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Andy

Explanation.

“I’ve got a dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty little secret, and I’m not sure that I wanna keep it. So we feed ourselves lies to submit to the shadows, cause we just wanna dance under our pretty perfect halos.”
Rats - Motionless In White



Eliza’s smile wavered, then turned into a frown, then her lips curled up slightly into a half smile of shocked, terrified awe. I didn’t even know she could make that face.

Andy and Ashley stood side by side, arms length in front of her. They watch her reaction warily, trying to judge if she was going to start wailing or something. They also looked prepared to silence her if she did.

“Well?” I demand when too many silent seconds pass.

“Well... Color me stupid and dip me in piss... They’re real.”

“Of course we’re fuckin’ real.” Ashley says snootily, narrowing his eyes at her.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Andy jokes, but she doesn’t react. She seems to be absolutely dumbfounded by the whole experience. Admittedly, I feel a bit jealous, because she is handling it so much better that I did. Then again, I didn’t have any preparation whatsoever, so of course, when the boy you just watched die miraculously shows up and demands to be your friend, you tend to be very apprehensive.

She finally tears her feet free from the spot they rooted into the carpet, and slowly begins to inspect them. She walks in a long, slow circle around them, never saying anything or touching them... Just looking at them the way the average art fan might inspect a unique statue at a museum.

“You’re not going to panic?” I ask when the moment of shock had passed. She furrows her brow a bit in thought, then shakes her head. “I don’t know what it is about them... But it seems very natural. Like they’re completely normal people.”

Ashley snorts.

“I suppose...” She pauses and continues her slow stroll “That if I had even half the experiences that you did with them, it’d be much more traumatic... In a sense. I don’t know your history,” she looks from me to Andy, a sly reminder that I’d never told her everything about how we’d met or come to be. “but I can tell you’re all very close.”

“I’m here for a handful of reasons.” Ashley snips, returning to his impatient, grumpy former self. Andy shoots him a dirty look and mutters “get it together” under his breath at him.

Elizabeth looks at Ashley for a long time, then narrows her eyes a bit. “I know you.”

Ashley lets out a low, bitter laugh. “No you don’t.”

“I do,” Elizabeth argues, “you had a thing for Vienna... My sister.”

The cheerful, easy-going atmosphere drastically shifted then, and an uncomfortable tense feeling grew between them both. “You’re the one who made her into what she is now.” She growled at him, looking tempted to slug him right there. “She was fine, with a bright future... Then you sunk your hooks into her and pulled her down into your world.”

“She chose her path.” Ashley retorts with narrowed eyes.

“Alright, knock it off.” I snap at them both, “You’ve got some history, clearly... Save it for later, alright? For now, you are going to get along like two good ol pals, because tonight we’ve got some serious shit to attend to.” I remind them both, causing Ashley’s fiery glare to redirect to me, it’s power lessening.

“We came here on business. Act like it.” I remind him, returning my attention to Elizabeth. “So you’re alright with all of this?”

“I had a question, actually... When you said digging, what did you mean by that, exactly?”

I purse my lips and tug her aside, briefly turning towards Andy. “Head out to the garage and see if you can find everything you need.”

Andy nods once, and tugs Ashley along with them, the bedroom door closing behind them.

“Total freedom to be candid now,” I smile slightly, “by digging, I mean straight up digging. It’s a long story, but short version is we need Wiccan protection jars, and to make those, we need to scavenge articles of body fluids among other things from their remains... Which in turn, means exactly what you think it does,” I wince, “we’re digging them up.”

“You know you can go to jail for that... Right?” She deadpans, seemingly looking over everything else I’d just said.

“Due to another detail in their peculiarity, being caught will not be a problem. However, I need to know you’re one hundred percent on board, okay? There’s no floundering between sides on this, Eliza. If you’re going to commit, you have to commit now.”

“I do.” She agrees firmly with a nod, “I’m with you.”

