Chapter Text
Over the next few weeks, Enid’s life was full of something she didn’t think it would ever be: studying. She had studied from time to time– mostly for tests, but she had never felt the need to do it on the regular. Enid was at least mediocre at basically everything. Like the world’s most average renaissance woman.
However, Wednesday was worth it. Of course she was.
Enid sighed, twirling a pencil between her fingers. Books upon books were stacked around her in the library. It was her lunch break. The girl hadn’t sat with anyone since Wednesday’s incident, but she now found her time more worthwhile in scouring the library, rather than just sitting in her room.
Wednesday was perched on the table, kicking her feet. Sure, she couldn’t touch people, but she could touch objects. Enid was surprised no one had gotten maimed yet– Wednesday with access to a large connection of knives, summoned at will, and an inability to die and/or be seen seemed dangerous for the general population of Nevermore.
“Fester sent a phone-word-message,” Wednesday said, quickly jerking her head to the side so that a braid would graze the gaping wound in her stomach and further disturb Enid. She’d had way too much fun with doing so lately.
“You mean a text?” Enid raised an eyebrow. Wednesday threw her phone at her in response, Enid quickly catching it and looking down at it. “Fester wants to meet soon, I guess.”
“Yes,” Wednesday said, dropping off of the table and walking over to look through the books Enid had recently taken off of the shelf. In a way, things almost felt normal. Enid and Wednesday working side-by-side, Thing “asleep” beside them on the table. Enid smiled, looking over at Wednesday, who was now flipping through a book. Hovering books weren’t completely unheard of in Nevermore’s library, nobody stopping and questioning anything.
She had, however, been snarled at by a few vampires for occupying the space normally used to fang, but Enid had a sneaking suspicion Yoko may have pulled some strings to get them to back off once she didn’t see them return. Wednesday trailed her finger down her book, seemingly disappointed when she obtained no paper cut. Enid rolled her eyes and stretched out, then scooped up her phone, tapping a message.
Fester
7:45 am
I'm ready to meet up as soon as possible!
Enid
7:46 am
thx! :3
Wednesday’s eyes widened in disdain, staring over Enid’s shoulder, “that is not how you communicate with someone.”
“I think my emoticons are lovely, o bringer of grim death.” Wednesday rolled her eyes, muttering something about ‘insipid little pictures.’ Enid checked her phone, “we’ve got five minutes ‘till the bell rings. Let’s clean up.” The ghost narrowed her eyes, and then waved her hand. All the books she had taken out whooshed back to their original spots. Enid’s books did not.
“Woah,” Enid’s voice was low, “when did you pick that up?” Wednesday gave a slight raise of her shoulders, crossing her arms in wait for her roommate to start cleaning up. Enid did so, aware of her friend’s eyes trained on her back the entire time.
“You have a test this morning, correct?” Wednesday asked.
“Mhm,” Enid put books back on the shelves, grabbing her bag.
“I can help you with it, then. It’s on Indigenous American history, which my father thoroughly educated me on as a child.”
“Nope, I’m not cheating,” Enid said, walking out of the library with her.
“It isn’t cheating, it is assistance. You said that friends should assist one another when they can.”
“Stop using my words to justify rule-breaking, you can do that on your own without my assistance. I kind of studied for it, it’ll be fine,” Enid went into class once they arrived at the door, taking off her jacket and scanning over her notes while Wednesday hovered annoyingly close, “and it would be a lot easier if your ghosty and cold breath wasn’t on my neck.” Wednesday moved even closer in spite.
“Okay, screw you,” she squinted at her own handwriting, trying to decipher the words. Her usual chicken scratch was not discernable to the average person– but then again, Wednesday was not the average person.
“Corn,” Wednesday’s voice cut through her thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Corn,” she pointed at the section, “the main diet was corn. In this part, at least– most of the other information was lost to time. Or targeted fires. Mostly targeted fires.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Enid finally made sense of the annotations. The teacher was an old silver wolf. Middle-aged man, probably in his late forties. He had been one of Wednesday’s favorite teachers for the sole reason that he refused to sugarcoat history for the appeal. Wednesday personally thought gory details were preferable, but most of the other students did not.
Speak of the devil– said teacher had just walked in, clapping his hands.
“Alright students, please put your notes away so we may prepare for the test.”
Enid snuck a look at Bianca, the person she knew best in the room. Sure, Enid had been Nevermore’s ‘gossip queen’, as Wednesday put it, but she only really was friends with her little group. And even that had drifted.
