Olive Branch

Chapter 3 - Cecilia

 "Is she asleep?" Evelyn whispered. She slipped into the room and shut the door behind her as quietly as she could. Cecilia glanced up as Evelyn crept over to the bed and climbed in to join her. After an elaborate game of rock, paper, scissors, Maisie eventually decided to just sleep on the cot they set up and Cecilia was given the bed. She felt bad about that but at the same time, she genuinely didn't have the energy to care anymore. She didn't even care enough to play rock, paper, scissors. It was pure, dumb luck that got her the win.

"I believe so," Cecilia whispered. She moved over as much as she could without jostling the chain connecting her and Maisie too much to make room for Evelyn to climb into the bed with her. Evelyn placed herself next to Cecilia and wrapped her arms around her waist, hiding her face in Cecilia's shoulder. Cecilia chuckled gently and wrapped her free arm around Evelyn's shoulder, leaning down to press a kiss on the top of her head. "You seem tired, lovely."

"The note gave me a nightmare," Evelyn admitted under her breath. Cecilia hummed gently and rubbed up and down her shoulder.

"Yeah, why do you think I'm not asleep," Cecilia chuckled, mostly to herself, and sighed. Evelyn hummed and took in a shaky breath. "Is Isdor asleep then?"

"I don't understand how she can sleep. You got a note from Ezekiel. Ezekiel, Cecilia. He could come here. How does that not freak her out?" Evelyn continued. She lifted her head slightly, revealing her puffy eyes, but Cecilia gently pushed her back down, kissing her temple this time.

"Everyone copes differently. You deal with it a lot like how I deal with it. You're no different from me, Evie. You were supposed to be the next me. Isadora just has a different way of coping with the whole situation," Cecilia replied. "Now, you're more than welcome to spend the night with me, if you wish. I'll be right here to protect you if anything tries to hurt you. Evie, you're safe." Evelyn whined under her breath, the start of a protest picking up under her breath, but Cecilia soothed it with a small hum. "Shh, it's okay. I get it. I'm right here. I'll protect you from everything. I'm not going to let the bad thoughts hurt you. Just fall asleep."

Evelyn's protests started to fade and she yawned. Carefully, gently, Cecilia moved her to be more comfortable against her and tried to level her breathing so that the girl could fall asleep. Then, in a small whisper, hardly conscious, Evelyn whispered "I wish you could be here all the time, Celiy." Cecilia chuckled, smiled, and rubbed her back gently.

"Me too, Evelyn. Now, go to sleep."

It was a nice thought, Cecilia thought to herself as she stared at the ceiling of Evelyn and Isadora's guest room. The ability to stay around, spend all her time around the Bardot twins, and screw around with the boys. She wanted to buy a house on their street and spend her days tormenting them. And when Evelyn got her wings, she wanted to be there for the whole process, not just around to help her with the initial process as she had with Isadora. It felt fake and surface-level. She wanted to be around. She wanted to be the older sister. She wanted to feel like she had a spot in the group.

Yet, it was just as impossible as it was beautiful. She could lay here with Evelyn curled up in her arms and Isadora down the hall. Mateus and Theo were just around the corner and down a block. She could pretend like this was her entire life and yet, she knew it never would be. Because her life consisted of drama and games with Ezekiel or hiding away for single nights like this. The constant fear of being found loomed over her back and she was forced into hiding for long periods before Ezekiel would pull her back out with a game of his.

"Cecilia?"

She blinked out of her thoughts and glanced over at Maisie. She's wide awake, staring at the side of the bed as if it called her some sort of insult she didn't quite understand.