Chapter Text
Luz Noceda was done. She couldn’t take it anymore. The past few days had just been too horrible. For one, she had presented her book report, her final project in her English class, only for it to go horribly. The snakes had terrified everyone there, animal control had been called, one of the snakes had started biting people, including the teacher and Principal Hal, and as it turned out, it was venomous! Several people had ended up hospitalized, and while none of them died, the V.P. had expelled her from Gravesfield Middle School the day before graduation, so now she wouldn’t be able to get into Gravesfield High next year. To make things worse, she had been immediately bullied by Clara and her gang.
“You’re such a failure,” they had said. “Only a Luzer like you would think bringing snakes to school would think bringing snakes to school is a good idea. Did you even think to check if it was venomous or not? You stupid brown fag!”
That comment had really hit close to home. It had only been a few months since she came out as bi, after all. On top of all this, her mom had announced soon after that she would be sending her to Reality Check Summer Camp. While on the cover it looked like just a normal summer camp to teach you life skills, Luz had a bad feeling about it, that it wouldn’t be what it said it was. Camila said it wasn’t a punishment, but Luz couldn’t help but take it as one, seeing as she had messed up so badly.
And to put the rotten cherry on top of this train wreck of a cake, her mamí had told her that her tío Alfonzo would be coming to visit. Now, normally Luz loved seeing her extended family, as they were the only ones who ever loved her other than her mother, but her tío was the exception. Sure, he acted all sweet around Luz’s mamí, but whenever it was just the two of them, Alfonzo was a completely different person. He used her however he saw fit, often telling her she was worthless, that her only use was as a toy for him to use, and to top it all off, the first time he had abused her like this when she was only eight, he decided to threaten her as well.
“If you ever tell anyone this; your mom, any of your other family, even your teachers, I’ll make you and your mom’s life a living hell, you got that? You are mine, and only mine,” he told her. Since then, he had visited multiple times a year, his visits sometimes lasting months at a time, and he always raped her several times whenever he came. At least he had the courtesy to supply her with Plan B every time.
So here she was, running from her home, on the day that she was supposed to go to this camp. Specifically, to the old shack that resided on her family’s weirdly large property. She found it, after more than half a decade of being abused, to be her safe space, where no one would intrude on her private time, probably because no one knew she was ever there. But it's not just that; no, it’s also where she put the things she didn’t want anyone to know about, such as her pistol.
A while ago, she had been feeling depressed again, and so she had bought a gun from the dark web. Now, by the time it arrived, she was feeling somewhat better again, but it didn’t change the fact that she now had a 9mm Glock pistol and 10 extra magazines. She didn’t even order any, the seller just included them! And now, Luz thought, was the time to use it. She wasn’t going to need that much, though; she would only need one bullet.
Luz made her way around the outside of the cabin, soon finding where she hid the pistol and its ammo. She proceeded to load it, but before she could sit down, she saw something strange: light being emitted from the doorway. She put the weapon and ammo in her bag and went to investigate, but what she found shocked her. The doorway was just… glowing, emitting a pure white light. It didn’t feel hot when she hovered her hand nearby, it just sat there, shining.
She began working up some courage, and finally, she stuck her hand in. She felt… nothing out of the ordinary. Just air that felt perhaps slightly warmer than usual, but she wasn’t sure. Suddenly, a small brown owl hopped up to the door, holding a bag of trash in its beak. It briefly looked at her with its adorable yellow eyes before going through the door. Her sense of curiosity piqued, Luz walked through the door, only to find way more than she ever could have imagined.