At some point, my breathing and pulse finally slow and stop pounding in my head. My skin begins to cool, and I eventually begin to understand what's going on around me again. My eyes squint open slightly to see a darkening orange sky. What time is it? I can smell food cooking. A whole lot of food, actually. My stomach immediately grumbles and I put my hand on it. I'm hungry... And also... wet? I'm soaking wet for some reason. I put my arm back down, but it splashes in water when I do.
Now that I think about it, I'm floating in water right now, aren't I? I glance to the side a little to confirm that yes, I am actually floating. In water? As soon as that thought makes it through my hazy brain, I cringe a little, expecting my flashbacks to start at any moment, but I seem to feel fine for now. I don't really know why though... Maybe because this floating feeling is so different than when I'm sitting or standing in water? But how am I floating? Why? Is floating on water normal? I've never done it before...
While my thoughts wander aimlessly, I continue to stare at the sky. A little while longer passes like that before I start to wonder, why am I here right now?
Oh, that's right. I remember the accident in the workshop and getting really overheated. Everything after that is pretty jumbled up and confused in my head though. And thinking about it too hard just makes my head hurt more, so I just decide to leave that. I'm sure someone will explain it to me. But how does that lead to me floating in water?
Then I hear a voice, but it's muffled and I can't tell what it's saying. I can't even tell where it's coming from. I glance around a little, but I'm still trying not to move too much in the water. Then I see John come to stand over me. He says something, but I can't understand. Then he leans down and lifts my head a little. All at once, I can hear the sounds of people on the streets, carts, horses, and everything else. "You awake?" he asks while I'm still confused by the change. I just nod stupidly. Is it the water? I can't hear with my head in the water? Or at least my ears, I guess. But why?
John leans down and lifts me out of the water, slowly turning me upright so he can set me down on my feet. My sense of balance is really thrown off suddenly being upright again after who knows how long floating like that. It takes a moment to shake the feeling off and right myself properly. John keeps a hand on me while I find my balance again, but turning like that makes my head throb.
"Ugh," I grunt, holding my head. It feels like my brain hurts, how does that even work?
"Headache?" John asks. I can't recall the word, but it's self-explanatory, so I nod.
"Eryk told me to take you home once you woke up," John says as he picks me up again.
"Wait, but-"
"Shh," he shushes me. "He said you could talk about things later. You should just go home for now. Get some rest."
"But..." I murmur. I didn't get to apologize. And he's probably really mad that I messed everything up. Maybe that's why he's sending me home.... "Mmm..." I pout. I have to apologize again tomorrow. As he walks into the street, I glance back to see that we were actually in the small space between the refinery and the store next to it. It looks like I was floating in a silver metal container filled with water. It's really small and shallow, so it must have been just enough water for me to float in. It looks like something taken from the workshop, but I'm not sure exactly what it would be for.
After we've gone a little ways with a whole lot of people staring at me and John, I feel even worse for getting him all wet... "Sorry..." I grumble, staring at the ground.
It takes him some time to figure out what I mean, but then he chuckles. "Don't worry, it's summer, we'll be dry before we even make it to your house. More importantly, drink this." He hands me a flask and I glance back and forth between it and him. He has to urge me on twice before I hesitantly drink a little from it.
"Ahh..." The water tastes so good and it's so cool on my dry throat. I close my eyes and feel how it helps soothe my headache a bit.
"I got a little water in you while you were asleep, but now that you're awake, you should drink more."
"I was asleep?" I mumble to myself. Was I? I don't really know...
Seeing me confused, John says, "Well, maybe not asleep, but you were really out of it. I don't know much about it, but Eryk said heat stroke makes you go kind of crazy. Guess that's one of the things to watch out for working a hot job like that." I can feel him shrug as he speaks.
"Mm." I mumble. I still feel bad about how things went, so I just rest my head.
John isn't going that fast, so it's a pretty long walk. Eventually, I turn my attention to my surroundings, trying to ignore how bad I feel.
