ANOTHER CHAPTER!
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Uh yeah just have this Imma go back to work
To say Amity was stressed was an understatement.
She was pacing.
Pulling on her hair, kneading her shirt, the whole deal. She was so stressed she didn't even think she could walk straight.
During the assembly of the new portal, that she and Eda had finally gotten around to after all this time, it had come down crashing on her. Her parents, her jobs, her bucket list, Luz, all over Luz, the bills that had to be paid. She had felt safe the past few months, happy even.
She had not suffered any dents in her relationship with Willow after the kiss, she had a good home with her friends, they had a whole house to themselves, she and Willow shared a bathroom and Gus had one for himself, her parents had been pleased with her work for the Coven, Eda had led her life, King had grown up to be a moody teenager, she hadn't cried over Luz in a long time, things had been going well.
And then suddenly, the portal had worked.
The one thing Luz had wanted but could never get. The one thing she had searched for all summer long almost seven years ago, the one thing she couldn't have, despite living her dream as a witch.
She had broken down. These trees had looked exactly like Luz had described them, and when Amity had leaned into the portal, she had felt so connected to Luz she had almost fainted.
And now she didn't know how to deal with this sudden influx of feelings. She didn't know how to deal with reaching one of Luz's main goals so many years later, and she didn't know how to justify to herself that they hadn't done this earlier.
Why didn't they build the portal while Luz had still been alive? Why couldn't they just turn back time and shove Luz back into the human realm where she would be safe and sound?
Desperately trying not to break under the pressure, Amity pressed her wrists into her eyes, breathing faster and faster. She thought she'd be happy with this.
She thought after six years, the pain would have lessened, that she could somehow be happy for achieving something that Luz wanted, but it made this only feel unfair. That Luz couldn't have this, while she had just been in the human realm.
"Hey, are you okay?", Willow's voice echoed in her head way too loudly and Amity whimpered, before looking up to her friend peeking into her room.
"I-… I don't know, I-…", sniffling, she tried to draw a breath but her clothes were constricting and her head overwhelmed her with the weight of her thoughts, "W-We finished the portal. It works."
Immediately, Willow stepped in and offered a hug, which Amity graciously accepted. She felt safe whenever her friend squeezed her tightly as if she could just tell the thoughts to go away.
"What I'd give for Luz to see this…", she hiccupped, making Willow run a soothing hand up and down her spine.
"I know, Amity… I know… But this is great. We-… We can go back to the human realm. We could maybe even find – and give – some closure.", Amity knew that Willow was talking about Luz's mother. Camila was her name, as she had noted.
"That's what I'm scared of…", she mumbled, "But it mostly feels unfair we can go back to the human realm and Luz can't…"
Swallowing thickly, Amity leaned into the gentle hug of her friend, before shaking her head.
"No matter, I-… I should be happy, right? We have a portal again. That means Luz's goal is achieved.", she tried to go about this the logical way, but Willow stopped her right there.
"It's not just about Luz's goal. It's about you feeling better about her death.", she clarified, leveling her friend with a stare and Amity sniffled, "Maybe you'll find some sort of closure on the other side."
She nodded weakly, before resting back against her friend, her stress somewhat relieved, but Willow could still feel her shivering. Her gaze flickered to Amity's desk, where the bucket list was pinned to the wall, the next task catching Willow's eye.
"Let's go scream?"
With a quizzical expression, Amity leaned back and furrowed her eyebrows at her friend.
"Wh-What?"
Humming, Willow grabbed her hand and already led her out, going down the stairs.
"Come on, we'll go scream to release stress now."
She put on some shoes and gestured for Amity to do the same. Furrowing her eyebrows, she did so, and only then she understood where Willow was going with this.
"The bucket list.", she mumbled and ran back upstairs while retrieving the piece of paper, carefully folding it up while she stumbled back down, looking up to meet Willow's eyes.
"Alright, let's do it.", she confirmed and her friend took her hand, nodding when they left the house with a quick call to Gus that they'd be back shortly.
They weaved through the streets of Bonesborough until they finally reached the forest and walked in, deeper and deeper until they had found a spot where absolutely nobody would hear them. Amity circled around herself, taking in the small clearing in the forest, and smiled to herself.
"So, how does this work?", she asked and turned back to Willow, who was just shrugging at her.
"Just, scream.", she simply said. Amity still didn't know what to do. Like she was expecting further instructions, she looked back to Willow who chuckled at her.
"Okay, I'll show you."
Amity watched her take a big breath of air, before the usually so soft girl she knew let out a blood-curdling scream, making her flinch and stumble back. Willow held her outburst for as long as she could, before breathing through and smiling a little. Then, she opened her eyes again and gestured for Amity to do the same.
"Now it's your turn!", she said and Amity huffed, her eyes still blown wide from Willow's scream.
Grumbling, she patted down her clothes.
"I-… I don't really know, does it really work?", she doubted, but Willow just crossed her arms.
"Scream."
Amity shrugged helplessly, before she gave her an exasperated look, nodding at her.
"I have no idea what to do, I-"
"Scream.", Willow persisted, making Amity furrow her eyebrows. She hadn't been raised to be loud, and she didn't really see how this would make her feel better. This had just been a suggestion a fourteen-year-old's dumb distracted head had made up.
"Can someone even hear us out here, I-"
"Scream."
"But isn't it, like, dangerous to-"
"Scream."
"I'm not sure I feel comfortable with-"
"Amity."
Turning her gaze back to Willow, her friend had softened up now. She saw the regret in Willow's face when she realized she had cornered her.
"I-… I don't know how to-… Scream.", she lamely finished and her friend approached her, putting her hands on her arms.
"Stop thinking.", she simply said, "Just yell at me. Okay? Just do it."
Trying to growl, Amity squinted her eyes and tried raising her voice.
"I don't know how!", she yelled in an acceptable volume, but Willow wasn't satisfied.
"Louder!", she demanded and stepped back so Amity could have some room. The young witch nodded in concentration and breathed through. She couldn't even remember the last time she had raised her voice.
"I-… I don't know how!", she tried again, but this time it actually came out quieter than before. Willow made a motion as if to say You can do better!, and nodded at her.
"You can do it! Come on!", she yelled back and Amity cleared her throat.
"I CAN DO IT!", she finally let out, and even Willow took a step back at the volume her petite, usually so eloquent and composed friend had just unleashed.
"LOUDER!", she yelled back and Amity finally unhooked her arms from her body, breathed in as deeply as she could, and squinted her eyes to let out a scream that she felt like shook the ground around her.
Her head started droning with the volume she was creating, and she was sure she hadn't ever been as loud. Her face turned red as she slowly curled up with the scream using up all her air and leaving her muscles cramping and tensing.
Finally, her voice gave out.
The first thing she heard was Willows cheer, then she let out a scream herself again and Amity joined her, screaming until her voice stopped working and her body felt like it was about to crumble. She breathed heavily when Willow's hand finally clapped her on her back and she spluttered.
"Didn't know you had that in you.", she praised and Amity looked up to her with a grin.
"… That was-… Interesting…", she panted and her friend laughed.
"Did it help?", she asked and Amity nodded at her.
"If just for the adrenaline being used up, yes."
Willow pumped a fist.
"Success!"
Let me know if you liked it!
