Everything the Light Touches

[Amelia DeFoe]

It had been a good day for Amy. The girl entered the lounge of the recreational centre with only her geography textbook for homework. While the class technically didn't use textbooks, like most of the classes, she had bought the same one that the instructor taught out of, because it made it easier to figure out what she was missing. Today, though, there were less blank spots than normal, at least, she thought so. Choosing an armchair in the corner, with a window at her one arm and a wall at the other, she kicked off her shoes and then curled up in the chair, dropping Wolf's lead and letting him get comfortable however he wished around the chair.

Glancing outside at the overcast day, she shuddered, pulling her jacket tighter around herself as she turned to the chapter they were currently on, Africa. They had been studying the cultural geography of one of the regions, she remembered, but she couldn't quite place the section, so she flipped through the textbook until she found something that seemed familiar and started reading. The textbook was rather easy to understand, as textbooks went, and Amy moved through quickly, marking questions she wanted to look up later on her notebook for later perusal.

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Willow had been out for one of her solitary walks, taking a break from the work she was doing to catch up in her classes. She liked going on walks. There was more room to breathe outside, leaving her less likely to find herself in too close of a proximity to someone else, and therefore less likely to lash out and start a fight. When outside, Willow could mostly go unnoticed. But the clouds were thick and the air was chilly and Willow soon found herself walking through the doors of the recreational center and on her way to the lounge.

She hoped the lounge would be empty, but knew that was too good to be true. And sure enough, a girl and her pup were sitting in the corner as if there wasn’t a care in the world. At least that’s how Willow saw it. Willow could’ve easily backed out of the room to go somewhere else, or at least paid the girl no mind, but that’s simply not Willow’s way. Just being inside makes her feel confined, and when someone’s in the same room, well then it’s simply too crowded and she will lash out.

"I thought they didn't allow mutts in this place," Willow said sneeringly, casting a dirty look in the dog's direction. She sat down on a couch in front of the television, her long limbs comfortably sprawled out, turned the TV on to one of her favorite cop shows and raised the volume, having no regard for the girl who was clearly studying. As usual, she was a ticking time bomb...

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy heard the tread of steps only a few seconds after Wolf lifted his head, but she followed his gaze anyway, looking at the girl who entered briefly before returning her attention to the book. Before too long, she heard Wolf's vest rustle as the Shiloh lowered his head again, although he kept his ears on this newcomer. Amy frowned as she heard the new girl's comment, "He's a service dog, he's permitted anywhere I go." Yes, this was a line she'd had to practice a lot her first year with Wolf. Here, it didn't seem that they stuck out that much, "And he's not a mutt, he's a Shiloh shepherd. He won't bother you, though, I promise."

Amy finished reading the section that they had covered that day, her notes taking up about a page in her notebook, then slipped her bookmark into its place and then put the textbook away, rummaging in her bag before she pulled out the book she had returned to the library for after her quick exit a few days prior. She glanced up at the show that was on the TV, flinching as a loud noise went off. She hated these types of shows, they reminded her of that day, but she didn't exactly want to leave and sit in the Blue Ribbon House common room either. It seemed the noise was extraordinarily loud, and she had to raise her voice above its normal volume to even attempt to be heard, "Would you mind turning it down a notch or two, please?"

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Willow, upon hearing the girl’s response to Willow’s comment about the dog, casted a quick and uncaring glance at the girl and her dog. ”How sweet, a purebred security blanket!” she snapped, her voice dripping with her cruel sarcasm. ”Most people leave their stuffed animals at home,” she said mockingly. ”Oh, don’t worry sweetie,” she started, icy and demeaning as ever, ”it’s not him I’m worried about being bothered by.” Willow flashed a condescending smile before turning around to the TV. To herself but loud enough so the girl could hear, she added, ”She looks perfectly fine to me..”

