#bavery

“Think outside the box.”

“Step out of your comfort zone.”

“Believe.”

“Take a chance.”

“Loosen up.”

“Go brave.”

“Take a leap of faith.”

“Don’t worry; be happy.”

“Just breathe”

“What have you got to lose?”

These and countless other clichéd words and phrases have become so commonplace that we may simply let them fly over our heads while we remain stuck, frustrated, and disappointed with our…

Stable was not the word being used to describe Avery’s mentality since it happened. She thought she could handle it, but then she saw his body. Still and lifeless, and something inside her snapped, shattered. She shut down.

For the next week, she went about her day like a zombie. Hardly leaving the house, hardly leaving bed at all. Salazar had summoned, Ginny had owled, all of it went ignored. She just kept playing the mission over and over in her mind. It was supposed to be simple, no one was supposed to die, but he did. As if to add to the heartbreak of it all, when he had died, their imprint had shattered, sending a pain so immense through her body, she fell to her knees and cried out. How could something so wonderful turned into something so agonizing. Without it, she felt empty.

The urge to pee came over her, and with a heavy sigh, she relinquished the comfort and safety of her down comforter and shuffled down the hall to the bathroom, pausing at the frame. A shadow had caught her eye. Her eyes lingered towards the living room. “Great, now I’m crazy.” She mumbled to herself, but she wasn’t. As if answering her, Toby ran down the hall, tailed fluffed in fear.

Looking questionably between her bedroom where he had taken shelter, and the living room, she decided to see who was invading her space. If it was an intruder, she could bite them, or worse, pee on them, an extremely unattractive thought. Forgetting the natural urge, she tip toed down the hall and out to the open space. Her eyes fell on a tall, lanky figure, who looked unbelievably disheveled, and was head first in her fridge.

Her presence had gone undetected, that is until she picked up the heavy glass coasters on her end table. With perfect aim, she chucked the first one, catching the man straight in the back. With an audible curse, he straightened and turned to face her. His face full of rage.

Avery didn’t understand. If he were a ghost, the coaster would have gone through him, but he was very much solid. She tried to blink away the tears, and rage that were forming, and she dropped the second coaster, causing it to shatter on impact.

Barty seemed to find the entire situation amusing because the corner of his mouth tilted upwards in a smirk, and his tongue flittered. “Ah. I forgot, you think I’m dead.” The way he said it made it sound like it was completely ordinary, and entirely infuriating. “Way to completely fail the mission by the way, Salazar is not happy.”

As he spoke, she crossed the room, ignoring the bits of glass on the ground and raised her hands. Her intention had been to strangle him, he must have expected it too, because he was reaching for his wand, but her body reacted differently. Instead of gripping his neck, she gripped his shirt, pulling him to her. A hiss escaped her lips, but was quickly muffled by his lips on her.