SUNNYVALE

(38) WHEN ENEMIES ARE REUNITED BY OLD BOOKS

Sam feels her whole world shaking.

Ever since the intimate moment with Abby that almost lead to them kissing for the first time - something Sam had dreamt about for years and counting (and Abby, too, but she doesn't know that) - she had felt an unbearable coldness in between the blonde, Tierna and her. It was as if, since Abby wouldn't want to chose either way and just chose to ignore them both, they had just given up on her. 

Moreover, those past few days, violent headaches have been increasing, rendering Sam numb to any other environmental stimulus whatsoever. She was constantly feeling tingles in her whole body, especially at her hand's and feet extremities, which was becoming less and less bearable, making her go crazy in the process.

Nevertheless, she went to the library after class in order to study Sunnyvale's history, more precisely that of Ophelia Mollis Zora - whose name seemed almost unreal, like an hologram of sorts.

When she hears the door of the room she is alone in open, she prays that it'd be Abby: but, when she looks up, she realises it is Tierna, and that the brunette wasn't too thrilled to see her. She was holding old book in her arms, and seemed like she had just seen a ghost. She nervously stands there for a moment, staring at Sam, before sitting down in front of her. 

"Hey."

"Hey" Sam answers without conviction, feeling quite stressed out and angry.

Tierna sighs.

"Listen, we should talk about-"

"Nah, no need: I'm good" Sam interrupts her coldly, staring at her book with insistence. Before TIerna can add anything else, she goes on: "Let's just focus on the freakin' witch, alright?"

Tierna nods, before saying:

"Alright, then you're gonna be thrilled to hear that I found something very interesting out"

"Please tell me it's not some boring history about the town's architecture" Sam teases, more serious than she should've been.

"No, it's way more interesting: I managed to find Ophelia Mollis Zora - or, rather, as she was called then: Ophelia Jones" Tierna proudly says, concentrated. She even forgets that Sam and her are rivals at the moment, showing her a picture of a grade school teacher: "After fleeing Salem and the witch hunters, Ophelia settled in the East part of the city and became a kids teach', making a name for herself there: after being named three years in a row 'teacher of the year', she married some dude from Belarus and had a son. She was killed in 1701 by witch hunters who tracked her back in Sunnyvale, and was executed in front of the whole town, burnt alive."

Sam sighs.

"No wonder she made a deal with the devil" she comments, rolling her eyes. 

"Something even more interesting came up: you know, witches were considered as such for various reasons then" Tierna continues, frowning. As Sam imitates her, she continues: "Could be because they were unfaithful to their husbands, atheists, or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But could also be because they were homosexuals, which was against religion, and related to Hell."

"So, you think Ophelia was a lesbian?"

"Look" she says, pointing at the picture of two women holding hands and laughing together. As Sam's eyes go wide, Tierna states exactly what the blonde is thinking about at the moment: "This was in Salem: I think Ophelia was having an affair with this other married woman, and she therefore had to flee the town, while the other woman was executed. Which means..."

"... That Ophelia wasn't a witch in the first place: she was just considered one because she was in love with a woman" Sam finishes her sentence, in shock. 

There is a small silence, during which the two girls are in deep thoughts.

"She made a deal with Satan when she died because she was desperate and thought she would go to Hell and suffer for all eternity" Tierna continues, nodding her head. After a while, she then adds: "Something didn't add up, so I made some further researches on Ophelia's original name because it is so weird beyond comprehension, but so far nothing..."

Sam's eyes go wide.

"Well, it's your lucky day, 'cause I found something in the town's archives" the blonde says in a low voice, opening yet another book up. The two girls stare at the page, thoughtful, as Sam states the obvious: "Ophelia Mollis Zora. If you tear the name in three parts, each one of them gets interesting: Ophelia was the tragic heroine in Shakespeare 1600s play Hamlet, so could as well mean nothing, but I find it highly interesting."

"What about the other names?" Tierna asks, impatient.

Sam smirks. 

"Mollis is a latin word meaning 'soft', while Zora is a name of Slavic origin meaning 'golden dawn' or 'sunrise'. That's gotta be related to the prophecy, and with those significations we might as well find the witch's heir in no time."

"Let's get to it then" Tierna says.

And, just like that, the newly-found enemies were on the same page again, even laughing and spending some quality time during their breaks together - without Abby.

***

Crystal sighs.

She just got out of a reunion with Kelley and Julie regarding their business and, although her mind was not at all focused on drugs at the moment, she could've used some to think clearly, as the headaches had vanished little by little, but not the physical pain - and, although Kelley and Julie hadn't noticed the pain she was hiding, they surely felt that something was wrong and offered to take over the business on their own for a few weeks so that Crystal could take care of herself. 

As she is crossing a bridge on the verge of the Black Forest, she suddenly stops, her whole body tensing up: in front of her, a familiar face was staring at her from a dark place, and she could swear that those enormous blue eyes were Lindsey Horan's.

But Lindsey's dead... Crystal reminds herself.

She starts running in the blonde's direction, but by the time she gets there, the shadowy form looking just like her deceased friend disappeared already, probably into the darkness of the wild forest. 

Shaking her head, Crystal starts feeling dizzy: she better go home now.