Does That Make Me Crazy?

“Are you okay? You seem nervous.” Evie questioned, her tone laced with concern.

“Nervous? Me? No. Of course not. What makes you think that I’m nervous? Are you nervous?”  Elsie rambled between a nervous laugh.

@crazyelsie

Zachariah had already knocked on the witch’s door, so he was now leaning against the wall, waiting for the door to open. “Elsie.” He called through in a song-song tone. In his hands were flowers – roses, to be exact – perfectly arranged. 

Elsie was startled by the knock on the door. Standing up she shoved the bag of white powder back into her jewelry box and placed it under her bed before walking over to the door. “Zach.” She stated happily. “I wasn’t expecting you, what a nice surprise.” The witch smiled brightly before shifting slightly so the male could enter. “Come on in.” 

Eli couldn’t help the frown that pulled at his lips, this wasn’t like the Elsie he knew at all. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her this quiet or this distracted that not even the tempt of sugar helped. “Hey, what’s going on Else?” He touched her shoulder gently in an attempt to comfort her and held out his offering. “Of course we can.”

Elsie shook her head, giving the male a tight smile. “Nothing. I just--” The witch opened her mouth and closed it again as if second-guessing herself. “It’s nothing.” She replied giving the male a convincing smile before linking their arms together. “ I want to do something fun. What shall we do?”

Eli’s brows furrowed in concern as he stared at Elsie when she didn’t reply or acknowledge him. He had been about to call her name in an attempt to get her attention when she finally spoke. “I said, did you want half of this donut? I know how much you like your sugar. Or I’m sure I have those muggle cookies somewhere in my bag if you want one of those? If not we can go find something else.” He was trying to find anything that would make her smile again or offer some kind of distraction.

The brunette rubbed at her temples as if it would quieten the voices in her head. She looked at him cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she saw him frowning. He thinks you’re crazy. Forcing a smile to her face she tried to block out the whispers. She gave him a nod. “Yes, please Eli.” Elsie wondered if he had noticed she’d been quieter today. She hoped not. A more genuine smile rose to her face as he continued to offer her things. “I’m okay with half of your donut thanks, but maybe we could still do something?” She asked with a hopeful look. 

Elsie’s eyes studied the person across from her–expression blank–before they dropped to her hands in her lap as she went back to listening to the whispers and screams in her head. She only looked up as the person cleared their throat looking at her expectedly, “Sorry– what was that?”  

Still smiling, Jean felt his cheeks grow a little warm, and he moved his hands to adjust his cap in way of embarrassment. He was sure that she was not being literal about it, but he wasn’t familiar with the saying – so, who knew? “Oh, I don’t do that.” He reassured her. Jean wasn’t particularly opposed to it, but he didn’t really opt for it if he was deciding. “Luckily.” He laughed lightly.

Elsie couldn’t help but grin at the male’s reaction, he seemed embarrassed and although it was cute she hoped she hadn’t made him uncomfortable or given him the wrong impression. “Good because that’s just wrong.” She joked laughing.

“Of course I’m right.” Tavia gave her a baffled look as if she were talking to a child. “For now. We weren’t expecting to be confined to the town, what makes you think they won’t progress from there? Have you not noticed certain people being followed around or the few that have been rounded up and taken? Even if they don’t, they have no right to be doing what they’re doing. We’re people, not animals.” 

Elsie found herself frowning as the raven-haired female proceeded to treat her as if she was a child leaving her feeling uncomfortable. “I don’t know.” She replied chewing on her lower lip not really knowing what to say. 

Jean offered the brunette a smile and nodded. “I would never turn down the chance of pizza.” 

“There’s a man after my own heart.” She replied with a light laugh. “Just please tell me you don’t put pineapple on your pizza because I refuse to pay for that.”

A frown found a place on his lips as Elsie admitted that this kind of thing happened a lot. He found himself wondering why she had never told him before. “Why haven’t you said anything, Els?” He asked, brows drawing together in worry. The wizard was chalking it down to the drugs she used, but he wasn’t going to give her a talk about that when she was already upset – that wouldn’t help anything. Alec shook his head as Elsie recounted when Elliot had told her. “None of that’s true, you know that, right?” He assured her. “I don’t know what’s up with him, but he’s not right.”

“I didn’t want to worry you, and... I -- I thought if I didn’t talk about it I could pretend it wasn’t happening.” She explained her voice shaking with emotion. The witch fell silent as her brother tried to reassure her. She knew deep down that Alec saw her as his sister but she’d be lying if she said sometimes she just felt like she didn’t fit in - like she didn’t belong. “I suppose.” She replied sniffing back her tears. “I just don’t get what happened with him.”

Jean laughed lightly and nodded. “Then we will have to.” He offered her a smile. “At the moment, potentially nothing – unless they take IOUs, which I don’t think they will. Though I guess depending on where we decide to get the food, I could be lucky. But that’s up to you. If you’re starving you should definitely go with your favourite.” He said quickly with a smile, barely pausing for a breath as he spoke. 

The brunette grinned in reply, happy with the male’s answer. “It can be my treat on the condition that we get pizza.” Elsie bargained with a smile.  

“Why wouldn’t I need answers? It’s always better to be in the know.” She gave a shrug of her shoulders as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t like having my freedom taken away from me, I especially don’t like being made to feel like a prisoner or that I’ve done something wrong.”