Willow let out an annoyed sigh as the girl continuously rustled her papers, disrupting the cop show Willow was trying to watch. You didn’t need to prove me right, Willow thought, noting how she was indeed being bothered by the girl and not the mutt. She smirked when she heard the girl straining to be heard over the sound of the TV. ”I’m sorry, what was that?” she said mockingly in a raised voice, though she had clearly heard the girl. ”You see,” she started, gearing up for a typical one of her showdowns, ”I have hearing issues, and I guess I’m just not special enough for a glorified overgrown rat. Instead I’m permitted to raise volumes everywhere I go!” With this Willow winked, flashed the remote, and raised the TV volume another notch or two until it was uncomfortably loud, even for Willow. She’d turn it down in a second once she lost the girl’s interest, but until then, she was determined to make her point, however misguided that point may be.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy sighed at the comment about a security blanket, because while it was in part what Wolf did, if you got down to it, he did so much more. As she heard the comment about stuffed animals, she shrugged, trying to play it off, although she wanted to run out of the room.

It seemed that this girl, like the girl from the cafeteria was out to get under her skin. Amy realized it, knew that she shouldn't let it bother her, but a year and a bit apparently hadn't served to get her toughened up yet, for she still felt the sting of the words. She knew she looked fine when she was out, but then, there were plenty of invisible issues. Her hand ran up to her shoulder, feeling a ropy scar. Sometimes, though, things were just hidden under the skin.

Hearing the girl's response to her asking that the volume be turned down, she shook her head, "Actually, you're not. It's not a reasonable accommodation if you could just as well sit closer to the speaker or wearing hearing aids." Oh, yes. She had managed to memorize the gist of the ADA, which the girl was claiming to invoke, although what she was doing was completely illogical. Then again, what was the chance that she actually had a hearing impairment? Hopefully she wouldn't try the same line on Luka, although the only reason he would be bothered by it was because of Bruno.

Speaking of, Amy glanced down at her dog, worried that the sound was hurting him, since it would be worse for him than it was for her. Deciding that her dog's health was worth more than a peaceful time to work, Amy prepared to rise, biting her lip as she considered another alternative. She wished she had the guts, she thought, purposely glancing visibly towards the outlet that the TV was connected to.

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Willow could see that she was making this girl uncomfortable. She knew what she was doing was wrong. Growing up, she wouldn’t dare hurt another person, but that was before the people whom she trusted hurt her. Ever since then, she’s been thwarting any chance at making a real connection with someone. If she hurts someone, they can’t hurt her. At least that’s what she believes. It’s her method of taking back control of her life – spiraling out of control. A backwards theory at first glance, but when you get down to it, Willow’s in control of her lack of relationships, her lack of connections, and ultimately her lack of pain.

”But those solutions simply don’t work,” she started in her typical demeaning voice, ”because there’s no comfy couch by the speakers, and if I sit any closer to the screen, I’ll go cross-eyed trying to watch my show!” She didn’t know if this girl actually believed her joke about being hearing impaired, but if she did, oh boy was she a trip. ”And hearing aids, well, they’re just too ugly and I can’t be seen wearing one!” Willow would’ve gotten an Oscar for that performance of the egotistical beauty queen. She flashed an award-winning smile just to put the icing on the cake.

Willow saw the girl move to get up and leave and chuckled to herself. Most people endured her verbal abuse for a bit longer, though this girl did seem softer than most. At that moment a commercial break started, and Willow, getting tired of the sound of speakers about to blow, lowered the volume a few notches. Commercials aren’t that important anyway, she thought with a smirk, thinking about her faux hearing impairment.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy sighed as her plan backfired, sending the whole thing backwards. She didn't like these kinds of people, the ones that thought that they were the best, and no one else should be allowed to even be around them. But then, she was here, and that didn't seem to sit well with the dark-haired girl. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to match anyone in a battle of insults, especially someone apparently so skilled, she didn't even bother trying to figure out an insult.

Just then, the commercials came on, and the girl finally turned down the volume to a more bearable level, although it was still loud to Amy's ears. She glanced down at Wolf, checking that the dog was still comfortable, then leaned back in her chair, doing her best to ignore the noise coming from the television, now blaring on and on about the newest toothpaste. She flipped through the pages of Twilight, trying to find the spot where she had left off previously, since she hadn't marked it earlier. Finally, she found her page, and shifting slightly for a more comfortable position, she started reading again, trying to tune out the noise that was still coming from the TV.

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Willow smiled to herself as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl sit back down to stay a bit longer. There she sat, in silence. Willow knew that she was upsetting the girl – that is, after all, the point of her rude remarks – and she knew on some level that what she was doing was wrong and she should probably feel bad, but spending years working toward distancing oneself from others and detaching oneself from reality can do questionable things to one’s moral compass. Anyway, she was sure the girl had at least one friend who would lick her wounds and whatnot.

