Chapter 25: Stay Awake
February 11th
Elara slowly opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling above her bed in the girl's dormitory. She opened and closed her mouth, trying to create some saliva to coat her tongue and pushed her hair from her face. She was incredibly hot. Her body was damp with sweat and she could feel it bead up on her hair line and race down her neck. She pulled her body from the mattress and looked around. The room was empty, the clock read 1:14 and she sighed. She had slept through her classes again, missing breakfast and most of lunch and wondered if the burning would ever stop.
She padded to the door that led to the showers and she undressed, stepping into a cool stream and let the water temporarily break the heat. She had been slowly burning hotter since she woke up from herself induced imprisonment and she hadn't been able to figure out why. She felt weak and exhausted and she could barely concentrate on anything besides the burning in her body. She knew she needed to do something, to talk to Harry… Talk to Snape. Something. But she felt too sluggish to move her feet that far.
She closed her eyes and sighed, thankful that the cool water was calming her ever racing mind for a moment. She was consumed with the worry the heat brought with it. Worry that she would boil alive from the inside and worry that she still hadn't felt her abilities return.
She was able to project her memories to others, she had found that out the day after she woke, after she and Harry had given themselves to each other. But she couldn't feel anyone else the same way she had always been able to. She couldn't feel the caress of the castle's emotions as they rolled from the old stone or feel the disguised curiosity or disgust as she walked through the halls. She couldn't even read Draco! Couldn't see that under his prattiness, he was terrified and angry. All she could feel was what he allowed her to see, what anyone would see if they looked at a person.
She supposed she should be thankful for that. She could no longer be used as a pawn in Voldemort's schemes. She could no longer be used against her family or threatened because of her abilities. But she felt as if a part of her was missing. Like the thing that made her herself had been torn from her and replaced with this incessant burning!
She grudgingly shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed for her wand and dried herself instead of doing it manually. She had to talk to someone about this today. She needed to see Professor Snape. He could help. If anything, she was sure he would have some sort of potion to cool her down until they could figure out why her fever was refusing to break.
She dressed in her uniform skirt, her white button-down shirt and grey vest with the Slytherin crest embroidered above her left breast. She pulled her stockings on and slipped her feet into her shoes. She looked in the mirror. She didn't look any different than she had before the holidays. But she felt completely different.
She pulled her long blond strands into a neat bun on top her head, trying her best to do what she could to keep the heat at bay, and grabbed her wand, exiting her dorms. She wasn't sure if Snape had classes at this time or not, but she hoped he would be in his quarters. It was closer to the common room and dormitories than his classroom office and she was already feeling quite run down again.
The common room was empty, save for a few students that were spending their lunch studying by the fire. She pulled her eyes from them and was stopped as she smacked into a chest.
"Merlin, Ellie. You're gone a few weeks and you still can't keep right on your feet?"
She looked up to Blaise's face, smiling down at her. His eyes twinkled with humor as he gripped her elbows. "Still clumsy as ever." She agreed. "I'm not sure that will go away."
His eyebrows furrowed, concern creasing in his forehead. "You alright? You're burning up."
"I'm fine." She lied. "Just a bit of a fever, nothing to worry about."
"El, your skin is hot." He said, searching her face with his eyes. "Have you been to the infirmary?"
"It's nothing, really." She said. "Whatever sickness I caught at home is just… lingering."
"Sickness." Blaise let out a sarcastic sounding laugh. "Yeah. Draco told me all about your… sickness."
Her eyes grew. So, Draco had told him. Did he know she had been marked? Would Draco have told him that? He couldn't have! The only reason Blaise knew Draco was marked was because he had seen it on accident. Draco didn't willingly give up the information. He wouldn't divulge her secret, would he? "You know?"
His voice dropped as he looked around, trying to make sure the small group wasn't listening. "Do I know that Draco was forced to crucio you in front of them all? Yeah. He told me. He hasn't been dealing well with it. The fact you went unconscious afterward and then took weeks to wake up… He blames himself."
She let out a small puff of relief. He didn't know she had been marked. Draco only told what he had done. "It wasn't his fault." She defended. "He had no choice. I told him it was okay."
"You can't keep killing yourself for them, Ellie." Blaise said. "One of these days you're going to throw yourself on to a sword for them and you won't be able to heal it afterward."
"I'm fine." She said, trying to offer what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She swiped the beading sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "I'm fine. I just need to get something to break this fever."
