Day in and day out Rin hated the way she looked now. She hid it, of course, putting on make-up and nice clothing to go to work, wearing eye patches as stylish as she could find. It wasn’t like she wanted to draw attention to it, but most eye patches were really boring and too plain for the Japanese woman’s standards.

Every morning Rin sat up and touched her eye. It was permanently closed, scared up and often looked pretty red, but it had healed. After everything that eye had been through, she was surprised the skin around it healed as well as it did. The scar from Laurelite’s whip was still there. Now the burn scars from the youma eye escaping her head met it and made her ugly. Even if Kip ever came back, she doubted he’d want to be with her after this. Not that he made any indication he’d liked her romantically, but now her chances were completely shot.

As soon as she woke up from the hospital with the news that there had been no eye to save, Rin had given into the fact she would always be alone. Her self confidence was completely shattered at this point.

Depression hit her hard and stayed. She hadn’t powered up in such a long time because of depression. The only reason she left her house to go to work is because she had bills to pay. If she had no responsibilities, the woman would stay home all day and let herself waste away.

It wasn’t like she had friends coming to check on her. Making friends wasn’t easy when you were known as The Witch of Romano. She worked in the back, in a darker room than most, going through paperwork. The kids came up to her door often times and stared at her. They were on her blind side, too, so they could be there for a long time before a snicker or a loud whisper caught her attention and she turned her head only for her to see the kids scatter like roaches when the light was on. And that hurt her. That hurt her a lot. She felt like a complete joke within the school, within her own life. This wasn’t what she wanted.

But how did one change this kind of hand they were dealt when she was completely alone? She’d been in recovery by herself, she drove herself home when she was released, she was the only one who took care of her.

Honestly it made her realize that it was her fault that she was alone. Rin put absolutely no effort into making friends. She put no effort into social interactions unless she had met them a time or two, and by then most people thought she wasn’t wanting to be their friend. It seemed like no one considered it took her longer to actually warm up to people than most. Then again, when they asked her questions, she often only answered with one word and no explanation or expanding on the subject.

This morning was hardly any different. She woke up completely wanting to disappear. A shower was had, breakfast was made and eaten, dishes had been done, and eventually she got ready for work. Her thoughts weren’t at all friendly during her routine. Her thoughts were very dark, very sad, and she just let them happen.

Eventually, with an eye patch in place, the Rin went to work, to go to her small office and was by herself all day, as she knew she would be.

All in a day.

Word Count: 601