The Scars We Bear
Hey guys. Sorry it took so long. I was having trouble figuring out what to do with this chapter. I'm still not completely happy with it and debated on whether I should even put it up but I've decided it'll just be a filler. So here we go! It is what it is!
Chapter 12: What Summer Brings
The end of the school year was fast approaching and with it, the heat of the summer sun. The temperature was not the only thing that was high, either. The heat was making tempers flare among teachers and pupils alike.
Miss Hardbroom was in no mood to deal with Miss Bat's less than practical and rather annoying habits. But it seemed that Davina was in no mood to deal with her either.
"Davina Bat, if you don't unlock this door immediately, I'll be forced to use other means!" The deputy warned as she raised her spell-casting fingers.
The chanting mistress had locked herself in the staff room stationery cupboard. Again.
"Why do you care whether I'm in here or not!" Miss Bat snapped back.
Constance gritted her teeth in a annoyance. "Because, Miss Bat, some of us actually need to access the stationery." Her voice was low, scathing.
Meanwhile, the first years were in PE, halfheartedly playing volleyball in the blistering sun of the courtyard. It was clear no one wanted to be out there in the heat as the girls were continually throwing insults at each other and, seemingly, trying to hit each other with the ball on purpose.
Eva eyed the volleyball as it flew over her head but made no move to go after it. It bounced off the wall and landed at Miss Drill's feet. The teacher picked it up with a sigh.
"Come on Eva. Aren't you going to at least try?" She asked.
"No." Eva grumbled. "It's far too hot to be running around chasing volleyballs."
"Perhaps if you didn't insist on wearing tights and long sleeves with your shorts you wouldn't get so overheated." Miss Drill reasoned.
Eva blanched. It was none of the teacher's business why she dressed the way she did.
"Are you sure you aren't just exceptionally bad at it?" Mariam sneered.
Eva flicked her wrist, muttering under her breath. The ball flew out of Miss Drills hands and over the net, hitting the Hallow girl smack in the forehead and sending her sprawling.
"Eva Mills!" Miss Drill exclaimed as she hurried across the yard to Mariam.
Eva crossed her arms. "She was asking for it."
"That doesn't mean you just start flinging balls at her!" Penelope shouted as she helped her friend up.
"Shut up Penelope. We don't need you stirring the cauldron anymore!" Even mild mannered Leah was getting annoyed.
Miss Drill blew her whistle then. "That's enough girls! Go and change and get some water. Eva, Miss Cackle's office once you've done that."
The girls filed inside to the locker room, grumbling and bickering as they went. After changing, they joined the line for the water fountain.
"Ugh. It's about time she let us come back in. It's like an oven out there!" Said Tansy.
"I'll say." Eva agreed. "Can't say it's much better in here though."
"Nice work on Mariam. She was really starting to get on my nerves." Hannah added.
"I second that." Carolina announced from behind them.
There were mumbled agreements from the other girls. Apart from Penelope, no one really liked their stuck up classmate and today she'd been particularly annoying.
"Hey, move aside!" Penelope ordered as she shoved her way to the front of the line. "Out of my way, losers!" Even without her ringleader she was still a bitch.
Eva, who was now at the front of the line, refused to budge. "Get to the back of the line, Paddock!" She snapped. "We were here first!"
"Yeah, you can wait your turn like the rest of us!" Tansy added.
"Are you deaf, loser? I said move!" Penelope shouted as she shoved Eva out of the way.
Eva was furious. She hated being touched against her wishes. With a flick of her wrist, she sent Penelope flying backwards into the wall. The smaller girl stocked forward until she was directly in front of her enemy.
"You touch me again and I'll turn you into something utterly disgusting." She threatened.
"Girls!" Miss Drill called. She'd obviously heard the commotion and come to investigate. "What on earth is going on?"
"Penelope thinks she has the right to cut in front of all of us who were in line before her." Said Leah. "And then she pushed Eva."
"Yeah and now Eva's threatening to transfrogify me!" Penelope added.
Miss Drill sighed. "For goodness sake girls. Miss Cackle's office, both of you!"
Eva and Penelope left the room, arguing as they went and the rest of the girls finished up and went on their way.
