Poison Ivy | T. Riddle ✔

[18] A Stolen Visit

Due to Perseus's abrupt disappearance and Renata's mysterious death, the situation wasn't in favor of the Fawleys as well as the Burkes. Both families were leaden with loss and grief for both had suffered partition from a beloved family member.

A rift had been created between the two long associated families since Lazarus Fawley believed his sister had committed suicide out of heartbreak from Perseus leaving her. He blamed the Burkes and days had passed since the families had met, except for the occasion of Renata's funeral.

Demelza Burke, however, was the one person who had suffered the most out of them all. She had not only lost a dear friend but also a brother and even though she didn't show it, she would wake up at nights, her heart aching from loneliness.

She had lost count of the many letters she had sent to Perseus which all returned unread to her since it seemed as if he had simply vanished from the face of the earth. Herbert Burke was doing all in his power to track his nephew out but even he was out of luck as there was absolutely no sign of him.

No one had seen him leave, no one knew where he was... There was little proof to his existence as well. In simple words, no one knew whether he was alive or not.

But Demelza was certain that he was alive, she somehow knew that his breaths had not finished just yet. And she also had an inner feeling which told her that he was in pain. Why or how, she didn't know. But she felt as if wherever he was, he wasn't there by choice.

Both Perseus and Demelza had had a strange connection since childhood quite akin to telekinesis. They somehow always knew what the other was thinking, they were both always aware of what the other was going through. It was almost as if their minds and hearts were synchronized with each other since birth.

And right now, she felt as if he was calling out to her for help. But she had no idea where he was and she didn't know how to reach out to him.

Due to the distressed circumstances they had to face at the present as well as the mental stress she was suffering, she was heavily disturbed. Just like a cyclone of water created by throwing pebbles in the lake continuously.

And now she fully understood the meaning of his words. Now that she was going through a similar situation of denial as an unspoken fear gripped at her heart, she had become fully aware of how terrible Perseus must have felt.

***

It was way past midnight and silence engulfed the pathways of Knockturn Alley. Not a sound was to be heard as all the residents lay in their beds fast asleep. All except Demelza who was not able to close her eyes, just sitting on her bed as if confused and frightened at the same time.

Her father had set out with Lazarus Fawley in search of her cousin Perseus. Her mother was in her room downstairs, probably asleep due to the effects of the heavy antidepressant potions she had been taking ever since she had seen Renata's corpse. And she, herself, was wondering what on earth had gone wrong that made their whole world turn upside down.

She needed someone to confide into, she badly needed a friend at the moment, someone with whom she could pour her heart out. But fate was against her because the only two people who could help her in such a state were not in the position to do so. One of them dead and the other lost.

A gentle tap at the window shook her out of her thoughts. Thinking it was an owl from Perseus, she sat up immediately but to her surprise and utter disappointment, there was nothing at the window. She was about to pass it off as a mere superstition when the window tapped again and this once she knew she had heard it clear enough.

Cautiously, she went toward the window and stood there waiting for another tap. However, some words begun to form in the air: Don't be scared, just open the window and look down.