zelenia couldnโt help but LAUGHย softly as lucrezia apologized for, well .. everything. โYou had DIED, luce, I didnโt really expect you to look a million bucks and NOTย smell like absolute death.โ she smiled at her friend. โ โ plus, you donโt need to apologize. It wasnโt your fault.โ the ice beauty said with a sigh as she collapsed onto her plushy dark purple arm chair across from lucrezia.ย
she nodded her head along to her words. it WASย weird. all of it. how luceโs body went from cold and limp to warm and alive. how it seemed so easily reversed, yet zelenia knew SOย much better. it hadnโt been easy. โit is weird. you think weโd be USEDย to weird by now.โ she said with a scoff and a playful eye roll. โ โ yet, it doesnโt seem like weโre EVERย going to be used to the weird that surrounds us now.โ
She smiles but thereโs something twitched and pained in the expression at the word died.ย Of course, Zel isnโt wrong, but itโs a strange truth to swallow.ย ย โNot my fault, sure, but also not convenient.โย Thereโs an almost compulsion to her jokes, as if that can bring her back to her confidence of predeceased.ย ย
โMaybe, but Iโm not sure any of this nonsense will ever be normal. And ... I mean, my barometer for what strange bullshit I was willing to accept did not entail fucking dying.โ Thereโs a shiver on the word, as if her body has not quite made amends with the thought.ย ย โItโs....ten out of ten would not recommend, Zelenia.ย How did you all managed to -er- undo death?โ
clementine never expected luceโs return to be as painful as her death. in the weeks following up to the full moon, the witch denied herself from thinking of the consequences of this. she knew only of her need to bring luce back, rescue her from the unfairness and the coldness of her demise. this is harder than it should be, she thinks, as she cries quietly.ย
she wants to tell luce about it all. she wants to tell her she was not forgotten, not once. clementine wants to tell about the protection charms on the room she rested. her tongue itches to tell her that she would visit her nearly every day to place a fresh rose between her hands. she wishes to share how she had to look away as soon as the witch opened her eyes again, in fear she would act recklessly. she wants to share the anger and the longing and how unsure she is that she wonโt just kiss her and hold her tight for the miracle that it is that she is alive again.ย
no words come past her lips though and clementine is defeated again. itโs equally surprising and alarming when luce apologizes. the florist agrees with her โ it wasnโt fair. yet, she is horrified to realize that she wished for it and she is glad that luce called, no matter how scary it feels. it makes clementine think โ she felt lonely enough and she was alive and able to receive comfort. she wonders just how lonely death was.
without giving time for her ego to interrupt, she comes around to luce and hugs her โ warm and tight and terrified. her tears overcome her again but she doesnโt let go, clinging to luce as she did during the seance, once now she is alive. โ weโve been through a lot, โ she whispers when she feels she can speak. โ none of this is fair and everything is so wrong right now. โ clementine takes a deep breath. she pulls back just enough to see luceโs face and nods weakly. โ iโll stay. at least until you can get some sleep. โ
This was the first sheโd been embraced since her return.ย It was not to say she had not been held, not been touched, but Lucrezia couldnโt recall a time in the aching space of time sheโd spent remembering how to breathe where another had touched her so purposefully.ย There were no fake fucks sheโd undergone in the last days to try and ease her mind, no strangers arms sheโd drowned between.ย All of that would have felt false in comparison to the fragile hold around her now.
Cleoโs arms were tight around her, sure despite their thin nature and there was a certain shake to Luceโs quivering that settled and died.ย She turned, looked at the soft thickets of brown waves so near her nose, before leaning into the slope of skin and bone, shivering for a last.ย She doesnโt remember Clementine Chastain as a woman who speaks so surely in moments of panic. But there it is - a calm and decisive assurance in her tone.
