Howl sat at the table, staring blankly into space. He'd been like that for a few hours now. He was listening to the sound of Sophie's weeps fly through the door and stab him in the heart. Every so often he'd ask himself if he'd actually done the right thing. Markl stood close to Calcifer. The house felt suddenly cold, making him shiver. "Calcifer," the boy said, his voice small and worried. "I want things to be back to normal. I want Howl and Sophie back."
The flame gave him a sympathetic look but wasn't quite sure how to answer him. He knew very well that things wouldn't be back to normal for a while but couldn't tell Markl; he was upset enough as it was. "Listen, kid," he would've patted him shoulder if it wasn't going to burn him. "Don't let it get you down. I'm sure master Howl and Sophie will be okay eventually."
Markl looked at Sophie's door. Howl wasn't the only one being torn apart by the sound. He hesitantly approached the room and brought up a trembling hand to knock on the door. She didn't bother answering and continued to cry. "Sophie," Markl called. "Can I come in?"
There was still no reply so he slowly entered. Sophie was lying on her bed with a pillow over her head and the blanket over her body. "Are you alright, Sophie?" Markl asked as she withdrew from the pillow. Her eyes were swollen and tomato red. Her cheeks, though they still looked beautiful and plump, were pink and stained with tears. Sophie took the end of the blanket and used it to mop up her tears. There was really no point because all she did was cry again.
The boy stared at her and wanted to cry for her sake. He looked to the floor and sighed, moving over to kneel down beside the bed. "I'm sorry for what Howl did, Sophie," he tried but his voice sounded like it was afraid of upsetting her even more.
Sophie hiccupped. "I don't see how he could be so selfish…"
At the back of Markl's mind, he knew that Sophie was the one being selfish but he didn't dare acknowledge those thoughts. He wanted the old Sophie back and tell her that certainly would not help. "He can't help it," he told her. "It's just the way he is. No one should have to change themselves," he said, hoping she'd get the hint and realize that she'd made a mistake.
"That doesn't give him an excuse to kill my child!" she said, her voice rising.
He blinked in confusion. Normally the old Sophie wouldn't shout at him for anything but he'd forgotten – this wasn't the old Sophie. "I… I'm sorry, Sophie." Sophie just turned her head away with a look of disgust, not noticing how worried the child was. "I just came to see if you were okay…"
"Do I look okay?!" she screamed.
Markl almost fell onto his back in shock. He quickly stood up, afraid of her sudden anger, and rushed out, closing the door behind him. Howl was no longer there – he'd gone out absentmindedly without telling the flame where he was going. Markl ran to Calcifer, tears coating his eyes. "Kid, what is it?"
"I don't like her…" he gasped, desperately trying to hold back his tears. "She's horrible…"
"Calm down, Markl!" Calcifer urged, unsure of how else to comfort him. "It's going to be alright, I promise!"
He shook his head slowly. He didn't believe this mess could ever be fixed. "Nothing's going to be normal now… I wish Sophie had never been here in the first place!" he shouted before bolting up the stairs to his room and slamming the door shut.
Calcifer sighed helplessly and pulled a log into his mouth for comfort. To keep him mind occupied, he counted the spiders on the ceiling that never would have been there if the old Sophie… no, he had to use something to distract himself. He decided to play on memories, like the time Howl was going through his first break-up. He kept repeating that he'd never find anyone else worthy of his beauty but then he found… no – that memory includes Sophie, too.
He groaned; this wasn't going to be easy.
After about half an hour of him trying and failing to distract himself, he gave up. The door had clicked open and he looked up to see that it was Sophie's. Calcifer sighed; he was hoping that she'd be back to normal by now but no, she still had the same bouncy blonde hair and unnaturally curvy figure. It was getting a little annoying. "Where's Howl?" she asked.
Calcifer didn't even want to look at her anymore so he turned away, drawing his attention on the ashes around him. "Out," he said simply.
"Out where?" she said, quickly frustrated.
He rolled his eyes. "Why do you care?"
