The Promise Path

~ Chapter Three ~

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Avery doesn't feel well. Her stomach is churning with nerves, her head is pounding, and she feels slightly nauseous. The meeting with Axel is making her emotions and thoughts go haywire, making her feel nervous. She decides to skip the rest of the school day and go home. Lucy does the same, feeling anxious about the whole thing as well. Avery walks Lucy to her house, saying a quick goodbye before slowly walking home through the part of forest that separates Earth from Fire.

Each group of Elementals basically has its own town where only the same type of Witches and Warlocks live, unless they cross-element marry, which is uncommon. The children of these parents are usually looked down upon by the Pures, the Witches and Warlocks whose bloodlines haven't been 'tainted' by mixing with other elements. However, there are worse things than having your parents have different elements, as Avery knows.

A Witch/Warlock being with a human and producing offspring is highly looked down upon, with the half-breed children usually becoming practically shunned by the Pures. It's not very pleasant.

Avery sighs dejectedly as she slowly strolls through the forest, knowing that the world seems to be against her and Lucy being together, which is why Avery doesn't understand how she even likes Lucy if it's a lost cause. All her feelings do is cause unwanted stress, especially now with this strange request from the leader of the Witches and Warlocks. It's not exactly easy to say no to him.

When Avery enters her house, she is pleased to see that the house is empty. Her father is unemployed but has a lot of money that he has saved up from previous jobs and her mother's death. He must be shopping or something.

Then, Avery remembers that her father said he has some meetings to attend, so he'll be home late. They're probably meetings for unemployed people or something to do with the villages. Avery knows that if they're important her dad will tell her about it.

Her heart fills with excitement at the idea of being home alone for the whole day, and she immediately rushes upstairs. She can get rid of the pain. She can finally feel better.

~ WARNING! SENSITIVE TOPICS AHEAD, IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE OR TOPICS SUCH AS SELF HARM AND EATING DISORDERS UPSET YOU, I SUGGEST YOU SKIP THE NEXT PART. I WILL INFORM YOU WHEN IT IS FINISHED, JUST LOOK FOR TEXT LIKE THIS. ~

Avery grabs her trusty razor from the back of her diary. It's the one place her dad won't look, he respects her privacy enough not to read her diary. It's locked anyway, and Avery always keeps the only key with her at all times. She walks to her bathroom, razor in hand. She runs the taps, making it the perfect temperature.

When it's finally ready, Avery discards her uniform and slips into the scalding bath water. She grabs her razor and stares at the scars already on her left arm, reading the insults that she receives daily. She cut them into her skin so she would never forget. With a slightly shaky hand, Avery switches the razor to her left hand and looks at her practically empty right arm. It only contains the occasional scar, they don't mean anything.

It's time to add one that does.

In messy writing, Avery scratches a word and a symbol onto her arm, watching the blood stream into the bath water, taking her life with it. The word she wrote on her arm combined with the symbol is a final goodbye to someone specific, someone she couldn't bare to say bye to in person.

Avery just can't handle it anymore. The stress has gotten to her. Her internal debate about Axel's request put too much strain on her already fragile mind. She always feels wrong, and she doesn't know why. She doesn't fit in anywhere, she's nothing but a lowly half-breed. Nobody cares about her and she just drags Lucy down with her. Her dad should be with other humans, not stuck in a community that hates him and doesn't want him here.