Wizards: Tales Of Arcadia

Singing Lessons

Douxie shouldn't have walked off like that. He knew that. And above all else, she was right. He knew that. Of course he did. She had such a logical mind and yet, that was how she often saw the bright sides to things.

She saw the darkness too. Always. Angel found it unhelpful and illogical to not look at every possibility. It was a bit detrimental sometimes, but there were times when it made sense.

Like now.

He groaned as he fell back on his bed. It wasn't just because of the near fight. No, working in customer service, even on slow days, did that to you. The fight just added to it. His aching feet, back, and mental state made him want to fall asleep right then.

But he at least needed to properly get ready for bed. As he kicked off his shoes, he heard her and Arch come upstairs and move to the living room. The TV turned on and Archie asked her what she was doing. She said she couldn't sleep and that she was going to watch some of her favorite crime show.

He should be out there, helping calm her down after everything. He even made it as far as the door. But he paused before he grabbed the handle.

Did she even want to see him? His mind told him no, so he backed away and continued getting ready for bed.

. . .

"Ms Sweet?" Mr. Stickler said as everyone began getting ready to leave. Angel was out cold on her desk, little bit of drool on her arm. And part of her book. "Ms Sweet?" He gently shook her shoulder but all she did was swipe at his hand and mutter.

"Arch.... off my shoulders... Archie..." the bell rang and she shot up, breathing heavily with the jolt. Mr. Strickler backed up just a little, eyes a little wide but full of concern.

"Easy. You're just at school." Fairly quickly, she seemed to realize that. Angel sighed and started packing her stuff up, grimacing at the drool on both her arm and book. "Why are you so tired today?"

"Um.." she yawned. "A- I didn't sleep well last night."

"I can see that," he chuckled but quickly let it fall. "The question is why?"

"I- I watched a scary movie, last night," her words were breathy, like she was still waking up. "I couldn't.. I couldn't get to sleep after that. I was too scared." Mr. Strickler hummed his answer, but it was obvious he didn't fully believe her.

"Right. Well, I suggest not watching anymore horror films on school nights if they cause you this much distress."

"Right. Thanks, Mr. Strickler." She got up and left the classroom with only a quick smile in his direction.

The rest of the teachers were not so lenient about her sleeping. Mr. Uhl especially didn't like it. Said he'd already dealt with Jim's weird video call that day.

Angel had to force herself to stay awake while working the counter at the bookstore. Reading just made her sleepier and she couldn't listen to anything other than soft instrumentals. Wearing headphones wouldn't work either as she had to pay attention to the customers.

By the end of the night, she was more exhausted than usual. She didn't even feel up for patrol tonight. A shame. Douxie always looked forward to it.

But after last night, maybe she shouldn't go out for awhile. Bular was still very much out there and though she tried to hide it, she was sure he saw the color of her magic. So she was probably staying in for the next few weeks.