A request by a friend of mine, I totally loved the idea. I also wanna thank Holly for being my beta-reader.
Autumn
It was a rainy autumn evening; the trees were no longer green and blooming and it was storming outside leaving Elphaba no choice then but to stay inside and wait for it all to pass. She grabbed the nearest book and studied the cover. 'Animals, what makes them different?' said the title. Elphaba didn't like the title, it was like they were trying to make it clear that Animals were different and should be treated differently than humans. She opened it and looked at the intro. The book was rather new but the way it was written made it feel like it was centuries old. The use of fancy words usually gives one the impression that something was written a long time ago; it makes it look like people already thought Animals should be treated differently in the time before the Great Drought. This was not the case though, as Doctor Dillamond explained, it had all started after the drought. When the people didn't have enough water they wanted to blame someone and some idiot decided it was the fault of the Animals, who had done nothing wrong.
Elphaba was becoming mad and decided this was not the time to start reading this particular book. She threw it into the corner, scaring her roommate who was on the other side of the room. Galinda was working on a painting she needed to finish for her art classes.
"What in Oz name is wrong with you?" Galinda asked angrily.
Dryly, Elphaba replied, "It's just a book, it's not like you care about books."
"I don't care about your book, however I do care about my stupid painting that I need to finish before the end of the day. That dumb professor what's-his-name decided that if I wanted to make it to the next year I needed to make a painting about some sort of historical event. I don't know anything about history and even less about painting. Have you any idea how much I have been stressing about all this, do you eve-"
"Wow, Galinda, slow. I'm sorry I scared you, I hope your painting is okay," her green roommate replied, trying to calm the blonde a little.
Elphaba got up and went to the other side of the room and studied the painting. It actually looked pretty good.
"Galinda, you have talent! I mean it looks really good. I love the shading there on the left side of the building."
"You don't have to lie."
"I'm not lying, you are really talented. You should totally do something with it in the future," Elphaba said truthfully.
"Yeah right, and you will become Oz's Next Top Model," Galinda laughed.
"If that will drive you to continue painting I will try to become Oz's Next Top Model. I will probably be the most unique model anyone has ever seen."
Galinda laughed and Elphaba soon followed. Elphaba loved these moments, just her and her roommate laughing about something that wasn't even that funny. She wished Galinda was with her more often instead of always being away with Fiyero or her friends Shenshen and Pfannee. Not that she didn't want Galinda to have a social life or anything, but she could spend more time with her lonely green roommate.
"I really like spending time with you Galinda."
"You're just saying that, no one likes to spend time with a girl who is obsessed with herself."
"It's not that bad, I mean you have your moments, maybe a bit more than a normal person. You know, crying when you break a nail during class and-" Elphaba said teasingly.
"You better take that back Elphie or I'm going to go ballistic" Galinda said and she threatened to use the pink paintbrush on her roommates green face.
"Okay, okay. I take it back," Elphaba said, she didn't wanted to get dirty.
Galinda turned around facing the painting again. It was almost finished; just a few shadow spots and some highlights on the little girl who was standing on the far left of the painting, observing the tall buildings. Elphaba sat down in a chair next to table where all the paintbrushes, colours and water was, and watched as Galinda continued painting.
The blonde girl cleaned her paintbrush, dipped it into a greenish colour and made short strokes with the brush on the canvas. Elphaba watched in shock as Galinda continued painting, making the already beautiful painting even prettier. Again Galinda cleaned her brush and dipped in another colour, this time white, which was on the other side of the table. Galinda leaned over the other colours and the water to reach the black colour. As she did her simple waistcoat hit the vase, knocking it over causing all the water to fall on the table, the floor and on Elphaba.
Galinda shrieked as she watched it all happen. Elphaba tried to avoid the water but the damage was already done. She felt the water burn her skin and moaned in pain. Her blonde roommate looked confused and did not understand what was going on. It looked like Elphaba was in pain, but what was causing it?
