Devil's Backbone ✶ Luke Castellan

𝟬𝟭𝟰 what am i suppose to do if there's no you?

But when Feyre was sent to the school principal's office after causing a scene in the middle of the playground during recess, resulting in a dozen scared kids and concerned adults. Feyre believed it wasn't her fault, because she was certain she saw a creature made up of two different animals, a lion and an eagle. Or at least that was what she had been claiming earlier that day on the school playground. The creature didn't try to hurt her. Feyre didn't even think it posed as a threat, but the other students and even the teachers believed her loud ramblings of some half lion, half bird creature was the real threat. Especially when many worried parents were screaming at the staff to do something about the crazy girl with an obscure imagination.

So Feyre sat next to her mother in the principal's office and listened as the woman didn't even try to defend her daughter, and accepted the punishment, which was a week long suspension. Feyre didn't say much on the drive back home, but it was apparent to Rosalind Blanchard that her daughter was upset. And when they entered the four condensed walls of their small Brooklyn apartment, that was when young nine year old Feyre finally decided that she needed to speak her mind. Even in the face of her mother. "You didn't help me," She spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

It was, however, loud enough for Rosalind to hear. She placed her daughter's backpack down on the table placed in the empty corner of the kitchen, before she turned around to face the younger girl. "What did you say, Sunshine?" She inquired. She knew her daughter was upset. She just didn't realise how hurt the girl had become until this very moment.

Feyre let out a quiet sigh, looking up at her mom with a sad look glazed over her eyes. "You let him stand there and say I was lying. I wasn't lying, momma," Feyre countered, her voice cracking in the process. Rosalind couldn't admit this out loud, but the sound of her daughter's frail and delicate voice made her heart ache. It broke her to stare into those brown eyes belonging to her daughter, and see nothing but pain and distrust.

Rosalind pursed her lips into a thin line for a moment. There were times when she would've fought tooth and nail to keep Feyre in that school. But this time around she sadly took the punches and allowed the principal to suspend her without a single protest from the woman. Under most circumstances, Rosalind would've defended her daughter in a heartbeat. But this time it was different because she knew her Feyre wasn't imagining the creature in the playground that day. Although most kids couldn't see it, Feyre could because she was special. However, that was a part of the young girl that Rosalind wasn't ready to face just yet. She could handle the bad dreams and the learning difficulties in her life, but not the spotting of monsters and other mythical creatures. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

The woman slowly approached the girl and kneeled down in front of her, grabbing her little hands with her own. Feyre wrapped her petite fingers around her mother's, lifting her teary gaze to watch the woman smile sheepishly back at her. "Sweetie, you just have an overactive imagination. There's nothing wrong with it. But you can't go around scaring other kids—"

"I wasn't lying!" Feyre exclaimed, letting go of her mom's hands before she tried to storm off down the hall and towards her bedroom. But the familiar sound of her mom's voice was enough to make the girl stop in her tracks.

"And I believe you. I do," Rosalind blurted out, watching as Feyre stopped before turning around on her heel, a stray tear rolling down her rosy cheek. That was truly when Rosalind felt her heart beginning to shatter into a million tiny pieces. "It's just...not everyone gets it. That's why I couldn't say anything to your principal," The woman then sighed.