Chapter Text

1. A Warm Welcoming

ENID SINCLAIR

It’s been so long since I’ve wandered through these corridors, it’s kinda nice to be back, even though a lot of bloodshed happened in these soils, just thinking about what happened already sended shivers down my spine, it’s really hard to grasp it all, let alone process it.

I continue walking down the hall to my old bedroom, carrying my stuff with me. As soon as I open the door and see the completely empty room, a little bit of saddened nostalgia runs through me as I recall my first encounter with Wednesday Addams. I never thought I’d miss her this much based on our first conversations, but soon she’ll finally be here and we’ll have a lot to talk about.

At least I’ll have a lot to say, not so sure about her.

After I finish unpacking my things, I grab a folder on my suitcase with a bunch of colorful films and start applying to my half of the window, just as it was last semester. As soon as I’m done, I see the gates opening and a luxurious antique black car passing though.

“Oh my! She’s here!” I squeal and jump as I run through the door to the entrance of the school. Hallway after hallway, staircase after staircase I continue running, ignoring and swerving through several other students fixing their own rooms. As I reach the main courtyard, my head is completely fuzzy, my forehead starting to sweat and my cheeks fully blushed, I cannot believe I’m finally seeing her.

While I’m approaching the gates, I see the car reverse and go back while a slim and petite monochromatic figure remains still, holding a big suitcase in her hands and her signature braids falling along her shoulders. Oh, this is finally it, after months!

“WENS!!!” I scream from the top of my lungs, catching her attention as she faces me. When our eyes finally meet, I run towards her, closing the remaining thirty feet that kept us apart.

Her eyes open wide and her cheeks twitch when I approach, standing still and breathless in front of her, face fully red and dripping sweat, I’m a complete mess.

“Enid” She says monotone, our eyes still interlocked.

“Can I?” I ask with a small motion of my hands. She looks downwards, finally breaking our eye contact, I follow her motion and see her fingers twitching on the suitcase’s handle. When I look up again, she’s still avoidant, but finally opens her mouth.

“Yes, you may”.

That’s all I needed to know. I wrap my arms around her like she’s made of chocolate, my head instantly falls between her shoulder and her neck, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, relaxing my muscles and pressing my fingers against her back. Fuck, I missed her.

My heartbeat finally settled down after all that running, calmed down now, I start to step back, but I’m stopped midway, feeling something tightening in my back. I pull my head back a little bit, getting a glimpse of her unreadable expression.

“Wednesday Addams, are you, by any chance, hugging me back?” I dare to say with a simple smile on my face, definitely sure she’s gonna stab me sooner or later for making fun of her.

She turns her face the other way, avoiding my eyes completely. “I reckon that your touch is quite sufferable after being acquaintances for that amount of time.” She says with all her seriousness, but never making eye contact during her sentence.

“Yeah, I missed you too” I’m pretty sure my eyes were full of sparkles as I said this. After that, I dig my head below her chin, maintaining my grin of happiness. Suddenly I feel her hand reach the back of my neck, my heart races immediately as I take two steps back, blushing all over again all of a sudden.

What is happening to me? Now I’m the one avoiding eye contact as she gazes at me. I try to clean my throat and think of something to do.

“We should go to our room, let me help you carry your stuff up.” I say, trying to brush off my awkwardness.

“I would appreciate that, Sinclair.” She says, handing me the smaller backpack.

“You’re welcome!” I say, walking besides her. “Do you wanna grab lunch afterwards?”

“Sounds good to me, I need nourishment after such a long trip.”

Hours go by as we finish to fix up our bedroom, it’s already pitch black out there, but everything seems to be in the perfect spot, just as it were before we left, sure warms my heart to see it, as I sit in my bed, I can already catch a glimpse of Wednesday writing something on her typewriter, probably a new novel or a sequel to her previous success.

“I heard your first release was quite a success, congrats Wens.” I say, watching her movements.

“It was difficult finding a publisher brave enough for my written work, but I finally managed to publish my first manuscrit.” She says, still typing like nothing fades her focus.

“That’s great, you should be proud of yourself…” I say, looking around the room, as some weird urge makes me get up and sit on her bed, I keep looking at her and can see her side-eyeing me, her expression always unclear. I expected some harsh words toward my allegedly bad behavior, but everything remained silent.

“Would you sign a copy for me if I bought one?” She looks at me again as I say this, the moment our eyes meet I instinctively start to play with a hairlock. Her eyes widen a bit and I see her lips moving.

What are you doing, Enid? Is this how you act with your friends?

Her face goes back to the typewriter, her fingers stopping for a couple of seconds.

“Of course.”

Is she blushing? I sense my heart skipping a beat and my breathing goes wild for a microsecond, is this really happening? Get a grip, Enid, what are you thinking?

I close my eyes, trying to take control of myself again.

“Thanks! I’ll buy one next time we’re in town.” As I finish saying this, I bury my face in one of her pillows and throw my feet upwards swinging them nonstop. I’m really happy right now, and I even got to smell her sweet lily scent on her pillow… What? What is wrong with me right now?! Pull yourself together, Enid!

I jump off her bed, trying to ignore whatever was that. Clenching my fingers and still trying to recover my air, I walk over to my study desk and sit down, drinking from my water bottle, just as the cold water refreshes my dry throat, I feel a warm puncture just under my belly.

