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Walking through the near-silent school halls felt weird to Lucine as she followed her friends. Medea had said she had an idea for something fun after school; as much as Lucine didn't like this, she followed anyway. After all, "sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do for friends" and "we hang out with you, this is the least you can do" were things she heard pretty often. She didn't want to be alone, so she did close to whatever they asked instead of dealing with the other options.
So what if they weren't always the kindest? At least they chose to keep her around, even if they didn't like hearing her talk much or thought her annoying. That was fine. She was used to being quiet. They didn't have to keep her in the group, but they did anyway, which meant they had to like her, right?
During the walk, she counted the floor tiles to occupy her mind. She counted up to 46 before bumping into Brutus. "Hey, watch it!" he yelled.
Lucine jumped back and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I should have been looking where I was going," she said, avoiding looking at him and tugging at her shirt sleeve.
"Maybe if you'd just look up, that wouldn't happen, and look at people you're talking to, jeez."
That sounded like her parents. They would often tell her the same thing. But eye contact was hard to make for some reason. She hated how anxious it made her feel. Yet, to everyone else, it was normal and easy.
Before anything else happened, Delilah walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, come on, you know that's just how she is. Don't blame her for that."
Lucine smiled in thanks. Kasim rolled his eyes at the interaction, but she put that out of her mind. Looking around to realize why they stopped, turns out they were in front of a janitor's closet. Her confusion only grew as she looked at the others.
"I had an idea for us. Since the school is so big and no one is here, let's play a couple games of hide-and-seek. With you being the first person to count." Medea pointed at Lucine, and her eyes widened. A part of her felt something was off, but the other, more significant part, was happy she was being included in a game like this. If it would get them to like her more, then sure. "Oh, of course. What do you want me to do?"
Medea opened the door, and Lucine could see all the cleaning stuff inside. "Just count in here for, say… a minute. We'll tell you when to start while we go and hide. We can't risk you looking now, can we?"
"I can do that, I'm pretty good at finding people though, so be warned." Lucine smiled, feeling pretty happy for once. Since the others were also grinning, she called it a win. She went into the closet and shut the door. There was some commotion outside the door as she moved into a more comfortable position. "Hey, are you guys alright?"
"Yes, we're fine, hold on a moment-" the sounds stopped, and Medea continued, "There, now start counting. See you soon." She sounded a little rushed to her, but Lucine pushed the thought away.
As the sounds of their footsteps faded, Lucine started to count. When she finished, she shouted, "I'm ready!" and tried to open the door, only to find it stuck. A pit sank into her stomach. Lucine turned the handle both ways quickly and pushed her weight against the door to no avail. She realized now that this was just one of the pranks they liked to pull over her. She shouldn't have gotten so excited. It was so blatant that something like this would happen. She should have known.
"Haha, really funny, you got me guys! You can let me out now!" She tried to listen but heard nothing in response, panic rising as the silence continued. "Guys, please let me out! It's been long enough! Guys!" Typically, pranks were something they were around to see. She should be able to hear them laughing. At least then, she knew they were around somewhere, but right now, there was nothing but silence.
She could see clearly with magic but wasn't strong enough yet to change her hand into something useful. Right now, she could only enhance her senses and reliably tame small creatures. Her heart was thumping in her chest as she banged against the door.
"Please! Please don't leave me here!" Lucine dropped to the floor as her breathing started to become uneven. Did she do something wrong? Why did they do this to her? She tried so hard to please them, but why did they hate her so much yet keep her in the group? If she stayed in this place too long, her parents would notice and be upset. The thought of being confined here for an indefinite period only amplified her stress and anxiety.
Her arm was knocked into a broom and fell on her head. She hissed in pain and held her head. Even the supplies hate her at this point. Tears started to fall, and she hugged her knees with her tail wrapped around herself. It was the only source of comfort she could get right now.
Lucine shouted until her voice was raw, and no more light shone under the door. At that point, she could no longer see anything. After all, she still needed some light to see with better senses. There wasn't a way for her to check the time. Some of her friends had gotten a Penstagram, but her parents had said to wait until she was older.
Eventually, her tears stopped falling, mainly because she had nothing left to cry. When her tiredness finally hit, she placed her backpack on the side to lie against. Sleeping like this would hurt in the morning, but at least if she slept, time would pass faster.
Sleep did come to her in time, but it was restless, with dreams plagued with nightmares and constant waking up throughout the night. It made her feel more tired than before she fell asleep. The sound of rustling outside the door got her awake.
"What in Titan's name did these kids do now?" a voice said from behind the door, probably belonging to a janitor. Lucine moved to stand while grabbing her bag, and when more light started to peek through, she pushed the door open and ran. Not caring for what else they might say, she just wanted out.
