7
A few days had passed since Larissa's break down.
Her thoughts crisscrossed, always returning to Wednesday's writing. She wanted to get in touch with her, but how?
It's not just a situation where you can say, hey I'm still alive, just visit me.
She was sure Wednesday wanted answers. She could understand and yet she didn't know what to say.
She only knew that she wanted to see the young woman again. This writing had brought back memories and she missed her.
She wondered what Wednesday looked like now.
After a few thoughts, she reached for her cell phone and typed in the number. Calling wasn't possible, writing What's app she also had to give her number. So she decided to send a text message with suppressed number.
After what felt like an eternity and not a letter on the display, Larissa Weems shook her head and finally just wrote....
L: I still see you!
Quickly, and without thinking any further about it, she pressed the send button.
She was nervous. Why was she so nervous?
The butterflies in her stomach weren't really helping her think clearly either.
Suddenly, her cell phone buzzed. With shaky hands, she took it and opened the incoming message.
W: Who are you?
Larissa smiled. At least Wednesday responded.
She gathered her courage and answered.
L: Someone you know!
W: I don't have time for games, so who are you?
L: I'm not interested in a game. More like a meeting.
Larissa sighed. She didn't know what to write now, if Wednesday would agree. Her heart was racing, her hands shaking. Suddenly an idea came to her. She knew how to arrange a meeting and, more importantly, where.
She wanted to see the look on Wednesdays face when they met.
Quickly she went to the bedroom, changed her clothes, grabbed the panda and went to the car.
Since Wednesday had written that she would be at her grave every day, she drove right there. After about 30 minutes of driving, she stopped at her destination. A quick glance in the mirror and she got out.
For Larissa, it was a very strange and oppressive feeling to stand in front of her own grave and not be in it. She looked at her watch, which read 6:20 pm, and placed the panda bear in front of her tombstone. Without another message, she walked back to her car and waited. If it was really true that Wednesday came every evening, there should be a chance to find her today. She looked at her cell phone and recognized a message. She opened it and read.
W: I have something to do for a moment. After that it would be possible.
Somewhat surprised that Wednesday responded, she wrote back.
L: All right. Meet me at the Azeco Café. When?
W: In an hour.
Okay Larissa, she chided herself. Get a grip on yourself. You're a grown woman, not a child. Suddenly her mind went blank, because a young woman walked past her car and straight to her grave.
For a brief moment, Larissa closed her eyes and took a breath. It was now or never, the thought occurred to her, and so she got out. Her hair was loose and shimmered silver in the evening sun. It fell in waves over her shoulder and Larissa had to smile. Wasn't that what Wednesday had wanted? Quietly she walked behind and then stopped when she saw Wednesday sitting there. She had grabbed the bear, holding it tightly while she cried bitterly, the panda saying, I love you.
Larissa sucked in the air sharply. Nothing could've prepared her to endure this image before her. She stopped one row in front of her and leaned against one of the tombstones. She was waiting for the right moment when she suddenly heard Wednesday talking. More sobbing, actually.
"Why did you leave me alone? And where did that panda come from now?"
It hurt to see the young woman suffer so much, so Larissa decided to put an end to it.
"If I had known what you were feeling, I would've stayed."
For a brief moment, there was a strange silence. She could see Wednesday wince, drop the panda, and jerkily turn. Oh Wednesday would hear her voice over and over and out of thousands.
When their eyes met for the first time in 8 years, Larissa could see it. Love.
"Larissa," Wednesday asked in a shaky voice, as if she were standing in front of a ghost. Wednesday looked at her, studying her, taking it all in.
Larissa stepped closer to her and nodded gently.
"How is that possible? I saw you die. How...?"
"All in good time, darling."
When Larissa used that title and she saw Wednesdays reaction, she knew the young woman still loved and wanted her.
Wednesday, on the other hand, didn't dare move. She was afraid that it was just a dream and she would wake up as soon as she moved. When Larissa stopped right in front of her and searched her eyes, Wednesday carefully lifted her hand and let her fingers run over Larissa's cheek, touching every part of her face. Larissa held still and continued to look at her. She could see the woman in front of her trying to process and understand everything. Wednesday let go of her and stared at her. Without warning, she lashed out with the flat of her hand and hit.
Ouch, Larissa thought. That hurt as she grabbed her cheek and rubbed it lightly.
"I guess I deserved that," she said softly, trying to smile but not really succeeding.
"Yes you did," Wednesday groaned. "How could you Larissa? I've suffered all this time, I've mourned all these years. I..."
