The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

77. Anxiety Strikes

During your time with the LaVeys you work on controlling your more elemental powers. After some time, you are successfully able to harness your anger into fire, as you have done in the past. "Alright, (Y/N)," says Stan, "you are still doing well at creating fire, now let's try something new." Stan gets up and walks into his kitchen. Seconds later, he comes back out with two glasses of water. He sets one down on the table and holds the other firmly in his hand. He says, "Look inside." You look over the top into the glass and watch as the water inside solidifies into ice. He turns the glass upside down, and the ice inside has frozen so much that it sticks to the cup. "Your goal is to do that." You grab the cup and ask, "So, if anger is fire, then is this sadness?" He softly smiles and nods in response. You make an attempt being sad, but realize how difficult that is now. You're being taught how to use your magic by two wonderful father figures, you have many friends who have done so much for you, and you have Scott too. You've definitely come a long way in terms of happiness. "Welp, I didn't expect this," says Stan. Looking around you, flowers have grown. You blush in embarrassment. Stan continues, "I see that you've grown. And as happy for you as I am, that's not the goal we are trying to accomplish." Stan takes his hand, and places it onto a flower, and sets it on fire. The fire spreads to the rest of the flowers, engulfing you. It doesn't hurt, at least, physically. Suddenly, the glass of water you're holding freezes over. Just as fast as it froze, it melts, and starts to boil, then freezes again. You can feel the pit in your stomach growing until it becomes too much and you explode, falling unconscious.

You wake up on their couch. You look around and see cracks all over the walls and floor, leading back to where you were sitting earlier. You see Brian sitting on his phone. You ball your hands into fists, feeling irked. You stand up quickly and ask, "Is it time for bowling yet?" Brian looks up from his phone, bewildered. He responds, "Uh, soon? I was gonna wake you up in a few minutes." "Well I'm ready to go now," you say, looking at the ground. "Alright then, let's go." You step outside, giving Brian time to say goodbye. He steps outside, and you both go to his car. You grav the handle of the passenger seat, when you are suddenly grabbed by the collar of your shirt, and dragged back. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you sit in the front seat," Damien sits down in the front seat instead. You get in the back, and Brian drives off.

After about 20 minutes, he parks in front of That's How We Roll, the bowling alley everyone planned on going to. The 3 of you get out of the car and enter the building. Looking out at all the lanes you find, in the very back two, Scott, Zoe, Oz, and Vera. After you, Brian, and Damien get your shoes, you head over to them. Scott is taking his turn bowling when you get to them. Once she notices you, Zoe practically shouts, "(Y/N)!!" Enveloping you into a tight embrace. "I am so excited! I've never been bowling before!" You chuckle, "Yeah, same.." She gasps, "Really? Awesome! We're bowling virgins!" She hugs you tighter, jumping up and down. You see Scott grinning, and Oz shrugs his shoulders. Vera says, "Alright, Zoe, that's enough. Let (Y/N) go." "Oh! Sorry.." She lets go, and sits down next to Oz. After some time passes, their game starts coming to a close. As you look across the way towards the entrance, you see Vicky and Amira enter. After getting their shoes, they come over to the rest of you. On on the final turn, which is Zoe's, she bowls and hits 2 pins, then another 2. Vera wins the match with 162 points, then Oz with 148, Scott with 117, and Zoe loses with 91. Despite the loss, Zoe is still excited anyway. Vera says, "Looks like I win again," then lights a cigar. Amira laughs, "So.. Are we ready for couples bowling? Each play as one person?" Zoe says, "But there are only 3 couples." "Me and Vicky are a fake couple." Zoe's eyes widen as she shouts, "Friends to lovers!" Vera rolls her eyes and sets it up to play another game, putting each couple in as one person. You and Scott, Oz and Zoe, Damien and Brian, and Vicky and Amira. As you play, a not-so-shocking revelation hits you: you suck. But it really doesn't matter, right? You're friends are all laughing and having a good time. Damien may snicker every time you only hit 2 pins, but that's the worst you're gonna get. Right?

Once it is your turn to bowl again, you grab a ball try. For the 3rd time in a row, you only knock down 2 of the pins. Zoe gives you words of encouragement, Scott reassures you, and Damien snickers again, but this time, someone else butts in. "Either get good, or get out!" You and all your friends look at the people in the next lane over. There, you see a storm elemental, a mummy, a jellyfish, and a concubus. The storm elemental and the mummy are laughing. The mummy playfully hits her on the shoulder, "Damn Susanne, you are bad, girl." "Whaaat? Look at the scoreboard," you look up at the scores as she speaks, "their team is so far behind everyone else! They're ruining my mojo." Sure enough, she's right. Everyone is ahead of you, even Zoe and Oz. Tears threaten to fall from your eyes, but your inner voice is screaming at you. With 12 people around you, you can't cry. You may be weak, but they can't know that. You're best move is to leave the building before you burst. But as the air around you gets colder, you notice you can't move your feet. Looking down, you see a layer of ice has formed around them, freezing you to the floor. Your breathing becomes quicker as you frantically try to lift your feet out. Once he notices this, Scott tries to pick you up. You look back at the people in the other lane. They all watch with visibly uncomfortable faces. Faces that tell you you're embarrassing yourself. A tear falls down your face. Suddenly, your feet feel hot. Looking down, you see two red hands around your ankles. Scott is able to lift you out, and run you outside, allowing you to cry into his shoulder.

After giving you some time to calm down, Scott sits down on a nearby bench, with you in his lap. He holds you close, keeping your body warm. The quiet sobs slowly come to an end and you are once again able to breath. Scott asks you about your day and your training, and the two of you make idle chitchat for a little while longer. All the while, people have been entering and leaving the building. After hearing the door open one time, Scott hugs you tighter. The mummy of the group from earlier stops right in front of you two. He says, "Yo, I'm sorry about my friend. She's had a few too many drinks and-" He's cut off by Vera, "Hey! Who said you could talk to them?" "Oh! I-I'm sorry." He hurriedly runs away. Vera takes a seat next to you and Scott. After another minute, the rest of the gang come out. "Here you go (Y/N)," says Vicky, handing you your shoes, "We were able to get the bowling shoes out of the ice." You thank her and put your shoes back on. Everyone gives you the play-by-play of what happened inside. Amira and that Susanne girl apparently started yelling at eachother, and almost started fighting. Vera, Zoe, Brian, and surprisingly Damien were also prepared to back her up. After the excitement of the situation calms down, you all go to a nearby pizza parlor and eat there, since you never got a chance to eat since lunch. At around 11 o'clock, you were finally dropped off at home, ready to sleep after such a long day.