chapter 42
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Chapter 42: Distance
warnings: language, adult situations, sims in underwear, oh yeah, you know what that's about...
She'd never paid much attention to her reflection before. Willow had never been vain. And there had never been any reason to be. The image of herself in the bathroom mirror held her briefly, as if there should have been some significance. There was none. She wasn't sure what she was searching for.
Her mirror image stared back, its expression blank. There was no depth. No life. It was ordinary.
She had been staring at a different mirror all night. She didn't know what to expect from this one.
She wasn't sure why she had even gone to her classes today. As every other day since she found the mirror and her new home, she hadn't been able to concentrate on anything. She found herself drifting away in lectures, quietly challenging her professors when she could be bothered to pay attention.
Not having slept the night before wasn't helping the matter at all.
And Gabriel...
Of everything that could happen right now, Willow was least ready for this.
Willow: Jasmine...
Jasmine: What the hell, Willow?
Jasmine: You broke up with Gabriel last night? What the fuck is wrong with you?
Willow: Jasmine, you don't understand...
Jasmine: Oh no? Want to help me with this then, because I really don't get it.
The snicker coming from behind Willow distracted them. They looked over and noticed that they had managed to catch unwanted attention.
Jasmine sighed, grabbing Willow by the wrist, pulling her away. The last thing either of them needed was an audience.
Jasmine: So what happened, Willow?
Willow couldn't meet Jasmine's glare. She folded her arms and looked away, unable to think of what to tell her best friend.
Jasmine: Look. I still don't know what happened to you at the Landgrabb Society except what everyone else had told me. I figured you'd tell me when you're ready, but apparently everything is going to shit. What is going on with you?
Willow: I don't know.
Jasmine: You're kidding me. I've been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here. I figured you of all people would know what you're doing. You can't tell me that you're fucking up your life because "you don't know".
Jasmine: It's like you've forgotten that something out there was trying to kill you.
Willow: I'm safe where I am now. I never wanted anyone else to get caught up in all of that.
Jasmine: Bullshit. You don't think we're already involved? We are, Willow.
Jasmine: My sister was possessed by a ghost last night. Let that sink through a minute. That's right. Possessed. And after being attacked by freaking zombies, twice even, that's not even the weirdest thing I've ever gone through.
Willow: What...? How?
Jasmine: I don't know. I thought you were supposed to be the "expert" at all of this. But what bothers me most is that this ghost was the reason why both of you were at the Landgrabb Society that night. She was trying to get help from you.
That did surprise her. She had seen in her Mirror that Jasmine and Cecilia had spent time with their mother, but she hadn't seen anything about Cecilia experiencing anything else.
Willow: I'm sorry about Cecilia... I thought I had other things to worry about.
Jasmine: Have you ever thought for a minute that it's not just about you?
Jasmine: Why would you give up on Gabe?
Willow: Look, I know he's your cousin and you have to care, but honestly that's between me and him.
Jasmine: So what you're going to shut me out too?
Willow: I don't really feel like I have to explain every aspect of my life to you.
Jasmine: Except if it's starting to affect my life and the lives of everyone else I care about. If you're connected at all to what's going on with Cecilia then I need to know. And as for Gabriel, I don't know why you ended things with him, but he is not your experiment.
Willow: It wasn't like that... Jasmine, I don't expect you to understand. I barely do.
Willow: But if you're worried about me getting between you and Adrian, then don't.
Jasmine: Do you seriously think any of this has to do with Adrian? Are you even listening to me?
Willow: You've never thought of the convenience of it? Me being with Gabriel keeps Adrian all to yourself, right?
Jasmine stared at Willow incredulously. She sucked in her breath, her face reddened with growing rage. They had known each other since they were children, but she had never been this angry with her.
Jasmine: Grow up, Willow.
She left before she could follow through on her first instinct to lash out completely.
Adrian: Jasmine!
Adrian: Hey, hold up.
Jasmine: Not in the mood, Adrian.
Adrian: Jasmine, I just want to talk.
Jasmine: Right now? Do we have to do this right this fucking minute?
Adrian: Why not now? For all we know a meteor could fall out of the sky and kill everyone tomorrow.
Jasmine: Is that supposed to be funny?
Adrian: Okay, I'm sorry. And I am... I'm sorry. But you've been impossible to talk to for days now and I didn't just want to leave things how we did. I just never meant to hurt you.
Jasmine: I've been going through way too much to care about whatever it is you've done, Adrian. Just... just don't worry about me, please.
Adrian: I know it's probably the last thing you want from me, but I do worry about you... honestly...
