ReRun!FPE

November 11th - Fruits of Your Labor | Part 1

"You're stronger than you think Abbie, and it's about time you start showing that."

Her voice carried him back into consciousness, waking his senses with newfound strength, slamming down on his alarm before its first cry's could be heard. Abbie's eyes, almost as stagnant as his body, remained fixed on his ceiling; piercing yet lost within the labor led by his own savior.

Even after his resurrection, her words never seemed to loosen its grip on the apple's mind, digging wounds into his wavering integrity that trickled with doubt the longer he laid in thought.

"They're monsters," as Goman put it. Child murdering, man-eating monsters that'd kill for a failed grade. And... What if that's all there is to it?

...

He promised himself he would always find the good in people, no matter how buried that light is... but... he also promised he would protect everyone; friend or not, no one deserves to have their lives taken from them. And if ridding these teachers ensures that promise, then.....

He slowly moves out of bed, pushing his sheets and pillows aside as he makes his way towards his closet.

There's a time and place for everything, and knowing the distant future, he has bigger issues to solve than worrying about the what if's. His questions would be answered sooner or later, even if he has to force his way through to get to them.

... At the mention of those problems did he take a moment to look around his array of clothing, the previous memory of Bloomie's outburst—both literally and figuratively—flashing through his mind instantly, vividly recalling the severity of such an explosion to leave himself in... not the most presentable state to come back in.

"... I should probably bring some extra clothes." He softly murmurs to himself, hauling his backpack in front of him, and digging his hand through his personal luggage to make room for... his...

His hand feels around the item in his grasp, its flat and relatively smooth surface unlocking buried emotions and memories that overwhelmed the apple's cognition, paralyzing him as the echoes of his heartbeat bounce around in his body.

Only after shaking himself back to proper function does he slowly lift the item out of his bag, and gaze softly upon his passionate piece of literature sealed inside of the envelope: its basic, all white appearance surrounding a single red heart shaped pin, safely securing his profound affection.

After staring for what felt like days, he mentally curses himself out of shame, completely forgetting this is something he wanted to do for... well, for a while at this point.

He's had these feelings for as long as he can remember, but never found the courage to tell her outright himself... unsurprisingly. But what he did have the courage to do, was to write a front AND back page for a love letter that almost took his entire summer to make. Those poor, poor trees. Sometimes, he can still hear the sorrows of all who died for his cause.

He was SUPPOSED to propose after summer break ended, but then... his father told him what school he was transferring too. It didn't bother him at first, seeing as how Lana and the others were also transferring there, but... then he did his research.

... If he wasn't paranoid by the rumors and tragic stories told by broken families, then the intensity instilled by those teachers alone overshadowed any other feeling he had prior to his transfer.

Fear and survival were all that clouded his selfish mind, nurtured by any threatening figure in the school until eventually, it became the only thing he cared about. Although in the end, he wasn't exactly wrong to feel that way, but... he still wished he could've told her how he felt, before he ended up facing his fears head on.