Shadows Taller Than Our Soul (Cordelia Goode x Billie Dean Howard x Reader)

Part 3

The silence was overwhelmingly loud where you stood trembling in the empty house, the trauma of the last moments scraping across your skin and igniting your body in a flame of despair.

You crumpled like a house of cards, scattered across the tiled floor while your mind buzzed with the rage and hurt those two women provoked. Despite your best efforts, though, the ghost of gratitude lurked and you noticed your fingers twitching with the desire to grasp them and never let go, tethering you to the boat that bobbed on the sea you were drowning in, a last chance at survival, a lifeline you had just snapped in half.

A stream of choked wails resounded throughout the empty hallway and you had no choice but to accept yourself as the source of the shrill noise. Each breath you took caused your body to deflate, the air you released not returning as you melted further and further into the floor. Your stomach emptied and became hollow; the butterflies that danced with love had transformed to a violent swarm of moths, fluttering away towards the sun that teased the window of your living room. Each gasp of air that jumped out pushed your ribs further towards the ceiling as if your skeleton itself stretched to tear away from the dull, bruised skin you had trapped it in, leaving your shell frozen in place for your girlfriend to find.

A colour wheel becomes white when you spin it too fast, and a similar blank space filled your mind, a tsunami of emotions that you had drowned in were now just the wet stain left behind when the waves retreated. You were almost peaceful for the first time in months, content with the way your body rejected feeling anything at all, finally shutting down after the exhaustion you had forced upon it.

The two blondes, however, were feeling everything at once. Stumbling back to the academy on autopilot, Cordelia had instantly cancelled all classes, something that caused Bilie's heart to constrict considering how seriously Delia took her supreme duties.

"We've got to think of something." Her intent was strong but her voice still shook as she slumped in her desk chair with a tearful Billie pacing in front of her.

"I can't believe she doesn't get it"

Her curls had come loose with the amount she had shook her head, as if it would all disappear if she refused to believe it. She had kicked off her heels and now stood in her tights just too exhausted to wear anything on her feet; the few inches she lost reflected her vulnerability as she caught Cordelia's eye, her lip trembling with the effort of trying to hold back another wave of tears.

"She's abusing her."

That word. It sunk on the medium's shoulders like a shakespearean curse, pushing on her lungs just enough for her to forget to breathe, only pulled up for air when her wife stepped in front of her to cradle her.

A sulphur bitterness poisoned the air of the coven, all of the witches aware that something was terribly wrong given the way the two women had trapped themselves in the confines of the office, not even emerging to eat as the day went on. Though, they weren't the only ones.

While they had moved in a flurry of tears and sighs and screams you lay still in the same spot as if the ice that resided in Lucy's heart had finally taken over you, stilling the rush of your blood and the beating of your heart.

It almost felt as though you had landed in your personal hell, deprived of the ability to move and laying there at her mercy; you were only reminded of the fact you were still breathing when the door burst open and the rush of air up through your mouth startled you as you scrambled to make your body work enough to stumble to your feet the way she liked you to greet her.

You swayed on your feet and her blurred silhouette stepped forward to hold you, an unfamiliar softness greeting you in place of harsh digits poking at your flesh.