The Little Lightning Girl

49- A Phone Call to Follow Up PTSD

Christmas break didn't last nearly long enough. It felt as if the days after dinner at the Burrow all passed at once and before I knew it, I was back on the train to Hogwarts. I wasn't upset about going back to Hogwarts, how could I be? But for the first time in my life, I felt like I had actually gotten to know my mother. We'd cooked together, gone skating together twice more(though I really hadn't gotten any better at it), and had hardly spent a minute apart.

I slept with the orb by my bed every night. When I jolted awake from a nightmare, it made it easier to calm down and fall back asleep to listen to those voices. I'd figured out how to add a voice to it, as well. The day after our campfire, I'd figured out how to pull my mother's voice out of my own memory and put it into that orb. So now, at the end of all the other voices, my mother's voice, two separate pieces of our conversation.

You saw the world in brighter colors than I did. You heard music in the ocean, in the wind, when all I could hear was just noise.

That light, that spirit... it's still there.

I kept the orb next to my bed at Hogwarts, too. I often took it with me when I flew out the window late at night to sit on the roof. One such night, I was deep in a nightmare about... well, about things I had only ever voiced to Raegan. My eyes only flew open when the fat man's hand grabbed my bare hip.

I didn't know how he'd done it, but just after I checked my watch for the time(near midnight), the monster-repelling cell phone rang on my nightstand. Rose was a deep sleeper, but Kaley wasn't, so I grabbed the phone and jumped out the window so my call wouldn't wake her. I answered the phone while I was still flying.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end was warm, "It's official, you definitely have an English accent, Sparky."

Adrian's voice brought a smile to my lips inadvertently, "Do I, now? Everyone here still thinks I sound American."

I put the phone on speaker while I circled in to land on the roof of the Great Hall, feeling the cool roof tiles keenly with my bare feet. Still, I crossed my feet and sat down near the peak of the roof. It was a bit breezy, but thankfully, it wasn't raining like it had been for the past few nights. I rested the phone on my chest when I laid down to look up at the sky. It was too cloudy to see the stars tonight, but I knew they were there. My fear of darkness wasn't unfounded, and it wasn't going to disappear, but spotting the differences between the dungeon and where I was now... it lifted the majority of the fear off my shoulders. There were stars, clouds, trees, and a glimmering lake here at Hogwarts. In my room at home, I'd cast a spell similar to the one on the ceiling of the Great Hall. I could see straight through the roof and to the sky above. My least favorite nights were when the clouds obscured the moon and stars.

Adrian's laughter made my smile grow wider, "It's good to hear your voice, Sparky. I've missed you."

I sighed, "I miss you too. It'll be summer soon."

"When does your school year end?" His voice was strangely insistent.

"The second week of May."

He groaned dramatically into the phone, "I don't know if I can wait that long!"

I laughed softly, "What's gotten into you? It's the same as every other year!"

He paused. I could've sworn that there was something behind that pause, something he wanted to say but didn't. I knew the boy had secrets, we were demigods, secrets were a matter of survival most of the time. But I still wondered what it was that he was too scared to say. Instead, his voice was light when he responded, "You're my friend, am I not allowed to miss you?"