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the potions lab and reunited with Eva, Mariam and Penelope. The class was, for once, quiet. No one dared stick a toe out of line in the presence of their form mistress. Miss Hardbroom was handing back their graded potions exams and the room filled with quiet muttering as the girls discussed their marks.
"Hey, Mariam what did you get?" Penelope leaned over to look at her friends paper.
Mariam smiled smugly. "A, probably top of the class too."
Leah smiled as she looked down at her own paper. Her hard work and perfectionist attitude had paid off. She'd received an A+.
"I wouldn't put money on that, Mariam." Tansy announced. "Check out Leah's!"
"Yeah, well done Leah!" Hannah added.
Eva smiled at her sister. "I knew you could to do it!" She herself had received an A. She was good at potions but not as brilliant as Leah.
Leah blushed, not used to being the centre of attention.
Mariam turned around to face them. "What - no!" She exclaimed when she saw her nemesis had scored higher than her. "That's - that's favouritism! That's not fair!"
"I assure you, Mariam Hallow, it was no such thing." Said Miss Hardbroom, having overheard the conversation. Constance had been pleasantly surprised by her first years' potions exams. They were certainly one of the better classes she'd had over the years, if one ignored the constant bickering between the twins and their lot and Mariam and Penelope.
"And just for that little comment, Mariam, you can hand in 300 lines of In future I will not accuse my teachers of favouritism just because someone scored higher than me on an exam, to me this evening. Is that clear?" She added.
"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Mariam muttered, all the while giving Leah a hard glare.
The day wore on. The heat continued to bake the inhabitants of the castle like biscuits in the oven. After a dinner that resulted in a food fight started by the second years after a supposed nasty insult, Eva and Leah were finally able to escape to their room.
"My gods, what a day." Eva groaned as she pulled Twilight in for a hug.
"I know." Leah agreed.
By lights out, seemingly everyone had received their fair share of detentions. Eva had also received five hundred lines of 'I will not use magic to harm my classmates, even if they are being childish and annoying' and the second years had been tasked with cleaning the hall 'until it sparkles'.
o0o
Summer break had officially begun. The pupils and teachers had bid farewell and headed for home, Miss Cackle being the last to leave a few days after the others.
Eva, Leah and Constance were the last remaining inhabitants in the castle and Constance Hardbroom had made a choice following the last visit from the girls' social worker, Dinah Foxglove. She had decided to become the twins' legal guardian and well she had been sorting out the paperwork and what not for the past few months since Miss Foxglove's last visit at half term, she still had yet to discuss the situation with the girls in question.
She knew she had to do it today, as Miss Foxglove was due later that afternoon with the last forms so her and the girls could make it official. She mulled it over in her head as she went about looking for them, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject.
She found them out back at the gardens. They had planted all sorts of things that spring during their botany classes and now the plants were well on their way to a plentiful harvest. Constance was pleased to see her girls were making good on their promise to take care of them. She watched for a moment as they levitated watering cans to float around the gardens, emptying their contents over the plants.
When they'd finished, she stepped forward to meet them. "Girls, I have something important to tell you."
They turned around, the watering cans lighting down behind them. "What is it, Miss?" Eva questioned.
Constance motioned to a nearby bench. "Come here, I'll tell you."
The girls did and noted that their teacher's lips had twitched up into that sort of half smile she wore when she was pleased about something. Once they were all settled on the bench, Constance began to explain.
"Do you remember back at half term, when Miss Foxglove came? She'd found a place for you and it took some persuading on our part to get her to let you stay here?"
The girls nodded apprehensively. "Yes. . ." Eva trailed off uneasily.
Leah seemed upset by these words and she wrapped her arms around herself. "You're going to send us away." Her blue eyes filled with tears. "You don't want us anymore."
Eva pulled her sister closer to her, clearly hurt as she moved to get up. "We'll pack our things then. We'll go away."
Constance realized right away that they'd gotten the wrong idea and admonished herself for her choice of opening. "No, girls no. That's not what I meant. Quite the contrary in fact."
They both looked up at her with uncertain eyes. "You're not sending us away?" Leah questioned, voice small.
"No, Leah, I'm not. I'd very much like you both to stay here with me, if you will."
"You do?" Leah looked up, eyes wide.
