Who: Evangeline Warrington What: Nightmares Where: Warrington House When: Thursday Night
Evangeline had tried to stay awake to greet her husband, but the house was quiet and the hours dragged on. She knew it wasn’t unusual for him to work late, but she couldn’t say that it didn’t make her worry. Putting her book away, Evie rolled over, tucking herself into the soft blankets and drifting off into sleep.
Sleep was peaceful until she woke to the loud banging sound that echoed through the room and rattled the windows. Colors flashed around outside, and she could smell smoke. Immediately, she looked to her side and found that her husband hadn’t come back yet. She was alone, and there was more booming and laughing and smoke. Evie was frozen in fear as one of the fireworks crashed through her window. Shards of broken glass cut at her face, stinging her as a bright light surrounded her. The sound was deafening and the burn of magical fire licked at her.
Pain spurred her into action. Pulling her singed house robe around her, and ducked her head down. But the house stretched out in front of her like a maze, a maze of total darkness and eerie sounds. The house shook with bombs and fireworks and the smoke grew thicker, choking her. She shook as she moved, stumbling and twisting as she tried to find the front door.
“Cass-- Cassie!” Evie choked out, looking for her husband, but knowing it was hopeless. Tears were streaming down her face, when had her home become so confusing? She blamed the pain of the firework and glass. She pushed the tears away, coming back with a hand of tears and blood. It was becoming harder to move, harder to breath.
Finally, the front door opened, and she could see out into the illuminated front lawn. In the doorway was her husband, handsome and safe as always. “Come, Evie.” And through her fear, Evie smiled. She was safe now, no matter what was going on, her husband was there. She grabbed his hand, and the two of them stepped into the lawn.
Overhead, Rebels were flying and laughing, throwing fireworks and spells upon the house. It didn’t take long for them to notice the two of them standing on the lawn. She was covered in dirt from the explosions near by, and bleeding and in pain. A spell came soaring towards them, green light, but the words were indistinguishable over the noise of the attack. It was Cassius that saved her, pushing her forward, catching the spell himself. He crumpled to the ground, her white knight.
Evie fell on her knees next to him, large sobs heaving her body as she tried fruitlessly to rouse her husband. His face was even more pale than before, his eyes unblinking and open. Her heart was torn into pieces, her whole body ached with the pain of loss, moreso even than the cuts and burns that littered her body. She couldn’t breath, her lungs weren’t working.
The laughter from the rebels above her, the cheers of delight at taking down her husband echoed in her ears, punctuated by the sounds of fireworks and the crumbling of their house. The place of memories. The ghost of her husband. She felt the thud of the mortar hit her square in the back before it exploded. It burned, tore through bone and skin, but her own screams were drown out by the laughter and explosions.
The pain locked Evangeline’s body, and she fell backwards, sounds ripped from her body as more fireworks fell around her, spraying her with bits of fire and debris. Colors lit up the sky, it was really rather beautiful, as it faded from her view.
Evangeline sat up in her bed so quickly that she tumbled out of it, banging her head on the side table as she fell. She curled into a ball, sobbing and gasping for breath, she didn’t know where he husband was, and the sounds of the fireworks buzzed in her ear, just as vividly as the night of the carnival. She was shaking, sobbing, as she reached up to the top of the table for her journal, her shaking, terrible hands writing out a quick message.