Bianca caught her eye, studying her out of the corner of her vision. Enid off-handedly wondered if something had gotten on her face during lunch, but she didn’t eat lunch today, so that couldn’t be it. The siren didn’t seem satisfied with what she found, and turned back to her paper. She seemed confident in the test, though, which was more than Enid could say for herself. Enid rubbed her temples, looking down at her own test. She filled in an answer.
“You’re incorrect,” Wednesday said from behind her, Enid gritting her teeth,
“Wednesday, what did I say?!” She whisper-shouted. Bianca turned back around and looked at her, Enid quickly going back to her test, keeping the wrong answer in just to spite her ghostly roommate. She probably at least passed the quiz. Hopefully. Bianca was watching her the entire time. Enid tried to ignore her.
She silently prayed no one was aware something was up.
__________
Bianca was definitely aware something was up. It was expected that Enid would decrease in spirits after Wednesday’s death– everyone had. As much as the siren hated to admit it, Wednesday had a place in quite a few hearts around Nevermore. Some romantically, of course, but the girl was intriguing. Memorable.
Wednesday Addams wasn’t someone you easily forgot, one way or the other.
It almost seemed that she was still lurking the halls. Her presence swept through the doorways, causing Bianca to glance over her shoulder, like the girl was still staring daggers at her back. It was unusual being able to finish her sentence in classrooms, unusual not having someone wreaking havoc in fencing. Unusual seeing the way a select few had lost their brightness.
Eugene had been an inconsolable mess since she’d died, hiding in his shed and only really talking to choice people occasionally. Speaking of which, a certain werewolf had become a shell of herself. It reminded Bianca of a sponge being wrung out– the color melting from her face, her hair, her clothing, her makeup.
Enid Sinclair had dried into a husk of blank stares, dissociated movements, and concerned looks from others.
That was, until she started acting…strange. Stranger than usual. Some of that sponge soaked the color back up. Around the time of Wednesday’s funeral, Enid’s eyes had strangely gotten… brighter? She no longer slouched as much, her eyes were no longer a dam of thin wood holding back the floodgates of tears. But that was where the positives ended.
Bianca had never been close with Enid– the girl and her had a mutual respect of Bianca being the HBIC of Nevermore, and Enid being the gossip intel.
A queen and her poet, so to say.
However, things had changed when a soldier had shown her monochrome face through the halls of Nevermore. Addams was the soldier. Instigating fights, challenging authority, and most importantly, protecting her loved ones to a tee.
Enid had tried to befriend her, as she did everyone, and had been almost completely rejected by Addams many times. It was almost amusing, the way the werewolf came bouncing back like a tennis ball. There had been that fight between them– Bianca had heard it from Yoko. Apparently Addams had gotten a taste of her own bitter, salty medicine.
If Bianca was being completely honest, she would have admitted that most of the student body had thought there was something going on between Addams and Enid. The human girl had very strict boundaries, and Enid had crossed said boundaries publicly on multiple occasions.
Then Ajax and Enid had gotten together, and Addams had kissed that normie boy, and it had put a little wedge in her theories. Well…not entirely. Bianca was friends with many lesbians, and she knew good and well what putting up a hetero farce looked like. Addams, however, had been a tricky case. It just wasn’t like her to kiss a normie boy, and Bianca had pegged her as ‘for the girls only’ a couple days after they met.
This school would be so much better if men just chose to screw off.
However, even Addams and Enid’s very odd friendship didn’t explain the werewolf’s current behavior. At first, Bianca theorized that Enid was just talking to herself, narrating her life. It seemed normal. The siren had caught her doing it previously. Then, the hushed conversations, silent laughs, and whispered arguments started happening, and that definitely pushed Nevermore’s ‘ground zero for strange occurrences’ meter past Level Alarming.
Bianca watched a certain gorgon carefully, who was in-turn studying his girlfriend.
The girlfriend in question was currently arguing with the air.
“...No, you cannot just try and do that! No, no, I don’t want to hear it! No cheating on tests ever again. Promise me. Promise,” she paused, glaring at the blank space in front of her, “good. Thanks.” Enid turned, picking up her bag and headed briskly into the direction of the library.
Ajax furrowed his brow, then turned around and slammed directly into Bianca. Or, would’ve, had the siren not sidestepped and let him trip onto the floor. A muffled, “ow.” was heard.
