Chapter Text
She was disgusting, corrupt, vile, and perhaps even a monster.
Annabel bit on the nail of her thumb until it cracked, using l her free hand to write in a journal while lying on her bed. She stopped herself when she realized she wasn’t writing at all, just scribbling absent-mindedly as she tried to figure out if she should go through with it. It went against anything she was raised on, but so was her ungodly diet in the first place, so who cared?
Not to mention what she did. It was an accident, Lenore was never supposed to get involved tonight.
Annabel, clutching the knife and a sewing kit in her arms, kneeled on her bed to get a better view of the body on her bedroom floor. She was pretty even in death, but maybe that was simply because the body was fresh, very fresh. The poor thing died a mere 30 minutes ago after taking a bullet to the skull from Annabel.
She didn’t mean to kill Lenore, really! It was on her for shooting blindly in a dark chase scene between the two of them, she thought the figure was Duke. After all, Lenore wasn’t invited to the little get-together in the woods she had planned, she was never supposed to be there. Why did this girl feel the need to crash every party Annabel threw? That didn’t justify Annabel stabbing her in the neck and all over her back even after shooting her either, again, a dark area and there was a bit of a panic all over the place as the other cheerleaders, clad in masks, chased other people.
Annabel sighed, kneeling down beside Lenore’s body and starting to take her top off to find wounds. The body needs to be in the best condition before she attempts to resurrect Lenore. Annabel, who had unfortunately been taught by her father how to do this sort of thing, sewed up each cut she left when attacking the girl. The sewing was neat and tight with red thread, and once Annabel was satisfied with her work, she started the ritual that would last for… hours. Resurrecting someone was more of a challenge than she originally thought, all other dark magic came easy to her.
Pain, searing pain. That was all she could remember. It should have ended with the first bullet but it didn’t, she was still conscious.
The blade that stabbed into her felt hot, as if it was burning into her flesh but she knew it wasn’t. She couldn’t even scream or call for help in the moment, her words died at her throat. If it wasn’t so dark maybe she could have seen them, maybe she could have figured out what she did that was so wrong that she deserved such a fate at their hands. It hardly mattered when things went numb however, it was a relief but she blacked out soon after.
She was sure death had taken her then and there, but before she knew it she woke up. With what she could only assume was a goddess hovering over her. Lenore at first, through her blurry vision, swore she finally reached the afterlife as she reached out to touch one of the figure’s curls.
“...I actually made it to heaven?”, Lenore noted that her voice was much raspier than she thought it would be in the afterlife and then possibly the worst headache of her life hit her bringing her back to reality. She was either somehow still alive or in hell, perhaps both.
Annabel let out a tired sigh and gently guided her crush’s hand (which had dried blood on it) out of her hair. “No I’m afraid you’re still here with the rest of us, do you perhaps need water?”, Annabel seemed to suppress a laugh as Lenore started rolling in agony while bringing her hands to hold her head. Once Lenore calmed herself, pulling her hands away she managed a nod.
“Wait, Annabel Lee?”, Lenore sat up suddenly, hissing at a sudden pain from her hip before continuing, “What the hell happened?”
Lenore gave her a suspicious look when Annabel suddenly looked nervous and glanced at the floor for a second, an expression that Lenore hardly even saw on her face. Lenore then realized why Annabel was so nervous when she looked at the floor herself. She was laying in the middle of a goddamn pentagram.
“Well a lot happened tonight but—”
“Annabel.”
Annabel hushed up for a moment before responding, “Yes?”
“Are you— Are you sacrificing me right now?”
Annabel seemed to panic for a moment but quickly regained her calm and collected demeanor, “Heavens no, I was just…”, She paused again, seemingly trying to phrase it correctly, “Okay so, refrain from getting mad or anything but I found you dead in the woods after running away from those maniacs, dragged you here, and I may have used a ritual to bring to back from the dead!”
Under normal circumstances, she would have laughed and claimed the girl had finally gone mad but Lenore vividly remembers her death. Anything else wouldn’t make sense when she really thought about it. She was gone, there was no doubt about it.
Lenore sighed, she wasn’t too fond of Annabel and would love to use any excuse to villainize her but that would be downright ungrateful, “...Thanks I suppose, but why would you save me anyways? We’re kind of like— Well you know!“
She squinted slightly, “No..? I don’t think we’ve even properly met.“ Annabel jolted slightly when Lenore clutched her chest in offense and started mumbling under her breath.
“Two years of ruthless pranks and for what— We’re like, mortal enemies how can you possibly forget?“
“Mortal enemies!? I thought you set up all those pranks to get my attention,” Annabel pouted and started muttering herself, “To think I was under the assumption that a hot emo girl was interested in me for so many years.“
A tired laugh left Lenore’s lips as she laid back down for a moment, starting to actually look around, she was in a basement of some kind. Real creepy like, and it smelled horrible. She just assumed it was her own blood as she left a lot of that all over the floor before she was brought back to life.
