Lucky Rabbit {Twisted Wonderland} [Various X OC]

Ghastly Tricking

"There. That should probably be better than whatever was on there before."

Elle took a deep breath, appreciating the less dirty sheets. It took a while for her to figure out how to get the old ones off, but she managed. She was honestly surprised the mattress was in one piece still. It was surprisingly sturdy. New mattresses were definitely on the priority list, though.

She stifled a yawn, glancing out at the window. It was dark, no surprise. Probably time to sleep. She glanced down at her outfit. Seemed to her like it was two pieces, held together by a belt. She could still feel the pants she had on before she arrived, and she was still wearing the same shoes, so she assumed her previous outfit was simply underneath the ceremonial robes. She fiddled with the belt, eventually unclasping it. She folded it as neatly as she could before placing it in the empty dresser.

To her relief, her assumption was correct. Her black dress shoes, dark grey corduroys, and navy blue turtleneck sweater were all present and accounted for. It was an outfit that was simple, semi-formal, and comfortable. Since she didn't have any other options, these were her pajamas for the night, she supposed. Not the worst she's had to deal with, honestly.

She climbed onto the bed carefully, still afraid of the mattress giving out on her, and gently slid under the covers. Well. Today certainly happened. She wondered if her parents have noticed her missing yet. She knew they'd probably feed Marie some lie to stop her from worrying, but how long would it take before they start searching themselves? Would they ever even bother to search? Probably not. She sighed, rolling onto her side.

...She hasn't been this far from Marie in a long time. Not since she first tried to run away from home all those years ago. It felt almost empty. Like a pause in a conversation that lasted just a little too long. She felt like there was something that needed doing, something she had to check, but there wasn't. Of course there wasn't. Marie wasn't there. Just being apart from her for this long and speaking to the people around her probably broke at least three rules, speaking of which. Oh well. What her parents didn't know couldn't hurt her. It's not like they could even reach her here.

...She missed Marie. She missed her sister a lot. She loved her, and it hurt her to think the girl might be worrying about her at that very moment. But...even though she misses her, even though she loves her....it almost felt like a mountain of weight was lifted off of her shoulders. And she hated it. She hated how being separated from her sister felt like being relieved from a burden. Marie wasn't a burden. Marie was beautiful, talented, bright, caring. She always tried her best to make sure everyone was included. She would never think of Elle as a burden. Marie wasn't the problem. Marie didn't do anything wrong. Marie was just as much of a victim as she was. And yet...

Elle curled into a ball. Tomorrow would be another day.

...

Elle opened her eyes to see soft beams of light peeking through the boarded up windows. It had become a habit of hers to wake up at dawn. Less people were likely to be awake. She took a deep breath before sitting up.

Ah, right. She was here now. Elle took a moment to recollect herself, feeling the fabric of the sheets and the wood of the headboard. She was here. This was real. She could handle this.

She nodded to herself after a moment, and shuffled out of bed, slipping on her dress shoes. It would probably be best to shower before the others woke up. She knew where the bathroom was from her exploration yesterday, so she headed that way, making note of which floorboards squeaked and which ones to avoid.

She changed back into the clothes she arrived in, still not having any other options, and towel dried her hair to the best of her ability. She wandered around the third floor for a while until her hair was reasonably dry. There were ten rooms on the third floor, surprisingly enough. Three of them were being used for storage, which she would happily search through later, but she found it somewhat odd. For such a large school, wasn't this dorm strangely tiny? It could maybe fit around 40 people, and that would be assuming there were two to a room. She supposed that was why it was abandoned.