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“With graduation coming up, everyone will need to complete a form with what they will be doing after their time at this school.” Principal Bump announced to the seniors as he handed a piece of paper out. Amity stared at the paper and started filling it out. She has already taken over Blight Industries since he’s focusing on the Sigil Removal Project, and Luz will be moving here to attend Eda’s Wild Magic university, so the transition won’t be as drastic.
Once Amity finished her paper, she put it on the desk and left the classroom. Today’s the last day of class before graduation. She ordered her graduation outfit, and it arrived at her house a few days ago. Luz is even able to attend Hexide’s graduation since she already graduated from her Human high school. Once everyone graduates, they’ll be going their separate ways. Willow will be traveling with the Flyer Derby team she tried out for, and Gus will be busy with Vee at the University of Wild Magic. At least Hunter is local. He’s Dell’s apprentice and is learning the art of palisman carving.
“Hey, Amity,” Gus called out, Willow following behind her, “Wait up.”
“Sorry. I needed to take a walk.”
“It’s all good,” Willow assured her friend, “You’re going to The Owl House later, right?”
“Yeah, I am. I have some work to finish up. Luz is helping Vee and Camila move. I’ll be going over there with Eda and Raine in two days to help.”
“They finally got the house fixed up?” Gus asked, “That’s good, they’ll be able to protect the door now.”
The school bell screamed, and the kids ran outside screaming in joy. Amity covered her ears from the loud noise.
“I’m not gonna miss that sound,” Willow spoke
“Me neither,” Amity agreed, “They really need to quiet it down.”
Once the three of them stepped outside and down the steps, Amity uncovered her ears.
“If we graduated three years ago, we’d be joining a coven and getting our sigils,” Gus admitted, “I’m so happy things changed.”
“No more giving our lives up for one type of magic,” Willow added
“Alright, guys, as fun as this is, I have to get home and finish some things up before going to The Owl House.”
Amity summoned Ghost, and she turned into her palisman. She pushed her feet into the ground and took off,
“See you later, Amity,” Willow yelled.
Work was done. Amity cleaned her desk up, making sure everything was in the correct place. It was not easy since she shared a room with Em now, but they have a system. Amity put some paper in a drawer and found something from her childhood, the necklace Odalia gave her, shattered. She picked it up and held it in her hand…
Amity was no older than ten years old. She had just come home from playing with Willow, and the bright sun was very overwhelming. When she got back inside, Everything was just too loud. Odalia was yelling at Ed and Em for not cleaning their rooms, and sent them back up there, saying there would be no dinner until the rooms were cleaned. Amity always kept her room very neat; the mess would make her brain feel like it was broken. After her absence went unnoticed, she went upstairs to her room and closed the door. She kept the light off to rest her eyes and settled into the corner of her room, lying flat on the ground.
“Amity Blight,” Amity’s head stung with Odalia’s voice, “I need you down here at once. You never gave me your report card.”
Amity ripped the necklace off her body and placed it on the bedside table. She needed a few minutes to regroup from playing with Willow. That's all…
Amity chucked the broken necklace into the trash can and made her way down the stairs. She had to get ready for the party at The Owl House.
“Hey Mittens,” Ed greeted as Amity made her way into the kitchen, “You alright? Em said you were standing in your room a few minutes ago, staring into nothing.”
“I’m fine. I found my old necklace from Mom. The one I broke,”
“Memories have a way of doing that.”
“You can say that again,” Amity said, being sarcastic, not her best trait.
“You’re going to The Owl House for the graduation gathering, right?”
“Yeah. Eda’s not throwing anything big since we just celebrated Luz’s king-ceañera, but she and Raine wanted to celebrate Luz’s graduation and our graduation from Hexside.
“Well, have fun. I’ll let dad know you’re out. Make smart choices.”
“Thanks,”
Amity grabbed her bag and slung it across her shoulder. It’s a messenger bag Luz got from Hot Topic for her birthday. Once she was outside, Amity took off into the air.
The party was fun, but overwhelming, and Amity decided to leave early. Luz said she’d come over once everyone left the house, but they both knew that wouldn’t be for a while, as the former B.A.T.T.s would stay well into the night, drunk on apple blood. Once that happens, Luz would most likely sneak out for a bit before Eda and Raine sober up.
Amity unlocked the door and stepped into the house. It was dark since everyone was either not home or asleep. Amity hung her bag on the set of hooks next to the front door and removed her shoes before going upstairs.
