The two walked side by side on a paved path of Central Park, passing the overgrowth contained to the park. Baron looked around at the mundane popution’s lives, watching as mundane joggers exercised for the day, Non-Cognizant families took their children to the park. They continued on by couples that held hands on what some might call a ‘date’ - at least Baron hoped that Rose considered this a date.

  “I’m surprised; we managed to make the train,” Rose said, breaking the short silence. Her hand grazed his own as they walked, a passing of their fingers that felt gravitated toward each other. Baron felt a nervous heat rush through his body to his face. He really, really wanted to hold her hand again just like that night they met, but he just couldn’t seem to muster the courage to try.

  “Same. I’m usually a lot less lucky with their timing,” Baron said, hiding the light limp as they walked, a tender bruise forming over his foot. Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad - uncomfortable, yes, but it wasn’t enough to make him give up the time Rose gave him.

  “Me either,” she said, looking to him with the charming smile Baron was obsessed with. “Maybe our luck’s better together.” Rose grazed his arm again, flirtatiously leaning into him for just a second. It made Baron go rigid.

  “Hopefully.” Baron awkwardly chuckled, which was embarrassingly high-pitched, and squeaky for someone his age - at least in his own opinion.

  “You’ve got a cute little ugh,” Rose said, giggling with him. It made Baron smile bashfully, and at that moment for the first time in his life, he thought maybe it really wasn't as hideous as he always thought. Rose liked it, and honestly, Baron didn't think that anyone else’s approval mattered in this moment - even his own.

  “Oh, uh, thank you!” Baron couldn't hide the joy in his tone or the rosy red tint of his cheeks. “How was css today?” he asked, trying to change the subject and not wanting to linger on her complement - not only was he bad at accepting them, but he felt like he’d be completely engulfed by this feeling of etion if he did.

  “It was a nice day, just the normal lectures.” They began walking up an incline, which normally wouldn’t be any sort of issue, but it currently strained against his fatigued muscles. His legs were heavy with each step; maybe he’d overdone it a little today. “How about yours, don't they start, like, super early?” Rose asked him as he struggled to keep pace.

  “Yeah,” he said, managing to overcome the challenge of this tiny hill. “My first one’s at 7:30, and then my st one gets out at 12, but I really like my professors, so I wouldn’t compin.”

  “Sounds rough still. I’m so grateful that mine don't start until ter,” Rose said as they passed by an old married couple sitting together on a long bench, throwing seeds out for pigeons.

  “Not much of a morning person?” Baron asked, looking at the pair of elderly husband and wife that spent their remaining years happy together, that left him hoping that they’d end up as an old married couple just like them one day.

  “Not especially, never been a big fan of waking up,” she responded, his gaze meeting with her gorgeous, shimmering blue eyes.

  He couldn’t help but get lost in them through her rounded gsses that sat on her cute, ft nose. All he wanted to do was take hold of her hand, embrace her, and most importantly, kiss her soft-looking lips emphasized by a pink lip-oil. A yer of sweat formed over his brow and armpits as these thoughts filled his mind.

  What if I’ve misread this? What if I try something and she says no, or even worse, she thinks I'm a creep, who was just trying to get ‘id’. He stopped for a moment, feeling a little guilty. I mean, yes, that would be nice eventually! But it's not all I want. Unfortunately, this overthinking kept Baron from finding the audacity to take the lead.

  The silence grew longer and more intimate as their gazes remained intertwined, before Baron forced himself to say something. “I, uh, I can't rete myself, I’ve always loved a nice, refreshing morning.”

  “I feel like I could have guessed that, you’re a weenie after all,” Rose responded with a pyful smirk, teasing him with a giggle as she leaned into his arm, again tempting him with her touch.

  “What?” Baron ughed with her, amused by her reference to their first night. “What does that have to do with this? Besides, we already established we’re a pair of weenies.” Leaning into her as well, he decided to take a minor chance, allowing their arms to hold contact for an even longer moment than before.

  “You got me,” Rose said, looking away to a nearby pond to hide her blushing face from Baron. “Guess some weenies like me must be night-owls.”

  Walking further down the path until they made it to a crosswalk, where the two patiently waited with a young dog-walker and a bicyclist who used their leg as a kickstand. Baron and Rose stood close together without contact as the cars passed. Luckily, it didn’t take long to turn green, both sides crossing at their own respective paces.

