Taylor, Abigail, and Linne stood in front of Hailey’s door in nervous anticipation.
Linne lowered her eyes anxiously. “Should we really approach her this way?” she whispered.
Taylor tried to smile, despite knowing how haphazard the plan was. “What else would we do? Either way, we need to talk to her, whether she likes it or not.”
Linne nodded reluctantly.
The plan itself wasn’t so much a plan as a hope that Hailey would come out because the door was locked, and Taylor himself knew there was no guarantee Hailey would cooperate. The last time, she’d told her friends to shut up, and they’d meekly walked away. He had a feeling it wouldn’t go the same way this time.
“Well, no time better than now to–” Abigail said before being interrupted.
Kait walked to the group with a hand clenched. She spoke in a normal voice, clearly having missed the ‘quiet’ memo. “Hey, Taylor, if Hailey doesn’t unlock the door,” she held out a small hairpin and handed it to him. “I put a spell on that, so as long as you’re open to her, emotionally, you can just tap the hairpin on her knob to unlock it. That’s all. Good luck!” She walked back into her room with a wave.
“A spell?!” Abigail said in surprise.
“Yeah, we can talk about it later,” Taylor replied, looking at the hairpin strangely. She probably doesn’t realize that I don’t need this to unlock it. And I’d rather not force my way in. “Right now…”
“Let’s not get distracted,” Linne said with a determined stare at the door.
Taylor placed his palm against the door, Abigail patted her sides and clenched her hands, and Linne stood as straight as she could, each of them anticipating the confrontation.
Taylor knocked. “Hailey, are you there?”
No response, as he’d figured.
“Well, your friends and I have been talking for a while, and we wanted to talk to you,” Taylor said softly.
Abigail stepped forward. “Yeah.”
Linne agreed, “Mhm.”
No response.
Abigail whispered, “I’ll start first,” then placed her hand on the door. “I hadn’t ever been too close to Abbie, but I felt a bit of a connection with her.” She chuckled. “Because we had similar names. Stupid reason to be hung up about it, right?”
No response.
“I know it impacted you more than it did me, and we weren’t ever good friends, and,” Abigail looked down. “I know I’m not the one who should be here. Tera should. She was your friend, after all. But,” she looked up with a pained smile, “I figure, if I died, and Linne were you, shut in her room, I wouldn’t have any reservations about who helped her.”
No response.
Abigail nodded toward Linne. She took in a deep breath, then placed her own hand on the door. “I still can’t shake the feeling that it’s my fault, but…I know it isn’t. It isn’t yours either. I-I don’t know if you feel that way, but whether you do or don’t, I’m here for you. You’re my friend.”
No response.
For a second, Abigail looked downcast, then she took a step forward and placed her head on the door, staring at the wood with a gentle expression. “I want to help you. I want to know why you’re so hurt. I–” She sniffled, then stepped back. She gritted her teeth, then took one more deep breath. “I’m here for you, Hailey!”
Taylor saw the two trying their best to encourage Hailey and smiled. He placed his own hand on the door. “I hope you’re actually in there. That’d be embarrassing if you weren’t.” He let out a nervous giggle. “And I don’t think there’s more I can say, aside from what they said. Hailey, I don’t know if you can even hear us, but I want to talk with you. I want to see you h–”
The door lurched inward, revealing Hailey, dressed in pajamas and with a nasty case of bedhead, leaving the stunned three with their hands in midair.
“You all sure have been talking up a storm, so how about I ask you a ques–”
Linne suddenly perked up, her hand falling. “Hailey!”
“Shut up, Linne! How about I ask you a question, Taylor? Do you think I’m deaf?”
Taylor let his hand fall as well. “Of course not!”
“Then why don’t you think I can hear you? My door’s locked. Did you think I’d snuck out of my window?”
“Well, n–”
“Oh well. Once an idiot, always an idiot.”
Taylor didn’t look particularly hurt; if anything, he was just frustrated.
Abigail quickly came to his defense. “Why are you treating him that way? He just wants to help you!”
“Just wants to help me? Bathing in his own self-importance by pushing his ‘help’ on me is just about all Taylor’s good for.”
That got under his skin. “Really?! That’s your issue with me?”
Hailey ignored him. “Anyway…Abigail. I don’t give a crap about you. We were never friends, and I don’t have any intention to ‘bond’ and ‘talk’ with you. You did have one good point, though; you’ve got a thatch thin reason for caring about what I do. As far as you’re concerned, I’m a selfish black flower who loves to throw insults and couldn’t care less in return.”
