Witches Aren't Supposed to be Flowery

Chapter 8: Coping

It was as hard for Amity to hold down her lunch as it was to hold down the rising flower petals as she approached the Owl House.

The disease only continued to get worse as the days went on. The coughing got even more frequent and even more violent, as did the lingering symptoms, and Amity had to admit that she was worried. But Amity's worry couldn't compare to Emira's.

So far, it seemed that the only sure cure to the disease was to do as it wanted her to: she needed to confess to Luz and hopefully put an end to the one-sided part of her crush.

Originally, Amity had been very, very intent on finding any other solution, but it was kind of hard to live life with a physically and emotionally draining illness bothering you every few minutes. So, with lots of thought, self-doubt, and recklessness, along with added concern and encouragement from Em, Amity found herself walking through the forest clearing up to the door of the Owl House.

Amity had her hands shoved in her pockets, but her fingers were moving and squeezing and shifting around (a nervous habit of the witch's). Half of her brain was screaming at her to stop, or turn around and run away—anything but go into that house and acknowledge the truth. But the calm, logical part of her brain was telling her that she was doing the right thing. This was the only way to fix things. Or at least, it was the best way. Probably. You know, maybe she should've just turned back.

But Amity's heart was what saved her. While her brain was panicking and jumping all over from her nerves, she knew deep in her heart that this is what she wanted and needed to do. No matter how much pain it could potentially cause her in the end.

They say ignorance is bliss, right? Well, that was bullshit if Amity ever heard it.

If she wanted to move on with her life—or better yet, if she wanted to survive—then she needed to know how Luz felt first. If she felt the same, great! They could figure out how to cure Amity from there. If not, well...then at least Amity would know.

With that sliver of reasoning as her pathway, she kept her eyes on her destination as she closed in on it.

Once she was a few feet away, she could see Hooty perk up on the door before narrowing his eyes at her.

"Oh, it's you," he said, clearly annoyed.

Amity chose to ignore his tone.

"Is Luz here?" she asked him hopefully.

"Why should I tell you?" he sneered.

Amity made a mental note to try to be nicer to Hooty from then on.

A muffled voice spoke from inside, "Hooty, who are you bothering now?"

Not a moment later, the door swung open, and Amity tensed up as she was greeted by the sight of the Owl Lady. Eda raised her eyebrows before settling on a distressed but sympathetic expression. She brought her hand up to her eyes and rubbed them in exhaustion, leaning sideways onto the doorframe.

"Look, Blight, I told you last time and I'll tell you again. The only way to solve this problem is to tell Luz the truth. I'm not changing my mind about this," she said with a sigh.

The words only increased Amity's nerves. She could practically feel her heartbeat thumping through her whole body, and she could've sworn there were a hundred pits in her stomach.

Amity had spoken to Eda a couple days ago about everything. Luz was busy helping Willow with some plant project they were paired up for, so Amity decided it was a good time to talk with Eda without raising questions. She hadn't thought she'd been asking for much; she just wanted to know if Eda knew of any other way to help cure the disease so that she might not, you know, die or anything. But Eda refused to even look for an alternate solution. She hated to say it, but Eda had had pretty good points, too.