DEVILS ♛ C. G. 〖 #wattys2018 〗

F O U R / S E V E N

four in a row wowowow

SOTC: Warned You — Good Morning
• he looked at me, it's no surprise / and I, well, I could die •

"Maria, Maria, Maria." Her mother's voice rang like a bell. She was in a dark room, but not the hospital room or any room that Maria could recognize from their old house.

There seemed to be a vacuum where the name left. An expanse of silence that drove spikes in her skull. She wasn't walking but she drifted closer to her mother, closer to the bed where she laid. It was her hospital bed, but there was no IV pole next to it, as there would have been. There were pink birthday balloons tied onto the headboard.

Maria sat on the end of the bed. Stared at her mother, a hologram that had physical presence, that she could reach out and touch, but still seemed entirely too distant. Many years had already barricaded the two of them.

"Mama," She started, looking at her face, the pale roundness of her smiling cheeks. There were little bits of hair that looked like dust on her bare head, that had grown back since the last round. When her mother first lost her hair, she looked like a picture removed from its frame.

Maria's throat stung as she continued to speak. "Mama, how do I keep going?"

"What do you mean?" Her mother leaned forward, intent. Her eyes looked like Maria's did. Green, like teabags, like coffee beans and whole grain granola. They grew flowers in their front yard. Maria was holding a glass vase with two pearlescent hydrangeas.

"I just want to live like we used to." Maria said, extending the flowers to her mother. She took them. Her hands were skinny and long, nails immaculate and sterile.

"But that's impossible. You're gone." Maria was still looking at her mother's hands. She was just a pair of hands now, hovering in the darkness like angel wings.

"Then there was me."

Maria turned around. She felt warmth on her shoulders, on her arms and down her torso.

Hands. Maria smoothed the arms of her green cargo jacket. She felt the room begin to turn red, the glow of a flame creeping over skin. Over human skin. Over the Sanctuary floor.

"You're just as gone as she is," Maria said, but it didn't stop, it just continued to surround her, and constrict her. There wasn't any smoke here, just scorch marks.

The fire vanished to reveal her bedroom. The boy appeared in the center of the room, as he was in her memory. "Why would you want to die? I didn't want to die. I didn't want to be burned alive."

April felt herself choke. "Oliver, you ran."

"I'm not an effigy," he said, running his hands through his hair. "I ran because I was scared. I needed to see my father again."

Maria swallowed. She tried to keep her voice even. "Oliver, if you were here right now, I would tell you how your father is doing." She coughed, a high-pitched ringing entering the room. "I would tell you everything about him. How he is leading a great community now. But I can't do anything but apologize."

"You can live for me, April." He whispered, holding a detached smile. "You burnt down the Sanctuary to set me free."

"Baby," Maria shook her head, holding back sobs as her throat seemed to tear apart. "There's so many ghosts. So many."

Oliver just stood there, smiling. Not a word from his mouth.

Maria buried her head in her hands, feeling her lungs threaten to break apart as she heaved. "So many ghosts," she said, and then she retched over her shoulder, and the world split into kaleidoscope of light.

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A/N: short chapter, especially compared to the last one. soz. but this one is quite necessary to the plot.

thank u for sticking with me bbs, i hope everyone's week is going well so far.

two chapters and an epilogue to go :)

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NEXT CHAPTER:
tomorrow!!

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Word Count: 719
Created 5-29-18