The spirit of 1924

36

Grayson pulled the shirt over his head, covering up the pale scars on his already pale skin. Then he turned his gaze to Ivy, who still was looking at him from a few feet away.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Grayson joked and chuckled.

"I – no" Ivy replied, and shook her head as to shake some sense into her head again.

Grayson's kindness collided with the memory of his coldness, creating a big mess in Ivy's mind and bringing down the wall that kept her from getting confused. 

"Come on," Grayson said.

"Your turn to get cleaned up."      

Ivy nodded slightly and walked out from her parents' bedroom, her mind distant as she walked down the dull hallway until she reach the bathroom.

The door to the bathroom had been left open, allowing Ivy to look straight into the room so desperately wanted to avoid.

Grayson stood quietly behind Ivy, and looked into the same bathroom as Ivy. The only different was that Grayson had seen his own eyes for the first time in ninety years in there, instead of blood coming out of the shower head.      

"Ivy," Grayson said, and put a hand on Ivy's shoulder.

"What happened to you in there, it wasn't real. Nothing of it was real."      

Slowly, with small steps, Ivy walked into the bathroom, and gave Grayson a quick glance before she closed the door behind her.

She stopped in front of the mirror, and looked at her own reflection for a while. What she saw, her horrible face with its bloody cheeks, made new tears escape her eyes and roll down her cheeks, creating new paths through the blood.

Ivy bit her lip hard, afraid that Grayson might hear her sobs.      

When Ivy couldn't stand to see her reflection
anymore, she took off her clothes and carefully stepped into the shower to get the blood out of her hair and wash away the blood on her cheeks and neck.

Ivy stepped back after she had turned on the water, and just stood and watched it for a while, only to make sure that it didn't turn into blood. It didn't.     

Ivy closed her eyes and carefully took a step forward, and felt the water run down her bare skin.

The water was warm, and melted some of the coldness anchored in her heart. 

Ivy came out of the shower a while later, after she was sure the blood was gone.

She wrapped a towel around her body and sat down on the toilet, breathing deeply in an attempt of regaining total control.

Ivy could feel her heavy heart beating in her chest, as it pumped out oxygenated blood to her organs and reminded her that she was still alive. She was still alive.

"Ivy," Grayson said from outside the door, knocking twice.

"Are you okay in there?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ivy quickly replied.

"I'll be out in a minute."      

Ivy put her clothes back on, her hair already leaving dark, wet marks on her shirt, before she opened the door, only to find Grayson casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

His green eyes were scanning Ivy's body in a way that made her check if she really had put her clothes back on.

She had, so she wasn't sure why Grayson was staring so intensely at her.