Fly on the Wall
After the dishes were finally done, Goldie announced that she would be going to bed. The conversation the three had left her with a fiery ball of emotions, threatening to explode.
Romeo gave her some time before going to her room to talk to her. Zipper snuck up the stairs behind him, intending to eavesdrop.
Romeo knocked three times and opened the door. “Hey Sabrina,” he teased, but quickly regretted it after gauging her mood. She was lying on her bed surrounded by thousands of pieces of ripped paper—the remains of a book.
She quickly turned away and wiped a tear from her cheek.
Romeo lifted up his shirt revealing smooth skin and abs. “Look, I’m completely fine. No scar or scratch or—“
“It’s not that,” Goldie groaned. She looked up and almost laughed at the sight of him standing in her doorway with his shirt up. If Higgins were there his reaction would be comical.
He put his shirt down and sat on her bed. By his foot was the hardcover of an old, brown book, now completely void of pages. He picked it up to get a better look.
“Is that,” he stared at the cover in disbelief, “your spellbook?”
“Just ignore that,” Goldie quickly snatched it from his hands. Romeo tried to grab it back but she held it away from his reach.
“You ripped up your spellbook!” he shouted.
“I’ve tried burning it too. It will be fine by tomorrow morning.” She stuffed the hardcover under her pillow and laid her head on it.
“Why would you do that?” Romeo was completely baffled. He never knew about this side of her. Just that morning she was tending to her mandrakes and foraging in the woods for potion ingredients.
“I didn’t ask for this,” Goldie seethed.
“Neither did I or any of us! And when did you ever try to burn it?” As he reached for the book again Goldie flicked her wrist and gave Romeo’s hand a static shock. He jumped back, almost tumbling backwards off the bed.
“Ouch!” he laughed and held his hand dramatically, pretending that it was on fire. “And I thought you were trying to rip magic out of your life. Pun intended.”
“Just get out, please,” Goldie sat up and pointed to the door.
“Okay, sorry. But you gotta admit that’s pretty ironic.”
“Out!”
Without protest, Romeo hung his head and walked towards the door. He opened it to reveal Zipper laying on the floor, listening through the crack underneath. They both looked at each other and then Goldie, who to their relief was laying down again facing the other way.
“Goodnight!” Romeo called out to her before quickly shutting the door to hide Zipper, escaping in a flash of light.