DYING MOURNINGS, original

nineteen : summoning

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𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 : 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆

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We got to my house sometime closer to one than we had expected. Something about sitting around a table with good food and good company made time stretch into nearly an hour, well, almost two. We arrived just at one, filing out of Crow's car and into my driveway.

My house stood as it always had. Alone against the dark horizon, the trees like a halo around its roof. The front porch lights were off but there was a small light on inside, thanks to Beatrice turning it on every so often. It wasn't a true light, since the electricity had been shut off but an old lantern positioned behind the closed curtains in the living room. It was as if someone was still living there, keeping the monsters out ever since the incident with Tobias.

I went up the steps first, unlocking the front door and easing it open. It was cold inside from the lack of heat and the abundance of ghosts making their way through the home like I knew they did. It was hard not to when there were cold spots, I just didn't realize at the time.

I opened the door to my guests and allowed them inside. I felt their warmth move past me as they entered, leaving me to turn and close the door and fastening the lock. I could never be so careful. When I turned, both Crow and Blondie were frozen mid step as they entered towards the kitchen and I sighed, blinking to allow the growing gray to consume everything around me like a blanket of fog.

"Nice of you to finally come by," said a voice by the couches and I sighed with a smile.

"Beatrice," I murmured, keeping a hand on my bag where they held my mother's journals, "I meant to visit–" It was a lie, I hadn't. Not since my encounter with Tobias here.

"Surprised you ever remember my name," she said in a sour tone but I couldn't help but notice her creeping smile. "I save you from an intimate death and I don't even get a proper thank you? Or a 'hi, letting you know I survived' chat?" She stood from where she was seated, her dress billowing around her feet as she crossed the room. She reached out with a cold hand, touching her fingers to my side as she murmured, "So close to death that I could've touched you with real hands."

"Whatever you did that night, it saved my life," I said as she drew her hand back. Her hair was pulled back and away from her face today and I wondered what she had found to do that. "Things have gotten...complicated lately."

"You could say that again," she scoffed. She looked around, narrowing her eyes with a sigh. "So, the rumors are true. You're with him."

"What do you mean by rumors?"

"That you're, you know..."

"That I'm what?"

"With him, Blaire."

I rolled my eyes. "God, it's not like that."

A small smile teased at her mouth. "But you wish it was."

"What–"

"Look! You're blushing!" she cooed, playing with me before saying, "I'm glad you and that other girl, the one Pandora didn't like much, are friends now. I assume she's become a trusted ally?"