Aaaaawwweee shit, back at it! :D

~ Chapter 10 - She Cries Alone ~

"An engagement party. It's about fucking time."

Ophelia sipped her champagne as she observed the room of guests, eating, drinking, chatting - Soon to be her family. Her stomach twisted at the sight of each weird cousin, every psychotic nephew, every disturbing uncle. She finally spotted her fiancee in the corner of the room. He was leaning his back on the wall, speaking to a slender woman in a festive, black, ruffled dress. Ophelia put on her best smile and walked over to the two.
Gomez scowled immediately at the sight of her and looked down into his champagne glass. The woman smiled gently at Ophelia. To Ophelia's surprise, she was actually stunning.

"Well now, I hope everyone is enjoying themselves!" Ophelia giggled and put a hand on Gomez's shoulder. He shuddered. Her innocent facade was actually more terrifying than who she really was. "And who is this, dear? I don't believe we've met yet."

"This is my Aunt Pneumonia. Beautiful, isn't she? Miss Swamptown, three years in a row." Gomez lifted his glass with a smile. The woman bowed her head.

"Thank you, Gomez, but please, that was quite sometime ago." Aunt Pneumonia shook her head, her cheeks flushed.

"Oh, but you're still very pretty!" Ophelia leaned closer and lowered her voice. "Something tells me you're not blood related." She cackled. Gomez and Pneumonia shared a look.

"...As a matter of fact, no," Pneumonia smiled. "My sister and I are both relatives by marriage."

"Oh, is your sister here?" Ophelia smiled and looked around the room. Aunt Pneumonia nodded and turned herself to completely face Ophelia, revealing a second head right beside hers, smiling widely at Ophelia.

"She never leaves my side!"

Ophelia screamed in horror and dropped her glass, causing it to shatter on the floor and champagne to splatter the bottom of her pale, yellow dress. Gomez and the two women laughed like mad. Ophelia, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the stains off her dress, forced herself to laugh along, although she was one more scream away from shooting up the place.
Gomez waved as his aunts walked away. His mood shifted once he realized he was left alone in the presence of Ophelia.

"I absolutely despise your family." She continued to wipe at her dress, essentially making it worse.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me." Gomez tilted his head back and swallowed the last gulp of champagne in his glass. "They all can see right through you." He eyed the room.

"Oh, please, they're all blind as bats. Idiots." She smiled at him as he continued to stare into space. " Imbeciles." She ran her hand through his hair. "Why are you the only decent thing to come from this family?" Leaning closer, her pale lips brushed against his earlobe. "We can make a perfect family, Gomez..." she whispered.

Gomez grimaced at the thought. Daughters and sons of his cowardice and her sick mind. Sad miracles conceived by pity and force, not love and passion. Babies crying for their mother while the mother cries for the father while the father cries for the sister.

He tore his head away from her hand. "Go change your goddamn dress." He turned and disappeared into the crowd of relatives. Ophelia's face was emotionless as she watched. Talking. Gossiping. Reminiscing. Laughter. Love. Family. Happiness. Family. Love. Family. Family. Family.

She turned on her heel and made her way up the staircase. She stumbled down the hallway, her head spinning. Her vision blurring. She leaned on the bedroom door and placed her hand on the knob, when she paused. She turned and stared at the door of the library across the hall. She smiled, stood on her toes and began dancing, lightly and gracefully to the door. She hummed a soft melody as she turned the knob and swung open the door, spinning into the room.

Morticia, who was browsing the books in the back of the room, looked up when she heard the door open. She silently made her way through the rows of shelves, and peeked out from behind a shelf to see who entered the room. When she saw Ophelia twitching around on her toes like a ballet dancer, she raised a brow and stepped out from behind the shelf.

"Ophelia?..." Morticia inched forward. The sight of the graceful girl, humming the light tune, her yellow dress twirling with every move she made... This would normally be the sight of beauty in another's eyes. But in Morticia's eyes, it was sinister. She wasn't a stranger to Ophelia's random outbursts of dance or song. It's who she was. But this was different. Ophelia always danced when she was happy.

Ophelia hasn't been happy for years.

Ophelia turned swiftly and smiled brightly at Morticia. "Mimi!" She leaned against the door, allowing it to shut, and glided towards Morticia. She threw her arms around her neck and hugged her tightly. "Darling sister." She closed her eyes and rested her head on Morticia's shoulder. Morticia could have fainted in fear. She hesitantly placed her hands gently on Ophelia's back. Ophelia's voice was left with a slight rasp after the accident. Morticia did, however, find it much more appealing than her usual mouse-like tone.

