My Name Is Ozymandias (Sequel to Hold On To Me) (WillDip)

Chapter 18: Triggered

Kate practically hissed at him as he trailed into class a few days later, "Where the HELL have you been?? I missed you!" she whispered loudly. Ozy sat down opposite her, "I missed you too" he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes and setting his backpack down between his feet. She studied his features carefully, he had dark circles under his eyes and looked ready to fall into bed rather than spend a day learning. On his feet were his cowboy boots, the colour now matching the dark blue of his button up, "Hey...Are you okay? You look like you stayed up till midnight"

"I'm fine" Ozy insisted, rummaging in his bag for the note his Uncle had asked to give to the teacher. Once he pulled it out the front pocket he stood up and trailed up to the front, passing it to his teacher. Miss Hamilton, which was in fact her name, took it from his fingers and broke the wax seal. Putting on her glasses to read the scrawly handwriting done in real ink.

Upon the fancy piece of letter paper she discovered the reason why Ozy had been late and why he would probably be grumpy today. It was signed by Stanford Gleeful, a man she had actually went to school with. He had been a sweet kid, ran a few clubs and did his homework to the best of his abilities. But one day that had all changed. He had turned up cold, nasty and emotionless, doing his homework like a robot and disbanded the fun he had set up. It had scared her, and she had begged him to snap out of whatever funk he was in. But the boy had merely brushed her away and went back to whatever he had been doing.

"Thank you, Ozy, for the note. I'm glad you could finally join us today" she said, forcing a smile as if she hadn't just had a mental breakdown. Ozy sat back down and pulled out his tablet, drawing on the drawing app with his finger as the teacher got started on the lesson. Kate watched him carefully as he drew, writing down the teachers notes at the same time. He was drawing a pile of bodies, bones, and waterfalls of blood that stained the boy sitting cross-legged at the top. Kate's eyes widened as she recognized him. That was Ozy himself, his mouth open in an anguished scream as blood poured out his eyes and down his chin.

"Dias? Are you paying attention?" Miss Hamilton asked, tapping her desk with the stick she had been using to point at the board with. Kate tore her eyes away from the tablet but Ozy did not, "Yes, I am" he replied in a bored tone, not bothering to look up at her.

"Put it away, please, Ozy"

Ozy looked up at her, his piercing blue eyes boring into her own and Miss Hamilton looked away in fear, "Put it away, I need you to listen to the lesson, this could come up on the end-of-year exam."

Get him to focus on his learning, that should bring him back.

Ozy shoved his tablet into his backpack and sat up straight. Miss Hamilton gave him a smile, "Thank you" she said, returning to the lesson. Kate watched her friend closely throughout the lesson. Usually he'd be fidgeting, but he didn't move a muscle, watching the teacher with a bored expression as his pen magically wrote down his notes for him in cursive, "Ozy? Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

Ozy gave her a reassuring smile that didn't reassure her one bit, "Yes, I'm fine."

Kate patted his hand, "Talk to me at break, okay?"

Ozy gave her a nod and went back to his work.

~

Kate huffed, "Ozy, you are not okay, talk to me, please, and don't lie to me. I saw what you drew. Whatever's going on, you can tell me...Please" she asked, licking Cheetos dust off her fingers as she crunched on the bright orange corn snacks opposite him. Ozy took a bite of his apple, "It was just how I was feeling, alright, it's not like anything happened" he replied, his eye downcast as set his food down, "I'm not hungry anymore" he muttered, shoving what remained into his lunchbox.