  They made it to the other side of the street, where Baron’s lethargy caught up to him, each step pulling on the micro-tears in his muscles. Even if it was a pretty easy and overall successful day as Spriggan, it still left him feeling exhausted.

  “Hey…” Baron started speaking, before pointing toward an open seat in a line of benches. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but could we sit for a little?” Asking made him feel like a bother, but his legs needed a break.

  She gave him a reassuring smile. “You’re so silly, of course we can sit down. You’ve had a long day.” Rose made him blush; something about being called silly made his stomach turn excited. Leading him to the bench, she took a seat before him, which made him feel more comfortable resting. “Just take some time.”

  Beginning to rex, Baron sank into the metal bench beside Rose, his body taking the chance to rest as he turned to her with a tired, but joyful smile.

  “I’m sorry, you could have told me you were tired before,” she said, sympathetically frowning at the bags under his eyes and the exhaustion his body visibly carried.

  “No, it’s alright, I’ve been having a lot of fun. My legs just got a little tired from school.” A sense of guilt made Baron shift in his seat, unable to look up from the floor. Even if it wasn’t a lie - instead being only a half-truth - it felt dishonest not telling her the real reason. It filled his mouth with the unsavory taste of his falsehoods.

  “Are you sure? We can go find something more rexing if you’d like?” Appearing to pick up on the uncertainties in his body nguage and tone, Rose seemed to incorrectly assume it was about her.

  “No really, please don't worry. I’ve been really enjoying my time with you.” Baron’s head snapped toward her with a reassuring look that appeared to break through her own anxious expression.

  “That’s really sweet Baron.” Rose bit on the tip of her tongue with a wide grin, the rest of her body mirroring that contained, joyful excitement. “I’ve really been enjoying going out with you too,” she said, both of their faces growing red and hot.

  Unable to handle the hot anxiety, Baron pulled his sight to the ground, where he uncontrolbly grinned like an idiot. Although Baron wasn’t sure what it was, Rose was all he could think about recently. Those thoughts of her distracted him through his day, and it wasn't much different when they hung out; he couldn’t focus on anything but her and the feelings she gave him.

  That warmness inside of him stirred and made his mind pleasantly tingle, but most of all, it felt like he could do anything with her support. He felt stronger, faster, and most importantly revitalized around her. Unsure sure why, or if it everyone felt this way around their person, but Baron truly felt capable of taking on impossible odds by her side

  Looking back up toward her, Baron saw a colorful, orange and bck monarch butterfly that fluttered on the tip of Rose’s ring finger. She moved slowly to not disturb it, admiring its beauty in their quiet stillness

  “Do you think Dawn’ll be alright?” Before Rose asked him, she lowered her voice to a gentle whisper; the delicate butterfly creeping down her hand as she gently rotated her arm with it; so that it remained where she could still see it, but not disturb it.

  “I don't know.” Baron kept his voice low to not frighten it. “I’ve seen her frustrated before, but I’ve never seen her like that.” The thought of Dawn’s low-spirit made him frown.

  “I hope she’s alright.” There was a brief moment of silence, something weighing on her mind briefly. “Even if Jen and Dawn don’t get along, I really like her,” she said, turning to make eye contact as they spoke.

  “Me too, she’s a really good friend,” Baron responded sentimentally, before meeting her eye-contact. “Me and Abel will do something for her tomorrow.” Although Abel didn’t know about what happened yet, he'd absolutely join him in cheering her up, once he heard how gloomy she’d been.

  “That’s good to hear. Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” she said, offering her assistance with a reassuring look as the butterfly flew away with soft, rapid fps of its paper-like wings.

  “Thank you, I think Dawn would really appreciate the thought,” he replied. All Baron wanted was to lean in and kiss her as they talked; she was so thoughtful, intelligent, pretty, and pcing his lips against hers was all he could think of, but he was still much too afraid.

  Instead he decided to bounce up from the bench with a blood-red face, feeling much more rested than before, that sharp soreness dulling into a forgettable discomfort. “I’m feeling better, wanna continue?” He offered his hand out to help her stand - really he’d take any excuse to hold her hand again, even if it was only for a second.

