Elphaba the Delirious
Elphaba
A few days had passed since the scandalous evening in which Elphaba arranged a date of sorts between her roommate and alleged childhood friend. She only agreed to the whole affair because of the pity she felt for the Munchkin and the disdain she held for the Gillikinese blonde. She hoped that maybe Boq’s feelings would be lost upon seeing the way that Galinda treated him, however, that proved quite the opposite and he was seemingly more interested in stealing her heart more than ever.
She felt bad, but not in the way that she expected she would. She felt a sense of accountability regarding the whole thing that ended in Boq persistently trying to convince Galinda to give him a chance. It was hard for Elphaba to watch from the sidelines and she frequently noted each time that Galinda cringed uncomfortably. Elphaba didn’t mind Galinda’s growing irritation and anger towards Boq, but she didn’t want to make her uncomfortable or uneasy, nobody deserved to feel that way.
Not even Galinda Upland, despite how bad she may or may not be. So, naturally, Elphaba felt like she had to protect her, even if Boq—the poor Munchkin—was harmless.
And in response, Elphaba felt somewhat terrible. Not too bad, but she felt at fault for the discomfort that Galinda may have felt. Though, Galinda was seemingly fine afterwards as she cracked a small smile as Elphaba corrected her on their way back into Crage.
Nevertheless, the girls had hardly spoken since, but truthfully, that wasn’t much of a shock to Elphaba as they had only just started conversing regularly recently, and even then, it was inconsistent.
After a long day of classes, Elphaba returned to the suite. It had been a long day. She had stayed after Doctor Dillamond’s lecture to check in on the old Goat and see how he was doing after the malicious prank pulled on him a few weeks back when he discovered the horrindible phrase “Animals should be seen and not heard” scribbled onto his chalkboard.
Doctor Dillamond was the closest thing that Elphaba had to a friend and he was one of the few who showed her kindness since her arrival at the university. He was also one of the few that showed her kindness at all.
Admittedly, Elphaba was still taken aback by the whole affair. She found it incredibly distressing how one could be scorned for simply being who they are. Animals were facing more and more hate for simply being different and Doctor Dillamond had informed her today that several cases of Animal restrictions have been implemented into law in Gillikin. Elphaba asked why, but the Doctor said he had no answer, but would be looking into it. He confided in Elphaba about his worries of Animal bigotry skyrocketing in the near future, citing the several disappearances of Animal workers. The two, having already discussed the topic in the past before, recognized the fact that things were only getting worse.
Something bad was surely happening in Oz, but neither of them knew what the bigger scheme behind all of it was.
Why don’t you just tell the Wizard? she had asked her professor. That’s why we have a Wizard.
Doctor Dillamond looked uneasy at the mention of the nation’s leader, but said that perhaps he could help, but for now, he would begin to construct a case against the Animal restrictions laws before taking it to his Ozness.
Elphaba, not easily fooled and rather open minded, asked Doctor Dillamond if he believed that the Wizard was behind the growing oppression. In recent weeks, her opinion of the Glorious Wizard had swayed as she recognized the injustices taking place throughout Oz. Doctor Dillamond, again, had no answer, but said that if it wasn’t the Wizard directly, there was definitely somebody else working behind the scenes to push against Animals for one reason or another.
Something bad was happening in Oz, right under everybody’s noses.
Maybe the Wizard didn’t know about the happenings, Oz was a big place after all.
Though she would never admit it, Elphaba’s desire to meet the Wizard was initially motivated by the hope that he could “cure” her of her verdigris and grant her with “normal” skin by degreenifying her. Now that she has opened her eyes, however, her desire to meet his Ozness was solely so that she could inform him of the Animal oppression and use her power (whenever she was able to control it properly under Madame Morrible’s tutelage) to help him make good.
If only she had some time to garden today, her mind would be less crowded.
Elphaba looked around the room that was decorated in different shades of pinks and several glamorous belongings. It was essentially what Elphaba thought the inside of Galinda’s head looked like. It was cutesy and extravagant, filled with the frills and sparkles that Galinda was so closely associated with, but made Elphaba’s near-sighted eyes ache.
That was Galinda Upland. Fashion and glitz upon all else.
With Galinda nowhere in sight, Elphaba took advantage of the moment (that would surely be short lived), and changed out of her university uniform, removing each of the dark colored pieces one by one to ready herself to get to sleep. In between her moments of undress, Elphaba rubbed some cleaning oils and sanitary creams into her peridot skin, taking solace in the familiar ritual that Galinda’s absence allowed her to fully embrace and relish in.
