Chapter 10

Lucy woke up bright and early in the morning, miraculously she woke up on the bed with her pajamas on. She had no memory of putting them on and had no clue of when she had moved to sleeping in her bed. Her body ached and there were thick strips of bandages on her head Where did these bandages come from? she thought puzzled I don't remember anything! she thought frustrated My head and throat burn like fire! Lucy had a pained expression as she removed the bright pink duvet that covered her then saw more strips of these wrappings on her calves and thighs. She slowly got up to the scent of her mother's famous French Toast and milk tea. She limped to the washroom and a while after she limped right out "Moooom!" she tried to yell but her voice came all squeaky like an unoiled machine "Are you there?!" silence, then came a furious thumping from the stairs, her mother appeared

"Lucy! Why did you walk out of your bedroom?! You should have called me from your bedroom!" her mother looked angry "I'm sorry mom" Lucy apologized "I thought I could do it on my own but I forgot about the stairs" her mom's face softened "Oh sweetie..." she wailed sympathetically "Here, go in your room and I'll get you breakfast" Lucy's mom offered her an arm and Lucy with her mother's help went back into her room. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and turned it on as soon as the home-screen appeared Lucy's mom came with a tray that contained a steaming mug of milk tea, 2 slices of french toast and with a side of freshly washed berries "Mom! This is a feast fit for a bride!"

Her mom smiled touched her cheek affectionately "This is not enough for my sweet little princess" "Mooom" she drawled, rolling her eyes "I'm fourteen, not six" but she still smiled. Lucy then peered down at the food and frowned "Ummm ma I don't think... I can eat all this" Lucy's mother replied "You're not in good shape right now, so I think it's best to eat" she took the plate from the tray and said "Here" and placed the plate on her lap "And also, Lucy... I have to talk to you" Lucy immediately knew what she was talking about and gulped "Lucy, tell me... what happened yesterday?"

All was still as the clock measured the amount of time being lost until her mother repeated: "Lucy... what happened?" Lucy slid the toast off the glass plate and bit the bread More silence, pictures of that horrible day came to mind 'No one's goin' to save you now kitty' 'Which one? The easy way or the hard way?' "Nothing, ma," she said and took a sip of the warm milk tea "Nothing?! That's what you can tell me?! Her mother shouted irritated then calmed down "Lucy, please tell me the truth" Lucy then startled, popped a blueberry in her mouth, spoke stuttering "I-Its... I-Its" swallowing the mushed berry she said 'M-Ma i-it was horrible" and the dam inside her broke

"Lucy..." her mother trailed patting her back "Oh mom... you wouldn't believe what happened" she said sobbing, her face burried in her hands Layla Heartphillia stood up and took the tray and the plate from her then settled it on the nearby table. After Lucy's cries and Layla comforting her daughter, Lucy calmed down and finally spoke "Mom... What they did to me was terrible" Lucy's mother's eyes widened "Lucy, Did they-" "No they didn't" Lucy interrupted "Luckily that didn't happen" the house was incredibly still that no sound did pierce it until "So what did happen, Lucy" And so Lucy told her mother the ambush to the kidnapping and all the way to her combative escape.

But then paused just after the unfortunate re-capture Should I tell her that I met a guy named Natsu who unexpectedly saved me? she thought about it and realized that it wouldn't be a problem if only her mom knew it but her mother would soon pass it on to her father which is not a good thing, her father can go Jesus to Satan real quick. "Lucy?" her mother asked her head cocked to the side, Lucy came out of the belly of her deep thoughts and her vision zoomed over to her mom "Oh yeah um and then when he started to strangle me I kicked him deep in the groin and he passed out"

She started to explain "Then I beat them all up and ran away" her voice rattled it was hard to lie but it came out flowing like honey Because your used to lying Lucy a sinister voice rang in her mind Shut up she said and faced her mother meanwhile she faced her thoughts Layla was blooming in the inside and was brimming with pride and joy My Lucy fought against those horrid beasts all by herself! and thanked the heavens that she had come home safe and sound. She found Lucy on the couch with many wounds and scratches, the most terrible ones were the swollen throat and the bruised head

