The bell rang at the end of class and Eloise sprung up with a smile. All she had left was one free study period before she could go home to Levi. It was Friday, so she wouldn’t have to leave his side for the whole weekend. 

She clutched her books to her chest as she pictured their reunion. Soon her face flushed red as she imagined all the ways he might show her how much he missed her. When she got home she would definitely provoke him so her thoughts would come true. 

Someday, she would be out of school and the two of them would be married. Then she would never have to leave him. Hm.. was it too early yet to think about marriage? They had been together for almost two months. That shouldn’t be too soon right? Maybe she should start dropping hints for Levi.

Eloise was still lost in her daydreams as she stepped out of the classroom. She almost bumped into someone who got in her way.

“Eloise, if you don’t mind, I’d like to have a little talk with you.”

It was her guidance counselor, Miss Durant. Eloise sunk into her shoulders and hugged her books tighter. She didn’t like this woman. Not one bit. 

She was so nosy. At least the other students would simply whisper amongst themselves and leave her alone, but this woman would constantly harass Eloise. Even worse, she tried to tell Eloise that Levi was bad for her and hurting her. She didn’t know anything! Levi was perfect! 

Eloise recognized that Miss Durant might really think that she’s helping her, but she’s no different from anyone else. She didn’t understand her. No one did except for Levi. Everyone thought that she was crazy and broken. She had been told that so many times, that she had started believing it herself before she met him. 

Miss Durant was the main person who made her think like that. At least most people would keep away, but Miss Durant was worse. She pitied Eloise. Well she doesn’t need the woman’s pity! All she needs is her Levi. If she was really crazy, would Levi still like her? Obviously not! That’s why Eloise knew now that there was nothing wrong with her.

Seeing that Eloise gave her no reply and simply ignored her while she went to her locker, Miss Durant insisted again.

“It will only take a minute. I have something that I think you really need to hear.”

Eloise didn’t believe that for a second. The woman was probably just going to rehash the same lies about her relationship. It made her so mad whenever she said bad things about Levi. 

She puffed out her cheeks and avoided the woman’s overly earnest gaze. However, if she continued to refuse, that would only make Miss Durant bother her for longer. So Eloise gave her a reluctant nod.

“Fine..”

“Wonderful! Just follow me so we can talk somewhere in private.”

Miss Durant led her upstairs to the second floor. That was already unusual. Eloise expected for them to simply step into an empty classroom, but perhaps Miss Durant wanted to talk in her office. However, when they two passed by that door as well, she started to grow suspicious. Something was weird about the situation.

They finally stopped in front of the headmaster’s office at the end of the corridor. Eloise said nothing as she stared at Miss Durant for an explanation. The counselor smiled at Eloise a bit sheepishly.

“I wanted to include the headmaster in the discussion. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. We just need to talk to you.”

Eloise looked at her doubtfully. She hesitated before she slowly reached for the handle. They entered into an elegantly decorated office with a large mahogany desk. Antiques such as tribal masks and an ancient silver letter opener on display showed the headmaster’s fondness for history. 

Four comfortable leather seats had been arranged in front of the desk. When she entered the office, the headmaster was already sitting in one and in another there was an older man with a white coat. The older man had a doctor’s bag on the floor beside him.

Something wasn’t right. Why was she being tricked and lied to if they just wanted her here to talk? Eloise tried to halt her steps and return back the way she came, but Miss Durant blocked her and shut the door behind them.

Eloise scanned her eyes over the three of them one at a time. They were all staring and waiting for her to process what was going on.

“...Why?”

Headmaster Reeves was the first one to speak. He indicated towards the doctor with his hand as he looked at her. 

“Eloise, this is Dr. Sylvain Marion. He is a registered psychiatrist and an expert who can help you with your problems.”

As she looked at the man, he gave a wide grin that made her skin crawl. Something about the way his eyes roamed over her gave Eloise an uncomfortable feeling of familiarity. She had experienced something similar before, but she couldn’t remember when. 

Miss Durant placed a hand on her shoulder. “Eloise, we’re concerned about your obsession with your boyfriend. I’ve already told you before that I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to spend so much time with him, so we invited Dr. Marion to listen in and give his opinion.”

The woman nodded towards the doctor and he just waved his hand dismissively. 

“I’ll just be observing from the side for now. Pretend that I’m not even here.”

Eloise’s expression darkened immediately. She was right. They wanted to try and convince her to break up with Levi again. 

“You’re wasting your time. Levi and I don’t have any problems..”

She hated when people stuck their nose in her and Levi’s life, but at the same time she needed to hold back her anger. They would use it as evidence against her to prove that they weren’t right for each other. 

