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THERE ARE MOMENTS in life that are saved, like fireflies in glass jars. Ones that are immovable — that you simply cannot shake; cannot let go or move past. They are here to stay.
⠀⠀⠀ This was one of them. Darcy received the video, a snapshot of what almost felt from her past life; a life she'd been convinced was buried — never to resurface again.
⠀⠀⠀ She'd been staring at the video on her mobile despondently, on a loop. Peering at the stored memory, replaying and rewatching it from every angle under the sun and rereading the caption attached to it, never forget. It was evidence. Evidence from a night she'd succumbed to a flame that burned bright within her. A rage that was akin to hellfire itself.
⠀⠀⠀ It was her worst mistake and her greatest lesson. The reason she packed up her life in Birmingham and shipped back to Manchester and had not thought about it twice ever since. She felt a piece of her heart tear, and led herself to believe that she was one heartbreak away from immortality. But she would not let some teenage mistake be the death of her.
⠀⠀⠀ At least, it's what she told herself as she swiped the video away and blocked the account that it'd been sent from, before whispering to herself a promise. "I won't."
→←
It had been a little over a month since Darcy had indulged in Jude Asher's serendipitous whims, and a little over three weeks since she'd cut all contact with him — not that he would notice.
⠀⠀⠀ He was too busy running amok around the city with Emma, and spending time with Joanna Lancaster in the common room to notice Darcy had faded away from his life once more. She supposed she ought to prefer it that way, it made it easier for her to lead her new life — the nightlife.
⠀⠀⠀ She'd decided to kill two birds with one stone by adhering to her mother's wishes, to 'leave her sister out of it' — her life, that is. And she'd done so, oddly enough, through silent discos. There were secretly organized throughout Manchester, and the only way in was through word-of-mouth and invitation.
⠀⠀⠀ She'd first been invited by Hal Kinney, an underclassmen with green hair, hazel eyes and a gummy smile that would have warmed her heart, if she hadn't mistakenly given it to someone else. Hal was cool, though, and had connections all over England. It was quite easy for Darcy to play him like a fiddle. A bat of the eye here, playing footsie in the common room there — and hook, line, and sinker, she was taken under his wing, painting the town with the rest of his peers.
⠀⠀⠀ It was enough for her to forget about Jude Asher and stay out of Emma's way without neither of them questioning her about it. Though it wasn't for a lack of trying. Emma would try to initiate any sort of contact, whether it be at two in the morning, as Darcy trudged in their bedroom, proper smashed. And Jude...