Elphaba Thropp, for as far back as she or anyone could recall, would not go near water for reasons that even she had forgotten. So, naturally, Nanny had to find other ways for her to stay clean when she was an infant, and this mode of hygiene stuck.
Once she had finished up ‘bathing,’ Elphaba slipped into one of her simple, white-colored nightgowns. She didn’t bother with ‘washing’ her hair, not wanting to unbraid each plait she had carefully woven the other morning. The cleaning of her black hair was a strenuous event due to the difficulty that came with tending to its natural coiled texture, and today simply wasn’t the night for that. Instead, she undid her larger braid that held back each microbraid, allowing for them all to drop down and swing on the sides of her face.
As she did every night, Elphaba crawled onto her bed and grabbed a book from her nightstand. Then, she reached into her drawer and grabbed a bright red apple.
Preparing for her routine of reading while eating her late night snack, Elphaba took a bite of the plump fruit, but right before she could chew, swallow, and read a full paragraph of her book, the door swung open and Galinda, like always, marched in loudly.
Galinda, freshly out of the shower, was wearing her lavender bathrobe and she walked behind her folding screen for some privacy so she could get dressed. Elphaba couldn’t see her roommate, obviously, given the nature of the thing, but she felt strange, nonetheless. She watched Galinda’s figure through the screen and felt herself warming up as she caught a quick glimpse of the silhouette moving behind the curtain wall.
Quickly, she looked down at the floor, wanting to redirect her eyes elsewhere.
For a moment, she felt like a creep; she felt like Boq!
Even then, she felt her body respond in a way that was unfamiliar to her. She felt a warmth creeping up from her spine to her neck, as well as a fluttering sensation in her stomach.
She didn’t know what exactly she was feeling, but she knew that it wasn’t loathing. She shouldn’t have been feeling this way, whatever it was.
It was awkward. It was uncomfortable. It was enticing.
Her emerald eyes darted around the room, searching for a distraction. Elphaba put all of her attention into the pages of her book while Galinda stepped out from behind the screen, wearing a silky fuschia nightgown that looked more like a dress for a night out at the Philosophy Club than it did sleepwear.
That was Galinda Upland. Fashion and glitz upon all else.
Elphaba silently flipped through the pages of her book, but her attention was pulled over to the otherside of the room when she heard the same sound of pages being turned coming from Galinda’s direction. The blonde sat up against her red pillows, tucked in snug under her pink sheets, and read a fashion magazine. Well, she looked through it, Elphaba thought. There wasn’t much to read in there, she assumed, but that was Galinda Upland. Fashion and glitz upon all else.
She loathed her ability to turn a blind eye to the wrongs of the world and live in the false reality that she created for herself. It was full of glamour and pretty things. To Elphaba, that type of place—which Galinda had replicated with her side of the suite—, was simply not real. It was only a faraway land that was more of a dream than an actual location, and it was free of grievances and other wrongdoings. It (if it were real) had to exist only in a place that was somewhere over the rainbow.
Yet, Galinda seemingly was able to live in that world effortlessly, tapping into it by surrounding herself with luxury and frivolity.
“Thank you, by the way,” said Galinda out of the blue as she turned the pages of her magazine. She must have noticed Elphaba looking her way.
“I beg your pardon?” asked Elphaba as she closed her book and set it aside, placing her apple beside it on her nightstand.
“Thank-you,” said Galinda, “for making me feel safe and okay the other night with Biq. I won’t lie to you Miss Elphaba, he was beginning to make me feel a bit on edge. I know that he was only trying to get his affections for me across, but he was… too much, let’s say. But, thankfully for you,” she said as she looked directly at Elphaba, “I wasn’t that uncomfortable.”
“Galinda, I—” Elphaba began, but Galinda raised her hand as if to silence her.
“No,” Galinda said firmly, hand still in the air, “I only wish to thank you for your goodwill, even if it was the least that you could do for dragging me to that dreadful thing.”
That was Galinda Upland, Elphaba thought. She always had to make a snarky comment or two, but this time, Elphaba wasn’t very bothered by it. Instead, she smiled at Galinda in return.
“I am sorry, Galinda,” said Elphaba. “I wouldn’t have persisted that you go if I knew how Boq was going to behave himself. He is rather awkward, as am I, and means no harm—not that he could cause any, but he put on too much of a show. He is truly smitten with you, Miss Galinda.”
Elphaba had made sure to add the honorific the second time she said the name of her roommate. They weren’t friends who addressed each other casually. Not yet.
