Imperfect Life: Arc 8

Chapter 22

The next morning, Brandon and Crys had gotten up for school, both going through their old usual routine, though Crys was much quieter than she used to be. Brandon tried to start a conversation with her several times over, but every time he was usually met with a one or two word answer that killed the conversation before it properly began. The school day went fairly slowly all things considered. It was dull, that much was for certain. During lunch, Tomas and Emma had also tried to start up conversations with Crys, expressing how happy they were to have her back, but again, she gave simple answers that killed any budding conversation. So lunch went on, mostly with the conversations only involving the people who weren't named Crys. Then, at the end of the day, Brandon and Crys went home, and so did Tomas and Emma.

Around seven o' clock, Tomas texted Brandon, asking if they could talk.

Brandon replied saying that of course he could.

Then Tomas replied: "Away from Crys."

Brandon got a little worried, but he obliged. He briefly checked that Crys was still in her room, where she had been ever since they got home, and she was. Then, he shut his door and called Tomas.

"Hey." He said when Tomas answered.

"Hi." Tomas replied. "I've got Emma here, too."

"Oh, hi Emma."

"Hello." Emma chimed back from the background.

"What did you want to talk about?" Brandon asked.

"She can't overhear you, can she?" Tomas asked.

"I don't think so. She's in her room, and I shut my door." Brandon replied.

"Good..."

"So what's going on?" Brandon asked with a tinge of worry.

"We were just worried about Crys. She isn't herself." Tomas explained.

"She seemed very distant." Emma said. "She barely spoke a word or interacted with us at all."

Brandon sighed. "Look, I'm just thinking that she's got to get used to things again. I mean, after what she's been through? She probably just needs some time to get back to her old self."

"I think that makes sense." Tomas said.

"It does." Emma added on. "However, she seemed like she didn't want to be there."

"Yeah, she definitely didn't look happy." Tomas added on to Emma's addition.

Brandon thought for a second. "I don't know." He said. "She's been through a lot."

Both parties took a brief moment of silence.

"What did you say to convince her to come back?" Emma asked, breaking the silence.

"I told you, all I said was that Seinhou had manipulated her. He knew that showing up would make her attack him, and that that would make her the threat he had been saying she was." Brandon explained again. He had previously explained this the day prior when he had first told Emma and Tomas that Crys had come back.

"And you did not blackmail her?" Emma asked.

"No! Not at all!" Brandon exclaimed. "I couldn't do that to her!"

"I was just making sure." Emma said.

"I agree with Brandon, Em. I think she just needs some time." Tomas said.

Emma shrugged, though only Tomas could see her do it. "Alright." She said, letting it go.

"Yeah, I just think she needs some time to get back to being herself." Brandon reiterated.

"Well, we just wanted to make sure." Tomas said.

"Makes sense." Brandon replied.

"I guess that's all, so, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye guys, see you tomorrow."

Both parties hung up.

Brandon put his phone on the nightstand and went back to watching videos on his laptop. Later that night, he lay awake in bed. He couldn't fall asleep very easily. His mind was wondering, worrying, about Crys. He wanted her to be okay, but clearly she still wasn't. Lying to him about the nightmare she had? It wasn't like her. It seemed like the Seinhou part of things was behind her, but something was still there for her. There had to be. He just didn't know what. She wouldn't let him in enough to find out. So he wondered and worried for much longer than he wanted to before finally being too tired to keep awake any longer.

Meanwhile, as she slept, Crys tensed up as she went through another nightmare. When she awoke, she gasped once, then went quiet as she breathed at a surprisingly steady pace. Another night of being reminded how she could easily hurt her friends. It wouldn't take much. Just one small bout of anger and someone would quite literally be scarred for life... or not have one anymore. It terrified her, and she was stuck having to think about that nightmare as she lay wide awake. She thought briefly about going to wake up Brandon. He could comfort her. He always did... but, she was a monster, and she could hurt him. She just had a vivid reminder of it. So she remained where she was. Suffering alone.

The next few days would follow in much the same manner. Crys would wake up, go to school, come home, seclude herself in her room, refuse any and all offers to go hang out, sleep, have some sort of gruesome nightmare reminding her of how vicious she really was, wake up horrified, catch her breath, then pass back out, and repeat. It wasn't fun for her, or for her friends. Tomas and Emma didn't catch most of what was going on, since they only really saw Crys at school, so while they were disappointed and let down that their friend was actively being a recluse, they were still hoping that with some more time things might go back to normal. As for Brandon, he was actively trying to make the best of things. He would offer for Crys to go hang out with him, maybe go gallivanting around the city or just relax at the stadium, but she would never take him up on it. He tried talking with her, but she would swiftly figure out a way to kill the conversation. Maybe he would watch a movie with her? No, she wanted to do something else. Maybe play video games? Also no. He was still holding onto hope, although slowly he was starting to lose it with each small rejection.