Riley had almost forgotten how divine a good bed felt to sleep in, and even more importantly, to wake up in. There was nobody to rush her, no checkups that needed to be performed, no meal calls, at least not yet, just the warmth and softness of her covers, the sound of her breathing, and occasional ambience reverberating through the household.
Bliss.
As wonderful as it felt, she neither desired nor was planning on spending the rest of the day wrapped up underneath her covers- she might've been too exhausted to be all that hungry yesterday, but her tummy wasn't about to forget a missed meal, starting to gradually remind her of its existence as Riley slowly drifted closer and closer to awareness.
Unfortunately, that beautiful and elegant process was eventually unnaturally accelerated by another organ also deciding to chime in- namely, her bladder.
A low grumble left Riley as she flipped herself over onto her side towards the window, having enough experience with her cast by now to not include her right arm in her stretching regimen, clumsily reaching over to grab her phone afterwards, the sunlight making her wonder what hour it was, and whether she got lucky and woke up right as it got bright outside or just overslept the breakfast calls-
10:47 AM.
The latter, definitely the latter.
She must've slept like a rock through Ella's calls and knocking, good god.
As much as Riley wouldn't mind tossing around in bed for a few more minutes, it was clearly not meant to be, the realization of the relatively late hour together with multiple reminders of bodily functions that needed to be done pushing her ahead to pick herself up off the bed, grabbing only her phone, glasses and crutch before proceeding to shamble out of the room, the latter feeling not awful to handle for once.
She was getting the hang of this.
Much to her appreciation, the thermostat seemed to have gotten nudged up a handful of degrees overnight, changing her decision to shamble out in just her pyjamas from a temporary half-measure that would be alleviated after she was done in the bathroom to something she was very much willing to stick with, just because pyjamas comfy.
Very comfy.
With one of the two bodily nuisances alleviated, she could head downstairs once more- though for the first time, it would be entirely on her own, the padded steps staring at her mockingly as she got a better grip on her crutch and took a deep breath, unsure how she was gonna tackle it-
At least, before the door to Andrew's room opened, her older brother briefly blinking in surprise at seeing her in just pyjamas staring the staircase down before quickly running up to help, realizing the difficulties of navigating a staircase with a crutch.
"Morning Riley! Need a hand?" His usual chipper was a reassuring sight, Riley nodding in response before reaching her free arm towards him, Andrew not wasting a moment before sliding underneath it, the height difference making it a decent bit awkward, but ultimately workable.
"Yeah, these stairs are gonna be the end of me. Lemme guess, y'all already had breakfast?"
"Oh yeah, like an hour ago now. Mom knocked on our doors individually, I heard you had a very early night yesterday?" With his assistance, she could start making her way down the steps, fortunately only needing her big brother to help just a bit with her balance every once in a while, leaving her with enough free brainpower to actually participate in the conversation for once.
"Yeah, right as you all had dinner. This thing takes more out of you than I thought, heh." She sidestepped the actual reason- or at least the entirety of it for her early bedtime, the question making her remember the promise Rick had made to her yesterday, upping her pace just a bit as she got more eager to see him. And considering she could hear some muted sounds of the downstairs TV, there was a decent chance it would happen sooner than she thought.
"Boy I can imagine. Whattcha planning for today?" The convenient timing of the question right as they reached the halfway mark gave Riley an opportunity to glance up at him, unsure how to answer.
"Honestly, wasn't thinking about anything in particular. I know mom is planning on making more of that fish stuff but I'm unsure how much I can help with any of it."
"Oh yeah, though me and dad are gonna be enough to deal with preparing it. She was also planning on making more cookies though, and never enough hands for that!"
"Guess handling that processor thing is still doable in my current state, heh."
"And cutting out the cookies themselves, don't forget!"
"Something tells me that Timmy won't be too eager to renege on getting to do at least one of these things for himself."
"Oh don't worry, mom will be there to help handle him this time. But even if, I think it's gonna be alright regardless."