I still have a whole lot of lightning mana, there are so many smells wafting around me. And fire too. I'm really surprised though. Even with the lightning and fire, I guess they have limits. I can say for sure now that fire protects me from burns, given how incredibly hot I was after dealing with all that lightning. But I guess it wasn't enough to keep me from getting completely overheated... I slowly drink the water from the flask while I'm going over things in my head.
But then there's the metal. I was ready for lightning in case we did get it right, but why did it turn out like that? Why was adding durite such a terrible idea? Forget creating stronger lightning, it basically turned the entire room into a big lightning carrier. I don't know how I managed to protect Eryk during all of that. Maybe because he was the least attractive thing in the room at that point. All of the lightning had better places to jump to.
At least I managed to ground all of the lightning in the end, even if I had to forcibly pull it all inside myself to do it. I have to be careful if I ever try that again, that was way too hard. Even keeping it up for the few moments was pushing myself too far...
I grumble quietly. No matter how much better I get at controlling mana, there are always more things that are impossibly hard to do. Speaking of which, I actually pushed that absolute mana through Eryk's body? I'd hardly even considered the possibility before I just had to do it. I'm glad that worked out though. I feel terrible for destroying his door, but letting that molten metal burn him would have been much worse.
My thoughts continue to wander aimlessly through everything that happened today while John carries me down Main Street, and I slowly start to feel less awful. Thinking helps me try to ignore everyone staring at us. A little.
I guess we do look unusual. A well dressed man carrying a dripping wet peasant girl in burnt up clothing... Even if my skirt didn't catch fire like my shirt did, I don't think there's any saving it. I need to replace these clothes, and I only have one other set. At least I have some money to do that now.
But then there are the bandages, aren't there? My arms look way, way better, but I still have a lot of small cuts left that haven't healed. I think some of the bandages I have back at home are clean, so I'll need to use those.
"What time is it?" I eventually ask. We're nearly back to the orphanage already.
"Almost eleventh bell. You were out for almost two bells."
"Mm." It was around the eighth bell when we started working, and that all went horribly wrong immediately, so I didn't get back up until the tenth, and now it's almost the eleventh... Guess that's it for today. Not that I have any energy left anyway.
When we finally make it back to the orphanage, John asks me if he should carry me to my room. "No no no!" I wave him off frantically.
Him picking me up in the morning is bad enough. At least almost everyone is still asleep or in their rooms. But everyone is home right now, thinking about him carrying me through the whole orphanage for everyone to see is way too embarrassing! They already think I'm weird enough, I can't even imagine the rumors it would cause! "I can walk a little, I'll be fine," I quickly assure him, barely keeping the panic from my tone.
"Alright," he responds with just a faint hint of a chuckle, and sets me down. Even if I'm really tired, I can still get myself up the stairs to bed. I have to do at least that much. I give John a wave as he leaves once more.
Unfortunately, as soon as I walk inside, everyone winds up staring at me anyway. The late day sun dried me off on the bell-long walk over here, but my clothes are still charred tatters, aren't they...? So much for avoiding rumors... I hurry up to my room as quickly as my tired legs will carry me, but it's way too late. For as little as the kids here seem to talk to each other, how do rumors always wind up spreading so quickly?
I lie down sadly on my bed, trying to relax even though I know I messed up again. I stay like that for a little while, hearing the eleventh bell ring after a pretty short time. I guess Emily should be getting to the forest soon. I keep lying in bed, listening to the sounds of the other children moving through the halls, talking quietly. I can already hear them talking, word spreading. It's a bit surprising that I can hear them right through our closed door, water mana is pretty impressive.
Then a set of footsteps separates from the other noise. I guess it's because they're familiar, even though I can't place who they belong to. When our door opens, I glance over to see Eve. So she's the one who walks like that. Determined and straightforward... her footsteps sound just like her.
Unfortunately, she's aimed straight at me right now. "Aria, I heard something happened to you!"
"I'm fine," I try to assure her, but within moments, she's at my bed, looking me over.
"What happened to your clothes!?"
