The Demon and the Child

Bad Day, Like a Really Bad Day

Virgil jolted awake from a nightmare. He was getting used to those, but they were usually about the car crash. This one was different.

From what he remembered, he was running with Roman away from something. Roman had a sword with a black and red blade, and Virgil had a golden dagger. Something told him that the dagger was the only thing that he could use to protect himself from whatever was chasing them.

Somehow, he knew whatever it was, it was coming for him. Not Roman. As much as he wanted to shake the nightmare off, he couldn't. Whatever was chasing them had wings, white feathery wings. Virgil had a feeling it wasn't a bird that was chasing them.

He remembered the white feathery wings that he saw during the car crash. Something had fallen in front of them, Virgil just knows it. He couldn't help but feel like it fell on purpose.

Virgil curled up in bed, hugging his pillow to his chest. Did that mean his mothers death was preventable? If she had hit the breaks, they would have been fine. He could be hugging her right now, or laughing about something. He would even watch any sappy romance movies if it meant she was with him!

He would give anything for her to be with him again.

Virgil tried to blink away tears when he heard his door open. His back was facing whoever walked in but he didn't turn to see who it was.

"I'm awake," he said.

"You should get moving soon, it's a school day," Patton reminded him.

"I know, I'm just... tired."

He felt the bed sink at his feet. "Tired? Like sleepy tired or the bad tired."

Patton knew him too well. Or maybe he just knew emotions too well. "The bad tired."

"Do you want me to call you out of school?"

"No, I'll get up in a little bit."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Virgil took a deep breath, still fighting his tears back. "I was just thinking. About mom. She... she could have... she didn't have to die. Not like that."

Patton put his hand on Virgil's ankle and rubbed small circles on the side of his foot. "I know."

"What if she didn't try to avoid whatever it was in front of us. What if she just hit the breaks, even if we did end up hitting whatever it was we would still have survived." Virgil squeezed his eyes tight as small tears slipped out. "She didn't have to die."

"I wish it didn't happen. We can't change the past though, no matter how much we want to." Patton took off his glasses as they started to fog up from tears. "She would be so proud of you, though."

"I would rather she be disappointed if she were alive."

Patton didn't respond. He didn't know how to. All he could do was try to comfort Virgil. There was no getting around these emotions, Virgil had to feel them so he could start to heal. It took Patton a long time to realize you have to feel the negative emotions.

"She loves you, Virgil. I hope you will always remember that, and that you will always carry her love with you."

Virgil let out a sob. "I just miss her."

"I do too, we both do. It's okay to be sad and to miss her, and it will be painful. You'll always miss her, but it will become easier."

Virgil finally let his sobs out, crying into his pillow. He didn't know how long he cried, but Patton stayed with him the whole time.

Minutes passed with the only sound in the room being Virgil's sobs and Patton's sniffles. Finally Virgil's cries died down, he didn't want to go to school looking like he just cried, even though he had.

"Are you sure you want to go to school today?" Patton double checked.

Virgil just nodded.

"Okay, well I'll make you some breakfast. Just get dressed and take your time."

"Thank you," Virgil mumbled as Patton left. It took a few more moments before he pulled himself out of bed. He really didn't want to go to school but he didn't want to fall behind.

He just pulled on some jeans, threw a shirt on and put his hoodie on over it before washing his face and applying some eyeshadow under his eyes. He combed his hair and packed his bag before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

Patton was finishing up some scrambled eggs and poured some on two plates. He knew Virgil probably wouldn't be feeling too hungry and didn't want to overwhelm him, so he held back on the toast and jam.

Virgil ate what he could, still shaken from his nightmare and feeling upset about overthinking, so he didn't eat too much. He knew he should probably tell Patton about the nightmare, but he already worried his uncle too much.

Patton pulled him into a hug before they left the house to drive to school. Virgil will admit, the hug lasted longer than Patton's usual ones and Virgil was okay with that for once.

~~~

Virgil was glad to leave Spanish class, the one class he didn't share with Roman.

The moment Roman sensed even the slightest bit of sadness from Virgil, he had made it his mission to make him laugh. Virgil found it endearing, and a nice balance. Patton listened to him, made him feel heard when he was upset, and Roman distracted him when he needed it most.

So when they had to separate because they took different languages, Virgil was anxious to see him again. Which was weird because usually Roman could be too much for him and he would need a small break from his extra personality.

Still, they both had science next and Virgil was almost to the class. He always got there before Roman since his last class is closer, but Roman was always close behind him.

"Hey, Virgil was it?"

Not close enough.

Virgil sighed, not wanting to talk to anyone else at the moment. He turned and saw the boy who had asked, it was a boy with a gray jacket and brown hair.

"Who's asking?" Virgil questioned.

"I'm Brandon, a friend of Justin."

Oh hooray, how many leeches were in this school?

Brandon continued, "I was just wondering if you knew where he might be? It's been a few weeks since I last saw him."

"Don't know, don't care. Why don't you ask one of your other friends and leave me alone."

Virgil barely even took a step forward when Brandon grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him against the locker. If that happened to him one more time he was going to snap.

"Because I did, and they said you did something but they wouldn't tell me what," Brandon hissed between his teeth.

Before Virgil could respond, thank goodness, Mr. Croft had seen them and went up to them.

"What's going on here?" he demanded to know.

Mr. Croft was strange, even for teachers. He wore a blue tie and black polo shirt for pete sake! Still, Virgil was glad he was there.

"Oh, uh I was just..." Brandon fumbled over his words, trying to come up with an excuse as he let Virgil go.

"Okay, I don't want any excuses. Come on, you're both going to the office."

"But I didn't do anything," Virgil protested.

"Unfortunately whether you did or not doesn't matter, the school has a no tolerance policy so I have to call both of your parents," Mr. Croft explained before turning to a teacher, "Oh, Mrs. O'leary? Can you watch my class in room 506? I need to deal with something."

"Sure, I have a free block," the teacher agreed before heading towards his class.

"Thank you, just tell them to start working on their homework that I know they didn't do." Mr. Croft turned to the two students again. "Alright, come on, let's get this over with so you can both be sent back to class."

Finally I was able to get Logan into the story. He's gonna be a cool teacher! Now to get Remus and Janus in here, they will play some very important parts, sympathetic (for the most part) of course.