He nodded. "If you say so." He stared at her for moment and finally dropped her elbows, letting her past him.
She sighed and bit down on her lip as she passed through the portrait and hoped that what he said wasn't true. She had thrown herself in front of a sword for her own morals, for what she felt was right. Not just for Draco. She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, wiping the sweat that collected onto her skirt. She would be fine. She just needed something to break the fever.
She knocked on the door to Snape's private room and grew anxious. She really hoped he'd be inside. She was feeling exhausted and wanted nothing more than to lay in her bed and close her eyes again. She knew she wouldn't make it to the Defense against the dark arts classroom. She sighed in relief as the door opened and Snape looked down at her, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yes?"
His gaze made the panic in her chest roar, thundering through her as her heart raced. The heat in her veins seemed to kick into overdrive and she felt her stomach twist, a wave of nausea pushed into her throat and she wiped the sweat from her neck again.
"I didn't know where else to go." She said. "I think- I think I need help. I'm so hot." She felt her knees buckle beneath her weight and she fell forward, gripping Snape's arms as they outstretched to grab her.
"The fever is back." He stated.
"It never left." She admitted. "I was okay for a couple of days but now… Please Professor. Can you help me? I feel like- like I'm boiling alive."
The panic reared up. She could feel her breaths becoming strained as she gasped for air, gulping like a fish from water. She felt frantic, like her mind was spinning in a hundred different directions and the heat in her body was consuming her. What was happening to her? Why was she burning? Why was this fire consuming the air from her lungs?!
Snape pulled her into his sitting room, slamming the door behind her and set her on the small sofa. "One moment." He said, turning his back and disappearing.
Elara fanned herself with her hands, trying anything to cool herself down. She rolled up her sleeves and saw the Mark was shining. Twisting in on itself as if it were alive. "Pro-Professor Snape?" She called out, her eyes wide as saucers as she stared at her arm.
He entered the room, a small bottle in hand. "Drink this." He handed it to her, pulling the cork out. "It should help."
She held her arm out to him, so he could witness the strange movements of her skin as she downed the contents in one gulp. She felt the liquid slide through her, icing her insides on the way down. Snape cast a cooling charm over her and within moments she could breathe again.
"What is happening to me?" She asked.
"You're rejecting the brand." He said. "Your mind and body both."
"Why is it doing this?!" She nearly sobbed. "I don't understand. I thought when I woke up it would stop and I- I would be better!" She heaved deep breaths, choking on her words as tears built up behind her eyes. She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand as the tears began to fall, her chest tightening again in panic.
"You didn't willingly take the mark." Snape said, settling into the moth bitten armchair across from the sofa. "I have not known of someone to be branded with Dark Magic against their will in this capacity. This is new territory."
"You don't know." She said. "That's a really long-winded way of saying you have no idea."
"I don't know." He agreed, the words drawn out in his low tone.
"Can you speculate?!" She asked, eyes searching him. "Do you have any ideas?!"
"I do." He said, crossing his legs at the knee. "I believe your abilities are inherently… light. The mark is being forced out because your magical center is not made to handle forced dark magic."
"My what?!" She asked, taking in heavy breaths, trying to push her panic away from her. "My abilities… I haven't had them since I woke."
"They haven't been present at all?"
She shook her head. "No." She said. "They… I haven't been able to feel anything other than my own emotions for over a week."
They sat in silence for several minutes, Elara finally calming to a normal breathing pace and collecting herself as her body regulated to a cooler temperature and she could think clearly without the searing heat clouding her mind.
"Thank you." She whispered.
Snape nodded. "You haven't been able to access your abilities." He repeated.
"No." She said, accepting the goblet of water he conjured for her that was now floating in the air by her head. She greedily gulped down the cool water, not even bothering to wipe her chin of stray droplets. The goblet refilled and she slowed, pulling the rim from her lips and looking over the top of it to Snape. "I've tried… I can project my memories to someone else. But I can't feel anything. It's… It's quiet."
"I would think that you would be thankful for the reprieve." He said, arching an eyebrow.
"I've spent my entire life with many voices in my head." She explained, grasping the water goblet with both hands and lowering them to her lap. "The emotions of others. The retained emotions of objects. Holding onto emotions I've taken from people so they would no longer burden them… To be suddenly alone is… I feel as if a part of my body has been detached from me."