While running, she looked out of one of the windows and skidded to a halt. The sun was rising, and it was early morning. School would be starting soon, and she wouldn't be able to return home then come back to school fast enough. In that case, she might as well stay and deal with her parents later today, even if the thought of going through classes made her feel sick. Lucine didn't know if she could talk now if she was called on.
Lucine went towards the cafeteria, where most kids who got to school early sat and waited. So she headed there and picked an empty table to sit at. Finally, there was time to clear her mind. Her thoughts were still racing, so she laid her head down and took deep breaths to calm down.
She waited like that for a while until she noticed the time was close for classes to start. At least the others had yet to arrive. If they were to show up right now… she wasn't sure how she'd react.
Once the bell rang, she patted her hair down and went to class. She would just have to get through today, and once she got to her room, she could finally relax. Classes were relatively standard, but her brain was turned off for most of them.
It was a relief as the school day finished, but now she would need to deal with her family. Her thoughts stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she whipped around, seeing the four standing there.
"There's no need to be so jumpy; it's just us. You were avoiding us all day. Don't tell me this is because of yesterday. It was just a prank." Medea said, but her smile was raising Lucine's anxiety.
"Yeah, we were gonna open it before classes started, but you weren't there, and everything was removed. So good job getting out on your own." Delilah said, and she felt her anger rise too. Screw them, this wasn't nothing. Being stuck in there was the worst experience of her life. It felt like an eternity, unable to tell how much time had passed till after it was over.
"No! No, just get away from me, please. I need to be alone," she said, though her voice was creaky.
"Wow, you're being really rude, Lucine. As I said before, it was a joke. Don't get butthurt about it. It wasn't that bad." Medea said with a shrug.
Now that was even worse, wasn't it? Maybe they should've been stuck in there instead to see what it felt like. If they really thought it wasn’t that bad then they should have stayed in the closet instead. "Don't say that. You have no idea how scared I was."
"If you keep talking to us like that, you're out, Lucine. You're taking this way too seriously." Medea looked much more serious now. "Friends play pranks on each other; it's normal. You're the one acting weird here."
Lucine couldn't take this anymore. "Fine! I'm done. If all this is what having friends is like, then I don't want any. I don't want to hang out anymore." She pushed away from out of the group and ran off, not waiting to hear anything they might say back. She continued going until she was well away from the school. She took a moment to breathe and collect herself before returning to her house.
When Lucine reached her front door, she stopped, struggling to get closer and open it. The anxiety was just too high. She collected her thoughts, took a deep breath, and opened the door. Her oldest brother, Alder, was already in the living room; he looked over as she walked in. He was going to move soon, she thought, she was surprised he was still here. "Look who's finally back home. You know Mom is pissed at you, right?"
Her hope of going unnoticed was a bust, but she is never that lucky. Their parents must have called him over then. "I thought she would be…"
"Hey, mom! Lucine is back!" Alder yelled, she stared at him and glared. “Good luck, you'll need it.” He waved at her and walked away. He could have given her more time to prepare herself.
The loud footsteps grabbed her attention; she knew that pattern of steps. Lucine sighed and stared as her mom turned the corner. Alder wasn't lying, Runa was pissed. Her brain raced for some type of apology but came up empty and her voice wouldn't make any noise. In a moment, her arm was grabbed with a tight grip. The strength behind it and her long nails digging into her skin made it start to hurt more. Lucine winced as she was pulled forward and nearly tripped.
"Where in Titan's name were you, and what were you doing?! What could be so important that you never returned and did your work here? You are lucky your school said you were in class today!" Her mother said more, but Lucine started tuning it out. Wait to react and let her yell until it's over. Nothing she said before in similar situations would stop it when she got like this, so instead of making it worse, she'll just endure it.
A sharp shake of her arm brought her back. "Are you even listening to me right now?" Lucine nodded, but that was not enough. "Speak when someone is talking to you. How many times do we go through this?"
"Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry, Mom, I'm listening." After a few moments of silence, her arm was freed, and she immediately pulled it into her chest. At least it wasn’t like the time where her mom pulled her so hard she fell and knocked out one of her baby teeth. Her mom didn’t like her crying over her own mistake then, so there was no point now when her arm barely hurt.
"Get cleaned up, then stay in your room. Do you understand? I need to speak to your father." Once Runa was finished, Lucine ran past her and toward her room.
When she reached it, she grabbed a change of clothes, took a shower, and immediately went to lie down once dressed. These last two days were awful. Now she was back home in her bed, future her could worry about schoolwork. Instead, she wrapped herself in blankets.
Once comfortable, Lucine looked down at the state of her arm. It was already starting to bruise. Well, at least the school uniform had sleeves, so it was one less thing to worry about. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it. Until her parents came back, she was going to sleep. Any amount of rest right now, she would gladly take over being awake. She yawned, closed her eyes, and finally fell asleep.