“Why don’t you start by sitting down so that we can have a proper discussion.” The headmaster motioned towards the chair prepared for her.

Eloise refused it immediately. “No. You said this would only take a minute. I don’t want to stay here long.. I have to get home.”

Headmaster Reeves sighed. “By home you mean your boyfriend’s apartment?”

“We live together so it’s my home too. You have a problem with that?”

She couldn’t help herself but glare at the man. He might be the authority figure in the school, but he didn’t scare her.

Dr. Marion started scribbling something in a notebook while muttering. “Hostile attitude, quick to jump on the defensive..” Miss Durant frowned and the headmaster just nodded in agreement with the observations.

Her eyes narrowed like a feral animal. Were they all stupid? Of course she’s hostile when they treat her like this. Eloise had already heard enough. There was nothing she would get out of continuing this conversation. 

She turned around and tried to leave, but she found the door locked. Her head whipped around towards Miss Durant fast enough to make her hair flair up. The woman locked it when she wasn’t paying attention.

“Let me out.” She pulled on the handle.

Miss Durant spoke softly to try to calm her. “Eloise, please just sit down and talk with us for a little while.. We think it’s for the best if you stay here in the dorms tonight. Once you’ve had a little time away from-”

“No! Let me out!” Eloise shook the door with force, but it still didn’t budge. 

As she yanked on the door, the overhead lights dimmed slightly as if in response to her agitation. Miss Durant didn’t think much of the subtle occurrence and Headmaster Reeves didn’t even notice, however Dr. Marion’s eyes lit up with interest. A wide grin spread across his lips as he leaned forward in his seat.

Headmaster Reeves lost his patience with her and spoke in a firmer tone. “Let go of the door and sit down, now. Your behavior is causing distractions in class, so you need to listen to us and work through your problems.”

His words only made Eloise even more sure that these people had ill intentions. 

“You can’t force me to stay if I don’t want to.” 

The headmaster wore an awkward expression. What she said was true. They couldn’t force her to stay in the dorms since she wasn’t a minor. Miss Durant was equally vexed. It was obvious to her that surprising Eloise like this did not create the right environment to get her to talk amicably. She wondered if they would be better off letting her go now and trying a softer approach. But at the same time, that method hadn’t gotten them any results before.

“What if you can’t go back to him?” Dr. Marion interjected after only observing all this while. “Maybe one day he won’t want to see you anymore.” 

Eloise froze with all of her attention trained on the doctor. Why would he say something like that? That would never happen and she didn’t want to think about something so sad.

Dr. Marion clenched the armrests of his seat and leaned forward further, smiling at the girl as if he knew something that she didn’t. 

“He was the one who asked us to hold this intervention for you. He wants space and you’re smothering him.” 

Eloise pulled her arms in close to her body and took a step away from the doctor. Her pupils shrunk to two tiny pinholes.

“You’re lying.. Levi wouldn’t push me away.”

“I’m afraid that it’s the truth. Isn’t that right Mr. Reeves?” The doctor glanced at the headmaster and gave him a nod to play along.

“It is indeed the case..” The headmaster didn’t understand the point, but still followed the wishes of the psychiatrist. He was the professional in this situation.

Miss Durant appeared hesitant as she watched the two men cooperate. Was it right to lie to her like that? 

“I don’t believe you!” Eloise’s reaction was predictably unnerved. Even though she knew they were lying to her, she didn’t understand why. Did they just want to make her upset?

The doctor continued to push at her sore spot. “Your boyfriend couldn’t wait for us to intervene. He was relieved to finally get some time away from you, even if it’s only for one day.”

“Shut up!” Eloise stomped her foot and glared daggers at the doctor. The lights flickered more intensely than before. This time they were like a candle being blown in the breeze. 

Dr. Marion’s eyes became fanatical as if he had just discovered his new favorite toy. He licked his lips and stood up, encroaching on the girl. Miss Durant shot a questioning glance over at him. Couldn’t he see that this was making things worse?

“It’s only natural. No relationship can keep the spark forever. Some time away will do you good. You’ll need to learn to rely on your own eventually, won’t you? What happens once he’s gone  and you’re all alone? Who knows? Maybe once he’s had one day to himself he’ll want another. And then someday he won’t want you at all.”

Eloise backed herself into the corner of the room. Her eyes darted left and right looking for a way to escape. “Stay away! Let me out right now! Where’s Levi? I want to see Levi..” Her eyes fell on the decorative letter opener sitting in its stand. She grabbed it and brandished it with both hands, pointing it towards them.