"Heh, can't get enough of me?" She asked jokingly, with a light chuckle, though it seemed to have more of an impact than she expected, Andrew looking away and slowing down for a moment before responding quietly-
"Well, we missed you a lot..."
The hushed, maybe even slightly hurt tone felt like a stab to her heart, Riley suddenly feeling quite bad for teasing her brother like that, rushing through the past couple steps in silence before turning on the spot and pulling him into as big of a one armed hug as she could, Andrew returning the favor with all the gentleness in the world.
"I missed you all too."
He held her ever so closer in response before slowly letting go, looking almost like he got close to tears for a moment there before managing to pivot away from that and into a large, warm smile.
"Oh- mom left you some of the dinner to reheat, want me to help with that?"
"Not sure how well I can carry anything at the moment, yeah. Thanks Andrew."
"You're welcome Riley."
With a smile and a nod, she turned back to get a better view of the room, finding almost the entire rest of the family already gathered on the couch, Timmy getting cozy on Rick's lap while Lily leaned on his side, all three sufficiently enthralled by the movie they were watching to not even give her a passing glance until after she'd made her way over, with her sister being the first to notice.
"Hey Riley!" While Lily's words just made Rick smile and give her a big nod, Timmy seemed to have been genuinely oblivious to her presence here until now, letting out an excited gasp and beginning to scramble his way over onto her lap while she was sitting down, coordinating with her just right to really pin Riley to her seat, sinking into the softness of the sofa, and making sure she wouldn't be getting up any time soon.
Ayy, she wasn't the only one in pyjamas as it turned one, score one for team comfy.
"Riley, Riley, Is my present still up?"
Guess he really got excited over that one, hard to blame him.
"Yep, still up an proud, you really did a great job with it."
The joyful squeaks that left him in return were almost too precious, Riley just reaching up to ruffle his hair as he squirmed some more on her lap.
"Wanna watch the Owl-Man with us?" His followup question was no less excited, though she couldn't say she really knew what the movie in question was- most she'd heard of it were brief snippets of the promotional material on the radio back at the orphanage, and those didn't exactly help in conveying much beyond 'a superhero movie'.
Fortunately, it seemed that Lily had caught onto her confusion, stepping in to help explain as she slid up to her big sis, inconspicuously wrapping her tail around her-
"It's what we're rewatching right now, just superheroes and villains and stuff. The sequel is coming out soon and we're gonna go and watch it at the movies so we're watching the first one as a refresher.
Guess it indeed was just a superhero movie.
"Sure! Heh, never been to the movies-"
"REALLY!?" Timmy's disbelief was almost earpiercing, the rest of the couch wincing slightly at the volume of his delivery, the tyke fortunately having enough self awareness to spot it, following up with a quiet 'sorry' shortly after.
"H-heh, yes, really. O-oh, thanks Andrew."
The big bro came in just in time to divert the subject- not that she felt anywhere near as much insecurity about not having had a chance to enjoy most of the things the rest of her family had before anymore, but it didn't really led to anything productive either- she's never had popcorn or nachos either, and just repeating that fact would just get boring, even if it would help satiate Timmy's bottomless curiosity.
The plateful of reheated dinner was wonderful at providing an excuse to not have to talk for a while, and as much as she deeply enjoyed him snuggling against her, Riley wasn't quite feeling enough like herself to be able to have Timmy on her lap for long periods of time, the little skunk scooting off of her, ending up snuggling inbetween his sisters, much to the light grumbling of the younger one.
"Oh, oh, Andy wanna watch with us?" Even though he might have lost his temporary seat, Timmy was nothing if not relentless in trying to get himself another one.
"Sure sport, whattcha wat-"
"Alright everyone, who wants to help me out with shopping?" Ella's sudden appearance caught everyone's attention, five assorted heads turning to look towards her as she cleared the stairs, already mostly dressed for the outdoors.
"ME!" And just like clockwork, all the kids that weren't currently in bandages volunteered eagerly, Riley finding herself ever so slightly startled by the sudden volume, though ended up just chuckling it off afterwards.
