Blackthorn Hall: Sister Sister : Alice

10 June 1921
7:00 pm

School was over. Finally.

But was that good?

She didn’t know. It was weird. Everything was weird. Her brain didn’t settle on any one thing anymore. It would bounce from topic to topic. She couldn’t read, her brain couldn’t concentrate.

Walking up the stairs to her bedroom, Ever was searching for quiet. Dark was bad, but quiet was needed. There was a lot of sitting and sketching. She never liked art before, but not being able to focus, drawing was a necessary outlet.

Entering her room, Ever sat in the window seat and spent a good tick of time staring into the nothingness that was the rainy expanse of land outside. Her mind wandered, a quiet buzz of nothingness. A flash of lightning and rumble of thunder brought her back to the present. Thankfully storms didn’t bother her, as long as there wasn’t screaming she was ok.

Everleigh took her sketch pad and laid it on her lap, a small well used charcoal pencil in her hand. Her hand started moving before her mind caught up. It was a mystery what would manifest on the page. Not even Ever knew what the finished project would be.

A few minutes in, the sketchy drawing of a tree being hit by lightning took shape. Rain and wind coming across the page with light lines. Mid still fuzzy, Ever ripped the page out of her book, letting it flutter to the floor. Her hand began moving again, the sound of rain hitting the window, thunder rumbling and the scratch of the pencil on paper the only sounds coming from the room, until a soft knock brought Ever out of her trance.

She didn’t tell the person knocking to go away, or come in, she just sat in her window seat and stared at the door, waiting to see who would walk in.

Home. Alice would have been thrilled to be home normally, but after the disaster that was Easter break, this was the last place she wanted Everleigh to be. Their parents refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong with their youngest, which sent Alice into a rage. She’d always been protective of her little sister (who she used to refer to as ‘her baby’ when they were really little), so when she was essentially told she was fine when she wasn’t – Alice was close to going off on them.

It was storming outside, which Alice was (not) a little bit tense about. For some reasons, storms made her feel jumpy lately. She stood outside Everleigh’s bedroom, considering whether she should knock or not. She wanted to check on her, make sure that she knew she was there for her. And that if she felt like she needed it, they could have one of their fun sleepovers they used to when they were little; building forts in their bedrooms and pretending they were camping out.

Sighing, Alice finally raised her fist and knocked softly on the door. Silence. But she knew that Ever was in there. For one thing, she saw her go in there. For another… Alice could… almost… feel her in there?

After waiting a moment, Alice finally turned the knob and gently opened the door. Her sister was staring at her, blankly, with her sketch pad on her lap. That had been a new pastime for her sister, but Alice found that she was really good at it.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay…” Alice said, entering her room and sitting on her bed. She pulled her legs up, hugging them. “Are you okay?” she asked, but the question felt silly.

Alice knew that Ever wasn’t okay.

It was Alice. The only acceptable answer to who was knocking. Anyone else and Ever would have either left the room or ignored all together. She didn’t want to talk to her mother or father. They didn’t get it, after everything that happened you would think they would be understanding about her emotions. Unfortunately it was the opposite. They expected Ever to go back to normal.

That wasn’t happening.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay…” she asked, sitting on Ever’s bed. “Are you okay?”

Words didn’t come. Words were hard these days. She wanted her words to make sense, like they sounded in her head, but there were times that the words in her head came out all jumbled. And when she was jumbled Alice looked sad. Ever didn’t want Alice to be sad.

Getting up from the window seat, Ever came over to her bed. She didn’t know how to tell Alice what she wanted. Comfort. Love. Connection. “I… Probably, umm. No.” Ugh, this was so fucking frustrating. It was clear as day on her face how angry she was over not being able to explain. Instead of trying to get her words out, Ever pushed Alice’s legs down, laid next to her with her head in her lap, grabbed Alice’s hand and put it in her hair.

Alice was her safe space. The one person, in the world, that made her feel safe and loved. One of her favorite memories was Alice playing with her hair, telling her stories, running her fingers through her hair. It wasn’t much, but it was what she needed.


((OOC: Power Play okayed by Alice))

Alice kept her brown eyes on Ever, not sure if the girl would speak or just join her. She never knew, and that uncertainty worried her. She watched her sister, after a moment, finally get up from the window seat and make her way to the bed.

“I… Probably, umm. No.”

She couldn’t help the frown from crossing her lips as she looked at her little sister, her heart aching to make her feel better. If Alice could take it all away from her, she would. She’d much rather be the one suffering, not her beautiful little sister.

Ever finally climbed onto the bed and pushed Alice’s legs down. She looked down as her sister laid down and rested her head in her lap, then placed her hand in her hair. Her heart broke for Ever, but she knew that she would do this all day if she had to.

Alice gently ran her fingers through Everleigh’s long, brown hair. She remembered easier times – even just last summer before returning to Hogwarts. This… it didn’t feel like summer. Not anymore. It felt like…

Like dark skies. Like Everleigh was more unpredictable than ever. And it felt like Alice couldn’t rest easily.

“Do you wanna make a fort later? Like we used to?” she asked softly, her hand continuing to run through Everleigh’s hair. “Maybe we can just have some snacks and, I dunno, maybe I can think of something…”

It was hard. Alice felt at a loss. Ever was so blank, and yet not totally blank. If that made sense. She didn’t think it did, not putting it into words, but she could feel what she meant. And that is what made sense.

What could Alice do? She felt powerless.