Pushing up Daisies

Chapter Nine

regrets.

It's been months since she disappeared, it's been months since everything fell back mostly into place, but those months have been a crazy nightmare especially now that this "Enchantress" has made it a point to terrorize the place every other day. A living nightmare that they cannot escape from.

The whole place seemed divided, unlike before where there was harmony. Everyone looked solemn, they looked like they were grieving something, and they were, but how can you grieve if you aren't sure the person you're mourning is really "dead"?

Ember slammed her hand on the table where Maxine's friends sat. She glared at them with so much hatred that they felt as if they were going to melt from it.

"Why, the fuck, are you all acting like she's fucking dead?!" she demanded, leaning down to level Mae. She backed away, disgusted and ready to blow, but she didn't even get the chance to move further when Ember grabbed her by the collar and gripped tightly, pulling her closer.

"You were her friends, and you did nothing to comfort or save her. How pathetic can you be?!" Franz grabbed Ember's arm and gripped, making the girl look at him with hateful eyes.

"You don't know anything." Franz stated.

"Oh really?" Ember asked amused, letting go of Mae and roughly pulling her arm away from Franz. "She told me she missed you guys, but you were all defending someone who had hurt her, you left her side when she needed you the most and now, you're telling me 'I don't know anything'? yes, maybe I don't but I knew what she was feeling, and she was fucking hurting inside and you did nothing to help her! Heck—you didn't even try to talk to her!"

That ticked off Maxine's friends, Mae stood up and jabbed a finger into Ember's chest. "Shut up vampire. You don't know fuck about what we've been through, you knew her for like two days and you think you have some kind of connection with her already? Wake up because she's gone." Mae snapped, stabbing her finger on Ember's chest as hard as she could then the other girl grabbed her arm and glared.

"Yeah, two days. That's less days than your time with her and you claim to be her friends when in reality you didn't even give her a chance! She was grieving. She felt helpless, she was thinking of her sister and you people shamed her for it and for what?" Ember pushed Mae away then left the dining area. She was angry, confused, and worried. She didn't know what to do but she mostly felt empty. She didn't understand why she was feeling this way, why she was defending Maxine's honor so much and when she passed the memorial of Maxine the witches put up in the hall, it just made her angrier, she could feel her blood boil. She left the building and went into the forest where she could think and be alone for a while.

†††

"Who was that?" Elijah asked, pointing to the girl with fiery red hair storming out through the double doors.

"Shush, Elijah dear." Miss Millicent said in a soft voice, feeling guilty when she saw Ember, she gripped her dress then shook her head and tried to focus on something else—just anything else.

"I'm sorry Aunt Millie." Elijah apologized, nodding her head slightly then she continued to eat her food. It was a nice morning—well—it started as one, but the wound was too fresh for a lot of people, and everyone could see how affected Ember was. She never gave up trying to correct the very few that said Maxine was dead, she was so persistent that eventually everyone grew scared of her. They avoided her, they talked behind her back, but she didn't care. She would do anything in her power to change everyone's mind about the whole deal, yet people can see how it's taking a toll on her, she rarely eats or even rests and one time they even caught her trying to harm herself with the sun by removing the necklace that protected her from the scorching sun.