Silver cried and cried, it hurt to even breathe.
She wanted to die right there, her body was still in so much pain. It began raining. Silver shivered, her body shook. She felt all the bad emotions that had ever existed. Her teeth chattered, her nails dug into her palms. Silver whimpered.
She then screamed, as hard as she could, cursing life. Her screams filled the whole forest.
Neyda opened the portal right under her, and Silver fell into the portal, going back home.
She landed on the floor with a thud. Silver winced and looked around. Cassandra and Neyda were kneeling beside her, worry on their faces.
Silver leaned her head backwards and let herself doze off, wanting to be numb of the pain her body and heart are feeling.
Silver was shook awake.
She opened her eyes to Cassandra, she looked to the clock in front of her, it was 4:30 a.m. Silver sat up, her body was still aching. She realized she was in the clinic in the Barrier. Cassandra sighed sadly and took Silver's hand in hers.
"Nobody can know you went back, okay? But now you need to go back to the forest, Silver." Silver closed her eyes.
"No."
Cassandra had tears in her eyes. "Silver, listen to me-"
No, no, no.
She began sobbing.
"I don't want to go back." She kept saying those words over and over.
Neyda came into the room and quickly hugged Silver's trembling body. She whispered in her ear, everything's going to be alright, that she'll be okay.
Silver didn't believe that, although she wished she did.
If corporate knew Silver came back not according to schedule, she could be kicked out, because she did sign up for all the risks and consequences that she might endure in the other universe.
"Don't let me go back." She cried.
Cassandra had tears in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry."
Silver finally mustered enough energy to get off the bed. Cassandra and Neyda walked with her. Cass opened the portal for her, and with a sniffle, she stepped into the portal that leads her to her own misery and pain.
She fell on the ground, the exact place where she was last night.
The ground was wet and muddy because of the rain. Silver took a deep breath.
What now? She stayed on the ground, shivering, fresh tears continued rolling down from her eyes.
She heard footsteps. Black shoes appeared in front of her eyes. Silver looked up and saw Tom.
He pushed his hand out to her.
She ignored his hand and stood up by herself, struggling a bit. Her legs shook, her whole body was muddy and dirty, her hair was sticky and messy. Tom sighed.
"If only you listened to me last night."
Silver looked up at Tom, eyes filled with hatred. Did she hear him right?
She balled her shaky hands into fists and threw a punch to him. Tom stumbled back. Silver stepped forward and tried punching Tom again and again. He grabbed her wrists and forced her to look at him. He took a deep breath.
"Stop it."
Silver closed her eyes and began sobbing, all over again.
She was so tired. So damn tired.
Of him.
Tom inhaled slowly.
"Let's go now."
Tom dragged her with him, back to their tent.
Silver gave up on trying to attack him. Right now, she's too weak.
So Silver grabbed her bags and stood there. She felt like smoke were coming out of her.
Tom shrank the tent back. Silver sniffled, her legs all wobbly, like she was going to pass out any moment now.
Tom's eyes moved to Silver, his expression softened. He walked over to Silver and kneeled in front of her, his back facing her. Silver looked at him.
"What?" She croaked out. Tom rolled his eyes.
"Get on."
Silver's face was blank. She reluctantly got onto Tom's back. Tom grunted and stood up. He levitated their bags and apparated out of there.
Silver was breathing against Tom's neck. She closed her eyes and sighed. Her arms were dangling around him, her legs hugging his waist. Before she knew it, Tom put her down.
Tom turned to Silver and caressed her cheek. "We need to go back to Hogwarts now, come on."
They went to the portkey and touched it, appearing in the same pub. Silver snaked her hand in Tom's and walked out with him, not saying a word. Eventually, they got to the station again and got onto the train.
They found an empty compartment and got in. Tom let go of Silver's hand and sat down.
Silver was tired, and hurt, both mentally and physically. Tom pat the seat beside him, Silver ignored him. She laid her head on the train wall. She didn't even want to think about all the things that happened. She just wanted to disappear.
Silver felt Tom staring at her, but she just closed her eyes and drifted asleep.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was still in her seat, but Tom wasn't sitting in front of her. He was beside her, and her head was on his shoulder,
Silver sat straight and saw that Tom was staring at her, with slight uncertainty on his face.
She looked out and saw that the train had stopped. She stood up slowly and grabbed her stuff. Tom's eyes followed her movements.
As she was walking out, Silver looked back at Tom.
"Fuck you."
Silver had been spending her days in the castle alone. Tom didn't look for her or anything, he had found what he looked for after all, the diadem.
Sometimes she sits near the Black Lake, read in the library, or walk around the castle. Silver wished she had her phone, there's not much to do here and she just wants to spend the rest of the break scrolling through Instagram and tiktok.
Silver did find Tom walking around the corridors in the middle of the night quite often. She wouldn't approach him, he wouldn't approach her as well.
Silver walked across the corridor with her hands behind her back. She breathed in the cold air of the night. The castle was quite scary when it's dark and you're all alone. It's terrifying actually. The portraits were snoring, some were talking to each other and scolding Silver for walking around this late at night. She bumped into someone. Silver looked up and saw Tom in front of her.
Tom raised an eyebrow. Silver rolled her eyes and walked past him.
He grabbed her wrist.
"Where are you going?"
Silver narrowed her eyes at him. "The common room." She looked at Tom. "Where are you from?" She asked back.
"Chamber."
Silver's eyes widened and she stumbled to the floor. She groaned. Tom stopped and look back at Silver who was on the floor. He sighed and helped her up.
"You didn't release it, did you?" Tom's gaze hardened. "Unfortunately."
Silver hit his arm, Tom glared at her. She scoffed.
"You don't deserve to be angry at me Tom, after all you've put me through."
Tom scoffed back at her. "Remember your place Prennington, remember who you are talking to."
She stared into his eyes. Tom stepped closer.
"You.are.nothing."
Silver shook her head and gave him a taunting smile.
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"
Tom's eyebrows furrowed a bit. Silver let out a humorless laugh, she crossed her arms. "I'll admit Tom Riddle. I have feelings for you, we both know this."
Silver looked him up and down. "But you are not my lord, you are not the almighty god that you think you are, and mostly, you do not own me." Tom's body stiffened. "You dare say that? I AM you lord-"
"Cut the fucking bullshit, Riddle."
Suddenly, she was pressed to the wall, Tom's hand tight around her neck. Tom's face showed absolute fury. But Silver wasn't that scared anymore.
"Even THIS gets boring, Tom." She spat out, trying to pry his hand off her neck.
He pressed onto her throat. Silver started to cough.
"Th-this constant torture g-gets old."
Tom finally let her go.
Silver fell to the ground, panting. She quickly stood up, glaring at him.
"Maybe, just maybe, you care for me too, and you're just too fucking scared to admit it."
Tom balled his hands into fists. "I don't care for anyone, Silver Prennington. This false hope you keep with you is destructive. I will ruin you."
"You already ruined me." She whispered.
"But the only reason you were able to ruin me, is because you ruined yourself first."
Silver walked away, leaving Tom stunned.