Whispers at Witching Hour

Chapter 48

Sensitive Content!

Musical inspiration: Breathe Me – Sia

Hilda and Zelda sat down for a night cap to end this truly dreadful day together. Zelda had not talked to her sister about anything personal for weeks despite her sister's offers to listen. Hilda had made sure to let her know she was there but refrained from pushing her too much. However, she had seen the tears in her elder sister's eyes during the prayer and decided to give it another go.

"And... How did it feel praying to Lilith for the first time?", she approached the topic casually.

"Oh, please Hilda, it's not like I haven't pursued some decent acts of worship to Lilith in the bedroom before", Zelda threw at her, taking a sip from her scotch.

Hilda had not quite expected such an answer, but she assumed it was the alcohol loosening her sister's tongue. She wondered how much she had had today.

"I see", she tried to pick the conversation up again, "Well, I just thought... You haven't talked about her since she, you know, left, love..."

"No need to talk about people who aren't there, is there?"

"Yep, guess so..."

This was not going where Hilda had intended it to and silence prevailed, not uncomfortable though. Zelda finished her drink and pushed the empty glass on the table. She checked her nails, all perfectly done of course, a dark shade of red, almost black.

"It hurts", came out of nowhere.

Hilda did not say anything, just nodded at her sister sympathetically and hoped she would continue. Zelda swallowed and cleared her throat, looking out of the window before turning to Hilda.

"Why do I feel like that, Hildie?" Zelda's eyebrows came together, her lips trembling.

"Oh Zelds", she reached out over the table to squeeze her sister's wrist briefly, aware she had issues with physical contact lately, "It's because you love her, darling."

Zelda's eyes widened at her, and she pulled up her walls again quickly, squaring her shoulders, chin up. Hilda felt helpless; her sister was even harder to get through to these days. It had never been easy – Zelda and emotions – but this new form of resignation carried the potential to slowly eat away at their relationship.

"Goodnight, sister", Zelda announced and disappeared in her bedroom.

Hilda watched her leave and headed to her bedroom as well. She missed Dr Cee terribly, especially after that day, but they had settled on spending the weekends together until the Academy was back to everyday business.

~

Zelda changed in her bedroom, facing the king-sized bed in the middle of the room. The Academy had a nice royal flair, sumptuous. It was something she usually liked, but in the dark, it was all so big and empty. She felt cold at the sight of it, reminded of him. They never slept together in that bed but knowing these were his chambers, the remaining scent of him, was enough to send her spiraling.

The nights at the mortuary had been horrible, the first night here as well. Nightmare after nightmare. Flashbacks. Waking up drenched in sweat. When would this end?

Her strategy for today was to think of the nights with Lilith. She had to get used to thinking about her anyway now due to the coven's new worship of her. Zelda crawled under the sheets and tried to make herself comfortable, fluffing the pillows. She closed her eyes slowly and tried to concentrate on her breath. Then, she focused to bring up a memory.

She picked the one where Lilith had slept at hers; how they fell asleep in each other's arms. Bodies against bodies, warmth, soft and steady breaths against her skin. She pulled a cushion down into her arms to pretend it was Lilith and nuzzled against it – and it worked. Zelda felt her muscles relax and was drifting off to sleep when suddenly she flinched and felt someone tearing her clothes away, grabbing her body with filthy, long-nailed hands.

She shot up, breathing rapidly, heart pounding out of her chest, crying. Zelda's hand rose to her throat, trying to get the invisible fist around it off that forced her down and silenced her, so he could do what he wanted. With an open mouth, she inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to prevent herself from fainting of hyperventilation. His smell was all around her, driving her crazy.

It did not work, nothing worked. Sleeping with the lights on, meditation, breathing techniques. Nothing fucking worked!

Darkness threatened to swallow her whole, its hands everywhere on her body, pinching her skin.

"I can't do it anymore!", she whisper-screamed into the room and got out of the bed hastily, banging her fists against her head, trying to make it stop and get out of this sensation. Just like back then, when she had been woken up in the middle of the night by the feeling of him inside her. She wanted to run away, far away, forget. What should she do?

Zelda grabbed her robe and swiftly put it on before leaving her bedroom and rushing to her sister's. In front of the door, she stopped and thought about going back. The tears still running down her cheeks silently along with her shaking body convinced her otherwise and she opened the door cautiously.

Without making a single noise, she sneaked through the room and slowly crawled into the bed next to her sister, careful not to wake her up. She covered herself with the duvet and scooched closer to Hilda and waited until she finally calmed down. Much better.

Contrary to what Zelda believed, Hilda had woken up, but pretended to still be asleep because otherwise Zelda would be utterly embarrassed and return to her room to face her demons alone. She wanted her sister here, she wanted her to seek the comfort she needed to heal. Her heart shattered into a million pieces witnessing Zelda like this. Never in their life had she ever climbed into her bed at night.

Hilda could not even begin to imagine the amount of pain and torment her sister must be in to go to such lengths only to feel safe. Oh, what has he done to you?

Just when she was sure Zelda had eventually gone to sleep, Hilda turned around to gently brush over her sister's cheek and dried the wetness on her face with her sleeve. The younger Spellman wrapped her arm around her sister and cuddled her into a soft embrace, kissing the top of her head, sheading a tear herself.

"We'll get through this, Zelds", she breathed into her sister's hair, "I'm here, you're safe", and planted another kiss on her head.

Holding her sister close, providing the comfort Zelda had denied herself for so long, Hilda fell asleep as well.