“Nobody deserves to be made uncomfortable,” Elphaba had added, making her feelings about the matter clear. Galinda gave her one of her cute smiles in responses. Elphaba had never seen a smile from her like that before, it must have been genuine.
Genuine was not something that Elphaba knew Galinda to be. She wasn’t even sure if she could be genuine, especially with all the facades of her public-self. Maybe, like Elphaba had theorized during their first conversation, there was actually more to Galinda than met the eye.
If she was ever able to let go of acting only to benefit her reputation, maybe Galinda could be happy one day. If only she weren’t so shallow, Elphaba thought to herself.
That was too much of a hope though. That was too much of a dream. She didn’t even care much for Galinda (or believed that she didn’t), but that was simply too much to wish for. And Elphaba knew better than to wish for somebody else to change for the better.
Don’t wish, don’t start.
“You made me feel safe,” said Galinda. “You are my hero, Miss Elphaba. Even if we don’t always see eye to eye, us women have to look out for one another.”
Elphaba felt a sudden jolt of surprise when Galinda referred to her as her hero. Once again, she felt that strange feeling for only moments ago wash back over her green body. She felt a little weak and it almost felt like her body went numb whilst the strange sensation returned to the pit of her stomach. Elphaba felt her face flushing, and in the moment, as well as for the many years that followed, was unaware that her cheeks had turned a deep shade of violet that night.
“It was the least I could do,” said Elphaba. “Like you said,” she added with a gentle nod.
The two girls got back to their reading, or Elphaba got back to reading while Galinda admired the photographs of the latest Ozian fashion found in her magazine. Elphaba couldn’t help but snag another look of her roommate and she noticed how her blonde curls effortlessly framed her face with her sweet elegance.
You’re my hero, Miss Elphaba.
The sound of rain falling onto the roof caught Elphaba’s attention next, the drops of water splattering against the ceiling above. She felt herself grow queasy at the sounds of the soft patter. Her body went stiff and her stomach churned with discomfort as she was pulled out of her feelings, whatever they may have been. Elphaba felt herself unable to move, forced to stay seated on her bed as the fear in her mind took over her body completely and rendered her a statue of green-skin and pent-up emotion.
“Rain-rain go away,” Galinda sighed in a sing-song tune, shrugging as she turned her attention back to her magazine, unbothered. Elphaba only wished that she could have it that easy.
Upon noticing the window—that Galinda loved to keep open—ajar and unlatched ever so slightly, Elphaba felt even more of the unprecedented terror rush through her body.
“They say that Madame Morrible is a weather sorceress,” said Galinda as she turned to another page. “I wonder if it’s true. Is it? You would know since you spend so much time with her.”
Elphaba wasn’t remotely bothered by the (jealous) remarks Galinda threw her way. She built up enough courage to speak up and ask, “Could you close it?”
“Hmm?” Galinda hummed, confused. So, she shut her magazine and set it on her blankets beside her. “What?”
“The window,” said Elphaba. Then, she repeated herself, “Can you close the window?”
“Oh,” said Galinda. She glanced at the window, then made a face. “Oh, can we not?” she asked, seemingly inconsiderate as always.
That was Galinda Upland. She cared only for herself, Elphaba thought.
“I just so enjoy air,” said the blonde. “It’s hardly open, the rain isn’t even gonna sneak in,” she added before taking a deep breath. “And, Miss Elphaba—if I may be frank with you—, it is on my side of my room.”
The words hung in the air between the two. The mixture of Galinda’s voice and the raindrops that continuously hit the opened window irritated Elphaba, all while igniting the anxiety within her. The rain didn’t enter the room, but it was very close to doing so. Instead, it just spilled down the window down the side of the vine-draped wall.
Elphaba’s mind rushed with possible scenarios of the tiniest of droplets slipping in through the unlatched window.
She tensed at the thought of the tiniest of droplets falling against her skin. The thought of it made her shiver.
“Please,” Elphaba resorted to begging like the peddlers she preached to in the slums of Quadling Country as a child. “Can you close the window?”
“It is not even bothering you, Miss Elphaba,” said Galinda who picked up her flimsy magazine again.
That did something.
The frustration consumed Elphaba. She began to think about how much she loathed her roomie, a storm of emotion as fierce as the one brewing outside raged within her.
“Galinda, please,” said Elphaba, trying to calm herself down, she feared that whatever was going on inside of her—all of the anger she held for Galinda, the disappointment she had in the treatment of Animals, and most importantly, the discomfort and fear of the rain—was going to be released in a way that she hated if something wasn’t done about the window’s status.