Snape steepled his fingers in front of his chin, pressing them to his face in thought. "As witches and wizards, we have a magical center, or core, if you will." He began. "It's what gives us our power, what separates us from muggles. A simple coding in our being that allows us the ability to perform magic. There are many theories that state this center is a physical entity, much like our souls. It's believed that the reason a person can survive a Dementor's kiss is because although their soul is taken, part of their magical core remains."
Elara stared at him, leaning forward a bit as she planted her feet firmly to the ground. "So, this magical center… It determines what type of magic we can handle?"
"It could, in a sense, act as a forceful moral compass in some situations. For instance, it was believed at one time that werewolves could only turn a person who had a dark magical core."
"Well, obviously that's been proven wrong."
"Obviously." He agreed. "However, there are circumstances where our magical cores protect us from harm or protect others."
"My magical core is protecting me by boiling me alive?" She laughed mirthlessly.
"It looks as if your magical core is forcing the Dark Magic from your being." He said, seriously. He stood and walked back to his desk, pulling out a clean vial and walking toward her. He held out his hand, and she placed her left hand in his, palm up. He pressed the vial into the Dark Mark and watched as the strange fluid turned to smoke and filled the vial.
"I have never known of a way to rid one's body of the Mark, short of cutting off your own limb." He said. "Your magic is fighting against it."
"If my abilities are trying to push it out, why haven't they manifested? Why have they gone away?"
"I don't know." He said, handing her vial of dark smoke. "But I believe that should your Mark reject or accept completely; your abilities will return."
"So, what? I just have to swelter in a fever until it goes away?"
"It would look that way." He said, his dark eyes staring down at the swirling mark on her arm.
She withdrew her arm from his light grasp and looked at the black smoke swirling around in the vial. She hated it. Staring at the physical manifestation of Dark Magic made her feel sick. She watched it dance around, taunting her. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.
"I've seen this before." She said, tearing her eyes away from the smoke and looking up at Snape. "This smoke- or-or whatever it is."
"I imagine you have." He said.
"This is what trails about him. V-Voldemort. He's almost always encased in it."
"Your abilities grant you the luxury of seeing people for who they truly are." He said.
"You think it's his aura?" She asked.
"I would have used the word essence."
She shuddered. The thought of that serpentine demon's essence being anywhere near her made her feel sick. The brand being completely impregnated with it made sense, however. He was marking their magical cores, branding not only their arm, but their magic. That's why they had to be willing. If their magic wasn't willing to concede to darkness, than the marking of their core wouldn't work.
She could feel the cogs of her brain moving, slowly piecing things together to make sense. Her brain felt cloudy and dusty, as if it has sat unused in a closet for a long time. The branding of their cores was what took the mark from an intermediate Protean charm to the next level. That's why when he called, they had to answer. He was literally tugging his fingers through their magic.
Strange. To think of magic as a physical entity rather than a random anomaly.
She was so deep in thought she hadn't realized that Snape had left the room. She only looked up from the spot on the wall she was staring into when his form obscured her gaze. He handed her a larger bottle, about the size of a flask.
"Cooling potion." He said. "The same one I just gave you. It's potent, you'll only need a few sips. This is my entire stock. I will begin to make more for you tonight, but it will take three days."
She nodded. "Thank you."
"I am late for my class." He said. "You can stay here, if you need to. The doors will lock when you leave."
He gathered a few items and closed them into a beat up looking leather briefcase. The briefcase looked older than he was, it was tattered and looked as if it had been repaired several times.
"Professor?" She said, tearing her eyes away from the case. "Why are you helping me? Why are you being so… kind to me?"
She saw something flash across his face, something she couldn't quite place. "It is no secret of mine that I have always been fond of you and your brother, Elara."
"Yes." She pressed. "But why? Why are you helping me? You don't have to. I'm certain that Draco works your nerve more than he helps it and helping me has nothing to do with the Vow."
She watched his chest rise and fall. A sigh? "You are making a very impossible choice. One that I, myself, was faced with twice. I made the wrong one the first time. I don't want you- either of you to make that choice. Your brother already has. He chose to do what he felt was his only option. You are beginning to realize that there are more options than following what you've always known. I wish…" His voice dropped, just above a whisper. "I wish someone would have shown me a kindness while I struggled with the most impossible of choices."
"Someone did." She said, standing up. "I've seen it in your head. I've felt it from you."
His lips twitched. "Then you know why I will continue to help you." He turned, his hand on the door handle. "Just a few sips of that potion, when the fever becomes too much. Use it as sparingly as possible. I'll have more in a few days."
