I couldn’t sleep, it was 3am the day of the Autumn Festival. I had spent the entire day before practising and practising in the music room, away from all the people. I was allowed to take time off lessons to practise, and everyone had today off and were invited to the festival.

I kept tugging at my sheets and tossing and turning so much I had pulled the end out, leaving me with my feet exposed, giving up, I tossed the sheets aside and went to sit in the warm glow of the heat lamp. Colin was long since asleep in his bed, dreaming dreams of pyrotechnics I imagine. I pick up the TV remote and turn it on, turning the volume down as to not wake up my neighbours. I left it on the news and grabbed a pillow from my bed, I place it against the wall and sit there, idly watching TV until I felt drowsy enough to fall asleep there.

My plans quickly backfired when a breaking news segment popped up, and I was bombarded with pictures of me on the screen.

“New mythical creature sighted! Zombie living amongst your children?” I jumped up, any thoughts of sleep vanishing. The school was sworn to secrecy, for the most part. No media was allowed in at all. None of these shots were from our excursion to the shopping centre either. I’m panicking at this point, the sensationalist media are going to storm this place. I’ll probably be the talking point of all sorts of nasty people.

I quickly picked up the tablet and sent an urgent message to Principal Rockford. Whilst typing I heard more of the story on the TV.

“These photos were leaked to the press from an anonymous source and shows a Zombie-like girl at a college in the south of England. We’ve yet to find out specifically where, but for the sake of your children we shall endeavour to find out so you can be rest assured of their safety, or take the necessary precautions to protect them”

Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! I’m so boned. I’m gonna be lynched. I hear a tap at my window just as I hit send on my emergency message. I open the curtains slightly and see Leo there, bathed in the green glow of my eyes. They look more nervous and twitchy than before.

“I-I-I’m sorry to wake you but have you- -you seen the news” I nod, taking Leo’s arm and tugging them inside. It had been raining and Leo was soaked to the bone.

“I appreciate you coming, but you didn’t need to come Leo”

“B-b-but!” they were shivering.

“I’m okay” I lied “Lets get you warmed up” I turned off the TV and ushered them into my bathroom. “Pass me your clothes and I’ll try and dry them off” they nod and I bring the door, waiting to be passed the damp clothes. I glance at the black screen of the TV, seeing my face reflected in the green flow. I grimace, wondering if it was better off I had never come back at all. All my existence does is put burdens on others…

A tear rolls down my face, travelling in a groove left by a scar on my cheek. Another reminder of how broken I am. I wipe it away. Piece by piece Leo’s clothes get placed through the gap in the door and I lay them out near the heat lamp. I hear the shower start in the bathroom and I relax, Leo won’t freeze to death on my watch…

..I blinked awake at the feeling of someone rubbing my shoulder.

“Sylvie! You okay?” It was Nurse Jousset. “I’ve seen the news, Principal Rockford sent me to check up on you” I see Leo behind her, looking through from the bathroom. I pick up the tablet that I’d dropped when I fell asleep.

“Leo its okay, you can come out”

“Leo?” Nurse Jousset says, sound confused. The door behind her creaks open, revealing a dressed and showered Leo.

“Nurse, this is Leo from my music and english classes, they came out to me as non-binary a few days ago”

“But? If that so, you didn’t-” she stutters “You- -didn’t look like that before?”

“I’m-” These two can’t get a sentence out, bloody hell. “-a shapeshifter” Leo shifts into bird form for a moments before shifting back to their new normal form.

“Oh- I’ve heard rumours of your kind existing. Now I get to deal with two newly discovered mythical folk such as yourself” She shakes her head, seeming to remember what she is there for. “Anyway! I’m glad to see you’re alright Sylvie. Rockford would have killed me if you had been hurt” She helps me up onto my feet and directs me towards my bed before turning around to Leo.

“So, Leo, what are you doing here?”

