Not Alone

The mandatory assembly was a waste of time. Enid didn't even want to go and the only thing she learned that she didn't already know was that classes were cancelled for the rest of the week and once they knew more about what actually happened and what to do moving forward they would let everyone know. It helped at least address some rumours that were going around but they still didn't have all the facts yet. All they could really do at this point was confirm that Principal Weems had been killed, Ms. Thornhill was in custody for her murder and for attacking the school and that the monster that had been roaming the woods had been dealt with and was no longer a concern.

Enid wondered why they couldn't just send that info in a group text and call it a win and anyone who had questions could've gone to the assembly and she could've stayed in her dorm.

Not only did Enid want to stay and be available to help Wednesday when she woke up if she needed anything, but also Enid really didn't want to be seen in public. Not with her face all scratched up and raw.

When she finally looked in the mirror and saw the angry red and raised gashes that were held closed by butterfly bandages and the dark purple bruising around them, she wanted to cry. Wednesday may have told her she should be proud, but Enid didn't feel proud. She didn't feel ashamed of them per se, but they were so new that they looked so ugly. She tried to find a cute way to style her hair to make them less noticeable and hide the scratches as best as she could, but when she left the dorm, people still stared.

She knew that there was nothing malicious behind the stares, mostly concern and curiosity, but Enid didn't want to talk about what happened and she knew that people were going to ask questions as soon as the stupid assembly was over. She knew this because that was exactly what she would do.

Sure enough, when everyone was dismissed people quickly crowded her, blocking her path and started asking questions. She smiled and told everyone she was OK, the gashes looked worse than they were, she would heal fast, and that yes, she did wolf out last night, and no, she didn't kill the monster, but it's no longer a threat. She refused to give any more details than that. The worst was that they acted like it was the coolest thing in the world – especially the other Furs – when inside she was screaming and crying because they didn't get it.

Maybe if she wolfed out under different circumstances it would've been cool, and she would've felt like celebrating because she wanted to wolf out for so long. But the circumstances were horrific, it happened on the heels of her best friend nearly dying in her arms and then watching her get attacked by a monster they once called their friend. They didn't understand what she was going through. She didn't even fully understand what she was going through.

The first moment she could, she ducked away into an empty hallway, the one with Edgar Allen Poe's statue, and leaned heavily against the stone wall heaving a deep, shaky sigh. Was this how Wednesday felt after their Poe Cup victory? She had said that all the smiles were unsettling, and extroverted Enid didn't understand why that was a bad thing at the time, but now maybe she did, even if the circumstances were dramatically different. Normally, Enid loved being the centre of attention, all eyes on her, but not this time.

She knew that everyone was trying to be nice, but it was overwhelming, she was still reeling from everything that happened and she didn't want to talk to anyone. At least, not until she had a chance to process the horrific events last night and her face healed enough that it didn't look so angry and swollen.

Plus, she really wanted to get back to Wednesday.

"Enid, hey."

Wearily Enid turned her head to the sound of Yoko's voice, trying to reign in the powerful urge to break down in public and forced a small smile as a response.

"I was looking for you. You were talking to a bunch of people then you sort of disappeared. Are you OK?"

She sighed, she was so done with answering that question right now. Her emotional defences were fragile right now and her eyes burned from unshed tears and if she heard that question one more time…

"I'm fine. It's not as bad as it looks…" she started to resume the canned responses she had been giving everyone but Yoko shushed her.

"No, you're not," Yoko said, "and I'm not talking about that, I know you werewolves are fast healers, though it does look like your face hurts a lot…"

"It does," Enid admitted, covering the scratched side of her face with her hand, "but the nurse gave me some ointment and medication that really helps with that. Plus, I got really lucky because none of the scratches went too deep."

"That's good," Yoko said, but her expression was still full of concern, "but I've never seen you this anxious before. I don't know everything that happened to you after you went to look for Wednesday and wolfed out, but from what I can tell, it had to have been traumatizing."

