DUALITY

Chapter 2: "awful highschool carnival"

No major warnings!

――

Yvette's senses pricked up. A horrible feeling had gripped her. Swiftly and suddenly,  a sense of dread washed over her. Her chest constricted, making it feel like she couldn't breathe, although she knew she was.

She scanned her surroundings, looking to the front, to the sides, behind her, and back to the front again, searching for any signs of danger.

Everything looked normal, but, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was in peril.

Her heartbeat quickened, pounding so fiercely it almost hurt. "Am I having a heart attack?" she wondered aloud, her voice breathy and panicked. Logically, she knew it couldn't be possible, but in that moment, anything felt possible.

Yvette moved forward cautiously after hearing a faint movement. "Show yourself!" she demanded, trying to mask the inexplicable fear she felt.

Before she could speak again, she was violently thrown backward by an unseen force. Magic, she realised. Witches! 

Her senses had been right; she was in danger.

"Merde!" she cursed, the realisation hitting her.

Now, Yvette De Guise had been called many things: 'a bitch,' 'foul,' 'nasty,' 'a coward,' 'sarcastic,' 'rude,' and more. The truth of those words never really mattered to her―well, all but one― Yvette De Guise was not was a coward. She'd never run from anything in her life. She'd always navigated through challenges, usually using her powers. 

However, the feeling of impending doom and terror she couldn't explain urged her to flee, to run as far and fast as she could.

So she did.

Yvette ran faster than she ever had in her four hundred and thirty-six years on Earth, but the witches caught up to her.

Though they remained unseen, she could hear them. She could feel them. They were chanting some Latin drivel, and she found herself unable to move.

Instinctively, she called for her mother before remembering her mother was no longer alive.

She was going to die. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited for the end to come.

The witches' chanting intensified, and just as Yvette braced herself, she heard a sharp, 'Yvette!'

Her eyes snapped open, and the sounds of the witches faded away. It was her mother's voice; she recognized it instantly.

"Yvette, it's a dream! Wake up!"

Yvette gasped, her eyes glossy. It had been a while since she'd had that nightmare.

One hundred and forty-three years, to be precise. She sighed, realising her mother's death must have inadvertently triggered it. This was the first time she had slept since her mother died, having dozed off with no one to talk to.

Coming to the awful high school carnival seemed to be a good idea at this moment.

She didn't know when she had dressed and entered her car; it was rather late, but the carnival should still be ongoing. Carnivals tended to last long, and neither her sister nor the Salvatores were back yet.

She'd show up at this carnival and hopefully forget her troubles for the time being. She didn't know where the high school was and relied on directions from random pedestrians, but she eventually made it.

She was thankful it was nighttime. She felt more calm than she would have if she were in a carnival with the sun glaring at her. She scanned the area for her sister.