It’s a cloudy, mild morning today. It must have rained overnight, because the roads are wet.

Ashley has a dentist’s appointment this morning, which means that I am dropped off by myself. Not having Ashley around makes me feel a little bit nervous.

After I put away my instruments, I sit down in a chair near the front of the band hall. For the past few days, Ashley and I have been spending mornings in the library, but since she is not here, there’s not much point to going in there. Hmm… maybe I should go there anyway, though. The chairs there are comfortable…

“Zoe! You have to tell me. Is it true?”

Startled, I look up to see two people standing over me whom I’d rather not be talking to: Diana and Terra. Ever since… the thing happened, they’ve been giving me the cold shoulder during our classes, so I haven’t actually talked to them in a couple of weeks.

“Uh… is what true?” I ask.

There’s something funny going on. Diana is in one of her… gossipy moods, I can tell by how deeply she’s breathing.

“I just heard… Terra told me… Uh… You explain it,” Diana says disjointedly.

“Zoe, let me just say, that… I’m sorry. I really am,” Terra says. I feel my heart lighten. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t have gotten you out of this situation. I did try, but… it seems as if things are only getting worse for you.”

“Oh, well… I’ve been managing to survive,” I reply, though I’m a little confused as to what she’s talking about.

“But you shouldn’t have to live like this,” Terra continues. “You don’t need to be afraid. Your family… they want you to return home. Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.”

I’m really confused now. “You’ll protect me… from who? My family?”

Diana looks a little confused too, as she’s lost a bit of her gusto. “Zoe, you have to tell me if it’s true,” she urges me again. “About… what Ashley does to you.”

“What… does she do?” I ask.

“Well, due to recent events, we now all know about Ashley’s… violent temperament,” Terra explains. “I mean it- we’ll protect you. You don’t need to be afraid of her.”

My heart plummets again. “N-no. I’m not afraid of her.”

“Come on, Zoe. We’re trying to help,” Terra says, though her eyes narrow a little in anger.

“I don’t need help. Ashley… she loves me. And I love her. I’m not being forced to do anything.”

Terra draws herself to full height and looks down at me with a look of disdain. “So… it looks like she’s already got you brainwashed.”

“I’ve heard of this,” Diana frantically interjects, her eyes wild. “I think it’s called… Stockholm Syndrome!”

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” I hear a new voice say.

I see Anja walk up to the other two, and I feel immensely relieved. Even if she’s not as tough as Ashley is, it’ll be a major relief to have someone else on my side.

“We’re… trying to help Zoe out of her relationship,” Diana explains. “We think Ashley may be abusing her. But Zoe won’t admit it!”

Anja frowns and turns to me. “Zoe, is this true? Is Ashley abusing you?”

“No,” I say.

“And… do either of you have evidence on the contrary?” Anja asks. “If not… that kind of settles the matter.”

“You wanna know something? I don’t really care what you think,” Terra says to Anja, looking at with her such pure venom that even Diana looks a little nervous. “You know, this is really all your fault. You couldn’t just be content being a dyke loser, now could you?”

“D-don’t call her that,” I say meekly.

Terra turns towards me so quickly it’s uncanny. “What?”

“I said… don’t call her that,” I say again. The effect is sort of ruined by the fact that I’m cowering, though.

“Well. Looks like we have a whole little sect going. I tried to warn you. It’s a disease, Zoe. And guess what? I'm done. Until you come to your senses, I’m not going to stick up for you. You’re going to get what’s coming to you. Maybe it’s too late to save you, but at the very least, we can stop it from spreading!”

And with that, she storms off, leaving me sitting there in utter shock. Diana looks at me timidly.

“Zoe… please. Come back to us. You can put a stop to all of this right now,” Diana pleads. “Please, Zoe. You were like, my best friend.”

It’s too much. I start crying yet again.

“If I was your b-best friend… why? Why did you do it?” I ask in between sniffles.

“Zoe… I never wanted to hurt you,” she says.

“Well, you did. You sniveling bitch.”