โThank you,โ she says, simple and wavering on the word.ย โI...โ her forehead collapses more fully on Cleoโs shoulder, and she brings her arms to wrap completely around her middle, allowing herself the comfort for this moment only.ย
โI donโt sleep anymore.ย I try to, Cleo, I swearย but itโs worse than any hangover or horror film combined.โย she wants to say more, so much unsaid in the trembling gap, whispering promises into Cleoโs skin. Instead, she pulls back, meeting her gaze almost timidly.ย ย โCould you make me that tea I like? I thought it might help- taking that to bed.โ
the accusation stings. as if her companyโs skin was covered with thorns, clementine lets go. she feels both pathetic and exposed beneath luceโs words and beneath her own actions. the witch stands there, tears on her eyes for an ancient unrequited something, offering the pieces of her heart for luce to turn to dust.ย
clementine thinks of leaving. she is ashamed and conflicted and luce offers her not a single piece of empathy. she reckons she doesnโt need to do this. itโs the burning bridge opportunity she waited to have for years. she is pretty sure that if she was to tell luce that she isnโt entitled to her care and attention right now and then left, there would be no remedy for the both of them. out of her self-preservation, clementine knows itโs the smartest thing, knows they are always doomed to burn. and yet,
โ fine, โ she replies weakly. the earth witch doesnโt wait on luce, rushes in and away from the tears prickling her eyes. she reaches for the kettle, surprised she can still find it, but she doesnโt finish filling it. it clangs loudly on the counter with the weight of her unsaid words. clementine doesnโt look up and her shoulders are slumped โ defeated. โ i was worried but iโ i couldnโt come over earlier, luce. โย she says and feels itโs too soft of a tone for the chaos raging inside of her. โ iโ fuck, luce. you were dead. you died just beside me and i tried to heal you and i couldnโt, because there wasnโt anything to heal. โ clementine pushes herself back now, sucking in a shaky breath. โ you died and i was desperate and angry and โ i voted to kill a man for you, to have you back! โ she looks up now, face red and wet. clementine takes another deep breath and takes her hands to her cheeks to wipe her stubborn tears. โ you told me you didnโt ask for this, โ she gestures towards her chest. โ and i canโtโ iโm not well enough to pretend to care less than i do. โ
She hadnโt realized how much she needed the contact, how grounding Cleoโs arms were on hers until they are absent. Frustratingly, her moments of clarity are less stable, less clear, and she notes the absence as clearly as the accompanying ache. As a woman, and a player in this game, she was not meant to bite those kind to her. Cleo should have been high on this list...and yet she cannot ignore the confusion that it has taken long.ย Did her death mean nothing.
ย It is not the time, and she bites her tongue, finishing her cigarette and stomping it into the crystals or her ashtray.ย For a moment, sheโs sure she can taste Cleoโs tears in the air, that sorrow they seem to share in that time, despite stemming from cruelly conflicted states. So of course she follows, focusing too hard on keeping her steps clear.ย She doesnโt pause for Cleo or the banging, feeding off her anger and nearly shoving her aside for the espressoย pot.
โFuck me?โ she mishears and the confusion sends her to anger. โWhat- do you think dyingย eludedย me? Iโm very god damn aware it happened.ย Itโs not like I was on pause for a few weeks. All itโs given me is nightmares and pains and it seems like the thirteen of you left donโt even care! Hell- half of you have disappeared.ย And itโs fine - I donโt expect flowers and tears from the lot of these women I hardly know.โ There is a but sheโs desperate to say that remains on her tongue, silent and unheard. Again, she reminds herself she is far too angry. The tears should not fuel her this way, and she takes a moment by the stove, whilst her back is turned.
โSorry. Iโm not.... Iโm not in a good way.โย Her voice is quiet and thereโs a short break in her shoulders, a shivered shake that she quells with a quick slap to her own arm.ย โI shouldnโt have called you. Or invited you.ย That wasnโt fair.โ She turns and thereโs an unfamiliar redness that outlines her eyes, the face otherwise too calm.ย โYouโve been through a lot too.ย Itโs fine. Donโt feel you need to stay and deal with this.โ
Maiaโs breaths came heavy, the quiet voice was familiar but she still whirled around - startled.
