Battling Against Consternation
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On a white wall bare of any other trinkets, a lone clock ticked against the heavy silence, its steady rhythm a deafening beat against the midsummer heat. The constant hum of a fan accompanied it and provided meager comfort for the room's singular inhabitant.
A girl, no taller than five feet-one, lounged on the wooden ground, resting on her stomach. A blue book lay at the space beneath her chin as her neck strained from the constant effort of keeping her eyes aloft. Legs bent upward from the knees, feet danced absently in the air.
The tranquility, however forced it might be, was halted by a short, sudden tune. She looked up from her battered book, startled by the familiar melody. She waited a moment before hoisting herself up from the floor and walking to the sound's origin. Reluctant, though strangely excited, she bent and dug through the mess of discarded term papers hindering her search.
It's a slim chance, she thought, that it was from... from him, and not from some programmed machine working out of duty. It was a slim chance, yet she hoped anyway.
A black screen greeted her when she picked the device up from the nest of scattered notes. Aligning her thoughts to the tempo of the ignored clock, the girl mentally counted: one... two... thr—
A small, cerulean circle of light flashed from the right-hand corner of the phone's screen. It indicated that, yes, there really was something for her. Eyebrows rose, lips pursed.
The girl pushed a button and opened the message.
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A/N: It isn't exactly obvious, and I'm not sure if I even did it right, but this is a tribute to the awesomeness that is Beneath the Lilac Tree by archangelBBQ! (Go read it now now now.) This short vignette is set at some point during the timeskip between the first and second chapter.
P.S. The blue book I had in mind was Eragon, by the way. A redundant detail, but I wanted to let you guys know.