Chapter 36
Arthur
I wince as I press yet another icepack against the new shiner on my face. I never thought I’d get a blackeye, even with the amount of times I fell over as a kid, not once did I get something quite like this. But then again, I never thought I’d partake in a full-on fist fight either. So there was always a first time for everything. It had been a week since one of the weirdest nights of my life. What started out as a fun night, full of spontaneity and near-kisses, turned into something that made my skin crawl. I don’t think anyone could have predicted the outcome. When that prick first started sleazing around Ember, I immediately felt my blood begin to bubble and boil, but when he point black refused to let go of her and called her one of the most disgusting slurs under the sun, I couldn’t contain myself any longer. He needed to pay, that’s all I knew. Don’t get me wrong, my parents were never the kind to teach me the old ‘if they hit you, hit them harder’ spiel, but I threw all caution and decorum to the wind. I knew she wanted to fight her own battle and act tough, but I could see the look of pure fear rising underneath the mask, it made my heart shatter and my insides crumble. I wanted to protect her, in fact, I needed to. It was less of a choice and more like a basic instinct, like breathing or blinking. What I didn’t expect was for him to pound on me like he did. I thought I at least had somewhat of a good fighting chance, but as his fist continued to swing at me, my head was whirring with every punch and my vision turning starry, like a character in a cartoon when they get something dropped on their head and their eyes turn into crosses with the sound of birds chipping. That was what it felt like. I was losing energy fast; I’m surprised I didn’t pass out there and then from the impact.
Either way though, I didn’t care because she was worth the pain. But what happened next is something I’ve been desperately trying to get my head around. I’ve lost countless hours of sleep this week endlessly replaying the series of events on loop in my head. The way he rose and flew through the air, it looked like a stage show where the character soars through the sky but in reality, you know they’re just connected to some strings above. As humans, we’re creatures of habit, we want to understand and make sense of things, we want sensible explanations for radical situations and we fear things that we don’t understand. It explains why scientists drive themselves to an early grave by spending days on end trying to rationalize the irrational. Even though I’d argue that sometimes it’s better to just accept the abnormality of things and realise that not everything requires a solution, I couldn’t do that in this case. I needed to know what was going on. I still liked Ember, of course I did. I felt evil turning my back on her in that moment, especially considering she’d just been through hell already with that guy. The adrenaline mixed with the absurdity was just all too much for everyone in that moment, but Sam and I have been talking about it non-stop all week, trying our best to fathom some sort of explanation.
Thankfully, (I guess), the guy was okay. The security guards came and recognised it as just another street brawl and banned us all from ever coming back. We didn’t even kick up a fuss, we all just wanted out of there. No one else was around to see what had happened, so at least we didn’t have any eye witnesses demanding that they’d seen some sort of witchcraft. Weirdly, the guy didn’t even question what had happened to him, whether he was too afraid to do so, or just wanted an easy way out, he never spoke of it again and actually apologised to me up front. I didn’t care much for his apology, especially after the way he treated Ember, but I nodded and hoped to all that is holy that karma would come back round to bite him, (maybe not a being choked and flung through the air kind of karma, but you get my gist). Funnily enough, I don’t think the police would believe him anyway, they’d sooner shove him in a mental institution.
No one knew what to say to each other, so we all opted for an eerily silent bus journey home as we sat with our thoughts. But here we are, a week later, and I’m still very much sat with them. I’ve heard absolutely nothing from Ember, but I can’t say that I’ve tried to reach out myself. Today though, I knew that enough was enough. I needed to find out what had happened, even if I didn’t like the answer. I needed to at least give her the benefit of the doubt and let her explain herself.
“Going somewhere shiner?,” Sam laughs, watching me slip my jacket on as he makes his way into my room. I really needed to start locking my door.
I roll my eyes. “yeah, I-I’m going to go and see Ember actually,” I cough.
Sam’s laugh instantly stops, his face morphing into one of sympathetic concern. “Are you sure that’s a good idea mate? We don’t even know what happened.”
“That’s what I want to find out. I know we didn’t know what was going on, but let’s be honest, we were all assholes to her,” I respond, my heart swelling at the reminder of her teary face as she ran away from us. She must have felt so alone.
He nods, “Poppy said that they know that she’s still living in the flat because her bowls and glasses move back and forth from the kitchen, and her bedroom light turns on and off, but they said they haven’t actually seen her or spoken with her since.”
My voice raises, “have they not even tried to speak to her?”
Sam puts up a hand, “You can’t blame them for being a bit wary of her Arth. Give them time and they will I’m sure.”
“I’m sorry,” I rub my face, “I’ve just had no sleep lately because I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Thinking about it or thinking about her?,” Sam asks intuitively.
“Both” I admit.
“Go and talk to her. I’ll text Pops to let you in, she’s not on campus for another hour,” he replies, gesturing towards the door.
I nod, pop yet another paracetamol, (aka, my best friends for the week whilst I try and reduce the swelling of my eye), and head out the door. I didn’t know what I’d discover, but I knew I needed to try.