"Then go get yourselves in the gear and let's go." She didn't have to tell them twice, Lily scrambling her way over the couch's back rest before gunning it for the stairs, with Timmy's inadvertently trapped predicament ending up being helped by his dad carefully lifting him up and over onto other side of the armrest he was sitting next to, the tyke's tail waving excitedly all the while as he got to running.
The sheer speed at which the ground floor went from full and clamoring to basically quiet aside from the sounds of generic superhero antics on TV and scraping of a fork against a plate left Riley rather stunned, Rick chuckling at her surprise, realizing this is the first time she's ever seen the whole house mobilize like that- and perhaps a bit unfortunately, wasn't really able to join in on it just yet, though considering the topic they would be talking about in not too long, it was probably for the best.
"Morning Riley. Feeling any better now?" The teen was simultaneously too stunned by the sudden rush all around her and too distracted by the rich, pleasant flavors of her meal to notice her mom having walked over, leaning on the couch as she looked over her, smiling at Riley already looking a bit more like herself than yesterday evening.
"Hey mom. And yeah, much less like I'm only barely walking for once."
"Now that's some great news. We talked with Rick about what had happened about yesterday, I'll let him go into the details, but-" Riley turned her head over from her dinner-turned-breakfast just in time to see Ella pull her into another hug, flinching ever so slightly at the unexpected gesture, but quickly relaxing afterwards, letting the fork clatter on the plate and the table as she wrapped her arms around the skunk mom.
"-I'm proud of you sweetie. So, so proud."
"T-thank you mom."
With a couple pats on the back, Ella let her go and get back to eating, her expression beaming.
"Now go get eating sweetie, your body is gonna need more than chips and sandwiches to heal up, teehee."
Riley rolled her eyes and chuckled, right in time for Lily to come down the stairs, leaping past the last few steps and managing to stick the landing, Ella only giving her a tired sigh- guess the only way the girl would ever learn to take the stairs more carefully would be if she actually hurt herself on them, oh well- can't best the good ol' teacher experience.
Andrew and surprisingly Timmy as well weren't too far behind either, Riley decidedly not expecting the latter to be able to change into an appropriate outfit so quickly on his own- though the motivation of getting to grab more snacks from the store was no doubt a significant one.
And just as soon as they had arrived, they were gone, the shopping routine so well practiced by now it looked downright rehearsed, especially Timmy's part of wrapping himself snuggly in a thick jacket, the sight as cute as ever.
Before Ella could even get the engine started, Rick had already changed the channel to a different kind of pleasant silliness, something a bit less hyper active, and also more suitable as a background noise to relax to, and of course, to deliver what Riley had been waiting for to.
"So..." Riley eventually broached the subject, taking her time to slowly wrap up her portion first, needing to intermittently pause to let her hand rest, providing good opportunity to get some talking done.
"So~ well, we chatted, called your grandparents and eventually arrived at something." Rick spoke up with a smirk, looking much more comfortable than yesterday when they were discussing the subject. His daughter simply nodded in response, eventually following it up with a 'mhm' after she was done chewing her current bite.
"Considering the circumstances of the case, there isn't a *whole* ton we can do, especially not now. Most of it will come down to the actual court hearing and will need to be discussed with a lawyer beforehand."
Riley felt her heart sink a bit in response, slowly nodding at the reality seeming to be steadfastly against the possibility of things being better, at least until her dad continued-
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"That doesn't mean all hope is lost though, just that we can't just jump in and just make them not prosecute that guy. The hearing is not gonna happen for at least another month, though that doesn't mean we're completely out of options."
The assurance made her snap her head back towards him, the need for elaboration clear in her eyes.
"What options!?"
"Well, mostly just paying for his bail and contacting him in private. Telling him in no unclear terms that we're doing it for his son and not him, and hoping we can try straightening him out some before the actual trial."
