Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

29: Forget and forgive.

'Siobhan Selwyn what the-' Flo started once Shiv climbed back up the hill and onto the ledge they had been sitting on before. The left side of her thick hair was wet with blood and her white sweater colored red around her shoulders. She was sure she felt even worse than she looked, though.
Shiv was a little dizzy and her head still hurt, but it was nothing compared to the painful speed her thoughts were racing at.
She didn't reply to her friends' words, just sat down and stared into the distance vaguely.

After a while, she quietly said, 'I need you to fix a cut on the back of my head.'

Flo nodded, still struck with surprise and worry. She was used to Shiv not opening up right away.
She waited for Shiv to turn around and took out her wand, lightly touching it to the wound between Shivs dark curls. She whispered several incantations, repeating some more than others. Shiv felt a cold sensation spread over her head and shoulders. After a while, the pain disappeared.
She turned around and carefully leaned her head against the pillar behind her, looking at Flo with a dead, exhausted expression.

'Shiv.. what happened to you?' Flo whispered.

'Tom, ehm,' Shiv was unsure of what she should say. What she was actually thinking was too ludicrous to say out loud. Why the fuck did she like parts of it.

'He wanted to talk, about me distancing myself from him..' Shiv started. 'We got into an argument and, well, I instigated it, so,' she mumbled.

'So he hit you over the head with a brick? Shiv? What?' Flo blurted out.

Shiv groaned in frustration at her own thoughts and lies. She regretted saying anything at all. Maybe it was better to keep some things to herself.

'So, we had a little duel and I came out worse,' she said definitively. Her thoughts drifted back to only minutes ago and she could almost feel his cold hand under her sweater again. She felt like she was being haunted by the feeling.

Florance narrowed her eyes and looked at Shiv for a few long seconds. 'You're lying,' she finally said.

Shiv felt overwhelmed. She needed to process this whole thing alone before she could talk about it with someone else.
'I am,' she simply shrugged. There was a little hint of annoyance in her voice that wasn't hard to miss. She wasn't annoyed with Florance, though, but with the whole situation and, most of all; her own behavior.

Truth was, she was thinking about her mother. It was a sad, depressing stream of thoughts.

When Shiv was 10, she had walked in on her mother and father, taking a bath together. For most kids that would be a fairly normal thing, worst case scenario just a little awkward.
But in the case of her family, it was an insane sight.

Earlier that day, her mother and father had a fight that far surpassed their earlier ones. Dorian had pushed Sera down their grand staircase wich resulted in a set of nasty blue and purple bruises all over her mother's body. Shiv could still recall the scream her mom made when she fell.
Cillian had already moved out, which left a young, scared, 10 year old Siobhan to press a cold wet rag against her mother's injuries. It was one of the moments where Sera had told her that 'Being a smart woman was dangerous. People will seek you out because you cannot contain it.' Just like now, Shiv didn't understand what that meant.

To see her mom and dad, casually embracing each other in a bathtub.. it broke her. It showed her that the best, the normal thing to do, was to just to forgive and forget.

Shiv was pulled back to reality when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned her head, stifling a groan when she saw Milo walking towards them.
Florance looked equally surprised, and her eyes darted between Shiv and Milo a little nervously.