Little Glitch

I'm sorry, Marvin...

Anti woke up to notice Evelien was no longer in his room which caused him to frown. He was glad she was here to help him out through his panic attack. He looked over at his clock on his nightstand and saw that it was 7PM.

"This is usually when everyone is eating dinner. I am feeling a bit hungry, maybe I should go downstairs and check."

Anti crawled out of his bed and exited his room when he walked past Marvin's room he felt his heart ache. He couldn't help but feel bad at what he's done and he still needed to give them an explanation on why he did it. He was nervous he wasn't going to lie, but they did have the right to know why he stole Marvin's spell book. He thought about telling them after dinner Anti made his way down the stairs and entered the kitchen to see JJ and Evelien preparing dinner. Evelien was the first to spot the small demon and she gave him a soft smile, stepping away from the oven. She walked over to him and picked him up, placing him on her hip.

"How are you feeling, Anti?" Evelien asked, smiling softly.

"I-I...don't know...." Anti said, looking away from Evelien's glance.

Evelien placed her index finger under his chin and softly turned his head so he could face her, "It's okay, Anti. We're not mad at you. Whenever you're ready to talk to us we'll be here to listen."

Anti could only nod he still felt embarrassed and guilty about what happened a few hours ago. He couldn't get rid of this feeling until he apologized to Marvin for taking his book. Evelien walked over to the dining table and set him gently down on one of the chairs giving him a soft smile before going back to cooking. Anti kept his head down the whole time as his brothers entered the kitchen one at a time. When dinner was ready and everyone was sitting at the table eating their food and chatting amongst themselves Anti was avoiding eye contact with everyone until Evelien called his name.

"You okay, Anti. You've been sitting there picking at your food. Is something bothering you, hun?" Evelien asked, giving Anti a small smile.

Anti didn't want to answer her question; he felt the guilt in him rise even more. He felt Marvin and everyone staring at him which made him a bit uncomfortable. He felt like they knew the incident that had happened last night and he couldn't help but feel panic rise within him. Evelien took notice of this quickly and ready to spring into action to help the little gitch out with his panic attack.

"Anti? Are you alright?" Henrik asked, looking at the demon a bit concerned.

The small demon couldn't answer any questions that were being asked. He just sat there in silence looking away from everyone. He soon started to fiddle with his fingers as the panic within him started to grow. Evelien was about to get up when suddenly the small demon spoke up.

"I-I...I'm s-sorry..." Anti said, softly still looking away from everyone.

"About what, little dude?" Chase asked, looking at him confused.

"A-About taking M-Marvin's spell b-book...." Anti replied, fiddling with his fingers more.

Everyone quickly looked over at Marvin waiting for an explanation, but Marvin didn't want to explain what happened. Evelien sighed softly and decided to do some explaining.

"Marvin came home from the store and saw Anti in his room holding his spell book. We had no idea why he took it, but we're giving Anti time to explain to us why he did. No one is going to pressure him into telling us. We don't want to overwhelm him because he'll have a panic attack again." Evelien said, frowning a bit remembering the incident from a few hours ago.

"Wait vhat?! He had a panic attack! Vhat triggered it!" Henrik said, quickly getting up from his seat.

"We don't know. That's why we're giving Anti time to explain to us why he took Marvin's spell book." Evelien said, frowning a bit.

Anti felt his breathing start to get heavy. Evelien bringing up the incident was only overwhelming him more and he didn't like it. He just wanted to apologize to Marvin to get this guilt off his chest. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear Evelien calling out to him. Anti's ears started to ring, his chest ached, his breathing started to pick up more, and his vision was getting blurry.

"Anti? Are you okay?" Evelien asked, quickly getting up from her chair.

Evelien made her way over to Anti quickly, but before she could pull Anti to a hug to comfort him the small demon glitched away to his room. He quickly locked the door and ran over to his bed, climbing on to it. He sat down on his bed and brought his knees to his chest.

"Why did she bring it up?! I just wanted to apologize to Marvin! I didn't want the others to know I had a panic attack and now they find me as a weak and pathetic child!"

Anti felt tears start to form in his eyes, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get as far away from them as possible and not see him like this. He heard soft knocking on the door, but he didn't want to open it; he wanted to be left alone. He didn't want his brothers to see him like this; they would see him as a small helpless child. Isn't that what he was though? A child. The knocking continued on and the small demon tried to ignore it hoping it would just stop, but it didn't.

"Anti? Please open the door...We know that there's something wrong and that you're scared to tell us..." Evelien said, softly from the other side.

Anti started to panic more. Evelien was right; he was scared to tell them what was wrong. He didn't know what words to say and he certainly didn't know how to properly express the way he was feeling. He gripped his hair as the bad thoughts started to bother him once again. There was so much noise happening around Anti to the point the small demon couldn't take it anymore.

"I-I'M SORRY, MARVIN!" Anti yelled out, as tears started to roll down his face.

Marvin stood next to Evelien stunned at what just happened. Even everyone else was surprised at the small demon's outburst. Evelien quickly looked at Marvin.

"Marvin, I want you to use your magic to open the door so we can get to Anti." Evelien said, giving the magician a stern look.

Marvin nodded as he quickly held out his hand toward the door chanting a spell from his spell book. The door opened and Evelien wasted no time. Evelien ran over to Anti and pulled him into a tight hug as he began to cry on her shoulders. Everyone soon came in and looked at the little demon concerned. Anti didn't care at this point the feelings within him got too overwhelming he needed to let them out. Evelien rubbed soft circles along the small demon's back as he continued to cry; she was trying to calm him down the best way she could. After a few minutes of rubbing his back the small demon finally calmed down enough Evelien and Anti were sitting on his bed as everyone circled around him. Anti sniffled as Evelien wiped away the remaining tears that were left. He looked over at Marvin and quickly looked away, fiddling with his fingers he was ready to apologize to his brother for taking his spell book. He looked back over at Marvin and sniffled.

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"I-I'm so s-sorry, M-Marvin...."

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