[old] hexes for exes, briarville girls (1)

八。淹死的精靈

(drowned spirits)

ANOTHER WEEK.

And then the invitation dropped.

Her mom was the one who broke the news, over dinner one night.

"Jessica just sent me a message. She's going to visit Melody's grave in a few days, and put down some flowers. She told me she's moved out of the city and apparently, she and Matteo are getting a divorce."

Jessica is Melody's mother. Matteo her father.

Livia swallowed down her foot, not meeting her mother's eyes.

"And why is she telling us this?" Pamela asked, cocking her head.

"Jessica invited us to go with her."

Oh. Oh. While Livia was dying to go, to see her best friend's final resting place, she wanted to go alone. One thing Livia Wong has never liked is showing weakness (albeit it be crying, or even generally showing hurt from someone's words). Hiding a grimace, her head lowered and facing the table, her mother continued:

"I think we should go. We haven't paid our respects to Melody yet, and Jessica seems really distressed." A moment of silence from her mother's side. "We should be there for her during this time. She's always been a true friend."

Her father nodded. "It's only right for us to do so. I know this is hard for you two-" his eyes were on Livia, kind, but she couldn't help but feel they were trapping, "-but it's what we should do. It's respectful and we should repay the Martinez for what they have done for us."

Livia wanted to argue that considering her mother mentioned Melody's parents were divorcing, she wasn't a Martinez anymore, but she kept her mouth shut.

Pamela nodded, and she did too.

A small smile was all she got from her parents, before her mother said, "Alright. I'll tell Jessica later. She'll be going on Saturday morning. I'll tell her to send us the address and we'll meet here there."

Livia felt almost as if she was floating in the air, unsure of the time that passed as she picked at her food, feeling light-headed and dizzy. She barely realised what she was doing as she walked up to her room, closing behind her.

It was all so simple. When she was younger, she always saw death as some kind of momentous thing that affected everyone. Livia hadn't been surrounded by death when she was younger. Her grandpa died before she was even born. Everyone else was healthy. The one relative she knew who died had been so old they had all been expecting it for years, and she was never close to her either. But when she actually saw it happen to people she cared about, it was nothing more than a simple ceremony. Some words of sadness, a few tears and then it was as if nothing had ever happened, like no one had lost someone important in their lives.