Beacon Hills 1983

Chapter 69: A Weeping Rose

(Teen wolf + The Chilling adventures of Sabrina + The Originals + Stranger Things + Riverdale)

The invisible magical chains holding me back, dissolve immediately.

I look up and notice the whole pack here- Timothée and Billy included. But I have no idea how or when they arrived. My focus on Emel is like tunnel vision.

Lucy backs away, an apologetic look painted on her face.
I'm not even mad at her.

She did what she needed to do.

I'm not mad at anyone, really.

Anyone but the world. And the events that lead to this very moment.

It's nobody's fault in particular. Only the fault of wrong choices.

Beverly's choice to turn Emel away.
Emel's choice to be the master.
Mom's choice to give up on Dad.
My choice to sneak onto this trip.
Taylan's choice to follow me.

I wonder now, if we all chose differently, would we have been better off?

Mom slowly walks to Emel, sits down, and rests her head on her lap, beginning to stroke her hair.

Thud... Thud... Thud...

The pace of her heart beats slower with every passing second.

She smiles, and dark blood drips down the corner of her mouth.
Mom smiles back, knowing it's the end, giving her eldest child one last good memory.

"I just wanted to be one of you..."
Emel whispers.

Her last words hang in the air like a never ending echo.

My mother, still smiling, kisses Emel's dead face, and brushes a hand over her open eyelids to close them.

Emel looks like something lovely, ruined by others. A flower we forgot to water. A flower, we ignored. Emel is a weeping rose.

Someone wraps their arms around me in a comforting hug. I'm unable to hug back, but want them to continue, want to feel their heart- their alive heart- pounding against my chest, and smell their familiar, bookish, peachy scent.
Timothée doesn't need to say anything. His actions are stronger.

I spot Billy from the side of my eye, walking alone with his hand in his pocket. I'm not sure what might be going through his mind right now- I'm not sure of my own.

Taylan falls to his knees, sobbing like I've never seen before. Att is tearful, but I can tell he's trying to hold it in until he's alone. Talia looks heartbroken. Peter holds her hand.

My mother...

My mother remains in that position, cradling Emel's body in her arms as if frozen in the moment.

"I've lost two people today, Talia." Mom says, breaking hollow silence.
"My Emel... And my Cem."
Talia bends down to wipe Mom's tears.
"Only the strongest people are given the heaviest burdens. And you, Cora, are the strongest person I know."

Mom holds her niece's hand, and looks between me, and Taylan with sorry eyes.

Talia discusses something with Lucy, that quite frankly, I have no interest in hearing.
But the next thing I know, Timothée is letting go of me and I'm being shoved into the other members of the pack, crowding around Emel's dead body.

The Greendale and siphon witches link hands and begin another spell.
The air around us seems to shimmer, like water, until suddenly it stops, and we're back home, in Beacon Hills.