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Glinda stared into her vanity mirror. The clock by her side ticked. And ticked again. And still no sight of her husband Fiyero. She combed her fingers through her hair, staring into her own eyes through the glass. She looked perfect. Her hair was silky smooth, her face clear from blemishes, her clothes neat. But she felt so extremely disheveled. She stood up and pushed her seat in and went to the couch in the foyer of her Emerald city apartment, overlooking the streets. She nestled into her sofa, pulling a rug over her bare legs. She looked out the window, into the dark night sky. The cold wind of the night drifted in through the open balcony doors. The shining green sky scrapers of the city shone through the darkness. It reminded her of someone. Someone she missed dearly.
“Sorry I’m late.” A voice said, closing the door behind them. Glinda whipped her head around to see Fiyero. He was in his Golden and Emerald Gale force uniform and he looked extremely disordered. His hair was all messy and his face was slicked with sweat and flushed red.
“Are you alright?” Glinda asked, standing up to meet him at the door.
“Yes I’m fine. The search is leading us nowhere, we’re going in circles.” He replied as Glinda unbuttoned his uniform for him.
“It’ll end soon, I know it will. And you won’t be coming home at midnight anymore.” She smiled, pulling his jacket off.
“What if it doesn’t? What if we never catch her?”
“She can’t run forever.” Glinda threw his jacket over the couch and swung her arms over his shoulders. He pulled her close by the small of her back. She craned her head to look up at him, resting her chin on his chest.
“It’ll work out.” He sighed and embraced her. Glinda knew he was lying. She could tell he was uncertain. She just wanted it all over. As much as she loved Elphaba, she wanted her captured already so she could be with Fiyero properly. Ever since they had got married, Fiyero had been out all day and all night searching for the wicked witch and every night he came him inconclusive. She was sick of this. She wanted him home. She wanted to be with her husband. She wanted a family.
She pulled away from him and unbuttoned his undershirt for him, pulling down his suspenders and pulling his sweat soaked shirt from his skin. As she slipped the shirt off, her eyes glued to a bruise on the bottom of his neck, near his collarbones. She softly touched a finger to it.
“What happened?” She asked, gently brushing her finger against the purple splotch. He suddenly jerked away and pulled his shirt back up, covering the bruise.
“Nothing, it’s nothing. I just fell off my horse.” He frantically stuttered.
“That’s a strange place for a bruise?”
“Well it’s nothing.” He added and quickly hurried off to their bedroom.
That night, lying in bed next to him, she couldn’t shake this weird feeling. An anxious feeing was wound up in her chest. It took hours to get to sleep and when she did, she couldn’t help waking up throughout the night, her heart pounding. She tossed and turned and couldn’t shake the unease.
The next morning when she awoke, her husband had left. That regular frustration coursed through her body like every other morning where she would look to her right and see the bed empty. She pushed it down like she did with all her problems, and carried on with the day’s proceeding.
She had to attend a press meeting with Madame Morrible and do some public appearances around Oz. The appearances were easier alone than when she did them with Fiyero by her side because sensing his hatred for the performativeness and insincerity made her cover slip. She faced the crowds with her gleaming, bright smile and greeted the citizens with her warm tone. She held herself up with perfect posture and the perfect appearance, her hair perfect, makeup perfect, gown perfect. She was perfect. She seemed perfect. As soon as she was out of the public’s eye, her posture slumped and her smile wiped clean off her face. She could practically feel eye bags form as she left the stage.
Back alone in her apartment was when she fully crashed, without all the glitz and glamour, she felt like a shell of herself. She felt alone. She was alone. Her best friend was gone and her husband was never home. She only had the citizens of Oz who ‘loved’ her but they didn’t even truly know her, if they saw her in this state, they’d throw her away.
