𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝗼-𝐖𝗼𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 (𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐱 𝐎𝐂)

005 "𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬"

Evelyn barges into her room and plops on the bed. She holds her knees up to her chest and silently cries. Her phone goes off and it's a message.

Messages
Kaz: Hey, where'd you go? Are you okay?

She takes her phone and unlocks it to answer.

Evelyn: Yeah. I'm fine just needed to get back to work.

She completely lied. Phoebe already worried about her enough, she didn't want anyone else to, either. She felt guilty and cried more. Screw it, she thought.

Evelyn: Nevermind. Where are you?

She almost instantly got a reply.

Kaz: The laundry room since you decided to abandon your laundry.

Evelyn: Okay, I'll be there quickly.

She was on her break so took her coat off and replaced it with a gray cardigan. She put her phone the pocket and went to the laundry room. "Hey," she greeted. Her eyes still contain some visible tears.

"You good?" He asks.

She sniffs, "No. Not really." She takes the old seat she sat in earlier.

"Why?"

She exhales. "My parents. I ran into them and they- they called me... A... Um-"

Kaz looked concerned for her. "You okay?" He reached his hand out slightly.

"No," she started breaking out in tears. "They called me a failure and they're probably still talking about me right now." She was crying at this point. "I need to talk to Pheebs about this. I can't just bug you."

She starts to stand up and walk away, until Kaz reaches for her arm. "No, it's fine. Tell me."

She crosses her arms and sits back down. "I just- I just hate them so much. I wish I was like Skylar and had a pod for a parent." Kaz giggled and her phone went off. She looked down at her phone, "Speaking of Skylar."

Messages
Sky: I feel so broken without my powers.

She unlocked her phone and replied.

Evelyn: Do you wanna talk about it? I'm in the laundry room right now.

She sent it and looks back at Kaz. "She sent me a message. Anyways," she starts.

"Anyways." He answers.

"Soooo."

"Gotta go!"

"Yeah, bye."

And with that, he left and Skylar appeared into the room. "Hey, Evelyn."

"Sky! You wanted to talk?"

"Um yeah," Skylar sheepishly replies. She then seats herself on a chair. "I just- I just feel so lost, you know? Do you ever get that feeling?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm not even sure still if I made the right choice quitting being a hero." Evelyn admits.

"I'm lost without my powers. You're so lucky! You can still help people." Skylar starts rambling.

"Sky, you can still help people, too. You don't need powers. You could go work out right now."

Skylar replies, "I guess." She then leaves.

Evelyn then hears beeps from the washing machine, telling her it's done. She walks over to it and puts it in the dryer, leaving her to wait once again.

She sat back down and kicked her feet back on the table. Maybe I am lost. Did I even make the right choice giving up? Evelyn thought to herself.

She sighed and moved her feet back to the ground. She decides to text her sister.

Evelyn: Hey, sis. So say I did want to be a superhero again, how do you think mom and dad would react?

Phoebe: I don't know, honestly. Probably not good, cause you can't fight alone, but if I went with you they'd wonder where I am. So, you would have to talk to them during missions. And we all know how fun that would be.

Evelyn: Yeah. It's just I want to be a hero again, but not with them. They always try and ruin it for me for no reason.

Phoebe: I wouldn't be so quick to judge, Eve.

Evelyn: I'm not being quick to judge. They've always done this to me.

Evelyn got frustrated thinking about her parents and put her phone on 'do not disturb' and placed it face down, letting a huff of anger out.

She continued to sit and wait for her laundry to get done. She put it in a basket and folded it, then putting it up in her room.

She decided to just let the thought of being super again slip her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

Word Count:
724