"Eve, the door, the door!" I try to remind her as she begins lifting me to sit up in bed. She left it open behind her and I can see the other kids crowding around in the hall outside. She jolts a little when she realizes, but even as she turns around, another lighter set of footsteps tap down the hall and Jannette walks through the open door.
"Don't just leave the door hanging open," she complains as she closes it behind her. Unlike Eve, it feels like Jannette is ignoring me on purpose as she goes to her own bed and pulls out some sewing supplies.
But then Eve is back on me. "What happened to you, are you hurt? I told you that job was suspicious!"
"No, I'm fine, really," I get right back to assuring her I'm alright.
"What happened to the bandages on your arms?" But without even waiting for a response, she goes on. "Actually, you're all cut up! Is this why you've been wearing bandages? How did you get injuries like this anyway? And why are you doing dangerous stuff when you're still hurt?!" She just keeps bombarding me with questions I can't answer. I know you're nice and you care Eve, but come on! I'm too tired for this!
Forcing myself to speak, I say, "I'm sorry, I'm really tired and I've had a rough day." Please just leave me alone for a bit...
I think she finally gets it. She backs off a little and sighs loudly. "Alright, let's at least get your wounds bandaged again," and she pulls one of my many bundles of bandages and starts unrolling them. Oh no, she didn't get it...
As she quickly approaches, it's immediately overwhelming and I flinch away. "Aria? Come on, stay still," she scolds me as she moves forward again. Eve can be so overbearing when she's like this!
I end up backing all the way to the wall before squeezing my eyes shut. I start to cry out, but I choke off the sound to stay silent. She grabs my arm and pulls it up, beginning to wrap the bandages at my wrist. But she does it fast and tight, and it stings and hurts. This isn't like Emily or Beth or Marrianne. She does it like the handlers did. I keep pressing away into the wall, my body trembling as the memories come back. The fear and pain and sadness are overwhelming. By the time she ties off the bandage near my shoulder and drops my arm, I'm shaking.
She says something, but I can't understand it. I think I hear her saying my name. But I can't take it. It hurts too much. It's just too scary. I push past her, running out of the room. Through my tears, I see other kids. I stumble down the stairs and then I'm outside.
I'm sitting near the front of the building, curled into a ball with my head pressed to my knees, panting. I tried, but those memories were too much to take. A large part of it must have been the lightning and water mana, but even without them, bandages are so scary, and I already didn't feel good...
They shouldn't be scary. They're for helping after you get hurt. So why does putting them on have to hurt too? Even after I fight to clear the excess lightning mana, I continue sitting for a while before I can calm myself down.
"Mmrm..." I screwed up again, I scold myself. Eve was just trying to help. I know that. Why did it have to be, just... so much? Too much? So overwhelming?
"Rrrr..." I grumble at myself. I have to apologize to her. But I still feel awful about everything today.
In the middle of all this, Maven grabs my attention. Something is happening in the forest.
I look over that way. There's more movement than usual at the very edge of the forest at this time of day. He doesn't know what is causing it, but he can pick up the movement of the other small animals on the forest floor, so there's definitely some disturbance. Kiara, Baan, and Soma are already moving to go check it out, but he's worried about Emily being spotted since she should be here any time now. Brom is pretty far away, but he's so fast that I ask him to come too, just in case.
Maven slowly makes his way through the upper branches of the trees, checking down below to see who might be moving about. I remind him to be careful of the trees too, since if it's people trying to avoid being seen, they might be hiding up high.
Chisa turns toward the center of the city to keep an eye out for Emily, and it looks like she's running down West Main Street toward the gate. She's been picking up the animals in the same general area a short way into the forest, so she should be heading back there again. From there, the disturbance seems to be a little toward the north, around the edge of the trees.
Emily passes out of the gate around when the other hobins arrive, so Maven heads back toward where they're supposed to meet. He ducks into a bush near the road, sticking just a bit of his tail out so she can spot it if she looks closely. Once she spots it and moves toward the forest edge, he dashes deeper in.
He tries to stick to the brush low to the ground where he can't be seen, in case there is someone watching. Soma, Kiara, and Baan split up and scour the nearby area to search for any signs of movement, but nothing is immediately obvious in the places they check.