Lucrezia.
โHi Luce,โ Maia said quietly, sheโd wanted to bring her back of course she had - but Maia had never expected that it would turn out the way it had. Sheโd thought that everything would be okay somehow. It wasnโt though and somehow Maia thought that it would never be okay again.
โYeah,โ Maia said with a hand still on a nearby tree, her fingertips pressed against it. Was it supposed to be calming? She didnโt think sheโd be calm ever again.
โEverything keeps going to shit lately,โ
She nodded, the witty quips missing from her words. Lucreziaโs entirety still felt shaky, as if she was somewhat absent from the rest of the women around her.ย Instead of propelling from Maiaโs energy, this weakened her felt fed off it. She leaned against the tree, beside the woman.ย
โShit is a mild way of putting it,โ her voice wavered and Luce slumped down, the hem of her skirt grinding into the dirt beneath her.ย ย โYou were close with Asteria, werenโt you.โย Her sadness was genuine.ย โCanโt believe that idiot volunteered to mission me back......should have known better, poor thing.โ But it was regret that propelled her, a strange reserved sadness for the naive little blonde.ย
for a moment, clementine canโt do much but bask on the amazement that is looking at an alive luce. she can still remember the cold feel of her lifeless skin beneath her palms, her heart freshly broken, but luce is back. the quiet happiness is fleeting though and the florist registers the sentiment across luceโs eyes and the erratic form she holds herself. itโs even more alarming than the call was and clementine is at loss of what to do. looking at luce in this state, she crumbles not in fire, but in an earthquake, everything she hoped to be stable proving that is not.ย
she had this foolish hope all over these past weeks she mourned over luce and their complicated relationship, that once she was back, nothing would change. it was naive, she knows now. not a single person in the coven is the same since her death โ why would the resurrected be?ย
her foolishness is thrown to her face and she wants to cry. the womanโs state of mine echoes painfully inside of clementineโs chest, the feeling is not so different from when she failed to heal luce after the seance. the earth witch tastes the desperation on her tongue, smells it on the freshly lit cigarette on luceโs hand and she trembles. except now, she thinks, she can do something. please let her be able to do something.ย
โluce,โ clementine says and her voice breaks. she hates herself for it, knows itโs the last thing the woman needs. she acts, brashly, and she reaches for luce to grab her forearms and stop her from pacing. the witch looks down to give herself time to sniffle and hopefully dry the tears on her eyes. she doubts she is so successful. โ tell me how to help, โ it sounds like she is begging, she thinks, but clementine ignores the pang on her ego. โย youโ you can come to my place. i haveโ sleep tea. i justโ what can i do? โ how can i heal you?
Her eyes canโt quite focus on Cleo.ย She tries but itโs the helplessness there that forces her to turn away. No - itโs not that Cleo looks helpless, itโs that sheโs pitying Luce. She cannot s t a n d that expression, the feeling that this moment is steep soaked in regret for her.ย That she is weak is not a question -even Lucrezia knows sheโs fallen - but to be so obviously perceived sets her blood boiling.ย
โIf youโre worried about me why didnโt you come sooner?โย Theyโre daggered words said out of turn.ย In truth, sheโd meant only to think them, but she is overtired and angry.ย Luce looks surprised to have heard her voice, turning quickly from her accusation and taking a deep drag of her cigarette. Shaken, she coughs on the exhale, turning back around with a terribly fake calm on her face.
