The Cross Country Merchant (Please Join Ilu)

Between sobs, Lotte shook her head, turning away from the gap and burying her face in her knees. "If t-the Head...master f-finds out, I'll be f-forced to leave." whispered the girl, wiping under one of her eyes, and then the other. "W-without Ethel, I'm n-normal."
And at the mention of Ethel, she broke into a cry once more, rocking a little as she sat in an upright ball.

Was that her power? To see spirits like Ethel? Ashleigh frowned and narrowed her eyes in concentration. Well, if that was truly her power, and it no longer existed anymore, then she would be sent away… and that couldn't happen. "Okay, we won't tell the headmaster, but we still can't stay here." She gave Lotte what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Let's go back to the dorms. We can stay there and hopefully he won't come back, okay?"

It took a few more moments of crying for Lotte to finally calm down and stand up. Wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve, she exited the shed gingerly, not saying a word. Her head felt horrible, her eyes felt swollen, and her heart was crushed. She just wanted to sleep, sleep forever with no desire to wake up again. She wanted to leave this nightmare and wake up with Ethel sitting there, watching the sun appear over the trees or humming some Victorian tune. But she knew that this was not a nightmare, that this was real life, and it hurt her.

With Lotte finally up, Ashleigh took her by the hand and led her back towards the dorms. Without knowing which one Lotte was a member of, she just decided that they'd both go to autumn and take a breather there. Once inside, Ashleigh continued to lead her down the hall. "We'll hide here for a little bit, okay? My roommates shouldn't be in for awhile."

Lotte was an Autumn too. She was too tired to explain, too dead inside to care to explain. Instead, the girl silently slipped into her own dorm, brought her hand up to her in a halfhearted wave, and shut the door, retiring to her own room. There, she crawled into her bed, and she slept. She didn't get out of bed the next morning.

Ashleigh could only watch as Lotte walked into her own dorm and shut the door. Guess she was an Autumn too. Without anything else to say or do, she just turned away and trudged back towards her room, hoping that no one found out about what had happened to Lotte… and to Ethel.