Galinda threw her magazine aside and sighed. “Miss Elphaba, calm down, please,” she said as she pushed her sheets off of her and got out of bed, giving in to Elphaba who became more and more agitated by the sounds of the raindrops, not that Galinda’s sassiness made the situation any better. “You are acting utterly delirious, I must say,” said the blonde as she approached the window. Elphaba didn’t reply, she had nothing to say, still shaken and frightful.
“Elphaba the Delirious,” Galinda said under her breath, it was playful, but it was also nettlesome, in Galinda’s typical voice. “Are you scared of the rain or something?” she asked playfully, likely not meaning arm by it.
That did it.
Without warning, the glass of the window broke with a sharp crack, sending shards of glass scattering across the room.
Magic.
Galinda flinched, falling backwards onto the ground, but thankfully none of the tiny pieces came into contact with her skin, but a bit of the rainfall did.
“What in Oz?” she asked rhetorically, screaming from the top of her lungs.
Meanwhile, Elphaba was otherwise occupied, unable to help her roomie up. She jumped out of bed right as the window exploded, retreating to the opposite side of the room, her body pressing against the wall as she cowered in fear. Crawling up into a ball, she hid her face in her knees, not wanting to look up as she heard the sprinkling drops of water enter the room through the now destroyed window.
She did this.
“Miss Elphaba?” Galinda called out. “What was that?”
Elphaba didn’t reply and Galinda didn’t say anything more for a few moments. Everything was dark for Elphaba as she refused to look up. She couldn’t face it. The thought was too horrific.
She felt a hand against her shoulder, then Galinda’s voice followed. “Elphaba? Are you okay? Was it something I said?”
Elphaba didn’t reply, she felt herself shaking. She was unable to reply, even if she wanted to or had anything to say to Galinda who must’ve figured the situation out for herself when she asked, “You really don’t like the rain do you?”
The green girl could only muster up enough resolve to answer Galinda’s answer with a quick nod, she still didn’t look up. She couldn’t. Something about the patter reminded her of something that she herself had wanted to forget long ago, so she made herself forget. Whatever repressed trauma she had regarding water was far too painful to think about. She just wanted the rain to stop.
Galinda went silent for the next few moments. All Elphaba could hear (other than the terrifying raindrops hitting Galinda’s side of the room) was some shuffling around of several items that Elphaba could not care enough to focus on.
She couldn’t breathe. Not correctly. Not with all that water spilling into the room. She felt herself tearing up as she imagined the suite flooding with the rain. Her breaths became harder to focus on, while the palms of her green hands became lubricated with sweat.
She felt her heart racing as she kept her eyes tightly shut and her head pressed against her knees.
The sound of each beat, and of each raindrop, triggered Elphaba more and more.
What was happening to her?
She refused to look up until Galinda gave her the all clear with a simple, “Look, Miss Elphaba!” and look she did. Elphaba uncurled from her fetal position, looking across the suite where she saw one of Galinda’s thick comforters hung in front of the window, blocking any potential leakage or droplets from entering. “See,” said the Gillikinese girl, “good as new. No rain will enter now.”
Elphaba couldn’t tell if Galinda sounded annoyed, confused, or like her typical self, and she honestly was not concerned enough to determine which of the three her roommate currently was. But now that the rain was blocked, she felt her heartbeat slow down and found herself able to breathe normally once again. It took a few moments, but each breath got lighter and lighter, allowing Elphaba to regain her inhalation.
She put a hand to her chest, feeling it over her nightgown. The green girl was relieved that her heart was actually slowing, feeling it pulse at a relatively normal pace. It slowed down with each passing clock-tick, recuperating from the trepidation.
What was that?
Her chest became lighter, the tightness loosening. Her thoughts became less dreadful. Still, the pent up thoughts and the trauma of the rain entering her room—it was so close—still had a grip on her.
“Are you okay now?”
Elphaba nodded and sat up straight, leaning against the wall, using it to slide up against it so that she could stand back up. She struggled, so Galinda approached her, but the blonde didn’t help much, probably not sure what to do. Elphaba didn’t need help, though. She didn’t want it.
She was embarrassed, but more importantly, she was shaken up. For whatever reason that she could not determine herself, she feared for her wellbeing. Elphaba Thropp feared for her life.
“Miss Elphaba,” said Galinda, a hint of concern in her voice as she reached forward, “are you okay?”