He pulled open the door and walked through the threshold, letting the door creak shut behind him. She stared at the closed door. What a peculiar man. She thought. She wondered if he tormented himself with isolation and pushing everyone away from him because he was afraid to feel the hurt that brought him to this point, again. In her experience, hurt and anger fueled many of the choices people made.
Elara paced the length of the aisle between old chairs and pixie filled wardrobes in the room of requirement. She was lost in thought, trying to figure out why she had even come back here, why she was even putting herself back into this situation.
Her skin burned like fire.
"Rotten." Draco sighed, pulling the apple from the cabinet and showing her the soggy fruit. "Always rotted when I pull them back out."
She fanned herself with a piece of parchment that held her notes of the formulas they've used. "I honestly don't know, Coco." She said. "You did the reversal spell?"
He nodded. "It's the cabinet. I know it's the cabinet. My magic is right. I'm saying the incantation right, I've got the wand motions down. We're running out of time. I'm running out of time."
She could feel the tug of Dark Magic in her arm, as if it were drawing her closer to the cabinet. "I can't help you anymore. I've told you this. I've done all I can do."
"All you can do, or all you're willing to do?" He asked, scowling.
She folded her arms over her chest. "I'm not going to argue my choices with you again, Draco." She said, a finality to her voice that even she was surprised to hear.
"I'm not asking you to change your decision!" He said, slamming the door of the cabinet shut. "I'm asking you to- I don't know! To just finish it! Help me get the damned thing to work! You've already done this much!"
"And I shouldn't have!" She countered. "I shouldn't have even done this! I should have never stepped foot into this room with you! I shouldn't have stepped foot inside this castle with the intentions of letting Death Eaters into it!"
Her face was beet red now as her anger flared and with it, the searing heat from the fever. She fanned herself furiously, whispering wandless cooling charms and regretting her decision to try and go a full day without the cooling potion. She was running low already and Snape wouldn't have a new batch ready until sometime tomorrow afternoon.
"Well I certainly didn't want to take this blasted job!" Draco said through clenched teeth. "I didn't want to do this, either! But I'm trying to survive, Ellie! I'm trying to keep us from being completely buried! After what they've done to Mother! To-to you! You think I want to continue this?"
"Do you?" She asked.
"No!" He roared. "No! I don't! But I haven't got better options, now have I? I'm not the one shagging The Chosen One and-
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" She said, throwing her hands into the air. "We aren't-
She stopped herself. Looking down at the ground. Well. He wasn't wrong now. They were shagging. Or, had shagged. Once. And it had been extraordinary. But it hardly counted as shagging her way-
"You are, aren't you?" Draco said, a light behind his eyes as a smirk creeped onto his face.
"I- It's none of your business." She said, stopping her pacing and staring back at him.
He smirked and began laughing lightly. The same look on his face he used to have when he would tease her when they were young children. "None of my business? So Yes."
"No that's not- I mean… ugh!" She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, would you?"
He howled with laughter and if it would have been possible for her face to become any more flushed it would have. "Princess Potter finally deflowered my sister?!" He roared with laughter again. "Oh, that's rich!"
"Stop it!" She whined. "Shut up, Draco!"
"When?" He asked.
"When what?"
"When did you finally shag?" He asked, his eyebrows in his hairline with amusement.
"It doesn't matter!" She shouted in frustration. "It's none of your business!"
"That bad, huh?" He smirked. "Should've known Potter would be terrible in bed. All that self-righteousness had to have a downfall somewhere. Poor sod probably couldn't even-
"It wasn't bad, okay?!" She shouted, fanning her face again. "It was incredible. And I hope to do it again, often. Happy?"
He laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. She was beyond irritated with him, but she was glad to see his face light up with a smile instead of pulled together in sorrow or anger. Even if it was at her expense.
"Not particularly no." He said, still chuckling. "I'd be happier if you'd have said it was the worst experience of your life."
"Well it wasn't." She said. "I'd very much appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut about it now."
"So, it's only happened once?" He egged her on and she realized she was not getting out of this conversation that easily.
"Once." She said. "The day I woke up."
"The day you- Ellie!" He said. "Merlin! You wake up from a six week near death coma and you decide that's the best time to lose your virginity?! He was laughing again.
"It wasn't like that!" She said. "It was- there's more to it than just wanting to get my rocks off, you knob!"
He laughed so hard he doubled over, holding his stomach. "I'm sorry!" He said, scrubbing his face with his hands and trying to right himself. "I'm sorry. So, what happened then?"