Amity’s room was a safe space. It was small and cozy, and Em wasn’t home. Their room has a bay window and a bunk bed. Amity often enjoyed sitting on the seat that the bay window came with, and reading or just listening to the many CDs Luz gifted her.
Amity decided it was a no-light kind of night and turned on the battery-operated ocean light. She then turned on the lo-fi CD Luz made for her and closed her eyes. The soft music calmed her, and she was able to return to the present moment.
About an hour later, there was a knock on the door downstairs. Amity knew it was Luz based on the very specific knock the two of them made up for each other. Amity ran down the steps and opened the door for her girlfriend.
“Hi,” Amity greeted, “Thanks for not ringing the doorbell.”
“Anytime. I had a feeling you were a little overstimulated, and I know it’s kind of late too.”
Amity let Luz inside and led her up to her room. Luz gently placed her bag near Amity’s desk chair and joined her at the bay window.
“I brought my switch,” Luz spoke, “we can play something cozy, or we could just play Mario Kart.”
“I’ve been kind of wandering about this Animal Crossing game you keep mentioning to me. Is it one of your, what do you call it again? Hyperfixations?”
“Oh yes, we can do that. I’ve been dying to share this game with you.” Luz got very excited, but tried to keep as calm as possible for Amity.
Luz took her switch out of her bag and started it up. She had made Amity a Nintendo account while they were trapped in the Human Realm three years ago. Amity took the game system and played through the character setup.
“They have my hair color in here,” Amity smiled as she selected the light purple color. Not quite correct, but she still enjoyed that it was there.
Amity kept playing. She fell in love with the characters on her island and played until her eyes hurt. Luz looked at the time and jumped.
“Shoot, I have to go,” Luz hissed, trying to keep her sudden adrenaline down. You can keep the switch for the evening. I’ll see you soon.”
Luz quickly kissed her girlfriend at the front door and flew off on Stringbean. Amity decided it was time for bed. Since she was already in her PJs, she just turned the ocean light off and fell asleep.
“What were you doing out there?” Odalia shouted at Amity, “I told you you needed to be in here studying for your test. If you want to be the best, you have to work for it.”
Amity, who was outside making the final adjustments to her test in the hut she and Willow made when they were little, was a little confused.
“I don’t remember you saying I had to be inside.”
“Yes, I did. I said this morning, ‘Amity, when you come home from school today, I need you to come right home to study,’”
“You said I needed to study, but you didn’t tell me where I needed to study.”
Odalia slapped Amity’s face for the disrespectful comment, though the comment was not disrespectful.
“Forget it. Go to your room, and don’t come out until I tell you when you can!”
Amity ran upstairs and slammed the door shut. She collapsed on her bed and started crying.
“Mittens?” a safe voice asked. It was Em. “What’s wrong?”
“Mom yelled at me because the instructions she gave me weren’t clear enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“She told me today that when I came home from school, I needed to study. Apparently, studying means being inside, and I was outside."
Em didn’t know how to help. She knew Amity was different from Ed and herself, but picked up a few things she noticed when Amity became like this.
Amity was holding her face. Em gently removed her hand and saw a red mark.
She hit you. That’s just lovely,” Em said sarcastically
“No, it wasn’t,” Amity’s crying picked up again.
“No, it’s not. I was being sarcastic.”
“Oh.”
“How are you feeling? What do you need?”
“Can I have one of my stuffed animals from the corner?”
“Sure.”
Em knew that when Amity asked for a stuffed animal, she needed to feel something soft. She grabbed the softest stuffie she saw and handed it to Amity, who was sitting up.
“Alright. That better?”
Amity nodded.
“Now let me ask, how confident are you in the test’s subject matter?”
“I feel like I can ace it tomorrow.”
“Perfect. Let’s not worry about that right now. Do you want to be left alone, or do you want me to stay?”
“Can you stay?”
“Of course I can. But first, I’m going to just quickly use the bathroom.”
Em got up, and she closed the door behind her. She will only be a few minutes.
“I was just putting Amity in her place,” she heard Em say in the hallway, “She was rude and disrespectful, and I will not bother her again until I am allowed to.”
Amity knew she was talking to Odalia in the hall, and she also knew Em was lying. It’s great to have a sister like her.
Amity woke up, realizing she was holding the very plushie Em had handed to her that evening. It was not as soft as it once was, but it still served the purpose of providing comfort. She looked at the time, and it was only 4:30. Too early to start the day, and she tried to drift back to sleep, but couldn’t.
At 7 am, Amity decided it was time to start her day. She made her bed and climbed down the ladder, and saw that Em’s bed was still empty.