While far from a miracle, this was at least something concrete, and Riley could only hope beyond hope that just getting to speak with him directly would be enough to figure out a plan to prevent any further unnecessary suffering.
"I-I see. H-how would speaking with him directly look like?"
"We're thinking some bar somewhere nearby, but that's not really that important, at least not now. We're gonna be handling this sweetie, it wouldn't be healthy for you to have to be the one to talk that guy into changing for the better."
Riley was taken aback by that, but in hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised in the slightest. There were heroic and stupidly risky antics involving trespassing in the orphanage offices, and then there was the equally heroic process of slowly influencing another person to be the best version of themselves they can be, especially with a good enough motivation, involving a whole lot of talking.
She was good at only one of those.
After thinking it through, she nodded firmly in response, feeling... deeply calmer afterwards. There was a plan now, even if merely an outline in its current state, but one that would lead to things getting better, and at least one kid getting to avoid what she had to go through. What Rick had to go through.
"A-alright. Is there... anything else?"
Rick thought for a moment before shaking his head and picking himself up off of the couch.
"That's all we have for now, pretty much, the rest will come up as we go. We'll let you know if anything big changes though." He walked over and past her, heading for the stairs while Riley was still mulling through it all, calling out to him as she saw him walk away-
"D-Dad?"
"Yes sweetie?"
He turned around on the spot towards her, giving Riley a reassuring smile as she was still visibly thinking through everything, the teen responding with a weak smile and a nod before speaking back up-
"T-thank you for this dad. Thank you all, s-so much."
Her old man smiled wider still, giving her a deep nod.
"You're welcome Riley. I'm gonna get to dealing with bail and that whole nonsense, shoot me a message if you want me to come down and help you upstairs, okay?"
And with a loud 'mhm', he got to making his way upstairs, leaving Riley on her own downstairs, in just her pyjamas, with a big ol' TV wholly for herself, and a plate of mostly finished once dinner. Scrambling over to the TV remote took a bit more effort than expected, her legs still on the weaker side as she shuffled along the couch, eventually her fingertips managing to graze the device and slide it just barely within her reach.
Well, since the family was planning to see a sequel to that superhero movie, might as well take a look at it herself, who knows, maybe she'd get hooked?
***
That movie felt like what Riley thought popcorn tasted.
Dry, crunchy, rather bland- but perfect to grab whole handfuls at a time and just chew on while turning off her brain. Or at least that's always been her impression of why people enjoyed popcorn, guess she'll find out herself once the Owl-Man 2 releases and she'll be able to witness Timmy having a time of his life.
She had to give it one thing though- it did manage to keep her attention squarely occupied for almost three whole hours, the shocked realization making her look out the window to see the sun already beginning to set despite her having basically not done anything today yet- and still being in her pyjamas no less.
Guess it's a pyjamas kind of day.
That realization was quite liberating actually- mostly in that she wouldn't have to message Rick for help... probably until the evening at least, saving them both time and effort. Only thing she really missed were earphones, but she'd manage without those, especially when it just came down to idly browsing the internet. She wouldn't get to do too much of the latter before the shopping delegation was back though, the rumbling from outside catching her focus even if she wouldn't be able to contribute to the unpacking process.
Or at least or so she thought- she might not have been in the shape to carry any of the bags herself, but she was in the perfect state and position to help distract Timmy after he slipped out of his shoes and jacket, the tyke scrambling right over to her, getting out of the way of his big siblings and mom. And even despite being a bit chilly, he was just as soft as usual, melting under her scritches.
"Why are you still in pyjamas Riley?"
"Because they're comfy and I'm lazy. Whattcha got us over there?"
"Oh oh oh, we got stuff for more cookies and fish and soda and veggies and mom took a big hoodie for you and OH OH did you watch Owl-Man while we were gone!?"
That was a lot all at once and the end came completely unprompted, though considering that the title of the movie was still visible on the TV together with the rest of the video controls, she brought that one upon herself.
"Uh, yeah, I did, what did you say about a hoo-"
"OH OH OH did you see the fight against the Spider Lord it was so so cool and-"
"It was great, now what was it you said about a hoodie?"
