Closed Searching for Sapphire

Mervyn Strangewayes

Amoral | Radio Broadcaster | Gryffindor Alumni
Messages
468
OOC First Name
Clairey
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Married
Sexual Orientation
Asexual
Wand
Knotted 9 Inch Rigid Laurel Wand with Boomslang venom Core
Age
5/2033
From the back of the taxi Mervyn watched the streets crawl past, worry gnawing at his stomach. Kira's inn was only an hour away from his hotel, yet the journey seemed to stretch on for hundreds of miles - or else the driver was taking a convoluted route to raise the fare. In Mervyn's hand was clasped the last note Sapphire had written him, complete with its stain of blood. Something awful had happened to her - Mervyn just knew it. But why would she tell him not to come? Surely as he boyfriend he was the first person she would want to see when she was hurt or in trouble. Maybe he was wrong. None of it mattered. He just wanted to know that she was OK.

At last the taxi came abreast the inn and eased to a stop. Hardly waiting for the driver to pull the handbrake, Mervyn threw some money at him and climbed out, his breath hitching in his throat. If Sapphire wasn't here, he had a feeling Kira would have the best idea where she'd gone.
 
Admin Approval # 30457995 Minor godmod approved by Claire

This was bad. Really bad. Kira ran to the doors of the Inn when she heard the car approaching. She threw the door open. "Sa-" She started to yell, scolding, but stopped when she saw Mervyn stepping out of the taxi. She wasn't with him either. Great. She hurried out of the Inn, grabbing the older boy and shoving him back in the cab. "Come on lover boy," She ordered. "Move it."

She slid into the back after him and shut the door. She leaned forward, giving the driver the money required and specific directions. "We aren't taking the scenic route," She told the man sternly. "It'll take us fifteen minutes. Hurry." She sat back as the taxi took off again, scrubbing a hand over her face. "She's been gone two days, I just got the call from a volunteer at the home. No one knows where she went. I was hoping she was with you." She sighed in frustration.

The trip passed quickly, though it felt like forever. As soon as they reached the orphanage on the outskirts of town she thanked the man and jumped out, pulling Mervyn along with her. The building was four stories, brick, surrounded by kids of all ages running and playing. She hurried to the doors, completely forgetting that she was holding Mervyn’s hand. She pushed open the doors and stopped, hesitant, as the two women in the lobby didn’t seem to have seen them come in. Their conversation wasn’t very pleasant.

“What do you mean we aren’t going to look for her?” The oldest woman demanded. She was little, with graying hair and kind eyes.

“What does it sound like? I don’t care if the little monster never comes back.” The other woman snapped, sifting through paperwork at the desk.

“Do you talk to her like that?” The older one looked astonished.

“Of course I do. That girl has been nothing but a nuisance since she arrived on my doorstep. She’s nothing but a curse on anyone stupid enough to be near her. Why do you think she's always alone? I've spent years making sure the little terror knows what she is.” The blond snapped, standing and walking away with an arm full of paperwork.

The older woman groaned, frustrated, and Kira hurried over to her. “Miss Macy? Are you the one that called me?” She asked, stopping near her.

The woman looked up and actually smiled. “Oh, Miss Wolf! You came! And who’s this? Oh, forgive my manners. She’s not with you?” She inquired, worry clear in her eyes. Kira shook her head no and the woman bit her lip. “Oh, that’s not good. I don’t understand what-”

“Excuse me?” A little voice spoke up, and Kira and the older woman both turned quickly to see a little boy of eight hiding behind the desk. He stepped out, looking nervous. “You… you’re looking for Sapphire?”

Miss Macy hurried over to him. “Yes, Kyle. Do you know where she is?”

The boy nodded, rubbing his arm. “Blaine and his friends were being mean to me. They knocked me over and took my bear.” He looked down. “Sapphire was mad. She made them stop. They tried to fight her but she was really fast and they couldn’t hit her. They got mad that she wouldn’t hit them and Blaine pushed her into a tree and knocked her down the hill. She looked hurt. I don’t know why but they got scared and ran away.” Kyle spoke quickly, looking around like he was worried someone would overhear. “I tried to help, but she just smiled and gave me back my bear and made me come back here. She said my new parents were going to be here this week and I needed to get packed. She went that way,” He pointed, “Off into the forest. I haven’t seen her since.”

