Custody War

Part 6

"Her ankle is severely sprained. Make sure she gets ice on it every 15-20 minutes for two hours and elevate her right leg. Again, don't do any strenuous activities," The nurse instructs, writing down notes on his clipboard.

"You heard the man, Yuu. No more stress. That also means no more NRC for a while," Phillip says, putting a pillow under Yuu's right ankle.

"Phillip, I don't think NRC is that stressful. They renovated my whole dorm for me," Yuu replies, thinking of all the favors people have done for her.

"Yuu, we just ran away from them. Your sprained ankle is a literal indirect result of being at NRC. Night Raven College is nothing but stress-inducing!" Phillip responds, casting an ice pack spell. "Even Headmage Ambrose has to drink a glass of vodka every time he comes back from there!"

"I suppose you're right. So, what am I going to do now?" Yuu says, knowing that she's going to be in her room for the next six weeks. "Please tell me there's something to do."

"Well, Neige and Che'nya are coming to visit you right about...now!" Phillip exclaims, throwing open Yuu's door.

Neige and Che'nya walk in with gift boxes and greet Yuu.

"Yuu, how are you feeling?" Neige asks, putting the boxes on Yuu's nightstand.

"I'm alright. My foot still hurts, but I'll be ok. Thank you for visiting me. So, let's open some gifts!" Yuu exclaims, sitting up only to make her ankle feel more pain. "OW! Ok...side note, Yuu. Don't sit up."

Neige hands Yuu her first gift, and she opens it. Neige had gotten Yuu a phone.

"Oh...Neige. This is wonderful! You didn't need to do this," Yuu replies, choking up.

"I did need to do this. That way, we can communicate here and when you go back home!" Neige replies, turning on Yuu's phone. "I already put in all your friend's contacts. Even the ones at NRC."

Yuu scrolls through her phone and finds every friend from NRC. Then she finds a contact that's unknown to her.

"Hey, who's Rosé?" Yuu asks, getting confused at the feminine-sounding name.

"Oh, you've met him before. He's the one that laid out the picnic cloth. He's a cousin of a certain sleepy princess," Phillip explains, giggling a bit about the boy's name.

I forgot princesses are real in this world. I forgot villains are real in this world. Everything I thought was fictional is real.

"Princess, why do you look sad?" Phillip asks, sitting next to Yuu on the bed.

"Stop calling me that! Everything I thought was just a fairytale, nothing but fiction is real! Sea witches, wizards, and dragons are real! Am I even going to go home?! Am I stuck here for the rest of my life stuck in a fairytale?! Is the next time my family going to see me again going to be in a fucking storybook? Am I dead? Am I alive? I mean- for fucks sake, I arrived in a motherfucking coffin!" Yuu spirals, finally breaking at the reality of what's happening to her. "My whole life's a fucking lie!"

"Yuu, please calm down. I'm sure you can go back home. All hope is not lost..." Phillip softly says, hugging Yuu's tear-covered face.

"No! It is lost! What if time runs differently here? A couple of months here could be a couple of years at home!" Yuu panics, beginning to make her head hurt.

Yuu puts her hands on her head and pushes her hair back. A couple of deep breaths escape from Yuu's mouth, and she begins to come down from her spiral of thoughts.

"You know what, maybe hope isn't lost. Did I ever tell you how The Little Mermaid was written in our world?" Yuu questions, rubbing some tears off her face.

Phillip, Neige, and Che'nya look at each other and shake their heads.

"At home, a guy named Hans Chris Andersen wrote The Little Mermaid, Snow Queen, Thumbelina, and many more. Supposedly, he wrote The Little Mermaid because he saw a mermaid," Yuu explains, looking up at her ceiling. "If I can somehow find the connection that let Hans Chris Andersen and many others see the impossible, I can make it back home. And maybe you can visit me."

"Yuu...we will find a way back home for you. Even if it means we can never see you again until death does all of us part," Phillip says, crying into Yuu's chest.

"For now, I'm stuck here. So I'm going to make the best of it. Let's open more gifts!" Yuu exclaims, stroking Phillip's head. "Che'nya, what did you get me?"

"I got you a blanket. It was stitched together by everyone in the school," Che'nya replies, pulling out a blanket that's stitched together a picture of Yuu dancing in her dress that Phillip got her.

"Thank you! I'll sleep with it every night!" Yuu thanks, putting the soft, silk blanket onto her cheeks.

I hope that everyone can visit me when I go back home.