The Forgotten Hero

Chapter 17

                Vern gazed past the window and to the forest beyond. She was leaning her face against the window. She’s been trapped inside for a couple of weeks, and she was starting to get a little stir crazy. Everything was just begging her to go outside, but Rufus Shinra had her stuck inside so he could keep an eye on her.

                He even read over her news stories to make sure she kept her word. It made her anxious whenever he would leer over her shoulder. Verna had to stop typing with how much stress it caused her. They finally came to the agreement that he would read over the final draft before she sent it off to her uncle – who Rufus still didn’t know ran the newspaper.

                The thought caused Verna to shift her positions. It was only going to be a matter of time before Rufus found out she lied about who was running the newspaper. She bit her lip. She didn’t even want to think about what might happen. He would probably invade her personal space and perhaps hold a knife up to her back.

                Verna’s eye clenched shut. Her heart pounded and her breathing increased. She tried to gulp down her worries, but a large lump prevented her from doing so. She was on the verge of tears again. Curling up into a ball, Verna pulled on her hair tightly. This was the result of her anxiety attacks.

                “Calm down,” she whispered to herself. “This isn’t going to help…” Despite her words she still stressed out. By now her whole body was shaking.

                “Verna.”

                Verna shook her head a bit to acknowledge the voice. She couldn’t look up, though. She was too scared, too stressed. Her body tensed up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Automatically, Verna flinched away and pressed herself further against the window, but the hand remained there.

                “Verna,” the voice sounded softly, it wasn’t a mad one. “We’re leaving the house today. You’re getting your medications and I figured getting out could help you.”

                Verna opened her eyes and she slowly uncurled her body. She looked up at the man dressed in white with a black undertone. It was a sight that she has grown to form an analogy for. The white on the outside was something that people deemed as good. It was Rufus’s way of saying that people could trust him and that Shin-Ra was a company to respect and not hate. Though, the black on the inside showed Shin-Ra’s past and how it has its secrets, which leads to people not trusting the company. But underneath the clothes is Rufus, a human being. A human being that will make its mistakes. But with it being Rufus, he will take responsibility for his actions.

                Verna stood up and walked over to the man she has grown to respect over the past couple of weeks. Rufus nodded at her and walked out of the house with her close behind him. He smirked slightly seeing that she has grown somewhat reliant on him. He’d have to make use of that later on.

                “I looked at your medical records,” Rufus noted. “I see that you take remedies. Do they not know what’s wrong with you?”

                Verna bit her lip, “Invading my personal space via another method huh?” she huffed some hair out of her face. “It’s anxiety, but the tranquilizers didn’t really work. They tried mixing in some spider webs, but that didn’t work either.”

                “Spider webs?” Rufus raised an eyebrow.

                “If you use that it slows a person down. My brain works faster than most, so they thought that was a part of my anxiety. I just think it’s because I’m super smart,” She grinned goofily.