Abigail froze, her expression quickly turning inscrutable.
Hailey turned to Linne. “Congratulations, you learned it’s not your fault she’s dead. Wow, I can’t believe it. You really learned basic cause and effect,” she deadpanned. “Look, friend, I don’t know what you think keeps me from school, but I think you should focus on yourself before you start trying to help me. If you really feel that guilty for not being killed, maybe the person dangerous to themselves is you. I know you almost tried to off yourself two years ago just because you jumped to conclusions, thinking you were rejected because you were ‘useless’ or whatever. And I know Abbie’s the reason you’re still here. So don’t think we are at all in the same boat.”
Linne stepped back as she silently burst into tears, trying not to quiver.
“And Taylor, stop prodding into my life. Just let me grieve in peace. I heard you and Kait out there. You’re so keen to brute force your way through situations. Why don’t you just stop?!”
Taylor growled. “Maybe because you’re my sister, and I want you to be hap–”
“Blah, blah, blah. If you tried to think for once, maybe you’d realize you don’t need some magic hairpin to unlock my door! But that’s beside the point. You just want to feel like you’ve ‘helped’ me, and right now, you’re sure as a paper’s point not helping. You’re trying to throw me in the deep end and walk away while I drown!”
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“…You’re trying to throw me in the deep end and walk away while I drown!”
Kait felt Hailey’s overflowing emotions through her unofficiation. Her anxiety, her self-loathing, her regret at every word that poured from her mouth. Even experiencing it secondhand, Kait wanted to break down in apology.
She should’ve dealt with this sooner. She should have predicted this! What was she thinking?! If she didn’t intervene…before she could think any more Kait crashed through her room and threw herself into the hall.
Taylor gritted his teeth in a furious yet halfhearted scowl, but Kait could tell he wouldn’t back down, not so long as his sister continued. Tears welled in his eyes, but he refused to let them overtake him. He began to speak in a pained, tired tone, his voice cracking. “Why do you resist our help so much? Your friends only came here because they wanted to see you…and this is how you treat them?”
Hailey’s own scowl grew more mellow, uncertain. “Because I didn’t ask for any of your help.”
Kait hesitated. If Hailey just simmered down a little more, she wouldn’t need to intervene.
“SO?!” Taylor yelled, no longer calm. “Why are you acting like this! Why did you open the door if you just wanted to make us feel bad?”
“BECAUSE–” Hailey stopped herself, calming as tears quickly formed in her eyes.
Kait hesitated just a moment before rushing toward them. She had to intervene…she had to stop her affinity from–
“Why can’t you just say it, Hailey?”
Hailey’s face relaxed a little into a pained expression of guilt. “Say what?”
Kait hesitated, just a few feet from the group, taken aback by the sudden lack of hostility in their expressions.
Taylor took one heaving breath, then exhaled silently. He stared at Hailey with a soft, empathetic expression. “That you’re still hurt.”
Kait froze. I’m…hurt? Tears formed in her eyes as emotion poured through her body. The pain she’d been holding back, the sadness and guilt, were released at that moment, pouring through her body.
Hailey looked at her brother with a defeated expression, then turned her head down, unable to meet his eyes. She slowly, lethargically, began to close her door. As she did so, she muttered, “I’m sorry…”
The door didn’t close as a thud echoed through the hall.
Taylor, for just a half-second, had thought the door was closed, so he glanced toward Kait, who was frozen in place as if she was about to dash forward. Her mouth was slightly ajar, her eyes wide. For some reason, just like everyone else, she was crying. Before he could process what he was staring at–
Thud.
Hailey’s door failed to lock in place and rebounded, only to stop after hitting something beyond it.
After an initial state of shock, Kait’s eyes widened in pain, then she fell out of her stasis and placed a hand over a dimming necklace under her shirt as she stumbled to her knees. “H-Hailey.”
Suddenly, she choked out bile.
Without another thought, Taylor threw the door open only to see Hailey, unconscious on the floor.
“Hailey…? HAILEY?!” He grabbed his sister’s body and dragged her out of the room
Linne looked about, lost and worried. “W-what’s going on?!”
“I don’t know!” Taylor said in a desperate panic. “Help Kait!”
Linne ran to Kait, who was still kneeling on the ground, conscious but breathing hoarsely, kneeled over her inside-outs. Kait tried to look at Linne but threw her head down as she almost barfed again. When she got the opportunity, she said, “Don’t mind me! Make sure–” she lurched.
