"I haven't always been against birthdays. Each one reminds me I'm a year closer to deaths cold embrace. What's not to like about that?" Wednesday smirked.
"Besides, my parents always made sure my
birthdays were memorable. The perfect
surprise, the perfect cake, the perfect party
games. But now, parties and presents and
games, it....it all feels so trivial." She told an
unconscious Eugene.
"Goody warned me that I was destined to be
alone, and that I would be sorry for it."
Y/n felt a random sharp pain in her abdomen. She grabbed at it and Wednesday looked over at her. "Are you okay?"
"Nope! Definitely not!" Y/n groaned running to the door.
Y/n was about to run out of the room but she was stopped by someone standing in front of her.
"Dr. Kinbott." Wednesday greeted in surprise.
Y/n looked up at her and ran past her without another second of thought.
"Is she okay? I haven't seen you since our session with your family, which was..certainly one I won't forget. She smiled. "How are things going with them?"
"My mother and I spent some quality time
together along with Y/n. Speaking of Y/n I don't know what's wrong with her. But we got our hands dirty.
"Gardening?" She guessed.
"Grave-digging." She corrected. "And I managed
to keep my father out of prison. What brings you here?"
"Eugene's moms. I'm working with them. Trauma like this leaves emotional scars on the
whole family." She placed the roses in a pot.
"They had to head home for a few days, so I
promised I'd check in on him."
"I'll leave you to it." Wednesday said, and began
exiting the room.
"Who's Goody?" She suddenly asked.
"She's a very distant cousin. Very distant." She
replied.
"Sounds like she doesn't see you for who you
really are."
"She sees more than you know." She retorted.
Dr. Kinbott and Wednesday stared at each other
for a few moments.
"I want to assure you that I remain as cold and
heartless as the first day we met." She warned.
"I doubt a cold, heartless person would be sitting by his friend's bedside feeling guilt for
his condition. And a cold heartless person
certainly would not have a crush on a powerful girl."
"I don't like her. And I didn't ask for a free session." She snapped.
"Consider it my birthday gift." She retorted.
Wednesday glared at her and exited the room.
...
Mavor Walker's assistant knocked as she
entered his office.
"This just arrived from London. Copy of an old
death certificate you requested." She handed
him the envelope.
"Thanks Agnes. Oh, by the way, has Inez Bloom
called again?" He asked.
"You mean about the lights going on at the old
Gates place? Couple days ago. I referred her to
the sheriff's office." She informed.
She exited the room, and Mayor Walker opened
the envelope and pulled out the death certificate
of Laurel Gates.
...
Wednesday sat next to Y/n in a booth at the
Weathervane. Y/n still grabbing at her stomach.
"Why did you bring me here? I needed to rest. Me and Enid talked about it." Y/n asked.
"About what? You never told me what it was." Wednesday interrogated.
"And I probably won't." Y/n said fake smiling.
Wednesday shook her head and went back to reading a book when Tyler slid a cup towards her. It had foam in it, and there were letters that spelled 'Happy Birthday.'
"I know you're usually a quad kind of girl, but
I've been working on that all week." Tyler said,
sitting across from them.
"Birthday, yes. Happy, never. Is there anyone
Thing didn't tell?" She asked.
"Well who do you think delivered the cake?
Granted, Y/n was the one who ordered it."
Wednesday turned to Y/n beside her.
"I decided to go with a 98% dark chocolate
ganache knowing your...preferred color
palette." She smiled.
A fainted smile appeared in Wednesday's face.
Y/n squeezed at her stomach. "Do you have a bathroom?" She asked Tyler.
"Y-yeah. Down there on..on the right." Tyler said pointing towards the bathroom.
"Thanks." She said, not waiting for Wednesday to get out the booth for her to go. She just climbed over the table.
Tyler gestured to the snood on the table. "Is that
Enid's gift?" He asked.
"It's perfect if your fleeing a war torn country on
foot." She replied.
"Come on, don't you like having a day that's all about you?" Tyler asked.
"Everyday is all about me. This one just comes
with a cake and a bad song." She bluntly told
him.
Y/n barged out of the bathroom, accidentally hurting herself.
The loud sound of the door busting down, caught the attention of everyone in the shop.
Y/n ran over to Wednesday quickly and jumped over to table, into her spot she was in before.
"Are..Are you okay..?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah, Are you okay?" Wednesday repeated Tyler's question.
"I'm so great." Y/n sarcastically said.