As the commercial break ended and the cop show came back on, Willow considered raising the volume once again, but she wasn’t too keen on getting permanent ear damage. And besides, she was pretty sure she had made her point. At any rate, the show would be ending soon and she would leave, having nothing else to watch, and that would be that. But until then…

She turned her head to get a glimpse of what the girl was actually reading. Catching sight of a recognizable black cover with the hands and the apple, Willow couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. ”Twilight? You go to a school with a library bigger than my town’s town hall and you choose Twilight? What’s next, Fifty Shades of Grey?” She let out a laugh and turned back around to the TV, but quickly turned back to face the girl. ”On second thought, Fifty Shades of Grey has some… well, adult content that I simply don’t think you’re ready for.  You need a certain level of maturity for that kind of a book.” Willow winked, a smirk shaping her lips, and turned back to her show, once again chuckling to herself.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy was enjoying the book that she was reading, for all of the flak that she knew it had gotten. It was a simple plot to follow, for all that there were antagonists, but that was the sort of thing she enjoyed. Surprises in any form, while for other people enjoyable, for her were the deterrent from most books. Attacks, especially, were hard to read, because she couldn't go over them without reliving that day in her memory. The memory, though, was nothing compared to what she knew had happened, mercifully.

The girl had turned her attention back to Amy, and she put her finger into the page, marking it, looking up at the dark-haired girl, shrugging, "It caught my eye, and I don't particularly enjoy the textbooks and journals that make up three-fourths of the library." As the girl turned away, Amy hoped that it was over, but the next comment surprised her. Shaking her head, she murmured, "No one would ever guess," her voice low enough that the girl might not catch it. And why should they? Scars weren't always physical, but rather mental, and those were the ones that kept her chained to the 'safe' books, the ones that didn't deal with anything even remotely close to what she had been through.

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Willow, who enjoyed the time she spent reading, thought of all the love novels that she, at least, would choose over Twilight - Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible... She was a fan of classics, and maybe felt more comfortable reading a story with an ending that wasn't so black and white. In any case, the writing itself was more intriguing to her. Something about a girl throwing herself at a vampire and wanting to live forever with him turned her off. Willow didn't want to live forever with anyone. Willow didn't want to live a day with anyone. Besides, what's the point of life if not to live before you die? "YOLO," Willow said under her breath, laughing inaudibly at the phrase she was mocking coined by hipsters that meant "you only live once," the excuse they, and Willow at times when trying to be ironic, used as an excuse for bad decisions.

"That still leaves one fourth, which in that library is probably a solid 5,000 if I'm not grossly underestimating, for fiction, and of those thousands of books, you choose Twilight?" Willow laughed condescendingly as she watched the girl mutter something under her breath. "What was that?" Willow asked, at first interested, thinking the girl's inaudible comment would give her another angle to come at her from. But then, the credits started rolling for her cop show. "You know what, I don't even care," Willow decided while shutting off the TV and getting up to leave. She stood, glanced at the girl who had only just endured the torture Willow's attitude has been known to cause, and took a few steps toward the exit shaking her head. As she reached the doorway, she turned back around for one last comment. "Some advice - you may want to grow a thicker backbone," Willow said, her voice demeaning as ever, winking at the girl one last time before she left to finish off her day in peace, alone.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy went back to reading as the girl seemed to debate over the book, then shrugged as she heard the girl's approximation of the books, "Sounds about right." It wasn't a huge library by any means, she knew, although it was bigger than the one in Attica, but despite her many choices, she was enjoying the book, "I wanted to figure out what the hype was about." After all, there had been enough uproar over the books, and she hadn't even thought to look at them until she had seen the cover in the library.

She shook her head as the dark-haired girl asked about what she had said, "Nothing." It wasn't really for the other girl, either, because it would have required far more explanation than she wanted to go into right now, especially with this girl, but then, the other girl hadn't cared anyway.

She was considering leaving, the TV show fraying at her nerves even more than the girl that was watching it, but just then, the TV was turned off, and the other girl rose to leave. Amy was about to relax as the girl approached the door, but then she spoke again. Amy shrugged at the advice, knowing it was another jab, but the girl was gone, and Amy returned to her book in peace.