Chapter Twenty-Two:

Glinda arrived back at Mockbeggar Hall in another few days time to find the house empty. Chuffrey left her a note saying that they would talk when he got back and that he had a very important meeting with the ambassador of Quadling Country.

"Typical," muttered Glinda as she pulled off her gloves and crumpled up the note in frustration. She was in her room admiring the things that Chuffrey bought her. Glinda always had a fascination with new things, whether it was people or inanimate objects. Anything that was out of the norm for the blonde interested her.

Exhausted and weary from her journey Glinda laid down on her bed and closed her eyes for a moment, still in her dress.

In her thoughts she wondered what Elphaba was going through back at the mauntery. Was she awake or still in that coma like sleep? Maybe this time when she awoke she would remember that Glinda was the one who killed Fiyero and not the Gale Force? Or maybe she wouldn't?

The endless possibilities made Glinda restless and she found herself awake more times than asleep during her catnap. Irritated that her thoughts would not let her rest she sat up and pursed her lips. A hand ran through her golden locks and she sighed.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to leave her," said Glinda to herself about Elphaba. She wondered what would become of Elphaba and her baby.

"You should go see her," said Glinda to no one but herself suddenly.

She bit her lip as she considered it. That would mean seeing that Yackle woman again and she gave Glinda the creeps for some unknown reason.

Glinda shook her head, "No, no that's a bad idea."

She could just imagine how bad it would be if Elphaba was awake and she remembered. Glinda was pretty sure that Elphaba would literally kill her. Glinda sighed again and felt horrible with herself. She made her way towards her bathroom and began rummaging through her medicine cabinet. She needed something to make her sleep because she hadn't slept in literally a week.

Her fingers briefly touched each pill bottle as her eyes scanned their labels. Finally she found one of her choice, and popped off the top.

Glinda read the label and found that she was only supposed to take two pills. Ignoring the label and figuring that she was so tired it wouldn't really do anything bad to her body if she took four pills, Glinda got a glass of water and swallowed down the four pills two at a time. She screwed the top back on and put it in the drawer of her nightstand table just in case.

Suddenly feeling the affects of the drugs, Glinda climbed into bed and her world was dizzy. When she finally drifted off to sleep, a calm feeling filled her and Glinda found herself in a dreamless state of blackness.

The first thing Glinda smelt when the blackness took over was smoke, coal made smoke that seemed to fill her nostrils and made her cough. When her sight was returned she was standing on an icy platform wearing a black gown. A train could be heard chugging along the metal tracks as the blonde woman stood there. Slow, hesitant steps of her own feet could be heard crunching in the snow-covered platform as she made her way towards the tracks. Her ears were filled with the sound of the train whizzing, and she suddenly felt her body go cold as her eyes traveled to the tracks.

There, lying on the tracks was Elphaba. She wasn't moving, she was as still as the grave though she was not dead. Her chest moved up and down slowly as if she was in some sort of train. Glinda looked back up and saw that the train was now in station. In a few moments, Elphaba would be crushed and likely killed.

"ELPHABA!" screeched Glinda as she reached the tracks but she found she could not go further. It was like her other dream. Glinda could not move, and she was forced to watch as the train came fast now.

Her lips quivered in horror and her eyes burned by the fast, hot tears that traveled down her face. She closed her eyes as she heard the train run over Elphaba, and started sobbing. Dropping to her knees, the blonde's vision was blurred by her tears that just kept falling. Her heart felt like someone had ripped it into two as she cried. To Glinda, as she slowly came back into consciousness this dream was worst than the last one…

Her fingers twitched slightly as Glinda felt a far away voice calling her name.

"Glinda, Glinda, wake up!" said a voice as a hand shook her shoulder.

But Glinda didn't want to wake up. The darkness wouldn't let her. All she wanted to do is drift off into more sleep. The darkness was pulled away from her as Glinda became aware of her surroundings again and slowly opened her eyes.

A blurry vision greeted her at first and then her eyes adjusted to see that Chuffrey was standing next to her with one hand on her shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked hoarsely as she tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness overcame her and she fell back on the bed, closing her eyes again. That dream had shaken her quite a bit.

"The maids were worried when they tried to wake you up three hours earlier and they couldn't so when I came home they asked me to check up on you." His eyes narrowed at her, "Are you alright? You look extremely pale."

Though Glinda felt that she was pale and faint, she thrust a smile on her face at him, "I'm fine of course, just tired from my journey."

Chuffrey took his hand from her shoulder and watched as she sat up unsteadily.

He seemed to know exactly what was going on for he asked, "Did you take something?"

She looked at him quizzically, trying to hide her true colors, "No, of course not," she dismissed.

Without another word Chuffrey disappeared into her bathroom and Glinda heard him go through her medicine cabinet. She was just about to say something to him when he returned looking quite cross with her.

"The sleeping pills are missing," he stated, "Did you take them, Glinda?"

Rage welled up inside of the blonde, how dare he go through her cabinet like that, like he had the right!

"Fine, I did and I plan on keeping them. I can't sleep Chuffrey, I need them."

Her husband looked at her, "Does this have something to do with what happened in the Vinkus? Or what happened with Fiyero?"

Glinda avoided his gaze and her hands wrung in worry and nervousness, "No," she said quietly and softly. Her stomach churned horribly at the questions and Glinda felt as if the truth would come out in a slip up if she said anything more. Her hands began to shake as she guessed a side effect of taking too many pills. But it had been worth it, while she had slept not once had she dreamt of Elphaba. Glinda knew it was wrong, but it was working.

"This may come as a shock to you, Glinda," said Chuffrey as his eyes looked to her face, "But I do care about you. I don't want you to become an alcoholic, drug-abusing woman who is in love with a freak of nature. You deserve much more than that my dear."

His words repeated in her head and Glinda found herself becoming angry at what he had said.

"If you did care about me than you wouldn't have made my life a living hell! You are the one who drove me to the alcohol and the drugs, if you had just let me be with Elphaba, just let me have my moment of happiness then neither of us would be in this position!" she snapped at him.

Her head suddenly felt like it was spinning and she put a hand to it to try and stop the motion. Her eyes closed for a few minutes before it passed.

"Besides, you don't care about me, and everyone knows it," she muttered. Her mouth felt dry and she felt sick, like she was suffering from a fever of some sorts.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," was all her husband said before he left the room.

Glinda was left to herself again, and she felt weepy. Tears began to stream down her face but she did not know exactly why. But one thing Glinda knew for certain. Glinda would never be really happy unless she was with Elphaba….

The next chapter will skip ahead a few years to Nessa's death. Hope everyone is doing well. I promise to upload more this week. :)

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