"Aria? So this is where you went." My attention is torn away when Eve comes out of the orphanage and starts talking to me. While I'm distracted, Brom tears right through the whole area at top speed, overshooting the area he was aiming for in his haste.
"Uhhh," I respond dully, stuck half between feeling terrible and distracted by everything.
Luckily, Brom creates the disturbance necessary for the hobins to spot what they're looking for.
"I'm sorry about before, I'm used to helping my little brother, so maybe I'm a bit too rough..."
Standing beside a couple trees all the way at the edge of the forest, there are two people. They're standing completely still, only moving slightly when Brom tears past.
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"Uhh, Aria, are you listening to me?" I turn toward her, even though my attention is being pulled away. They aren't looking down toward the area Emily went, so maybe they are doing something else?
"Mm, uhh, yeah," I try to respond instead of just huffing at her.
The hobins carefully move in just above the pair to watch them closely. Eve frowns. "Are you sure you're alright?" They're two adult men, so it's not like the time with the other kids from the orphanage. She walks up to hold my face, wiping away some of the tears still on my cheeks. Since the men don't seem to be watching, Maven carefully leads Emily to the spot where the animals are.
"I'm, uhh, fine." I respond after remembering what she said, "Just..." Maven hastily begins to scout out the surrounding area in case there's anyone else.
"You seem really distracted," Eve says when I forget to finish speaking.
"Sorry..." Maven can't find anything in the immediate surroundings, but he doesn't like this situation, so he goes back to Emily. This time, I manage to continue speaking, trying to explain things while I can. "I just have some bad memories." Mavin makes it back to Emily. "I'm sorry that I made things difficult for you." I bow down deeply to buy myself time.
I have Maven start signaling to Emily to let her know something is wrong. He makes a motion like watching something, then points repeatedly away from the forest.
"You don't have to apologize," Eve says with a small frown that looks tinged with pity.
"Someone's watching? I should go?" Emily asks at the same time. I'm so glad she picks up on these things quickly.
"Really, I'm used to bandaging my brother. I always had to scold him when I did it, so I'm used to being rough."
"What about the animals?" It takes a lot of effort to pick apart both girls talking to me at the same time. Maven makes a big grabbing gesture and points out of the forest once more while Eve is still speaking. Emily nods firmly.
"I had to, to make him listen because boys are all stubborn, you know?"
With everything going on, I've been having trouble following anything she's saying, so the 'you know?' at the end makes me stumble through a few words haphazardly.
"Right, yeah, I see your point..." Emily is quickly grabbing up all of the hobins off the ground and begins to run out of the forest with them.
"Aria, if you're mad, you can tell me. Blowing me off isn't nice," Eve scowls at me a little.
That finally gets my attention. And reminds me how terrible I still feel. "Mm, no. Sorry. I just mmm..." I force myself to keep using my words. "Have a lot on my mind." Maven dashes back up into the trees to keep an eye out for anyone following Emily.
"Hmm..." She stares at me doubtfully. As Emily leaves the forest, the two people by the trees begin to watch her as she goes down the road, but do not move immediately. "I guess so, but you should still listen when someone is talking to you," Eve continues to scold me, which just makes me feel worse. The men begin to walk out of the forest after Emily. At first I'm worried, but they're only walking while she is running, so it's not like they're chasing her...
"I said listen to me!" Eve snaps when I don't respond.
"Hmmmm!" Overwhelmed, I can only grunt back at her. Since everyone is just watching Emily and the men from the tree line at the moment, I can finally devote my attention to Eve, but I'm so... just...
"You're really weird today, Aria!" she says, cheeks flushed red with anger. But then she takes a deep breath and goes on more calmly. "I don't know what happened to you today, it must... really be on your mind. I'll talk to you later." Without waiting for a response, she quickly goes back inside. I stare after her for a few moments while everyone else watches Emily.
"You really blew that one," Myra chuckles at me.
"Shut up, Myra!" I snap back at her. She recoils a little, feeling bad about it. Then don't laugh at me in the first place...
