Closed Ghost Town

[Agnes Baros]

Following this topic​

​

Agnes needed air. She was blinking heavily as she tried to get out into the garden before anyone realised she was gone. She didn't want people to see her upset, not when she felt like she'd just had her entire soul just sucked out of her body. She was taking deep breaths as she pulled open the door, almost running out into the cool air and taking in lung fulls the best she could as she tried to keep herself under control. Elsie was dead. Her girlfriend, best friend, the one person she could trust and loved more than anything in the world, was gone. How was this even possible, she was supposed to see her when she and her dad came home. The Slytherin fumbled in her pocket, pulling out her phone again to look over the last few messages she'd gotten from Elsie as though there would be more to it. Something to explain it. There was nothing. She tried dialling the number too but it didn't even connect. Agnes needed Elsie right now more than ever and that was never going to happen ever again. Aggie walked further down the garden trying to get as far away as possible when she heard the door behind her open again. Not looking over her shoulder or waiting to find out who it was, she didn't stop until she'd reached the end of the garden, dropping to the grass with her knees up to her chest, where the tears finally started to fall. She needed Elsie, she'd promised not to leave her, that they were going to protect each other, that's what they said.​

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija had been relieved and grateful when Elio told him to go outside after Agnes. It gave him something to do and make himself useful, plus it meant he could be outside instead of in the middle of the family and friends he didn't really know. He wanted to make sure Rowan was alright, but clearly she wasn't, and this wasn't something that was in his comfort zone. Ilija knew from all her stories that Elio knew her well, plus he'd seen them together. Hopefully he would get his chance to help his newest friend, but right now he was glad that he was able to get outside to find Elsie's friend instead. He didn't know Agnes in the slightest, not beyond the day they'd spent together preparing the party, but as soon as he got outside she flew down the garden away from him. With Elio's instructions in his ears though, Ilija forced himself towards the Slytherin and followed her until he'd caught up with her on the grass. It was obvious to anyone that Agnes must have been close to Elsie given how upset she was, and Ilija tentatively took a seat beside her in silence, not dissimilar to how he'd kept Alice company at the lake. He swallowed nervously, looking down at the ground, not wanting to interrupt and just hoping that Agnes wouldn't tell him to go away. ​

 

[Agnes Baros]

Agnes forced herself to turn her head and look to see who had joined her, and was mildly relieved when she saw Ilija. He'd been pretty quiet all day so at least he would be unlikely to ask her too many questions she wouldn't be able to answer. If he wanted comfort though because Rowan was busy, well, now wasn't the time. Agnes tried to stop more tears from falling although in that moment she wasn't sure if that was ever going to happen. As far as Agnes knew, Elsie and Ilija weren't really friends, but they were in the same year. "I'm fine." she said, although it was clear she wasn't. She wasn't sure what she was staring at in the distance but she couldn't focus on it. There was still a small part of Agnes that refused to accept that this was really happening. A small thread of hope that told her that any moment Elsie would come bounding through the door with news of her recital. Heck, Agnes didn't even know how she'd done. She glanced over at the Hufflepuff with red puffy eyes, wondering why he'd come out here at all. No one had even known what Elsie meant to her. No one knew that they'd been a couple in the first place so how could she expect anyone to know how she was feeling? Agnes had failed Elsie, hidden her in the dark and not even her family knew the extent of what they had. ​

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija didn't move when Agnes said she was fine, not believing her at all because it was the same thing he would have said in her situation. The Hufflepuff didn't say anything for a good few minutes, instead just letting the girl beside him cry for a little bit, until it stopped all that was left was silence and the light rustling of the leaves in the wind. Ilija hadn't known anyone who had died before. He couldn't imagine losing both a sister and his dad in one go. If he listened hard enough he could have sworn he could have heard the rest of the family members talking in the house, but he and Agnes didn't have the same place as the rest of them. They were just the friends, the ones that tagged along because today had meant to be a good day. Now he had no doubt Rowan would remember her birthday as the day she lost her sister. It was all horrible. To think he'd never see Elsie around in class either too would be strange even for him. "Can I do anything?" he asked Agnes eventually, after what felt like an eternity of just sitting, waiting for things to just.. be fixed. He risked a glance up towards the girl, opting for what felt like a safe option of conversation. If he could do anything to help her then it would be something he supposed.​

