This morning, not even the shouts and thuds of her brothers waking here irritated Izzy as it usually would. That was a sound of normalcy, a sound she had never thought she would miss. She needed to get up, anyway, as reluctant as she was to do so. She pulled her blanket over her face for a moment, hiding it from the sun filtering in through the curtains of her window.
	She peered out of covers and glanced to the clock on her bedside table. With a sigh, she forced herself to get out of bed. How she had missed sleeping in her own bed. 
	Quietly, she made her way to the restroom. With a shower and a fresh coat of glittery navy nail polish in place from the previous night, the world felt almost normal. But only almost. Even a long, hot shower could not wash away the last two weeks.
	Deciding to find something to better hide the marks on her neck than her hair once she got back, she collected her usual walking stick which she had brought back with her, and paused with her hand on the doorknob. [i]This[/i] would be the hard part, pretending for the world that the last two weeks really were nothing but an impromptu camping trip and not a series of life-altering events. After bracing herself and doing her best to put on her normal irritated expression at being woken before noon on summer break, she headed downstairs. She brushed her brothers off as quickly as she could, then headed outside. She hesitated for a short moment before stepping directly into the sunlight, two weeks of avoiding it quickly conditioning her against it.
	Though her bike still sat in the garage, after so long of being incapable of enduring the sun, she wanted to enjoy the comfortable warmth of it on her skin, even the muggy heat of the late-June day. Her bike could wait until next time.
	The walk to the school took longer than she anticipated, but she made it nonetheless. Inside, the rubber bottom of her walking staff thudded against the cracked tiles as she made her way to the third floor.
	She stopped when she heard Riley call to her from one of the classrooms, and entered. “Sorry,” she offered. “The walk took longer than I expected.” She shook her head at his question. “He’s made this journey too many times already. I wasn’t going to ask him to make it again. This is my burden to bear, not his. Besides, we both know you really [i]were[/i] trying to avoid him.” She glanced behind her to the doorway and hall beyond. She bit her lower lip, a feat she had nearly given up on. “How is he?” she asked quietly.