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It was well-past midnight, yet the elder Addams heir still milled about, writing another addition to her ongoing novel.
She used to have a strict schedule in when and how long she wrote for her novel, but with the new mystery plaguing Nevermore’s darkest halls, her iron grip on her own punctuality had grown lax.
It wasn’t her fault, she reasoned. The mysteries and secrets had no respect over her well-made schedule, so she had to make due of her circumstance in more flexible ways.
One hour every day, she told herself. May it be at the crack of dawn or in between the few times she received reprieve, she would write. She’d rather it be one continuous hour rather than a sum of minutes that resulted in an hour, but it seemed that her partiality to it must be ignored for the time being. She found herself far less productive when trying to find that painful one hour of non-disturbance more than anything else.
That was, unless it was a weekend.
Weekends offered one thing that her usual days did not.
Classes.
Despite everything, Wednesday had grown to enjoy the classes offered in Nevermore. Although most of the subject matter are material she’d already known by the age of 10, she found it useful to have a refresh course on all the matters regarding outcasts. It, too, added more insight and material to her vastly expanding body of knowledge.
Nevertheless, she’d rather have her full eight hours of sleep when attending those torturous classes unlike the fools she had as ‘classmates’.
Thus, the writing at the deepest of night, only in the weekends.
She found herself enjoying the deeper nights more than anything. It was calmer, more peaceful. It didn’t have the incessant racket that was the student body chattering and clamoring about. At this time of night, there was no noise. And if there was, it’d echo through the cold and alert her of anything amiss. She once enjoyed playing her cello at nights like these, but with the many complaints thrown her way and with the school’s intervention (with the threat of confiscation), she resigned herself to playing it at ‘reasonable’ hours.
She didn’t mind, as it made way for the quiet that she only grew to appreciate.
It was just her with nothing but the clacking of her typewriter keys and its occasional ding!
Wednesday sighed as she wrote, perfectly content with herself and the seldom peace she acquired as her words flowed from her mind down to her fingertips with no distraction.
A guttural groan then suddenly came from behind her.
Must she always speak so soon?
Wednesday swiveled around in her chair, scanning her shared room for anything amiss. She listened for any follow-up from the noise – if there was any movement or even a slight creak from their floorboard. She also watched out for anything disturbed, if anything was moved or misplaced. But her efforts were for nought as she found and heard none. There was no attack that followed, there was no hidden person to come and kidnap her or harm her roommate.
Doing one last sweep of the room, Wednesday decided to dismiss the noise and continued her writing. If there was anything to attack her at this time of night, she might as well do as much progress on her novel as she can.
She was just about to start a new paragraph when she heard the noise once more.
Turning around and standing up this time, she took another scan of the room and painstakingly looked for any change from when she first took note of their room.
Lingering at most every part, it seemed that all her efforts were once again, coming up short. Not a single thing in their room was moved or disturbed. She even went in the center of it and looked around. Nothing. From the door they entered to the window that led to their balcony, not a single thing was an inch out of place.
The only thing that changed was the sheets on Enid’s bed, but that was a given since the werewolf had always been a messy sleeper.
Sighing at her incompetence, Wednesday decided to step over their symbolic divide to go near Enid’s bed. If there truly was something in the shadows of their shared dorm room, she’d rather have one less body to worry about when an attack were to happen.
Standing beside Enid’s bed, she looked at the sleeping girl who was tangled beneath her covers. Her brows were furrowed and her lips were sealed tight.
How odd.
Ignoring that fact tidbit of knowledge for now, Wednesday took a look at the state of the werewolf’s bed and grimaced. Acting without much thought, she picked up a bundle of the other girl’s sheets from the floor and put them back on her bed.
Wednesday was always on the receiving end of the other girl’s rants. A common complaint was her always waking up with half her bedding on the floor, making them dirtier than the werewolf’s liking. By doing this simple act, Wednesday could avoid another pointless rant about her needing to thoroughly clean them in her next scheduled wash. No other reason.
She was just about to put a repulsively bright stuffed plush toy when she heard it again.
A low angry growl that echoed into the night.
But this time, it sounded louder. This time it sounded close. It sounded like it was beside her. It sounded like…
“Enid?” Wednesday turned to the sleeping girl beside her, her brows now equally furrowed.
Looking at the sleeping girl, she found that her eyes were screwed shut and her teeth were bared. Her brows were angrily furrowed as a sheen of sweat glistened in the moon light.
Not long after Wednesday discovered the cause of the noise, it quickly continued.
Enid groaned as she turned in her sleep. Her breathing, Wednesday only noticed now, was shallow and erratic. Wednesday could even keenly hear the unsheathing of the other girl’s claws.
A nightmare. Wednesday deduced, watching her roommate act on her own unconscious accord.
The werewolf then started to thrash and kick haphazardly, even kicking the neat pile of sheets Wednesday had just made. Her growls too, grew louder, as some even turned to whines.
