𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡

21- The Five Stages of Grief

"Don't hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself and you're set"

TW//child abuse
The world thinking being afraid of the dark was for children showed the stupidity that could spread like wildfire. Some might say they aren't afraid of the dark, but what's inside of it, yet that did not do any justice to what the darkness did to those who were left in it alone.

Andromeda found out very quickly what the darkness could do to your mind. Like a foreign army with a well trained general, the darkness took hold of one's thoughts. She laid curled up in a ball on the floor, feeling like a dementor had taken residence right outside the door.

Not only was the basement dark, but it was cold. She still wore only her banquet dress and a fresh layer of tears.

Perhaps, the worst part wasn't being alone or being cold, but maybe it was not being able to tell time. Meda had no idea how many crushing minutes she had spent in that closet. Even worse, she didn't have any way to pass said time.

All that was there to accompany her was herself, and well, at the current moment, that wasn't very good company to have at all.

Ever since Druella had put her there, Andromeda had gone through the five stages of grief by herself very quickly.

Denial.

At first, Meda refused to believe the night had actually happened. She decided that it was all but a sick new nightmare her mind had created to scare her away from doing something as rash as showing up to an important family banquet without her engagement ring.

It clicked after a few moments of her actively lying to herself that the only thing she was denying was the fact that her very own mother had locked her away. No, she thought, Druella was no Mother to her, and she probably had never actually acted as if she was.

Anger.

Meda banged her fists on the locked door, screaming as loud as she could. Maybe she wished for someone to hear her, to save her, and maybe she wished for someone just to hear and feel her anguish. For the first time in a while, she allowed herself to let the anger of not having a good family consume her.

These people were supposed to be there to lead her through life with love and care. Andromeda wasn't sure if her parents had ever learned what those two words meant.

Bargaining.

Meda had a tendency to blame things on herself. This was no doubt the way she had been conditioned to behave since she was a kid. Her whole life Andromeda had been gaslit into thinking things a certain way.

So, perhaps if she hadn't taken off that ring in the first place, then she wouldn't be in the closet. She could've acted differently, and then maybe she would still be up there joking around with Sirius.

That stage didn't last very long.

Depression.

Andromeda's feelings crept back from the air into her brain, where she was taught they belonged. Curling herself in a ball, she no longer allowed herself to feel her emotions. She laid there as a puddle personified, and only thought about each individual tear that rolled down her cheek.