Then she had patched her up and carried her over to the bed and put on another change of clothes, after she settled her in the bed had kissed her forehead goodnight. Lucy mom's played this scene in her head again and again she still couldn't believe that Lucy had beaten them up and escaped, something wasn't right there was a puzzle piece missing in this picture but she believed her because... Mum! I'm sorry! I have to do this! she shook her head No, this is something from her past... I shouldn't think about that day... "Hey mom, What time is it?" Lucy asked "Huh, Oh 10:55 " Layla replied

"Oh no! I probably missed a lot of work!" Lucy pouted she got up slowly resting on of her hands on the bed then walked towards her vanity and removed the hairbrush from the surface but she couldn't stretch all the way to brush her hair but her mother already ran to Lucy to help her "Lucy, here let me brush your hair" Lucy said "Its ok mom I'll try one more time" so she stretched little more and the bristles clung to her hair she slowly pulled the hair down but her hair had many tangles and the brush couldn't move "Lucy" Layla said grabbing the brush "Let me do this"

Lucy sat on the bed her back facing her mom and Layla brushed her hair slow and steady taking two strands from the front she braided them and clipped them to the back making a sort-of braided crown-like band. The pain wasn't as severe as yesterday so Lucy thought she could survive one school day so she ordered her mom "Ma I have to go to school, now" Layla objected "No way Lucy! Your going to go like this?! How will the school look at you?" Lucy huffed "I don't care" Layla warned "Don't say that only someone who doesn't have a heart says those terrible three words" "Mom do I go to school for me or for my classmates" Her mother sighed "No Lucy, It's not only for the classmates I'm also thinking about you"

Layla continued "Can you bear the pain for the whole day?" Lucy responded "Mooom, I'm not staying for the whole day, Its only half" she looked at her phone "If I hurry up, I can get there before lunch starts" her mother groaned and reluctantly agreed to let Lucy attend half day "Okay Lucy, I'll help you get you get ready but you better finish the whole plate or else..." Lucy was too excited "Okay! Okay! I'll finish!" and she gobbled the two pieces of bread, the mug of lukewarm tea and the bowl of berries in matter of minutes "Alright, Lucy lets get you ready for school"

And so, Lucy got ready for school in a slow and steady pace and with the help of her mother she had gotten down from the stairs but before Lucy could step out of the house "Okay Lucy I'm coming too" Layla Heartphilia slung her black handbag over her shoulder "What?! Why are you coming?!" Lucy asked "Why? Don't you have stairs in your school? I don't think you can run up the stairs with those flimsy legs" she said pointing her roughly bandaged legs "So I'm telling the principal to grant you special permission to access the elevator"

"Oh... Okay" Lucy and her mom arrived at the school entry doors in the middle of lunch some students eyed Lucy and whispered to their neighbors while others mostly snickered past them but her mother didn't seem to realize that this was happening "Lucy hon, Lets go to talk to the principal" They entered in and saw the most adorable little girl in the office chair typing she had magnificent pale blonde and wavy hair as if someone had mixed a tad bit of butter in snow she also had a wing shaped clips on both sides of her head Lucy was confused What's a little girl doing in a high school?

Lucy looked at her mother and she seemed confused as well but Layla managed to say "Hello, Is this Ms. Vermillion?" the little girl said "Oh yes, that's me" Lucy and Layla gave each other a look the little girl looked at them and sighed "Guess what's my age" she said in a dead voice "Twelve" they both replied but Lucy said "Wait...no eight" Layla nodded the little girl face palmed herself "Wrong... your not even close" Lucy asked "Your even younger than that?!" the little girl shook her head left to right "No... actually I'm twenty nine years old turning thirty in December"

Lucy and Layla were astounded their jaws had dropped they both looked at each other with absolute shock "Twenty nine?!" they both roared Ms. Vermillion looked pleased as if she expected this all along her mood turned to the sunny side and said "Well enough about that, I see your daughter is really wrapped up here" she looked at the strips of bandages on Lucy's body "I guess you need to go to the principal Mr. Makarov" she smiled and said "Don't worry about whatever your going to ask about, Old Makarov is a jolly fellow, go on" she stood up on the chair to get a good look at their faces

She beamed at them and beckoned them to come in "Go inside" Lucy noticed that she wore a pink frilly blouse and white mini skirt that went quite well with her appearance and so she and her mom went to Mr. Makarov of course slow and steady