She raised her eyebrows, “get up, snake boy.” The gorgon popped up, brushing dust off of his beanie,
“Sorry, dude.” He picked up his books, making to walk past her. He was halfway to the door when Bianca spoke,
“How long has Enid been acting like this?”
He froze like he’d stoned himself. “Huh?”
“How long has she been talking to herself?” Her voice was smooth and cornering, “or, talking to…someone else?” He swallowed, then turned around,
“I think…since the funeral.”
“I think we both know who she thinks she’s talking to.”
Ajax paused. “Wednesday, right? We’re talking about Wednesday?”
“Yes, Ajax. She thinks she’s talking to Addams.”
“Right on. So, what about it?” He looked confused.
“We should bring it up to the group in our free period, she’s not sitting with us.”
Ajax shrugged, following her to the quad. Bianca chose to interact with Ajax as sparingly as possible, because she genuinely believed talking to him made her permanently lose brain cells. However, this seemed like a rare occasion where he was sober, so she would take anything she could get.
The wooden bench of the group came into view. The group was kind of unusual, in the way that none of these people had really hung out previous to Wednesday’s arrival. However, oddly enough, she had brought them closer. The group consisted of Yoko, Divinia and Kent, Ajax, Bianca, Xavier and occasionally Eugene, if he had the will to leave his bee shed. Currently, Yoko and Divina were discussing something while Kent stared blankly at the wall. Yoko had her arm around Divina’s shoulders, the other girl pressed into her. Xavier was sketching something. Bianca formulated a very snarky comment about the amount of money she’d bet it was Wednesday. Enid and Eugene were nowhere to be found, thank god. Ajax slid in opposite of Xavier, while Bianca sat next to Yoko and Divina. The others gave tight smiles or small waves. No one really spoke, until Bianca got sick of the silence,
“Guys,” she cleared her throat. Five sets of eyes focused on her. Even Kent diverted his attention from his fascinating wall. “Ajax and I have been having concerns regarding our local colorful werewolf.”
Yoko’s eyebrows raised in interest and she glanced at Bianca through her glasses,
“What did Enid do this time?”
“You mean apart from tearing Xavier the hell up at the funeral?” Divina side-eyed the psychic, who suddenly became very interested in the tabletop. He mumbled an apology, pointedly not making eye contact with anyone.
“Yes,” Bianca came back in, “apart from that humiliating display. I meant regarding the fact that she’s been talking to the air for three weeks.”
Yoko thought for a moment, “I have noticed that. I just thought she was talking to one of the invisibles.”
Since the Crackstone incident, Nevermore had gained more attention, and new groups were starting to fill in. A prime example were the invisibles, students who were, well, invisible.
“But even their uniforms show…”
“Exactly.” Bianca clasped her hands onto the table, “I think Enid’s hallucinating Wednesday. That, or she’s in such deep denial that she’s convinced herself Wednesday’s back as a ghost of some kind.”
The table fell silent, Xavier’s breath catching.
“That would explain why she totally blew up at Xavier,” Ajax added.
“Or maybe Xavier was just an asshole,” Bianca gave the artist a pointed look. He crossed his arms,
“I said I was sorry!”
“Whatever. Ajax, you’re her boyfriend, have you noticed anything off besides that?”
The gorgon scratched the back of his neck, “I was kinda chickened out to talk to her. Enid’s been all freaky since Wednesday…y’know…so I was just gonna leave it until it got better.”
Yoko stared at him, a beat passing. “I am so glad I have no attraction to men more and more every day.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.”
“So, the point is Ajax is a horrible boyfriend?” Divina shrugged, Bianca groaning.
“No, that’s not the takeaway, even though Ajax is a questionable boyfriend. The point is what we’ll do with Enid. She needs to wake up from her fantasy at some point, before she adopts the Addams family tendency to cause harm to others.”
Xavier chewed his cheek, “how do we know when to wake her up?”
“When it gets noticeable to the teachers. Until then, Yoko and Divina, try to spend time with her– get her out of her room a little. Xavier, please don’t instigate anything with Enid, actually, try to steer clear of her general direction.” He gave a thumbs up.
“If it still gets worse, we’ll stage an intervention, and go to the teachers. Got it?” There were scattered nods, a few exchanged glances. Ajax looked around, tentatively raising his hand. “Ajax?”
“Uh. Yeah. What should I do?”