The exchange drew more than a bit of giggling from Ella as she walked over to them, holding the bespoke article of clothing out for Riley to see, black with white decals as usual- and this time it was not that fact in itself that made her groan a bit, at least initially, with that dishonor going to the most prominent decals, a pair of white eyes around the chest area. Though, as a second glance revealed, it was both in the wrong position for that crude joke, the eyes more so around the collarbone than on the chest directly, and thankfully it wasn't just that, with dozens of smaller, pairs of eyes staring at the viewer all over the front, most of them in dark shades of gray that were difficult to make out, and could probably spook someone once they did.
"I spotted it and thought you'd like it, though they didn't have your size on hand, so I grabbed the next smallest one I could find. It's gonna be a bit oversized, but hopefully comfy oversized and not weighing you down oversized. Worst case we can just return it next time we go shopping."
After straightening herself out on the couch and reaching over to grab the top, Riley realized that she really wasn't sure which of the two oversized categories the article of clothing would fall under, especially with its thick, yet soft fabric.
Hell this was probably big enough to fit her and Timmy both.
After the unexpectedly involved process of scrambling herself into the hoodie to the backdrop of the lights being turned on and various food stuffs being sorted to their appropriate destinations, all that was left was actually getting up and getting a feel of how walking in the hoodie would feel like, though the first impressions were very much positive, soft, and rather cold with the hoodie having spent the past however long only separated from Minnesota winter by the trunk of Ella's car.
It had chilled her so much that now she felt like she had to keep it on just to warm herself back up.
With a crutch reached and some tenuous stability established, she took it for a test drive, pushing through Lily giggling at the downright comical sight as she took a stroll around the living room- a very comfy one at that, much to her relief. Even if the hoodie was almost so long as to completely hide her pyjamas shorts, making her almost look bottomless.
An awkward look to just parade around the family with... but not without its uses.
"Oh man, I knew it was gonna be large, but didn't think it would be this large, pffffft." Andrew was no less amused than anyone else, though also made sure to make a mental note that if, or when, he would find a girlfriend of his own he absolutely needed to get her something like that himself.
"It looks dumb, but goddamn if it doesn't feel really comfy."
"See mom, I told you." It was Lily's turn to feel good, the tween now finally seeing the fruits of her efforts to convince her mom to go along with it despite the size difference- and having them be unexpectedly nice along with expectedly funny.
"Well then, I'm glad to hear. Are you gonna parade like this for the rest of the day then?" Ella chuckled at Riley's resulting outfit, though was no less glad she liked the little impromptu gift.
"Guess so!"
Partly because she was just really comfortable like that, and partly because fuck shambling upstairs just to grab some actual pants, only to then have to get back down afterwards.
And as she declared, then so it was, Riley briefly returning back over to the couch to chat- or rather get excitedly asked about her movie watching experience while the rest of the family finished unpacking, with the change of pace over to making some more cookies catching even Timmy's attention.
The actual process went much faster than the last time, mostly because there was Ella to help them now, taking care of making sure Timmy wouldn't inadvertently explode the food processor while Riley worked the already gathered ingredients, leaving the tyke to press the buttons and watching the chaos that transpired behind the device's transparent walls.
Lily was initially eager to help as well, though she soon excused herself at realizing something- and that something turned out to be very muted violin music that filled the house shortly afterwards, Riley initially confused as to the reason, didn't she have her recital on-
-on last Monday.
As much as that realization stung, especially with how excited she remembered Lily being beforehand, that still didn't immediately answer why would she practice now, long after the fact, unless... unless she still wanted to have her recital, though only for them this time. For Riley.
It was at that moment that Riley discovered another useful aspect of her new hoodie- it was very easy to inconspicuously wipe your eyes with sleeves that went on for miles. And soon after, another one- there was enough space in it to wrap it around her legs after she'd pulled them up onto the chair, letting her quite literally hide inside of this oversized wonder.