โCleo, if I knew the easy fix, Iโd have done it by now,โ the bite has drained quickly into exasperation, collapsing on the swinging chair of her porch.ย โI donโt want the dead to keep me from my home. Itโs my home, god damn it.โ But even as she says it, she knows the determination is weak.ย She wants to leave - badly- but itโs only the second night. Instead, she massages at the headache blooming between her eyes.ย ย โPlease just...come in.ย Come upstairs.ย Talk to me about whatever bullshit you like.โย
WHERE: Marinaโs Home
WHEN: June 9th, sometime around 6:00pm
WHO: Closed for @marinachoisโ
This was not the last place Luce would have expected to be, but it was certainly closer to the unexpected.ย To claim that she and Marina were friends would have been a healthy exaggeration of the tense dance both women played with each other. But this was before Luce had died, before Marina had been threatened in her home and well before stupid books had come into their lives with nothing but drama.ย
Now?ย Sitting on Marinaโs couch and sipping wine felt the far greater alternative to lounging at her own lush home.ย People made it easier to outrun the shadows and right now the shadows were everywhere.ย
โI like what youโve done with the place,โ she commented blandly, topping off her own glass of the Didier Dagueneau.ย ย โIโd been saving this for a special occasion but time has seemed a lot more fleeting since the whole....you know.โ She shrugged, taking a healthy sip, already in her cups.ย It happened that way, what with the lack of sleep.ย Her inhibitions were perpetually loose.ย ย โSo, Iโm trusting that youโll provide some of the juicier information the other witches have slacked on, Mari. Canโt help feeling like Iโve missed out.โ
luce is back. clementine repeats it to herself when she can find a break from crying over asteria and her severed ties with the other girls. luce is back. she thinks and for a moment her heart fills up with relief and too many feelings she doesnโt want to put a name in. luce is back. yet clementine never mustered the courage to look on her face once. the florist placed a kiss to her cheek before the ritual and then watched her candlelit in the woods. however, once the fire witchโs lungs filled with air, clementine avoided her entirely.ย
clementine thinks itโs easy to do so. avoiding luce is what sheโs done for so long before and she knows luce wonโt reach out. she told her so, during the festival, she isnโt this kind of woman. thatโs why, when the phone rings, clementine is startled. the earth witch stares long at the screen vibrating with luceโs name and yet she doesnโt pick up. she lets the call come and go with a tight grip on her broken heart.ย
itโs the voicemail that puts her in movement. the tone of voice used is so unlike the one that is familiar to clementine. the words, too. luce never needed her to come over. sheโd say โ sheโd like to have clementine come over; sheโd be glad about a visit. but luce never needed her before and she definitely never said please. itโs alarming enough to make clementine ignore her best judgment and rush towards luceโs house.ย
her cheeks are pink once she makes the steps on luceโs porch. her stomach churns once cleo sees her there, more frazzled than sheโs ever been before the earth witchโs eyes. she stands awkwardly before her, between her wish to cry and to touch the woman. โ luce, โ she says, painfully. โ have you slept at all? โ
Luce shook her head fast, an almost jerking motion as she flicked her cigarette dead into her ashtray. Thereโs a twitch to her fingers thatโs unusual, too out of control to have come from her own hands.ย She hates it and yet she cannot stop it, struggling to light another cigarette, crumpling the empty pack.ย ย
When she looks at Clementine there is far too much hurt in her eyes, narrowed in answer to an angry question that has not been asked. Itโs nothing sheโs said, only that she has not come sooner. Lucrezia herself hadnโt realized it bothered her, hadnโt known it was the thorn in her side until the 4th day passed without so much as a text.ย ย
Itโs the sleep, she reminds herself,ย Youโre not in a good way.ย ย She canโt get her brain to focus right and tries to pass of the glare as that, the lingering bitterness due to the collectiveโs lack of interest, not solely Cleo.
โNo.ย Not since.โย There is a harshness to her tone that is new, something raw poorly concealed.ย ย โItโs only getting worse and I- I canโt be in that house right now.โย She gestures back, the lit cigarette shaking violently in her hand.ย ย โThereโs shit in there that wonโt- it just doesnโt stop.โ The words are forced through a clenched jaw,ย and Luceโs pacing never stops.
