1. Tensional Stress
He was working on his next manuscript at two in the morning because his creative juices flowed better when no other being was awake. He feverishly hacked away at his keyboard, his face illuminated by the glow of his laptop screen. He had been lost in his own fantasy world of cloaked assassins and pirates-turned-princes.
At least, he was until he heard her scream.
He rushed to her room, his protagonist's blade forgotten in the victim's gut. When he arrived, he found her room in a terrible state of disarray. Her papers and books had been scattered on the floor. Her lamp had fallen off the desk. Her clothes were hanging from the bookshelves.
He found her curled up under her desk. He moved the desk chair aside and kneeled down in front of her.
"Shh, Eru, shh," he murmured.
Her eyes remained closed, and her hands did not move from her ears. Nor did her panicked cries for help stop.
"Shh, Eru," he tried again, placing his hands on her trembling shoulders. "Shh, don't be afraid, baby. Shh." She didn't seem to notice him, so he wrapped his arms around her. "It's safe now. You're safe. It's safe, Eru." He picked her up, wiping away her tears. "Let's get you to bed, yeah? Shh, you're okay. You're safe." He stayed by her side until her sobbing faded into snores.
Author's Note:
This marks the beginning of Ken's story arc from his point of view. The different story arcs will be labeled with [insert story arc here].[insert chapter number here], almost like seasons of a show. (For example, chapter 15 of this story arc will be called Chapter 1.15, and chapter 6 of the second arc will be Chapter 2.06, and so on.) This arc's text will be formatted as follows:
Ken: plain
Eru: italics
Leo: bold
Any others: bold and italics