Bianca gave him a blank stare, while Yoko and Divina doled out the most vicious side-eye of their careers. Xavier squinted at him.
“What?” The gorgon’s eyes darted from person to person, “I just wanna know.”
Bianca massaged her temples, “just…be cordial. Don’t instigate anything, either…just do what you did before.”
“I can do that!”
“I’d hope so,” Bianca said under her breath. “Alright, are we all clear on what we need to do?”
Various signs of confirmation were shown.
“Great. Operation Help Enid is a go.”
__________
The clock was menacing. Enid watched the second hand make its way around the circle, blinking rapidly. Wednesday hovered beside her silently, not offering any assistance despite the fact that she’d probably faced a similar situation many times before. She was surrounded by a few teachers whose faces she barely knew anymore.
“So,” the principal said, leaning forward. His hands were clasped together like he was praying, his eyes burning into her front, “we think it would be a good idea if you had more frequent therapy sessions. And perhaps a mental evaluation.”
Enid gritted her teeth. She barely felt like herself anymore. Her claws unsheathed. She hid them, “I-I don’t really think that’s necessary, sir.”
“We believe it is, miss.” Enid tensed and looked to Wednesday, who was still mutely floating beside her.
“I’ve completed my assignments,” she said slowly, “I don’t understand the purpose.” He took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to phrase it,
“Some other students have voiced…concerns about your mental well-being. They’ve reported you speaking towards the air. Having conversations with figures that are not there.” Enid’s eyes darted around,
“Haven’t you thought that it could be an invisible student?”
“Nice try, Ms. Sinclair. An invisible student’s uniform would still show, and there has been a pointed lack of one sighted.”
Shit.
“I’ve just been talking to myself, sir,” she looked up, making hesitant eye contact, “it’s been tricky handling everything, but I’m not overcommitting on anything. Promise.”
He frowned, “I’m sorry, but we’re not changing our minds. Two sessions a week, and a possible evaluation.” Enid ground her teeth, feeling the sharp canines press into her lip. Blood. Fun.
“But-”
“No. My hands are tied, Ms. Sinclair.” She furrowed her eyebrows, nodding carefully,
“I’ll try harder in the future. Promise.” Her voice was monitored and slow. She was used to performing a façade. She just needed to apply this one a little harder.
“I believe you’re supposed to be meeting with the therapist now, actually,” he gestured towards the door, squinting at his paper. “Dr. Wayright? Daylight?”
“Waybright.”
“Right. Off you go then.” Enid stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and speed-walked out of the room. Her ghostly roommate followed, clasping her hands in her front.
“Terrible to see the teachers have not become any more bearable since my departure.” Enid gave a sharp laugh.
“Always a ray of sunshine, aren'tcha?”
“No.”
“Sure thing.” They walked together, Wednesday eyes fixed on their surroundings, Enid’s fixed on the people they passed. “Therapy is…interesting,” she said, trying to strike up a conversation. Wednesday didn’t reply. “I mean, it’s not the worst, I like Ms. Waybright, she’s my therapist if you didn’t catch it before, but it’s so hard to talk about things. Especially you.”
“I see,” Wednesday finally said, her voice slow, “therapy is for people who want to improve and understand themselves. As such I never found it useful. I already understand myself.”
“But… do you?”
“Yes.”
“Do any of us really understand each other? Even now, I’m not exactly sure what I want. Things have been kind of rough with Ajax recently. Everything I worked toward has been slipping…” Enid wiped away tears, Wednesday giving her a blank look. “...I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’ve been the same person ever since I met you. No offense.”
“I do not take offense to anything,” Wednesday slightly waved a hand.
“You do,” Enid said with a quiet laugh, “otherwise you wouldn’t have tried to duel Bianca three times.”
“One's honor must be protected, it has nothing to do with offense. Here, I know a short-cut,” Wednesday pulled Enid towards the dark woods just off the side of the road. Enid could hear the humming of insects and the rustling of leaves.
“Uh, people have been murdered here before, Willa.”
“Indeed,” Wednesday said, taking a step further into the woods, “I’m sure you would be distraught if you were late to your therapy session.”
“You just want to go into your creepy woods,” Enid followed Wednesday in anyway. Her friend clearly knew where she was going, weaving in between trees instead of going through them like she easily could have, following trails only she could make out. She didn’t wait for Enid to keep up either. She never had. She occasionally stopped for the most infinitesimal time known to man, only to keep pushing on. Enid could hardly see how it was a shortcut, leaning back against a tree, “Wednesday, some of us still have working lungs!”