She sank into her couch, trying to lose herself in a book, but between every word, anxieties bled through her mind. She put the book down and took a shower to cleanse her mind. The boiling hot water burnt her skin, the steam made her feel faint. She tried to wash all the guilty and worrying thoughts off of her, but it was no use. The shower made it worse. With no distractions, just the sound of water splashing against the ceramic tiles, her thoughts grew even worse.
She put on a comforting outfit, prepared a favourite meal, and quickly went to bed. She hoped that she’d be woken up in the middle of the night by her dear husband and that he’d be by her side in the morning, but she knew that wouldn’t be the case. Each time she awoke from a bad dream that night, she looked to the side for her husband, but there was no one in sight. When she awoke in the morning, still no sight of him.
Halfway through the day when she was signing papers in her office, he finally came home. She jumped out of her chair and ran over to him excitedly. He looked scruffy and weathered. His shirt wasn’t buttoned properly, his hair was all out of place and his steps were uneven and wobbly. Glinda worried for a second, but her excitement to see him again, washed away the thoughts. As she wrapped her arms around him, relief flooded over her, finally, he was home. But she knew it wouldn’t be for long.
“I’m only home for a few hours, I’m sorry dear.” He said and as the words came out, her grip around him loosened into disappointment.
For the next week, he only came home twice. She became angry and restless. Each time he came home, he looked completely dishevelled. Suspicion was starting to ease into Glinda’s mind. ‘He’s not that type of person’ ‘trust your husband’ ‘he’s just on gale force duties’ ‘he would never’, were thoughts that raced through her mind. She decided that next time he’d leave, she would follow him.
He bid her goodbye and softly planted a kiss upon her cheek. He closed the door behind him and swiftly went on his way. Glinda got to work. She slipped on her riding boots and gloves, wore her most practical outfit and hid herself in a large black coat. She found one of the unaccompanied horses in the Emerald City stables and mounted it, riding out of the city. She could see Fiyero in the distance and followed him from afar. When she reached the woods, she dismounted her house and followed his horse’s hooves prints in the mud. She followed the prints and came across a clearing in the forest. In the dirt was a clearly carved out path and she followed it through winding hills and sneaky shortcuts. It led her to higher up in the forest, where she was among the treetops. In the distance she spotted a woven wooden hut-like structure and she followed the path towards it. When she came closer, the sound of voices became clearer and she nestled into a nearby tree, one with a clear view into the hut. It looked fully scavenged and thrown together, like someone would’ve made it from scraps around the woods. She peered through the window and suddenly a familiar figure came into view. Elphaba. Glinda covered her mouth to hide her gasp. Her heart pounded and her stomach sank. It couldn’t have been her? But it was. She saw her best friend’s indistinguishable green skin and wide toothy smile that she had laughed with many years ago. She heard her familiar warm, calming voice, but this time, it wasn’t calming, it terrified her.
Elphaba was standing in the view of the window, talking to someone out of Glinda’s sight. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, only a few words here and there. ‘Stay… please… beautiful…tonight’ and so on. She tried to tune into the conversation, to make out the other voice. And when she did, she nearly fell out of the tree. But she didn’t believe it. She probably was just going crazy. But then he walked into the view of the window. Fiyero. Glinda’s eyes fogged up and her throat became tight, she wanted to scream and cry till she couldn’t speak, she wanted to walk into that hut and hit them over the head with Elphaba’s broomstick, she wanted to throw herself out of the tree. But she focused. She wiped away her tears and tried to stay calm.
Fiyero walked up close to Elphaba, wrapping his arms around her, holding her by her waist and pulling her in. Elphaba planted her chin against his chest and swung her arms over his shoulders. Then she stood on her tip toes and met his lips with hers. Glinda wanted to throw up, she could feel it rising in her stomach. They held the kiss longer than she hoped they would. Then, Fiyero started taking off his shirt. Glinda wanted to die. She felt like she was going to pass out. She gripped onto the branch of the tree she was sitting in tighter and continued watching. It made her feel terrible, but she couldn’t look away.