Linne understood and instead helped Taylor drag Hailey out.
Abigail had frozen in confusion but began moving again. “W-what, what should I do?! Is she going to be alright?!”
“I think so…” Kait said hoarsely, “I-I’m…sorry…”
“What?! Tell me what’s happening!”
“Just remain calm.” Kait looked weak yet still managed to push herself off the ground. “Please…”
Everyone sat in the living room in silence, all exhausted. Abigail and Linne sat on the ground, looking at Hailey with worry.
Clera sat directly in front of her, her hands half-clenched but open.
Taylor stood, staring at Hailey, too unnerved to sit beside the others. He couldn’t do anything. He never could.
Kait sat in the only chair, her head hung and body devoid of energy. She’d done all she could, in the worst way possible. She couldn’t look them in the eyes.
And Hailey lay on the couch, unconscious.
They had been sitting in silence for some time.
But, it had to be broken sometime, Taylor knew. “So…do you feel like explaining this?”
Kait sighed. “This is my fault.”
“You don’t say,” Taylor said with an almost venomous tone, almost reminding them of his sister.
“I didn’t mean to cast the spell.”
“Like yesterday.”
“Like back…then.”
Clera turned her head towards Kait, barely repressing her anger. “What are you two talking about? What haven’t I heard?”
Kait remained silent, her eyes downcast.
“Tell me,” Clera said, her voice quiet, yet anger-soaked.
Kait crossed her arms, visibly shuddering as they moved. “I casted unconscious magic.”
The silence egged her on to continue.
“But this time, it was different. I learned two days ago that Hailey has an affinity for witchcraft.”
Clera paused. Under normal circumstances, she would be overjoyed to hear that her daughter had an affinity for any kind of magic, but now wasn’t the time for that. “Okay…and why does that matter?” Clera asked while the other two girls muttered between each other.
“If a witch and an uninitiated witch, someone who has an affinity for witchcraft but hasn’t done the initiation ritual yet, are near each other for some time, their emotions can muddle, which lets the initiated witch use the other’s emotions to fuel their spells.”
“So you’re saying…” Clera said questioningly.
“To put it simply, I accidentally cast a spell on her because something emotionally shook me. And, since our emotions were in tune, the strength of the spell was dramatically amplified.” She sighed.
“But do you know what happened to her?” Clera said.
“She’s…fine, right?” Taylor asked.
“I hope you didn’t think my magic would hurt her.”
“No, she’s still breathing, so she obviously isn’t. I was more concerned if her soul had been displaced or something. I’ve heard some weird stuff on television.”
“She’s fine. Physically, she’s asleep. But yes, her soul probably was displaced. All it takes to revive her is finding it.”
“I guess that’s better than…” Taylor trailed off. “Can’t you wake her up like you did with me?”
“Probably not,” Kait admitted. She then stood and slowly crept toward Hailey to kneel beside Clera. “Can everyone get about five feet away?”
Everyone but Clera shuffled away. “What are you doing?” she asked, more uncertain.
“I’m trying to learn what exactly happened.”
“Fine. I’ll get out of your way.” She took a few steps back.
Kait breathed in and out at a precise pace. Then, she placed her hands on Hailey’s stomach. For a minute, she remained perfectly still. “Can you get me a dream catcher?”
Taylor raised an eyebrow. “A dream catcher?”
“Those things you’re meant to hang over your bed? They were a popular import back in my day. Do you still have those in this era?”
“Oh, yeah, we have one or two around the house.”
“Then get me one, please, Taylor.”
“Got it.” After a few minutes of frantic searching, Taylor returned with a tiny circle, filled with strings crisscrossing in a unique pattern and with a feather dangling from the bottom. “Is this too small?”
Kait spoke softly as she took it into her hand, “Yep, that’s good. Thanks so much, Taylor.”
“No problem.”
“Now, this could take a while. Is that alright?”
Clera sighed, “First, could you tell us what you’re doing?”
“Finding her soul by tracing it down. Imagine that her body is an anchor and her soul is a boat, and I’m finding the boat by climbing the chain.” Kait responded.
“I’m still confused, to be honest.”
“That’s fine. I barely understand it, myself,” Kait admitted. “I’ll perform the spell now. One…two…” Kait placed her head on Hailey and clutched the dream catcher as she let herself be enveloped by regret.
Her spell was cast, and she lost consciousness atop Hailey.