Jasmine: God, Adrian, can you just lay off the perfect hero complex for a day? I don't need to be worried about. I don't need to be rescued. If anyone needs help it's Willow.
Jasmine: Incidentally, she just broke up with Gabriel. She's single now so go to her. She's all yours.
He didn't let her walk away just yet. He caught up with her quickly, and reached out.
Adrian: Jasmine, I didn't mean it like that. I know you're fine on your own. And I'm not perfect. I'm just as messed up about everything going on as you...
Jasmine: ... oh you have no idea...
Adrian: ... but whatever this is, I don't want to screw it up this time.
She tensed up and slapped his hand away.
Jasmine: "This"??? There is no "this". Don't do me any favours, there's nothing between us.
Adrian: I know you don't believe that.
Jasmine: And what about Willow? You expect me to forget that you ever had any feelings for her?
Adrian: I'm always going to care about Willow, that hadn't changed. I'd be lying if I told you that I had stopped thinking of her. But I know her... and I know what she has with Gabriel isn't something I should interfere with. Not right now, not ever.
Jasmine: You just can't get off that shining white high horse of yours, can you.
Adrian: Look, you can't keep making me feel like shit for trying to do what I think is right.
Jasmine: So this is what's right to you, then?
Adrian: I don't know.
Adrian: All I know is that something did happen between us. We weren't dreaming, it was real. Maybe I was wrong about us before. But things are different now.
Jasmine: Listen... I'm not having the best of times lately. You have no idea what I had to go through last night, with Cecilia, my mother, then Gabriel... and now Willow. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I don't even know what I want anymore. I've been taking care of everyone else, I can barely deal with me. And you.
Jasmine: You're going to have to give me time on this, Adrian.
"An espresso, please."
It's was the brightest smile she could give the barista as she ordered what she had ordered every day since coming to college and finding the campus coffee house. Cecilia knew she didn't feel like smiling... pretending to be normal. But right now she'd rather be fake than any other way.
Jill: I like what you did with your hair. It's really different.
Cecilia: I guess I just felt like a change.
Jill: Well, I'll be honest, you've always had great hair. But your new hair cut... I think it makes you stand out a bit now.
Cecilia: Oh... thank you.
Cecilia wasn't sure if that's what she wanted to hear. As she stood waiting for her coffee, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She reached out and looked down.
It was a simple text. The smile left her face, and for a moment, her body froze as she read it again.
Malcolm: "Brunch?"
Jill: Everything okay? That looked important.
Cecilia: No, everything is fine. Thanks.
She took her espresso and sat down. She couldn't get the simple message out of her mind. Two weeks ago, she would have enthusiastically jumped at the chance to spend time with him. Right now, she wasn't sure how to answer.
Almost cautiously, she looked down at her cellphone and called the number.
Cecilia: Hello Malcolm. Yes... I'd love to see you again.
Jasmine: What happened to giving me time?
Adrian: A little hard to when we live in the same place.
Jasmine: We've gotten by before.
Adrian: We did a lot better before things got complicated.
Jasmine: Well sorry if I made your life more complicated.
He sighed.
Adrian: Whatever you're thinking about me right now, at least you can't say that I never tried.
Jasmine: Do you want your prize now or do you want to wait for the ceremony?
Adrian: Do you ever get tired of fighting everything all the time?
Jasmine: If I hadn't made things clear, things are really fucked up around me.
Jasmine: What makes you think I could even deal with this at all?
Adrian: Well you don't have to go through it alone. I know that's kind of your thing.
Jasmine: God, Adrian...
Adrian: Look, I don't blame you for keeping your distance. I really don't. I just don't want it to get to a point between us where we can't come back.
Adrian: I know there isn't anything I can say to make things better. But I'm here right now.
She wasn't sure she could trust him, though she wanted to. There was still a lot left unfinished. But he was right. She was tired of fighting.
She didn't fight him when he gently pulled her into his arms to kiss her.
How far did he want to go?
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again. There was nothing desperate about this. There was nothing uncertain, nothing cautionary. In a rush of emotion and sensation, she had forgotten about everything else.
Right now, they were the only two people that existed in this world.
She smiled, looked up at him and took his hand.
Without words, she led him down the hall to her room.
She watched, without realizing that her fingernails were digging through her sweater into her skin. As they started to kiss, something inside of her froze. In that same moment, the image in the Mirror flashed brightly before it dimmed into a cloudy haze.
Willow: Wait... no, come back!
She watched helplessly as Jasmine and Adrian disappeared from her mirror, her own emotions swirling tumultuously inside her.
She swore aloud, pleading with the Mirror to show her something... anything. But the glass only reflected back her own anger and depression. It gave her nothing more.