I curl into a ball again. Now I really have to apologize to Eve. But, but... but what do I say? I feel so bad, I don't know, I just...
I curl up tighter, pushing those hopeless thoughts from my mind to pay attention to Emily instead. Keep my mind off how terrible everything is.
She's over by the gate, talking to the guards about something. I wonder what? Then she goes over to a spot near the gate and begins to dress all of the hobins. Oh, I guess she was asking permission to do it over there since she wasn't comfortable doing it in the forest.
While she's working on that, the two men slowly walk past, moving through the gate with everyone else heading into the city before the gates close for the night. I think about having Riko follow them to see what they were doing there, but call it off when they turn into the northwest district just after passing through the gate. Once Emily is safely through the gate, everyone heads back to their own places for the night.
My focus returns to myself, back to sitting dejectedly in front of the orphanage. I really screwed up a lot today. I bury my head in my knees again. I have no idea what to do. I feel terrible because I messed everything up and everyone hates me and this is all awful.
In the end, I can't do anything but sit. I don't even want to cry. I just, I don't know. I don't know what to do or how to act or how to not feel like this...
I haven't moved at all when Emily shows up.
"Aria, are you alright?" I can hear how worried she is. I should have gone inside so I didn't end up worrying Emily too...
"Mmm..." I can't even say anything, I just curl up and grumble indistinctly at her. What am I even doing right now?
"Oh, Aria, it's alright," Emily kneels down and gives me a hug. "I guess you had a rough day?" I make a whining sound, and nod a little in her arms. "Come on, sitting out here won't help any. Let's go inside, alright?" Slowly and gently, she draws me up from the ground. Once I'm not curled into a ball, she looks me up and down,.
"Let's get you changed out of those clothes. You can tell me about your day in our room, alright?"
"Mrm." Emily puts one arm around me and gently pulls me inside with her. I keep my head down, but I can feel everyone's eyes on me again. It makes me... I don't know. I can barely keep myself from whimpering as we walk.
Emily stops in Mister Fredricson's office to give him his money, then we go back to our room.
I still can't make myself look at Eve as we walk past and sit on my bed. Emily begins to take my hair down.
"So, rough day today?" she asks, urging me to talk about it.
I... I open my mouth a little. I can't. I just can't. Thinking about everything just makes my heart race. I start to panic, until I stop thinking. "Come on, Aria, you can talk about it, right?" Emily prods me gently.
"Mm!" I squeeze my eyes shut. I can't do this. It's too much. Too sad and guilty and sorry and bad.
"Oh, Aria..." Emily sighs. Even worrying her makes everything twist up inside and I bury my head in my knees again.
There's a long silence, and Emily finishes with my hair, letting it all fall around me.
Some time later, Eve speaks up. "My brother used to get like that sometimes. Couldn't get anything out of him when he got like that."
"O-oh," Emily stammers a little. "Alright, just... uhh..." she leans in, giving me a hug and says, "tell me when you want to talk again, alright?"
"Mrm."
----------------------------------------
I sit, curled up for a while, completely overwhelmed by everything. Maven, Kiara, Chisa, and everyone else watch on, no idea what to say, just like the other girls. I try not to pay attention to any of them because it just makes all my terrible feelings worse. A few tears drip from my eyes, but even crying isn't helping.
Thankfully, it's just a matter of time before the painful feelings slowly cool. Bit by bit, I feel less completely overwhelmed by all of it, until I can actually think a little again. It's just enough that I can grab Emily and hug her. She sits and rubs my head for a while, and I finally start to feel better.
Eventually the twelfth bell rings. The other girls all get up and go downstairs for dinner, their footsteps all mixing together as they go down the hall. It reminds me just how well I can hear with water mana.
Slowly, she pushes me back so she can look at me again. "Feeling a little better, Aria?"
I swallow a lump in my throat, suddenly wanting to cry again. "A... a little..." I mumble.
"How about we get you out of those clothes?" she suggests. "Would that help?"
I have no idea. "Sure..."