“We’re almost there.”
“You said that thirty minutes ago!” Enid voice took on a whinier quality then intended, and she waited for a sharp comment from Wednesday, receiving none. The girl just kept walking.
Sunlight gently shone through the tight canopy of leaves above their heads, tickling Enid’s face and stroking her shoulders with brief flickers of warmth. She scanned her eyes over great, towering trees. Stones laid beside them, soft moss growing overtop. “I can see why you like it here so much,” Enid ran to catch up with Wednesday, who made something disturbingly close to a haughty sniff,
“It is much better at night.”
“You think everything’s better when it’s night,” Enid rolled her eyes, “y’know, I think if you could eradicate the sun or something you would.” Her roommate seemed to actually consider the option, before a stern, “Wednesday,” came from Enid. The ghost didn’t reply, giving a slight inclination of her head towards the landscape in a wordless message. Enid caught it. They were here.
Their surroundings were hauntingly beautiful. Of course Wednesday would like it, if she were a landscape this would be it. A cutoff of the lush greenery made way to dead trees. There were no leaves on the ground; the nature must’ve been deceased for a while. Sticks snapped underneath Enid’s feet, and she silently remarked how it was almost a graveyard of trees. Skeletons standing above the ground. The air was so thick with silence that Enid was afraid something bad would happen if she dared to speak. However, Wednesday’s eyes darted from her to the dead land.
“I found this place when exploring with Thing. There was quite a nice collection of bones here.” The lycan glanced down and saw the caked dirt littered with bones of all shapes and sizes. Among the sticks decorating the ground, it felt oddly peaceful. As peaceful as what was basically an above-ground graveyard could be.
“What type of bones are they?” Enid asked, pulling a face as her shoe sunk into mud, hitting something sharp that sent a resounding crack across the clearing.
“I have yet to properly examine them. Most are prey. This, though…” Wednesday crouched down and stroked her fingers down what looked to be a– Enid swallowed– human skull. “This is a predator.” Enid pulled out her phone. There was no signal, as expected,
“Wednesday, I’m going to be late to my therapy session. Or not get there at all, this far out.”
“So? I thought you did not wish to go anyway,” Wednesday said, walking further through the clearing, briefly disappearing in the eerie darkness the thick cover of the trees on the perimeter and clouds brought, despite a sun that was certainly still shining up above.
“I can’t just miss a session, it’s not that simple.”
“Then make it that simple,” Wednesday said, “you’ll find more agony out here then stuck in a 'cheerful’ safe room.”
“I’m trying to escape ‘agony’ in therapy,” Enid was starting to get a little bit annoyed, poking a bone with her foot, her other shoe sinking through the mud. She gritted her teeth and swallowed a growl. She could never wear these shoes again, they were beyond ruined. Wednesday didn’t have that problem, wearing thick, black boots. Perfect for a muddy graveyard. Also, Wednesday didn’t get mud on her boots. Stupid ghost privileges.
“Perhaps that is your problem then. Why escape it when you can embrace it? My family is still surviving because of it. We embraced what they scorned and feared. We embraced the torture and rose above it,” she levitated a bone in the air, “they would gladly have killed us. ‘Witches’ and ‘devil spawn’ and,” she said some terms that made Enid shift uncomfortably.
“Jeez.” The werewolf avoided eye contact, “I remember some normies being mean to me and my brothers when we were little, but we didn’t really deal with much. There was this one time I went into a place and the owner tried to call animal control on me.”
Wednesday tilted her head slightly in acknowledgement. “I was surprised to learn that you do not perform many werewolf traditions, as I have read. Werewolf biology taught me quite a bit.”
“It’s mostly just centered around scents and stuff.” Enid found a rock big enough to sit on and did so, huffing at the slimy texture. “Do you hang out in any clean places?”
“The morgue tends to be quite clean.”
“Whatever works for you,” Enid eyed her. “Is there any specific reason that you brought me to the creepy tree graveyard or are you just being spooky again?”
“I wanted to explore it again,” Wednesday, the obvious epitome of selflessness, said, “also, I know you did not want to attend your session. It’s closer to town, we can reconvene with my uncle sooner. We are supposed to meet with him today to discuss things.”
