Hide 'N' Seek

Annaliese leaned against the wall and sunk down to the ground. She held her head in her hands. "God...stop.." he memories were flowing through her head. Everything was spinning. "Stop!" She saw her parents and her brother.."You're hurting him!!" She saw her brother being dragged into their house. This wasn't actually happening...it was all in her head, but it had happened. She was breathing heavily and crying none stop. "Please...no DANNY!!!" She screamed.

Linette was searching for something. Something new and different because right now she really needed different. She had no need to be on the seventh floor but that was a part of her something different. Then she heard it. Something different and from the sounds of it Linette thought someone had come across a boggart.

She ran toward the sound with her wand at the ready only to see a girl there and nothing or no-one else in sight. No boggart. Nothing. Just one of the first years on the ground screaming. "Annaliese. Anna," she called and moved to shake the younger girl's shoulder.

Annaliese looked up at the older girl, her tear-stained face scared and depressed. "I'm sorry..." she shook her head and wiped her tears and stood up. Wiping her uniform off. "I'm done..sorry I had a break down.." She said avoiding any questioning.

"You're sorry?" Linette asked. It'd struck her as odd when characters in books apologised for crying and stuff. To have it happen in real life was strange as well. "Since you're done then I guess you'll be okay. Right?" Consoling people in their troubles wasn't something Linette knew much about and she felt awkward in this situation. "So um what do you like to do when you aren't shouting? I like to read myself."

Annaliese looked at the girl and kinda narrowed her eyes, what she had said offended her. "Nothing." She said pushing past her. "I do nothing." She kept walking. The girl had only made this worse. Halfway down the hall, Annaliese burst back into tears.

Linette never did claim to be much of a good listening ear. She wasn't very sensitive to the pain of others and really couldn't understand what the first year's problem was. She huffed as the girl walked off. Now what did she do? Get the blame for making her cry? With her luck most likely. In that case she was going to have to do something to stop this.

She ran off after her. "Hey wait. Look if I said anything to upset you I'm sorry. I just don't deal well with well um..." She waved her hand helplessly in the air. "Just this. The emotional stuff. It gets me all well confused." And having trouble finding words apparently. "So how about we find something fun to do to take your mind off of your troubles."

"No.." Annaliese solemnly spoke. "I don't want to. Don't worry about it. You're not the cause of this." She rolled her eyes. "Just leave me alone..." She bit her lip. "I....don't really want to deal with people....and nothing will fix my problem." She shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks. "Please...I just don't want to deal with it anymore."

Linette was ready to give up on the girl. She really was rather a bit of a wet rag. Maybe it was time she toughened up a little. Only that sort of thing was more Benoit's area and he was too far away in the frozen north to be of much use now.

"Well then if nothing will fix your problem then why cry?" She said unsympathetically, "that won't fix it either would it?" Linette then did something she normally didn't do. She made a decision to take charge of this spineless girl. " Right now you are going to go out and get some fresh air. If you don't want to deal with people then don't. Just don't go hiding around school corridors screaming and crying. Someone might think you saw a boggart."

Annaliese glared. "Might as well have!!" this girl was aggravating her. "You don't know me! You don't know anything about me! And you don't know anything about my past!"

"Didn't say I did," Linette replied airily. "I was just pointing out that if it's something no-one can fix then crying is a waste of energy. And you should just...just..." And now she'd lost track of her thoughts. That was the problem with speaking without planning first. She had no clue what she'd planned to say. "Well anyway. You need to toughen up because no-one's gonna want to talk to someone who cries at the drop of a hat. If I cried every time I had a memory of some past event I'd never get any reading done because then my eyes would be all red and sore and blinded by wetness."

Annaliese's emotions were blazing at the girls words. "Just go and leave me alone!" She screamed at the inconsiderate girl! "You what happened to me...had happened to you...you'd cry too."

Linette held up her hands in defence from the yells of the younger girl. "Maybe. Maybe not. I certainly couldn't know for certain without knowing your past. Not that I want to know it. But you don't know what's happened in my past either and I'm not about to tell you so don't even bother trying to compare. Now since you so desperately want me to leave you alone I'll do that." She turned and stalked off down the hall. What could be done with a girl determined to dwell on the past instead of just finding something to do in the here and now?