Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 14: Perfectly Missed Opportunity

For Reela, the rest was a blur.

After a while, she began struggling to hear things correctly. Now that she knows more about how her magic works, she understands that the Dark made it feel like a hazy dream.

Past the ringing in her ears and in her dazed mind, she heard Regan ask her if she wanted to go home.

She let herself dream and said yes.

She couldn't think clearly at all. She didn't even try to fight the Dark. She just wanted so badly for him to be real, even though she knew deep down he wasn't. It wasn't really him.

It was Avinalyn.

For them, they stood and watched Reela collapse in their arms.

They take a drink of wine, struggling to either stop thinking about it or to remember it all so vividly.

They felt her tears bleed into their shoulder. They felt her fists gripping the collar of their shirt but she physically couldn't bring herself to push them away.

So she embraced them.

Another drink. The wine glass shakes in their hand.

It was innocent. She was innocent.

They heard her repeating over and over that she was sorry. Even if the words were meant for someone else, they were the one that heard it.

Who were her words meant for?

They didn't know what they were supposed to do. Last night went nothing like they planned. Maybe that's something they should expect from now on.

Reela is unpredictable. Last night, after she fell into their arms, they anticipated a tender knife in their back.

But she just cried.

They raise the glass to their lips again, but they stop before taking the drink. They glance over to the window. The sun is coming up.

With a sigh, they set the glass back on their end table before leaning forward in their red-cushioned armchair and holding their hands together over their lips as if they intend to pray to the fires dancing in front of them in the fireplace.

They don't know what they were thinking. They don't know what she was thinking.

All they knew was that they couldn't let her go.

When they asked her to come home with them, they didn't know what they were planning on doing. She even agreed to come with and smiled at them. The smile was broken and her eyes were still black, but teary. It was like she was in a trance.

Or was it them who was entranced?

Whatever the case may be, here they are now. Back home. With Reela.

They imagine she'll be a mess when she wakes up. There's a fair chance she will try to kill them when she realizes what happened last night. In truth, even they are still trying to wrap their head around it.

For once, they didn't even know their own intentions. After Reela laid down in bed, they left her there and went to their own room to sleep, but the night was restless. They lost count of how many times they woke up and fell back asleep until eventually, they gave up to have a glass of wine and think.

Perhaps they should be preparing for a fight when Reela wakes up. She'll likely have her strength back and be able to throw real punches again. They hope so. They didn't get their fill of her fire last night.

How rude of her.

Avinalyn looks up at the mirror above the fire to stare at that scar left by Reela. They noticed Reela's face was a mess last night. Her normally beautiful makeup was all smeared and ruined by her tears, which they found unfortunate. Such a disheveled look for a perfect painting.