Magic Golden Flower

“Well, whoever taught you was not wrong about the world being full of bad guys. I deal with some of them on a daily basis. But wanting to take you away of all people? Other than whoever your teacher is being very paranoid, I can’t come up with any other reason why. Do you have one? Hold on, by it happening to you, did you mean that you were kidnapped?” That was not something that Clarissa expected to find out about the other girl when they literally just met but she took the information in as if wasn’t a big deal anyway. “That explains your panic earlier. I think you’ll be fine.”

“My parents were very, very rich,” she explained. “A lot of people wanted to take their money. I guess, if they held me for ransom, they’d get it.” She nodded, realizing she hadn’t told everyone the whole story. “My grandmother kidnapped me, I would think for the same reason. But she told me it was to protect me. Then, I found a ‘where is she now’ story in the paper about me. And now I’m here, where she can’t find me.” Raphi let out a deep breath. It was common for her to notice when she had stopped breathing, and remind herself it was necessary. “Yeah, I think so. It just brought up... bad memories.”

“Oh, so do I but I always look for different ways of making myself relax. Otherwise, I’d be dependent on these things and that’s more harmful than beneficial.” She raised an eyebrow at the blonde then. “Other than being locked in a room, what stresses you out?”

“I get that.” Raphi thought for a moment. “I was always taught that people were coming for me. That I was special, and that the world was full of kidnappers and bad guys who wanted to take me away. Now I know that it happened to me without me even realizing it.” She wanted to laugh, but didn’t. “Now I’m... wary of most people. I don’t want to be taken again. Especially to be brought back to where I was.”

Laughter was definitely not what Clarissa expected to receive as a reaction but she was quick to respond anyway. “Well, trust me when I say that it’s effective for times like this. And yes, I have but not recently. I did not need to.”

“That must be nice,” she sighed. “To not need to, I mean. I almost always feel like I need to relax.”

“It’s taking a pill. Have you never done that before?”

She laughed aloud, not realizing Clarissa was making fun of her. “Of course, I’ve taken a pill. Just not that one, apparently. Have you?”

“It’s something that can calm your nerves and by the looks of it, you really need it.”

“Is it like, a meditation exercise?”

“Okay… yeah I guess, I mean people periodically walk nearby, right? So they should hear us eventually…” Jack muttered, trying to calm himself down as much as Raphi. “Okay,… Well what if we umm, take turns knocking on the door until someone hears it and we can talk about something that makes us happy? Like, to help with the waiting?” He suggested

She nodded, then watched as he headed towards the door. “Um... well, I got married?” 

Winter Holidays 2020

Vitani sighed rubbing her temples.  “Thank you.  I’m surprised you haven’t had a noise complaint with how loud your music was.  And who?”

“I have pretty cool neighbors,” Raphi shrugged. “Hozier! You know, Take Me to Church? It’s actually not my favorite of his songs. It’s good, but there are so many better ones.”

Cornelia closed her eyes, her feet firmly planted on the ground as she tried to find any connection to earth. She could feel it, of course, but there was no way to use her powers here. “There’s not a single, tiny, solitary plant around here.” She grumbled. “And I doubt an earthquake would be of much help right now!”

“And we couldn’t even stand in the doorway for safety Raphi meant it as a joke, but the tightening in her chest forced her tone into bitter territory. She kept pounding her fists on the door, hoping someone would hear, until they started to hurt. She stared at the door. “We can’t be in here forever. We can’t.”

Archie stopped in his tracks, taking an earbud out. After a moment he was able to identify where the banging noise came from and headed that way. “Oh. Is there someone in there?” He asked, immediately chastising himself. Of course there was someone in there. “I’m opening the door!” The man quickly turned to lock and stepped back.  

Raphi continued slamming her fists on the door until she heard footsteps “It’s Raphi!” she called up towards the window. “Okay!” she stepped back too, not knowing exactly how the door would be opened. Raphi ran her hands through her hair, trying her best to breathe deeply. “Did you get it?”

Jack looked around a little frantically. He could tell Raphi was scared and he wanted to stay as calm as possible but this really reminded him of Briarcliff. He shuddered, walking closer to his friend. “I don’t understand, was this supposed to be some kind of joke? It’s mean.” He huffed out softly. “What are we supposed to do now? The only window is way to high to reach…” 

Raphi stared through him as he spoke, only half listening as she wracked her brain for escape ideas. “I think it’s locked,” she said, chewing at her bottom lip. She looked down and noticed the fingernail imprints she’d just left on the back of her hand. “Someone will hear us.”