RESCUE MY HEART
liz longely
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↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺
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It was a boring Wednesday afternoon when Nyx found herself sitting in the counselor's office.
The arrangement had her confused since her sessions were scheduled for Mondays and Fridays only, but everyone who took counseling had been called to Ms. Rose's office today one after the other, so they assumed it was for something important.
Turns out, it was more relieving than important.
Ms. Rose was moving states because of a reason nobody could care less for, as they had all stopped listening as soon as she'd mentioned that she'd be leaving in a few days. Nothing could've made them happier than knowing that their sessions would be coming to an end.
Like every good thing, however, there was a catch here too.
"There'll be a new counselor taking over starting next week," Ms. Rose began explaining. "You'll be seeing him on your scheduled days for an hour as per your usual setting. It's not too big of a change, really,"
To show that she was listening, Nyx nodded in reply, trying her best not to sink into the cushioned chair from exhaustion.
"Now, I haven't met your new counselor, but from what I've learned about him, he's very good at his job. He could be better than me too,"
Better at what exactly? Pretending to give two fucks about our problems? Nyx thought.
The girl held back from rubbing her tired eyes, knowing that the action would make Ms. Rose question why she hadn't gotten any sleep last night.
Nyx adored the woman's kind nature, she really did, but sometimes she questioned her abilities, doubting that she'd gotten her degree online.
Few people in the world would want to burden themselves with problems that weren't their own, but those who made a professional commitment to it had just the one job to do, right?
So why was it that every student who was unwillingly listed for counseling with Ms. Rose had gotten no real help from her, and why did they feel comfortable leaving the room instead of tending to their troubles?
They all had one answer - Ms. Rose didn't care much to dig deep enough to touch more than just the surface and solve any problems.
In spite of this, these very people who doubted her, didn't care that she didn't care.
As long as both sides were pretending that everything was progressing at a good rate, everybody got an early pass out. In the end, it was a win-win for both parties.
"Now, getting back to you," The nightmare began for the last time. "How's everything been at home?"
"It's been better, a lot better." Nyx lied fluently, adding a believable smile while fidgeting with her wrist gloves.
They'd seen each other the day before yesterday, what could've possibly changed in two days?
Nothing.
Her mother was still as unresponsive as ever and her father was still gone.
Of course, unless Nyx wanted to spend another few painfully slow days taking counseling, she kept the truth to herself.
"That's nice," Miss Rose commented, not prying any deeper.
According to Nyx, she was either really that blind to just believe her easily or she simply didn't take her job seriously. Whatever it was, the girl wasn't complaining.
"So, there happens to be nothing troubling you as we speak? Anything you'd like to share?" the woman inquired in a tone that indicated that even though she was offering her ear, she didn't mind being turned down.
Nyx sounded very convincing, credit to have gotten used to fooling the counselor, as she nodded in reply and confirmed, "Positive. Everything's at its best."
"Alright then, it appears our little last-minute session has come to an end." Miss Rose announced with a smile, the same one she'd given to her other students who had gotten the good news.
The only thing that the cinnamon head cared about was how she wouldn't have to come up with fresh lies to tell the new counselor, she could reuse the old ones.
"Have a safe trip, Miss Rose." Nyx bid goodbye, meaning what she said as she left the room that she hated being in.
It was a nice office, then what made it hard to be in?
It was the walls that had heard countless problems of those who were made to come here to support themselves mentally - no matter how much they didn't want to, credits to their dropping grades and distracted attitudes. The air reeked of issues better off unheard.
It was a sad place, however pretty the room was, it was still sad.
When the door to the counselor's office sounded shut, Nyx tried her best not to look at her right, but she couldn't help herself and hated it.
She'd been hoping to see a certain raven-haired boy sitting in one of the seats, perhaps with his hazel eyes closed, maybe with a mind wandering into some realm unknown, ready to snap at whatever bothered him.
To her disappointment, nobody was present.
Although it had been twenty-four hours since that incident, it was all that Nyx could think about.
She hadn't caught even a blink of sleep yesterday night, sitting cross-legged by her window and searching for the moon in the starless sky.
Her mother had gotten home two hours later than she was supposed to, giving Nyx only the sound of her door closing instead of an explanation or apology for keeping her waiting.
It seemed like all her parents were doing was leading her on, telling her they'd meet her in places that didn't exist, getting her spirits up, and making her feel stupid for doing so.
The girl had shown up to school this morning unsure if she and Azriel were on talking terms or not, because if they weren't, she feared that it meant losing Warren, too.
The boys were no less than brothers, it would make sense for them to avoid the same problem.
However, Nyx had never been happier when Warren had greeted her with the same dimpled simple that brightened her spirits every day, his aureate curls bouncing on his head adorably, the boyish glint in his silver eyes grinning at her per usual.
She assumed that he had probably heard about what went down yesterday but had chosen to not mention it, or maybe he didn't know at all since he wasn't present in the hallway at the time of it unfolding.
Either way, she didn't care since it hadn't affected their brewing friendship.
Nyx didn't see Warren when school ended, just like she hadn't seen Azriel all day. Initially, she thought that latter was doing an amazing job at steering clear of her, but when she'd seen the former walking the halls without his best friend by his side, she knew that Azriel had skipped school.
While she pedaled her way to the diner, not wanting to go back to her house just yet, Nyx thought about Azriel.
She wondered what he was doing at this moment, she worried if the havoc of his thoughts had pulled him in too deep.
Nyx knew that he was being bullied by the figments of his mind, that he was too drained to carry on without someone there to hold him up. But, she also knew that he was too scared, too scarred to let someone in.
It terrified her, how the boy had to unwillingly drag himself to do even the smallest and simplest of things of life.
It was almost as if he wanted no part of anything that was offered to him.
Little to her knowledge, the raven monster craved someone's hand in his too, he didn't fully know it yet, but he did.
There had been a person selfish and inconsiderate enough to have turned his world upside down, sucked him dry of all such wishes, snatched his beliefs, left him hollow.
What made the nyctophile feel a little better about the situation was that Azriel had a person as compassionate as Warren. The golden boy would take on the strongest of armies for his best friend, even if it meant losing the battle.
Nyx sadly chuckled at how someone who had given up on all help, had it while the one who was silently screaming for it, didn't.
Nevertheless, she knew that while she could fight her demons with a smile, Azriel always allowed his darker side to take control. While she was barely surfacing from her troubles, the boy was letting himself sink deeper into the bottomless pit of all that he feared.
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