Assistance Required

Midterms

TW stress, anxiety attacks, mention of self-harm and abuse

Mon Oct 26- Thurs Oct 29

The whole week was an absolute nightmare. Virgil was cleared by the doctors to return to his regular activities again, but he was still a little behind in some of his work and he needed to focus on his midterms. He had suppressed most of the stress before, but he was starting to feel really overwhelmed. Patton ended up sitting with him through a few panic attacks. Logan helped him schedule out his time and study for his calculus exam. Roman offered to help him go over Spanish during the break so he wouldn't be so behind. He and Patton were still working on history together. Joan helped look over his papers. Everyone was helping each other study. Thomas, Joan, and Roman were going over drama notes. Janus spent his entire time doing his own work and making sure Remus was doing his. Virgil wished he could help them as much as they helped him, but all he could do was help Patton study for history. Patton was making sure everyone was eating and sleeping so they could do well on their exams.

The written exams and papers were bad enough, but he still needed to present his art project to his classmates. The presentation was worth fifteen percent of his project grade. He had already turned in his written explanation via email. Patton suggested he practice explaining his project to them a few times before presenting it to his class. He worked with them in groups presenting his own project to them. They were all very patient with him and helped him practice answering questions about the project as well. In return, he sat through some of their own practice presentations including one of Logan's speeches for his public speaking course.

When the time came for him to present, he was still nervous, but at least he had some practice in answering on-the-spot questions and talking about his project. He had also practiced asking questions while he sat through the others' presentations, since asking questions and making comments was also part of his grade. He managed to get a few decent ones in and hoped he didn't seem too nervous. He could tell his voice was shaking when he spoke. He wanted to fade into the background and it wasn't even his turn yet. All too soon, it was his turn to present. He gulped and took a deep breath before he began.

"S-s-so, I made my piece about some of the things I struggle with," Virgil rubbed his arm eventually landing on the bracelet on his wrist. "All of my struggles make me who I am today." Virgil stared at the bracelet on his wrist while he spoke. "I d-dealt with a drunk, abusive father for a long time which I represented with the bottles and the comic-style yelling shapes. Um... I've also dealt with a lot of self-hatred which led me to cut myself which is pretty easy to see with the arm and the knife. But, the most important part is the bracelet on the wrist, which I made a rainbow to signify that I'm gay. My friends had shown me that my problems are a part of me, but they don't define me."

He did it! He made it through his presentation! All that was left was to answer everyone's questions and he'd be done!

"I like how most of the space is taken up by the arm. It really puts focus more on how you were affected by the abuse rather than the abuse itself," someone said.

"I really like how you incorporated the fact that your gay in there. It was a really simple way of adding that little detail. I also couldn't help but notice the black background. Was that just to help the colors pop out or did you do that because of your emo style?" someone else asked.

"Oh, actually, I chose black because it kind of represents the numbness I've felt in the past. Just how everything felt... dark for a while."

"You said the bracelet represents like the hope your friends give you, right?" Virgil nodded. "Is that why it's in the center? It really brings attention to it. It's such a small detail how everything else seems to center around it."