WHERE: Zelโs backyard
WHEN: July 6th, sometime around 2:00am
WHO: Closed for @rolandbbโ
She woke in the night with a start, the feeling of cold hands wrapped around her throat impossible to shake.ย In the dark of Zelโs guest room, Lucrezia watched scowling shadows dance, laughing at her, taunting her.
Enjoy it, Sofia.ย All you have is borrowed time.
The bed is scalding and she scrambled out the covers with a sway. To be corporeal once more should have been easy - sheโd spent twenty-seven years this way, far longer than dead. But it seemed the rules were not so concise when it came to dying and reviving.ย She felt the pounding in her head more profoundly, the sweat beaded on her skin like fire, and as her legs carried her into the night they felt leaden.ย
Now it seemed even the trees swayed cruelly her way and her eyes played tricks, a dark verdant vortex threatening to pull her in.ย When she stumbled it was nearly into Zelโs shed, tripping over roots and barely righting herself on the siding.ย ย It was chance that she met his eyes through the window and the shock and fear that coursed threw her gaze could not be hidden.ย Slowly, keeping balance with an iron grip on the wall, she lifted her chin.ย
โLast I checked, youโd tortured one of our girls. Do you think this is the wisest space to be squatting?โ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย six days after the seance. early morning.
clementine hesitates in front of the door. ever since things started growing complicated between her and lucrezia, the earth witch thinks hesitation is the most common and most infuriating response to her.
once, she would never hesitate in front of luce. the fire witch meant safety โ and warm smiles and companionship. she was secrets in whispers and easy laughs and fingertips tracing a path to follow. she was a content sigh with a kiss to the cheek and clementine thought she could very well worship the ground she walked on. but if she did so, she did so with a veil in front of her eyes and unwilling to take it off to reveal the true picture.
when the curtains fell, luce was the reason for her heartbreak. after clementine allowed the truth to be seen, luce meant something completely different. she was deceit in honey glaze and clementine was always a fool for sweetness. she became brazen and dangerous and clementine feared she would willingly let herself burn for a chance to be half loved. so out of fear, she ran. with a heart half longing for the pain, she severed the ties that linked to luce and she thought that if they didnโt talk and they didnโt see each other, that the fire would stop burning.
it was foolish to think so. clementine knew the exact moment she saw luce at the dinner party that embers arenโt dead fire. she hated to have her life invaded again and she hated the entitlement luce felt to set her on fire. she hates it now, too. theyโre separated, more than they ever been, and clementine is still in flames. luce gets her second guessing every move and overthinking her words โ even in death, it seems.
WHERE: Zeleniaโs Home
WHEN: June 5th, after the seance
WHO: Closed for @zeleniarosi
Lucrezia felt fifty shade of disgusting. While the lustre of life may have brought color back to her cheeks and mobility to her body, she was still wearing the same dress sheโd died in weeks prior.ย Her hair was unwashed (and longer?) and her eyes were encircled in rotted away makeup. Despite where sheโd come from, she felt entirely notย herself.ย After an initial greeting sheโd found it hard to speak at all, following Zel to her home in uncharacteristic silence.ย Now showered, she found the itch only slightly relieved.
โSorry about that,โ she approached steaming fresh from the shower, fitting herself awkwardly into a chair of Zelโs living room.ย ย โAwkward silence, rancid smell, and, of course, dying. Please consider this my formal apology for all of the above.โ She smiled but it was empty, sandwiched between a hopeless sigh. When she spoke again it was quieter, vulnerable. โItโs weird, isnโt it.โ
WHERE: Luceโs Homeย
WHEN: June 8th, 12:38 am
WHO: Closed for @thechircn
In the distance, her phone rings.ย She is not far from her phone, the device is rooted in her hand, but Lucrezia feels far from the moment.ย And unknown caller ID stares back at her in a sea of many - her absences has been noted by clients in the weeks sheโd spent....breathless.ย The first day back sheโd thought to throw herself into work, ready to lie away all questions regarding her missing in action.ย That ambition had lasted as long as a scroll down her phone.ย Sheโd barely managed to throw a generic apology together, sending her bullshit out to every client before saying sheโd be back in business within a week.ย ย Sheโd bought herself time but only just and sheโd worked too hard to amass what she had to let it all go to shit over dying.