  “I’d love to,” Rose responded, accepting his help with an adorable smile. With his assistance, she stood to her feet, but she didn’t let go of his hand. Interlocking her fingers with his own, that fit snuggly despite his nervous, wet palms, Rose held his hand.

  With a confused look, Baron gnced between their grasped hands and Rose, who bit down on a shy smirk. He couldn’t hide the enchanted look in his eyes, an ear-to-ear grin forming over his sweaty face as they began walking again, each seemingly too happy to verbalize the depth of these emotions.

  …

  Alone, Dawn leaned on the elevator wall, rubbing her temples and eyes, unsure what to do from here. Neither Abel nor Baron were avaible, which really sucked, but she didn't bme them for being busy. After all, she really was happy to see Baron explore these feelings with Rose, and she was equally as excited for Abel’s band, Sunder, who had their first big gig coming up. That left Dawn all on her own to explore the big city, which wasn’t nearly as fun alone.

  It’ll be fine, Dawn told herself, looking up to a mirror that covered the top half of the wall furthest from her. It reflected her freckled, porcein skin and tall, slender build - ideal for ballet - which left Dawn frowning at her own image. Staring at her own image, a deep sadness reemerged from a deep part of Dawn’s psyche, that momentarily filled her with a nostalgic gloom.

  Her eye twitched slightly as Dawn suppressed that mencholy to its pce in the unseen part of her mind, unwilling to let her self-image ruin her day that had already been bad enough, just as she had so many times before.

  Ding. The elevator chimed as it opened. Finally, she thought, looking away from her mirrored image as she stepped out to the base floor, illuminated by lifeless fluorescent lighting.

  Dawn walked down the foyer lined with doors on each side, which unfortunately had numerous thirsty frat-boys hanging out in their doorways that talked with other college guys standing in the hall.

  “Fuck,” Dawn said under her breathe as she noticed Baron and Abel’s neighbor, approaching from across the hall. This was the worst-case scenario in her opinion, Xavier was different from their other dorm mates that ogled and checked her out from a distance; Xavier, for some odd reason, had an unshakable confidence that tragically stood between her and the exit.

  Sighing under her breath, Dawn’s eye twitch worsened as he waved to her, confirming what she already knew. Dawn decided to not acknowledge him, instead hoping to walk past him unbothered.

  “How you doin’?” he asked, trying too hard to imitate an NYC accent, that made Dawn internally cringe.

  “Fine.” Responding pinly, Dawn tried to walk past him without breaking the cold, annoyed look on her face. Unfortunately Xavier didn’t take the hint, instead following by her side with a cocky smirk.

  “Good, personally doin’ a lot betta’ now that I’m talkin’ to you,” he said with his slicked-back hair. Really he wasn’t ugly by any means, but that didn’t matter to her when he was so annoying and shallow.

  “...” Unsure how to respond, Dawn tried to ignore him, but she really just wanted to turn on him and punch his face in - as much as she thought about it, she knew it wasn’t wise to beat-up on a Non-Cognizant. She could only look at him with a bnk expression, unamused by his unfunny, uncharismatic attempts at flirting.

  “No Baron or Abel?” Finally he dropped that shitty accent that irrationally irritated Dawn. “That’s good - means the two of us can go spend some time together,” Xavier said, turning her annoyance into an overwhelming fsh of rage; this was the st thing she wanted to hear about.

  She bit her tongue, trying her best to ignore him, but he continued to walk by her side like a stray dog begging for scraps.

  “My homeboy can get us into the Red-Door Club, dude can get us whatever we want,” As always, Xavier tried too hard to sound nonchant for someone that desperately hounded her day after day.

  Noticeably twitching worse than before, it became visible to others that saw her left eye. Luckily, Xavier was on her other side, and couldn’t see it, nor did she think he was considerate enough to notice. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could ignore him - her patience was running thin today, and Xavier was really testing.

  “Come on! I’m way more fun than those two me bozo’s…”

  Losing control of herself, Dawn cut him off before he could finish, shoving him with enough force to send him stumbling into the wall on his right.

  The crash made a loud thud as he caught himself from falling. Her squared shoulders, that traditionally sat rexed, tensed up defensively as she balled up her fists, before Dawn stepped forward to get into his face, leaving only inches of space between him, and a gre that challenged his pride.

