How hard could it be? • LM / SS

Chapter 109

                   "It's been so many years,
                     I can't remember how
                                   it feels."

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of past stalking and post traumatic stress disorder. read with caution and there's a list of help line numbers at the start of act 3 if you need them <3

"Lydia?" Jade called out, sticking her head in and out of doorways that revealed the emptiness of the house. With the amount of rooms, she wouldn't be surprised if she didn't find her girlfriend for another ten months. Maybe it was a good thing that Natalia Martin was going to sell the place, because as far as she could tell, no one had lived in here in the last few years.

Finally making her way to the last room on the top floor— the only one she hadn't checked yet,— the safety lock clicked open. She paused slightly after fully stepping into the room, feeling her heart thump quicker against the fabric of her dress. The second she had closed the door behind her, all sound had been blocked out; the blaring music that made the ground quake beneath her feet and the screaming from drunk freshmen downstairs. Gone.

It was soundproof, but she didn't understand why. The lakehouse was in the middle of nowhere and you would have to drive a mile to even come close to nearing a city centre. It was just odd, given that soundproof rooms weren't exactly an a level requirement when a house was being built.

Her brain finally decided to jump back into rational thinking, only to become even more confused when she spotted Lydia sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of a record player, eyes distant and cut off from reality. Slowly kneeling down beside the strawberry blonde, she didn't dare try and touch her, reluctant to shake her from the trance. If she was being honest, she didn't particularly know too much about banshees, only the same details as the others— which wasn't much to start with either way.

But if this was anything like Max's visions— which she did have plenty of experience with— it was best to keep her hands to herself. You never woke up a person who was sleepwalking, and the same logic could be applied to this situation. "Can you hear anything?" she tried, not sure if she should have talked in case it startled her girlfriend.

"A key," Lydia whispered, green eyes unblinking as she stared blankly at the wall ahead of her. There was too many voices spinning through her head, their words melting and fusing together, yet she could still understand perfectly what was being said. "The key to break the code."

A warmth flooded through Jade's body, allowing her to let go of a weight that she hadn't realised was held closely to her chest. They had only found out earlier this morning that Malia was failing math because Lydia's notes weren't actually notes at all. They were some sort of code that needed to be cracked. The only problem was that no one knew what the key was; until now.

"Bonjour bitches, sorry to gate crash but your girl had to pick up some croissants and had a shit load of therapy! Who missed me!" Lilith threw the door open, pulling their sunglasses down onto the bridge of her nose, posing back to back with Max. The pair shared nervous glances, shutting the exit on their way in to gain some privacy from the lively party downstairs. "Ooo! Soundproof, snazzy!" they exclaimed, crouching down next to the group.

"Missed you," Jade smiled softly, pulling the redhead into a tight hug, Max already watching curiously as Lydia quickly typed her passcode into her laptop.

"Chris is back too. Anyway, shut up you sentimental fucker," Lilith laughed lightly, nudging the witch in the ribs to show they were only joking.

Taking a break from Beacon Hills really had been the best thing to do. She was always going to come back to California, the place being their home, even if a lot of shitty things had happened here. At least in England, she wasn't being constantly reminded of Allison and Aiden. They never wanted to forget them, but going through a grieving process and being stuck in the place where it all happened wasn't easy.