bathroom stalls » mileven

trois

"ellllll," mike dragged out, looking around for her. el suddenly ran past him, darting into the bathroom. mike followed and caught a glimpse of her ducking into a stall. "el? are you okay?" he heard her sniffle. "el?"

"mike," she faintly said.

"are you okay?" her reply was so quiet that he asked her to repeat herself.

"no," she answered.

"what happened?" mike asked, leaning against the stall door. "do you want me to come in?" the door slowly unlocked, revealing el. tear tracks ran down her face, and a red handprint was visible on her cheek. her blonde hair was messy as if someone had taken the wig off and hastily put it back on. "oh my god, who did this?" he angrily asked.

el flinched. "mouth breather," she murmured, reaching a hand to her bruised face.

"i'm going to kill him, oh my god- why didn't you use your powers?"

"wanted- i wanted to normal- be normal," el hiccuped, more tears cascading out of her eyes. they plopped onto her shirt, turning the pastel pink into a darker color.

mike rushed forward and hugged her. el choked a little and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

"el, your safety is more important than being normal."

"no, is not. bad- bad men," she brokenly said.

"the bad men can't hurt you; they're dead," mike confusedly consoled.

"not dead," el repeated.

"let's just- let's put a quote on the wall." mike tugged on her hand, bringing her to the other stall. their quotes were faded now, as if someone, most likely the janitor, had tried to remove it but gave up.

"it's just a bad day, not a bad life," el whispered, writing it slowly on the wall. her penmanship was surprisingly neat for someone who had spent most of her life uneducated. mike sloppily wrote his quote, looking back to see how the words 'in' and 'one' seemed to blend together. "she was all colors in one," el read aloud.

"well for my quote, it means how, she can be everything in one. happy and sad and beautiful and angry and sweet and dangerous."

"is that poss-possib-le?"

"yeah," mike softly said. "i think it is."

"mine, mine means exactly what it is."

"just a bad day, not a bad life. el, you will get over this. you're going to have the childhood you never got. you're going to be fine, you're going to be normal. don't ever let anyone tell you that you are a monster because you aren't. god, you're art. you make me feel so many feelings and emotions like art does. a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words. el, you're worth all the words that can be used to describe beauty, recovery, and everything in between."