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

十二。姊妹情

(sisterhood)

LIVIA SEEMS TO HAVE adopted the park now as a place for her to think things out. She thanks Damini. Maybe a part of her wishes that she'll see the girl there, for her to whisper some sage advice. A look around would yield her nothing, however, not one face she recognised. Livia sighed. She looked awfully out of place. At this time of day, it was mostly parents, elderlies and little children running about the park and spreading havoc.

At least the air was nice, the girl thought, listening to her quiet footsteps against the concrete ground. A girl almost ran into her, stopping at the last second with a quiet 'sorry', before disappearing into the distance. Livia smiled. She did that all the time when she was younger. But everyone grows up, and she can't hold onto her childhood forever (even though that was all she wanted to do sometimes). She had to let go.

Harder said than done.

The flowers were starting to wilt, which made the park lose a bit of its beauty, but Livia didn't really mind. She thought that it was still pretty. You don't need splashes of colour for something to be nice. Sometimes, black and grey can make a great colour palette. (Or that's just her inner twelve-year-old edgelord talking). From a distance, she could spot the playground. That used to be one of her favourite spots. She had grown out of it by the time she was twelve, but still.

Life was suffocating. Too much happened all at once, and she was trying too hard to keep track. Lila had suddenly become distant in the past few days, and Brie seemed increasingly concerned. Pamela now almost always returned home an hour or two later than she should be, and the twins refused to let Livia off the hook easily. Her parents were busy getting mad at Pamela and then requesting Livia to keep her younger sister in line. Sarah's rage had only increased in the past few days, and the girl was now a furious ball of fire every time Livia had the unfortunate opportunity of seeing her.

So, it was a rather unhappy experience when Livia noticed Sarah sitting on a bench near the playground, her arms crossed, eyes locked on Livia's face. She sighed, facepalming. Neither girl approached each other, only watched each other warily from a distance.

A safe distance, as if the other was a feral beast that had just been unleashed on the world.

Sounds 'bout right.

(Cue out Apex Predator playing in the background.)

Once again, Sarah was the one who finally marched over, fuming, "Why are you everywhere?"

"Sarah, we live in the same city, same area, study at the same school and know the same bunch of people. Yes, I'm going to be everywhere. Suck it up."

"That is not what I meant."

"Well, that's my answer to your question," Livia deadpanned.

Sarah snorted. "It's like every time I try to do anything, you're just there trying to wreck my day. Stop it."