a/n: it's been a while, hasn't it? i feel really bad for disappearing off the face of the earth, but i had a huge case of writer's block. hopefully i'll be able to write more now. anyway, this was for one of the daily prompts on the rsf forum and i'm sorry it ended up being so short. the title comes from "dark paradise" by lana del rey.
disclaimer: i don't own harry potter or dark paradise.
main prompt: loneliness
extras: ranking - literature - atmosphere
The cure for heartbreak is not chocolate.
At least, not for Roxanne.
She finds solace in books of wondrous tales full of places that are far away from the suffocation that is her loneliness. Sometimes she's drowning in loneliness even when she's surrounded by people and voices and loud, loud music. She surfaces when she reads, lost in another world where she does not need to worry about seeing them together and trying to keep herself afloat.
Words also weave stories of love and tears, two things she wishes she had no experience with, she thinks bitterly, but in the end, it must be better to love than to not at all.
Yet to love Teddy Lupin? She almost wishes she never did. That, in itself, was a fairytale, a dream, and for a short while, a blissful reality. It was stolen kisses during holiday parties, laughter echoing off the walls, her running her hands through his ever-changing hair. It was a fairytale without a happy ending, for she was not a princess, not in Teddy's kaleidoscope eyes.
Come the Christmas after, at the usual gathering of all her relatives at the Burrow, Roxanne retreats to her brother and James when she would normally be going to Teddy. That spot isn't hers anymore, not when she is sitting next to him and the two look so in love with each other Roxanne could scream. She doesn't, her voice stuck in her throat as she turns away, the loneliness suffocating her again. She chides herself for being so affected; she should be over him by now, she saw this coming.
She saw it coming, but she was too caught up in his kaleidoscope eyes to care. She loved—loves—him, the boy who made her truly laugh when no one else could, who made her smile with just a few words. Those same captivating words are now directed towards someone else and no matter how many times she tries to smile, really smile, how many times she tries to wish them happiness, she can't help but hope that they'll end and she'll get a second chance at that fairytale.
But reality is harsh and unfair and her reality is no exception.
She returns to her multitude of books and stories and tales that will help keep her afloat until she can find her own happy ending, with or without the boy with changing hair and kaleidoscope eyes that still captivate her so.
a/n: thank you for reading! i hope this was okay and it'd be lovely if you left a review. c: