Between Somewhere and Nowhere

Diana Spellman

"Spellman?" Mary frowned, wading her way through Death's grip to the fractured pieces of her memory where that name sounded familiar. "Spell...man....Sabrina!"

Diana's eyes widened and she reached out to grip Mary's wrist tightly, "Sabrina...that's my baby! They took her! Do you know where she is?" Diana's grip tightened, crushing Mary's bones.

"You're hurting me." Grimacing, Mary pulled her wrist away from the woman. "Sabrina is one of my students, she isn't a baby."

"She was my baby...and after her baptism....the witches took her. But Hilda knew...she knew Sabrina had been baptised. Why didn't she stop them? And then Edward...he...." Diana began to tremble and her eyes glazed over, looking through Mary rather than at her, fractured memories overwhelming her. "...he took me there...to that place. That wicked, horrible place!"

Trying to grasp what she was hearing, Mary caught the depth of sorrow in Diana's gaze and felt a pang of empathy. Reaching out, she patted the woman's knee in an effort to be comforting, even as Diana's increasing distress unsettled her, "Shhh....it's okay, you're not there anymore."

Diana's haunted eyes were full of ghosts when she looked at Mary, finally processing the woman in front of her before she pulled away from her, and covered her face with her hands, "I'm sorry, I....it's so hard to stay lucid here... I've been here for so long, hiding. Always hiding and missing her. I am trying so hard to find a way out of here but all of the doorways are walls, all of the windows are mirrors, and I'm just constantly turning back into myself." The blonde's voice caught in her throat and she bit back a sob.

Mary felt her chest tighten as she heard the severity of her current predicament in Diana's anguished words, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she closed her eyes and imagined her sweet little cottage in the woods. Imagining the feel of her cross stitch in her hands and the relaxing weaving in and out as she created a cheeky slogan like the last one she'd done; This is the proof that I have the patience to stab something 1000 times.

Rather than soothing her, thinking of her cozy little sanctuary was making Mary's heart ache. She opened her eyes and offered her hand to Diana, "You're not alone anymore. Why don't you tell me about her...your baby?" Grateful for the distraction, Mary squeezed the hand that slid into hers encouragingly and leaned against the strength of the dirt walls, closing her eyes and allowing herself to be transported by Diana's story.

Diana had grown up playing with dolls, crushing her tulle skirts from hours of sitting in front of her dollhouse, placing little figurines at the kitchen table, in the living room, in a rocking chair in the nursery. The porcelain baby was so worn from her warm little fingers that the details on its face had rubbed off. She loved that little doll so much there were nights where she'd sleep with it under her pillow, whispering little prayers to God that she would grow up to be a Mama.

She'd grown up not far from the Spellman Mortuary and one day, walking by, she noticed another little blonde girl sitting on a blanket in the cemetery. Intrigued, she wandered closer and saw that the girl was having a tea party with a one-eyed teddy bear, a naked doll with her hair burnt off, and a jar of spiders.

Noticing the curious girl, Hilda Spellman covered her naked doll with a napkin and offered Diana a teacup. "My sister said I annoyed her, so she set my doll on fire. Do you want to play with me? I made the tea myself from the chamomile in my own garden!"

As the years went on, Diana and Hilda became close friends. Diana enjoyed learning about botany and baking in the Spellman's huge kitchen, but as they grew older, Diana's interests turned more personal. She began to realize she felt drawn towards Hilda's older siblings; Zelda, in particular, intrigued Diana with her grace, poise, ambition, and beauty. The redheaded girl barely gave her the time of day but when Diana tripped on the steps going up into the house and skinned her knee, it had been Zelda's soft hand that had helped her to her feet. In that moment, Diana had felt a violent and unfamiliar swoop in her belly as their fingers touched and their eyes met.