bigdamnprincipal | Re: Late Afternoon (Reply)

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The fact that Zoe was willing to hear her out made some of the tension ease out of her shoulders. She sat down on the edge of a chair.

"Early this morning, a scream and a loud thump woke us up in the Koala cabin. Cole left our alcove to go see if anyone on the B side was hurt and if he could help. Lana, Maia and I were worried when we heard scuffling in the dark. We've been at Fandom for a year and noises don't make us run the other way.

"We were able to get close enough to the B side to see that John was attacking Cole and saying a lot of weird stuff to him about cyborgs and robots. John is our friend and we wanted to try to talk him down from whatever had him so... scared. Principal Washburn, I'm an empath and what I felt coming off of John in waves was pure fear with some anger." She shook her head. "I don't know what he thought he was seeing, but it wasn't us. Then, at some point, he saw Lana and tried to shove her into the common room. I think in some part of his mind, he thought he was protecting her. Her head hit the door and she went down."

Phoebe squeezed her fists. "Things were happening so fast and we were screaming and yelling and then Maia got knocked down and hurt." She looked at Zoe. "The way John was acting... he was still in his nightmare and I was afraid he was going to force something bad to happen. I tackled him away from Cole whom he had been fighting with and attacking and then he decided that he had to protect me from the killer cyborg Quicksilver that he was seeing. He said that this Quicksilver had killed his foster mom, but that he wasn't going to touch me." She bit her lip. "He thought Cole was this Quicksilver...and nothing Cole or I said could snap him out of it. He kept attacking Cole and Cle kept trying to defend himself and us from John. Finally... I used a move I had been taught and knocked John unconscious."

She shook her head. "I don't doubt that Anakin was following the rules when he gave us detention, but I was so fragged that I couldn't explain what had happened. I don't think John would have ever hurt any of us on purpose --- especially not Maia or Lana or me." She swallowed again. "I'm willing to serve my detention tomorrow if you say I deserve it because I was the one to knock John out. However, I don't think Cole should be punished for doing the right thing and trying to protect us --- especially after Lana was hurt. As for John...

"Principal Washburn... something was wrong with him. Something was really wrong and he was scared."