Nightshade

Guinevere the White Wave

    April 24th, 2017

Tonight will be the next and final magical session.

...There is never an easy way to say goodbye...

     Arthur had refused to leave the house once again this morning. He had made himself continue sleeping for as long as possible, until he finally couldn't keep his eyes closed any longer.
     It is the night of the waning crescent moon, once again.
     Arthur is still somehow committed to casting the spell later tonight, so he will leave right after midnight, once the spell is already cast. He already knows where he will be going when he leaves. 
     The day drags on for what feels like forever.

He hears his family return home...

It is beginning to get darker outside...

The house is silent...
.............................................................................
      Arthur doesn't know why, but in this instant, he feels himself being drawn up, out of bed, and into his sisters room. For a second he feels as if he doesn't even know how to walk anymore. He is drawn by an invisible energy force. In his mind, this is last thing he should do right now.
     She doesn't understand...
     For whatever reason though, he wanting to be talk to her right now.

     To his surprise, not only does she seem not to mind his presence, but she sits cross-legged on her fold-out chair, completely still, and staring with emotional, glassy, concentrating eyes. She is looking up, and to her left. She is wearing an oversized, white button-down night shirt over a lacey camisol.

     Arthur's gaze is drawn in the same direction as Soline's, a movement that feels like swimming through molasses.
     On the windowsill, unwaveringly, a graceful, pale, figure looms over the small girl. Although even smaller itself, this cat casts a giant shadow in the late evening.
     It is a beautiful, magnificent creature.
      The cat is a soft, creamy, white, and has a silver chain collar. Although faint, the collar undoubtedly reads in large, etched letters, "Guinevere," and underneath this, in smaller letters it reads in Gothic script, "white wave."
     Soline does nothing and says nothing, but continues to stare at the animal with her eyes wide, welling up with tears that fall and stream down her blush-tinted cheeks. There is a lot going on in her mind. She usually understands other people, even if she doesn't empathize with them to the the fullest extent. She has discovered what has been going on with her brother by putting the puzzle pieces together.

     The cats in their town are not what they seem. They are angels held to the contract of luring in human souls to serve their masters. This is why Carmen had to prowl the coastlines every night. This is why she found Arthur. This is how she had the power to make his life seem pointless without her presence.

     At last, she turns her head, and unexpectedly rises.
     ~"Arthur... now I understand ... I'm sorry...," she says.
She isn't usually this vulnerable.
     She turns her head back at Arthur. -"It's alright..." he says, almost crying himself, his words now cold, as if a role-reversal had taken place. He doesn't have much emotion left at all now.
    He leaves the room, the cat, everything, telling his sister that he needs sleep, and begins preparation for the final journey.
     Before he has a chance though, he falls into an uncontrollable sleep, and is unable to continue his plan until 3 A.M. the next morning.
................................................................................
     3 A.M.
     Arthur is awake once again.
     He hadn't planned to wake up right now, but somehow he must have been thrown off by falling asleep so much earlier than usual.
      It is very dark.
     After some moments of wondering what to do before dawn, he remembers the incantation. There is still plenty of time, considering that the cut-off happens when it switches over to P.M., however he does have a time limit for getting out of the house.
     He gets up, lays out the arrangement of materials, and, once again records the process of the spell, although this time, he obviously isn't showing it to anyone online.
      Arthur then writes a brief note:

     Dear Mom and Soline,
I just wanted to tell you, for the first time in quite a while, that I love you. Please remember that. Don't try to find me. Do whatever you want with everything I that was mine, and please don't worry. Today was the last day of my life, because it had nothing to offer me anymore. Remember, I'll always love you.
     Goodbye.

     He leaves the note on the kitchen table, and takes a small bag containing his minimal items, including what is needed for the enchantment. He will be throwing much of it into the depths of the ocean very soon.

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

     A Bit Later...

     It is getting lighter and lighter outside.
After some time of waiting on the couch, he knows that now is the time to leave, time to go to that forbidden place a ways down the shoreline.

     There is no easy way to say goodbye.