Illusion Shift

~ 18 ~

19:43

October 31st, Saturday

｡ₓ ू ₒ ु 　Police Hat　 ू ₒ ु ₓ

Horrible idea.

That's what this was. A horrible idea. This was literally how I felt the last time I attended a large social gathering. The fall dance at school.

Is it that hard for me to learn my lesson? 

Parties aren't for me. They aren't.

Everything is so overwhelming. I'm getting a sensory overload.

Should I just go to the park right now?

It's been like 10 minutes, Pat, come on. Are you really leaving already?

Stop being so weird. Just stay.

I can't.

What was my problem? All the other kids my age loved parties and stuff like that. All of my friends do. Why can't I be like them?

It's just a stupid party.

Yet here I am, literally in the same situation a month ago.

Sitting against a wall, slowly bumping my head against said wall.

I want to leave.

I can't.

I can't leave, I can't stay. What am I supposed to do?

I just gotta stay an hour, at least. I can tough through an hour, right?

I take a deep breath and walk towards the door, reaching for the door knob.

Can I, really? Can I "tough it out"?

I close my eyes, eyebrows creased as my hands fall to my side. I gently pat my cheeks. 

Fuck. Stop second guessing yourself. Come on, Pat. Be normal for once. Come on.

I put my hand on the door knob again, feeling the lock click and unlock as I twist my wrist.

"Finally," a voice comes from the other side of the door.

Oreo.

I wanted so badly to just close and lock the door again and stay there for the entire hour, but what good would that do? 

I fully exit the bathroom and close the door behind me, coming face to face with Oreo, who's leaning against the wall directly across from the bathroom door. 

He's wearing a simple red cap paired with baggy jeans and a red, white, and black shirt with matching sneakers. His wrists have black sweatbands on them.

Pokémon trainer?

"Oh," he says simply as he sees me, snapping me out of my little guessing game. 

"It's you."

"Yeah," I say.

It's dead silent. 

Shit. Why am I standing here? I should just go.

"You can uh. Use the bathroom, if you were waiting for that," I awkwardly say, swallowing a lump in my throat.

"Oh, nah. I thought Watermelon was in there," he tells me, scratching the back of his head. "She just disappeared."

"Oh. Of course."

Why did I say that? Why did I add that "of course"? God, that was... unnecessary.