  “Shut the fuck up.” Snapping loudly, Dawn shouted at him with a fiery disdain, before nearly throwing a hook to his body. She really wanted to commit and swing on him - after all, he’d been hitting on her for a while and wouldn’t seem to take no for an answer - but even with this burning hot anger; Dawn couldn’t let herself hurt him over this.

  Unresponsive, Dawn turned from him with a tight jaw, before she speed-walked through the corridor, finally leaving him behind. She kept moving through the corridor of spectators that watched with looks mixed between shock and amusement. Letting out a long frustrated breath, Dawn pushed through the exit, finally escaping to the outside courtyard-area, where there were picnic tables, covered areas to study outside, and most importantly, no one that saw what just happened.

  With a slowed pace over the paved-stone pathway, Dawn couldn’t help but angrily gre at the gatherings of students and friends as she walked by. She tended to have a welcoming, charming smile with her thin lips, but currently she felt too heated from the incident before for that

  After turning the corner toward and walking down the stairs of the subway, Dawn rexed her jaw, taking in slow breaths through her nose, before releasing it through her mouth. She shook her head, rubbing her temples again as her shoulder began rexing again. And while Dawn couldn’t manage her traditional charming, thin-lipped smile, she at least stopped scowling at innocent passersby's.

  As she made it down the concrete stairs, Dawn followed the flow of people through the gate, where she scanned the MetroCard she pulled from the wallet built into her pastel green phone-case. If only the rest of the day was that easy, Dawn thought to herself, remembering back to the start of her day as she waited for the train.

  To start her morning, Dawn accidentally slept in this morning, missing her Ballet practice - which could happen to anyone - but what really upset her about the situation was her roommate, Jen. She made it on time without bothering to wake her up when she saw Dawn obviously sleeping in te. It was made even worse by Jen’s ruse comments, followed by her snickering at Dawn’s expense with the other girls.

  What did I ever do to her? Dawn tried to be respectful, and she did what she could to get along, but it didn’t seem to matter, nothing Dawn did got Jen to like her, or even be nice most days.

  It got to the point where she didn’t really feel welcome in their dorm room, nor did she think of it as ‘home’. That's one of the reasons she spent so much time with Baron and Abel. But they weren’t there to fall back on today, leaving her all on her own.

  The ground rumbled as brakes screeched, and a strong gust came from the dark tunnel that swept strands of her ginger hair across her face.

  Damn it, rubbing her temples harder than before, Dawn thought to herself as the train came to a complete stop and the doors opened in sync. People pushed past her as she stood there, staring into the steel box that quickly filled. No part of her wanted to go back to her dorm just to feel bad about her existence for the night.

  Once she snapped out of her haze, Dawn stepped onto the crammed train where she stood against others. During stressful times like this, Dawn often thought back to her dad, and the things they’d do together, like how they’d get cheap burgers after she had a rough day.

  That’s a good idea, Dawn thought; a nostalgic smile cracking through the bitter look that soured her face. She didn't pay much mind to her hunger throughout the day, but now that she thought about it, she was starving. So getting that cheap, comfort food sounded like a great way to finally cheer up, even if her dad couldn’t be there to share it with her.

  That decided it for her - she’d get off next stop and hit a local joint that she found with Abel and Baron, a few months ago while exploring. Luckily, it wasn’t far from the station, and it was cheap for the quality, which was good for Dawn’s tight budget.

  The rexed smile on her face grew as she thought about it. Maybe she could even take it a few streets over for a nice dinner at the park. Not only did it feel like a good chance to rex, it also gave her a little more time away from her dorm.

  Loud brakes screeched through the tunnels again as it came to a halt. While the same process of doors opening began, Dawn slipped through before they finished to beat the rush of people.

  She tried to distract herself with the excitment of food - hopefully that would be enough to keep her from thinking about embarrassing herself by missing practice and nearly beating up Xavier. Yeah, he definitely could be pushy and annoying, but he wasn't any threat to her - not that he could be one even if he wanted.

  After shaking her head, Dawn strode up the stairs, skipping multiple steps at a time until she made it out to the cool, spring air of the city, which she took a deep breath of. Stop thinking about these stupid, stressful things, Dawn told herself as she walked with the crowd over a crosswalk.