Wednesday was at a loss of what to do.
She’d never had an encounter like this before. In her household, nightmares were a thing to be welcomed. It was what some of them looked forward to, night after night. But this. Watching this filled Wednesday with pain and dread, and it was not the enjoyable kind. It felt like she was stabbed with a stake while being constricted by a boa python.
She needed this suffering to end. For her sake, obviously.
“Enid,” Wednesday called for her roommate as she shook her. “Enid, wake up.”
Wednesday continued to shake her roommate awake, but to no avail. “Enid, you’re having a nightmare. Wake up.”
Her shakes grew more aggressive, and yet Enid still laid asleep, thrashing and sweating through the nightmare that plagued her.
Wednesday was frankly getting frustrated at the growing feeling of helplessness that filled her, but she hadn’t a single clue on how to deal with these. She never had to.
Damn this deep sleeper of a werewolf!
She was just about to cut her losses when she heard tapping from the drawer beside her.
“Thing! Come help me wake Enid.” She ordered as she gestured to a very passed out and very much nightmare ridden Enid.
Thing only responded with gestures and aggressive tapping.
“What do you mean don’t wake her up?”
Tapping.
“That much is obvious.”
More tapping.
“When did she tell you that?”
Thing gave her very worded gestures.
“Fine! I won’t. So, what do I do now?”
Thing only gave her an ultimatum.
“Soothe her?”
Thing gave her a few more taps before hiding away in the rafters.
“What do you mean I have to soothe her?!” Wednesday whisper shouted as she could only watch as Thing disappeared.
“Thing?”
There was no response.
“Thing! Get back down here or I’ll break every one of your knuckles!”
She only received a set of taps of what she can only describe sassy.
Huffing in frustration, she muttered curses Thing’s way before turning back to face the source of her current predicament.
Taking a deep breathe, she slowly approached Enid like she was a ticking time bomb. Only this ticking bomb wouldn’t explode and take her out of this plane of misery.
She gently sat at the edge of the bed, and for a moment, just stared at the sleeping werewolf before her.
How does one even soothe a sleeping person? Wednesday was far from the first person one would think of to soothe somebody. The only ‘soothing’ she knew how to do was promising others a quick and painless death. Enid was far more suited to be the one to ‘soothe’. She’d usually just go up to someone, undermine their personal space with a hug, and then rub their backs until they were better.
Could she do that?
Wednesday looked at the still nightmare ridden roommate she had.
One thing was sure and it was she was not hugging a sleeping body. Ethics aside, she’d rather not be accidentally mauled by a sleeping werewolf. Rubbing her back was also off the table because not only did she not have access to her roommates back, she also found it very weird to do.
Frustrated by her lack of options, Wednesday tried to wrack her brain for anything she could do. What would a werewolf like? They were just over glorified mutts after all. Would they also respond to what soothes a canine?
…
Would petting her be odd?
She looked at her sleeping roommate again, and a strange warm feeling went through her.
Never minding that, she was running out of options and the more Enid stayed in her nightmare, the more Wednesday had to deal with the whirlwind of dreadful emotions that spiraled within her and told her to move.
Lifting her right hand, she tentatively placed her palm on Enid’s forehead. She then methodically stroked Enid’s head, gauging her reaction while doing so. She moved her bangs to the side, noting that there was a layer of sweat making her hair cling onto her skin at odd places. Wednesday only pursed her lips and continued her actions.
It seems that it was somewhat helping, but it didn’t sway the nightmare fully. Enid had somewhat calmed but twitched every other moment. Wednesday only dutifully continued her actions.
She disliked how little her efforts were helping the poor girl. She could still see the ever-present furrow on the other girl’s brows and her nose all scrunched up high. It didn’t seem right for it to be there.
Without thinking, Wednesday pressed a thumb between Enid’s brows and tried her best to soothe it, rubbing between them as the slowly ceased tension. As she rubbed her brows, she took note how much of the muscles on Enid’s face started to relax.
Feeling satisfied as her actions had finally given her a desirable outcome, she continued to stroke Enid’s head to continue the relief it provided.
Wednesday was just starting to relish in the joys of her accomplishment after a minute or two off petting the werewolf’s head when Enid’s breath suddenly hitched as she suddenly contorted her body in quick movements.
The scrunch on Enid’s face returned and a new set of thrashing occurred. Wednesday only moved slightly aside to accommodate Enid’s movements.
Wednesday felt panic settle in within her. Had she done something wrong? Did she trigger something accidentally? Why couldn’t she just do one nice thing successfully towards her roommate?
She could only observe what was happening. She watched as the other moved underneath her sheets, nothing she hadn’t seen previously.
But then she noted something different.
Instead of growling like a wolf in self defense, Enid was whimpering like she was in pain.
She wailed and cried as she tossed and turned in her bed, and Wednesday could only helplessly feel rage within her.
Watching this sort of pain was not enjoyable to her. Not even in the slightest. She once promised herself that the only person to torture her roommate was her. This situation was not her doing and it was definitely not the kind she found satisfactory.