There it was. Enid had so far been pretty good at keeping the tears at bay, but Yoko somehow said the magic words that broke the dam and she suddenly burst into sobs. Yoko immediately threw her arms around her soothingly. "It was! Oh Yoko, it was awful!"

"Shhh sweetie, it's OK, it's OK…come on, let's go somewhere a little more private," Yoko soothed, guiding her down the hall.

Enid barely registered the sound of Yoko snapping twice and the next thing she knew she was being led down into the Nightshade library. Yoko guided her through the library to a private hang-out area and they sat side by side on one of the leather couches as Enid cried into Yoko's shoulder, letting go of the tension that was building up inside. Yoko just held her and let her cry it out as she rocked her gently back and forth.

Since she had returned to the dorm to find Wednesday passed out cold, Enid had pretty much ignored how she was really feeling beyond her concern for Wednesday. She was exhausted and had barely slept last night. She had been so worried about Wednesday's condition, her body ached and every time she closed her eyes she saw Wednesday either bleeding out on the floor of the crypt or being strangled by Tyler in his Hyde form. And when she did finally fall asleep, the nightmares were terrible.

But it wasn't only that. She wolfed out! For the first time ever. It was violent and sudden and she didn't even get a moment to process or adapt to her new wolf body before being called to battle to fight a monster bigger and stronger than she was. She was forced to fight not just for Wednesday's life, but her own. Adrenaline and a fierce determination to keep her and Wednesday alive fueled her strength, giving her the chance to hold her own, but she wasn't used to her wolf form and had grown tired quickly. Tyler could've easily killed her.

It wasn't until Yoko acknowledged how traumatizing it must've been that it finally hit Enid that she almost died last night as well. Tyler had her in a death grip, he was so close to snapping her neck or biting her head off before Tyler's father intervened. If Sheriff Galpin didn't make the awful choice to shoot him, she probably wouldn't have made it.

"Shh, Enid, calm down, you're hyperventilating. Deep breaths," Yoko soothed, "come on, now. Breathe. In," she slowly inhaled, urging Enid to do the same, "and out. You don't want to make yourself sick. In…and out…"

Enid nodded and tried to follow Yoko's breathing, her choking sobs turning to pathetic hiccups as she tried to take calming breaths.

She almost died. Wednesday almost died. At least Twice. And if she did, maybe everyone would've died since there would've been no one around who could actually kill Crackstone. Principal Weems was dead. And Ms Thornhill, probably Enid's favourite teacher whom she trusted, was the one behind it all.

"I'm…sorry," Enid choked out, even in the midst of a panic attack she was embarrassed by it. Normally her panic attacks were quieter and less messy but she had tears and snot running down her face and it stung against the gashes on her cheeks and now there was a wet stain on the shoulder of Yoko's blazer.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, babe," Yoko said as she stood up and grabbed a box of tissues and handed it to Enid, sitting back down next to her, "last night was a lot."

"It was," Enid said, still trying to catch her breath and stop trembling so much. But as the panic within her subsided, so did the tension that had been building within her since she first heard Wednesday had been taken. She didn't even realize how deeply rooted the tension was until it exploded out of her, and now she was experiencing a much-needed sense of relief and catharsis and an unbelievably heavy weight of exhaustion.

"Thank you," Enid whispered, wiping her face with a tissue as she leaned heavily against her vampire friend.

"Hey, you know I'm always here for you," Yoko soothed, "do you want to talk about it?"

Enid shook her head. She may have released a lot of the stress, but she was still an emotional wreck and didn't have it in her. "Not right now. Maybe later?"

"My door's always open," Yoko said. "Would it help if you slept in my room tonight?"

"No," Enid said, "Wednesday's hurt. I want to make sure she's OK."

"I'm sure she could take care of herself," Yoko said dismissively. She didn't say it with any malice, but Enid bristled, taking a slight offence to that.

Of course, Wednesday could take care of herself, most of the time. But Enid didn't trust that she actually would considering the fact that she refused to let the nurse take care of her when she obviously needed medical attention. Enid still didn't know how badly she was actually hurt besides the blood loss. But she had passed out for hours and when she finally woke up she was so weak and out of it and unbalanced and even a little anxious - which wasn't like her at all, so it had to be bad. Bad enough at least.