  Not much further, Dawn just had to go down one more street, and then all she had to do was get into the lengthy line that tended to pour out of the building. At least, she hoped that this time, maybe her luck would turn around and it wouldn’t be a long wait. Last time they sat in line for thirtish minutes, and she really preferred not to be here for that long. Because in their previous visit, she atleast had those two to entertain her, but now this time, she was obviously on her own.

  As she crossed her fingers, Dawn cut through the st street between her and the burger pce, where she could finally see that line that wrapped around the building.

  She slowly blinked, covering her face with a long sigh; it was nearly twice the length as st time; maybe even more.

  Although it made her doubt her desire for that cheesy burger with extra lettuce, she unfortunately, already had her mind set on it, and Dawn wasn’t someone to easily back down from anything or anyone - including herself.

  As she dragged her hands down her long face, she groaned loudly as she took a spot in line, even if it meant being here for hours - at least on the bright side it would keep her away from the dorm.

  From the snug pocket of her dark-green yoga pants that contrasted well with her hair, Dawn pulled out her cracked phone. She opened it and checked its battery - 68% - which she assumed would be plenty to st. Before Dawn began swiping through short videos, double-tapping the ones that she thought were funny.

  The line moved forward, Dawn stepping forward with them, slowly getting closer to passing the corner, which she made the half-way point in her head. While Dawn mindlessly scrolled, she made sure to pointlessly check her phone’s digital clock every few minutes. At this point, she’d committed twent-ish minutes and 14% of her phone’s battery, but she remained unyielding.

  She scrolled through her feed with fingers that bent awkwardly from years of boxing with her dad. On days like this, she wished that he could have left Idaho and followed her to college, but that wasn’t possible - both of them knew that they needed the little income her dad’s gym brought in. But she still missed her dad’s presence, and really could use one of his bnket-like hugs.

  After she took in a set of slow breaths, Dawn decided to distract herself further with those short-videos as she continued to wait.

  Thirt-ish more minutes of swiping, tapping, and sending the funniest ones to the group chat she had with Baron and Abel, left her phone on 41%. Luckily, the row of people continued to inch forward until Dawn finally made it around the corner, where she could see the popur Mom-and-Pop-owned burger joint and finally smell the savory aromas of sizzling beef.

  Dawn let out an impatient groan as she rubbed her eyes, they had begun to burn from the hour and a half of draining her dopamine receptors. She shifted between each foot, looking up to see only a few more people stood between her and the line inside the building, where there would still be a wait, but at least she’d be in the door.

  Her stomach growled as she watched others outside bite into their wrapped burgers. Only a little more, she resolved herself. After all, she be stupid to give up now after draining her phone to 25%, and spending over two full hours in line - which made her feel ridiculous.

  Two people ahead of her entered, putting her only three spots away from entering the building.

  It didn’t take long for the next one to enter - she was so, so close.

  Then the next one went in.

  Only one more person stood between her and that entryway, which ended up not taking long for them to enter as the rest did.

  Finally, she celebrated to herself as she finally pushed through the gss door, where there could only be another 15 minutes left to wait - not more than twenty people could probably fit in here, making this the home stretch.

  She pulled out her phone again - might as well use it for what it’s worth, she decided - before she began to py on it again; although this time, she preoccupied herself with a mindless mobile game that made her sit through an ad every round.

  Dawn continued to creep forward, slowly but surely.

  Another person got their food, allowing her to get closer and closer to pcing her own order; she had more than enough time to figure it out - actually Dawn already knew what she wanted before she even made it off the subway.

  The next few people cycled through, before her phone, as expected, went bck, unfortanently dying on her. She let out a long sigh as her eye began to twitch again, before she returned it to her pocket.

  It’s alright, just a little more, she reassured herself. After all, there were only two more people ahead of her - then she could finally have this nice meal to turn her shitty day around.

  The first one ordered something small and quick, which didn’t take the workers long to finish.

  That only left the next person, who took his time ordering for, what sounded like a rger family, but like before, it didn’t take long until they finally got out of her way.

  Finally, Dawn stepped to the register, where a teenage boy, who couldn’t be out of highschool gave her a fake, tired smile.

  “What can we get you today?” He asked, talking quickly to speed up the process.

  “Yeah, I’d like the bacon cheeseburger meal with no pickles and extra lettuce.” She ordered, before taking her debit card that her dad gave her, before she left for college, out of her phonecase. Thankfully, her dad would put funds in it every other Friday, and while it wasn’t a lot to most people, Dawn knew that he was probably sending her every penny possible, so she did her best to avoid frugal spending.

