Sophia and Bree (A Slay Inc. story)

Sophia wanted so much to keep saving people and fighting evil, but it was wearing on her and her friends. The constant exposure to evil was affecting her mental health, but she knew her daily life made her stronger. Sometimes she had to be strong for her friends, and her classmates, she had known pain and suffering, and abandonment and loneliness at a young age, and felt so sympathetic to those around her, even feeling their pain. She always wanted to help and could always put herself in the place of a hurting friend. So many of her school friends' parents had divorced, and with so much evidence of how much divorce hurt children, no one seemed to be able to abandon their selfish ways and keep their family together anymore. It was true in her own family, and though she did not know the reasons why, her parents broke apart when she was only about 10 years old. The pain was almost intolerable, she hated both of them, had serious depression, and had to go to counseling. She developed a mental illness from it. But a few years later her mom met someone who really changed her life. It was her new stepfather who taught her how to drive a car, fish, use firearms, use a bow, and work on cars. She spent as much time with him as possible and started to feel better about things. He was like a big kid himself, enjoying the present day and did not worry too much about the future. He just liked to work, be happy, enjoy his hobbies, and helped her do all the things he could do, like welding and working around machinery. Instead of being by herself all the time, she started back with her hobbies and interests. She was intellectual, in the top classes at school, she loved science and art. And guy things. Guy things were the best. She was a country girl at heart after all.

Her new stepmother was a complete narcissist …. She felt like Cinderella. She had been through so much the past several years she could emphasize with almost anyone going through a hard time. Her heart went out to the lonely, the abused, the broken hearted. She counseled and prayed for and helped as many as she could.

You would think that someone who battles demons and monsters would feel confident in saving those around her. But it was the opposite… she was terrified that someone would be overlooked or forgotten or not noticed around her. Right now she knew a girl at school who was getting beat up and bullied. By older, meaner girls. She had broken up a few of the incidents just by being present, and had to step in one time just to keep her from being harmed. But the girl would just take off and not let Sophia talk to her. She noticed some cut marks on the girl's arm, and was alarmed. Whenever she could she would just keep an eye out on her. And the school system was no help at all. She did not even know her name.

Sophia got to school, and was hoping to see or hear from Nico today. They both had rough nights last night. Nico was in Europe and she was fighting demons with Rue. You don’t get much sleep on those nights. It did help because Rue, truly a supernatural being, could time travel and she was able to cut down the hours some. She wasn’t allowed to do that alot, but it helped when she could. It consumed a lot of energy.

She was dismayed pretty quickly when she got to homeroom. The girl she wanted to help was in the hospital, after an altercation with some other girls. They had ambushed her and taken out their hatred on her. Sophia didn’t know why they did this so much. The girl was bi-racial, but so were many other students. She was quiet and artsy, and wrote stories and poems. But Sophia was that way too and no one really bothered her. So it was a mystery. Sophia thought maybe she could now go visit her and talk. She was hoping that finally the school would do something. “I don’t belong here”, she thought.

After school, she tried to reach Nico, but couldn’t. She went to the hospital hoping to speak to her. More dispair, the girl had tried to commit suicide and was in surgery. Now it seemed to Sophia that she really needed to reach this girl. She knew she would go to a mental hospital and be out of reach really soon. So she waited around hoping to get a chance to talk to her. She watched the room and waited till she got wheeled in. her hands were tied to the sides of the bed so she couldn’t harm herself again. The nurses left, and the girl finally was alone again. Loneliness was probably what got her here in the first place. The girl had dried tear marks running down her face. Sophia entered the room, and the girl turned her way. She recognized Sophia from the previous times she had helped her. She broke down and cried again. Sophia and she talked for a long time. Sophia promised to be her friend and help her in school and be someone to talk to. She finally found out her name, Bree. Bree really needed a new friend. She had moved here a year ago and had not made any friends yet. Her parents were not around much, always working. They were supposed to be on their way to the hospital. Sophia held one of her hands and bowed her head. They cried some more, but Sophia thought Bree would be better now. Sophia promised to be there anytime Bree needed. It helped Sophia too, because sometimes she needed to be able to talk to someone, someone not involved with monsters. But she did not know, it would not be long before Bree got involved in that too.