It takes Emily prodding me the whole way through changing clothes, but I get it done. My new clothes are already dirty from sitting on the floor, which just makes me cry a little again. Then my old clothes sit, charred and nearly shredded, on the end of my bed.
"So, would you like to talk about it? I mean, what happened? Did your clothing catch fire or something?"
"...Yeah..." I murmur.
When I confirm her joking guess, she flinches a little. "So they did..." Then she picks up the shirt. "Still, these marks..." As she stares at the burn marks all over the shirt, I can practically hear her realizing what happened. Her head snaps over to me. "These marks!" she repeats herself. "What kind of stupidly dangerous materials does Eryk have you working with!?"
"Waaah!"
Her shout makes me burst into tears.
"Oh no, no, I'm not yelling at you or anything!" Emily tries to calm me down, frantically hugging me, rubbing my back, patting my head.
Eventually, I manage to bring myself under control enough again to mostly stop crying.
"Is it the water mana?" she whispers to me.
I shake my head. I can tell how it's making me more sad, but it doesn't do anything for how terrible and guilty and awful everything feels. That's all me... I bury my head in her chest and keep crying anyway.
Then, the words finally come. "It's my fault! I was the one who came up with something stupid like that! B-besides, it's supposed to be secret!" But now Emily figured it out anyway.
"There's no way it could all be your fault," Emily assures me. I squeeze tighter, her words only making it worse. Because she's wrong.
"It was! I destroyed a bunch of Eryk's stuff because it ended up way worse than I expected and I wasn't ready! And, and, and then I got heat stroke, and he sent me home! He must be really really mad at me!" There's a pause, I have no idea how she's going to respond.
Instead of trying to calm me down or cheer me up or anything, she asks a question. "What's heat stroke?"
That stops me. I have to go back and think over her question again. It's hard to understand. "I, uh, well, heat stroke?" I shake my head, my tears stopping from my confusion. Then I find my words again. "I think it's when you get really overheated. They had to throw me in a tub of water for two bells to get my body temperature back to normal. I still have a headache from it."
Once I finish explaining, Emily gives me another comforting pat on the head, less panicked now. "You really have had a rough day." Then she gestures down with her head. "What happened to your bandages?"
"They got burned up too..." When I start to cry again, she cringes.
But she looks a little confused, and asks, "That's not all, is it? There's more, right? Why you're only missing one?" and leans her head again to indicate how only one of my arms is missing the bandages.
My heart sinks again, and I hug closer to Emily. "I made Eve mad," I grumble out. "I... I want to apologize, but I don't really know how," I admit.
"You made Eve mad? What did you do?" She's obviously trying to hide her disbelieving tone, but it isn't working. Is it usually that hard to make Eve mad? And I did anyway? Mmmmm......
I sniffle a little, but keep talking. "She... she was talking to me and I was... sort of ignoring her..."
"I-ignoring her? Why would you do something like that?"
"Because... the forest..." I grumble. It only takes Emily a moment before she gasps.
"You were trying to talk to Eve during that? Why didn't you just excuse yourself or something?"
Emily's tone makes me shudder as the tears come faster, but I want to tell her everything. Then it all starts to come out. "Because Eve was trying to talk to me about my bandages, so I couldn't because she tied this one, but I got so scared that I ran away. I just, it's just, she was rough and it hurt and, and," my voice breaks, "and it reminded me of them..."
"Mmm..." Emily makes an understanding noise, hugging me tighter.
"When she came to talk to me about it, I couldn't focus on what she was saying at all, so she got mad at me and I'm sorry and I want to say sorry but it's just too much and I, I.... I don't know. I can't. I feel bad." I have no idea how to explain all of these terrible feelings that just keep overwhelming everything.
"Shh, it's fine." Emily keeps hugging me comfortingly. "There's not much you could have done, just apologize to her later, ok?"
"Nn," I mumble, then nod.
"Good girl," she says softly. She continues to comfort me for a while, before she turns her attention away. "Hey, John should be here with your food soon. I'll go downstairs to get it, but I'll be right back, alright? Just stay here and rest for now. I'll be right back."