“Never mind, can I just get out of your creepy basement? It reeks in here.", Lenore made a gagging sound and Annabel laughed, helping her up a bit. It was only then that Lenore realized it, she had stitches in her! They were a bit scratchy and her skin felt like it would tear at any minute.
It had been years since she felt this fragile.
Annabel led Lenore out of the basement, and up a creaky staircase that seemed to go on forever. Lenore couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine as they emerged into a dimly lit hallway. Everything about this felt gross, how was she supposed to make it through high school like this? Scratch that, how was she supposed to make it through a new high school like this?
Lenore glanced around the hallway, taking in the peeling wallpaper and flickering lights. It was like stepping into a horror movie set, but her house wasn’t any less creepy than Annabel’s anyway.
“…So we’re really not mortal enemies?“
“No Lenore, if anything I was hoping we could be friends of sort.“
“My brother told me to stay away from brits, sorry.“
Annabel stopped right in her tracks and turned on her heel, pointing at Lenore as she spoke rather angrily, “Do you want my help or not? Because someone is bound to question those stitches and your ghastly complexion sooner or later.“
Lenore raised an eyebrow, taken aback by Annabel's sudden change in demeanor. She had seen glimpses of Annabel's sharp tongue before, but this was different. It was as if a switch had been flipped. Lenore also couldn’t deny it, sure she was alive, blaring headache and all, but she looked like a zombie. (Because that’s literally what she was.)
"Fine, fine. I appreciate your help," Lenore said, trying to diffuse the tension. “I suppose being friends wouldn't hurt— well, hurt anything other than my pride."
Annabel let out a huff, her expression softening slightly. "Good. Now, let's figure out how to clean you up. You’re very lucky that you already have the complexion of someone who’s never seen the sun rise."
With a pout and eye roll, she continued to walk forward with Annabel. Lenore's pace was much slower than usual, but that was understandable given the pain in her head and hip. She had thought she could finally move on from the accident since she had stopped using a cane last year, but as luck would have it, someone had to come along and end her life.
Dark magic was weird, well she had to assume so anyway. It most likely put a strain on her deceased body when it was being resurrected and left her hip in worse condition than before.
“Are you okay back there? You’re limping.“, Lenore looked up at Annabel and flashed a visibly annoyed expression.
“No, I’m completely fine. Never been better Annabel how about you?“, she felt her eye twitch slightly as her spare hand that wasn’t clutching onto her hip for dear life made its way to push her hair out of her face.
“I’m serious Lenore.“
“No Annabel I’m not okay, I’m actually trying to not freak out and— OW!”, Lenore hissed as she tried not to fall right over, “Can we take a break? My side is killing me right now… I think I might throw up.“
The shock on Annabel’s face was almost comical before she nodded in understanding as she helped Lenore to sit down at the bottom of a nearby staircase. She hadn’t noticed she was pushing Lenore that far. After all, the spell book she had only told her the resurrected victim would just feel dizzy, it didn’t mention all the other side effects.
Annabel kneeled in front of Lenore, helping her lean back as she took deep breaths to calm her nausea.
"I'm sorry, Lenore. I didn't mean to push you so hard. I’m a bit new to bringing back the dead, I’m afraid you’re my first attempt at it." Annabel said, a hint of guilt in her voice as she took a fan out of her skirt pocket, waving it in Lenore’s face in a small effort to get her breathing.
Lenore heaved slightly, feeling at her neck and almost gagged when she realized there were stitches there as well, “Annabel— I don’t think you understand how fucking crazy you sound right now but, you’re good?“
When her vision started to blur again Lenore cursed under her breath, was her condition getting worse by the second?
“I’m going to be honest with you girl, I don’t think I’m going to make it.“
“Don’t talk like that Lenore! My room is just down that hall, once we get there you can properly lay down and we can figure out how to fix you up.“, Lenore gave Annabel a bit of a side glance and groaned. Walking was the last thing she wanted to do right now, and her hip was practically already screaming at her for merely thinking about it.
“Annabel I think I’m very comfortable right here on these stairs.“
“Nonsense,” Annabel huffed before lifting Lenore up and throwing her over her shoulder, to Lenore's utter shock as the girl started fighting to get out of her grasp.
“Now, what kind of bandages would you like? I have some cute ones my father recently purchased“, Ignoring her protests, Annabel continued down the hallway, Lenore’s weight pulling against the fabric of her blouse. This was going to be a long night. Annabel could already tell that Lenore wasn’t going to be too amused by the idea of using even more dark magic to make her look presentable.
The first day was always horrifying to most. Lenore couldn’t say she had felt the terror of a “first day” in a new school at any point in her life, but she felt it today!