  But it’s been such a shitty day, Dawn told herself, convincing herself to spend an extra dolr or two. “Oh, excuse me, could I actually add two ranches?” Before she asked, Dawn gave the boy a drained smile that complemented hernose that subtly crooked left.

  “That’ll be 10.52,” he said as she passed over the card, and she fairly tipped him, and jotted down her signature on the receipt she returned to him.

  Only a few minutes passed, before the worker returned with her order in a paper bag and a water bottle. “Thank you.” Before grabbing them to leave, she expressed her gratitude with a simple nod.

  She began the short journey to a small park that only required her to cross over a few roads, with the sidewalks that were still busy, and most likely would be past midnight - which still amazed Dawn. Because she was much more used to small towns, where everything was closed before 10, and everyone tended to be in bed shortly after. That lifestyle was always so boring to her - it was one of the reasons she was so excited to move to New York City with her Juilliard Dance Schorship.

  After a short walk, she was able to see the illuminated park with old, wooden picnic tables. Unable to wait any longer, because of the tempting auromas of food, Dawn reached into the brown paper bag to unwrap her burger.

  Before she crossed the final street, Dawn took a big, messy bite as she went. The taste of it was almost heavenly, the way the lettuce crunched with gooey melted cheese over salty bacon slices on a deliciously greasy beef-patty. Her eyes closed, savoring the moment before going in for a second bite.

  Unfortunately, for her Mid-bite, Dawn’s foot caught the edge of the curb, suddenly tripping her face-first toward the hard concrete below. Reacting quickly with her natural instincts, she stuck out her used hands. Although Dawn managed to catch herself, her food was destroyed against the ground and the weight of her fall. Immediately after, the bag of fries and burger in her other imploded, painting their contents all over the floor.

  She silently blinked from her position on the ground.

  She blinked again.

  And she blinked again.

  And again.

  And again, before Dawn erupted to her feet with an enraged screech as she threw the destroyed, ranch-covered bag against the ground.

  “God fucking dammit,” she yelled through gritted, barred teeth that almost snarled. “You stupid, dumbass bitch.” After being fiilled with a violent rage, Dawn stomped on the remains of her patty. “Fucking bullshit,” Dawn shouted, before turning to unleash her wrath on someone’s car window through her fist - something Dawn could do easily, but she chose to stop herself before unloading her powerful right hand.

  Stood before the reflective gss of the window, Dawn met the reflection of herself in the silence of her loneliness. “Fuck…” As Dawn whimpered, she took a seat on the curb with her face pnted into her hands, before her body sank into itself to hide from her shame.

  Unfortunately for Dawn, this haunting sense of alienation she’d suppressed all day finally became too much to bear. Tears formed, but she fought them back by pressing her hands into her sealed eyelids. Lock the fuck in. Don't be a goddamn crybaby anymore, Dawn antagonized herself as she often did.

  After minutes of breathing, she suppressed the breakdown, before she looked up from her hands; no longer on the verge of tears. But it didn't mean she escaped this cloud of mencholy, that finally managed to shatter Dawn’s well-crafted facade of carefree confidence.

  She remained seated looking up to the setting sun with a visage of misery. A part of Dawn told herself to get used to this feeling, because Dawn knew she'd always end up isoted with the person she loathed most: herself. And could it really get worse than that? she asked, too disillusioned to allow herself to cry.

  When Dawn looked up toward the bnk, starless night, that only seemed to remind her of how unusual and lonely she was here in New York. Who am I kidding? It's like this everywhere I go, Dawn reminded herself as she zily rose with her defeated shoulders hung.

  Then she finally began the short journey back to the subway, sluggishly dragging her feet as she slowly walked back.

  It was a silent trip back to the same station as before, where she absent mindedly boarded the train again. In comparsion to before it was far emptier, which allowed Dawn to sit for the commute.

  During the ride, Dawn kept her head down, hopeful that the few people that rode with her would leave her alone - not that Dawn was scared of them, she just didn’t have the energy to deal with anyone else.

  Luckily for Dawn, it ended up as an uneventful trip just like she’d wanted, and it took only a few more stops before the train arrived at her destination.