Things had spiraled out of control too fast for either Headmaster Reeves or Miss Durant to fully process what was going on. Just a moment ago they were trying to get her to sit down, and all of a sudden the troubled student had a weapon.

Miss Durant inched forward slowly with her hands up to show the girl that she had no intention of hurting her. 

“Eloise, put the knife down.. Someone could get hurt and then you really will be in trouble. We won’t force you to stay, the doctor just wanted to show you how easily you get agitated when he brings up Levi.”

Eloise regained a little of her calm, but it only lasted for a moment. The doctor once again seemed to rile her up intentionally.

“Restrain her! Don’t let her hurt herself.” Dr. Marion motioned to both Miss Durant and the headmaster.

Headmaster Reeves rushed at the girl while she was distracted. He intended to first grab her wrist and pry the antique blade out of her hands. Miss Durant also rushed forward, but she wanted to stop the headmaster from startling the girl even more.

“I said stay back!” Eloise screamed as she thrust out a hand to halt the headmaster’s advance.

The lights sputtered out completely like a fuse was blown and books rattled off the shelves. An invisible force slammed against Headmaster Reeves right as he was about to grab the girl and threw him off his feet. He flew backwards 10 feet and slammed into his desk. It felt like he just got hit by a truck. He slumped down to the floor with the wind knocked out of his lungs. 

A single droplet of blood rolled down from Eloise’s nose.

Miss Durant was completely dumbstruck by the sight. How did this petite girl who’s probably not even 100lbs throw a grown man across the room? She was so awed that she momentarily forgot she was close to an unstable person with a knife. 

Eloise spun around on instinct after dealing with one threat and saw another coming towards her. She stabbed at the woman who was the cause of all of this. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone! No one would stop her from running back to Levi. No one!

Miss Durant shrieked and reached up to block the knife. The blade pierced straight through the center of her palm. As the knife pulled away, blood gushed from the wound. It felt like she stuck her hand into a searing flame. Her eyes filled with fear as met Eloise’s ruthless gaze. There was no hesitation or reluctance, only disappointment at the result. Eloise had meant to kill her just then.

Suddenly, Eloise’s eyes rolled back and she slumped over. Dr. Marion was standing behind her holding a needle. The two distractions one after the other gave the doctor enough time to sneak up and inject her with a prepared sedative. He caught the girl and gently set her down while brushing her hair.

“Eloise, you’re obviously sick. But don’t worry, I’ll take you somewhere safe.. Even though you won’t see your boyfriend, you’ll be better very soon.”

After he set Eloise down, Dr. Marion checked on Miss Durant. The woman was glaring at him even as tears streamed down her cheeks from the pain. This had been the doctor’s fault. He frightened the poor girl into her outburst, but he didn’t show a hint of shame. Just the opposite, for some reason he could barely contain his excitement. His hands were shaking even more than hers as he wrapped a bandage over her wound.

“Dr. Marion, thank goodness you were here.”  With the excitement over, the headmaster sighed with relief. That was so close to being a massive disaster.

Miss Durant looked at Headmaster Reeves as if she were staring at an idiot. Did he not see that Dr. Marion provoked Eloise? If he didn’t freak her out, maybe they could have just talked to her.

“We are very lucky, Mr. Reeves. It was a dangerous situation. Like I said before, it is a good thing that you called me when you did. Eloise was a timebomb waiting to go off at any moment. What happened to Miss Durant could have easily happened to a student. Maybe even worse if there was no one there to restrain her.”

The doctor gave Headmaster Reeves a kind smile. At the same time, he picked the unconscious Eloise up in a princess carry. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me. I’ll be taking the girl to the rehabilitation facility my practice is based out of. She can get some proper treatment there.”

“You’re leaving just like that?” Miss Durant frowned at him. She clutched the wrist of her bandaged hand.

“Of course. The sedative won’t last forever.. I suggest that you go to the hospital to get that looked at.” Dr. Marion was frenzied and eager. 

He was in a rush to leave with the girl, but Miss Durant doubted whether it was really for the reason he claimed. 

“Dr. Marion, I suppose that this incident should fall under doctor-patient confidentiality, yes?”

Dr. Marion let out a shrill chuckle that made the hairs on the back of Miss Durant’s neck stand on end. 

“Not to worry, Mr. Reeves. I have no intention of airing any of Saint Adeline’s dirty secrets.” 

Headmaster Reeves unlocked the door for him and thanked Dr. Marion one more time, but the man barely even looked at him as he departed. He riled up an unstable girl, caused someone to get injured, and then left without dealing with the aftermath. Miss Durant was left in disbelief. This guy was a damn quack!