"Yeah, maybe but…"

"Well, maybe you should focus on taking care of you?" Yoko said. "You've been through a lot."

"So, has she," Enid said.

"Yeah, but it's Wednesday Addams. She probably loved getting kidnapped for real."

Enid gave her an incredulous look, "You don't know the whole story."

"No, but we all know how she is. Remember the time she tricked you into going to the Gates Mansion and you almost got killed?" Yoko asked.

Enid cringed, "Yeah, but we moved past that. She was just hyper-focused and obsessed with stopping the killer, she didn't think about the consequences. She never intended for anything truly bad to happen to me, and nothing did.  Besides, she promised she wouldn't do something like that again."

"Tell that to the scratches on your face," Yoko said, though her words were harsh, it was clearly said with protectiveness and concern.

"This wasn't her fault," Enid said, her hand hovering over the marks on her cheek. "She didn't drag me into the fight, she was taken, remember? Going after her was my choice."

"OK, I'm sorry, that wasn't fair of me to say. Look, Enid, I get that she's your friend, so for that reason, I will gladly tolerate her. But you're my friend, I care about you so I'm not going to forgive her for the whole Gates Mansion thing as easily as you have. But even though I'm not Wednesday's biggest fan, I don't want anything bad to happen to her either, so I take back what I just said. I'm sorry she got hurt too," Yoko said with sincerity. "Was it bad? There did seem to be a lot of blood – although she was OK enough to be walking on her own power so, I doubt it could've possibly all been hers..."

Enid flinched. She knew Wednesday wouldn't be happy if Enid told anyone about her condition, and doubted she would want anyone to know what happened at the crypt – that wasn't exactly Enid's story to tell anyway. But she wanted to be honest, "I don't know. She wouldn't really tell me but…I'm sure she'll be fine but it's bad enough that I'm worried about her."

"Well, if you change your mind or need a break from her – I know you care about her but let's be honest, she can be a lot," Yoko said, and Enid had to fondly agree, "you are welcome to crash in my room whenever you need to. I'm here for you girl, you don't have to deal with her or any of this alone, OK?"

"Thanks," Enid said, giving Yoko a hug. She sniffed and rose to her feet, "I really should get back and check on her."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Actually, yeah," Enid replied, "I'm starving and Wednesday needs to eat something but I really don't want to be around people right now," she put her hand to her face.

"Say no more," Yoko said, "I got you. Go, do what you need to do, get some rest, I'll bring you two something from the dining hall later. I'll text you later in case there's anything else you need."

"Thank you, you're the best!" Enid hugged her again, happy that Yoko was looking out for her. Though she was still overwhelmed, exhausted and stressed, now that she was able to release some of it she felt so much lighter, almost like her old self.

"And I hope you don't feel self-conscious about those scratches," Yoko added, "they only show how badass you are, taking on a friggin' Hyde."

Enid ducked her head, a little embarrassed, "Thanks. It's just that it draws unwanted attention I really don't want to deal with right now."

"I get it," Yoko said, "come on, I'll walk you back to the dorm. I'll stand on your left side so people won't notice as much, and if they want to bombard you with questions, they'll have to go through me."

Enid smiled, "Thank you."

Once Enid cleaned up a bit and was confident that she didn't look like she had just been crying, she and Yoko headed back to Ophelia Hall. About halfway up the stairs, Enid told Yoko she was OK to continue on her own so Yoko hugged her and they went their separate ways.

After breaking down and talking to Yoko she felt a little better. The vampire was comforting and helped ease her panic, but when she reached the door to her room, Enid hesitated. She hoped Wednesday was still asleep. But when Enid quietly opened the door she was immediately hit with a sour, metallic and acidic scent of sick and blood. She recoiled, her hand going to her face to cover her nose as her head turned towards Wednesday's bed.

Her empty bed.

The panic was back.