Chapter 20 – How to Deal with Grief

"Tiffany, will you accept this rose?"

"No!" Violet and Riley cried, spilling their bowl of popcorn on the floor.

Violet and Riley were lounging on the couch in the living room watching re-runs of 'The Bachelor' after a day of searching for Kim. They wore comfortable clothes and were surrounded with empty bowls, popcorn, empty soft drink bottles and every map and crystal they could find.

Riley slumped back down on the couch and scowled.

"He shouldn't have chosen her over Rebecca." She muttered

Violet laughed as she started cleaning up the mess their tantrum caused on the floor.

"Well it's not like she'll win." She replied, "Besides, the chances of Bachelor and Bachelorette couples staying together is less than 5%."

Riley smirked at that. "Touché."

Riley and Violet jumped when they noticed Lilly suddenly appear in front of them. They gasped when they noticed the tears running down Lilly's face.

Violet dropped the popcorn bowl in her haste to engulf her younger sister in a hug. As soon as she did Lilly threw her arms around her and crumbled to the floor in grief, pulling Violet down with her. Lilly cried, her voice echoing around the empty room.

Riley slowly stood up and approached the pair. She kneeled down next to them and placed her hand gently on Lilly's shoulder.

"Lilly," She whispered, "What happened?"

Lilly carefully pulled away from Violet and wiped her eyes, her cries dying down. She looked up at her sister's concerned face, her shows full of pain.

"Mikey-" She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Mikey broke up with me."

"What!" Riley shouted

Violet waved her hand at her to shush her, noticing the pain that caused Lilly. She held her hand against Lilly's cheek and turned her to face her.

"What do you mean?" She whispered

Lilly clenched her eyes shut as more tears escaped. "He blames Kim for everything. He didn't bother hearing her side…our side." She opened her eyes again. "And the things he said to me…about Kim…about me."

Lilly couldn't continue. She broke down into tears again and Violet pulled her into another hug.

She looked up at Riley, noticing how silent she'd been. Riley stared at the wall ahead of her, her hands clenched tightly in fists.

"Riley." Violet said

Riley pulled her gaze away from the wall and looked at her sisters.

"This is going too far." Riley said as she started walking towards the front door.

"What are you doing?" Violet questioned

"I'm not stopping until our sister is found." Riley replied as she pulled on a long coat and her brown boots, not even caring what she was wearing. "You stay with Lilly. Don't wait up."

With that Riley exited the apartment. The door shutting snapped Lilly out of her sadness. She lifted her head and looked up at Violet.

"What do I do now?" She whispered brokenly. "Everything is falling apart and I don't even know what's real anymore."

Violet thought long and hard when suddenly an idea came to her. "You write."

Lilly raised an eyebrow at that.

"No, hear me out." Violet said before conjuring a small journal and pen. "Kim and Riley write when they feel like this. Kim writes songs, Riley writes poems." She held the pair out to Lilly with a supportive smile. "What will Lilly write?"

Lilly took the journal and pen from Violet, a small smile finally appearing on her face.

"Sometimes, when we don't know how to feel or how to express those we do know we write them down to make them clear. When we want to escape reality we make one we want to live in, if only for a little while." Violet whispered, her eyes slightly glowing yellow in the corners.

Violet gasped at the colour but felt oddly calm. The glow faded and Violet smiled wider, noticing her sister's tears had stopped and the pain in her eyes had dimmed.

"What did you do?" Lilly whispered

Violet winked. "Look inside."

Lilly opened the front page of the journal and giggled softly and tears welled in her eyes when she saw what was inside.

Kissing You – Lila Phoenix

Lilly looked up from the book with a teary-eyed smile; a smile of awe and happiness. The first page had the lyrics to the first song she ever wrote.

"Thank you, Vi." She whispered

With that Lilly stood up from the floor and started walking towards her room. She stopped and turned back to Violet.

"…do you ever write to escape reality?" She asked

Violet smiled sadly and stood up. She shrugged. "Not really." She says, "I prefer to read books to escape reality. When I need to escape reality I grab my fiction books and read. I'm reading stories about other people…those that always have happy endings. When I read I get to become someone else. Just for awhile."

Lilly nodded mutely at that before she continued back to her room. As soon as she closed the door she leaned her back against it.

'I wish I could be someone else.'

Lilly pushed away from the door and looked around her room. Everywhere she look she was reminded of Mikey – from the photos on the walls to the comics on the desk and the few things of his he left behind on the floor.

A tear escaped and Lilly growled, roughly wiping it away. She lifted her right hand, white magic swirling around it and she waved it across the room. Suddenly, all those memories vanished, covered by magic, not to be seen until the spell was reversed.

Lilly walked over to her now Mikey-free desk, now only covered in old sketches and she dropped the journal on top of them. Lilly sat down and stared blankly at the desk. After a few moments Lilly noticed the top half of one sketch underneath the journal. She picked it up and saw the extravagant outfit drawn. Next to it in her handwriting was a few words:

The Duchess?

Who would wear this?

Lilly raised an eyebrow and slowly a smile spread across her face.

'Maybe I can be someone else.'

Lilly opened up the journal and began writing, letting all of her memories surface and translate into her book.

Hours later Lilly pulled herself away from her desk, admiring the mostly full journal and sketches upon sketches, designs and plans that now covered the surface. Lilly took out her phone and dialled.

"Hello?...yeah it's Lilly. Listen, I have a proposition for you and I don't want anyone to know, not even my sisters…"

"I'm listening."