Chapter 21

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Sunday morning, Crys woke up in her bed. She didn't have her phone on her to check the time. Her phone, along with pretty much everything else, was still at her house. She would have to go back there later on to grab it all. For now, she relaxed as the morning sun peaked its way around the curtains. It felt weird to finally be free of so much of the anxiety and terror that had been plaguing her. She was still scared and somewhat on edge, now having to be extra careful not to hurt anyone else, but at least part of her was free. She gave a deep sigh of relief, then continued to lay in bed for about the next half hour or so. Then another fifteen minutes. Then another five. Then two. Then one. Then she finally got up out of bed. She went and used the bathroom, then returned to her bedroom where she returned right back to laying on top of her bed. She didn't want to do anything.

"This feels so weird..." Crys thought to herself as she lay on her bed. "I... I didn't think I'd ever come back here... B-but I still need to keep my distance! I'm still dangerous! I-I can't snap again. I can't lash out at them again. I can't hurt them... I can't..."

"Hey, Crys." Brandon said warmly, standing in the doorway. He had an inviting smile.

Crys turned her gaze to Brandon. He looked happy. She didn't know why.

Brandon saw Crys' rather unenthused looking face. She didn't reply verbally, but her face said enough. He chalked up her less lively attitude to finally being back after so long. He couldn't expect her to be completely back to normal in a night. It wouldn't be fair. "How are you doing?" He asked.

"Okay." Crys quietly murmured.

Brandon took a moment. Part of him wished Crys would have jumped out of bed and said "Great! Thank you for helping me, let's go to the ice rink!" or something else along those lines. She didn't, obviously, and he was okay with that. Now that she was back, she probably just needed some time to readjust and feel a bit better.

"Do you want to hang out anywhere or do anything? Maybe watch a movie or something?" He suggested kindly.

Crys didn't show it, but part of her panicked a little at hearing that. Being close to Brandon was a bad idea. She could lose herself at any moment and hurt him again, or the others. She couldn't let that happen. "No thanks." She said rather quietly.

Brandon frowned a little, feeling a tad disappointed, then gave a small smile to his friend. "That's okay." He said warmly. "Maybe we can do something later."

Crys nodded a little, even though she didn't mean it.

Brandon hoped Crys would say something to pick up the conversation, but she never did. He waited for a while before turning to head back towards his room. "Oh," he said, just before leaving, "by the way, I told Emma and Tomas that you're back. They're both really happy."

Crys gave a faint, involuntary, smile.

Brandon smiled in reply, then headed back for his room.

Crys was left alone again. She relaxed a little now that she wasn't an immediate threat anymore. "Tomas and Emma were happy?" She wondered to herself. "Emma doesn't usually show much emotion, though, and Tomas, I thought he would still be mad at me after what I said to him... It doesn't matter, I guess." Crys stopped thinking and went to grab her phone from the bedside table before remembering it wasn't there. "Oh." She mumbled, now also remembering that she had to go grab her stuff. She slowly got up and started making her way downstairs. "I'm going to grab my things." She called to Brandon from the top of the stairs.

"I'll come help you." Brandon said from his room.

"No thanks." Crys replied flatly.

"But-" Brandon insisted.

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