The Entanglement

4 - The Entanglement

Amity headed home through the forest, she forced her smile away with great difficulty. It was not easy considering she was internally squealing with happiness. The girl she liked asked her out.

"Finally!" Even the emotional strain Boscha caused her could not destroy the happiness she was experiencing. She managed to compose herself while entering the Blight Manor. The heavy, wooden, double door closed behind her and she walked in quickly. The thick, pink carpet muffled her footsteps. She hoped to go upstairs to her room without being noticed but just as she was halfway up the stairs she heard a feminine fake cough. She knew that sound all too well. It was supposed to make her pay attention. Amity did not even turn around, freezing mid-step, placing her hand on the smooth, waxed baluster to ground herself. Her green-haired mother was hiding in the shadows of the entrance hall. The short woman, wearing a pink shirt and a white vest stepped out of the shadows. Her cold blue eyes took in the image of her daughter. The messy hair, wrinkled, pink tunic, ears twitching nervously.

"Hello, Amity." She spoke softly, yet her voice sent chills of fear through her daughter's body. "What is it I heard that you behaved erratically at the Academy?" She asked. Her voice was warm but Amity knew that voice all too well. It was the 'I know best' voice.

"Nothing I couldn't handle, Mother," Amity replied with the same amount of emotion in her voice. Which was exactly zero.

"Then I suppose I was wrong, was I?" Odalia asked and her question increased Amity's heart rate. The older woman brought her hand to the pink oval attached to the necklace she had pinned to her elegant pink shirt. "And here I thought I felt you losing control over your emotions." She added and kept staring at her daughter who did not move an inch. "And they were so very... unBlightly." She added and smiled viciously knowing how that adjective taunted her daughter.

"I will excuse myself, Mother." Amity said coldly, fully composed with fake confidence "I have a rather important day tomorrow and I wouldn't want to fail, now would I, Mother?" She added, playing the game her mother taught her.

Ignoring her mother's presence, Amity quickly walked toward her room, passing empty rooms, focused only on her goal. Little did she know that Odalia was holding her now glowing pink gem tightly. She let it go when she heard a scream of agony coming from the room upstairs. Odalia then proceeded to the cabinet, poured herself the finest Apple Blood in the Boiling Isles, and went back to her office, satisfied with herself.

***

TRIGGERING CONTENT START

***

What happened upstairs was a completely different story. A different emotional charge. Amity closed the doors of her bedroom feeling relieved, thinking she made it through without any consequences. She slid down to the floor, her back resting on her door while she smiled with a child-like joy.

"Oh, Titan! Luz asked me out!" She could not believe her luck, closing her eyes, and replaying everything in her head. She smiled widely, showing off her fangs. It was so unbelievable. She had no idea when it happened that Luz from just 'some human' became a person she wanted to spend all of her time with.

However before she could think about all that happened that day, she felt a strange pulsating pain in her chest. She quickly got up, recognizing that feeling, and ran toward the dresser where she looked into a small mirror. The gem attached to her choker shone and she suddenly felt excruciating pain coursing through her body.

"How could I be so dumb! To think I slipped past her..." Amity thought, falling to her knees, trying to fight the pain off, taking hold of her chest. Soon everything went dark and again very white, her hand found the wall to feel some support. She yelled in agony when she felt her eyes burn in pain as if she would dip them in the Boiling Sea. The young witch clenched her fists on her head and pulled her hair, trying to ground herself. "Breathe! Like Eda taught you!" She knew exactly what was happening. Her mother was punishing her for letting herself feel. More importantly, for letting herself feel vulnerable emotions in a public place such as Hexide Academy where people could have considered the Blights weak.