The Bridal Act

A Mansion for Talking

"Where do I begin?" Elias mumbled out, twiddling his thumbs as he continued to stare at the mahogany floor. I sat patiently on the sofa, smiling with warmth as I waited for him to begin speaking. Just a bit of information was good enough, as at the moment it seemed to be out of his comfort zone. Though he did appear to have been alone for so many years. I didn't mind whatever outcome came out of this, I would've been proud of the ghost either way. "My family... they- uhm, they were not the biggest fan of me. I was more or less a disappointment to them. A sickly one at that."

"Oh my god..." I gasped out, my eyes widened as I heard the small information given to me. "Not even your family cared for you?"

Elias shook his head, translucent tears trickled down his cheeks as he looked back down at the wooden floor. I stood up from the sofa, walking over to his floating body to hug him. He seemed to flinch a little from the contact, not expecting me to actually give a shit about him. "Would you like to continue?"

"Yes," Elias nodded, whimpering his words out as he tried to not burst into tears. "I need to get this out of my mind anyway. It has been corrupting me slowly but surely."

He stayed quiet for a second or two, trying to think of where to continue on. Before he turned his body to face me, our faces so close our noses touched. He blushed, leaning back a little from me before continuing.

"I met a woman, she was beautiful and so kind to me despite everything going on. She knew about everything: my sickly body, my disappointed family, my abusive siblings. Yet she did not care for any of that. She cared for me! She loved me. I loved her. We were going to get married! And then..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, he broke down into tears, spooking Valice a little. She tipped her body a little on the coffee table, quickly balancing herself soon afterwards. I wrapped my arms around his torso, trying to keep him calm the entire time. It wasn't fully working. But it was at least worth a try. Silence overcame us, the only thing cutting through it was Elias' heart-breaking cries. Soon, thankfully, his cries faded to sobbing; quickly after becoming nothing but faint whimpers that only Valice could hear. She was completely worried for him, no longer annoyed by his clingy, lovey dovey self.

"Better?" I asked him, watching him slowly nod in return. He leaned back, still in our comforting embrace, gently rubbing away the tears that streaked his cheeks. "You don't need to continue, you know? I understand if it's too much of a sensitive topic for you-"

"No... I think I will be fine my dear."

"Are you sure?" I continued to ask, I wasn't going to give up so easily. And it seemed Elias could tell. "I don't want to overstep any boundaries you have. I can just talk about myself and my past now if you want."

Elias gave up, shrugging his shoulders before leaning back into our embrace. No longer crying, but his emotional issues seemed to have risen. A slowly walked back over to the sofa, parting from one another to sit down together. Only to get softly tackled back into an embrace by the emotional ghost himself. I questioned how he could even possibly softly tackle me, yet remember he wasn't exactly human anymore per say. Stroking his hair, I noticed that he smiled throughout it; leaning more into our hug the more I played with his fluffy blue-tinted hair.

"Well, where do I begin?" I laughed a little, looking away from Elias as I recalled everything that led me here to the best of my abilities. "You're not alone in this 'having an ex' situation, honestly I had an ex-boyfriend myself. Not an ex-fiancé like you, but still an ex indeed. He was... abusive to put it bluntly. Never fully showed his true colours until we were cemented deep into our relationship; then all hell broke loose for us. Me specifically."

Elias flinched as I so bluntly spoke about abuse, shivering a little as I continued to stroke his hair. It took a couple minutes to calm him down, but when I finally did I let out an almost inaudible sigh. Maybe speaking about it so straightforwardly was probably not the best of ideas.

"The straw that broke the camel's back was he threatened to kill me over, if I recall correctly, washing the dishes. Gentlemanly, I know. Not even a threat, more like a promise; he had a knife and everything. Started swinging at me. Promising me to make me regret it. Again, dishes. So I did what anyone else would've done in that situation."

Elias looked up at me, tilting his head a little as he awaited my response.

"I killed him instead."

His eyes widened at that, his lips forming a thin line for a whimpering frown.

"In self defence of course! Though the police didn't believe that... no proof of it being self defence, or some crap like that. Which should explain why I was being hunted down to here like a rogue wolf."

I felt arms wrap around my torso, pulling me into another embrace. Elias was sitting up straight on the sofa, looking down on me with such sympathy over my situation. I was stuck leaning into his chest, which I didn't mind at all. It was quite comfy actually. Nothing really came from either of us after that, neither one of us spoke for a while in fact. Valice didn't try and disturb us, instead letting everything happen at its own pace. Elias wasn't crying or even whimpering anymore, just keeping me in his semi-transparent embrace. While I? I wasn't crying. I'd been in that shithole for so long I'd lost all my tears for that piece of crap man that was, thankfully, my ex.

"You know..."

I looked up at Elias, humming a little as if to allow him to continue speaking. I wasn't expecting him to speak so suddenly, yet so softly. Honestly I thought there'd be more silence to come. I was fine with either; the silence is lovely but hearing Elias speak is just as nice.

"The dress you were wearing to scare off that man," He looked down at me again, smiling this time. A faint tint of blush on his cheeks as he recalled what happened then. "That was the exact same wedding dress she wore that very day. Blood and all. I have no idea why my family never discarded it. There was not even an ounce of sentimental value to that dress anymore, what with the massive blood splatter covering the front of its design."

I could only shrug in response, not really knowing how to react to that. Sure, even I thought it was odd on why the ever loving fuck there was a wedding dress in that bedroom closest of all places. Let alone blood-stained. But after hearing Elias explain a part of his past to me, it made more sense. The dress was there for a reason - even if we do ignore the fact his family should've gotten rid of that disgraceful mess of a dress. It was... there.

"Let us clear our minds of this disgraceful talk, hm?" Elias spoke up, pulling us up to my feet and his, uh, floating tail. He held my hands within his own, not letting go but still being gentle about it. I felt Valice's talons imbedding into my padded shoulder, allowing her small raven presence to be known yet again. "How about a much needed, and perhaps more detailed, tour of my home? I believe you did not quite get a good look while running and hiding from the police."

"Ooo! Yay! Tour time!" Valice flapped her wings, shouting the entire time with a smile on her beak. She bounced a little on my shoulder, too impatient to even wait for this tour to begin. "You better agree. I wanna see this man's home more clearly."

"Or as clearly as we'll be able to see it," I added on, glancing over to her with a slightly raised eyebrow before looking back at a now confused Elias. I nodded my head, taking a step closer to him. The blush creeping back up on his face as I got closer. "We'd love to have a more better tour of your home Elias."