"What d'you mean?" She asked. "I'm not going to give you details, Coco! Honestly!"
"No, no!" He said. "I don't want to know the details. You said it wasn't just you getting your rocks off. I assume that means something… happened? Well, aside from the obvious."
She gave him a stern look and could see he was trying to keep the smirk from his face. She sighed, slouching her shoulders. "I haven't had my abilities since I woke up."
He startled. "Wait. What?"
"I haven't been able to… to feel anything. Not like I usually can. And I-I felt so numb and.. I thought… I just needed to feel something."
"Did you?" He asked. "Did it work?"
She shook her head. "Not really. I felt like… An energy. Like an electrical charge was dancing from my skin. It lingered a day or so, but after that…" She trailed off.
"Why have your abilities disappeared?"
"I don't know." She said. "Snape has a theory. But… It's impossible to know for sure. I don't know if they'll come back."
"That's a good thing though, isn't it?" He said. "If they're gone. Ellie… If they're gone, you really could get out. You know that, right? He never wanted you. Just what you could do. If you can't do it anymore…"
She dragged her hands through the front of her hair, pulling the sweaty strands from her face. "I know. And I should be happy about that."
"But?"
"But… It's like… It's like a limb is missing." She sighed. "It's like the biggest part of me is gone and I don't know what to do."
Silence fell between them. She continued her pacing, fanning herself and trying to understand what she felt. She had spent so long interpreting everyone else's emotions that when left with her own, she didn't know how to address them. And it was so damn hot.
"So, the fever," Draco began. "You can't get rid of it?"
She shook her head. "Snape thinks it's my magical center forcing out the dark magic or some rubbish. I don't know. It made sense when he said it but- Salazar, it's so hot in here."
She turned around, looking for a chair that wouldn't fall apart if she sat in it and before she could reach one, she was suddenly soaked through with ice water. She shouted out and turned on her heel, tumbling over and landing in a wet heap on the ground. Draco roared with laughter as he flicked his wand at her again, dousing her once more.
She sighed heavily and began laughing. "You're an absolute twat, Draco Lucius! You know that, don't you?"
And for a few moments, she forgot about everything. Forgot why they were in this room to begin with. Forgot about the cabinet and how badly she had betrayed Harry. Forgot about the fever and the burning mark on her arm. Forgot about her father withering away to a shell of the man he once was, about her mother coping with stress by use of pixie dust infused calming tonics. Forgot that she had signed up to open the portal of hell to a school she was beginning to love, to allow Death Eaters to come in and defile it and claim it for their own. She forgot about the red eyes and grey skin that haunted her.
And just as quickly as she had forgotten all of the things, the precious moment of happiness she was awarded was slammed from her body with a searing pain and the twisting of the mark branded into her arm.
She gasped, yanking her sleeve up and trying to catch her breath. Draco's joy slowly stuttered to a halt as he scrambled over to her, falling to his knees and pulling at her wrist to get a better look. She cried in pain as he touched her, and a look of horror flooded his face. The skin around the mark began to move, as if her blood was boiling just below the surface. It twisted angrily and it felt as if it were dragging knives through her veins. She screamed as it began to split, creating cavernous gashes on her flesh that bled like waterfalls. Angry and scorching, Dark Magic digging its claws into her muscle as if refusing to leave. Buckling down and sewing itself through the fibers of her skin with hot needles.
"What do I do?" Draco asked, panicked. He was covered in her blood, his white shirt splattered and his hands as red as the blood seeped that into the cold water conjured moments before and pooled around her. "What do I do?!"
"I don't- I don't know!" She cried.
Draco grabbed his wand from his waistband and shoved his hair from his eyes, coating his forehead and the front of his blonde hair in red. He pressed his wand to her arm and muttered every single healing spell he could remember. Over and over he said them, swearing loudly when they failed.
"It hurts!" She cried. "Please! Coco! Help! Get Snape! Go get Snape!"
"I can't leave you here by yourself, Ellie! You'll bleed out!"
She sobbed. She knew he was right. By the time he returned with anyone she would empty of her own blood. She began to feel dizzy, her head lolled to the side and rested on her shoulder.
"No." He said. "No. No. Ellie. No. You can not close your eyes. You understand? You cannot close your eyes."
"I don't understand…" She whimpered. "I don't-
"Shh." He cooed. "Shh. I know. It's okay, El. It's going to be okay."