She huffed and shook her head, swaggering to the table of food. She was hungry and tried to find something decent to eat. The cheese was covered in flies, the flies were being eaten by spiders and the spiders seemed to be settling in cozily. Rats had gnawed away at the stale bread which even they didn't seem to find very appetizing. To top that all off, ant had practically formed several queues to the dinner table as if it were a buffet.
Sophie cringed at the sight. There was nothing that looked like it had ever been remotely edible. "Is there no decent food anymore?" she said.
Calcifer, who had been staring at her in satisfaction, shrugged. "Don't you remember? It was always either you or Howl that got the food."
"Well, why doesn't Markl do it, then?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Howl hasn't been himself lately and we're flat broke. No money, no food." The flame was trying his best to make her realize the impact she'd had on the family. He tried to find something else to focus her attention on. "Oh, there may be some bacon left over by the dishes. You could have that."
Sophie sighed in exasperation and made her way over to the dishes, gasping when she got there. "Calcifer, this stuff is absolutely filthy!"
Once again the flame shrugged as if he hadn't really noticed it before. "Really? Oh, it's was never usually like that. I wonder how that suddenly happened?" he to wonder if he was hinting a little too much but hen decided he didn't care if he was, as long as she was getting the picture. "I guess you could always ask Howl to magic them clean… no, wait, I forgot – he left and gave no indication that he's coming home anytime soon."
After getting over her disgust, Sophie regarded him with confusion. "What in the world is going on around here? Where's Markl?"
Calcifer shrugged. "Crying," he said as if it was no big deal.
"Why?"
"Why?" he glared at her accusingly. "Don't tell me that you seriously haven't noticed! Howl has practically lost the will to live without the old Sophie! The house is a mess and Markl is afraid of you! Don't you see that you've been corrupted by fake beauty? The entire family is falling apart because of you… and you don't care at all, do you?"
Sophie stared at him in shock. She didn't know what he was talking about. Calcifer sighed in disappointment. "Remember how Howl used to be so wrapped up in his appearance? Remember how to him, everything fell apart because he didn't think he was beautiful anymore? But he got over it. He got over it because he realized that there were more important things, like his family. He found something else to care about. Why can't you do the same?"
Silence was surrounding them like a thick pool of jelly. After realizing that there was nothing she could say in her defense, Sophie sharply stormed off back into her room. She slammed the door shut behind hr in anger and stomped over to the mirror and held it in her hands. "He doesn't know what he's talking about," she whispered to herself. "He's just a flame. Water could kill him."
She smiled at herself in the mirror. Who could deny her beauty?
She stopped, blinking at the reflection. She looked at a lock of her hair to the side of her face. It was still the same golden colour… so why was the reflection's hair silver? She was smiling, so why did the reflection look at her in fear and sympathy? Why could… why could she see Sophie in the mirror?
No, she told herself. I'm Sophie. Shaking her head, she looked at the mirror again.
"Please," she saw it whisper. "Don't hurt them anymore…"
Hurt who? She asked herself. Howl? He killed my child. He's nothing but a murderer. No innocent child deserves to get hurt like that, she convinced herself.
The reflection continued to stare. "So why are you putting Markl through it?"
Sophie froze, putting the mirror down for a moment. She's right… Sophie thought. Quickly, she looked at her reflection again, only this time, it wasn't her reflection. This reflection had blonde hair and was dressed like an angel. Then she realized that this was her reflection… but it wasn't Sophie. She swallowed and glanced at the book Howl had given her. The magic book that had caused of this.
She flicked through the pages as fast as she could. She couldn't stand being like this anymore. She found how to reverse the spell…
… Sophie was finally back.
\/\/\/\/
I know, you all probably hate me for not updating in such a long time… I've been on FictionPress quite a lot – how about checking out my stories… please? If you want more dramatic romances, check them out coz I simply can't write anything without a bit of drama. (My account is under the same name).
For a really dramatic romance (I mean REALLY dramatic) read Three Years Ago
For a funny romance (and dramatic) read Matchmaker Kei
For a mysterious romance read Origami
And for a complicated romance read Until Dawn
So, please check it out and please review – you can flame but don't shun! I promise I'll update faster this time!