“And as for Reece...” I trail off, “not one word of this to him.”

She nods again.

“And ah... About what Andy said to you,” I scratch the back of my neck awkwardly, not sure how to go about going down the path on which he called her numerous insulting names and insulted her integrity to our friendship.

She frowns a bit, but waves her hand. “I know he means well.”

I hang my head and sigh, completely burned out already. Nothing ever works out correctly or feels quite right now. We’re always at odds, and every time I look at her, about to share some dark secret, I don’t see an ally. I see an enemy to overcome and quarantine.

Pursing my lips, I look her in the eyes. “You’ve seen them now, and handled it incredibly well... Any closing thoughts?”

“It’s bizarre...” She says after a lengthly pause, “I mean, I saw his picture in the paper, and then just that once with you in the school hall. It’s different to look into their eyes on your own and see something completely different.”

“What about Ashley?”

She shakes her head. “I never saw him often... Once or twice, and still, he remained a fuzzy outline in my memory; a shadow of a man climbing out my sister’s window while Dad loaded his shotgun outside my sister’s room.” She laughs at the memory, but it’s short-lived and is quickly snuffed out by a different emotion... Fear.

“Though, he seems different,” she comments. “something is off with him now... Though I suppose it could just as easily be the fact that he wears sunglasses indoors.”

Another awkward chuckle finishes off her sentence, and she winces a bit, turning to go sit on her bed. I drop my overnight bag to the floor and follow her, peeling off my heels before sitting cross-legged on her bed across from her.

“I suppose you must have a lot of questions, huh?... Bear in mind, I hardly have all the answers. What they... Are... Is something beyond my own comprehension. I still haven’t completely grasped the situation I find myself in.”

She is thoughtful for a little while before proposing her first question. “How did you meet? More specifically, how did you become friends? I mean, weren’t you scared or worried? Did you think you were going insane?”

“All of the above. It was a rough transition, that in the moment, didn’t feel like anything was changing when things definitely were. We were going on walks, and goofing off, and sneaking out of the house late at night to go do some considerably illegal things... Nonetheless, I did feel that some things were particularly weird, but never so outright that I had to stop and collect myself. From the night we met until now, it’s been an endless rollercoaster of ups and downs... And as cliche as it sounds, it’s completely true.”

She nods slowly in deep thought, her eyes trained on the white carpet under her furniture.

“It was a Sunday,” I recall with a tone bearing hints of nostalgia and pride. “and we had just gotten out of church. I remember how overcast the afternoon was, and I felt overjoyed. It was simpler times then, of course. All I was worrying about was a writing assignment that was due. I didn’t know that in ten minutes from that moment, I’d be seeing someone for the first time who within a matter of days would take priority over all other things in my life.”

I look down at my hands, the green nail polish I’d applied just a few days earlier already chipping away at the sides. I run my thumb over the tiny feathering cracks while I go over the events that took place in my head.

“Before I knew it, we came apon an accident, complete with a flaming vehicle, two ambulances and a quarter of the sheriff’s department... I don’t know what possessed me to get out of the car, but I did. I climbed out and walked as close as the security would let me. I stood there absolutely transfixed by the scene before me... The boy the EMT’s were trying to save, just lying on the ground. They declared him dead soon after. I kept staring though, unable to tear my eyes away from that pale sheet covering his face. Then by chance, a gust of wind came up and blew it back, revealing his face, covered in tiny lacerations and an assortment of gashes.”

Almost like I was there again, I could feel the atmosphere closing in on me in Elizabeth’s small, cozy room. The soft, cold rain drops, the smell of dying flames choking the air, and the rumble of thunder above me... All strong pieces of my memory, brought back to bring it all back to life. I shudder, but continue, deciding to cut as many corners in my explanation as I can.

“I saw his face, and it was enough for me to move again. We drove home in silence, and he stayed in my head all night and the following day when I heard about nothing but him all day at school. When I got home, knowing his identity took priority over my school work as I scoured online databases for anything to say who this kid was... It was ten minutes later that the power went out, and I saw him for the first time.”

