. Anyways, she ate her breakfast, and went outside to help Hop Pop on the farm. Oh frog its super humid outside. She. Hates. Humidity. It’s one of the things that will trigger a sensory overload if there are other major factors included.
“Hey Hop Pop, its really humid, and Im uhh.. worried about uhm.. MY HAIR! My hair, I’m worried about my hair, cause y’know it just goes POOF and then I can’t really see and stuff so yeah can I go-“
“Anne, I’m sorry but I really need your help today. We’re startin’ to run out of food to sell at the stand.”
“Okay its- its fine.”
[Authors Note : Omg okay so Amphibia just ended like,, 2 hours ago and I still cannot stop shaking. I was crying and hyperventilating for a whole hour after it finished I am still super upset. Anyways back to the story ._.]
And so, she helped. After about 30 minutes, Sprig had joined them outside to help too.
An hour had past and she was starting to get antsy. Her clothes and hair were sticking to her body, and she felt like she could hear everyone in Wartwood talking.
“Hey guys! Look at this candy I got!”
“Woah Polly, that is a really strong smelling candy.“
Holy frog, that candy had a strong smell. She could smell the fruitiness of it from a million miles away, if that were even possible. Even so, it was strong.
Now she was way too aware of everything. The clothes and hair sticking to her body, the chattering of the townsfolk, the smell of Pollys candy, her headache, which had gotten increasingly worse as the day went on. It was all happening at the same time and she hated it.
“Uhm, hey guys, uh. I gotta go inside, for a bit. Im really uh, tired. Ill be back in a few minutes.”
“Oh alright Anne! Be back as soon as ya’ can!”
“Yep, uh, will do!”
She sprinted to her basement bedroom and dug through her backpack to find something, anything, that would help. But then she touched the weird texture of her old wallet that she could only describe as painful, and gave up looking.
She sat on the floor and broke down. She couldn’t take it. Everything was so loud. Then she heard a small knock. Or, for her a very loud knock. She jumped at the sound, scared that someone might hear her. So she stayed silent.
“Um, hey Anne! You good in there? I thought I heard crying so I decided to come check on you. You were also running very fast for someone who was ‘tired’”
She didn’t know what to respond. She didn’t know if she could respond. She was too wrapped up in trying to do something to turn the volume down in her ears. She plopped down to the floor, hands on her head, almost ripping her hair out.
“Anne? I heard a thump is everything okay?”
She let out a small whimper at the added noise. This caused Sprig to open the door. Usually, he wouldn’t just walk in unless Anne let him, but this seemed important.
She was holding her hair, pulling and tugging at it to get the headache to go away. But it only made it worse. She kept pulling and tugging though, thinking in some strange way that It would eventually help.
“ANNE? WHATS GOING ON? ARE YOU OKAY?”
Stop yelling. Thats what she wanted to say. Just stop yelling at her. She didn’t mean to have a meltdown and she was sorry for having one, but she just wanted him to stop yelling.
Sprig noticed how every time he’d talk, shes shut her eyes even tighter, if that was even possible. So he stopped talking and yelling, and instead whispered.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
She quickly moved her hands from her hair to cover her ears and back, signaling that she wanted something to block out the noise.
Quickly, Sprig ran up to his room, passing Hop Pop and Polly on the way. They’d come inside for a break too, or at least Hop Pop did.
“Sprig! What’d I tell ya’ about runnin’ in the house!”
“Sorry Hop Pop but its super important!” He yelled back.
He wasn’t worried about if he got hurt by running. He just knew that he needed to help Anne with whatever it was that was causing her to freak out.
He grabbed a pair of fuzzy ear muffs hopping that would do the job. He ran back down to the basement and quietly but quickly closed the door.
Again he was whispering. “Okay Anne, can you sit up a bit?”
She sat up fully, which he was not expecting, but was still hunched over and looking in pain. He carefully removed her hands from where they were on her head, and place the ear muffs so they’d fit right over her ears.
Hop Pop had accidentally gotten the ear muffs a bit too big for his head, so he hasn’t worn them yet. However, they fit almost perfectly on Anne.
Anne was glad that the ear muffs were helping, even the slightest bit. She no longer had her hands glued to her head, instead placing them on her shins. She was squeezing her shins a bit hard for Sprigs liking, so he gently tapped her fingers.
She was shocked at the touch and threw her hands back, only to put them back down, squeezing less. She was rocking back and fourth and occasionally shook her head as a tic. She’d gotten bullied about that one back home quite a bit.
It took her another 30 minutes to calm down, but Sprig sat next to her the whole time. It was surprisingly comforting to have someone just there. Usually when Sasha or Marcy would help with her meltdowns, they’d leave her alone once she wasn’t feeling as bad or sit there super anxious. But Sprig was just calm. He sat there in silence, and he was calm. He didn’t make any move to touch or talk to her, and he was calm. She liked that. She liked that he was calm. It made her feel calm too.
After a while she opened her eyes and looked up at her surroundings. She shut them closed again when she was met with the bright lights of her room however. Sprig took notice of this, and got up to turn the light off. With a tap of a mushroom, it was dark. It was dark, and (mostly) quiet, and calm. Sprig took his place, and sat right back down next to her. Sprig tapped Annes shoulder, a silent signal that she could open her eyes again.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to figure out where in the room she was exactly. Although she tried, she failed. She wasn’t like the frogs, who had great night vision.
For another 15 minutes, they sat in silence. When Anne decided she was ready to get up again, she shoved her hands around the air looking for Sprig. He caught her hand midair and placed it on his shoulder. She knew that Sprig could see her, so she slowly nodded, hoping that the frog would understand that she meant she was ready.
He understood perfectly and hopped over to turn the light on. It was still a bit too bright for her, but nothing she couldn’t get through.
Sprig helped her stand up slowly. Her legs and arms were still shaking like crazy, so she had a bit of a hard time walking. Sprig helped her out of her room and into the kitchen, where Hop Pop and Polly had been waiting for the last hour and a half.
“Anne? You okay? You seem a bit drained. Have you been cryin’?” Hop Pop asked, careful with his words as he slowly realized that, yes, she had infact been crying.
She couldn’t speak. She tried, but it felt like there was a piece of super strong duct tape over her mouth. Any attempt she made at talking was useless. She hated when this happened. It was always after a meltdown, panic attack, or just a really stressful day. Heck sometimes it even happened just because she was tired.
She looked down to Sprig, hopeful that her message would get across to him. And in that moment, Sprig gave a look of understanding. Not one of “I know what your feeling” but just straight up understanding.
“I’m not sure what exactly happened but I think Anne needs to be excused from farm work for today.”
She looked up to see Hop Pop and Pollys worried faces. She nodded with guilt that she wasn’t strong enough to push through it and help, but she felt as if she might pass out at any second.
Without a second thought, Hop Pop nodded his head and told Anne that she was fine to take the day off, and that it wasn’t really as important as it he’d made it out to be.
And with that, Sprig led Anne back to her room and helped her to her bed. As soon as she laid down, she was out like a light. Sprig was happy that she was able to fall asleep so quickly. She looked peaceful and calm, and that made him happy.
He smiled as he walked to the door, turned out the light, and left. It was only then that Sprig realized that Anne still had his ear muffs. He was fine with it of course, he just found it funny that she could fall asleep like that.
Afterwards the day progressed as normal, besides the fact that Anne was in her room all day except when she had to eat lunch and dinner. She didn’t talk the whole rest of the day, except if you count ASL. Even then she only ‘said’ small thank you’s and please’s.