CATHERINE - S. MCCALL

02

( catherine. )
II

Catherine hardest goodbye was her daughter's.

Colleen had finally turned 6 months. Unlike Catherine, who stayed with her mother because her very much alive at the time grandmother had the same branch of powers. The littlest Commonwealth would not have the same luxury. The only one able to teach her at home had perished alongside Allison Argent.

Alas, it was safer for her to be away right now. Little Colleen was on the list for 1 million. The best place to take her was the underground dome of the daughters of the sun. Despite their affinity for the warmth, they would rather stay somewhere not bright. It was one of the safest places to stay in of all of the sun affinities.

Catherine's biggest source of anger was seeing her little one on a list for one million. Only the heartless would have a small child ready to be killed. She cursed her luck and that of her descendants. Yet as long as her body breathed, Colleen would not allow harm to come to her daughter. Strangely enough, though, her mother was not on the list.

"Did you ever hope for a normal life?" Cat nudged at Lydia, "Worrying about SATs and not the money your life is so called worth?"

Lydia nods, grasping Catherine's hand. "Considering we both took our SATs before I became supernatural, no." She exhales, "Let's just focus on Meredith? The vibes of this lake house is too much for me. The sooner I get out the better."

Both girls kneel in front of the record player. Catherine listens to Lydia beg Meredith for advice. She feels some vibrations but nothing there. Typically, this isn't the energy felt by a ghostly Lydia type of souls that Catherine can access.

The young mother is not ashamed to say she zoomed out of most of Lydia's requests to Meredith. She takes the path of least resistance and allows her powers to take over her. The transition from body to soul takes her less time than usual. Maybe the deaths that revolve around something inside helps. She glanced down at her corporeal body from above. The spiritual body makes an effort to connect with all of the hurt in the lake house.

"You need to make peace."

The voice behind her was familiar. Perhaps because she wished every night the person behind the voice would come back to her. Or perhaps because her sanity had left her.

"Warn a girl next time you try to do stupid shit. I had to hear from Allison instead of my own sister," Catherine blinks. "We're together in case you're wondering. Death was helpful that way." The surprise is on her face makes her older Colleen laugh. Catherine thinks on how many times she wished to hear her sister laugh again. She just wants to hug her sister.

When she does for the hug, Colleen goes through her. The dead sister clicks her tongue, "Again with the stupid shit." She laughs again, "If I had known this would have made you speechless, I would have done it a long time ago. Anyway, I'm only here to tell you two things. One is an advice from —"

"I'm so happy to see you. I named my —" Catherine is tearful and cannot finish. She just wishes the sobs coming out of her didn't feel so sad. She finally gets to see her sister.

"I'm happy to see you, little sis. I've seen baby Colleen before you say anything. Grams tells me to tell you that this is the first sign of the final stage for your power. Don't exert yourself or you'll never go back to your body. Five minutes tops and four have already been wasted with your interruption and sobbing—"

"Sorry."

Colleen glares, "Again with the interrupting. This might be the last time I see you in a long time. Because coming here exhausts a soul a lot. Before you get knocked back into your body, my advice. Don't shut Scott up because you've lost me. It wasn't his fault. He didn't kill me. Fighting for what's right is a good way to die, sis. And Colleen needs her father. It's not right what you're doing keeping Melissa and him away from the baby."

Colleen waves goodbye. She smiles and makes sure the last thing Catherine sees is how happy she is.

this is sort of a filler chapter bc i didn't wanna leave y'all hanging anymore.

･  ･  ･  ･  ･  ✰