Chapter Two

As she made her way up to the third floor, Elphaba thought about what she would do to keep herself entertained. Over the past few months, she had become accustomed to spending her evenings debating, chatting, or just sharing quiet company with Galinda. Tonight was the Friday night before a three-day weekend however, so her roommate was likely to be at some party or another. 'I suppose I can work on the extra credit assignment for Sorcery class.' She then began contemplating which spell she would analyze in her essay. Lost in thought, it was not until she had rounded the corner and was halfway down the hall to her room that she heard the sound of someone crying. A few footsteps later, she realized the sound was coming from her room. Immediately she quickened her pace and a moment later she was standing in front of the door. Since she was much closer now, could hear that Galinda wasn't merely crying. There was a pain so apparent and intense in her weeping. It made Elphaba wonder what in Oz could have happened. When she discovered that the door was locked, she became even further alarmed. Something was terribly wrong with Galinda. She just knew it. She swore audibly as she rummaged through her bag to find the key. At last having found it, she unlocked the door and threw it open.

She dropped all her belongings by the desk and followed the sound to the bathroom were she was met with an odd, yet frighteningly familiar scene. Galinda had collapsed on the floor, sobbing and the bathtub faucet was turned on. 'What the hell is going on?' She asked herself. Then suddenly, as if by force, an image from a long time ago replaced the one in front of her eyes.

Elphaba was six. Nessa was only a toddler. She had never known their mother to be any way other than the way she was. But Elphaba had. She could remember when her mother had sometimes been happy. That had been before Nessa was born. After the younger of the two sisters was born, Melena had fallen into a deep and constant depression.

It was a summer day. The sun was bright and the sky was clear. There was a warm, gentle breeze in the air. Frex had brought Nessa with him when he went for a walk. Little Elphie was outside in the garden. She rushed inside however, her face lit up, to show her mother the new bauble she had just been given. "Mama, Mama," she shouted with glee, "look what Turtle Heart made me!" She looked through the entire house for her mother. When she finally found her, the six-year-old's joyful smile vanished and she dropped the glass toy on the stone floor, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. She stared at the sight before her. Her mother lay in the bathtub, unconscious, and the water was blood red. Elphaba screamed. A minute later, Turtle Heart was there, pulling Melena out of the bathtub and binding the wounds on her wrists. Though her mother had survived that day, the little girl had never forgotten the image of her mother lying in the bathtub full of blood-tainted water with a razorblade a few inches away on the floor.

Elphaba shook her head to banish the memory and quickly surveyed the room, noticing that Galinda's shaving kit was open on the side of the sink and her razor had been removed from the pink bag. Her heart was beating an hundred miles per hour in fear as she swooped down to pick her hysteric friend up from the floor. The blond girl didn't seem to notice that she had been picked up at all. The first thing Elphaba did was to check her wrists, which were blessedly unmarred. Under her breath, she muttered the closest thing she had ever managed to a real prayer to the Unnamed God.

It wasn't until Elphaba had placed the other girl on her fluffy, pink bed that it registered in Galinda's mind that someone else was in the room. Fighting away the trance-like state of unawareness, the smaller girl looked through a cascade of tears to see who was sitting next to her. Her vision was distorted and it took her a moment of blinking furiously to be able to see anything more distinct than the colors green and black. "Elphie!" The name was not so much spoken as it was whimpered.

The green girl wrapped her arms around her best friend and rocked her back and forth as she would a little child. "Shh, it's okay. Everything will be okay. I promise," she told the blond girl. She didn't ask what had happened, she didn't really dare to ask anything at all yet. She just kept repeating that everything would be okay. Galinda clung to her and sobbed onto her shoulder. The tears that soaked through Elphaba's shirt burned her skin, but she endured it and for the most part ignored the pain. Finally after about an hour she found that her friend had all but stopped crying and that the poor girl was shivering violently. It was then that Elphaba realized four things. It was nine o'clock at night, it was winter, there was no fire burning in the fireplace, and Galinda was only wearing her slip. No wonder she was freezing. "Galinda, just stay right here. I'm going to get you a nightgown to put on and then I'm going to light the fireplace. Okay?" Galinda nodded silently and relinquished her grip on Elphaba's arm.

After getting up, Elphaba realized that the water in the bathtub was still running. She went in and turned it off, thankful that Galinda hadn't put the plug in the bottom. Otherwise it would have overflowed and flooded the bathroom. She put Galinda's dress in the laundry basket and then went back out into the room. A few minutes later a warm fire was crackling in the fireplace and Galinda was putting on her nightgown.

"Are you feeling better now," Elphaba asked, hoping her friend was now calmed down sufficiently enough to go to sleep.

"Yah," Galinda replied very quietly and meekly.

Without a knock, the door between their room and Nessarose's opened and Nessa wheeled herself in. "I just came to say goodnight Elphaba," she explained, glancing at Galinda coldly out of the corner of her eye.

"Goodnight, Nessa," Elphaba dutifully said.

"Goodnight, I'll continue to pray for your soul, Fabala. As for you-" she sent a glare in the blonde's direction, "Your soul isn't worth saving, so I won't waste my breath." With that declaration she wheeled herself out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her. For a few seconds, Elphaba just stared in shock at the closed door. She was used to her little sister's religious comments and criticism, but she had never heard Nessarose be as cruel to anyone about it as she had just been to Galinda. She couldn't fathom what had warranted it. Looking over at her roommate, she saw that Galinda's eyes were full of tears again.

"Oh, don't cry again, Galinda," Elphaba said kindly as she returned to sit next to her friend. "I really have no idea why Nessa was so rude, but I'm very, very sorry."

"It's okay," Galinda told her despondently. "It's not your fault."

"I know that, but I still want to apologize. I think I'll have a talk with her about what just ha-"

"No!" Galinda shouted before hushing her voice almost into a whisper. "I mean no, you don't need to do that. I don't want to cause a fight between you and your sister." Seeing that this conversation would only make the other girl cry again, Elphaba let the matter drop.

"Why don't we just go to sleep," she suggested. Galinda nodded silently. She pulled back the covers on her bed and crawled under them. Still a bit lost in her own thoughts, she was surprised to look up and see that Elphaba had taken the blankets from her hands and was tucking her in, the way her mother used to when she was little. "Try to rest. You've obviously had a very rough day. Fresh dreams, Galinda."

"Fresh dreams, Elphie," Galinda replied, closing her eyes. She heard the lamp on the nightstand table click off. Her eyes suddenly flew open again though when she felt her best friend place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Elphaba crawled into her own bed, not having seen Galinda open her eyes again. She waited until she heard the other girl's slow, steady breathing and was sure she was asleep before opening the draw of their nightstand and removing from it an emerald glass sphere. She stared into it, letting her mind unfocus, letting her thoughts slip away. This was an attempt to help herself fall asleep and fall asleep she did. However the sleep she fell into was one of prophetic dreams.

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