l a t e nights (open)

[weaslebee2]

Emily looked into the fire almost unblinkingly, even if it made her eyes sting. She was used to the feeling as she spent half her time trying to not draw attention to herself as she cried. Emily felt hunger gnawing at the pit of her stomach, but thankfully the room couldn't conjure food due to one of the laws of magic. If it could, then it would give away her issues that she currently had with eating.

[broadway]

Raychel remained silent. Every so often she would look up at Emily briefly. Something seemed wrong with her, but Raychel couldn't place it. She quickly produced her wand. "Accio..." she started. It took her a moment, but she remembered the book she was reading. She filled in the blank and the book came flying off of the shelves. It opened directly to the dog-eared page and she began to read once more.

[weaslebee2]

Emily's eyes did not budge from the fireplace, long vines sprouted from her fingertips and they began weaving between here fingers like snakes without her paying much attention to it. Her Earth Elemental had been rather dormant of late, it was hard to use when she was emotionally unstable. The thin vines were nothing short of miracle just then.

[broadway]

Raychel peered above her book, eyebrows raised. She remained silent, but her mind was reeling. Obviously something serious was causing Emiky's element to be growing idependent. Raychel had been in control of her fire element for a long while. If she hadn't gotten it under control when she did, well... there would be plenty of burned holes in Hogwarts.

[weaslebee2]

Without much thinking on her part, the vines got thicker, and grew bored with her fingers. They traveled up her arms and around her shoulders, wrapping around her core, coiling down her legs, and then going back up again, independent of her command. The entire time Emily just gazed into the fire, as if fascinated by it, or seeing something in it that only her eyes could decipher.

[broadway]

Raychel peered above her book once more. The vines had wrapped themselves around Emily, like a cocoon. She raised her eyebrows, shaking her head as she brought her eyes back down onto the page. She had no idea if Emily was even aware her element had a mind of it's own. Raychel said nothing however, for it wasn't her battle to fight.

[weaslebee2]

It must have been a while, as Emily had finally fallen asleep. Subconsciously, she shifted her position so she was lying down. The vines shrunk in diametre, and then made their way back to her hands, until they appeared to be mere ribbons winding themselves between her fingers. At first, the sleep was dreamless, restful even. If Emily could get just one night of undisturbed sleep, life would be much easier on her.

[broadway]

The next time Raychel peered over the pages, Emily was asleep. Raychel set her book down, carefully leaving it opened to her page. She watched Emily for a while, watching for signs of nightmares. Now that the two of them were sharing sleeping quarters, Raychel felt responsible for anythimg that might happen to Emily. They shared the nightmares, the horrible thoughts. It was only natural how motherly Raychel felt towards Emily now.

[weaslebee2]

"Don't scream," the voice hissed in her ear. The smell of alcohol and tobacco smoke met her nose harshly. Emily was suddenly immobile, she could move, her petrified vocal chords were unable to yell for help. She could hear the knife tearing her clothes, feel the pains when the drunken man would slip, accidentally cutting her. The vines grew thicker and moved more quickly around her fingers. The laughing echoed in her ears, the man was inside of her, his hands touching, the terrible smell coming off of his breath in waves. Yet she was helpless... Emily thrashed in her sleep, suddenly the vines strapping her to the bed like ropes. She woke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat, trembling. The vines shrank and then disappeared into her palms. Emily had to fight tears.

[broadway]

Raychel had quickly scrambled off of her bed and onto Emily's when she saw the girl was beginning to have a nightmare. The vines sprouted from her hands not only strapped her to the bed, but they hand also sprouted some wicked throns near Raychel. The vines were just trying to protect Emily, and so they lashed out at Raychel. The cut her arms a couple of times before Emily awoke. "Hey." She whispered sootingly. A rag appeared out of nowhere and Raych immediately took it and began blotting the sweat of Emily's face.

[weaslebee2]

Emily felt a mixture of fear, helplessness, and frustration came in the pit of her stomach. All she wanted just then was a good night's sleep, instead of maybe getting twenty minutes of rest here, maybe another fifteen, and then perhaps another half hour. Emily had been practically living off of energy potion to get through the day of late. She noted the fresh cuts on Raychel's arm, they were trivial. "Did I cause those?" Emily asked, voice trembling.

[broadway]

Raychel didn't take her eyes off of the task at hand. She set her mouth into a concentrated line, her eyes fixed on Emily. "Those aren't important at the moment, but, yes." She replied calmly. "Don't worry, I'll get them healed. You're my first priority though, so those can wait." She finished. She set the damp rag aside and it vanished. She smoothed Emily's hair down, away from her face. Only then did she proceed to reveal her wand and fix herself.

[weaslebee2]

Emily felt embarrassed, she hadn't lost control of her element since she was a child, she had been taught very well by an expert that had once had residence at Hogwarts. But that feeling was currently secondary. The tears rushed forward, try as she might to halt them. Emily dissolved into quiet tears, not allowing herself to sob, just let her eyes cry. She was ashamed to cry in front of Raychel, she normally went somewhere she could be alone to do this.

[broadway]

Raychel didn't even need to dip into Emily's mind to know how awful she felt. She sat beside Emily and placed a gentle arm around her. "Shhh." She whispered softly, simultaniously wiping the tears from Emily's cheeks. "I don't blame you, not for anything." She replied softly.

[weaslebee2]

Emily wanted to cut herself again, see her own blood seeping down her arm, maybe cut deeply enough to leave another scar. A sharp knife came into existence on the bedside table, its blade glinting in the dim light. She willed it away, and just as soon as it had come it vanished, Emily could only pray that Raychel hadn't seen it. She allowed her tears to carry her away, allowed her mind to become numb to her surroundings.