Spark • Xavier Thorpe

fourteen

Xavier drove the group back to Tyler's house, where Wednesday quickly began to take care of Tyler's wounds. Elvira sat in between Enid and Xavier, staring at the table blankly. Xavier had been holding her hand since the moment they sat down, occasionally rubbing her knuckles with his thumb.

"Thanks doc," Tyler said softly, as Wednesday finished bandaging him up.

"Not to make this about me, but I am having a full-blown panic attack right now. We need to get back before Weems realizes we've been gone," Enid told them. Just as she finished speaking, the door opened and in walked Sheriff Galpin.

"What the hell happened? This was you, wasn't it?" The sheriff asked, marching towards Wednesday.

"Wait, Dad, please. I'm okay," Tyler assured him. Elvira watched the interaction, her grip on Xavier's hand unknowingly getting tighter. She didn't realize until he squeezed her hand comfortingly. She glanced over at him and smiled thankfully, which earned her a smile in return.

"Sheriff, I understand you're upset, but I think you need to see something," Wednesday told him.

It wasn't long before the sheriff had called Principal Weems, and within the next twenty minutes, she arrived to take Elvira, Xavier, and Enid back to the school. Sheriff Galpin said he would bring Wednesday once he looked at what she needed to show him.

Elvira was silent the whole way back, Xavier still holding her hand, but she didn't feel it anymore. She was tired, and her mind was shutting down. She needed to sleep so that she could recover from the terror of the night's adventure.

She didn't hear a single word of the lecture that Principal Weems gave them during their ride back, nor did she hear Xavier say goodnight to her as she walked through the door to Ophelia Hall.

She walked numbly into their dorm, and made her way straight into the bathroom. She locked the door behind her and then leaned against it. After a moment she slid down the door to sit on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. For the first time since she was seven years old, Elvira felt a tear trail down her cheek.

She made no attempt to stop it, as another joined, and soon silent tears were streaming down her face. She muffled her sobs with her hand, as she felt her body begin to shake once more. For once, it felt good to cry. It felt good to let all of her pent of emotions out. It gave her a sense of relief, and as her sobs came to a stop, she felt lighter.

After about five minutes, she stood and quickly washed any evidence of her breakdown from her face, before stepping back into the dorm. She spotted Enid frantically packing a suitcase, and she frowned.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Ms. Thornhill said that I could crash in Yoko's room for a few days. I'm sorry Elvira, it's just that I can't stand to be around Wednesday right now," Enid explained. Elvira smiled sadly at her before nodding.

"I understand. But don't think that this gets you out of our lunch gossip sessions," Elvira told her. Enid smiled and shook her head.

"Of course not," Enid assured. Enid held her arms open and Elvira hesitated before taking a step forward into them. Enid squeezed the life out of Elvira, as the brunette softly hugged back. "I'll miss you so much."

"I'll miss you too Enid. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get ready for bed," Elvira said.

"Of course." Enid let go, and Elvira gave her another smile, before she made her way over to her dresser. She quickly changed and got ready for bed, climbing under her covers. She turned to face the wall, tuning out the sound of Wednesday and Enid talking when her cousin returned. Instead she stared at the wall, trying her best to clear her mind of any memory of the monster.