Can't wait to see Maddy again in this.
The entirety of cooking and baking went by almost disappointingly quickly- though it was perhaps to be expected now that the entire family was around, they weren't dealing with an aftermath of food poisoning, and there was maybe a third of the original workload to go through to begin with. It helped with maintaining a relaxed atmosphere at least, they weren't racing for time, not in the slightest, with the bulk of the cooking getting done soon enough that there was even ample time for everyone to get into a family game before dinner time- even an early one to offset the relatively late yesterday one.
Considering the game in question was Scrabble, Timmy had to join ranks with his dad, though he wasn't the only one, with a spontaneous alliance forming between Riley and Ella as well, leaving Andrew and recently returned Lily to make the third team, attempting to keep themselves from complaining and bickering more than the two other teams combined as they tried to figure out their strategy- and failing miserably at that.
And because the world wasn't obliged to ever make sense, they also somehow won by a landslide.
Just in time for mac and cheese.
A meal that was much simpler to consume in general, and especially left handed was endlessly appreciated.
Doubly so since it doubled as the comfiest of comfort food, managing to perfectly fit Riley's current vibe, all the niceties culminating in that one moment where all her aches and discomforts left her alone, and she felt, just for that one moment, perfectly content with everything.
At least until it was interrupted by the way of Timmy poking her arm, wondering whether she had fallen asleep or something.
With the bowls and plates emptied soon after, everyone could start taking their leaves and heading back to their rooms, Riley finally cashing in on Rick's offer from way, way earlier in the day, fortunately finding that she didn't need his assistance anywhere near as much this time.
Though, a much more dire problem soon presented itself- she was less than fresh by now, which in itself would've been annoying, but considering having to deal with both a cast on her wrist and a crutch just to move around... there would be issues. Issues there didn't seem to be any straightforwardly good answers for no less- Rick suggested bringing a chair into the bathroom and having it be next to the bathtub so that she could try to lift herself up out of the bathtub and onto it, while also not getting her cast wet, and trying not to slip over and crack her skull on the linoleum.
In case of emergency shout for Ella.
As blissful as the dinner was, the experience of the bath in her current state turned out to be the opposite of that- her right arm got numb basically right away as she kept it out of the water, and there were so many annoying spots that she either couldn't reach at all with her left hand, or couldn't reach in her current state.
Hope nobody was gonna go around sniffing her upper back.
With everyone else still needing to shower there was no time for soaking, though with not being unable to fully submerge herself it wasn't much of a loss to begin with, the bulk of the admittedly relieving bath over and done with in a span of ten minutes- which how just left one final obstacle to overcome, namely the bathtub itself, Riley's customary death glare not seeming to phase it a whole lot, leaving her just looking rather silly as the water drained from around her.
Now to just try to lift herself up onto the chair.
This wasn't something she could slowly inch towards, just had to try to get close to standing up and redirect herself over to the chair- if there ever was one time she wished she had a handle nearby to hold onto like in one of these TV ads for old people, it was definitely now.
Riley held onto the edge of the bathtub with her left hand as strongly as she could as she slowly lifted herself up, tentatively trying to lift one leg out of the bathtub a couple times before actually committing, almost losing her balance there and then. She still ultimately lost it, but not before managing to correct herself onto a better crash course, landing on the chair with one leg still inside the bathtub, the chair creaking and sliding a bit at the impact, but ultimately holding admirably even if it didn't appreciate her landing. Though for that matter, neither did her bum.
"Riley? Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah!"
After she was done grunting at the very unappreciated landing, Riley could finally start drying herself off, interspersing sighs of relief at managing to escape the bathtub with winces at the manner in which she did so.
Fortunately, Ella had enough courtesy help with the chair afterwards, the freshly cleaned but decidedly not cleanly fresh teen finding herself similarly tired to how she felt yesterday- though at least this time it was at a more suitable hour, and she wasn't falling asleep standing this time.
Yet.