Kira snapped her fingers. “Of course. I think I know where she is. Maybe. She mentioned it briefly, once, ages ago. She probably forgot she told me. Come on.” She grabbed Mervyn and spun on her heel, leaving. She hurried out to the hill behind the orphanage- it was pretty steep, and thinking of Sapph falling down this made her wince. They reached the top quickly and she hurried through the forest. About ten minutes passed, and they started to hear music. She sighed in relief and broke out into a run, forgetting she was with Mervyn. In a few moments, they came upon a bigger tree and the treehouse in it.

Kira smiled and nudged Mervyn. “You go take care of the stubborn idiot. I’ll let miss Macy know where she is.”
 
Sapph was miserable. Stupid kids with their stupid attitudes. She didn't want to spend her weekend here, waiting for the bruising to go away. She wanted to be at the stupid Inn with her stupid boyfriend. If he still wanted to come. Merv was probably mad at her now. He hadn't even seen her new hair! Or gotten his gift.

She didn't even know how this place got here, but it was covered in dust when she found it. The blond sat upside down on the couch, her tummy growling. She didn't bother to look over at the trap door that opened up in the floor or the two weeks worth of unopened Spaghettio's on the other side of it. She sighed and turned off the stereo on the floor next to her head. Not even music was making her feel better. She knew why, of course.

She dangled the necklace in front of her, staring at it glumly. It was so stupid. Why did she think he would like it? She was an idiot. Mervyn would break up with her for sure now. He was cool, and smart, and she was... her. Barefoot in denim shorts and a black tank top. In a treehouse. Hiding away so she didn't worry the younger kids with the bruising that went up her left leg and to her ribs, or the stupid scrape she'd gotten on her right arm that had finally started to scab up the night before.

What a mess.
 
Mervyn had barely stepped out of the taxi when Kira turned him around and propelled him back inside. He supposed that meant Sapphire wasn't here. Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up outside a tall brick building that Mervyn quickly realised was the orphanage at which Sapphire was staying. He let Kira pull him in through the front doors, feeling breathless and out of place. Standing inside the foyer, listening to the two old women argue, almost felt like an intrusion on Sapphire's privacy - like he'd just opened up her diary in the middle and started reading a random entry. He looked at Kira, horrified at what he was hearing. OK, Sapphire wasn't perfect, but surely she hadn't done anything so awful as to merit the cruel words coming from the woman's mouth? His hand still in Kira's, Mervyn followed the Ravenclaw up to the older woman. He was so shocked and embarrassed that he couldn't even respond to tell her who he was. He felt as if time was operating under different laws for himself and everybody else; he was stuck in a single moment while the world flew ahead without him. By the time they came upon the treehouse in the forest, he had only just caught up.

Slightly winded from running the last stretch, Mervyn looked up at the tree. Music drifted through the glassless window, played amongst the leaves - and then abruptly stopped. Mervyn's heart did an extra beat. Had she heard them? He half expected her face to appear, but it didn't. Finally, when it became obvious that collecting his courage was going to take until sundown, he stepped forward and mounted the ladder, uncertain and unprepared. What state was she going to be in? What would she say to him? Did she even want to be found? He had reached the top. The structure creaked slightly as he pulled himself up, so that he didn't have time to stand outside the door and decide what to say - he just had to knock. "Sapph?" he called out, tentatively. "It's me." He didn't know what else to say. Straining to hear over the birds in the neighbouring trees, he waited to find out if she would respond.
 
As if her wishing he was there had summoned him, Sapphire was startled by the knock at her door and Mervyn calling out her name. She jumped, the movement throwing her from her seat. She hit the floor with a thud. "Ow..." She groaned. The pain only kept her attention for a split second. Mervyn was here. Confusion, excitement, and fear ran through her in equal measures, causing her heart to pound painfully in her chest.

She scrambled to her feet and grabbed a dark hoodie, pulling it over her arms. She didn't think to change into jeans, or even pick Mervyns gift up from where it fell on the floor. She half-ran to the door. She paused for a moment, her hand on the handle. She wanted to see Mervyn, she really did, but what would he think of seeing her like this? Bruised and dirty, her blond hair messy and tangled. She looked like a wreck.

She took a deep breath. Whatever reservations she had, she couldn't kick him out. She opened the door, peeking out at her unexpected guests with wide blue eyes. "M-merv?" She stammered. "Uh, how...? I mean... Um, come in?" She took a step back, pulling the door with her. She stayed behind it, worried what he would think of her like this.
 