“...Right.” Enid nodded, grimacing at the muck getting on her uniform. Might as well just ruin her entire outfit. Wednesday settled down beside her, the two girls sitting in silence. It was a comforting, familiar silence. Wednesday was different from Enid’s other friends. She observed rather than participated in most activities that didn’t fit into her extremely narrow range of interests. She didn’t always uphold her end of the conversation, allowing Enid to talk for hours. But she knew she listened. Enid found comfort in it.
There was a certain appearance she had struggled to keep up with her entire life. And finally, she had someone she could let it down around. Someone who could see who she really was. A person just as awkward as Wednesday, when it came down to it. Only, one of them had decided to hide it and one hadn’t.
“We should leave,” Wednesday said after a little while, rising and giving the graveyard one last, fond glance, “we don’t want to be late to meet Uncle Fester. He comes up with creative retaliation.”
“Oh, awesome,” Enid followed Wednesday through the winding tree trails, the sunlight apparent once more.
The walk to Jericho was brisk, and somehow, they found conversation. Enid made sure no one was around to see her giggle at Wednesday’s deadpan comments. It was nice for them to slip back into their banter and routine.
Enid wasn’t really partial to coffee. If she did choose to influence her already ‘nauseatingly hyper’ personality (Wednesday’s words, not hers) with more caffeine, it would be with a copious amount of sugar. That resulted in not many of her friends jumping to take her to the Weathervane. Enid knew Tyler had worked at the store, and Thing had filled her in that it was where he and Wednesday had met. Nope, not revisiting that awful memory for her! Instead, Fester had texted her the location— a tiny cafe by the graveyard. She suspected this may be why he had chosen it.
“My kin.” Wednesday gestured to the graveyard. It took a solid second for the dark joke to click in Enid’s mind, but when it did, she gave a bewildered whisper. “Wednesday.”
She could’ve sworn the ghost cracked a smile. They went inside, Enid opening the door. It let out a long, creaking noise as she tugged it open. She gave it a closer look, then smirked, “you absolutely wouldn’t have been able to open this in your usual form. It’s heavy.”
“I have been here before, the door is not a problem.”
“How?” Enid asked, walking inside, her friend following her closely.
“I went in through the window.” Enid stared at her, then decided this was not the most incriminating thing Wednesday had said, even that day. She looked around. The cafe was about as tiny as it had looked from the outside, having an appropriate dark feel for a business directly beside a graveyard. Nobody batted an eye at her talking to what looked like the space beside her. The people there looked to almost be solely outcasts, or some other form of creature that probably fell under the outcast umbrella. In particular, Enid’s eyes were drawn to a woman who looked like she was half-spider, long and straight black hair falling in front of her elegant face. The lycan blinked. “Uncle Fester usually sits further back,” Wednesday said, sounding slightly annoyed, her hand going to Enid’s wrist like she was going to attempt to tug her there faster.
“Okay,” Enid followed Wednesday to the back.
“Oh, hello girls,” Fester said with a gleeful cackle akin to that of a witch, looking as ghostly pale as ever.
“Uncle Fester, what did you find out?” Wednesday floated across from him.
“She wants to know what you figured out,” Enid told the man, sitting beside Wednesday. Fester didn’t waste any time, pulling three large books from seemingly nowhere and slamming them down onto the table,
“It’s all so terribly boring, but exactly what I expected. Love, combined with Wednesday’s position as firstborn of her Addams generation. Our promising child,” he gave a wide grin, “has a reason to stay here. Love. It’s so horribly disgusting, don’t you think?”
Wednesday glared at him, making a remark about how she’d ‘finish what Debbie couldn’t.’ Enid eyed her, “who’s Debbie?”
“Oh, Debbie,” Fester let out a longing sigh, “my ex wife. She tried to murder me after taking control of my life and forcing me to become a ginger.”
Enid gave Wednesday a blank stare, turning to whisper. “Everything I have learned about your family has been against my will.”
The girl shrugged.
“Okay, so Fester, is there anything in there about how to undo her ghostly form?”
“Yes! I’ve brought you the books to have. I stole them, don’t worry about returning them. Cousin Itt will have my head, if he can catch me!” He wiggled his fingers excitedly, “Wednesday is anchored here by love, so there’s some spells to undo it in any fashion.”
Enid scrunched up her nose, “what kind of love?”
Fester opened his mouth to say something that looked suspiciously like “yearning” before Wednesday knocked his hot coffee into his lap. The boiling liquid seeped through his black coat, and he gave a giggle, “there she is! My favorite niece.”