The realization that she'd eventually have to take down Timmy's little present to her made her let out a disappointed 'awwh' as she stepped in her room, though considering the shape she was in, that time wasn't coming anytime soon, and she'd get to enjoy it for several more weeks at the very least, with all its typos, misshapen letters and weird colors, all the things that made it beautiful and heartfelt.
She was ahead of herself from yesterday on the account of having already changed into a fresh set of bedtime clothes, leaving her to just splat on her bed and get some well deserved rest before the big day- but since she had marginally more energy than yesterday, she might as well deal with the bag that used to have her hospital belongings that still littered the bedside table, Riley of the previous day too tired to throw it in the trash after grabbing the charger from it.
Alright, that's dealt with, now-
The switchblade.
In all the chaos, in all the pain, Riley hadn't even realized she'd forgotten about it, that she's been without what she once thought to be an integral part of her for almost a week now. She could only stare it for a good while, her heart speeding up at the realization that she'd been defenseless for so long- but at the same time... was she ever not defenseless to begin with?
Her right hand hurt a bit as she picked it up, inspecting the cheap, by now incredibly well worn plastic and the shoddy steel, rust beginning to creep onto all the metal parts. For the longest time, she thought- maybe not consciously, but deep down for sure, that this cheap trinket she bought at a county fair made her invincible. That no matter what, nobody would ever fuck with her as long as she had it within reach, that she could just spook all the world's threats away with a press on a cheap, spring locked mechanism.
The world sure must've been delighted to prove her otherwise.
And with that function dismantled, exposed for a lie she had been repeating to herself for over half a decade now... what else was there? It wasn't her identity, not anymore. Though, just staring into it, she could feel some of those old impulses calling. The deep, primal desire to hide from the world and threaten it with a sharp stick to not let anyone approach, to maintain invulnerability through the complete denial of any vulnerability. To reject warmth, comfort, love, just because she could never *fully* trust someone, because there was always that possibility, no matter how vanishing, that she might get hurt in response.
Well shit she already got hurt, hurt a whole ton even, and she was still fine afterwards.
She didn't need it, not any more. She wasn't Riley the street scum anymore, no longer just some mean bitch that most other kids were afraid to even speak to-
She was Riley Asher now.
With a determined expression, she briefly let go of her crutch to pass the switchblade to her left hand, the teen deaf to the resulting banging of the plastic and aluminum on the floor of her room as she reached over for the window handle with her right hand, legs straining to keep herself upright as she opened the window as wide as she could, the gust of freezing air making her shudder and grimace as she stared into the barely illuminated, snow covered front lawn, beyond which laid only darkness.
And then, she tossed it as hard as she could, the lack of any sound letting her know that it was now embedded somewhere in the snow, more than likely never to be seen again- or at least not until late spring, and by then it would probably be little more than a slab of rust and acrylic.
It was gone now.
*knock knock knock*
"Riley?"
The sound of Ella's voice startled her out of that accidental trance, legs reminding her that they were really not quite ready to stand on their own unassisted yet, with the whole of Riley falling down onto the edge of her bed, wincing at having to make an emergency landing on her butt twice in a span of twenty minutes, even if this time it was much more padded.
"I'm good, I'm good, it just slipped!"
The influx of frigid wind kept her shuddering as she scooted over to where her crutch had landed, having to contort herself in somewhat uncomfortable way just to pick it off the floor and get up once more, this time just to properly shut the window.
If not for the fact that she really, really didn't want to wake up drenched in sweat and have to go through the whole bathroom spiel once more tomorrow morning, Riley would've slept in her new hoodie without a single bit of hesitation.
But alas, it was up to her garden gnome body to warm itself up under the covers, a noble goal she would not belate any further than she already had.
A couple hours of mindlessly entertaining scrolling helped too- and this time she'd even remembered to plug the charger in before the exhaustion had inevitably claimed its toll, body heat eventually overcoming the outside frost.
For the first time in forever, Riley could finally rest unafraid, wholly and utterly.
Unafraid, and for the first time in her life, proud of herself.