Society Intern Chapter 3

This is a story i'll be publishing here and Amazon. Notes on bottom

Imogen had never had a boyfriend. She had never been to Waterland, much to her classmates' shock. And she had never spoken a word since she was 5.
It just happened. She had just as much explanation for it as her parents. One day, she just woke up, and couldn’t make out a normal sentence. She was doing well before this, with “Mommy, where’s Charles?” or “Daddy, what’s an Amogus?”and just, or “Your shoes are cool.” Normal toddler things.
But one day, it just stopped.
They had checked up with everyone. Speech therapists, normal therapists, doctors, pediatricians. But they had no idea what had happened. She wasn’t traumatised by anything. She wasn’t deaf(she took it as an insult when her parents asked her if she could hear them, and hid up in her room for 30 minutes before going down to get some cookies.) Her parents thought she was just lying for a bit, and grounded her for 9 weeks.
But they accepted it. She wasn’t completely mute. She could say her name, though it came out as “Imogeh”, and some random words(Bed, or “Beh”, Charles or “Chals”, “Numbuh ni”, her old code word for sleepy time). She could write and text normally. It usually just took some finger pointing to ask for something.
They called her Colosseum. One bedtime story Imogen’s dad read to her was in a world where cats could talk. One cat wanted to talk, but didn’t know how to. So, it was learning some phrases from a talking cat, and when it wanted to say something, it used them all in a mix, and one of them was “Have you seen the Colosseum.” She always liked that story.
Soon, the silence became normal. She was just as alive as before the incident. Still, her parents worried. What if bullies came after her? What if there was a dangerous incident at school? She couldn’t text and inform them all the time. Dangers could come at any time. She still had no friends yet. How could they make sure that she was safe?

Guy, on the other hand, had no friends because of his nerdiness. He had made himself the official punching bag of the school, for his desire to do the right thing, despite the consequences. And Miskatonic academy had one massive consequence, whose first name started with an H. This was the truth for every school Guy went to. He would try to be a do-gooder in the school, but this would incense the resident bully. The bully would then torment him endlessly, making him tell the teachers, which angered the bully, and on this went like a violent feedback loop, until he left, or did something to the bully to get himself expelled. Even if he didn’t do anything dumb, he was still a bully magnet for being a nerd in general, and obsessed with the anime Magic Battle , whose subreddit was a meme-filled masterpiece that it was hard to take fans seriously(on his holiday wishlist, there was a reason that he put “Reddit remover” after “Bully remover”).
He was hoping for an actual true friend with Mark. He was hoping that this would last, and that Micheal wouldn’t be a threat to their friendship. It would be alright then if Micheal wasn’t there at all. His reputation preceded him at Miskatonic Academy. It felt like someone was always going to be there. Mark would be a fun project. If he would last with him long enough, before he ultimately turned away.

Micheal was in the garage, doing boxing practice. This was his usual routine to distract himself from everything.
He never quit boxing. Sometimes the punching bag was made of leather and stuffed with foam. Sometimes the punching bag was a kid. But it was always there. As Vivienne Westwood said, “If you love something, wear it all the time.” Or in Micheal’s case, punch it all the time.
“Everything” encompassed a lot of things. It included his dad. It took a lot of beatings for him to understand to keep his distance. It included his mom. She left after she had him, leaving him with the aforementioned beater. It included juvie, who probably knew him like a straitjacket knows its inmate(he had been there 13 times actually). It included the “Hydra”, a term he’d given to the millions of medical professionals, therapists, and adults in his life.
He needed to box. The leather and plush couldn’t hurt him. Neither could the wimps that crowded the school. He wasn’t afraid at all. Nothing could hurt him. School was starting in a week or two. Now, he didn’t have to be alone with himself. He could slay the hydra and the little runts that roamed the schools. Nothing could hurt him

Except himself.

***
So, things are getting an bit emotional, huh? Sorry for the long waits, I just have ots of schoolwork to do.
Anyways, feel free to give my writing some feedback by leaving an review!
Toodles!!