Cursed

17

*Unedited*

"So... yeah," Lily finally spoke after a moment's silence. She didn't really want to say anything at all, she was quite sick of hearing her own voice, but Sal didn't seem as if he were going to contribute any time soon.

"I guess it's kind of dumb to want to be called after the woman my father cheated on his fiancé with but..." Lily trailed off, it was difficult to explain. She had never met her mother but she had heard so many stories about her from old colleagues and the like. She had apparently been a head strong, independent, intelligent woman whose only downfall was that she fell for a man who was already with someone else. Despite that she sounded amazing, the kind of person who'd make a great role model and because of that Lily kind of felt robbed. She guessed she felt that by taking her mother's name she could acknowledge her in some odd way, not to mention that she actually did aspire to be like her. Not the whole cheating and dying part, but the other part. The more important, more memorable part.

"It's fine, you don't have to explain yourself," Sal finally responded, breaking her out of her thoughts. He sounded more shocked than anything, which she took as a good sign. At least he wasn't questioning her sanity. "It's just... It explains a lot. Especially the marks around your eyes."

At the mentioning of the scars Lily subconsciously raised her hand, tracing the marks lightly. As she couldn't see what they had looked like she hadn't really cared about them at all. The only reason she'd wear the sunglasses was so that people would stop asking about them and pointing them out to her.

"And there's... there's nothing you can do about it? No conditions to breaking the curse or anything?" Sal inquired, hesitantly. His voice was soft and muffled behind his mask and she wondered if he was asking out of curiosity or experience.

"Not that I know of and like the only way to get out of a curse is if the witch who put it on you in the first place takes it off." She explained, slightly dejectedly, though a small part of her had begun to grow annoyed. At her circumstances and at the fact that the witch hadn't given her some kind of a loophole or anything. She was stuck like that until she somehow miraculously found the cause for all her troubles.

"And it's not like I want to break it because I want to see, I mean, I was born blind so it's not like I miss seeing or anything." She rambled, a bit of heat adding to her words as she got them off of her chest. "I want to break it because I feel cheated. Like, if it weren't for the stupid curse I'd probably be able to see now and that's something I think about a lot. Especially since I didn't even do anything wrong. I'm just the aftermath of two other people's mistakes." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair in frustration.

Sal was quiet for a moment, as if taking in her words, before he slowly said "and you don't know where this witch is?"

A 'no' almost automatically slipped from between her lips before she realised that she actually did know. "I didn't... until quite recently." She admitted quietly, rubbing her hands nervously against her thighs.

'Now would be the perfect time to ask him.'

"So what's stopping you from going and finding her?" He asked, evidently confused

The answer to that was a bit complicated. Lily knew where to find the witch but she didn't know what to do after that. Ask politely for her vision back? Beg? And what would she do if after all that, the witch refused? She had spent her whole life being dragged from witch to witch hoping to have the spell broken only to be told the same thing over and over again. 'Only the witch who puts the curse there in the first place can take it off.' But what would become of her if she said no?

Instead of explaining all the fear building up in her chest at the thought of the expedition, Lily just said "I'm waiting for my dad to come home, so I can ask him to his face whether I can go. Without him." It sounded childish when she spoke the words out loud but she knew her father wouldn't take it well over the phone. Not that he'd take it any better face to face but she felt as if she owed him at least that much.

"So you want to go... alone?"

"Not alone, I want to take my friend Alina with me and uh..." she trailed off, taking in a deep breath

'I know this might sound crazy but you don't seem half bad and a strange woman who smelled like the forest appeared in my room to tell me that it was a good idea so... would you go on this kind of road trip with me as well?'

"I was wondering if you would come too?" She asked, instead of blurting out the rush of words that had filled her head.

Sal was silent for a long moment that time.

Lily could feel her face slowly heating up as each second passed, realising how absolutely ridiculous she sounded. She wanted to take it back but couldn't think of a way to do so without offending him.

'I mean, he'd probably be more relieved than offended but—'

"Alright, I guess."

Lily felt herself let out a breath she hadn't known that she had been holding.

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I'm back guys, so sorry for the delay! As always, if you enjoyed the story don't forget to comment vote and share. 

Until next time, 
stay safe and treat yourselves kindly, 

Artemis.