Disclaimer: Not very inspired to say something witty so, not mine

2. Off Balance

A soft knock on the door woke Lucy from where she had fallen asleep. She had slept huddled against the door, an uncomfortable sleep when exhaustion took over her.

Blinking bleary eyes, she sat up, a little disoriented. Then the aches from the previous night crashed upon her. She stifled a grunt of pain as another knock was heard, a female voice calling out, "Miss Lucy, it's time to wake up. May I come in?"

It was Tilai, as always, performing their usual morning ritual. Lucy cleared her throat and said back, "I'm awake! I'm coming in a minute…" The sound of the soft footfalls moving made her sigh. She let her forehead rest against the floor. 'At least that came out more steady than I expected…'

Slowly, she crawled to the contiguous bathroom. As every piece of her body ached she had to go even slower. When she finally got to her destination she leaned heavily against the bathtub. Pulling the med-kit from the cabinet under the sink, Lucy worked on her feet, taking off the tiny pieces that were embedded amidst the dry blood at the same time that she grimaced in pain. She cleaned her feet and bandaged them. That's when she faced her first hurdle of the day. 'And how am I supposed to stand now? I doubt that my feet will be able to stand my weight.' She gripped the sink tightly and stood up slowly. A pained yelp escaped her lips as she lost her balance and almost fell to the floor again.

This was already taking too long… Soon they would send someone up here to escort her to the dinner room and see her in this pitiful state. She was not about to worry everybody from the household so she better hurry. She walked back to her room – a bit unsteadily – and sat on the large bed, feeling it bounce slightly with her weight. She let out a small giggle, remembering all the fun stuff that she had shared with her friends back in the day. Now, everything had changed as they had grown up. Bad things had happened, sad things also and an invisible wall that hadn't been there before had started to grow, leaving Lucy more and more isolated. There were lots of people here, with whom she had grown and that she loved them immensely but she knew that the small yet immense difference was there. So she had everybody at arm's length – all the time. Her hopes at having a friend in which she could rely had already been crushed and, at the time, that had been a particularly hard blow for her to deal with.

Lucy shook her head in hopes to dissipate these bad thoughts. She was not going to be able to survive this day if she started it with a defeated attitude. No! She was going down there and act normally. She was stronger than that and it wasn't going to be a thing like the previous night that was going to defeat her. She got up slowly and headed to the closet where she started rummaging through the clothes. It was amazing how it seemed like the closet knew her mood and presented her the suitable clothes for each occasion. It was like… magic…

Lucy grabbed one of her favorite light blue shirts and assorted it with a comfortable pair of black pants. Then she found a pair of really fluffy slippers and put them on. It was hardly a dignified look but she had attained her goal – wearing clothes that made her feel comfortable and safe, at least with the familiarity.

She walked calmly to the dinning room and sat on the other end of the large table, as usual. She wasn't feeling very hungry and just the fact that she was in the same room with – him – made her stomach churn in an unpleasant way…

"Lucy, aren't you feeling well?" these words directed at her startled Lucy from her thoughts and her current action of turning the bread into crumbs.

"Excuse me?" she asked dumbly.

"You haven't eaten anything yet." The man stated with what could be considered concern.

Lucy blinked several times as if trying to make sense of that sentence. 'How can he be asking me that and behaving as if nothing had happened?' The whole environment looked and felt completely familiar and normal but since the previous night, she wasn't about to trust any words. "I'm… I'm fine, just not hungry. May I be excused?" at the small assent she got up and walked with what she hoped was decision and not an attempt of a panicky run.

She didn't return to her room, no, she was going to her secret haven in the gardens. It had been quite a while since she had been there and she could use the space to think.

Lucy headed straight t the kitchen as it was her usual path but then she remembered. Stopping immediately she shifted her weight from foot to foot, in indecision. A sudden sense of fear was sprouting from her. She took a step towards the kitchen to recede two while shaking her head slightly. This was something that she couldn't face, no, not today…

Turning back she went to one of the immense living rooms that had large windowed doors and that headed to the back garden.

As far as she could see the day was running smoothly for everybody, several employees were outside tending the gardens. As she walked Lucy was grumbling under her breath as she could be farther ahead if she had gone straight through the kitchen. But she really couldn't. Even if the kitchen had to be bustling with activity, as much as it comforted her, it was 'tainted' with the prior night's events so she really couldn't go there.

Shrugging off these thoughts Lucy crossed the first garden, greeting people back distractedly. When she got to the tamed grove that they had before the maze, she let go of a sigh. She went straight to her 'secret path' that wasn't almost ever used and came to a stop under one of the willows. To this one she used to call 'The enchanted door' as it was the tree that covered the entrance to her haven. Taking the last couple of steps she brushed off the willow's leaves that were surrounding her, squinting as the lazy sun proved to be too much for her eyes. When she felt comfortable she opened them gradually and took a look around.

Her secret garden was the same as always – and she knew that she could relax here.

Walking to the bench she grabbed the blanket that was hidden amidst the foliage, sat down and covered herself as she felt a little chilly.

With a small sigh she leaned on the wall and looked up. The light-blue sky seemed to be even more distant than usual. That and the foliage walls were also immense. Or maybe this was just a trick created by her sight? Never mind that.

Then she noticed something else, where were the flowers? There used to be small clusters of colorful flowers, here and there, and that brought a little bit of liveliness to the place.

Then she remembered.

That was before, when things were good, not like they were now.

Lucy felt tears threatening to fall from her eyes once again but she blinked them back. 'I thought I had already cried all the tears that I had. Come on, Lucy. Pull yourself together…' she tried to shake herself out of it, in vain.

Surrendering to the loneliness and despair once again Lucy curled up in the blanket and looked at the sky, thinking about the unfairness and solitude.

'Where are you, mother? Now that I need you so much…'

The rustling of the foliage around her almost drowned her sobs.

A/N: Hey! So, I had a little bit of time and wrote this like that. It's still very depressing but I still don't have this story completely thought out so for now I'll just take things slow.

I hope you appreciate the story (by the way, thanks for the feedback) and, if possible, leave a review. ^^