The Storm Within Open Finished

Katrina stood defiantly now, the anger somehow staying within her. She knew all kinds of horrible things she could do, curse of the bogies, slug vomiting charm, and a host of other equally unpleasant things. But instead of lashing out, her head was level, albeit mad.

The boy obviously looked her over, scanning for any glimpse of what was going on. For all he knew, the girl could have attacked the lioness and she had been only protecting herself. But, he still framed her as guilty. A smirk was his resulting emotion and Katrina wondered what her face was saying. He seemed to be astute at reading body language as she was. Katrina looked at her reflection in one of the grimy mirrors and squinted at it before turning again to the window.

It seemed the window was the only thing that held her together. When she turned back, he had a wand in hand. It was all she could do not to flinch. He probably didn’t know too many bad spells, but it was still threatening. Even though Katrina’s wand was in her pocket, she still appeared to be threatening, at least that was on her side. “ Someone with a conscience would pick on another student their own size, yet you pick on a first-year Ravenclaw. How telling, Walker” he sneered, obviously proud of himself.

Katrina kept her face emotionless, the anger still just below the surface. “Sure, but a first year Slytherin is the one protecting... and you still don’t know what even happened,“ She eluded to the Ravenclaw being the guilty one, hopefully confusing or at least puzzling him.

He returned to the panic-attacked girl and Katrina turned back to the window. Stop feeling guilty. She suppressed all emotions besides the frustration. She should have the right to be angry for once in her life.

Katrina crossed her arms and glared outside. It was a bit odd realizing that both of their first impressions of her would be bad. The only person that Katrina had really been annoyed with was a boy, whom she had dubbed Hackasplat, in the caretakers office a while back. But these two had just stepped in on her. Was there really anywhere in the school with privacy.

He coxed her to breathe and Katrina sighed, as little as she wanted to admit it, she had been in many panic attack situations. It was something that had only started at the Masked Ball back in September. But now, with the Blossom Ball coming up in two days, Katrina thought it likely that she would be suffered greatly through a few more.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know what ‘Get out’ means, do you?” The undertone of snarky angst was back in her voice

Interacting with @Katrina Walker and @Wyatt Starkey

Katrina had so suppress the thankfulness as the panic attacked Ravenclaw began to move again. The girl made it to the door and paused. The boy right behind her. Thankfully they both seemed done, finally going to leave the second year alone.

“You don't have to talk if you don't want to. But if I lost my family, I'd be pretty upset too. I'm sorry that happened to you.“ Katrina bit back a, ‘I don’t need your pity’. But she had already had a panic attack because of her actions, and Katrina really didn’t want the girl to hate her.

Katrina turned her head with a blank expression. The last of her rage had piddled away, now she felt empty and worn out. However, her face was unreadable.

The boy turned at almost the same moment, and Katrina saw the emotions flicker over his face. They had both put together her sad story. But the thing that surprised the lioness the most was the expression of knowing. He had actually experienced something like her, he could relate.

Katrina began in a quiet voice, raw and no longer hiding the pain, “Thirteen months ago. House fire. I lost my parents and my brother” on the last word, Katrina’s voice broke from the struggle of not crying. Again she turned to the window to hide her face. “At the funeral, my family told me they didn’t want me. I would be stuck here until I was old enough to live in my own.” Katrina didn’t want to say any of this, but the words were pouring out before she could stop them.

She paused hand reaching for her left sleeve. Inside was a small embroidered dragon, a symbol that meant so much to her. Her fingers brushed over the familiar work, calming her down and suppressing the tears.

“I guess I shouldn’t be still upset about it. But all I ever do is worry about other people. I didn’t even know how much of a wreak I have become,” The words escaping her lips were the most truth she had ever admitted in one sentence. Emotion laced each word with a year of hurt.

Katrina shoved the emotions aside, even the rage. She was left an empty shell, the girl in her trapped again. She wanted to apologize, but she knew that if she opened her mouth, she would cry. She didn’t want to be that pathetic in front of the younger students. So she bottled it up.

Katrina took her hand from the pocket that stored her wand and crossed her arms. She stood staring out at the window, not in rage, but in unreadable emotions. This time it wasn’t teenage angst, but hurt that the window kept under control. She sighed the weight of what she had just done weighing heavily on her shoulders.

The storm within her had faded to a spring shower, still there, but not dangerous anymore.