Constance nodded. "I do. I've been making arrangements with Miss Foxglove to become your guardian, so you can stay here indefinitely. If you're agreeable. It's your choice." She didn't want them to think she was forcing it on them as she knew they wouldn't like that.
She was worried, certain she'd upset them when their eyes filled tears. However, she was proved wrong when Eva spoke. "You want us to stay here? Indefinitely?" She wiped at her eyes, frustrated with the show of emotion. "No one's ever wanted us before."
"Not for anything good." Leah added sadly. "Do you really want us for a good reason, Miss?"
Her heart cracked a bit at that, to think they'd only ever been wanted by people with dark intentions for them. "Oh Leah, yes. I'll never hurt you, I promise. I'll always protect you."
And she would. She would protect them, see that they got the care they needed to heal, that they were left in peace by those who had hurt them. In time, always protect would become always love, Miss would become Mum and the unwanted little girls would become treasured daughters.
o0o
It was dark. It shouldn't have been dark, but it was. The sun was shining just a moment ago, wasn't it? A strange mist hung in the air, making it feel cold and damp. Shadows shifted along the stone walls and something moved in her peripheral vision. She spun around abruptly but there was nothing there.
"Eva? Is that you?"
Her voice sounded strange, as if someone else was speaking it from far away. She hugged herself nervously. There was more movement on the edge of her vision, closer this time.
"Miss Hardbroom?"
Silence.
She walked forwards tentatively and the shadow in her peripheral vision drew nearer still. She picked up her pace until she was almost running down the corridor. Suddenly, her foot caught in a crack in the stone and she was sent sprawling across the floor. She quickly pulled herself up onto her hands and knees and looked back to see what had tripped her.
She let out a strangled sound somewhere between a gasp and a scream. There was a woman stood in the middle of the corridor, staring at her. In her red and white gown and emotionless mask, she was horrifyingly familiar. Leah scrambled backwards against the wall, breathing heavily.
The figure moved closer. It wasn't a step exactly, it was almost like she was floating. Suddenly, it vanished and reappeared directly in front of her. Leah did the only thing she could do. She dematerialized.
o0o
She shouldn't have been here. She wasn't supposed to be here. She'd left the hallowed halls of Witch Training College some fourteen years ago and not returned since, yet here she was. Everything was just as she remembered, cold and dark and metaphorically lifeless. Almost. The once grand entrance hall looked older, like time had tarnished it, was claiming it. The tall stone pillars were riddled with cracks and chips and the once glossy wooden floor was dull and scratched.
She was so caught up in her surroundings it took a moment for her to realize her feet were moving of their own accord. The corridor seemed to grow darker and narrower the farther from the entrance hall she went. As she walked, a dark shadow flickered out of the corner of her eye and she flinched subconsciously. Continuing, she rounded a corner to find a windowless door in a nondescript stone wall. A familiar door. She would recognize it anywhere because behind that door was the old basement classroom that Mistress Broomhead used for private tutoring sessions. She had never wanted to see it again. Horrific things happened in there, people were broken, hell, people had probably died in there. It was the room she was taken back to in her nightmares every night. It was hell.
Her hell.
She didn't want to, but something was making her. An invisible force was controlling her. She stepped forward and reached for the door. As she turned the handle and pushed the door open, something shifted in her peripheral vision, directly behind her.
The faceless silhouette of a person.
She spun around so fast she almost tripped over her own feet, only to find the corridor was empty. The door swung on squeaky hinges behind her and she turned back to the room.
Her breath hitched in her throat as her brain failed to remember the life giving function of breathing. Her blood ran ice cold in her veins as her body froze, refusing to move no matter how hard she tried to make it cooperate.
Across the room, behind the front desk, was the woman from her nightmares. Mistress Broomhead hadn't changed. She was still as straight backed and cold as she always had been. Her grey eyes bore straight through her and her red lips were twisted into a sneer. Constance tried to run but her feet were frozen to the ground. She could feel her heart racing, threatening to burst from her chest like an out of control freight train barrelling down a hill.
She didn't know how long she'd been standing there, locked in a staring contest with her former tutor, sharp grey boring into terrified brown. What she did know, however, was that all of a sudden something heavy slammed into her from behind, sending her stumbling forward. The instant this contact happened, Mistress Broomhead disappeared and she was suddenly back in Cackle's staring into her empty potions lab. She stood there, trying desperately to comprehend what had just transpired, until she registered the muffled sobbing of a young girl and turned around to see Leah had latched onto to her, arms wrapped around her waist as she sobbed into her dress. Constance carefully wrapped her own arms around the girl, still shaken from what had just happened.