It seemed that all hell broke loose too, when Enid suddenly muttered in her shallow breath.
“No…” She cried, a tear streaming down her sleeping face. “Please…”
To say that Wednesday launched herself into a pit of worry would be an understatement. She immediately lost her composure and started to try and wake Enid once more.
“Enid! You are sleeping and you have to wake up.” Wednesday shook her roommate aggressively, which only made the cries worse.
Wednesday was flustered. She didn’t know how to help nor stop this pain Enid was in.
“Enid, whatever it is you’re dreaming of, it cannot nearly be as terrifying as me.” Wednesday proclaimed and yet it fell on deaf ears.
She was frustrated. She hated feeling helpless, especially when it came to her roommate. Whatever the girl may be dreaming, she wished she could incinerate it with her contraptions. She wished to curse whatever it was so it could never harm Enid ever again.
Her words weren’t going through to the sleeping girl, and her tomb of a heart felt like it was being stabbed by a dagger coated with cyanide.
What could she do? The only thing she could think of was that Enid had mentioned she liked reassurance. But how could she reassure a girl who couldn’t hear her? Speaking clearly didn’t work, and waking her up wasn’t even an option.
Wednesday groaned, not quite in defeat just yet.
She just needed to soothe the girl. It shouldn’t be that hard. But somehow, it was taking up every one of Wednesday’s mental faculties to come up with a plan. She just wanted to help her roommate with something she shouldn’t even be experiencing. Enid had shown her loyalty beyond compare, the least she could do was to return it.
Shaking off her own misery, Wednesday decided to just continue what she had been doing previously. It was the only thing that resulted in a good outcome, little as it may be. Only this time, she followed it with her words, feeling the need to say them as well.
Stroking the blonde girl’s head, she shushed the girls tremors the best she could. “Do not be frightened, Enid. I am here.”
She pushed aside her bangs again, away from the face she’d grown fond of. “Whatever it is you see, it is not real. It cannot harm you.”
She threaded her fingers the hair, thinking that maybe, it could breach a gap of some sorts. “If it can, I will fight it. I will face those demons for you. I would not hesitate when it comes to you.”
Looking down at the sleeping body beside her, she noticed that the other girl’s breathing had slightly calmed, but it was still faster than she’d like. “I am here, Enid. Nothing can harm you as I am here. Not while I’m around.”
As she said those words, a tune suddenly revealed itself in her mind. She hadn’t heard of the song in quite a while, but she remembered enjoying it as a child. More of the general context of the scene, but still. It was a reassuring tune that played above a grim backdrop. It seemed fitting now. She wondered…
Well, it couldn’t hurt to try.
Looking at the werewolf beside her, she made a promise.
“Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around.” Wednesday sang the first few notes of the song, barely above a whisper.
“Nothing's gonna harm you. No, sir. Not while I'm around.” She rubbed the in-betweens of Enid’s eyebrows once more, hoping for a similar outcome from earlier.
“Demons are prowling everywhere nowadays.” Wednesday felt a tug at her cheeks when she saw the blonde’s face relax and forgo the contortion it had been in.
“I'll send them howling. I don't care- I got ways.” And wasn’t that the truth?
There was practically nothing others could do if she set her mind onto something. Rules and limitations mattered not for her interests. And if she were to set out to protect someone she cared about? Someone so ever attentive and ever understanding like Enid? A battalion wouldn’t even scratch the surface of what one would need to stop her.
“No one's gonna hurt you, no one's gonna dare.” Wednesday found herself scooting closer into Enid’s bed, her hand having moved from petting the blonde’s head to caressing her arms. Somehow, she turned unaware at the fact that she’d been squeezing Enid tight against her body.
When did that happen?
“Others can desert you- Not to worry. Whistle, I'll be there.” She just realized that the other girl’s breathing had settled. She no longer took rapid shallow breaths, rather she now took long deep ones. Her thrashing, too had settled. She wasn’t kicking and fighting anymore. Her face had relaxed and the sereneness of the night had finally happened upon her.
“Demons'll charm you with a smile for a while.” Wednesday barely noticed herself sinking into Enid’s bed, but the sudden dip she found herself in felt impossible to get out of. Never mind the fact that it was too warm and it’d be too tedious to get out of.
“But in time.” She barely registered her eyes fluttering close. She knew she was still thinking, she knew she was still awake, but she wasn’t sure if the images she saw her real or but her imagination.
“Nothing can harm you.” She managed to whisper out as she felt the familiar fog that clouded her mind out of this realm. She knew what was happening, yet she barely could find the strength to fight it.
“Not while I'm…”
And as the last of her consciousness battled to stay within the waking plane, a few of her strings of thought stayed beside her.
May she be battered and bruised, torn to shreds, or flayed in front of the masses.
She’d keep this promise to Enid.
She’d keep it until her dying breath.
“Around.”
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