Interacting with @Wyatt Starkey and @Katrina Walker

Katrina stood at the window, arms crossed, the entire time they talked. She bit her lip, not wanting their pity, but knowing that if she said anything, it could escalate again. Thankfully, her tears never fell, but the brooding anger was still there, just enough that she had to think about it.

As the panic attacked girl spoke, comparing her pain to a bag full of stink bombs and the boy burst out in laughter, Katrina couldn’t help the smirk that pulled her lips. At that, Katrina finally felt herself cooling down.

Surprisingly, the boy jumped in with some kind words. From what she could tell, this was very uncharacteristic of him, but after seeing the sympathy that only comes from having the same experience, she couldn’t blame him.

At his comment about that being what the headmaster was for, she bit back a scoff. The headmaster has been gone for months now, she had gone to talk to him about it right when he disappeared. And Gryffindor, none of them understood, besides Pierre, but Katrina hated the fact that her past put a damper on his optimistic mood.

His description of her family put another smirk on her face. No one in the school knew about her horrible family besides those two. That was the one thing she never wanted to bring up, but now that she had, she was glad it was off her chest.

As he apologized, Katrina turned from the window. His words were incredibly sincere, however, puzzling enough, his face was emotionless. It seemed she was not the only one who was able to slip on a mask. A small part of Katrina wanted to help him, but she knew this was not the time or the emotion to.

There was a brief bit of silence that Katrina didn’t know how to fill. She knew an apology wouldn’t be sincere since her emotions were still running too high. But thanking them would be petty if she didn’t apologize. She was still raw from everything and the drastic mood swings that left her still empty.

She looked back out the window, feeling a mix of emotions that would flicker on her face as she tried to hide them. “Well, sorry and thank you...” She rubbed her left sleeve, hoping her companion would give her the words to say. Nothing came.

Katrina turned to the girl, wanting more closure than that, “I-uh am really sorry for causing you to have a panic attack.” The second year was aware how flat her words sounded, “It was wrong and stupid of me to say anything, and I want you to know that I wouldn’t have actually done anything... I’m horrible at casting bad spells because I don’t actually want to hurt anyone,” A blush tinged her cheeks and Katrina quickly turned to the window to wipe the emotion from her face.

She paused, unsure of what to say to the boy, but wanting to thank him for his surprising honesty, “And, well— thanks for stepping in,” At a loss for words, the red-head looked at her reflection in the mirror. The girl looking back looked surprisingly well put together, not at all how she was feeling.

Katrina wanted to wash her face and cool down. She wanted to pet her cat and read a book, maybe write some to get things out of her head. She wanted more closure and to apologize more, but she also didn’t want to not be honest.

Instead, she turned back to them and actually looked them in their eyes. It was the first time she actually had. The girl looked slightly afraid but also still wanting to help. The boy, however, was hard to read. He seemed almost apologetic or maybe just sympathetic, but Katrina couldn’t be sure. The small part of her knew that if she made eye contact that her emotions would be easy to read, but hopefully they would see everything that words couldn’t say.

Interacting with @Katrina Walker and @Wyatt Starkey. Elspeth has now left the thread. Thanks for such a great chance for character exploration, Katrina!

Katrina watched as the girl quickly dismissed herself. It was a guilty feeling that she couldn’t do more, but Katrina knew that there was nothing she really could do. It was only a wish that Katrina could clear things up one day.

Katrina turned as the boy spoke to her. He seemed off, eerily similar to how Katrina had been for months. Professional and flat. He was the shell that Katrina felt like. It was so odd seeing someone as pained as she was. He excused himself and turned back before leaving.

“Hey, wait!” Katrina bit her lip from the outburst, hoping he would turn. She wanted to reach out or at least tell him that she was open if he wanted to talk. It seemed like he needed to talk as much as she had. “If you-ever need to talk. Um, I’m here.” Katrina inwardly cringed, the words didn’t quite come out as good as she had wanted.

Realizing that she hadn’t been quick enough, Katrina turned back to the window. She looked back to her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Everything had gone wrong today.

Katrina was glad that the storm raging within her had died and waited a few minutes before leaving the bathrooms. She needed to do something. Maybe she would write down everything. Katrina remembered a journal that had laid empty in the bottom of her trunk for months. She would fill it up. She could skip dinner and write instead, her stomach was still twisted in confused knots. Maybe this could be the turning point.

She could get better from here. She could fix everything. She could put herself back together again. She could fix herself. She could finally calm the storm within her.

Katrina Walker Exits Thread