Chapter 37.
Rifiuto: Non Miriena
Elements in 36? Pippa hiding the photoraphs under the bed, and sleeping under her bed
Based on? Mary keeping the elephants under the bed and her sleeping under her bed
Book and Author? The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Elements in 37?
"I... I can't believe she's..." Glinda swallowed, choking on her tears. Boq sat next to her, rubbing her back. Olishka had been excused, and the adults sat in the parlor, sipping coffee and talking. "She was always the strongest of all of us. She'd been through so much..."
"For some reason, the good are always the first to leave this world." Boq whispered. He was still having a difficult time trying to process Elphaba's death. Glinda shook her head and buried her face in Boq's chest, holding tightly to him. He rubbed her back slowly, attempting to comfort them both.
"She had her baby the following summer. Eight pounds, six ounces. Yero was so excited to finally be a father..." Glinda clung tighter to Boq, her sobs getting louder. Milla looked up, accepting the tea Fenvu handed her. "After years... they were ready to be parents..."
Silence fell within the room, and Milla set her cup down, getting up and going to the bookshelf. She pulled something from it, and opened it up, turning to a random page. Then, she returned to Glinda's side, nudging the other woman gently and laying it in her lap.
"We were best friends. We grew up together. We were born days apart, but didn't meet until we were four-years-old. I loved her so much... she was my sister... she always will be... I still love her... I always will..." She pointed out certain photographs, recalling memories long forgotten. Elphaba's familiar smile and bright eyes shone out at them from the album's pages, her youthful beauty forever frozen in time. "She grew up... but she's never get any older. She'll always be twenty-six..."
A moment of unrecognizable emotion flashed across Milla's face, and suddenly, she threw the album across the room. It hit the end table near the armchair and dropped to the floor, falling open, photographs of her and Elphaba staring up at the ceiling. Then, the woman climbed to her feet and stormed to the mantle, knocking the trinkets and photographed frames to the floor in a shower of breaking glass and porcelain.
"It's not fair! Elphie didn't do anything to deserve this! She was innocent! She was a wife and a mother and... and a princess that needs to be there for her people and her family, and she's not! She's not because the Unnamed God decided to take her away from those she loves! She doesn't get to raise her daughter! She left that to me! She made me promise! And she died knowing that I would keep it! I shouldn't be raising her child, she should! But she can't because she's not here! She's buried in the family cemetery on the grounds of Kiamo Ko!"
Milla wrenched away when Fenvu came over and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't touch me! Don't come near me!"
"Milla, Milla, love you have to calm-"
"Don't tell me to calm down, Fenvu!" She cried, turning on her husband. Then, she grabbed the teapot and threw it; it shattered upon impact. She stumbled back, her back hitting the wall near the fireplace. Then, slowly, she crumpled, sliding down the wall. She gathered her knees to her chest and tangled her fingers in her hair, pulling it from her once controlled twist.
"Milla." His voice was soft, loving. She looked up at him, tears streaking down her face.
"She's my best friend, Fen! My best friend! I had to watch my best friend waste away! I watched her mother do the same!" Glinda, by this time, had managed to calm slightly, and listened to Milla's breakdown with a reserved, stoic calm, despite the turmoil within her heart. Boq held his wife close, rubbing her back comfortingly, as he forced himself to listen.
After several moments, Fenvu went to his wife and knelt in front of her, removing her hands from her hair.
"Why? Why, Fenvu? Why am I always the witness? Why am I always the one to watch people I love go away? What did I do? I watched Mrs. Thropp die... and I watched Elphie die twenty years later... Why? Why Elphie? She did nothing but love. Her daughter, her husband, her tribe... why did she have to die? Fenvu... why? Why Elphie? Why did it have to be Elphie? Why couldn't it have been me?"
She broke down fully then, and Fenvu gathered her to his chest and held her, rocking gently back and forth. Milla held tight to him, her body shaking violently, as the realization of her best friend's death fully washed over her. Moments passed, moments of Fenvu running his fingers through her hair and humming to her. Moments of heart-wrenching sobs. Eventually, he stood, scooping his wife into his arms and going to the armchair. He sat with her in his arms, allowing her to cry.
When silence finally took control, Fenvu took Milla's face in his hands and stared into her eyes.
"You did nothing wrong, Milla. Elphie did nothing wrong. She got sick. Her immune system was compromised, and she caught a cold, and unfortunately, she lost her life. She wasn't meant to be with us for very long. We were all lucky we had her with us for as long as we did."
An hour later, Milla and Fenvu bid goodnight to Glinda and Boq, and once the door closed behind them, slowly made their way upstairs.