Time meant little when she spent it all hallucinating and wishing she could sleep. Exhaustion seemed to fuel it, alcohol left her bloated and lazy and the drugs made things worse. Sheโd been up for an hour and a half now pacing, frazzled and undone before sheโd bitten the bullet and called Cleo, praying for a voicemail.ย Even then, her poise had been gone.ย ย โI need you to come over, if youโre awake.ย Please.ย Itโs urgent.โ
Now she was waiting on the front porch, pacing and burning through cigarettes faster than was healthy. She was jittery, overtired and nervous, running her hands over her skin for the thousandth time since returning.ย Even when approached, she said nothing.
status: closed for @lucrezia-venusโ
time & date: tuesday the 6th (ish), eveningย
location: ariโs nice hotel room
ย ย since belen stayed over, ari had been left alone with her own hauntings, enjoying the fancy room by herself. it wasnโt a surprise when luce emerged from the other sideย a bitโฆ off, a bit different; ariadne had expected as such, deep down. nothing felt normal, anyway, and she had no idea how luce would react to the massive amounts of news that was thrown at her so soon. the introduction of lixue, the capture and prophecy about roland, jackโs death, asteriaโs trickery into purgatory; it was a lot, even ariโs head swam. so despite her urge to recoil, lock herself away and hide from them allโฆ she couldnโt, not entirely.ย
ย ย instead, she offered her safe haven of isolation to luce. with a jacuzi tub, a large screen tv, and plush blankets and pillows on the bed reserved all for her, mint and slippers set nearby, it should be something of a vacation, a relaxing retreatโฆ if only things were different. not to mention, ariadneโs hair was a flaming bright color, raven color ruinedย with dye, and now a neon sign of pinks and orange. god, ari was almost more worried about what luce would have to say about thatย than anything else.ย
ย ย โthere is cute little miniature bottles of vodka in the mini fridge,โ the witch gestured to the appliance, reclined on her own bed, flipping through a magazineโฆ as if it were all normal, but her eyes spoke of knowing as she gazed at luce.ย โi am ashamed to admit, i am not sure what quiteย to offer you in comfort.โย
Despite knowing she is definitely alive, nothing felt quite real to Lucrezia.ย This time, at least, she knew it was due to sleep -or rather - her lack their of.ย To be awake but off center, as though she had a little more sway in her step that she could not control.ย Some days she felt as though her nightmare had continued into the wakeful world, an agony of itโs own. All of that was made far, farย worse in her own home.ย Lucrezia found herself adrift and anchor-less, floating between the girlโs homes like some sort of beggar. At least Ariadne was in a hotel.ย There was something less affronting about crashing in a suite than someoneโs guest bedroom.ย ย
โThis is quite the set up youโre invited me to,โ she said with a smile, hoping the color correction would hide the dark circles beneath her eyes.ย โNothing to be ashamed about.ย Itโs ....โ Luceโs words trailed away, lost a minute in the flashbacks before the woman forced a more dazzling smile, followed by a laugh that was strange and hollow. โWell, not all of us can say theyโve been to hell and back.โย
She sat on the beds edge, appreciative of the soft plush. โIf you feel like drinking the horrors away with me, Ari, Iโd be well compelled.โ Then she clapped her hands.ย โCome, come. Let it be expensive and loosen our tongues while you tell me who haunted you in my absence.โ
This Home. Something here called her back to this place, finding herself wandering shapeless in the garden of a cottage that was not her own.ย It is colder here, colder than she had thought, though her memories are warm, guiding her through.ย ย
She is not herself but the moment is crystalline and clear. Lucrezia knows she is the ghost of herself, peering through the wrong side of the looking glass.ย Fate has twisted her into an unwilling voyeur, watching as an icy blonde stumbles home in that strange time between one day and the next.ย
Time passes slower, an intravenous drip of the life she wishes she had.ย She feels herself drawn closer, reaching a pale and see through hand out to guide the witch into her own home.ย As she passes through, she swears Zelenia looks her way.ย
โZel!โ she moans, a desperate and hopeful plea before the moment shatters.ย The darkness chains her again, with frozen, skeletal hands.