"Wednesday, I didn't know. I didn't know what you were feeling. It took me six months to get better. When I was, I looked for you and didn't find you. At some point I told myself it would be better for you if I stayed away. I had no idea Wednesday. Please believe me. I had no idea you were suffering like this."
Wednesday stood in front of her, perplexed. Quietly and in a shaky voice she replied, "I loved you so much. I loved you with all my heart."
Tears formed in Wednesday's eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
Larissa wished she could just take Wednesday in her arms, but she didn't want to cross that line.
"You're speaking in the past tense?" she inquired cautiously, not sure she could bear to answer.
Wednesday looked up at her and held her gaze.
"No," she said softly, and now Wendsday had her first chance to tell her, and she did.
"No. I love you Larissa."
Without thinking any further, Larissa reached out and pulled Wednesday to her and held her close.
"Oh my darling," she spoke softly. "So do I you."
Wednesday sobbed loudly when she heard those words from Larissa and held onto the taller woman like a drowning woman. They stood there in the cemetery in the evening sun, holding each other as if they couldn't believe their situation.... Never would Larissa have dared to dream of this moment.
To be able to hold Wednesday like this was far from her dreams, but now she was standing here holding the woman which had loved her painfully for 10 years.
As they parted, Wednesday looked at her watch and sighed. "I have to go and I don't want to go," she said sadly, to which Larissa smiled. "I know. You have a date."
Wednesday looked at her questioningly. How did Larissa know that? "Yes, I have a date."
She added as she raised her eyebrow questioningly.
"I believe my dear, that date is me."
Wednesday laughed out loud. "OK," she said, "How did you get my number?"
Larissa had to laugh too but held her again. "Thing came to my place and gave it to me."
Wednesday shook her head in disbelief. She made a quick note in her mind to thank Thing for it later.
"So my dear," Larissa said with a smile. "Ready for our date?"
The smile Larissa got in response, she was sure, could melt icebergs.
"Yes," she replied softly. "I'm ready."
She picked up the panda, handed it back to Larissa, and walked up beside her. "Let's put this in my car for a minute and go from there. What do you say we go for a little walk?"
Wednesday answered in the affirmative and then put the panda in the trunk. As they walked side by side, it wasn't long before Larissa held out her hand, which Wednesday promptly took with a smile on her face.
Oh what a feeling that was, it went through her mind. It felt so incredibly good that Wednesday could have screamed with joy and so they walked hand in hand to the café. The first time on a date in public.
As they sat there talking, Wednesday noticed that Larissa had her hair down, rather than strictly pinned into a bun. It softened her contours and she loved it.
How she would have loved to just run her fingers through her hair right now, but she pulled herself together. She hoped that eventually she could someday.
"Wednesday," Larissa spoke softly and Wednesday looked at her questioningly.
"I really want to be open and honest with you, so please forgive me for asking. Thing had given me your writing to read and I have a few questions about it. Would it be okay if we talk about it?"
Wednesday looked at her with wide eyes. She made a double note to herself. To break Thing's fingers when she got back. How could he?
"Sure," she replied, nodding her head. "What do you want to know?"
Wednesday hoped Larissa wasn't drilling too deep. It was just too painful for her.
"Let's just start with what you wish?"
Larissa knew where she wanted to steer the conversation. She wanted to be sure that what was possible would work. However, this only worked if Wednesday talked to her openly.
"What do I wish?" the younger woman asked again, and Larissa nodded.
"All this time I have wished for nothing more than for you to be alive. Well, now you're sitting in front of me. What exactly are you getting at?"
Smiling, Larissa looked at her. "Well, then I'll turn the question around. What do you wish from me? I have, as I said, read your written thoughts and honestly don't know exactly what you hope for, or wish for, from me. You wrote that age isn't important to you, but are you really sure about that?"
Now the penny dropped for Wednesday. Larissa wanted to talk about one or her possible relationship.
Oh, something was tightening inside her, only she couldn't interpret it.
"I was and am completely serious about this. It's numbers on a piece of paper, nothing more. Well, you have more experience than I do in terms of life, but hey. At least we share an experience."
Wednesday didn't quite mean it and laughed almost sarcastically, to which Larissa looked at her questioningly.
"And that would be?"
" Well, you can't know because you were dead but I died the same night. So not just mentally. Cregstone had stabbed me that night and I had to die so Goody could reach me that I was then able to protect the school from him. I don't know how much you know, but we students saved Nevermore. Explicitly Enid and I.
