In Search of Something Lost PV Marshal Closed

Where some facing hardship might deal with inflicted circumstance through the redirection of their focus, there were others whose coping methods fell under a much less efficient umbrella. Those who felt, and did so deeply, regardless of the contents of their mind. Those who wanted nothing more than to forget, and scourge their hearts of negative emotion, but simply could not.
It was them who tried to escape down the paths of differing pursuits, but who failed to run with the weight of their burdens, ultimately moving toward none, and battered by their failure to move at all.

The passing of one school year and the birth of another had fostered only new opportunity for Marshal to remain stuck in the rut he'd found himself in. The curriculum may have changed, in accordance with the seasons - and even a number of professors - but he hadn't changed. He remained the same lump of despondence that his parents had seen under the blankets on his bed throughout the summer.
Their efforts to help had been frequent and genuine, but yielded no fruit against the wall their son had constructed. Even suggestions of therapy died on his refusal to share trials he told himself were trivial and foolish; things he should have the strength to overcome alone.
Try as he might, however, the ability escaped him. Those trivial obstacles appeared as mountains, and he lacked the capacity to climb any higher. Every day set before him was already more than he felt he could handle, every class, every assignment, and every responsibility taking all he had to simply survive, let alone thrive.

Grades had suffered, his social abilities had been sucked dry. Interaction and effort were devoid of life - a characteristic reflected in the deep lines beneath his eyes, giving a sallow, sunken look to his face.
His skin, though naturally fair, had degraded to a pallid shade, which indicated his recent aversion to venturing outdoors. To go beyond what the average observation might uncover, he had also lost a fair amount of weight since the previous school year's end.

A ghost of what he once was, the boy rose like the dead from the chair in which he'd been seated. Sliding to the cushion untended was the book he'd been required to study for herbology. Bleary and unseeing, his gaze had slid across its pages without absorbing a single word. Finally, having accepted that the effort was futile, he allowed that same gaze to fall upon the doorway leading from the library, mind drifting to the one comfort he enjoyed at the edge of each day; his bed, where he could lay and simply cease to exist in the world proper, until the time came to drag his ragged hide back into it the following day.
Prior to a crossing of the room, however, his attention flicked briefly in the direction of vague, troubled muttering on the area's outskirts.

Sightings of Evelynn had mercifully been spread few and far between this school year, each day without one being that much easier to endure. Ever consumed by her own thoughts and tasks, Marshal was generally satisfied in allowing her to keep them to herself. In keeping with that pattern, he had every intention of doing so on this occasion. Yet...

Walking toward the doorway, he reached the opening, one hand slapping against its frame as his foot passed through. It was then that he stopped, eyes closing, lungs emptied in a long sigh.
Without moving, he swiveled his upper body, hanging back to address the girl in the room he'd been set to leave behind.
Voice tinged with reluctant curiosity, it still dragged with the same tired quality in his eyes. "What are you looking for?"