“I guess you stayed over at Viney’s,” Amity spoke to herself.
She knew her dad wasn’t up yet since it was the weekend, so Amity settled into the bay window and continued Animal Crossing.
“Mittens,” Alador knocked on the door, “Hey, breakfast is ready. Are you hungry?”
Amity realized two hours had gone by, and she didn’t even realize, “Yeah, I am.”
Amity followed her dad downstairs and into the kitchen. Amity picked up a serving of the food Alador had made and sat herself at the table.
“I... had a bad dream last night,” Amity confessed, “About mom.”
“You haven’t mentioned having post-traumatic stress about all of that since the divorce,”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just with school ending, I don’t have to worry about it, and because of that, the memories started coming back.”
“Has this happened before?”
“Yeah. When I found the broken necklace, a memory came flooding back. Luz says that sometimes your brain has a weird way of processing stuff, and because I was so focused on graduating, I was pushing all those feelings behind me.”
“That could be it. Just do me a favor and keep tabs on all of that.”
“Got it,”
After some time had passed, Amity went to The Owl House to return Luz’s console system, but she ended up staying for much longer than anticipated.
Luz and Amity were in the living room, markers and coloring pages spread out all over the coffee table.
“Luz,” Amity asked, “Is it possible that I could still be having bad memories about my mom, even though it’s been a very long time since she’s done anything to me?”
“Yes, that’s very possible, and it can be related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.”
“I got you. So this is… normal?”
“With everything you’ve been through? Yes.”
“Okay. I wonder if Em has it worse. She took care of me when I was upset.”
Amity recounts her dream to Luz, being sure to include as much detail as she could.”
“That could be possible. Em is the oldest, and normally, in that dynamic, everything fell on her.
“But the way I reacted to those moments, where Odalia hurt me, I would shut down. Ed and Em reacted differently. Eventually, the two of them learned how to help me when I would go into that state. It’s not just that. If there was yelling, I’d cover my ears, and I hate loud noises, even if it’s not yelling. The lights are too bright. Teachers would yell at me for making repetitive movements that would disrupt the class. I don’t know.”
“Amity sweetheart, do you remember when I gave you those earplugs at the trial?”
“It's really overwhelming in here,” Amity admitted, “I just want to leave.”
“I have some things that will help.”
Luz pulled out a fidget toy and a pair of earplugs.
“These earplugs will muffle the noise around you but not your voice. And this is a fidget toy that you can play with.”
“Thanks.”
“I do.” Amity answered
“I don’t think this is a term in the Boiling Isles, but in the Human Realm, we call it autism. Autism is when your brain works differently from your peers. You might hate loud noises, bright lights, certain textures, and even miss social cues. It’s all okay. And, though I can’t actually diagnose you, I think you have it.”
“Oh,” is all Amity said.
“I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. You noticed all of my issues with being hyper, or procrastinating school, the portal, and all of that.”
“Yeah. So… it’s normal?”
“Yes. And thankfully, here you don’t have to worry about the people who will give you BS for being disabled like in the human realm,”
“Like the whole homophobia thing?”
“Yeah.”
“It sounds like there are so many cruel people in the Human Realm.”
“Oh yeah. Don’t get me started,”
Amity laughed. She understood Luz’s humor.
“That’s why I like it here,” Luz added, “I can’t run from all of my problems over there, but coming here… It’s like a balance.”
“I get that. I’m glad you have this. I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.”
“Me too.”
Amity continued her coloring. The room felt relaxed and comfortable until Eda came in through the door with a handful of so many random things.
“What did you do today?” Luz asked
“I found some old coven shit that was destroyed,” Eda spoke
“Language, Eda!” Raine shouted in the kitchen.
“Anyway, come into the kitchen and check it out.”
Luz and Amity scurried to their feet and followed Eda and King into the kitchen, where Eda had dumped the contents of the bags onto the table.
“The table? Really, hun?” Raine sighed, disappointed
“Sorry, love. I’ll clean it up after we’re done. I promise.”
Amity picked up the Abomination coven token Darius wore when he was a coven head. She inspected it, still in clean condition.
“Can I keep this?” Amity asked
“Of course you can, Boots, though you won’t have much use for it anymore.”
“I know. I just want it.”
“Have at it then.”
Amity put the token in her pocket and helped Luz and Eda clean up. Eventually, the sun was setting, and it was time to go home.
Luz kissed Amity goodbye at the front door. “I’ll see you next week for graduation. Just remember that if you need it, just send me a message.”
“I will.”
Amity summoned Ghost and took off in the sunset, knowing that everything would be okay.