They stood there, holding each other, acutely aware they were both trembling, for a few moments before Constance reasoned to herself that she should probably inquire why her pupil was so upset.
"Leah." She gently pried the girl off of her so she could look at her and ensure she wasn't hurt. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
Leah looked up at her, blue eyes wide with terror. "S-she's here, I s-saw her, she's h-here! She's found u-us!"
"Who's here?" Miss Hardbroom questioned. "Who did you see?"
"Grandmother! She-she was in the corridor!" Leah exclaimed frantically.
Constance frowned as her mind worked. They had both seen their tormentors, in the castle, within minutes of each other. Mistress Broomhead had vanished the second Leah had made her presence known. Perhaps the woman hadn't been there at all. But what of Cora Mills?
"Leah." She addressed the panicked girl before her. "Calm down. I don't think what you saw was real. Something's not right here."
It was Leah's turn to frown. "What do you mean, Miss?"
"I mean, I just saw my former tutor. The one I told you about, do you remember?"
Leah nodded. "Of course."
"She disappeared as soon as you touched me." Constance finished.
Leah nodded in understanding. "She was in the lab wasn't she? You were staring in there and-and you looked really scared, but then you snapped out of it when I, uh, hugged you." She looked away awkwardly. "I'm sorry."
Constance saw this and gave a slight smile. "I'm very glad that you did. Who knows what would have happened if I didn't 'snap out of it', as you say. Now. Where is Eva? I think we'd best find her."
Leah opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by an earth shattering scream. It reverberated off the walls and echoed down the empty corridors, high pitched and horrified. Leah looked up at her teacher, eyes wide. "That was Eva!"
"Come on then. We'd better hurry."
They both transferred up to the twins' bedroom, to a spot right outside the door.
o0o
Eva ran. The corridor seemed to stretch out forever and the things that were chasing her were drawing ever closer. Rough, shadowy outlines of human figures. They were faceless. Practically formless and they moved with an eerie sense of fallen grace. Her boots thumped on worn wood and she wanted to scream for Leah or Miss Hardbroom or somebody.
It wasn't until she reached her bedroom door that she finally stopped running and threw it open, only to stop in her tracks and scream, a sound so haunting it would chill the devil to the bone. Leah was lying motionless on her bed, the covers stained with her own blood. She was far too pale and her blue eyes were hazy and unfocused. Eva scrambled across the room, failing to notice the shadows had disappeared, and grabbed at her sister's arms.
"Leah!" She screamed as she shook her sister. "Leah, wake up!"
Leah remained unmoving as Eva continued to shake her. She was deathly pale and ice cold to the touch, like someone had frozen her from the inside out. Her lips had a bluish tint about them and her ebony hair was strewn around her head like a black curtain, matted by her own crimson blood. The worst part of it all were her once beautiful blue eyes,
now glazed over and unseeing.
Eva collapsed to floor, tears of shock and horror streaming down her face. "Leah, please. Don't leave me. Don't go." She sobbed. "I need you. I need you with me."
o0o
Eva woke with a start, her sister's name dying on her lips. She scrambled up, eyes wide and breathing fast, panicked. There was a creak from the neighbouring bed and she turned to see Leah facing her, blue eyes sleepy. Eva slumped down onto her pillow with a sigh of relief.
"Nightmare?" Leah blinked at her, sweet and quiet and so very Leah.
Eva nodded against her pillow, still shaken. She tried to control her breathing but found herself gasping when the image of Leah still on her bed, eyes clouded and skin milky white where it wasn't stained scarlet, returned unbidden to her mind. She gripped at her blanket and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Eva?" She felt the bed dip as Leah climbed up beside her. "Breathe, Eva, breathe, it's okay. We're safe."
Eva reached for her sister, hands tangling in her hair and gripping at her nightdress. She needed to know that Leah was real. That she was there and okay.
Leah laid down next her sister and took her hands in hers. "I'm here. I'm okay."