"Nn." As she releases me, I let her know what Chisa sees. "He's only a few blocks away," I tell her, and she smiles slightly. "T-thank you..."
With a sweet smile, she stands up and I sink down in bed.
But it's just a moment later that something catches my ear. Starting right outside the door, a set of footsteps dashes down the hall quietly. The way they move, those are Eve's footsteps? She was listening?!
My already hurting head starts to spin as I sit up. What did she hear?
"Aria?" Emily asks as she looks back at me.
"O-oh, s-sorry. It's nothing important," I lie. "I'll tell you later," I stiffly try to wave Emily off for now and frantically go over our conversation while Emily leaves. We didn't say anything too revealing, did we?
No, I definitely indicated that I was aware of what was happening in the forest earlier, but would Eve even understand what we were talking about there? Fear and panic mix with all my other jumbled up, terrible feelings. What do I do? What do I think? What's going to happen?!
While I'm quickly starting to lose it, I hear her footsteps approach again. She's coming back? Why?
Then Eve walks into the room. She doesn't say anything as she walks over toward my bed.
"..." I can't form words, my brain won't work. Paralyzed by everything. Eyes darting around. She looks... determined? Why? What is she thinking? I have no idea! I slide back nervously as she approaches the edge of my bed. My breath comes in gasps. Then she leans down and grabs a roll of bandages.
I have no idea how to respond as she climbs up on the bed in front of me. She takes my hand and looks at me, blushing for some reason. Then she says, "I'm really sorry for being rough with you earlier. I'm used to doing it different, so I didn't know it would scare you so much. I didn't mean to, I'm really sorry." It takes time to force her words to even make sense in my mind.
She's apologizing!?
"Nbwuhl," I attempt to respond, but all that comes out is a mixed up jumble of sound. I can't. I just can't. Nothing's working. I'm supposed to- supposed to what? I don't know, I can't think. Can't remember. All of these feelings are just too much to, to... anything!
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block it out. Trying to do something but be completely overwhelmed.
Hands close on my face, and I open my eyes in surprise. "Aria, look at me," Eve says, staring into my eyes." She pauses for a few moments, drawing my full attention onto her. "Now, talk to me."
I open my mouth, mind blank, and the words just start to come out on their own. "I'm sorry. I know you were just trying to help, but I just couldn't. I have these bad memories about bandages..." I stop, but then the words keep coming. "I'm sorry for ignoring you. I was really distracted, but it still wasn't right. I'm really sorry." Eve just smiles a little in response. Then she releases me, taking the bandages she's holding and bringing them to my wrist. I flinch a little on reflex, but she keeps holding my hand firmly so I can't pull away.
Just as the panic begins to set in again, she responds. "I'm sorry for getting angry," she says. "I could tell you were really distracted and having a bad day, but it really bothered me that you wouldn't pay attention to me. I was being selfish." As she speaks, she slowly winds the bandages around my arm a little at a time. It stings a little, but her words help take my mind off of it.
I gulp, guilt pressing forward when she apologizes to me. "Y-you were trying to help me..."
Her smirk silences my tiny protests. I still don't know what to say, what to think.
"That's a good girl," Eve suddenly praises me with a grin. Then there's a pinch at my shoulder, and she says, "All done!" Wait, she's done already? I look over at my newly bandaged arm in surprise. "Hehe," she giggles as she stands back up. "I'm going to go get dinner. I'll see you later, Aria." With one last pat on my head, she quickly leaves the room.
I sit, staring at the wall after she leaves. Eventually, I get it. We made up. I'm really glad...
My body slowly sinks down to lie in my bed again. I continue to stare up at the ceiling for a little while, until I finally don't feel so suffocated anymore. For some reason, the first real thought that occurs to me is how it's not just Emily, but Eve also treats me like a little kid. I can't even blame them, the way I've been acting today...
"That's not the problem here!" I gasp when I finally remember the real problem.
"What's not the problem?" I look over to see Emily walking into the room with my food.
"Mnnm!" I whine. I have to tell Emily about what happened now.
Just the thought makes it hard to think.