Enid had been so afraid for me that her werewolf had shown up and lucky for me, Tyler had posed as Hyde and nearly mauled me. Enid saved me, even though she looked really bad for it. Her wounds required close to 200 stitches."
Larissa's breath caught in her throat. This wasn't what she wanted to hear. And yet she was grateful to know that her students respected her and her school.
"I destroyed Cregstone and put an end to it. Eugene had helped me turn in Marilyn at the time. Well, more like his bees. Buzzers stick together."
It was an exciting story that Larissa got to hear, which also made her immediately curious. "And what happened to Marilyn?"
"Do you really want to know?" asked Wednesday sincerely, to which Larissa nodded at her.
"I tortured her almost to the end for your death."
"What did you do?" asked Larissa shocked at what she was about to hear.
"After Eugene unleashed the entire hives on her, she was pretty stung. I then asked them to call back and well," Wednesday faltered briefly and continued speaking with a coldness that made Larissa shudder.
"I razed her face to the ground by kicking her in the face several times. Don't worry, she was still alive, even if little but she was alive. After that we handed her over to the police. I don't know what happened to her. I left after that and couldn't go back."
Larissa looked at her in shock. That Wednesday could be ruthless, she knew, but that she could become so cold, she hadn't expected.
"You kicked her in the face?" the question rang out and Wednesday smiled sarcastically. "No, not exactly. I stomped on her face. I think that woman ended up needing a mask to even have a face. Now, if you're asking me if I have guilt. No. I don't. She took you from me and destroyed my life.
No, I don't feel remorse."
Larissa understood Wednesday, even if she didn't approve. A little, she had to smile." So you saved Nevermore? "
"Yes, I did."
Wednesday smiled and Larissa could see she was proud of it.
"Very nice, but where do we go from here? You haven't answered my question properly yet," Larissa tried again and was interrupted by Wednesday.
"Why don't you ask the question directly Larissa? Why don't you just ask me if I would like a life with you? It would be easier and faster.
We're not in school anymore and you're not my principal who has to discreetly question through the grapevine. To the point.
Yes, I would wish it. Now that I know you're alive. Yes, I would wish for a life with you. I don't care about the age difference. But I don't know what you want, what you wish for, or if you don't care."
Oh Larissa Weems couldn't help but notice that Wednesday had become even more determined and biting than she was then. She had really grown up. It made her very interesting and Larissa couldn't help but smile.
"If I wasn't interested, would I be here?" asked Larissa cautiously, reaching across the table for her hand, which made Wednesday smile sheepishly.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "As you should know, I'm not the best at recognizing and allowing feelings."
They both laughed out loud. It really felt good to be able to laugh again. "How about we just see where it takes us?"
Wednesday looked at her with wide eyes. Her heart was beating hard in her chest. Was Larissa really serious now? She could hardly believe it.
"I'd like that," she finally confessed, smiling.
Quite some time had passed when Wednesday looked at her watch and realized it was just before 10 pm. They were both amazed to realize that time had run.
"Even though I don't want to, but I should go. I'm afraid the work isn't doing itself yet."
Larissa understood and nodded. "It's all right. Do you want me to take you home?" she asked cautiously and Wednesday smiled. "Sure," she replied.
Wednesday went to the cash register and paid. There was no way she was going to let Larissa pay. When Larissa was dressed and ready to go, Wednesday grabbed her hand and led her out. They had to walk back to the car, after all.
"Thank you," Larissa said in response. "For a lovely evening and for paying."
"You're very welcome," Wednesday replied, and so they walked to the car.
Once there, she gave Larissa the address and it wasn't long before she was standing in front of her house.
"So then, we're writing?", Wednesday asked cautiously laughing. Larissa couldn't help but laugh along, because they were acting like two silly teenagers in love right now.
"We're writing," Larissa said in response, nodding at her.
Wednesday got out and walked to the door, smiling and waving goodbye to her. Before she went into the house and closed the door behind her. A scream followed. It was a scream of joy.
Later that evening, Wednesday was lying in her bed and had thanked Thing profusely and told him what she had experienced, when her cell phone rang.
L: Do you have any plans for Saturday?
Wednesday smiled and her heart beat ten times faster.
W: No, not until now. Why?
L: Well, you do now. 8 pm, I'll pick you up!
W: Okay. Entered.
L: Very good. Then I wish you a good night and sweet dreams.
W: You sleep well too. Is it wrong to write, dream of me?
L: No. On the contrary 😘
Oh Wednesday thought to herself. Larissa started with emojis. She could do that too. She had had this communication with Enid.
W: Then dream of me like I dream of you 🤤 😘
L: ❤️
W:❤️