Elizabeth’s grin stretched across her face and she stared at me in fascination, urging me to go on.

“Admittedly,” I sigh, looking down again. “I didn’t react as well as you did.”

“What did you do?”

“I started screaming for my mom, and he kept approaching me until I had a panic attack. When I woke up, he was gone.”

She sighs in exasperation, clearly it wasn’t the ending she wanted to hear. “No Twilight makeout sequence happened?”

“Nothing even remotely romantic happened,” I deadpan, “I didn’t know him, and to me, that screamed stranger danger to find a weirdo just waiting in my room.”

“How did you find him again after that?”

“He left a note, saying that if I was curious, I just had to say his name.”

“That’s it?” He fangirling disappointment was showing again. Clearly all of this was not as erotic as she had made it out to be in her head.

“Yep.” I nod.

She narrows her eyes a bit, and sighs. “Well I guess that answers the major question... As for the others, I think I’ll distribute them over time.” She cracks a small smile and proceeds to say “And anyways, I have some disappointment to get over.”

I laugh, and nod.

“Where did you meet him again?”

“In the woods behind the school.” I respond with a shrug.

“That’s not weird at all.” She says sarcastically. “Lure the girl into the woods, promising answers to all her questions. Geez, you’re like a real life Edward and Bella.”

“No.”

“Not even a little bit?” She hedges, and I can see in her eyes that she wants nothing more than her favorite paranormal romance story to come to life. I sigh in amusement and shake my head to confirm her question.

She pouts her lips slightly, but keeps prodding. “So when you got out into the woods, was he already there?”

“No, he was invisible.”

“And you just had to say his name?”

“Yep.”

“Wasn’t it kinda weird to walk out into the woods to spout the name of a recently deceased kid?”

I shrug, “I suppose it was. I was more curious than embarrassed.”

“Wait...” She holds her palms up like she’s stopping traffic for a major emergency. “How old is this kid? We’ve been endlessly referring to him as one, but is he really?”

“Nope.”

I figure keeping my answers and short, sweet, and simple as possible will eventually contribute to the longterm results of successfully living this girly chat down.

“How old?”

I arch a brow, aware in a tiny part of the back of my mind that it’s a weird number in comparison to my own age, but given that he can’t physically age anymore, I figure I will catch up eventually.

“Well?”

“Twenty...” I trail off.

“Twenty? That’s not bad.”

“Seven...” I mumble under my breath, and her eyes get as big as saucers, and she stares me down with the intensity of a tree frog.

“Twenty-seven years old!” She half shrieks in a shrill voice, “He’s old enough to be an intern teacher! Ash!”

I know she’s about to launch into a list of comparisons as to why his age is weird. I hold up one finger, indicating that she needs to hold her damn horses.

“First and foremost, he cannot age anymore. Not ever. I will catch up eventually.”

“Assuming all this monkey business in the cemetery doesn’t kill you first.” She mumbles, dejected. She gets up from the bed, wearing the expression of a worried bystander. “I don’t know how I feel about all of this, Ash. You could get seriously hurt.”

“Because of his age or the unique predicament I find myself in?” I challenge her.

“Both.” She finally decides and begins to pace, leaving me with this uneasy feeling, like I chose the wrong person to confide in, and now I can’t take it all back and pretend I didn’t say any of it.

“What are you most worried about?” I ask, still trying to remain reasonable and see her side of things.

“I’m worried on how he might be using you in the long run.”

“Using me? For what? Eliza, he cannot do half the things a normal person can. He’s the equivalent of an imaginary friend with more problems than the average gas station clerk.”

She frowns at how simply I water down the situation. “The love of your life is your imaginary friend... He’s also ten years older than you, on top of everything else that comes up as a red flag.” She shakes her head and frowns deeply, looking nauseated.

“I need to get some air.”