Eva's arms found their way around Leah's waist and they held each other close. "I-I thought I'd lost you. You were so still -"
"It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real." Leah reminded softly, all the while trying to convince herself of the same thing.
Upstairs, Constance Hardbroom was also startled awake, yanked unceremoniously from her nightmare and thrown back into the waking world. She sat up, confused as to what had just happened. It had been one of those dreams that were so vivid you were certain it was real. She hated those dreams. Especially when they involved Mistress Broomhead, which they usually did.
She looked around her room suspiciously, only to find Morgana staring back with wide green eyes.
"What are you looking at?" She questioned the cat, who mewed in response.
She reached over and scratched Morgana behind the ears, eliciting a purr from the cat. "I think perhaps we should go check on the girls, don't you?"
The cat pawed at her slightly damp pajamas and looked pointedly towards the en suite.
"Hmm." Said Constance, as she eyed herself with a specific look of distaste. "Perhaps you're right."
With that, she got up and went to take a shower. When she was finished, she got dressed and headed downstairs. It had become something of a ritual over the past few weeks to check on the girls first thing and then go down for tea and breakfast together.
Outside, the sun was rising, streaming in through the windows in the corridors and promising a warm, dry day. Constance walked said corridors, enjoying the peace of the summer morning. When she got down to the twins' room, she could tell they were awake by their voices on the other side of the door. She knocked, gentler than usual as she knew they didn't like loud noises, and pushed open the door after they called admittance.
"Good morning girls -" she stopped when she saw the scene that greeted her.
Eva was curled into a ball on her bed with her hands over her ears and her cat on top of her. Her brown eyes were clouded and as she spoke, her words were fast and jumbled and frightened. Constance could tell that while she may have been with them physically, mentally she was trapped in a time long passed.
"What's happened Leah?" She questioned as she crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed.
"She had a nightmare, Miss. She was fine when she first woke up, but then. . ." Leah paused, eyes full of fear. "She won't come back to me! I can always get her back but. . . I - I think she saw me dead or - or something and -"
Constance stopped her, having heard enough. "She'll be okay. We'll make sure of it, won't we?"
Leah chewed her lip nervously but eventually nodded. "Yes." She agreed.
Constance turned to Eva then and spoke gently to her. "Eva, It's Miss Hardbroom. You are safe. Leah is safe. It's going to be okay." Tentatively, she stroked a hand over the girl's dark hair and brushed it away from her face. "You're okay." When Eva didn't respond, she continued. "Leah and I are going to cast a spell on you now. It's a nice spell, I promise. It won't hurt you. It'll help you come back to us, okay?"
She looked up to Leah, who was staring back at her worriedly. "What kind of spell, Miss?"
"It's a spell to bring a certain memory to the forefront of her mind. We're going to see if we can block out the bad bit she's remembering now with something good. Does that sound okay?"
Leah nodded. "Yes."
"Good. Now, we're going to have you cast it, because you are better versed in Eva's memories than I. Right?" Constance waited for Leah to agree again before continuing. "You need to focus on a specific memory, a positive one, one you know Eva has as well. Place your hand on her forehead - that's right - now I'll tell you the words and you can repeat them. Are you ready?"
Leah nodded.
"Praeteritis praesentibus bonis, malisque memoria memor, salvos et Incolumes domi."
Leah repeated the words, eyes shut as she focused on her chosen memory. There was a blue glow that was emitted from her hand as she channeled her magic. The twins were so accustomed to each other's magic that Eva barely seemed to notice as the spell worked. It did work though. She relaxed slightly as her haunted eyes slid shut and her trembling ceased. She still held her hands over her ears but she was calm now as she slipped into a peaceful slumber.
Leah lifted her hand and leaned back, only to bump into Constance. The teacher turned guardian smiled down at her as she wrapped her arms around her protectively. "Well done, Leah. What did you show her?"
Leah met her eyes, relieved blue on warm brown. "The morning we arrived here. Waking up with - with you, and knowing we were finally safe. Finally home."
"That sounds like a good choice, little one." Constance replied.
Leah looked up at her. "How long do you think she'll sleep for, Miss?"
"It shouldn't be too much longer." She replied.
As if to prove her correct, Eva stirred and her eyes fluttered open. She blinked in the daylight and looked around.
Constance smiled softly at her. "Welcome back, brave girl. We missed you."