"Hello." She said, plainly. Ophelia sighed contently and pulled back and smiled at her sister. She lifted her head and looked into her eyes.

"So beautiful..." She lifted her finger and touched the outer corner of Morticia's right eye. "How are they?"

Morticia lowered her head and removed the blue contacts from her eyes. She looked at Ophelia with her shining, silver eyes. Almost white. "Fine." She stared. Ophelia nodded.

"Your pupils are dilated. You are stressed. What's troubling you?" She caressed her cheeks.

"The second circle of Hell."

"Okay." Ophelia smiled. "...Let's play." She turned and walked over to the lounge area of the room by the burning fireplace and sat on the sofa. Morticia's eyes narrowed.

"Play?"

Ophelia nodded. "Come!" She motioned her hand for Morticia to approach her. She stood for a moment. The silence in the room was no longer comforting. She slowly approached her and Ophelia smiled and pointed downward to the floor in front of her. Morticia knelt down on the deep red carpet and turned her back to Ophelia.
She began removing Morticia's braids and hummed a gentle tune. Chills ran down Morticia's spine. Ophelia noticed the goosebumps on the back of her pale neck. "Relax."

"What are we playing?" Morticia stared at the flames dancing in the fireplace.

"Pretend." Ophelia began combing Morticia's long hair with her fingers, smoothing out the kinks and waves put in by the braids. "Imagine you were my daughter... my baby girl... and I'm doing your hair like I do every morning." She smiled and stroked Morticia's hair back, fashioning it into a ponytail. "Dark, raven hair... just like your father."

Morticia felt heat course through her face. She must have been flushed. Hormones, she convinced herself.

Gomez did have dark, raven hair... Spanish and black. She remembered the way he madly ran his hands through his thick hair that night in the guest room. Going mad. Pouring his heart out to her. Trusting her. Needing her. His hands through his hair. His hands. His hands. His fingers...Fingers...Through his hair... Fingers. Fingernails. Nails...Nails...Through his hair...Red nails.

She looked down at her red nails and panicked. She quickly folded her hands in her lap and shut her eyes tight. Stop it, she thought to herself. Lately, she was unable to control her thoughts, and that mortified her.
Morticia needed control. Control was who she was. Self control. Self control. Mind control...Gomez. Mind control. The proposal. Ophelia. Gomez. Control.

Morticia groaned and shook her head. Ophelia gasped.

"Am I hurting you?"

"What?!" Morticia opened her eyes, and saw once again, the flames in the fireplace. "Oh, no... You aren't hurting me, no. But it would be much appreciated."

Ophelia giggled. "You're ridiculous." She continued humming. They both heard an uproar of laughter from downstairs. Morticia told Ophelia earlier she would attend the party later on, but she intended to make it seem as though she had fallen asleep. She wasn't one for new people. She wasn't one for any people. She also couldn't stomach the fact this engagement was a complete mockery.

"What is the family like?" Morticia asked, no longer able to stand Ophelia's humming.

"Disgusting." Ophelia took Morticia's hair out of the ponytail and continued fashioning it into different styles. "But just as mother said: Wealthy in-laws, wealthy attitude. So I'll just keep smiling." She giggled, softly and twirled a lock of Morticia's hair between her fingers. "My little girl... Oh, that's so fun to say! Imagine, Morticia, imagine me brushing my daughter's hair before bed. Gomez comes in and we sing her to sleep... Then we whisper, "Goodnight, Daisy". That's what I want to name my daughter, Daisy. Isn't it precious? I would name her after mother if her name weren't so ugly," she chuckled. "Ester."

Ester. Mother.

Morticia stared into the flames and saw it. She remembered. Ophelia. Sobbing on the bed. Seventeen.

...

"I'm sorry!""She cried, curled up and hysterical. "He didn't love me, what was I supposed to do?!"

"Make him love you!" Her mother yelled, standing over the bed. Ophelia was too afraid to look at her. When mother was angry, she was balistic. Furious. Her eyes were like fire. "You stupid, stupid girl! How could you let this happen?!"

"Momma, please, I tried..."

"You didn't try at all, you pathetic creature, you disgust me!"

"Mother, he didn't love me! I'm sorry, please..." Ophelia froze once Ester grabbed her shoulders and forcefully pulled her forward. Her eyes, piercing. Her voice was low and harsh.