Diana turns towards Anja, shocked. Anja looks absolutely livid; like she’s barely holding back from stabbing her.

“You started this. Not her. You can put a stop to all of this right now. You’re the reason why Zoe got kicked out of her own god damn house, after all! But no. It’s too bad you’re too big of a coward.”

“Don’t… call me a coward, you slut!” Diana hisses back, going red in the face. “I’m just trying to help her by keeping her away from… creeps like you!” On that note, she quickly walks out of the band hall.

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“Fucking bitch,” Anja spits. “Come on, Zoe, let’s go somewhere else.”

I don’t need her to tell me twice- the argument drew the eyes of everyone else in the band hall. Why does this keep happening to me? I just want to disappear…

I follow her to the back of the hall, and it looks like she’s about to head back into that practice room with all the percussion equipment. However, while we’re passing by Mr. Castro’s office, the door opens.

“Zoe. May I have a word?” Mr. Castro says.

“Oh, um… okay,” I reply.

“Step into my office,” he says gently.

I walk in and take a seat in one of his chair. Though she wasn’t asked to, Anja follows me in and takes the other chair. Mr. Castro doesn’t seem to mind, however. He goes back behind his desk and also sits down.

“You seem to be doing a lot of crying recently,” he observes. “What’s been going on with you?”

Though he doesn’t say it judgmentally, I still feel a little guilty.

“Zoe has been dealing with a lot of bullying recently,” Anja explains in my stead.

Mr. Castro peers over the desk at me, looking a little stern. “Those two girls who you were talking to… Are they the ones bothering you?”

“It’s… not just them,” I explain. “There’s… a lot of kids doing it.”

“Have you reported any of this to another teacher or a counselor?”

“I… don’t think that they really care, sir,” I say.

“Well, I do. I can’t really do anything about what’s happening outside of the band program… but I want you to be able to feel safe when you’re here. If anyone ever bothers you while you’re in the band hall, tell them that I told you to come to my office, and then come in here. Then, you can tell me about whatever just happened, and stay in here as long as you need to.”

“Oh… thank you very much!” I say, feeling a warm glow in my chest.

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A few minutes later, we are walking into the library, as I was able to talk Anja into coming here. She, in turn, talked Nova into coming.

However, immediately after we walk in, Anja quickly comes to a stop, and I almost run into her.

“Um… Okay, on second thought, let’s not be here right now.”

“Why is that?” I ask her.

She looks very uncomfortable. “Uh… well…”

“Come on, Anja, we’re already here!” Nova protests. “Can we just sit down?”

“Um… okay. Sorry,” Anja says sheepishly.

The library is pretty nice. It has a row of computers down the middle, with tables on either side for classwork, and in the back are a set of armchairs with a circular table, which is where Ashley and I usually go to study. Almost nobody is here, relative to its size. There is a boy using a computer whom I think is one of the trumpet players in band; the librarian, sitting behind the desk half-asleep; a couple of students on the right side of the library playing a board game; and a single, overweight Mexican girl sitting a couple of tables in front of our armchair spot, who is deeply immersed in a chemistry textbook.

We make our way to the back and take our respective seats. After Anja sits down, she shoots a nervous glance at the Mexican girl, but the girl doesn’t even seem to notice us.

“So… where’s Ashley today?” Anja asks, as Nova gets his game system back out.

“She’s at a dentist’s appointment,” I explain.

“Ah, that explains it. Anyways, I didn’t really buy that Ashley was being abusive towards you. She may be abrasive, but just being abrasive is a far shot from being a total scumbag, and I know that she’s made of better stuff than that.”

“Still, can you really blame the others for believing that?” Nova interjects. “Given how Ashley is.”

“Yes, I can, because there just isn’t any evidence for it,” Anja explains. “Still, I understand what you’re saying. People are irrational. There is a tendency for everyone to jump onto these hate mobs without trying to verify the claims with any actual facts. Especially if it’s someone who’s already disliked.”

She turns towards me. “Zoe, while we’re on the subject… is it true that Ashley broke someone’s nose the other day?”