My eyes widen the second I check my special calendar on my phone, I can already feel my eyes watering and a drop of sweat making its way down my temples.

“I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!!!” I shout, getting up and almost jogging through the door. I could hear Wens starting to say something as I stormed off. After leaving our dorm room, I just start rumbling and walking senselessly through the school grounds.

WEDNESDAY ADDAMS

After finishing the latest chapter of my new novel I can finally get up and stretch my bones. Since the release of my first book, I’ve been presented to the dreadful world of deadlines, even though it has dead on the name, I can guarantee it is no fun. It is just a method of torture aimed to disgorge all creativity and passion out of an artist, and I reassure there’s nothing to like about this kind of torture.

As soon as I finish stretching, I look around the room, looking for Enid. She’s not here. That explains the unsettling silence for the last hour, quite to my liking if anyone asks.

But still… I can’t help but feel some emptiness whenever she’s not around. I walk around the room, observing its tiny details as I recall my recollection of memories and traumas during my little time at Nevermore Academy. Quite a thrilling experience.

While sitting in my bed, I noticed a strand of golden hair laying down in one of my pillows. As soon as I touch it, my mind goes blank and my head tilts down.

A vision is coming.

It’s dark, there’s some tingling sensations going down my body, I feel shiver going up my spine until the back of my neck. Am I laying down? I can’t make much sense of it, there’s a heavy breathing in my ear, I feel my chest heavy.

“Wens…” I could barely hear it through the uneven breathing.

Enid.

As soon as the vision ends, I get up the bed and start running, looking for her. I search every inch of Ophelia Hall before going outside to look for her.

If she’s in danger, I have to do something, otherwise it will fall on me.

“There she is.” I whisper to myself, finding her sitting alone in the cafeteria. I start approaching her calmingly, she seems to be crying for some reason.

“Enid… Are you hurt?” That’s the first thing to get out of my mind.

I can see her moving her arms towards her face, as if trying to clean something.

“Did anyone hurt you?” I can’t hide my concern in my voice anymore, it’s not the first time that I feel my blood boiling when thinking of someone hurting her.

“No, I’m okay…” She says as I finally catch up to the place she’s sitting, there’s barely any light entering through the windows, but I can see her red eyes, she’s been crying, and for a long time. I move my hand towards hers, but retract, sitting still besides her, looking at the pitch black wall.

“Are you really okay?” I ask, my eyes back on her.

“You wouldn’t understand…” She says, her voice failing.

“I never saw myself as a comprehensive person, that is true, but try me, Sinclair, I’m at least a good listener.” As I finish, I lay my hand above hers, she finally look up, catching my worrying eyes in the air.

A faint laugh comes out of her as she says “Is Wednesday Addams worried about me?”, her voice so weak that it barely feels like a provoking sentence.

“I’ll let this one pass, but don’t push it.” I answer, getting up from the bench and extending my hand for her to grab. 

“Do you wish to go back to our dorm? Sitting silently in the dark is kind of my thing.” She laughs this time, a real laugh.

“You’re right, let’s go, a gloomy look doesn’t suit me at all.” She says, drying the last drop of tear from her face. As much as it pains me to admit it, I do not like that look of sadness on her face. I never thought that someday I would be putting effort into making someone feel better, but Enid is not just someone, right?

With all my extra curricular activities, per se, during school break, I never manage to process my thoughts and feelings towards her, but I know that she means something to me ever since the Hyde and Thornhill event. This is too much for my first day back.

We make our way to the dorm room walking side by side with no words uttered, my fingers twitching from time to time. As I open the door, the light shines on her pale face, she’s exhausted, her eyes are sworn from crying and her body is limp. We sit together on her bed.

“Do you want me to prepare a warm bath for you?” I ask honestly. She looks at me with a shy smile and a simple nod.

I see her closing the bathroom door before resting my body against my bed’s headboard. I close my hands with all my strength, seeing my fingers go completely white. My chest is heavy and tight, it is becoming substantially hard to maintain a cohesive breathing.

Is this related to Enid, somehow? These sensations and feelings that run through my arms, my legs, my chest and my brain. I can understand there’s something seriously bottled up inside me, this feels like some sort of emotional torture and I do not enjoy being the one suffering from it.

She leaves the bathroom wearing some colorful one piece night-suit that covers down to her knees. Enid lays on her bed, her back turned towards me, is she shutting me down by any chance?

“Enid, do you want to talk?” I ask, not sure of what to expect.

“Not really.” She mumbles through her thick blankets.

My eyes flicker at her answer, I look at her and try to make any sense of what could be happening and how I can do something about it the same way she did for me many times.

“Would you like to share a bed for the night?” My heart starts to beat faster as I finish the sentence and fail to look at her directly, something is really messing up my head. She remains silent for more than a minute before some hasty movement is heard from her side of the room.

I close my eyes, expecting to continue alone for the night until I sense her climbing my bed slowly. She digs her head in my shoulder and wraps her hands around my right arm, flooding my senses with her touch and her body presence.

“I’d like that.” She finally says.

My left hand finds its way to my mouth as I feel blood rushing inside my face, I tighten the grip on her hand and close my eyes, grateful for the room being pitch black.