Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Forty

Avalon was able to sleep well that night.

She dreamt of her friends, her peers, her home... but it wasn't frightening, or even sad. It was serene, pleasant, and... well, it was peaceful.

When she awoke, it was not to the sound of her own screams. Though, it also wasn't to the sound of Tom's heartbeat.

She glanced around the room, noting his absence. With one look at the clock on his wall, she knew that he had most likely left to take his morning shower... to remain in bed a moment after 6 seemed to drive him mad. Though, sometimes, if his mood was right, he would make an exception to stay in bed with her for a little longer.

Her eyes skirted down toward her wrist and a smile found its way onto her lips as she looked at the golden bracelet that she had been gifted. She tapped the silver stone, the subtle sound of Vivaldi filling her mind and quelling the silence that had overtaken the room.

Still, even over the sounds of the symphony playing in her head, she was able to hear the rumbling of her starved stomach. Her thoughts were filled with scones, coffee, and marmalade... visions of the foods she craved doing nothing to quell the hunger that was devouring her insides.

Her fingers fumbled atop Tom's nightstand for a moment, blindly searching for her wand. As soon as she felt it in her grasp, she flicked it towards the floor, her clothes summoning toward her before she grabbed them and began getting dressed.

She decided to go run to the Kitchens and quickly grab breakfast, bringing it back for both her and Tom to enjoy. She typically waited for him to return to leave... she'd left a few times prior and he had been mildly upset when she returned, though her hunger was getting the best of her at the moment.

She sighed and decided to leave him a note, just in case he came back before she did.

Avalon walked over to Tom's desk to see if she could find any paper, but it appeared as though all the pages he had were all neatly organized school notes and assignments. It was quite safe for her to assume that he'd not be thrilled if she wrote over those, so she let out an agitated huff before grabbing a quill and then continuing to look around his room for any blank pages.

There were none on his desk, nor near his bookshelf. A part of her mentally cursed the boy for being organized to the point of a fault-- it was impossible to find anything in his room if you didn't already know where it was kept away.

She opened up the drawer on his nightstand and spotted a small leather notebook. There was nothing else in there, so she took hold of the book curiously. As she flipped it open and held it in her spare hand, she instantly noticed that there was nothing written inside.

Triumphantly, she dipped the quill into a small pot of ink and began writing him a quick explanation of where she was going.

'Good morning, Tom,' she wrote, pausing a moment to dip the quill in more ink.

Though, just before she began to write the next line, the words began to disappear off the page.

She narrowed her eyes curiously on the book as her ink faded to nothingness. A look of confusion found its way onto her face when she began to see a new word slowly appear atop the blank page.

'Hello.'

She watched the word fade, once more, leaving her with another blank page. It felt out of character for Riddle to have some sort of charmed joke diary, she thought. Though, the handwriting was unmistakably his. Hesitantly, she wrote once more.

'What is this?'

Again, the words faded as she awaited a response.

'Don't go looking where you're not wanted, Hendrix.'