"You must support this family. You find a man, and you marry... Love has nothing to do with it. You will never find love, you worthless... little... witch!" Ester shoved Ophelia back down on the bed and Ophelia sobbed into her pillow, crying countless "I'm sorrys" over and over. A twelve year old Morticia trembled as she watched from the crack in the door.

...

Morticia saw it all again, right in front of her. Ophelia, from the moment she could speak, all she learned was marriage. Marriage, marriage, marriage is all mother would say. She saw the birthday parties and the presents. Dolls. Baby dolls that said "Mamma" and dolls that represented bride and groom. Marriage, said mother. Wealth, said mother. Children, said mother. Ophelia and all of her suitors. One after the other. Failure, failure, failure, and mother would scream. Disappointed by Ophelia. Disgusted by Ophelia. Completely dependent on Ophelia.

Look what she has done to you, Morticia thought. She sighed.

"You don't have to marry him." Morticia's breath caught in her throat the moment she heard the words that slipped from her mouth. Her heart pounded when she felt Ophelia's hands stop fondling in her hair.

"...Excuse me?" Ophelia's tone changed. Low and frigid.

Morticia couldn't stop there. She couldn't say it was nothing, she couldn't change the subject. She knew what needed to be said and what Ophelia needed to hear. As her sister, she couldn't be afraid to help her. She could fix this. She turned to face her and placed her hands on Ophelia's knees.

"You don't have to marry Gomez... And I know that's hard for you to hear because from the moment you were born, you were expected to aspire to marriage. That is all you ever heard, all mother ever told you, and now you believe that that is your destiny. That you were born to marry. And when you failed, she abused you, Ophelia!...And it wasn't your fault. None of this is your fault. Look at you, Ophelia, you haven't even experienced actual love." Morticia looked at Ophelia's still face. She smiled softly and took her hands. "But she is gone, now. Ophelia, you're free! Free to do what you want, to marry who you want, to experience whatever you want! You no longer have to support this family, because it is no longer a family. It's just us, and we can support ourselves! We'll figure things out on our own, we'll work or something, but... I know you feel that you need to do this for mother, especially because she's gone, now. But you are your own woman. You don't have a responsibility to anyone. And I know Gomez may have seemed like the perfect specimen, but he is not. You don't love him, Ophelia. And you know it's true. You need to end this, and be happy. I want you to be happy."

A tear trailed slowly down Ophelia's cheek as she stared at her sister. She nodded and lifted a hand and stroked Morticia's hair. "I'll end this."
Morticia's heart lifted. She smiled and kissed Ophelia's hand.

"...I'll end this right now." Ophelia grabbed Morticia's hair by the root and pulled. Morticia shrieked as Ophelia stood, pulling Morticia to her feet by her hair.

"Ophelia, stop!" Morticia reached up to grab Ophelia's hand. She gasped in pain as Ophelia kept a grip on her hair and grabbed her arm, her nails bruising the flesh.

"What did I tell you? Didn't I warn you?!" Ophelia started pulling Morticia roughly towards the fireplace. Morticia's eyes widened in terror at the roaring flames, growing closer and closer. She screamed and fought against Ophelia, her legs kicking wildly, pushing against the floor, pushing Ophelia backwards as Ophelia struggled to push her forward.

"So, you little shit, you suddenly know all about me now? You know all about looove and liiife?" Ophelia groaned as she fought against Morticia's force. She tightened her grip on Morticia's hair and let go of her arm and wrapped it around her waist instead, pulling her faster towards the flames. "Say hello to mother for me, Mimi!"

Morticia was in a complete panic. Shrieking and hyperventilating, she let go of Ophelia's hand and tried to reach behind her, pushing and elbowing Ophelia. Ophelia took her hand off her waist and clamped it over her mouth, though Morticia continued to scream. She was inches away from the fire. The flames became hands in Morticia's eyes, reaching for her. Begging for her. Morticia's heart was pounding out of her chest. Her eyes caught the window on the wall, and the snow falling on the outside. She narrowed her eyes and the window flew open, sending in a gust of frosty wind, killing the fire.

Ophelia stopped and stared at the calm fireplace. She shrieked and threw Morticia to the floor. Morticia cried softly and held her head. Ophelia looked down and glared at the pathetic sight. She knelt on the floor and leaned down to her ear.

"You will never find love... you worthless...little... witch!" She stood and left the room, slamming the door behind her. Morticia lied there and held herself. Shaking. Crying.

Babies crying for their mother while the mother cries for the father while the father cries for the sister. And the sister cries alone.