"What's wrong?" Galinda asked in concern, but Elphaba was to distracted by the pain to answer her.
"Elphaba talk to me, what's wrong? Are you in pain? What is causing it? Is it the water? I don't understand! Elphaba!"
The dress was soaked in water, all the way from her knee up to her waist. Elphaba was still in her chair, folded up like a little girl who was afraid of the monsters in the night. She was moaning and was pulling her dress violently because of the pain.
"It's the water isn't it? How?!" Galinda asked, she was really started to panic. What was happening to her friend?
Elphaba nodded and motioned wildly to the back of her dress as she stood up.
"The z-zipper! Pull down the zipper on the back. P- Please!" Elphaba cried out. She needed to get this dress off soon because it started to stick to her skin.
Galinda moved around the table and almost fell over her own feet as she made her way to her roommate. When she reached her, Galinda grabbed Elphie's wrists and tried to calm her down.
"Elphie!" Elphaba did not respond. "Elphaba please! I can't get this zipper open if you don't calm down. Please try to stand still. I know it hurts, but you have to try!" Galinda ordered. Elphaba tried to calm down but her whole lower body felt like it was on fire. She had had many burns before, but not as bad as this one.
"It just hurts so bad, Galinda," Elphaba whimpered as she fell to her knees and started sobbing. She could no longer control her tears and felt them burn into her skin.
"I know Elphaba, I know," Galinda said, as she finally was able to zip open Elphaba's dress.
"Now I'm going to need your help to get the dress of off you", Galinda instructed. She pulled down the short sleeves from Elphaba arms and noticed that her hands were also covered in burns. Below her dress was a shirt. It was a plain white shirt without any sleeves.
"Alright now you need to get up so I can take of the dress", Galinda continued as she tried to ignore the severe burns on Elphaba's skin.
Elphaba tried to get up but the burns made it very difficult. Galinda saw her green roommate was having a hard time and so she offered her arm as a support. With Galinda's arm as support Elphaba finally made her way up. The dress began to fall down but it got stuck on her skin where the burns where, the problem Elphaba tried to avoid.
"Elphaba you have to go to the infirmary, someone has got to treat the burns" Galinda said while she was trying to hold her friend up. Elphaba wanted to argue but was to weak to try and so she let her roommate pull the dress back up again and help her to the doorway.
Luckily, it was Friday late in the afternoon so most people were already on their way home for the weekend. Galinda and Elphaba walked slowly to the infirmary without meeting anyone. Galinda didn't think Elphaba could take people making fun of her right now.
When they entered the infirmary a nurse walked straight up to them. The nurse supported Elphaba on the opposite site of Galinda and walked her to a bed. Elphaba lay down trying not to whimper again. The nurse asked Galinda what had happened to Elphaba. Galinda tried to explain but she wasn't even sure what exactly had happened to her roommate.
"She got burned by the water," Galinda explained. "…I guess. I'm not exactly sure what happened," she added a few moments later.
The nurse looked at Elphaba in confusion.
"Alright hon, we need to get that beautiful dress of off you. So if you just-"
"I've tried, but it's stuck to her skin," Galinda interrupted.
"Okay, I'm afraid we will need to cut your dress, sweetie."
"Do what you have to do but please make the pain stop. I don't know how much longer I can take this," Elphaba begged.
"I have something that will make you go to sleep so you can dream about a beautiful paradise," the nurse said as the needle entered Elphaba's body. She immediately felt it's affect, falling a sleep slowly.
"The Emerald City," Elphaba said. "Can I also dream about the Emerald City, meeting the Wizard. He is really amazing and pow-" before she could finish the sentence she fell into a deep sleep.
"Is she going to be alright?" Galinda asked.
"It will take a while, but I'm sure she'll make it," the nurse replied.
"Thank you," Galinda said as she sat down in a chair next to Elphaba's bed. Within minutes she was also asleep.