“I suppose you’re right.” The brunette replied though personally, she felt it wasn’t all that important. “I think you’re being a little dramatic. You’re still able to roam about, it’s not like they’ve locked you away in a cell.”  

Alec’s face softened for a moment as his sister explained. Not that he wasn’t frustrated at not being told, but he could see how broken up she was about the situation too. He took in a deep breath in order to suppress any anger he did feel – not towards his sister necessarily, but the situation as a whole. He wasn’t sure what to say. Alec knew that Elsie partook in some recreational drugs and while he didn’t exactly approve of it, she had never really brought it up before and he knew that everyone coped differently. But, for her to believe that seeing Elliot was a hallucination – that was interfering with her life and mind in ways Alec couldn’t comprehend. “Why? Does that happen often?” He asked, voice remaining as calm as was possible in this situation. He bit the inside of his lip and nodded at her apology. “It’s okay.” He said, his arms reaching out to envelope her. “You’re not alone, Elsie. If anything like this happens again, I want you to tell me, okay?” He asked. He wasn’t aware if it was a one-time thing or not, but either way, he wanted her to know he was here. “Did he say anything to you?” He asked the question hesitantly.

Elsie wasn’t sure what she was expecting her brother to react like but she definitely didn’t think he would be so calm about the whole thing. She assumed he would be mad, furious even, yet there was no anger in his voice. Chewing her lip the brunette tried to decide how much she wanted to tell her him. She gave a small shrug. “Yeah.” She admitted quietly. Stepping into his embrace she hid her face in his chest as she gave another sob at his words before nodding in agreement. “Okay.” Elsie turned her head slightly so she was resting against his chest. “Nothing nice, he wasn’t like the old Elliot. He was just ranting about how I wasn’t a real Bell and that not even the muggles want me. I guess I almost wanted it to be one of my hallucinations.” She admitted bringing up her hand to wipe away some of her tears. 

Listening to her comment, Alec figured that made sense – if they would question him about it, then why wouldn’t they question his sister? It was the second part that caused his brows to draw together and his body to move away slightly. “What do you mean you knew?” He looked at her blankly, needing some sort of explanation for this. “Last year?!” Alec was sure they’d spoken about him in that time. “Elsie, why didn’t you tell me?” He asked – Alec was trying not to get angry, and so far he wasn’t doing too bad, but it was hard to find out that his sister had been keeping the fact his brother was alive from him. 

She shook her head not knowing what to say, she still wasn’t entirely sure on the details herself. It was all so confusing. In her mind none of it had been real, her memory of the encounter was frayed she’d put it down to something her mind had just created yet there were pictures so it must have happened. “I didn’t think it was real, I thought it was just the drugs.” She cried holding a hand to her mouth. Elsie had never really spoken to her brother about her habit - or rather her addiction. “I-I’m so sorry Alec...”

Alec was surprised by her comment for a moment, wondering how she knew. He nodded, meeting her gaze with a frown. “I know…” He said, trailing off and looking away from her for a moment. “I found out this morning, but when I came to see you about it, you weren’t here.” He met her gaze again. “How do you know?” 

Elsie looked up meeting at her brother sniffing. “I, erm, I think I was being questioned by the Ministry... but I already knew Alec.” Her voice trembled as another sob escaped her lips. “I bumped into him sometime last year.”

The frown on his face deepened and he reached a hand out to push her hair back away from her face. “What do you mean?” He asked, not understanding what his sister was going through. “What’s gone on?”

The beads of water started falling down from her eyes one after another, without any sign of stopping. She pressed her lips into a thin line as she tried to control her emotions. “Alec... I--” The young witch paused as the words got stuck in her throat. “Elliot is alive.” 

As Alec laid eyes on his sister, he couldn’t help but rush into the room and place himself on the end of the bed. “Hey,” he said, voice gentle and brows drawing together, “what’s wrong, Els?” The male had, for the moment, completely forgotten about what he was going to tell her until he knew she was okay. It was then that he saw the graze on her cheek. “What happened?” Concern laced his voice as he took in the state she was in. 

Elsie didn’t make much of an effort to move as her brother rushed into her room. Instead, she just scrunched her eyes shut trying to hold back more tears. “I-I don’t know what’s real or not anymore Alec.” She cried curling up into herself in an attempt to comfort herself. 

@crazyelsie

Alec was having a great deal of trouble processing the information that the individuals within the ministry had shown him. One thing he knew he had to do was inform his family about it, though. He wasn’t sure how they would take it, but there he stood – outside the door to Elsie’s room. He knocked hard on the wood. It was entirely possible that she had been asked questions too, without his knowledge. After a few beats, Alec slowly opened the door and peaked into the room. “Els?” He called into the room, his eyes landing on his sister for a moment before looking at the floor and taking in a long breath. “I need to talk to you. It’s important.” 

The effects of the drugs had begun to wear off by the time the brunette had gotten back home. She was so confused and upset that she went straight to her bedroom and climbed into bed pulling the duvet over her head wanting to hide from the world. It didn’t take long for the tears to start. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been laid there crying when she’d heard her brother’s voice. Peeping out of her covers she looked up at her brother, tear tracks still evident on her face. “Yes?” She asked quietly as she wiped her face trying to avoid the graze on her cheek.