“Isn’t she your only niece?” Enid asked, her eyes widening at the man’s lack of reaction at the burning coffee soaking into what was certain to be an extremely unpleasant area.
“That’s besides the point. Anyway, family love, romantic love, platonic love, and so on and so forth. Pinpointing the most important part would be helpful. I’m sure we can figure something out, with maximum damage to others along the way!” Enid gave Wednesday a long, disapproving look, like they were an old married couple. Wednesday looked away, also like they were an old married couple.
Of course. Wednesday had a loving family. That was why she was still there, Enid decided. Fester continued giggling as the coffee soaked deeper through his clothes, Enid hearing the sound of the front door slowly creaking open.
A familiar voice filtered through the room, and Enid’s breath caught in her throat as she eyed her therapist. Dr. Waybright, the same Dr. Waybright who’s therapy session she had skipped. The woman wasn’t alone; there were two other people with her. The first one was a tan woman with curly brown hair tied back, hoop earrings and a floral, leafy dress. Oddly, she had scars up her arms and neck that looked like cracks– like if someone had taken a hammer to a vase and then glued the pieces back together.
The second person with them was shorter, and had black hair thrown messily up. They were also tan, dressed in green tones with a t-shirt that had a crude duck on it. A messenger bag was thrown over their shoulder, papers peeking out messily, and Enid could see a nonbinary pin stuffed in there. Almost like they were trying to hide it.
Enid internally prayed for Dr. Waybright and her companions to not notice her. And because the universe hated her, the blonde woman turned around and caught sight of the werewolf trying to make herself as small as possible. The two others were talking quietly, hands brushing. Dr. Waybright walked over, tilting her head.
“Hey, Enid! I didn’t see you at our meeting today, did something come up?” Her face was kind, and she was smiling gently.
“Uh, yeah, I had an important… assignment to do,” Enid said, “then I came here to… further my progress by talking to Wednesday’s uncle.” Fester waved enthusiastically, still completely soaked in coffee.
Dr. Waybright eyed the man, “oh…kay…” she straightened up. “So, I heard we’ll be doubling our sessions? Your principal informed me.”
“Yeah,” Enid nervously fidgeted with her hands, looking out the window.
“Sounds good.” Her companions had stopped whispering, and had spied their friend. Both of them walked over, and fixed their eyes on Enid. “Oh, yeah, Enid, this is Anne and Marcy.” She gestured respectively to the two, “my,” her voice lowered, “my wives.”
Oh.
That made a lot of sense to her. Jericho wasn’t the most welcoming to outcasts, but at least Enid didn’t have to interact with the town on a daily basis. Dr. Waybright and her wives lived here, and that made Marcy hiding their pin click in her head. If this was how Jericho treated outcasts, she didn’t want to know what would happen to Dr. Waybright and her wives if their relationship was common knowledge. The use of partner, the gauging of whether Enid would be accepting of that kind of stuff– it all made sense. Enid glanced at their hands, and noticed a sort of unconventional ring. Dr. Waybright had green and blue rings, Anne had green and pink, and Marcy had pink and blue.
Marcy waved eagerly at the people sitting in the booth, Enid waving back. Anne finally looked at them, and her eyes didn’t stay on Enid. They shifted further back. Anne took a sharp inhale to mask her gasp, eyes fixed on Wednesday. Enid slowly followed her gaze, Wednesday staring back at the woman, looking as blankly as possible at her.
“Um, anyway. Nice meeting you guys,” Enid said, Fester narrowing his eyes at the one called Anne.
“Nice meeting you too!” Marcy chirped, making their way over to the bar stools. Anne nodded, furrowing her brows. Before she turned, Enid could’ve sworn she saw the woman’s eyes flash from brown to a piercing blue. Probably just a trick of the light. However, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this lady could see Wednesday.
Dr. Waybright looked confusedly at her wife, then gave Enid a sheepish wave. “Sorry about that, dunno what happened. She’s not usually like that.”
“It’s fine,” Enid said quickly, reaching a hand toward Wednesday out of instinct, used to stopping her friend from doing something in retaliation after a perceived wrong. Wednesday reacted in quite a volatile way to offense for someone who supposedly didn’t take offense.
