"I'm...doing ok, mum," said Piper, hesitantly, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. She missed her parents when she was away at school. She would visit them every weekend if she could, but she knew that each visit only made it harder to say goodbye when she left for her apartment again.

She knew her mom was worried about her. She didn't want to worry her more. Leave out the lake, she told herself.

"How's your anxiety?" asked her mother, almost making Piper break down. "Still bad?"

Piper shrugged, then remembered that her mom couldn't see her. "Still bad," she confirmed. "I'm trying but..." She caught her breath.

Her mother sighed, through the phone. "It'll get better, sweetie. It just takes time."

The same thing Fear had said. She resisted arguing what if it doesn't.

"I'm sending you a package, anyways," said her mother, cheerfully. "Full of your favorite tea, some fuzzy socks, a new book, and a couple of those romantic movies you love..."

Piper sighed. Romantic movies were the last thing she wanted to watch right now, but she would feel bad if she told her mum that. Lately, she had become convinced that she'd never meet anyone. Romance was starting to seem like something that was dead for her.

"Thanks, mum," she said, forcing her voice to sound happy. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Alright honey," said her mom. "I have to go now. Take care. Let me know when you get the package."

"I will." Piper hesitated, before suddenly continuing. "And mum?"

"Yes?"

"I..." She stopped, swallowing against the lump in her throat. She didn't want her mom to leave. All she wanted was to run home and let her mom wrap her arms around her, holding her tight and keeping her safe like she had when Piper was a baby. "I love you," she finally managed to get out.

Her mom sounded surprised at the emotion in Piper's voice. "I love you too, darling," she said. "You'll always be my baby girl."

Piper hung up the phone and laid backwards across her bed, folding her hands across her stomach. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

Why was this happening? One moment, she felt almost better, and then the next, she was crying because of a simple phone call from her mom.

She turned off the light and lay there in darkness, letting herself sob into her pillow. You're just being dramatic, she chided herself. Stop it right now.

But she couldn't.

She lay awake for two hours, trying to find a comfortable position in which to actually fall asleep.

The more she lay awake, the more anxiety crept into her mind, clenching her throat, her heart, her stomach...She felt like she was being strangled.

"F-fear?" she said, softly, her voice catching. She needed someone. She needed someone to come and tell her it would be ok. Even if it wasn't in the moment, she needed someone to tell her that it would be in the future.

"Piper?" said Fear, out of the darkness. His voice was as comforting as always, some smooth, indiscernible quality making it soothing. He clicked on a torch, illuminating his face, the beam casting his face into angles and shadow. He looked almost scary, clothed all in black as he was. He was wearing a black beanie this time, in addition to his black jumper and trousers. He almost looked like a house robber.

She glared at him. "Shoes off on the bed!" she said.

He raised an eyebrow. "You know human rules don't really apply to me..." he said. "I don't really get...dirty."

She held his gaze, until he finally rolled his eyes, sighing. "Alright," he capitulated. He took off his shoes and tossed them on the floor, leaving him sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed in his stocking feet. His socks were, of course, black.

"Happy now?"

"Do you always dress like a teenager in an emo phase?"

He shrugged. "Pink isn't exactly a color befitting someone who is a guardian of fear, now is it?"

"I guess not..."

She leaned back against her headboard, pulling the blankets up to her neck. She looked down at her lap, avoiding Fear's eyes for a while. "I talked to my mum," she finally said. "I don't...I don't think she knows how bad this all is. I'm...scared to tell her. But I'm also scared not to." She raised her shoulders slightly, before letting them slump once more in defeat.

Fear chuckled slightly, aiming the torch at her and causing her to blink in the bright light. "You know," he said. "Mothers are a rather perceptive bunch."

She got the feeling that he was referring to something other than the obvious. "What exactly are you saying?" she queried.

"Only that I've been visiting your mother quite a lot lately. Your father too." Fear shook his head, his expression sobering. "They may not know everything, Piper. They might not know about the lake, for example. But they do worry about you. They worry a lot. Your mother doesn't sleep well; your father doesn't know what to do. All they want is to help you, but they don't know how. They just want you to know that they're there for you."

Piper felt tears gather in the corners of her eyes. She tried to force them back, embarrassed to be crying again. "So my stupid anxiety is not only wrecking my sleep, but my parents' as well."

She blinked in the torchlight, unable to see Fear's expression but able to hear the sadness in his voice when he responded. "Unfortunately, that's usually the case in situations like these. But really...let it comfort you that your parents care about you enough to worry about you this much. They love you, Piper. And no matter how alone you feel right now, you're never really alone. They're there for you. And that's more than some people have."

She laughed then, the tears finally coming. "Thank you," she said. "I just..." She blew out a breath. "I just wish I felt...normal, you know? And sometimes I wonder if my parents ever wish that they...I don't know...had a more normal daughter."

"But what is normal, really?" he asked her, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"How do you mean?"

"Normal is really just an idea you humans have created. I don't really think it exists. People are always...striving for normal, whatever that is. And they all seem to have different ideas of what that is. I think normal is just making the best you can of whatever your situation is. And it isn't a static thing, either. It's fluid. It will change...adjust...as your life progresses. Normal depends on the person. There isn't one 'normal' that people can reach if they just try hard enough."

She stared at him.

He smiled ruefully. "You see a lot of people when you're in my line of work," he said. "Your perspective on humanity sort of...well...it changes, anyways. I get to be more of an objective observer."

He fell silent, letting the torch fall slightly. Without the light, she could see his face more clearly. He had gotten that look again, the one he sometimes got where he seemed to almost disappear to another place or time entirely.

"So," she said. "Objectively. What do you see in me?"

He dragged his eyes back up, to meet hers. "The truth?"

She nodded. "The truth."

He seemed to be thinking for a moment, before he looked away from her, down at his hands holding the torch, and spoke. "I see a girl who is quiet among others, but whose mind is screaming. I see someone who has spent so long convincing herself that she is abnormal, or strange, or somehow less good because of this part of her that she doesn't know how to combat or explain, that she fails to see the extraordinary things about her."

Piper was silent, almost holding her breath. Fear sighed, shaking his head, before pressing on. "I see someone who is tired... And you're too young to be this tired of living, Piper. It's a shame."

A torch is a flashlight. :)