Endgame

Chapter 20

Hallie was washing the dishes in her house when she began to stare out the window. On the grass was a small robin, tiny in size but mighty in its symbol of peace and happiness. Hallie's face shaped into what closely resembled a smile as the robin flew away, high into the sky. Above the trees, above the world and into the unknown. Sometimes she wished she was a robin because she wanted to fly far, far away and never return.

"Hallie, sweetheart, you don't have to do them dishes you know," Gracie smiled as she walked into the kitchen. "I could've done them after you went to sleep."

"No mum it's fine," she nodded, looking down at the cloudy water. "I need the distraction."

"Oh honey, are you okay?" Her mother put her arm around her and Hallie turned around to face her.

"I will be," she said hopeful. "What about you mum? How are you keeping?"

"Well the truth is always hard, Hallie," she admitted, "sometimes, we just have to face it."

"You know what hurts more than the truth?" Hallie questioned, her mother already knew the answer.

"The pain that comes after it," she nodded. "You'll get through it though, Hallie you know why?"

She gave her mother a look that indicated she wanted the answer.

"You're like a dove, all pure and loving on the outside but on the inside you've got a heart made of steel, powerful enough to love yourself and everyone around you."

"That's the problem," she sighed. "I spent too long loving the wrong person."

"He'll come around," Gracie said.

"And by that point mum, I won't want him back," she set the tea towel on the bench of the kitchen. "I'm going to bed mum, good night."

"Good night sweetheart."

As she walked into her room, she closed the door behind her very quietly. She tried to hide the pain she was feeling from her mother, because she didn't want her to worry. In her room was a simple bed with a cottage green cover. The wallpaper was pretty, with small sunflowers over it, Hallie's favourite flower. Pretty LED lights were plastered along the top of the curtains, which highlighted the colour of the walls. Her wardrobe was tall and white, with flowers that she painted on them herself. The normal photo frames that enclosed pictures of her and George together, were gone.

Hallie had locked them in her cupboard, away from plain sight. She didn't want to look at the smiles both of them had on their face during that one snapshot as they reminded her of happier times. Perhaps she was too happy, too blatantly naive to the fact that even people you love can turn against you.

She got into her bed and lay awake for around ten minutes, thinking of things she could've done better or how things could've been different. She always went to bed examining every detail, wondering how in that moment she had ever been so happy. Slowly, she hoped, that little pieces of her life would fall back together, and she find that smile that had faded from her face a little while ago.

She had a very vivid dream that night, something that almost felt real. Like a vision, she woke up in the great hall.

Surrounded with nothing but mirrors.

They were black, however, and she couldn't see herself in them at all.

"Hello?" She shouted, her voice echoing around her.

"Hallie," a friendly voice said her name. "There you are, I've been looking for you."

The woman was wearing a leather red jacket with a pair of plain back jeans. Her hair was blonde, and her eyes as brown as Hermione Granger's. Hallie noticed her accent wasn't English, but rather American. Hallie wanted to leave, but the lady's demeanour rooted her to the spot.