“Alrighty, see you Enid.” The woman turned back to her wives. Marcy waved her over, and the blonde woman sat down with a chuckle, sipping some of Marcy’s coffee. Anne stared lovingly at the two, and Enid felt a strange feeling. Something like longing? No, that couldn’t be right, Enid wasn’t gay. She was an ally, as she liked to think. However, as she looked at the three sharing quiet laughter in a town built to do nothing but bring them harm, some sort of emotion stirred in her stomach. Probably just missing Ajax…yeah.
“So, that’s it!” Fester cheerfully interrupted Enid’s existential crisis, as he snapped his briefcase closed. “I’ve left the books with’cha, if you need anything, you know how to find me!” Enid smiled.
“Thank you, Fester. From both of us.” He gave a grin and a tip of his hat, then climbed out of the open window and was gone.
“Well,” Wednesday said, “shall we head to the library to conduct further research?” Enid nodded. She didn’t really have anything else planned. Enid followed Wednesday back through the creepy woods and out into regular society, keeping her head down as she walked. They entered their dorm after an hour, Enid taking a small table in a safe, hidden corner. Wednesday surrounded herself with books within seconds.
Enid pretended to read beside her. But her eyes couldn’t help but drift back to the other girl. She was sitting as rigidly as always, even though she could choose to loosen up if she wanted to as a ghost. Her nose was buried in a large book, her eyes flitting across the page. Some loose hair fell over her eyes, giving her a slightly deranged look. Enid swallowed, looking away.
Wednesday had always been… pleasant to look at. But the part that had made Enid react the most, so to say, had been her touch. An accidental finger brushed over her. That hug. And a cold hand pressed to the back of her neck, that had heated her body at the touch. But that was normal for friends! Right?
Wednesday finally closed the book with a loud snap, dropping it against the table. She leaned her head forward, reaching to rub her eyes. Her hand went right through her body. “I don’t want to be this way forever,” she said. Enid let out a sympathetic hum, moving closer to her,
“I know. But don’t worry, Uncle Fester and I will find a way to bring you back to life.”
“Bring–” Wednesday said slowly, breath catching. “Bring me back? Enid, I intend to die forever.” Enid’s heart damn near dropped.
“Willa?” She anxiously met the other girl’s gaze, “please tell me I misheard that. Please tell me you’re not trying to go, like, forever,” her voice trailed off in a nervous laugh. Wednesday didn’t answer, locking eyes with her. That was enough of a response for Enid.
“You’re…you’re serious?” Her throat tightened suddenly, “you’re actually going to leave?” Her words were choked out. Any second now and she’d start sobbing. Wednesday froze for a moment, like a deer caught in headlights, or in front of a snarling wolf. She never froze. She barely ever stopped to think how anything she said affected anyone beyond herself. Enid’s stomach twisted, and she felt like throwing up, blinking back tears.
“Enid. This world is… I do not wish to spend any more time on it than necessary.”
Because you’re a coward, because you’re scared of feeling things, the back of Enid’s mind whispered, But she didn’t say those words out loud, instead reverting to her basic state when stressed. The sweet, sensitive Enid who was a perfect example of what a girl and a student should be. She let herself give the fakest smile of her life, and spat out, “okay.” She didn’t see the old pain in Wednesday’s eyes, or the new confusion. The girl who was just like her. Wednesday didn’t acknowledge the agony in Enid’s. They were both more stubborn than they would admit.
“Okay, yeah.” Enid’s words turned bitter. Full of hurt, of regret, of why was I so stupid to think she’d stay for me. “I guess I just thought some people were worth fighting for. Why did you even come here, if you just wanted to die again?!”
“You could’ve helped me. That’s what’s important.” Wednesday’s words flew out before she had time to think about what she was saying. She blinked. Uh oh.
“Oh, there it is!” She laughed, a breathless and scornful laugh, “because you only ever come to someone when they can help you, huh Wednesday?” Wednesday didn’t grace that with a response and turned around, disappearing in thin air. Her eyes stung with the hints of tears, as they annoyingly only seemed to do around Enid. She’d be back eventually. But the damage had already been done.
And now, the soldier had abandoned the poet who had come to rely on her. Everything from the past month came rushing at a defenseless Enid, all at once, drowning her right back into the shadows again. She slumped against the table, her hands shakily curling into fists, “I hate you, Wednesday Addams.”
Nobody responded to her. Wednesday was already wherever she had disappeared off to at that point, gone to shut out the world again.
Enid was completely and utterly alone.