[AA] Assignment 1: Phobia

The morning started out slowly. Students took their seats in on smooth desk chairs after Miss Vanessa Lawson introduced herself to the class. A rumble of chair legs scraped against the floors, dropped bags, and the flick of paper as a pile passed from student to student filled the room until everyone was settled and each had a paper in front of them.
Lilia had settled herself near the back corner of the room- settled beside the window that overlooked the courtyard of the middle school campus. She noticed that the window had a crack in it- the only blemish in the impeccable state of the classroom, but that thought didn't bother her too much until she read the paper that was laid flat on her desktop.

Bugs.
Filthy, terrible, bugs.

There was no way she could escape them with what abilities she had- she had nothing substantial. Her ability was a composition of metaphors and psychological theories that even she couldn't understand. It was not like she could scare the bugs to suicide by granting them nightmares in their dreams- they probably did not have enough brains to even dream. She never wanted to find out.

Without a moment's hesitation, the illusion began. It crept slowly- or at least, that's what she could make of it. Centipedes and ants skittered out from within her desk compartment, worms littered the floor, and flies, bees, and gnats filled the air with a dizzying sort of buzz that made her want to puke. She struggled to hold her own lunch in, closing her eyes shut to brace the horror that had overcome her. Everything in her body was rejecting the outside world. She could feel her stomach lurch, trying to empty her stomach and her legs jerked with every bristling feeling against her bare skin. She didn't know if it was her own clothes or the bugs anymore- everything felt wrong and terrible.
Lilia couldn't pull herself together. The illusion, no matter how unreal it was, boded all too unwell with her own phobias. She tried looking away- out the window, hoping to phase out the entire thing- manipulate it as if she were dreaming. But she couldn't do it- it was not her ability to have.
Instead she saw the crack in the window again. Sharp edges were now dulled with the squirming liquid of water-bug larvae filling the small space in between the continuous sheet of glass.
She was within her own nightmare, and she couldn't escape. Finally letting her own body take control of the situation, Lilia's vision splotched with black as she felt her chest tighten and her legs turn to jelly. Within a minute her body fell to the ground, and the world turned black.