“I-c-came to check up on Sylvie, I saw the news and-”

“I see, thank you. I’ll make sure she is safe now” I mmrrrr in muffled agreement from face down in my bed.

“Oh-okay. Goodnight Sylvie” I sit up and wave goodbye, trying to give them my most reassuring smile. Once they were gone, Nurse Jousset closed the window and the curtains and sat down on the edge of my bed.

“The Principal is going to order for added security for tomorrow’s event, and we shall assign someone to keep a close eye on you in case anything slips through the net” I shake my head

“I don’t think the latter will be necessary, I’ll stick close to Erina. Plus I’ve got a performance to do”

“Okay, send me a message if you get anything like a panic attack or something okay?” she stood and took one look at me, lying on my bed. I was feeling drowsy already. “Get some sleep Sylvie”

“Mmrrhh” I purred, slowly drifting off to sleep as I hear the door open and close, the door locks quickly engaging afterwards.

***

I woke up a little later than normal, but not enough to be late to anything. I grab the tablet and shoot off a message to Erina, asking her if she was on campus already. Whilst waiting for a response, I went and got dressed, deciding on a long white skirt and a striped blue sweater. I looked into the mirror and poked at my cheeks, inducing a smile. A reminder to myself that I should be happy, not sad.

The tablet bleeped out a notification noise as I finish up.

Erina Harley: I’m flying up to see you now.

A few moments later there is a knock on the window and I open the curtains to see her there, at full wingspan, blowing light fire onto her hands to warm them up. I slide it open and greet her with arms outstretched.

“Your bodyguard is here!” she accepts my hug, her warm hands resting on my shoulders. “Lets go eat!” I bring her in after she retracts her wings and lock the window door. And we make our way down normally. I didn’t want to cause a scene down there. The college was bustling with people, there were usually only a small amount of people about at any one time but it looked like pretty much everyone was here.

There were grilles firing under canopies and the pathways were littered with brown and amber leaves, the glass front of the library gleams in the sun, despite it providing not much warmth. People huddled together if they couldn’t find other sources of warmth, there was heated outside seating to be used and the chatter was loud. Quite a few people saw me and offered their sympathies for the news. I came to the conclusion there and then that the muzzle, the muzzle was the root of at least a good few of my social issue. It made me look like I would bite, now it was established at least amongst my student peers that I wouldn’t, I was much happier and so were they it seemed.

We queued up with a set of reusable plates to the BBQ which was run by Mr Lawrence, it took half an hour for our turn to roll around and he lights up with his characteristic grin.

“Ah Sylvie! I’ve been looking forwards to seeing you!” he turns around and picks up a huge meat platter that had been sizzling away on a grille behind. “I’ve been saving my best for my favourite student. I’m not a teacher I’m allowed to have favourites!” he throatfully chuckles, rubbing his belly. He really was a gentle giant of a man. He grabs a pair of tongs and lowers some onto my plate and some onto Erina’s. “Condiments are around the corner, as well as rolls if you want some” I nod a thanks before I salivate in front of everyone. I move away quickly to find a space to sit and eat, Erina in tow.

“I remember we met on a lunch break didn’t we?” Erina trots quickly up to walk alongside me. “That was about a month ago now, how time flies” we sit down at one of the benches close to the library, as I go to take a bite out of my food I see Cadence, who I hadn’t seen for a while now come to think of it, enter the main hall building. I was curious but not worried, she’d probably just call me an idiot or something if I tried to talk to her.

We spent a couple of hours there, eating good food and listening to music over the tannoy, it had just gone 3pm when the music faded away and the tannoy lit up with a crackly male voice.

“Can all of those involved in the performance report to Mr Klien Forest backstage”

“Thats my call Erina” I give her a little wave.

“I’ll be by to watch when they call us in!” she does a mock salute. “You’ll knock ‘em dead”

I turn away and make my way towards the hall, patting my bag with my dress tucked nicely away in it. I hope I blow any doubts away, I’m still worth existing. I’m sure of it.