before the dawn
She liked to pretend she was everywhere. Everywhere was easier than nowhere, though it sounded harder, because everywhere also meant anywhere. And that was why Lunette came to the forest; she imagined it was like many forests all around the world, and then she could pretend she was in those places (if only momentarily, if only partially) while she sat by a stream or on a rock and looked on into the endless array of flora stretched out before her. Endless, of course, not because it was infinite but because she nor any other Elswood student would make it to the end. Inside of Elswood, things were not so vague: they had specific points and distinct locations that made it easy to recognize but hard to lose oneself in. It was a very sad thing, if you asked Lunette, who appreciated being lost from time to time.
But it was very apparent from the moment that she heard her that the girl who had entered the forest had not done so for the same reason as Lunette. Though that didn’t mean she didn’t understand the reason immediately.
Fuck!
Yeah, she understood perfectly.
Lunette peeked from her place sitting behind the base of the tree, seeing the girl lean her weight into the tree. Something cringed behind her ribs. She stood up silently and trod her way over, picking up the stranger’s bag on the way and placing it softly at their side.
“You picked a good place.” She didn’t say for what, but it filled itself out. It didn’t have a proper name because it was too many things at once: anger, grief, melancholy, the last spark dying or a new one igniting. “These trees are probably old enough that they’ve seen every emotion on dozens of people. They won’t judge. People – everyone here is too young. Well, almost everyone. Adham is probably alright.” Her face was soft and open, though not overwrought with emotion, it was still curved with it. Lunette could have walked away and left the girl to pluck the thorns from her howling demons on her own, but that was the whole issue with the place. In Lunette’s opinion, of course. But she stayed out of arms reach, not intruding on the girl’s space – and because she couldn’t be sure what kind of powers she had, and what it could do if she triggered the wrong emotion. “Did you hurt your hand?”
Thea hadn’t cried like this in... awhile. When she was a child, she was the little girl that cried at anything and everything. Though as she grew older, she didn’t cry as much. Only in times of extreme distress or sadness. Which seemed to be the case just then. Her eyes were getting puffy with the continuous tears leaking down her cheeks, and the hiccups soon joined in. She was so damn worked up, it was to the point where she couldn’t even breathe properly.
“You picked a good place.”
Startled by the voice, Thea’s head spun in the direction of a girl who had joined beside her, unnoticed. Thea, so caught up in herself, didn’t even hear her walk up. Or drop her bright blue bag down beside her, that she caught out of the corner of her eye. Blurry vision, and all.
The next thing she said was very... poetic. Thea probably would have appreciated it more if she wasn’t in such a state. “I- uh,” she started, voice too weak and shaky to properly form the words she meant to speak.
Breathe, Thea.
She drew in a slow, shaky breath and let it out as she brought her hand up to wipe away the tears, and the wetness on her cheeks. “Did you hurt your hand?”
Thea looked down at her hand she slammed against the tree, turning it over to look at her red palm. She brushed away the residue the tree left behind and gave a small shake of her head. “No, it’s... it’s fine.” Thea finally really looked at the girl then, eyes lifting to her face. And a pretty face it was. Blonde hair, big eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder how she must look to her right then. Thea doubted she would have used pretty to describe her.
“I’m sorry, I thought-” she sighed, dropping her eyes and licking her lips. “I thought I was alone.” It was such a vulnerable state to be in, and Thea felt embarrassed at how she acted. So... out of control. “I’m not normally... well, like this,” she told her, feeling the need to defend herself.