“Yes, it is,” I admit. “There was a girl in the hallway who pushed me into a locker, and Ashley came up and… did that.”

“Hehe… I’m not too surprised. I’ve seen Ashley’s more violent side first hand. After watching her utterly eviscerate some of those shadows…”

“Hey! Don’t talk about that here!” Nova cuts in, and I understand what they’re talking about: this is something that happened in that other world.

“Oh… right,” Anja says, glancing again towards the Mexican girl. Thankfully, she hasn’t made any sign that she heard us.

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Uh oh… looks like I’m about to get busted.

I’m in the kitchen snitching a few cookies, when there’s a knock at the door. Oddly, both of my parents leave the master bedroom to go answer it.

I peak through the bar area to see that it’s the pastor of our church- Mr. Palmer. A tall, thin man, his graying hair buzz cut, yet imposing all the same.

“Good evening,” he says solemnly.

“Thank you for being here this evening,” Mom says. “Please, take a seat…”

This is a fairly normal occurrence around here. The pastor, as well as a bunch of other boring adults, will sometimes come by to talk to my parents about boring adult stuff. Usually I ignore it… but given recent events, I think it might be interesting to see what they’re about to talk about. Besides, it’s not like I can get back to my room without passing them, so either way my goose is cooked.

“So, tell me,” Mr. Palmer says. “Did you have any look with your connection?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Dad replies. “We’re getting the cold shoulder at the moment.”

“And the police department?”

“They apparently can’t do anything else without evidence. And that Sheriff Hurt is quite the stubborn man. It looks like we may have more than one election to arrange soon.”

“Never mind that for now. You’ve done what you can. It’s a shame. I’m afraid something strange is happening to this town.”

“You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie!” I hear the sounds of Dad putting up the footrest of a chair. “That girl’s parents… they’re just letting it all happen! And they call themselves conservatives. Well, I say they’re wimps.”

“Jared… I’m worried about my daughter,” Mom says. “You see it on the news all the time these days… People go that way… And they don’t come back.”

“Well, there are ways of bringing people out of that. But first things first- we need to focus on returning your daughter home.”

“What do you have in mind?” Dad asks. “What do you being by ‘bringing people out of that’?”

“I do know of a place… faith based, of course. I know the couple who runs it, they’re very nice people. It’s a place that can treat people with that condition… people like your daughter.”

In a rush, I realize what he’s talking about. I completely lose my shit and walk straight out into the living room.

“Wait a minute! You’re talking about sending her to… conversion therapy!” I say.

“Collin, what on Earth are you doing out here?” My mom accosts, glaring at me.

“Mom, Dad, you can’t send her there!” I plead. “Those places… they mess people up! All the experts say that they commit human rights violations!”

“You mean that liberals say that,” Dad contradicts. “You can’t trust a word out of those folk’s mouths.”

My mom stand up from the couch and looms over me. “Collin, do not speak up about matters that are best left for adults to decide. We are going to do whatever it takes to get your sister back, and we will do whatever is best for her.”

“If you want her back so badly, how about saying ‘I’m sorry’?” I argue. “Maybe actually listen to her, and take just a hint of responsibility?”

“Do not try to pin this on us!” Dad yells. “Do you think we wanted her to just run away from home like that?”

“’I will not have a homosexual in this house,’ you said. That’s a direct quote. How else was she supposed to interpret that?”

My mom has had enough, and she grabs me by the ear.

“Ow! Let me go!” I protest. I hate it when she does that!

“Collin, you need to shut your mouth and go back to your room,” she lectures, her voice like acid. “And later, we are going to be having a serious talk about your behavior.”

She drags me back into my room. As she does, I catch a glimpse of Mr. Palmer’s face. It’s a look of disappointment… but there’s also a savage look in his eyes, which is unsettling.

Mom shoved me into my room and shuts the door in my face.

Well… on the bright side, I totally got away with snitching those cookies.

But this whole thing is going from bad to worse. Actually, it was already worse. Now it’s worser.

I resist in the only way I currently can. I get onto my computer and pull up Skype.