Black Magic Women

88

Sabrina's body shot forward as soon as she saw Mary falling, not even her aunt's weak attempt at holding her back was of good use as she moved on autopilot. Nothing could have stopped her but still she felt Hilda's hand close around her upper arm, trying to prevent her from moving, yet she refused to abide to the silent command. The world around her went silent and she didn't even hear her aunt's tired voice trying to get through to her but stopping halfway through her sentence, fully aware that Sabrina had shut her out.

She shrugged the hand off, brushing her tears away and crawled towards the lifeless body of the woman her aunt had loved so much. She didn't want to believe reality, hoping that this was just some cruel trick the Dark Lord was playing on her. After all it wouldn't be the first time he tried to do it, so why shouldn't this be a sheer phantom of her imagination. Maybe her family sat at home, happy, and she just didn't know it. Maybe she'd come back to her senses and find them all happy and alive. Maybe, just maybe this was indeed just a dream.

She had to take her chances and so her shaking hands searched for a pulse, she knew she wouldn't find. When her unsteady fingers didn't manage to find a slow rhythm beneath that pale skin, Sabrina broke down at the harsh reality of the situation. Time seemed to slow down around her as the teen allowed her tears to flow freely, not holding back the supressed emotion she had been storing for weeks now.

The overwhelming regrets she had regarding her behavior towards Mary and lastly her aunt, seemed to crush her whole, now that both of their lives had come to an end and she couldn't help the guilt that was weighing down hard on her shoulders. Why couldn't she have been nicer to them? Why did her few last words to them have to be bad ones? So many whys shot through her head at once that she felt the pressure behind her forehead building up, making her groan in pain. The tears made her eyes burn and it became harder to open them fully.

 She knew that they had been talking about this but she truly hadn't seen this coming.She hadn't wanted to believe that her aunt would do something like this, instead pull out last second. Hilda had always been the innocent one in their family and Sabrina just couldn't see her harming anyone. Zelda on the other hand had always been the one to step over corpses when it came to her family. No, Sabrina had never seen Hilda do as much as bat away a fly and now that she had seen her kill somebody, she didn't know who to turn to anymore. Her entire world had been shattered and nobody was there to pick up the pieces. So many people where just gone and it made a cold shiver run down her spine, realizing how much she had truly lost in one day. She had never thought it possible.

"How could you?" She cried as she threw herself onto the unresponsive body of the brunette and let her tears run down Mary's cheeks without a care. She needed to let them out, needed to mourn the death of yet another person that had been a huge part of her life.

Knowing that Mary hadn't been the teacher she had known in a long time, she couldn't help but feel like she had lost both Ms. Wardwell and Mary on the same day.

"Sabrina, just wait," Hilda said and Sabrina looked at her aunt in sheer anger, though tears were making it harder to shoot her the angry glare she had intended to send her. Her muscles were quivering against her will and she grinded her teeth against each other, not being able to stop herself.

 "How can you tell me to just wait, when you've just killed her," Sabrina spat and brushed her hand over Mary's wild curls, which had been matted by the blood that had dyed them a dark red.

As much as she had hated the woman only hours ago, she couldn't deny that her heart longed for the encouraging words that had once guided her along the way. She couldn't help herself and buried her burning face in the familiar scent of the person she had once thought to know.

"It'll all be alright, Sabrina," Hilda said and Sabrina didn't understand how her aunt could be so calm when a second person of their family had died within an hour. She couldn't believe the audacity her aunt had and felt herself distance herself more and more, feeling too drained to keep arguing in that moment.

 She needed to grieve the loss of the people she had loved and lost. Just when Sabrina had opened the doors that had been holding her emotions caged and her hostility towards the brunette upright, she heard an ear piercing scream rip through the silence, making her cover her ears at the intensity of it.

Her heart started to hammer away and she could hear it race her thoughts as confusion tore at her face. The sound of that certain voice knocked at a familiar door in her mind and yet she couldn't add a face to that voice, lost wondering what had happened. She tried to turn her head slowly, lifting her hands off her ears reluctantly, not really sure she was prepared for whatever was in store for her.

 It had been some pretty though hours and she felt her entire body aching and yet at the same time the intense need to run, get away from there and back into safety, nagged at her in the back of her mind.

She couldn't bear seeing another person hurt or even worse; dead.

She  suddenly gasped for air, not even aware of holding her breath, and turned her head to the side slowly. She saw her aunt crouching next to a shaking body, rocking it gently, as her brain finally made the connection it had previously failed to make.

Her entire body leapt forwards, almost losing balance at the all too sudden movement when she saw some very familiar ginger curls appear. Tears were making it hard for her to make out any shapes and the ringing in her ears was almost too much to bear but she needed to see the face that belonged to those curls before she could allow her muscles the rest they so desperately begged for.

She fell to her knees next to her aunt, her entire body shaking and several joints cracking as soon as they hit the ground ungracefully, and pulled her weeping aunt into a tight embrace.

"Auntie Zee!" Sabrina breathed out but Zelda pushed her away gently.

 The ginger felt as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs, the tight embrace of her niece suffocating her the more, and a huge void had been ripped into her soul. She doubled over in pain, desperately gasping for air that never seemed to reach the organ that needed it the most.

"Calm down, dear. Breathe in and out," Hilda tried to calm her shaking sister, all the while trying to mutter some spells that would do the charm but nothing seemed to work on her. Zelda's face turned pale as she suddenly started coughing badly.

 Hilda gently rolled her onto her back and rubbed her arm in a reassuring manner, with a certainty that everything would turn out alright that even surprised herself.

"Mary," was all Zelda managed to breathe out before her body gave away to the pain and it faded into a welcoming blackness that turned her agony into numbness.