Needle in hand, she tried to desperately sew her pointer finger back into place in a girls bathroom stall. Annabel hadn’t told her that these things fell off, maybe a guide on how to “live” as a goddamn zombie would have helped her out a bit instead of being so worried about if the bright red stitch on her neck could be seen. (She had promptly covered that by tying a cute bow around Lenore’s neck)
Lenore grunted in pain, her eyes tightly shut as she forcefully jammed the needle through her flesh. It didn’t hurt much but she could still feel it. "Is this what I'm going to have to deal with every day? Fixing myself up like some kind of doll?", she mumbled to herself, finishing up the last stitch. She did better than she thought she would have, but it still looked a bit clumsy as she had to close her eyes for half of it.
Annabel had told her after a while the magic would fuse her skin back together on other cuts, so she just had to hope the same could be said about this one.
Her finger didn't just spontaneously fall off - it was the result of some jerk on the football field. She was simply making her way to her next class when suddenly, a ball came flying at her. Instinctively, she tried to block it, only for her finger to snap right off. If Annabel had warned her about the fragility of her body parts, it could have saved her from this ordeal.
Speaking of her next class, she was beyond late at this point, but it was just gym; skipping would be the smarter choice. (Besides, she would probably just be on the bleachers for most of it, she was back to using a cane) Lenore opened the stall finally, pushing hair out of her face only to realize there were two girls just standing by the sinks. Great! Just what she needed right about now. The shorter one spoke up first, a concerned expression on her face.
“Hey there, sorry if I’m being nosy or whatever but, you good doll? We promise we weren’t eavesdropping or nothin' but you sounded like you were struggling in there.“
“Were we not? I thought we followed her in here to check on her.“
“HAHA, she’s got a great sense of humor, right? This is not the time biscuit…“ She nudged her taller companion slightly before approaching Lenore.
“Anyways, my name’s Berenice, that sweetheart is Eulalie, and— You okay?“
They seemed harmless enough, but then again, she didn't know who to trust these days. "Names Lenore," she said, keeping her voice low. “I'm, uh, just not having the best day at the moment." She couldn't help but glance down at her awkwardly stitched finger and quickly hid it in the pocket of her shirt.
“Sorry to hear that, by the way, Lenore, I haven’t seen you around, you new?“, Berenice squinted, trying to get a good look at her face. She hardly ever forgot a face, she even knew the names of quiet kids but she never saw Lenore’s.
"I guess you could say that," Lenore replied, avoiding eye contact.
"That's awesome, we've got a great school here! You'll love it, well as long as you avoid Annabel and her gang of flying monkeys," Eulalie finally spoke up, her voice filled with excitement.
"Well, that's... great," Lenore replied, her voice lacking enthusiasm. It really just hit her that she probably won’t be able to talk to Annabel in public considering her friend group, pfft, “we could be friends of sort“ her ass.
Eulalie seemed none the wiser of Lenore’s lack of energy however, grabbing her by the arm, “Do you want to hang out with us? We plan on playing hooky in the abandoned wing.“
"Sure," Lenore said, trying to sound enthusiastic, "I've always wanted to explore an abandoned wing, I planned on skipping regardless.", Lenore wriggled her way out of Eulalie’s grasp (As she didn’t feel like having her arm pop off), grabbing her cane and following close behind the girls.
Now, Lenore didn’t know what she was expecting from the other friends they told her about on their way there, but she wasn’t expecting “playing hooky“ to be people playing detective. She sat there awkwardly, trying to stomach a batch of cookies one of the group members brought as she watched them try to put together a criminal case.
What the hell was going on?
“I still don’t think it’s her Duke, Annabel is better than that!” A girl named Morella crossed her arms over her chest and looked annoyed as Duke tried to put Annabel on the suspect list for the 15th time that day.
“Allez, it’s obvious she had something to do with it. Who hosted the party and explicitly invited me Morella?”, He put his free arm over his chest in a dramatic action. His other was in a cast and slink of some sort as he survived that night but didn’t get out scot-free.
“W-Well she couldn’t have known! Annabel was attacked as well that night, people thought she died when she went out in the woods and didn’t come back.“
Pluto, who was sitting right next to Duke spoke up softly, “Well people also said they saw Lenore’s body with multiple stab wounds out there so there’s a lot of lies going around.“
Lenore jolted slightly, people other than Annabel saw her before she was resurrected. Damn it, of course they did, it was a big outdoor party she crashed. “Aha, yeah I almost forgot I attended that thing.“
"You can talk?" Pluto asked though it didn’t have any venom behind it, more genuine curiosity.
"Yes honey she's been able to the entire— Nevermind, so Lenore know anything about this party?" Berenice asked, eyebrows furrowed in curiosity. "You said you attended, right? So why don't you share what you know?"
