Sighing, Alicia ran her hand through the end of her ponytail. She took a moment to try to arrange her thoughts before beginning, "When I first moved to Veritas, I was determined not to let people get close to me again. Not after what happened during the last war. Obviously, that didn't happen quite like I'd planned. The thing was... I was starting to be happy again. I was okay with being close to people because Veritas seemed so safe. I felt like I'd made so much progress and that I actually might be okay... and then this happened."
Pausing to take a breath, she continued. "Now... I feel like I'm relapsing. All these old memories are rushing back and I'm remembering why I wanted to keep people away. It hurts so much to see them injured! And I think... maybe it wouldn't hurt as much if they weren't as close. That's why I think I need to leave."
She stared down at her hands then, knowing she probably sounded ridiculous.