  The brakes brought it to a halt. Dawn stood after it stopped, slinking her way to the opening door, where she silently waited for them to fully open before exiting. She began her slow trek back, starting with the stairs to the city above, before walking a short distance to Juilliard.

  Dawn made it through the fancy Juilliard campus, managing to keep to herself until she made it to their dorms - not that anyone here ever wanted to talk to her - where some of the other girls tended to hang out. Fortunately, there weren’t many people here tonight, and more importantly there didn’t seem to be any of her fellow dancers.

  A sense of relief came over her, once she knew no one would get to see her in such a vulnerable state, but it was still nothing compared to the debilitating emptiness Dawn felt. She had dealt with it her whole life, but it really started to become a problem in these st six months of college - just like when she was a child.

  The room they shared sat before her, and she went to reach for the key in her pocket, but she couldn't seem to find them.

  “You can’t be fucking serious,” she whisper to herself in disbelief. Unwilling to accept reality, she hopelessly searched for them again, hoping that they’d suddenly appear, but they weren’t there. It made Dawn drop her forehead against the door, a long, exhausted sigh escaping her.

  She raised her hand to lightly knock on the door, not very hopeful that Jen was actually there, and not out with the team. Would she even care enough to let me in? Dawn quietened herself, waiting minutes without a response.

  Lifting her head, Dawn tried to knock again, harder this time as she hopelessly waited for a response that never came.

  Damn it, Dawn’s head lifted, before it fell into the door with another thud.

  Finally she picked her head up, before Dawn took a step back from the inconvient obstacle that blocked her path. After gncing back and forth from each side, she pulled out her dead, reflective phone.

  Not seeing anyone, Dawn crouched down to slide her phone half-way beneath the crack of their door. Dawn stood again, leaving her phone there, where half of it mirrored her from the below.

  She blinked, activating her Manifest, which completely repced her white and emerald, green eyes with a set of pristinely reflective gss orbs. Thankfully, it still allowed her to see the same as before, except now Dawn’s sight highlighted her reflection.

  With her mirrored eyes, she looked down toward the phone, where the cracked, refracted version of herself took up the surface of the bck screen, glowing for only her Manifest to see. Pushing her mana through her eyes, Dawn allowed herself to take grip of that reflection with the distant will of her sight.

  Independently from Dawn’s own body, she directed the mirrored-image of herself to take a big step forward across the screen, leaving her direct sight as it walked to the other side of the door.

  The image on the phone wanted to rubberband back, but she forcefully held it in pce, not allowing it to return to its pce on the screen. Instead, Dawn took hold of her mana, driving it through the veins and nerves of her body as she did with her mirrored self

  The intertwined mana that connected her to her reflection was triggered, allowing her to drive herself forward through space, teleporting her past the door, where she would have needed to be for that mirrored-echo to exist.

  A sigh escaped her as Dawn leaned down to pick up her phone before she deactivated her Manifest, Tour Jete; her eyes going back to their normal hue. Rising back up with her phone, Dawn turned toward the small, unwelcoming room, where there was a bed on each wall that was paired with a desk that faced their respective walls.

  Unfortunately, neither of them decorated, leaving it soulless and hollow, which constantly reminded Dawn that this wasn’t home. She walked further into the room, where Jen diligently studied at her desk with her expensive, sound proof headphones on, like she tended to do.

  Dawn stared at the back of her head, questioning if Jen actually heard her and just chose to ignore the knocking. But there was no way to tell, and would it even matter if there was, She thought as she silently shook her head, taking two steps toward her own nightstand to plug in her phone.

  After starting to charge it, she quickly found her missing set of keys on that same table. In the moment, Dawn didn't feel a sense of relief over finding them; instead. it fed into the bitter agitation she felt for herself.

  It made her let out a slow, beaten breath, before walking across the room to their shared bathroom to clean up for the night. Where she began her nightly routine, Dawn used the restroom’s mirror to clean herself up as she grimaced at the sight of her skinny, asymmetrical face - at least that's what others saw.

  Even though it had been many years since her Thaumic Mutation developed, Dawn still couldn't recognize this pretty, smooth-skinned facade as her own. No matter how hard she tried to bury it, she always saw through that flimsy mask of self-assured strength that attempted to hide the monster that hid beneath the surface

  A tear ran down her cheek as the troubles of childhood burdens returned to haunt the present.