 

[Agnes Baros]

Agnes was beginning to relax when she realised Ilija was probably waiting for her to say something. She'd spent the last year or so terrified that anyone would have found out about her relationship with Elsie, although never expected it to end this way. Agnes didn't want to think about what that would mean for her. Whether she would still call herself Elsie's girlfriend at all if she was no longer here. Right now though she didn't have to try and think about anything, because he wasn't asking. Agnes hadn't realised just how cold she'd turned although she refused to acknowledge it, clenching her jaw tightly together to stop the shakes running through her body. His voice cutting through the air caught her a little off guard, and she sighed before looking up to the older boy. Her mouth opened to speak but no words came out. Asides from Elsie, Agnes didn't have any friends that looked out for her, thought about what she might have needed. She was surprised that Ilija hadn't asked for any details, although more than relieved. "Erm," she said eventually, licking her lips to speak again, not really sure what would help in this situation, "You.. knew her from class?" she asked, wondering if perhaps Ilija could fill in the gaps that Agnes had missed out on in what little time they'd ended up having. Provided he didn't mind talking that was. ​

 

[Ilija Olaf]

If Ilija was honest, he just didn't want Agnes to ask him to go and get something from inside. He wasn't sure he had it in him to walk straight through the middle of what would be going on in the house right now, all probably a mirror image of Agnes if not worse. Therefore the sixth year was relieved when she asked how he'd known Elsie and nodded at her question. "Yes, I had a couple with her. That and we have similar friends so we go to the same revision sessions." Could he even say that when he wasn't sure if her friends liked him? Well, Agnes wouldn't have known it to be untrue. "She was really smart, and funny," he said quietly, thinking that she'd done well in her exams and had an easy sense of humour, or at least the bits he'd managed to over hear. Ilija sort of regretted not getting to know her better, although he had only spoken to Rowan too a few months ago. "Elsie and Elio would always work together in Arithmancy, I think they're good friends too." It meant it in a way that he hoped Agnes would find comfort in the knowledge that Elsie had had lots of friends that would no doubt miss her, but he left out the part where he always got a little annoyed that they always seemed to not realise he was in the room too with them both. Now it all seemed a bit insignificant. "Although he did mess her hair up a lot in the study session we just had," he smiled a bit at the memory, it all seemed so.. recent. And yet in a split second everything had changed.​

 

[Agnes Baros]

It was strange to hear Ilija talking in the present tense, as though he too thought that all of this was some bad dream that they'd wake up from soon. Agnes gave half a smile when he described her, and while she knew Elsie perfectly well enough to know what she was like, it was reassuring to hear other people say it too. It hadn't just been Agnes that Elsie had influenced. Hearing Ilija speak about Elio and Elsie as though he was unsure of their friendship had the Slytherin more relieved that he was actually pretty oblivious to the situation, which meant he was safe. Elio and Elsie had been good friends, and Agnes had to stop herself thinking about when the two couples had hung out together as a group. she supposed she wouldn't be able to do that now either. It wasn't like she was going to tag on to Elio and Rowan, a constant reminder to them that the person who'd connected them was lost. She'd wished she'd even just been in the same room as Elsie when they'd had their study sessions, and it had just been another downfall of not being in the same year as her girlfriend, that meant that it was harder to see her when she'd wanted to. The Slytherin shuffled a little closer to the Hufflepuff, realising that of all people he wouldn't be the one to twig on to their her secret, resting her head on his shoulder and making the most of feeling body warmth against her arm and closing her eyes, trying to stop herself from thinking too much. They'd spoken about various outcomes of their future in the past, but this was never how things were supposed to go.​