She exits the room and shuts her door swiftly behind her, leaving me there alone to speculate what I could have said differently to change the outcome of that conversation. Could I have left out the age? The problems?... Elizabeth happens to be one of the most finicky people I know, which doesn’t exactly help things right now.

She’ll come around to it... I hope.

Or maybe I’m the one that needs to come around... Maybe it hasn’t quite clicked in my head how bizarre this whole situation is. No one else in the world can say they’ve done what I have. They can’t say that they fell in love with the boy they watched die.

I drop my face into my palms and groan loudly, feeling all the regret and concerns simultaneously coming down on me. I sit in there on my own for several minutes before Andy came back alone, warily entering the room to see if I was completely alone.

“You good?” He asks, vaguely gesturing towards me with a heavily worn shovel in his hand. I nod, and drop my gaze and begin to destroy the remaining green paint adorning my nails in a fit of stress.

“You don’t act like you’re okay,” he comments, reaching back to push his hair off his forehead, his icy blue eyes shrouded in concerned shadows.

“I’m probably not,” I admit with a sigh, pushing myself off Elizabeth’s bed. “but I’ll just keep pushing it down until everything is, because God knows that’s the only way I cope with anything these days.”

He looks at me in concern for a few seconds before spreading his arms at his side in the universal gesture for inviting a hug. I don’t think twice about it, I go to him and wrap my arms tightly around him. He’s tall and skinny and the equivalent of hugging a bean pole, but it’s nice to hug anyone, and feel them actually hugging you back.

“You know everything’s going to be okay, right?” He asks quietly after a few minutes, his tone hopeful and soft.

“How do you know?” I murmur doubtfully into his collarbone.

“Because like I’ve said before, after every storm comes a sky full of stars and a sunrise. There will be a happy ending to all of this.”

“Perhaps... Eventually.”

Rainbow colored diamonds speckle the pink walls of Elizabeth’s bedroom as the last rays of daylight filter through the various prism crystals hanging in her window. I turn my head slightly to get a better look at them. They converted the plain daylight into beautiful abstract works of art without any effort. The trick was what is inside them... The complex angles and cuts that make up their being, filtering the light and somehow changing the color and shapes of the outcome.

I suppose Andy could be described as a prism. Everything he touches and interacts with changes and takes a new form. Something beautiful has grown from each interaction, and yet, we find ourselves amidst an unyielding war against something I can’t even see.

I curl my fingers around the rough and worn fabric of the back of his prophet jacket, and I held onto him. I held onto him tightly like he was the last thing that was real in my life at that moment.

My bright, real prism... The last light to be found in the bleak darkness of disappointment and betrayal that has become my day to day life.

Notes

Intro song was Rats - Motionless in White

First and foremost: Thoughts? I can whip out more frequent updates, but this also means they'll be shorter (500-1500 words) Do you prefer frequent but short updates, or spaced out but lengthly updates? Let me know your preference! :)

Also, completely unrelated question: Do any of you live in a country other than the US, and how do you receive packages from the US? Do you know if any other forms are required besides a customs form? I have an Etsy shop that I'm trying to expand beyond my own country, but finding the right info is seeming next to impossible lol. I already went to the post office and asked them all I could but I feel like it might be a little more specific and complicated than simply slapping a form on the outside explaining the contents. Any advice would be appreciated!

Comments

I just want to say, I am here to support you no matter what you do <3

Mezzy18 Mezzy18
4/12/20

Oh gosh, I'm getting weird vibes towards this "sketchy" part of town.

Mezzy18 Mezzy18
5/8/19

I am absolutely in love with this book!

Mezzy18 Mezzy18
4/30/19

Poor Ashley. Poor Andy. Poor Asheen. Wow, what a story! :)

Merelan Merelan
4/29/19

I am conspiring so many theories about this book my head hurts... lol... anyway, great chapter as usual! Can't wait to read what happens next

Mezzy18 Mezzy18
4/25/19