A Search for Balance

Chapter 19 - Spark a Fire

Warning: language, alcohol, discussion of manipulative behaviour, explicit NSFW content

Orion had stayed at the training grounds longer than the rest of the team. He had hoped that tiring himself to the point of exhaustion would be enough to quiet his thoughts, but - like so often lately - he had eventually dragged himself home with a heavy body and a restless head.

He knew the root of his unrest, of course, but when his restiveness wouldn't stop even after taking a long shower and a cup of tea, Orion forced himself to sit, push away his daydreams, and turn his focus on the inside.

He sat between the opened double doors to the garden with his legs crossed underneath him and the cold November wind prickling on his skin. The moon was still hanging low in the sky, but soon it would rise to eventually give way to the golden light of the sun. It was a dance that was repeated every day, two lovers destined to be near and yet apart forever.

The thought made Orion sad. Neither he nor Lizzie had spoken about what had happened on his birthday, but something seemed to have changed since then. Lizzie still made sure to keep her distance from him, but she had become more relaxed, livelier, more like she had been before...

He forced himself to stop right there. Thinking about Lizzie in that way was leading nowhere, but the way her smile had been making his heart beat faster lately was worryingly familiar, just like it had been when he had first fallen in love with her. Despite everything, he hadn't been able to stay away from her back then, and it seemed that he still wasn't able to now.

Realising that his thoughts were straying, Orion exhaled, his breath forming as a cloud in front of his mouth. He watched it ascend, imagining his troubles rising up into the starry sky along with it.

He was about to settle deeper into the stillness of his mind when a sudden knock on the door distracted him yet again. With a sigh, Orion went to see who was disturbing him now, but when he saw who it was standing on his doorstep, his wonder turned into confusion.

"Lizzie?" he asked in astonishment. "What can I do for you?"

Lizzie jumped, as if her thoughts had been somewhere else entirely. She had a haunted look about her, her body constantly shifting from one side to the other. Her eyes were red and puffy, and dark streaks of make-up were staining her cheeks. Slowly, as if not to startle her, Orion stepped to the side.

"Do you want to come in?"

Snapping from whatever was going through her head, Lizzie nodded slowly. As she passed him, Orion could feel how agitated she was, like the string of a guitar so taut that it was close to snapping.

He led her into the living room, where she just stood, seemingly unsure of what to do. When Orion offered to take her coat, she flinched from his touch, then slowly shrugged it off herself and handed it to him. Underneath, she was wearing the same jumper she had after practice, but now there was an angry bruise on her skin right above her collarbone. Orion drew a sharp breath.

"What happened?" he asked her with a pressed voice. "Lizzie, who did this?"

Lizzie didn't answer him for a long moment. Then, all the tension seemed to leave her body at once. She clapped her hand in front of her mouth and burst into tears.

"It's Matthew," she cried, her words barely intelligible between her sobs. "He found my keepsake box with your old shirt and all the letters, and he read them all, and then he snapped at me and said he'd burn everything, so I threatened him with my wand, and now he's mad at me, and I don't know how everything just went so wrong!"