Frustrated, she turned away and tried to calm down.
Why did the Mirror not work all the time? Why couldn't she always control what she wanted to see? All these questions had been burdening her for days now. The books in the house told her very little about magic objects like this.
She needed to learn more, but she wasn't going to find the answers here, swearing at the Mirror. If anything, she had to step away.
When she left her dorm, she had also left her Spellbook. With everything that had been going on, she had nearly forgotten about it. She had read it cover to cover several times over the years, and it had told her nothing about the Mirror. For some reason though, she felt she needed it now. She had to come back for it one day, she knew that.
Kimberly Cordial's warning to keep the Spellbook safe echoed in her mind. But with everything else, she had chosen to forget it. And frankly, she was a little afraid to return.
The old mansion was dark. It was still familiar and for a moment, she felt a sense of being home. That changed when she saw what the fire had done to it.
Her heart fell when she saw the state of the place. She never imagined her home for the past few years being like this; cold, damaged and empty.
They had started to clear the debris and begin reconstruction of the mansion. In the meantime, it was fenced off for safety.
The fence wasn't much of an obstacle for Willow.
For the most part her room was left intact. It smelled a bit of charred wood and mold from water damage but whatever happened here wasn't from the fire. Things definitely felt different here. If this building ever had a soul, it was gone now.
She looked around. Her Spellbook was gone. She briefly began to panic before she looked across to the corner of her room where her bulletin board had fallen. It was now empty, void of all the photos she had posted on it long ago. Someone had already been by to take the pictures.
Maybe whoever it was had her book as well. Maybe they kept it safe with the photographs.
She used to love those photos. If anything she should have come back for them a long time ago. She didn't though.
Jasmine was right. She was pushing every one away and leaving her life behind. Why was she doing this?
She righted an overturned chair and sat alone in the cold, dark room thinking of everything that had happened. Most of all she thought of her confrontation with Jasmine. She never wanted to say what she had said to her that morning. She didn't know why she did. She couldn't possibly have meant it.
All her life, she had never thought to put herself above anyone else. She had always wanted to help, and she was content in staying back and supporting her friends and family instead of taking the limelight. She had always held back on everything she truly wanted, if only to make everyone else happy. She never thought she was worth it.
But things were different now. She had abilities she knew could change the world. She didn't know what made her so special in that regard or why anyone wanted her at all. But every day she learned something more, and she knew she was only becoming more powerful.
Yet she still felt out of control and helpless.
Why did seeing Jasmine with Adrian upset her this much?
This wasn't anything she needed to see, Willow had to tell herself. Adrian had made his choice... and maybe it was the right one.
She should be happy for them both, but she had never been able to deny that she had still harboured feelings for him.
Her dream of him still lingered in her memory, as powerful as if it had happened in the waking world.
But that was all it was... a dream.
She didn't know how long she had been asleep on the desk. She thought she heard her name being called.
"Willow."
Slowly she got up, ignoring the stiffness in her neck. Her back hurt and her eyes were sore.
"Willow."
She wasn't imagining it. Someone was calling her.
She ran to the window.
Willow: Wesley!
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. But despite her blurred vision, she recognized his silhouette against the paving stones. She didn't know what he was doing there. He was alone, and she ignored the fact that he wasn't looking up at her.
But right now, he was a friend she desperately needed. She couldn't help but be happy to see him.
She rushed out of the room and found her way downstairs, pushing through the familiar old doors.
Willow: Wesley?
He didn't respond.
She wasn't sure why he was looking away.
Willow: What are you doing here?
Slowly, she began to walk toward him.
Willow: If you're worried about me being out late, I'm safe this time. And I'm going straight home now, okay?
Wesley: Willow...
Wesley: All I wanted is to keep you safe. I made a promise.
Wesley: I'm sorry.
Willow gasped as he looked up at her, his eyes burning scarlet. There was something strange here... something dangerous. Too late, Willow detected the aura that clung to Wesley like a dark cloak, almost completely binding him.
He was too quick. She couldn't even think of a spell to protect her and physically struggling wouldn't help her.
He was careful not to take too much from her. She slumped limply into into arms. He checked her breath. She was still alive.
His voice echoed in the courtyard of the destroyed mansion. "I have her, Clara."
next » [ Chapter 43: Expectations ]
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Notes:
- yeah I finally had to move Jasmine and Adrian forward. But don't take it for granted, we're not quite done here.
- we'll find out what happened to Clara after the events of chapter 41, in the next chapter.
- fun times!
- Thank you for reading, and I really hope I pulled this chapter off. As always, please be honest.