mere mystery, wavier

5. broken bridge

the day after morgan and xavier went on their date, he woke up early after tossing and turning all night and decided he had to confront wednesday about setting up that date.

wednesday was caught off guard for a moment when he walked up to her before botanical sciences, but wasn't too shy to be the first one to say something . "morgan informed me your date was intensely successful last night. i'm relieved to hear it worked out."

"why? because you're the one who forced me to go on it?" xavier asked with bitterness.

wednesday glared at him and said, "i did not force you to go, xavier. you could have told morgan you had a change of plans, but you didn't. you went on a date with her by choice."

"okay, no," replied xavier. "you literally set me up, and it's your fault i couldn't say no to her. i didn't even wanna go with her! i wanna go on a date with you!"

as much as wednesday wanted to argue back, she couldn't. "xavier, i do not have time for your romantic accusations. if you do not leave my table right now, i will commit arson in the highest degree and set your art shed aflame."

xavier was taken aback by that threat. it had never been so personal before. "you don't mean that."

"yes, i do," wednesday seethed in return.

xavier stared at her intensely before shaking his head and muttering, "god, i thought we were finally friends again," before sulking away.

that comment made wednesday's heart sting.

but it was better this way. it was safer.

................................................................

"wait, where are you going?" enid asked wednesday as she began walking toward their dorm door to leave. "there is fencing practice for a competition coming up," wednesday replied.

enid frowned. "wait, there is? at 8:00 at night? ajax didn't-" she stuttered. the break up was hard on her, and it wasn't getting any easier. "bianca didn't mention it at lunch."

"don't worry," said wednesday. "it will not be long. i'm sure our teacher just wants to go over our most recently learned moves."

"won't- won't xavier be there?" enid asked hesitantly. wednesday shook her head. "if he shows up, i will leave."

wednesday silently left the room without another word. per usual, she was dressed in all black. but this time, for an actual reason: she had to blend in with the woods.

she had lied about fencing practice to enid because she knew enid wouldn't support what she was doing. she was going to sneak into the town of jericho and stake out the sheriff's office to see if there were any leads to where the hyde's father had run off to. if she was lucky, she would run into the man who had shot her on the way and be able to torture or murder him.

wednesday silently made her way through the woods in her black tennis shoes toward the town. as she passed crackstone's crypt, she was reminded of the things that had happened there the year prior...
being stabbed by an undead pilgrim and almost dying because of it was not her proudest moment.

a little over twenty minutes after passing the crypt, she walked a little closer to the lake and spotted a suspicious gangly figure squatting by the lake. she slowly crept behind the person and watched them from a few feet behind.

wednesday was surprised to hear the person talking to themself.

"god, i've known you for what feels like a lifetime, and you just gave up on me for like the twentieth time this year. i mean, seriously, i wish i could just hold onto you forever."

she then quickly realized that the person was talking to a photo... of her.

"at first, i just hung around you to make sure my roommate didn't try to kill you, but i mean you're just hypnotizing. and then when you started thinking i was the monster i kinda just left. i wanted to show you that i wasn't it, but i couldn't. you just follow your own head. but after everything happened with crackstone... everything just sorta fell into place."

by the third sentence of the speech, wednesday knew who was talking, even though the voice didn't sound much like him.

xavier.

"it sucked that you had a stalker- and that it was tyler- but we were good together. like, i dunno, a team. but... lately i've just been feeling you pull away. you hate me, and there's nothing i can do to change my mind. and then when you threatened to burn my art today- you just- you aren't the goddamn same person anymore. you hate me, and now i have to fucking release you from meaning anything to me. because my fucking therapist told me to. i wish i had never met you. i never would've gone to jail, and i never would've fallen in love with you."

wednesday tightly shut her eyes, wanting to wish he'd never said that sentence. it's not that she didn't care about him.
she cared about him so much but she couldn't have him distract her from the mission at hand.

as soon as xavier pulled out a match from his pocket, wednesday realized she could stay silent no longer.

"xavier, i understand that you are angry with me, but you have to understand-"

he turned around as soon as he heard her voice and demanded, "what the hell are you doing here?!"

"i was walking and heard someone speaking," said wednesday. "i did not realize it was you at first."

xavier's hands shook as he held the match in one and her photo in the other. "what do you want?! can't you just stop haunting me already?! i'm done with your bullshit!"

wednesday's eyes widened as she said, "i did not want to hurt you, xavier, i just-"

"yes, you did!" he shouted. "you literally said the other day you wanted to hurt me so bad that i'd never speak to you again! well, you got your wish! so go away! go back to your fantasy where everything revolves around you!"

wednesday hated that his words hurt her. she glared at him and said, "i never should have trusted you after tyler was proven to be the hide. he may have been the physical monster, but you remain the true villain of every story."

as soon as those words exited her mouth, wednesday began making her way back towards nevermore. she didn't have the strength to go with grace, so the battleships crashed and sunk beneath the waves.

as soon as xavier was left to himself, he threw the match into the bottom of the lake and let the girl's photo fall to the ground. "GODDAMNIT!" he cursed at the sky.

it was not the ending of a long relationship, but merely a broken bridge...

yet bridges can not always be mended.