Showing off the extent of Ayala's injuries and revealing some future troubles :c

Also. Am most likely going to slow my updating schedule down a bit? Either once or twice a week. I'm thinking every Sunday and Wednesday, with the chapters going up early on .

10.6-(Extra) A Moment of Thought

Seven missed calls. Seven voicemails. All from the same person. That was what Ayala discovered upon taking a moment to check her phone. Admittedly she was not surprised. The person in question was prone to fretting over her. The first call had been made a few hours ago, when she normally would have gotten up to start her day. Thus far it looked like an additional call had been made every half hour or so.

A sort of tired sigh escaped her lips as she unlocked her phone. She wasn't ready to address this particular issue just yet - but she also wasn't going to pretend that it didn't exist.

A text would do for now. Something to reassure her friend that she was alright and that she would call him soon.

""Hey, sorry. I forgot my phone downstairs when I went to bed last night. Had a few mishaps. I'm going to take a shower real quick. I'll call you once I'm out.""

The text was short and to the point. Enough to at least put her friend's mind at ease for long enough to allow her to have a proper wash.

Though, additional issues soon arose.

Her arm was killing her. Namely her shoulder. The slightest movement sent jolts of pain rushing through her. Ergo, trying to get out of her shirt and bra was going to be a process.

Realistically she should be asking for help, but she didn't quite trust the animatronics.

Sun probably wouldn't hurt her. He seemed genuine in his concern. Moon on the other hand was probably going to be a problem. More of a problem, realistically. The entire reason she was hurt to begin with was because of him.

Still, she would have to grit her teeth and bear it. Pulling her shirt up and over her head absolutely wasn't an option. She had to resort to a process of awkward squirming in order to get out of her shirt.

She wriggled her good arm out of her shirt, which allowed her to get her bad arm free with relative ease.

That was when she inevitably noticed the state of her body. Specifically the bruising. All around her shoulder was a ring of dark, purple-blue markings. Evidence of the injury from the night before. There was also an obvious, hand shaped bruise on her arm just above her wrist. Admittedly this bruise had been in clear view from the moment that she woke up. The problem was that she had been so overly distracted by the chaos that she had failed to pay it any mind. Her shoulder was also visibly swollen. Most likely a reaction to the traumatic injury sustained the night before. At least now she fully understood why moving had made her feel so miserable.

Moon really had come dangerously close to ripping her arm off - or at least that was how it looked. She had been shoved face down onto the Livingroom floor. Some level of pain was present in her chest region when she breathed.

Were there additional bruises on her chest just waiting to make their way to the surface?

What about her back? Was there a massive, hand shaped bruise on her back from where Moon had held her down? As it were, she couldn't twist about enough to even attempt to check.

Tentatively she reached to touch the bruising on her shoulder, wincing at the inevitable pain that came from the contact. An injury like this would be hard to hide with the amount of issues that needed to be dealt with.

She had only picked up enough groceries to get her through a day or two.

Her car was an absolute mess and was in dire need of repairs, thanks to a certain raccoon. Chances were that even getting back into her usual work routine was going to be difficult.

Someone was inevitably going to notice her injury. There was no chance of keeping it hidden. So a valid excuse was going to need to be thought up. She was going to have to pass everything off as a wild accident - if that was even a legitimate possibility.

There were bandages in her luggage. Maybe if she wrapped up her hand and wrist, she could fib somewhat and claim that she had cut herself on something. She had been tired when she arrived at home.

The animatronics had just been a forgotten surprise. They had been waiting in the room nearest the top of the stairs, and came to introduce themselves upon taking notice of her presence. In her tired state, she had completely forgotten about them having been delivered. She panicked and took a bit of a tumble down the stairs. The cut on her hand and the injury on her opposite arm were a result of trying to catch herself on the way down.

A farfetched story full of holes, but the best story that she could come up with for the time being. Something that she could elaborate on with enough time to think and to plan.

That could wait. Creating an elaborate string of partial truths and lies could wait.

Her body felt gross. The gentle caress of the water cascading over her would help dull the pain, if only for a while.

Getting out of the rest of her clothes was easier, overall. Not pain free, but not as difficult. The clothes she'd chosen to change into would also be easy to put on. A button up shirt with long sleeves would help cover everything up.

The water used to clean her body was hot. Near scalding. The heat and the sensation of the water rattling her flesh helped to numb the pain.

Admittedly, she lost track of time at some point. She also went from standing to sitting. Initially she had only sat down to make cleaning her legs easier. Then she just failed to force herself to stand back up.

Ergo, a lot of excess time was spent just sitting under the running water. Still, she inevitably had to get out of the shower.

Getting back on her feet was a bit difficult, but she managed.

The heat had done its job.

Drying off proved more difficult, but she did what had to be done.

Whatever needed to be done, was inevitably done.

Once she was cleaned, dried, and dressed, it was time to begin making attempts at sorting out the shambles of her life. The first step was to give her friend a call. A few button taps and the phone began to ring.

""Christ that was a long shower. Did you fall asleep again?"" The familiar voice of her friend sounded from the other side of the line. Already, he had a worried and somewhat scolding tone. This conversation was going to be rough.

"No, no. Just... Needed time to decompress, I guess." Ayala replied, sighing internally as she prepared to drop a metaphorical bomb on her friend. Better to just rip it all off at once.
"Okay, so... Logan. Do not. Get mad. I kinda fucked up last night. Those animatronics I ordered were delivered while I was away and I completely forgot they were here. I had a bit of an accident, but don't worry, I'll be fine! Long story short, my car wound up being left open all night and a raccoon tore it up. I'm gonna need to take it in for repairs and I'll need a ride to get a rental." She uttered, more or less word vomiting a mixture of truths and lies while hoping that her friend wouldn't burst a blood vessel in response to everything she had just said.

What followed suit was a disturbingly long period of silence. She hadn't heard the phone hit the floor or anything, so she knew he was still holding it. Which only made her more nervous.

""I'm coming over."" Were the only words Logan uttered before abruptly hanging up his phone. Ayala mentally swore to herself in response to this. She did not bother attempting to call him back, as she knew full well that he wouldn't answer. Now there was another issue for her to deal with. Like attempting to get the animatronics to remain calm while also trying to piece together a semi-believable explanation behind... Everything.