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The outdoor classroom had been completed just in time for the fall term. The academy and surrounding houses, now purchased from their former owners, were bursting at the seams with a flock of young witches that were ready for the school year ahead. It seemed to be a fitting tribute to their fallen sister witch. An outdoor space that captured everything the headmistress’ lover had held dear in her short time on earth. A space to teach the younger witches of nature, of their craft, and of loss.
Loss.
Cordelia could still barely use that word. Somewhere in the back of her mind she still held the small hope that Misty would come walking through the door, just like she did in her dreams every night. She refused to dedicate the space. After all, how did could she explain everything she felt in 175 characters?
Everything held her. The benches, made from the remains of her shack.The trinkets and sun catchers taken from the trees. The door that had once kept Misty safe from the outside world made a beautiful table. Cordelia’s intention and been to leave Misty's swamp just as it stood, a place to go when she was in need of solace, to remember Misty and cherish the time they had together, but a recent storm had done so much damage that she was afraid the swamp would soon reclaim everything. So, one Sunday afternoon she took Zoe and Kyle along to salvage everything they could from Misty’s little world.
The last of her belongings now resided interspersed among Cordelia’s things as if the space was one they shared.
The Supreme sat with her back to the academy, letting the last of the summer sun warm her face. One of Misty’s warmer shawls was wrapped tightly around her arms as the light wind gently tousled her hair. She could almost feel Misty there with her, as she sat among her things, wrapped in her shawl. It was like the air was electric everywhere Misty had touched, leaving parts of herself, giving so completely her soul. Sometimes Cordelia thought that if she tried hard enough she could gather that energy into one place and will her love back into this world.
In her mind she knew better, but something about Misty made her willing to defy all logic.
It was easier to picture Misty as she was then to think about the fact that she was gone. At first, every day was unbearable. She couldn’t face letting go of what should have been, but now could never be. It was so easy for Cordelia to imagine Misty standing there beside her, hear her laugh or the love in her voice when she said her name. Dee. She called her Dee. It started with Delia, as many people had called her before, but was soon shortened to simply Dee. Nobody had ever nicknamed her Dee. She would always be Misty’s Dee.
Everything about her was still so clear, yet painfully absent from her life now. As a chillier wind hit her and she wrapped herself tighter in Misty’s shawl, she tried to push away the haze of memory that had hit her as well. She’d learned to keep it inside, keep it manageable, but she still missed her beyond measure. She couldn’t imagine a time when she wouldn’t.