#afterlifers

[pigeonwbraces]

Blehhhh Afterlifers Frisk and Cam art

[mordellestories]

@mostghcst @ghcstmom

October. Usually, the month that Lydia looked forward to the most, but not this time. Graduation had come and gone. Her birthday was days away. Her eighteenth birthday. She would be a legal adult in a matter of days. 

Lying on her bed, Lydia stared at the ceiling and wondered in quiet dread of what was to become of her. Would she be able to go to college? She had already been accepted to NYU. It had always been easy to picture her future, but as time grew nearer to her impending adulthood, the fog that was slowly obscuring the possibilities only thickened.

Two years prior, life had been very different. So many things had changed since… the wedding. After celebrating their victory that night, Lydia had been horrified upon realizing that her ring - his ring - would not come off. At first, she told no one and suffered silently, not sleeping a wink, just waiting for him to come back and abduct her… or worse.  Barbara had finally noticed it a few weeks later. A family meeting took place and the conclusion filled Lydia with some relief. They would protect her and call Juno.

However, Juno could not be reached because the Maitlands had used up their remaining vouchers. Eventually, a marriage certificate showed up on Lydia’s nightstand. Nothing more. She had almost fainted right before scurrying to hide out of sight. No use worrying anyone over it. Best to forget it existed.

Still, he was nowhere to be found. Maybe he meant what he said… “marriage on inconvenience.” Perhaps he was already free and had no interest in returning. Those notions went out the window when she read the handbook and found out that her husband's parameters were no more than three hundred feet in diameter from wherever she happened to be.

“Liar,” she mumbled aloud. Well, he hadn’t exactly lied. He just never told her that being ‘over there’ meant everywhere she went. Lydia sighed, closed her eyes, and groaned. The only other reason she could think of to explain his absence was that he was waiting for her to be… legal. Bile rose in her throat at the implications and visions of what he would do to her. Lydia swallowed hard and sat up.

“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door…” she murmured and looked at her window. The quote by Emily Dickinson was her new favorite. Barbara had said it to her when she was spiraling on one occasion. She’d recite it to herself whenever she felt like holing up in her room and brooding. She refused to wait for her life to be over like a pig waiting for slaughter. He would not ruin her life. Not when she finally wanted to live it. So, open every door is exactly what she did.

She let her natural chestnut color locks grow out and changed her wardrobe. No more outlandish or eccentric hairstyles or clothing. No more trying to keep people out or scaring them off with her gothic tendencies. She wanted to be as far away from death as she could and even though Barbara and Adam where ghosts, they were precisely who she aspired to be. Friendly, happy, optimistic… normal people. There was a future out there for her and Lydia would fight tooth and nail to get to it. Betelgeuse be damned.

“Shit,” she covered her mouth quickly as if just thinking his name was enough to summon him. Lydia looked around her room, but nothing had changed. “Get a grip, Lydia,” she scolded herself for her cowardice. Then, the doorknob started to turn with a creak.