When Maia closed her eyes, all she could see was Asteria - rendered smaller still by death, just lying there - lifeless and cold. Her best friend was dead and it wasnโt fair and Lixue hadnโt even cared! She was just gone and it wasnโt fair at all, it almost surprised Maia how angry she was - how every emotion in her seemed to ricochet around like she was the center of a hurricane. She flitted around in her grief, nothing seemed to hold.
Sheโd tramped off into the woods, hoping that the familiar feeling of the floor against her feet would soothe her but Maia was just agitated. More than she ever had been in her life.
It wasnโt right and it wasnโt fair.
Maia didnโt say anything, stumbling around before she finally let out a low noise of rage, slamming her hand against a nearby tree and if in answer, the nearby trees moaned and rattled. Maia inhaled sharply, leaning her forehead against the tree.
She wanted to cry but the tears wouldnโt come.
The sound had startled Lucrezia- anguished and far too close for comfort.ย Something in it echoed her own confusion.ย It hadnโt been 24 hours yet since herย returnย (revived? resurrected?) and she could not settle. Admitting it was weakness...but she was too afraid to sleep. She had spent too long as nothing and now she was desperate to cling to the reality she could live in now.
It was hard.ย Ghosts were all too ready to taunt her when she shut her eyes - even if only for a blink.ย In the silence she heard things that were not there. And she felt so. god. damn. cold.
She followed the scream until she saw the blonde.....Maia, it took her a moment to remember. When she cleared her throat it was almost timid, a shade of the confident woman sheโd been before this madness. Her approach was slow, only when she knew the girl saw her, a mirrored pain in her eyes.
โCan I join you?โย Her voice is quiet and, strangely, harsh, as if the chords were fighting atrophy.ย โI think I need to scream too.โ
There was no adjusting to her now, there only was. She was apart, drifting and abandoned even by her cast away companion. ย Half the time she felt completely apart, a soul drifting in nothing. Matter and mass with little between. ย Then there were moments of lucidity, where she saw her world in grayscales or negatives, perfectly detailed but not quite right. ย She saw the girls easiest - the ones tied to her magic and found herself struggling to reach for them.
It was like that now, recognizing the curly hair and stolen fashion but forgetting the name. ย Things like that often escaped her in the darkness and she found a strangled moan left her lips instead. ย Remember, she begged of herself, crying out to the tall girl. '
โHelp me,โ she called, a phrase she'd never dared to utter in life.
Cole Campbell
06/03/2020
Salem was a magnet and Cole had been arrogant enough to believe she'd been in control of her compulsion to stay. The truth was clearer now - not just thanks to that old hag Gen, her fucking book of spells or indeed, any of the other girls. They were all evidence that magic was real and undeniable, but it was through the eyes of death that Cole was able to truly see.
Cleo's touch haunted her; in the days that followed, those memories of her and Lucrezia played on a loop, a robbery she regretted. And she felt the dead witch everywhere - flashes of canary yellow in peripheral vision, the lingering scent of a stolen perfume she'd locked away. Not for the first time, Cole felt as if she were going mad.
And madness must have been the reason, that compulsion again that tugged her out of bed at 4am and to a gas station on the other side of town. For a while Cole sat there with the engine off, eyes shut. When they opened it was a hesitant gaze, sliding up slow to the rear view mirror and its view of the back seat. "Luce?"
Lucrezia Bianchi
06/03/2020
It had been so long since she'd heard that name she hardly knew to recognize it. ย The moment itself was stunted, coming at her through lenses watery and distorted. ย She reached for Cole and felt helpless, loping forward in this half body of matter and smoke.
