Hey bby hru?

Tired, I can't sleep.

Nitemares?

Nah, just my insomnia this time.

U gonna write 2nite?

Probably. Might just watch some porn and hope I pass out.

Send me link?

I haven't found anything good yet. Gimme a few minutes to look.

KK.

Alice smiled at Claire's late night texts. As usual, her grammar and spelling were atrocious. She wasn't a writer like Alice, she was more hands on and visual.

So, scrolling through more porn in the vain hope of something catching her eye, Claire suddenly sent another text.

Btw...

What is it? Alice was quick to reply, raising an eyebrow.

I love you.

Alice's face broke into the first smile since she'd gotten home. Hell, Claire even took the extra three seconds to spell everything properly and even added a period at the end.

I love you too, Claire-bear.

Alice suddenly jolted awake as her phone's alarm blared in her outstretched hand. She somehow managed to fall asleep, she thought with a bit of surprise. She quickly dismissed the song that played to wake her up, Doki Doki Morning, by Babymetal, and threw her blankets off her legs before heading into one of the very few privileges she possessed at home.

Her own bathroom.

Alice's house's entire basement was custom built by the previous owner, and it currently had two purposes. The first, which was the main reason, was storage. About half of the whole basement was devoted to storage. The other half could best be described as a basement apartment designed to accommodate a single person. That person, of course, was Alice.

There was a full bathroom, a fairly small bedroom, a nice sized living room, and a small kitchenette, complete with sink, mini fridge and microwave. She also had her own coffee machine.

Of course, it was also partitioned from the rest of the basement by a sturdy door. So in a sense, it was a separate world, just for her.

After her morning shower, Alice covered herself with a towel and padded across the living room to turn on her Keureg machine, making herself a coffee with rigorous scheduling. By the time she was finished getting herself dressed for school, the coffee was just beginning to pour into her travel mug.

As usual, she took a sip to invigorate herself for the worst ten minutes of her day...

"Alice, get up here!"

Alice wasn't even out of her apartment when her mother's angry voice called from the top of the stairs. She sighed as she opened the sturdy door and quickly locked it behind her. Sherry wasn't allowed in there for any reason, but that rule didn't seem to stop her from trying to sneak inside and stealing - or planting - things that shouldn't be.

Alice slowly trudged up the basement staircase, finding her mother already glaring at her for no explicable reason.

"Medication! Now!" She snapped, and Alice reached into her inner jacket pocket and produced the two medication bottles from inside.

"Take them."

With practiced ease, Alice popped the lids off with her thumb, shaking out the proper dosage onto the top of her coffee's travel mug and then skillfully resealing the bottles as her mother counted the pills.

"Good, now swallow them, and show me."

Alice did as she was ordered, swallowing the medication without needing to drink her coffee. She didn't react as her mother grabbed her jaw with one hand and forced it open, feeling around inside her mouth with two fingers.

"Walk Sherry to the bus stop."

"I'm already late myself." Alice dared to inform her mother about the circumstances. "She's fine to walk on her..."

SMACK!

Her mother slapped her before she could even finish the sentence.

"She's twelve!"

"You didn't seem to care about this exact scenario when I was ten." Alice glared at her mother defiantly. "So the brat can walk her damn self. I am already late, and last time I checked, I'm paying to go to school, she's not."

"Don't you dare take that tone with me, you fucking retard." Her mother got aggressively close to Alice, who started to see red.

"Don't you dare call me that..." She spoke in a low voice, her face a livid scowl. "You have no idea what I've been through."

"You're nothing but a filthy fucking lying retard. You put your father in prison with your need for attention."

WHAM!

Alice did it. She punched her mother as hard as she could, causing the older woman's head to turn from the impact.

"He raped me." Alice spoke in an icy calm voice, even though her heart and mind were absolutely racing. "He took advantage of me and he got caught. You're next, I swear to god, I will tear you down if it's the last thing I do."

"You don't have the guts." Her mother glared at her, unwilling to admit that Alice's punch actually hurt her.

"Watch me." Alice smirked before shoving her mother aside and leaving the house.

Chris and Claire arrived within ten minutes, and all it took from them was one glance to know that school was the last thing of Alice's mind. She'd been sitting at their usual meeting place out of sight of her mother, crying her eyes out.

"C'mon, I'll call your professors." Claire helped her stand up the second she got out of Chris' car. "It's gonna be alright, babe. I'm right here."

"I understand, thank you, Miss Redfield. I will email Miss Abernathe today's lecture notes. Goodbye." Alice's professor slowly hung up the phone, letting out a sigh.

After a moment, he brought up Alice's file on his computer, reading through the provided medical information until he came across a very important portion of her psychological analysis.

"PTSD... Severe anxiety... depression... Sensory Integration Disorder, Interment Explosive Disorder, history of violence towards peers. Oh my..." He came to a sudden realization.

"You wanna head back to our place for some more Payday?" Claire asked as they ate breakfast at a local diner.

"No, I..." Alice stared at her simple breakfast solemnly. "I really wanted to go to class today."

"Wasn't today your presentation?" Chris asked, his arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm to comfort his distraught girlfriend.

"Yeah, and you both know how much time I put into that, even with the fucking Dragon breathing down my neck every five seconds." Alice frowned in defeat.

The Dragon was the nickname for Alice's mother, because she thought she was this all powerful being that had all the knowledge in the world.

"Well, your professor said that since you're not in the right headspace today, he's willing to postpone the presentation for whenever you're ready." Claire explained her conversation with the teacher from earlier. "He won't even remove marks for this either."

Alice sighed with relief, closing her eyes as she allowed her head to lean on Chris' shoulder. "C-can we just... go back to your place for now?"

"After you eat." Claire replied sternly. "It's so unusual to see you not eating the food we put in front of you."

"I just..." Alice felt awkward about her lack of appetite. The stress from dealing with her mother had robbed her of the ability to eat, her mouth was dry and her hands were shaking again.

"'Scuse me, miss? Can we get this to go?" Claire hailed a passing waitress, who whisked away the food before Alice could blink.

"Uh..." Alice gawked at the suddenly cleared table as Claire smiled coyly at her.

"You better finish that bacon in the car, is that understood, missy?"

Alice hung her head instinctively. It sounded too much like an order from the Dragon, even though she knew Claire would never do that to her. Ever. She nodded without a word.