Elphaba pulled away from her roomie, who had never touched her before and still didn’t get the chance to. “I’m fine,” said Elphaba.
Galinda looked her up and down, her brown eyes full of bewilderment. Elphaba felt herself being scanned, just as she did everyday by those who passed her in the halls and in between classes, but this felt more intimate, almost too much so. Here she was, in her nightgown, stuck in an utter panic that she had never experienced in the past. Elphaba had only felt this way once, and Galinda was the only person to see her like this.
She felt vulnerable beyond words. And she never felt vulnerable.
“Miss Elphaba, you’re trembling,” said Galinda who walked over to Elphaba’s closet and opened it without permission, not saying a single word. She looked through the green girl’s belongings, pushing them around and looking for something, then she finally came upon a thick frock. “Here,” she said as she approached Elphaba, “put this on.”
Elphaba took it, trying to keep her hand from quivering as vigorously as it was. Once she regained control of her shivering body (or hands, at least), Elphaba put it on, slipping into the warm clothing piece.
Galinda put a hand up against Elphaba’s back. Even with the anxiety that overcame her in the moment, Elphaba was able to detect the nervousness that Galinda had as she led her in the direction of her bed. The blonde kept her hand against the wool of Elphaba’s frock and made sure not to make contact with her skin. She kept her hand steady, or tried to, as Elphaba picked up on Galinda doing some trembling of her own.
Two shaking, nervous roommates; they were shaking for two different reasons, yet this seemed to bond them together in the most unusually and exceedingly peculiar way possib;e. They were uniting. They were looking out for one another.
“The rain is gone,” Galinda comforted Elphaba as she guided her to her bed.
“I’m fine,” Elphaba repeated, her voice still shaky. She looked around the suite, keeping a close eye on the covered up window. She couldn’t look away from it until Galinda spoke to her.
Softly, the other girl said, “You don’t like rain?”
Elphaba just shook her head.
Scared of the rain? Elphaba wasn’t just scared, but petrified. The panic of the moment enveloped her in a manner that it never had in the past. She couldn’t help but wonder what Galinda thought of her now.
I must really be ‘Elphaba the Delirious,’ she thought to herself, her mind still spiraling, though, with Galinda’s presence, things seemed to slow down.
“It is just a storm,” said Galinda as she placed a hand on Elphaba’s shoulder, taking a seat beside her on her bed. “It will come to pass; they always do. You will be just fine.”
She just hoped that nobody ever learned of this incident. She wished that Galinda wasn’t here to see it, either. She would have preferred if she had been all on her own during it. But in that case, she wasn’t sure what she would have done without Galinda, who came in and saved the day, even if she didn’t understand the way that Elphaba reacted.
Either way, Elphaba found herself growing more content as time went on and Galinda stayed by her side, offering her support through whatever it was that was happening.
She looked over at Galinda who had wide eyes. It looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but she was no doubt still in shock regarding Elphaba’s current state.
In this moment, Galinda wasn’t superficial. She was being supportive, whether or not she knew how to be or why she was doing it. Elphaba noted that nothing about this moment would have helped Galinda’s image. She was doing this just to help Elphaba. Nothing was in it for her.
Maybe Galinda Upland wasn’t so bad after all.
No.
“Well,” she said, “you stay bundled up in that frock/coat—that froat of yours. No more rain will get in here.”
Galinda stood back up and headed back to her crowded side of the suite. A shivering Elphaba looked out at her and said, “Thank you, Galinda…” there was a long pause. “You’re my hero.”
Elphaba watched as her roommate’s lips curved into a smile that looked almost bewildered, yet genuine, she was undoubtedly surprised by the warmth.
Something about the moment was unusually bittersweet.
In typical Galinda fashion, she brushed it off, tossing her hair to the side. “That is what roomies do for each other,” she said confidently, having to stop to swallow the knot in her throat that Elphaba had not noticed (and would never learn of—she was too shaken up, and even in the years to follow, Galinda never told her how she touched her that night), “or so I’m told.”
That was Galinda Upland, but maybe she wasn’t as shallow as she always presented herself to be, just like Elphaba had suspected. Maybe there was a Galinda Upland that she was yet to meet.
She had no real evidence to support her theory before, but now she did.
Maybe, she thought, Galinda Upland could be genuine. She did have the capacity to do good for others.
This time around, Galinda made Elphaba feel safe.
Nobody ever did that.
Elphaba, for the first time, found herself appreciating her roommate.
She would never be able to thank her enough.