doomed [h.s]

seventeen: hex & flames

"Being me can only mean feeling scared to breathe
If you leave me, then I'll be afraid of everything"
» Afraid, The Neighbourhood

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"Trick or treat!"

Rory was startled to hear the shouting of children as soon as she opened the front door, four little kids in costumes and painted faces, looking up at her smiling with a basket of pumpkins in their hands, waiting to be filled with more candy even when they were overflowing with sweets. Halloween, her favorite time of the year, a night full of terror and fun. If you're a kid you go out in costume to play pretending to be a different person and to collect candy, and if you're a teenager you go to a costume party to get drunk and high.

Or if you're one of those introverts, a horror movie marathon with hot chocolate and cookies is more than enough.

This year for Rory it would be none of the three. Instead, she would be living her own horror story, being a real witch haunted by a demon that had possessed the body of her best friend and the boy she loved. A witch who was preparing to perform a ritual and end the hex on a haunted house.

"Hey, kids." Rory greeted them, recognizing three of them "Cool costumes."

"Thanks, Rory!" they responded in unison "Who are you?" Josh asked dressed as Danny Phantom.

"Mmm." She took a look at her outfit, she was wearing a black long sleeve turtleneck shirt under a black thigh length strappy short dress with a few small triangle shaped slits on each side of her legs, black pantyhose with small patterns, black ankle length stockings, oxford style Dr. Martens and a backpack over her shoulders. In black from head to toe "I'm a witch." She replied then, a small faint smile forming on her lips as she heard the children's chorus of "Ahhh" as they nodded.

"And don't witches wear hats and broomsticks?" Lizzie inquired, her Malfada costume was truly adorable.

"Modern ones don't." Rory let out a small laugh and they laughed back.

"Do you have any candy, Rory? do you have any of that candy you gave us last year?!" Josh asked excitedly and anxiously, the overdose of sugar in his system clearly showing.

Rory had totally forgotten to buy candy for the kids, clearly with all the shit that was going on she didn't feel like or have time to celebrate halloween. She then remembered what she had planned with Harry for tonight before the situation took an unexpected turn and her heart squeezed with sadness. She missed him too much, Rory was terrified and worried about him. She had tried to contact him last night after the encounter with Joseph, to find out where he was and how she could get him out of the other side. But even with her best efforts and magic she couldn't reach him. She didn't understand.

However, she had had a dream last night when she managed to fall asleep after hours of crying, she had dreamt of Harry sitting in the corner of a dark room with his legs folded up to his chest hugging his knees, staring at a fixed point on the floor without blinking. Rory called out to him infinite times but he didn't seem to react, he was motionless and lost. She didn't manage to recognize the room but the door had bumps and scratches and some blood stains, there were stuffed animals, wooden dolls and old toys everywhere.

And if the night before Harry really did make a short appearance in his body, fighting Joseph, it meant that he was between stuck on the other side and fighting with all the strength he had to stay in the world of the living. She didn't know what Harry was feeling, if he was in pain, if the demon was consuming him, if he was scared, or if he was unconscious and felt nothing, but she had to hurry before the priest completely possessed his body and lost Harry forever.