Y/n felt her strange feeling take over.
"So..if I were to ask you out to a non-birthday,
song-free dinner...would you be interested in
going? I mean sure my thing might bother it. But I don't mind." Y/n asked nervously.
"If you don't want to go with her, I'd happily take you instead." Tyler offered.
Y/n growled at him.
Wednesday glanced at the two, before going
back to her book. "I have a tight deadline.
Emphasis on dead."
"Term paper?" Tyler guessed.
"It's about how whitewashing the sins of our
past will come back to kill us all." Wednesday
explained.
"Oh." Y/n said, looking down at her lap, her eyes glowing blue, and a little saddened by her rejection.
Wednesday looked at her and saw her glow.
Wednesday's eyebrows raised in sadness feeling guilty. She then suddenly pulled out the drawing she did of the gate, and placed it on the table.
"Have either of you seen this before?" She asked.
"What's that supposed to be?" Tyler asked with
a chuckle.
Y/n looked down at the drawing and furrowed
her brows. "Yes, actually."
Wednesday took the drawing back. "Where?" She asked a bit more aggressive then intended.
"The gates mansion I'm pretty sure." Y/n said looking at the book she was reading. Y/n closed her book and put it in her bag. Wednesday got to read the title for a second.
'How to control your anger and feelings.'
Wednesday looked down upset as Y/n laid her head on the table.
Tyler stared awkwardly at them for a moment
before standing up from the booth.
Just then, the sheriff entered the cafe.
"Tall, black, two sugars, to go?" Tyler guessed.
His dad nodded, and Tyler went to make his
coffee. Wednesday stood from the booth and walked towards the sheriff.
"That threat burned onto the lawn at school, it's
also etched on the wall inside Crackstone's crypt." Wednesday told him.
"Don't tell me you and your girlfriend have been
out there digging up more bodies." The sheriff
replied sarcastically.
"She's not my girlfriend! There's a connection there, I know it." She insisted.
"Alright, I'll put out an APB on the dead
pilgrim."
"I figured since you no longer have an old
vendetta to obsess over, you're free to solve
some real crime." Wednesday snapped.
Sheriff Galpin glared at her. "Your father and I
buried the hatchet. Maybe you should do the
same." He suggested.
"I don't bury hatchets.I sharpen them.'
Wednesday walked out of the cafe, and Y/n
quickly stood up and ran after her.
"Wednesday wait!" Y/n yelled trying to get Wednesday attention.
Wednesday didn't respond to her yelling and kept walking.
Y/n grabbed at her stomach.
"Damn it! I need Enid..right..now!" She said to herself.
...
Xavier was in his private art studio painting
away on a canvas and listening to music when Wednesday entered, along with Thing. Xavier
stopped painting when he saw her.
"I need your help." She admitted. "Don't gloat."
Xavier still smiled smugly. "What, do you want
some drawing lessons?"
Wednesday handed him the drawing and he
examined it.
"Your line works a little shaky.
"I saw that in a vision. Do you recognize it?"
Wednesday asked.
Xavier gestured to the wall, where is own
drawing of the gate was.
"When did you draw this?"
"A couple days ago. I started having those
dreams again, like before."
"Was the monster in them?"
"No, but I could feel it in the shadows. You
know, kind of lurking in my mind." He
explained.
"You know where this is?"
"Yeah, it's the old Gates mansion. I pass it when
I go running." Xavier told her. "Why?"
"So Y/n was right." Wednesday whispered to herself.
Thing snapped, gaining their attention. He was
standing on the desk next to a big canvas that
was covered up. He pulled off the sheet to reveal
a painting of Y/n in her dress from the Rave'N, dancing and smiling.
Wednesday's eyes widened and she walked over
to the paining, while Xavier began to panic.
"Okay, listen..after the dance I just wanted to
forget about her, but I couldn't. So I started
painting and that's what came out, alright."
Wednesday just kept staring at the painting, as
Xavier lifted his hand and made the painting
move. Y/n began to spin, and dance around as if she didn't have a care in the world. And that the monster didn't even exist.
"I saw her on the dance floor that night. I could
see how she got lost in the music. It's the
happiest I've ever seen her. I felt like I finally
got a glimpse of the real her." Xavier explained.
"She doesn't like you. I hope you know that." Wednesday explained.
"And how would you know? Who does she like then?"
Wednesday didn't answer. She turned and marched out of the studio, and Xavier let out a frustrated sigh.