Fiyero started pulling off Elphaba’s clothes and she nestled into his neck and pressed her lips against him, sucking his skin. The bruise. How had she not payed any mind to that bruise on his neck? Stupid. She felt stupid. Why hadn’t she noticed it earlier? It was so obvious. They had been doing this the whole time, behind her back. She was the other woman. He had never loved her, he had always loved Elphaba. Glinda swallowed down the pain and she watched as they left the view of the window to do something that Glinda knew would kill her if she watched. She carefully climbed out of the tree and when she planted her feet down onto the ground, she couldn’t keep her balance, she couldn’t walk straight, her vision was blurry, she felt like she was going to be sick. She was going to be sick. She sprinted for the closest bush and felt her insides pour out onto the grass. She tried to be as quiet as possible, to not alert the backstabbers in the nearby hut. Her head pulsed and her throat strained as she retched. She finished and wiped her mouth, the disgusting taste lingering as she tried to get out of there as quickly as possible. When she mounted her house and bolted through the fields, tears built in her eyes and flew down her cheeks as the wind hit her skin.
When she arrived home, she fell onto her bed, she felt drained. She had witnessed her life crumble to pieces right in front of her. She planted her face into her pillow and cried till she couldn’t anymore. Her face was red and puffy and her throat stung of pain and the still lingering taste of vomit. She didn’t even bother to shower, she got changed and tucked herself into bed, wrapping the sheets around her tightly like a cocoon. She prayed that she wouldn’t wake up the next morning. But in the middle of the night, she was awoken by Fiyero. He patted her shoulder to wake her up and when her eyes flickered open, he was smiling wide, like nothing had happened. He looked his usual dishevelled self but now she could put a backstory along with it. She sat up right and wrapped the blanket around her. She stood up to meet his level, however he still towered over her. Her brow was furrowed and anger lit her eyes.
“How was it like finally finding Elphaba?” She asked and his cheerful expression faltered.
“We still haven’t found her yet…” He sighed. She could see through his lies.
“Bullshit.” She spat. Glinda hated swearing but she couldn’t keep her calm composure anymore.
“Excuse you?!” He laughed in shock.
“This whole time?” She asked and he pretended to act dumb.
“Huh, what do you mean darling?” He tried to caress her arm but she hit him away.
“You heard me. You and Elphaba, this whole time?” Tears rised and so did her anger. He finally let up and exhaled deeply.
“Glinda, it had nothing to do with you, I’m so sorry-“
“Did you ever love me?” She cried, stepping up close, looking like she was ready to slap him. And she was.
“ I did! I mean I do, I do love you-“ Glinda cut his fake apology off with a hard slap against his cheek.
“What the?” He exclaimed, holding his throbbing cheek in pain.
“I loved you...” She cried, stepping close to him.Sshe looked up at him like she used to right before they would kiss, but she knew she wouldn’t ever kiss him again.
“What about the publicity? this would cause so much drama!”
“We both know you never cared about the publicity. And I don’t even care anymore. I want you gone.”
“So you want a divorce.” He said, his voice breaking. His actions had caught up with him and he had only now realised how much trouble he had caused. Glinda couldn’t reply, hearing the word divorce made her heart shatter. Her whole life, all she had ever wanted, was to be loved. She thought she would have a perfect life, be happily married and start a beautiful family. That was now out the window. She swallowed her hurt and became assertive.
“Yes.” She answered and Fiyero broke down crying and she couldn’t bare to watch, she sat down on the bed and stared at the blank wall.
“I want you gone by the end of the week.” She said solemnly.
That night, he slept on the couch and she slept alone in bed. She cried herself to sleep. She knew that she had made the right decision but it felt so wrong. She thought she had finally gotten her happy ending, but no, he had to go and ruin it.
Fiyero was gone by the morning and when she saw the lounge room empty, it fully set in.
She was truly alone.