"Can you....do you see me?" ย she whispered, hearing the foreign echo to her voice as she rushed to the dark witch. ย "Cole....Cole please!" The girls name came back quickly *desperately,* and she grabbed at her in desperation.
Cole Campbell
06/03/2020
Do you see me? She couldn't, a selfish part of her relieved to find the back seat empty - but fuck, she could certainly hear her. The woman's voice was undeniable, as loud as if she were sharing the car with anyone else. "I can hear you. Fuck, can you hear me?" That part was new. The hairs on the back of her neck and arms stood on end, but then Luce reached out -ย
The scent of homemade cooking in a kitchen brimming with people. The nervous smiles of young boys and girls, coloured a soft orange and powder blue. The heavy breath of a man, too old, the weight of him on top of you. The memories were a barrage, one after the other and each as intense - they assaulted the living witch's senses and she jolted, her elbow careening into the horn in her shock. She pelted out of the gas station a moment later, breathing hard.ย
ย Cole was still catching her breath when the same feeling from before had her stopping at an empty parking lot only a mile and a half away. "Jesus." Her hands shook as she pushed her hair back from her face. "Where... where are you, Luce?" In truth, she was almost afraid to ask.
Lucrezia Bianchi
06/03/2020
Drained - that was the simplest way to put it.ย For a moment, Luce was simply not, some latch to her open so that pieces of who she was leaked.ย She could feel it happen, tasting her memories as they passed by only to have the latch shut.ย The recollections fled as quickly as they came.
โIโm .....โ she stumbled on the words.ย Where was she?ย Who was she?ย โIโm Lucrezia now,โ she repeated, to herself and to the afroโd girl.ย โThey call me Luce. They tell me things.โย She shook, quaking as if her blood had turned to ice.ย She reaches out to grab the medium.ย ย โThereโs no end, please. Only pain.ย Donโt leave me here.โ
Cole Campbell
06/03/2020
More memories. This time, Cole was ready - anticipating anyway, but far from prepared. ย The cold barrel of a gun: a burst of scarlet.The salty tang of semen. The name Ciccone rattling around, like a bag of marbles, a mouth full of too many teeth. Shattered bone - you touch your nose, your eyes swollen shut. A woman - a dentist? No, a doctor - and a baby. No, no - not the baby - not there.
Cole surfaced, gasping, but Luce wasn't done yet - no baby now. And you're right, there's only pain, only all of this on repeat.ย
By the time she came back to herself, Cole had sweated through her t-shirt. She reached for the door handle and stumbled out of the car, away from the ghost. "No more. I can't - I'll help you, just - I can't help when you're doing that."
Lucrezia Bianchi
06/04/2020
There's a horror on the girl's face that Luce mirrors, a mask that has been molded for the ghost girl to steal. ย She doesn't feel, not the right way, and the medium's fear only brings a confusion. ย "Do you see me? Can you help me?" ย Her voice is lost, pitching then wailing desperately, reaching ย and reaching only to find herself absent on a sidewalk.
"Cole," her face twists in anguish, tearing in a moment of lucidity. "There is nothing here. I am nothing. Nothing.You have to get me, p l e a s e. This is not death it is agony." And as if switched off, she finds herself pulled away, returned to a husk of her persons. ย She cannot feel, cannot touch, cannot think.
"They come for me," her voice holds no melody, "Alone, in pairs, cruel and kind. ย They come, they grasp and speak in whispers. No peace. No peace. No victory."
Cole Campbell
06/05/2020
Cole wasn't innocent by any means; she'd seen violence and sex, the things that people would do for money. She'd heard the whispers too, for as long as she could remember. But this - this was brand new altogether. Out on the sidewalk, she shied away from the ghost's words. She could feel it then through her description, through the moment she'd touch Cleo. "I'm sorry, I - I can't do this. I can't hell you." And then she was throwing herself back into her ride, once more running away.
