Memories, Go Away, Come Again Another Day

[Ella Palmer]

Ella put her hand in her pocket. The stone was there. It was quartz she had collected on her last time out with her aunt, Lillian, when she had been 7 years old. Aunt Lillian had loved the outdoors so much. They had been on a hike and found a lot of quartz. Her aunt had told her all about quartz, how it was grown, how it was beautiful. Her aunt had told her to take just one small piece of quartz. She had taken one and her aunt had rubbed it and told her that it would bring her luck and comfort, and to look for it whenever she needed help, was confused, or needed comfort. That night her aunt had gotten murdered. At the house, her aunt was taking a walk outside in the garden near the fountain when someone sneaked to the garden and shot her. She remembered it all, the sirens and blinding lights, her screaming out in fear while the ambulance took away her aunt, the tears, the big white truck taking her aunt away.

Ella shook her head. She had to let it go. It was just a stone. Why on earth had she held on to it for so long? She sat on the windowsill. She might as well just throw it out the window. But she couldn't do that. Her grip on the stone was so hard that her knuckles turned white. She looked out the window. She could see the Sun starting to set. It was ever so slightly starting towards the horizon. She tried to push the thought of what happened to her aunt out of her head, but as she found lessons boring and nothing else besides that very interesting, she was haunted by the scene. She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Go. Away, she thought. Memories are worthless. I can't go back. Why should I remember something that brings tears to my eyes?

After a while, Ella was just thinking about music. Nothing else, just music. She forgot all about everything else. Her mood instantly became brighter. She had her normal grin back on her face. She went up to someone else. "Hiya," she said. "The name's Ella Palmer." This is good, she thought. Making a friend always helps, right?

 

[Alex Blade]

Alex walked along the corridors of the school, stopping in the North Tower, thinking about the story Chase had told him about when he and Eden had been here before, and how they had been caught by Professor Styx, and the Headmistress at the time. He had thought it was laughable at the time. Though, he had known that it would have to be a bad thing to be caught by Professor Styx, and anybody else who accompanied him. Heck, being caught at all would be bad. Alex sighed to himself, and looked around as he wondered if he would find anybody else out here with him tonight, with whom he would be able to get to know, and maybe spend the night out here with. Alex needed somebody to hang with, regardless.

Alex turned to look as somebody spoke behind him, and wondered who it was. Though, he wasn't waiting long before she introduced herself as Ella Palmer. He had heard of her somewhere before. He just didn't know where. She was in his year, that was evident just by looking at her, and she was a Hufflepuff. He shrugged, he had probably heard one of the others in his house talking about her. "Hello there, I am Alex Blade." Alex turned to glance around across the grounds from what he could see from the top of the tower, and it was a quiet night. Simple, peaceful. He liked this kind of thing.

 

[Ella Palmer]

Ella turned for a second and looked up at the sky. The moon, the temperature, it was nice. She saw a shooting star, and though she normally wished upon them, she said her wish out loud, so she couldn't do that. She figured people would think it childish. She turned back to the boy as he introduced himself. Ella nodded. The name was familiar. She squinted at him. She had seen him a few times around the school.

She paused a second. To shake hands or not to shake hands, that was the question. She shrugged and decided not to. She wasn't formal or extremely polite, she was just herself. "So," Ella said, her eyes drifting back towards the sky. "What brings you out here tonight?" She bit her lip. "Now you're probably going to get asked the same in return," she muttered to herself in Spanish.

Ella examined the boy. He was in Slytherin. She knew that some Slytherins were okay. She crossed her fingers behind her back. Don't ask, don't ask, she thought, keeping her fingers crossed. Or at least be a nice Slytherin. She felt like slapping herself on the forehead. She could always lie, right?

 

[Alex Blade]

Alex wondered what she was doing out here, but knew it was probably better not to ask right now. She had asked him, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her, not quite yet, anyway. Alex didn't like to confide everything the first time he spoke to somebody outside of a class, but there was something about this person that made Alex think that she could be trusted, and that was a first for him. He didn't trust many people. Alex shrugged, and smiled at her. "I just came out for a walk, I guess. I had nothing else to do inside the castle, and I thought I might find something fun to do out here." Alex said, shrugging. He wasn't entirely sure if he would or not, but it was always worth a try.

Alex turned to smile at Ella. He liked having friends, even if he had only known them for all of about five minutes and he hardly knew anything about them at that. It made him happy to know that people would talk to him, and that they actually wanted to be his friend. He sighed to himself, and wondered why she was out here, but knew that she probably wouldn't want to be asked. Alex definitely didn't want to even attempt to ruin a friendship before it had a chance to begin.