She felt him slip his arms beneath her and adjust her arm, so it draped over her stomach. She could feel the wet of her blood soaking through her already wet shirt. Her entire body was still drenched from the prank Draco had done moments before and she could feel water dripping from her clothes, could hear it splashing against the stone floors. Water… or blood. She wasn't sure.
Her vision was blurred as Draco carried her through the castle, sprinting down flights of stairs, his breathing labored.
"Got to lay off those cauldron cakes, Ellie." He joked. She could see the terror on his face, and she tried to force a smile, tried to appreciate that he was joking with her to try and keep her calm.
She felt him skid to a stop and looked up at his face. She knew they weren't near the dungeons, there was no way they had made it to Snape's quarters that quickly. Her head felt heavy and she leaned back into him, her eyes fluttering.
"No, Ellie." He whispered. "No, wake up. Don't close your eyes. Talk to me. Tell me something."
She felt him adjust his grip on her and he kept moving. "What do you want me to say?"
"Anything, anything." He said. "Talk to me about anything. What-what did you eat for lunch today?"
"I didn't." She said, her voice low and slurred. "I wasn't hungry."
"Okay. Erm…" He trailed off and she could feel her body jostling as he sped down the stairs. "Bloody moving staircases, come on!"
She gave him a faint smile and felt her eyes flutter again, they felt heavy as lead and impossible to keep open.
"Ellie, wake up." He said. "Wake up. Don't go all quiet on me now! Si-sing to me. Sing me that song mum used to sing to us."
"I don't think I can." She whispered, her breath felt labored, like it took all her energy to expel the air from her lungs and bring fresh back in.
"Yes, you can." He said, his breath coming out in short pants as he took down another flight of stairs. "Yes, you can. Come on, you know it. Just, hum the melody for me then, would you? Please?"
She felt drunk. Like she had downed an entire bottle of Firewhiskey to herself. She focused her line of vision to the knot in Draco's tie. Every time she blinked it was as if the room was spinning, whirling her in circles and-
"Move!" Draco yelled. "Get out of the way!"
She felt her feet brush against the arm of someone on the stairs as he rounded the corner of the banister. He stopped a moment, adjusting her weight again, tucking her arm closer to her chest. She could hear the gasps of shock of the students he had just trampled through.
"Open your eyes, Ellie." He said again.
"Why don't you just levitate me?" She asked.
"Even in a blood loss stupor you correct me?" He mused, his breathing heavy as he ran. "I wouldn't want you to drip blood through the entire castle, now would I?"
"I'm doing that anyway."
"No, it's all soaking into your shirt." He said. "You're supposed to be the smart twin."
"If I'm the smart twin, what does that make you?" She asked, a faint smile on her face.
"The good looking one, of course!" He said. "Nearly there, El. Nearly there."
"I'm tired, Coco." She whispered.
"I know you are. You can't sleep right now though. Not yet. I promise you can later. Just keep your eyes open for me. Okay? Keep them open. Hum the song for me. Please, Ellie! Hum the song." He began humming the tune, broken and labored from his breathlessness.
She shivered as a draft blew through the castle and she could tell they had entered the dungeons. She wondered how much longer he'd be able to support her weight like this. If she didn't feel so faint, she might have been impressed. She hummed with him.
"There you go. Keep humming. Nearly there."
He stopped and she felt him kick the door several times. Her vision had gone completely blurred and her hearing felt like she was underwater. Warped and nonsensical. She felt her head loll back again, her hair dangling from her head. She cried out as another burst of pain and heat pulsed through her veins and everything went dark.
.
a/n: Hey all! Hope everyone is fairing well!
I know this one feels a bit like filler, but there's a few things in it that are going to be important for the next chapter. The next chapter is going to be posted tomorrow, and it's quite short but it's important and I didn't want to smash it into this chapter or combine it with another.
I hope you liked it, though! Please continue to review and follow! It makes my day so much brighter when I see new ones popping through my emails! I always try to respond through private message to every review!
Aside from reading my story, what else are you all doing to keep sane during this pandemic? I've been writing a lot, but I've also been drinking quite a bit and end up re-writing most of what I've written once I sober up. So, you know, I need some ideas because I'm running low on Whiskey and I'm fairly certain my husband is tired of me sobbing drunk over a fictional character I've been writing haha
Oh, song I listened to after this chapter was Can't Sleep by . I don't know why, but it was a whole vibe after this.
Anyway, stay safe out there and know that I love you all!
xo
Mimi
