[M] Plagued Encounters (Sparkz and NoviDome)

[Sparkz]

As John walked in, June poked her head into the entranceway. "who was that?" She asked. John just shrugged.
"One of those door to door evangelists." He lied.
"Well, they chose a fine time to show up." June crossed her arms at that and john couldn't help but to chuckle.
"Yeah, they sure did. Anyways, I'm going to check in on Milly." He gestured towards the stairs and June nodded.
"Hopefully, she'll say something this time." John nodded at that and walked up the stairs before knocking on Milly's door.
"Hey, Milly. Can I come in?" He called gently through the door.

[NoviDome]

Milly didn't respond. She was sitting at her desk, staring into the plastic tabletop with distant, sunken eyes. Her breathing was shallow as she stared, and clutched a red marker in her right hand. On the table were pieces of paper scattered about, all covered in frantically written, capitalised words like 'ALONE' and 'SCARED', but the biggest presence was taken up by the word 'NO', repeated over and over again.

[Sparkz]

John stepped inside and saw her at her desk. He walked over to her but made sure to not touch her. He glanced over her paper and frowned. "Is this how feel or how Harry feels?" He asked softly.

[NoviDome]

"Both," she said flatly, still staring at the table. The marker in her hand shook a little from how tightly she was holding it. "All the same..."

[Sparkz]

John carefully tried to pull the marker from her hand. "David is going to go back to school tomorrow. Do you want to go back too?"

[NoviDome]

She instantly, violently, shook her head and clutched the marker, keeping him from taking it from her. Her eyes were still locked on her desk.

[Sparkz]

John let go of the marker. "Do you want to talk about it? What you and... Harry are feeling?" It still was so strange to think that his daughter was able to feel what Harry was feeling, even now. "Or you can write or draw about it again?" He was still so careful to not touch her even though all he wanted to do was to hold his little girl.

[NoviDome]

She shook her head again, her eyes brimming with tears. It was clear there were so many emotions whirling around inside her. Sometimes she looked like she was about to laugh, and then it switched to fear, or sadness, then to apathy and despair and back to a barely contained smile. She was cracking under the pressure of the knowledge she had gained yesterday. She didn't know how to feel about it. She was glad she could still reach her brother, that he wasn't as dead as she'd thought before. But ever since she'd touched him there was so much more sadness in her, so much fear and hopelessness, and it was eating her up.

[Sparkz]

John watched her in silence for a few moments. He then opened his arms. "Do you want a hug, sweetheart? Maybe that will help ground you."

[NoviDome]

She tried to look at him but didn't quite manage. She shook her head again, looking over her work. "No... no," she said softly. In truth, she didn't think she'd ever be grounded again.