Mervyn heard a thud from somewhere within the greenhouse, and winced. He'd not meant to startle her. But at least he was here. He was just thinking about how awful it would have been if Sapphire had got hurt while she was out here with nobody to help her when she opened the door. For a split second, he thought he might have stumbled across the wrong tree house. Sapphire was different. It wasn't just the colour of her hair he didn't recognise - it was the way she spoke, the way she looked at him, almost as if afraid. Frankly, she looked awful. She could have been dragged backwards through a hedge - her hair was a knotted mess, her skin caked in dry dirt and, to his horror, bruised. "Oh my God," he said, forgetting to alter his soft Welsh accent. He ducked into the tree house without removing his eyes from Sapphire. "Are you 'urt? Did Blaine do this? Because I'll bloody kill 'em, I will," he said, though he didn't sound particularly threatening. He shook his head, grasping for the words to explain. "This boy at the orphanage - Kyle - Kira - Miss Macy - everybody's looking for you. 'Ave you been 'ere the whole time?" Judging by the unopened tins of food, her possessions scattered around the place, she'd planned to stay for a while. "Why ded you run away? Are you OK? Kira's gone to get Miss Macy, I don't know 'ow long she'll be. And what 'append to your 'air?"
 
Sapphire ducked her head, looking away as Merv came into the treehouse. She shut the door behind him.."No, I- I'm okay. I've had worse." She tried joking, though it fell flat. She hated seeing him worried enough he slipped into the Welsh. "Blaine? Sorta, it's... Don't bother, I..." She paused as he said people were looking for her. She glanced up, brow furrowed. "What? Looking?" She wasn't sure how to process that. Merv mentioned her hair then and she went pale. Crap. She hadn't bothered brushing it and now Mervyn was here, worried, and she looked like death. She hurried back to the couch, picking up the necklace as she passed and stuffing it in her pocket.

"Um, I... I dyed it." She explained feebly, pulling a purple hairbrush out of her bag. She paused, fiddling with the brush in her hands. The other part of his question was harder to answer. "I... I'm sorry." She spoke quietly, not looking up. "I wanted to see you. I just... I didn't want you to worry." She smiled weakly, staring at the hairbrush. "It's... Not the first time I've slipped away. Though it's the first time anyone's noticed." She shrugged.

She fell quiet, and made the mistake then of trying to brush her hair. As she raised her arm up, it pulled at the wound on her arm and the bruises on her ribs. She hissed and dropped her arm. Ow ow ow! Crap. That's why I didn't do that earlier. She froze, unsure of what would happen now. What was he going to think? Would he leave? She bit her lip, her heart pounding loudly in the silence. Maybe he wouldn't notice?
 
Mervyn had asked a lot of questions, but the only answer he really cared about was whether or not she was OK. Anything could have happened to her. Anything! How could she leave without telling anyone where she'd gone? How could she let Mervyn worry? When he'd got her note - the one with the blood stain on the corner, telling him not to come over at the weekend after all - he'd imagined all kinds of awful things. But though he was angry at her running away, his relief that they'd found her, and that she wasn't seriously injured, won him over. He stayed still as she moved to get something from her back, but his face softened. "Worry? Well obviously I was worried," he said. "I didn't know where you were." Something in her tone, and the way the woman at the orphanage had spoken so horribly about her, told Mervyn Sapphire wasn't lying. He sort of knew how she felt. Nobody noticed when he slipped away, either. But he'd never really thought about that before. He frowned as she lifted the brush to her hair and winced. "Are you 'urt? Don't try that. It doesn't matter. Or - give it to me. I'll do et."
 
Sapphire couldn't help but smile a little- even if only to herself, as Mervyn said he was worried. "Sorry bout that." She told him again, earnest. "I swore off on the scrappin', and I don't mean to go back on it, but I- I swear, I'll be quicker on my feet next time." She promised, glancing up at him. He didn't seem mad at her. And she had to admit it was good seeing him again after so long. She wanted to hug him and kiss him and play with his hair, but she stayed where she was.

She blushed a bit as he offered to brush her hair. "I, um, thank you. I know I must look a mess. I-I can do it." She switched hands and turned her head, still nervous. He was worried enough when he saw her leg. She didn't want him seeing how bad it really was. It was a bit awkward trying to brush her hair with her left hand, but she was sure she could manage... Maybe. Once she got her hair under control she'd put on some pants. At least then she'd look a bit better.
 

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