She coughed awkwardly, of course out of all the groups to hang out with she got put with the one that had the most questions about her death.
“Well yeah I attended and—” She hesitated for a moment before making up a lie right on the spot, she didn’t know how they would react if they knew dark magic was the only thing keeping her alive, “—I got really drunk to be honest with you, someone spiked the drinks and I can't remember much about it.“
Berenice narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Lenore. It seemed like a half-baked story, but she wasn't going to push too hard. "Well, at least you're alive," she said with a shrug.
Eulalie chimed in, her eyes wide with excitement. "Right, like did you hear about the stag creature they’re claiming was out there too? The survivors saw it from afar but it apparently was huge.”
"Eh, those are just histoires de fantôme," Duke muttered, trying to sound dismissive. "People are saying all sorts of things to make the attack sound more interesting."
She couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine at the mention of the stag creature. She remembers seeing something of the sort before she blacked out, but she was all too focused on running for her life to really pay attention to what it looked like in the distance. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the group in front of her, it was fine, she wasn’t in the woods anymore so why should she be worried?
"Hey, do you guys mind if I ask why you're investigating all of this?" Lenore questioned, waving her hand slightly.
Pluto sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's because no one else will do it. The authorities have been trying to sweep everything under the rug, claiming it was just a wild animal attack, and the other students are just gossiping about it as if people didn’t die. But Duke was attacked and it wasn’t by some stag."
Duke grimaced at the mention of his injuries, “Whatever happened that night, I know mademoiselle Annabel had something to do with it and I’m going to prove it.“
“Duke.“
“Hush Morella I know your feelings on the matter, but I’ll prove it to you as well.“
Something should have been said on Lenore’s part, she knew more than she let on. Even if it was something to defend Annabel’s name, she should have told them something about her condition, but she said nothing. She instead sat in guilty silence as they went on about what happened that night, she’ll open up eventually though. Surely she would, once she confirmed they were trustworthy, it was the smart thing to do!
…
Yeah, the not at all two faced and smart thing to do.
“For the 5th time pet, I had nothing to do with that“, Annabel sighed as she sat at her vanity and put another hair curler in her hair.
Lenore laid on Annabel’s bed in her pajamas and groaned while staring at Annabel’s bedroom ceiling. She was getting nowhere, or there was nowhere to get with Annabel, either way, the girl kept deflecting and refusing to answer her questions. Lenore started to pick at a stitch on her arm subconsciously and Annabel turned to look at her.
“I just restitched that stop picking at it. Or perhaps you want your forearm to fall off next?“, Lenore laughed at Annabel’s pout but stopped regardless. She hated the way the stitched felt, always so tight. If it was just one stitch it would be fine but that killer really messed her up, she was sure her face was the only place they didn’t think to stab.
“Okay fine princess, I’ll stop, but you still haven’t answered my questions.“
“I have, there’s just not much to say when my only crime was hosting the party“, Annabel then turned back to her vanity, glancing off the side for a moment. She felt guilty, but not guilty enough to tell Lenore the truth, she was sure Lenore would find more comfort in lies really. Lies were her specialty and most loved them, she just wished her crush would be satisfied with them as well.
“If you say so…“, Annabel wore an annoyed expression again when Lenore started touching at the stitch on her neck, not quite picking at it but feeling around.
“Pet so help me if you don’t stop that.“
Lenore matched her annoyed face, sitting up to look Annabel in the eyes, “Sakes alive, do you have a 6th sense or something, focus on perfecting your pretty curls.”
Annabel rolled her eyes at Lenore's antics, trying to mask the unease bubbling inside her as she worked on finishing them. As Lenore settled back onto the bed, Annabel's mind raced with thoughts of that fateful night. It was a mistake, she would understand one day, maybe when they’re married she can reveal it all to her. At that point, she’s less likely to hate her! Annabel was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the grumble of her own stomach… she hadn’t eaten in days.
She ignored the feeling in her gut though and turned to Lenore, who was now staring at her quizzically. ”Ah, don’t mind that. Just forgot to eat dinner tonight.”
"Alright, just make sure to take care of yourself Annabel. I’m pretty sure my life literally relies on you.“
“Is that the only reason you care about me pet?“
“Is there any other reason I should be caring?“ She laughed as Annabel through a pillow at her and laid beside her with a huff.
Lenore sighed, trying to find the right words, “I’m joking, I’m joking, besides the dark magic, I do appreciate you Annabel. To an extent of course, I’m still not sure how I feel about being friends with a brit yet.“
Annabel couldn't help but smile at Lenore's attempt at humor, albeit a bit frustrating, “Just go to sleep pet, you’ll need the energy tomorrow. I’m trying something new to see if I can do a better job at hiding some of those stitches…“
“God, again? That’s going to take—!”
“Shh just go to sleep.“
“..Fine.“