◆◆◆
Poppy gives me a reluctant smile as she comes to let me in at reception.
“Thank god- your security guard has it in for me I swear,” I whisper, looking towards the same fuming guard who was here when Sam and I were waiting for Poppy and her mysterious friend for our double date all those months ago, he was still sat at his desk with the very same accusing eyes. She lets out a small snort before pressing the button on the lift. I desperately wanted to remind her that I was terrified of lifts, but I decided to swallow my fear, as there were more important issues at hand than a metal box. Progress, right? As the doors close and the rickety lift judders up to the third floor, Poppy flashes me an anxious look.
“Before we go in there, I just want to say that Amy and I haven’t spoken to her. I feel bad, I really do. It’s just…what do we say? I miss her Arthur and I know I’ve been a crap friend, but I just can’t bring myself to cross that bridge with her right now.”
“I get it,” I assure her. “But someone needs to try and make sense of everything.”
Poppy fiddles with her fingers, “Well, I’m glad of all people, that it’s you. She really does care about you, so much.” I don’t ignore the tiny sizzle that zips through my heart knowing that. “And I hate to say it, but just please be careful.”
I nod as the lift dings and opens out onto her floor. My palms begin to clam up as Poppy taps her key fob on the lock and we step into the corridor. “Good luck,” she gives my arm a gentle squeeze before going into her bedroom.
With shuddering hands, I lightly tap on her door. Silence. I know she’s in there, I can see the light from her bedroom reflecting under the door. “Ember,” I clear my throat, “it’s me. Please can I come in?” It’s then that I hear movement, immediate rustling like she’s been caught completely off guard. “Please Ember, I know you’re in there, I just want to talk,” I beg. I hear the click of a lock and then watch the door slowly begin to creak open. I feel nauseas as her face peers between the crack, she looks tired, broken, even. A completely different Ember to the one I’ve known this whole time. She’s wearing crumpled pj’s, her wild curls are limply drooping over her face, looking as sad as she does, and she’s got big purple rings under her eyes, telling me that she’s had just as little sleep as I have.
“W-what do you want?,” she whispers sheepishly. It was killing me to see her like this. A shell of the person she was only a week ago. I needed to let her know that she could trust me, I just wanted this to all go away.
“Ember, I’m sorry. Sorry for turning my back on you when I never even gave you the chance to explain, it was awful of me to do that, especially considering how shitty the situation already was,” I try and push the door open a little bit wider so she can see me better, “I just want to give you the chance to talk about it. I wasn’t ready to hear it then, but I am now.” She scans me up and down, like she can’t quite decide if I’m being genuine or not, but either way, she opens the door fully now and edges out of the way to let me in.
She gets a full glimpse at me now as we stand opposite one another in her bedroom. Her face etches into one of pure worry as she points towards my face, “Arthur your eye-oh my god-I’m so sorry.”
I smile. “pretty gruesome right?,” trying to lighten the mood. She doesn’t see the humour in the situation though. “Honestly, it’s fine. I’ve been icing it every day and taking tablets to reduce swelling, been told it will go down in about 1-2 weeks”, I reassure her. “Anyway, I didn’t come to talk about my eye. I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
Her eyes begin to well now, but I can’t tell if it’s with happiness or sadness. “I’m not,” she exhales. “I’m sick of men like that thinking they can parade around touching any woman they fancy the look of. He made me feel…so…small.” I have to bite my lip to stop the anger from resurfacing again as I think of that twat. “But I feel worse that you got hurt Arthur,” she whimpers. “You shouldn’t have punched him; we should have just let him walk away.”
How could she think I could just let him walk away?
“Ember, no. He got exactly what he deserved. He was trying to sexually assault you. I couldn’t let him get away with it,” I said firmly, boring my eyes straight into hers in the hopes that she would realise how I meant that with every ounce of my being.
“Ever heard of not fighting fire with fire?,” she asks, diverting her eyes to the ground.
“You’re one to talk,” it’s too late after I’ve said it before realising that it came off in a way that I didn’t mean it to.
Ember sucks in her cheeks, looking unimpressed.
I bite the bullet. “Are you going to tell me what happened? I know it must be complicated but we all can’t keep driving ourselves crazy rehashing it.”
She shakes her head sharply, “you’d never understand if I told you.”
“Then help me to,” I plead.
Her eyes start to glisten with tears as she inhales a deep breath. “If I tell you, you have to promise that none of you will tell anyone else.”
I nod my head.
“Not that you will ever believe me anyway,” she splutters.
“Try me,” I add firmly.
The next hour is spent with Ember giving me a detailed account of her family history. She tells me all about her dad and his side of the family. Them having to flee from their home in Vienna because of conspiracy theorists and witch hunters all the way across to Hay-on-Wye in the hopes of seeking refuge and beginning a new and more reserved life. Her dad’s lifelong devotion to magic and his epic confession of love and sincerity through a magical firework display, ultimately winning over her mum and showing her that he wasn’t something to be feared. She told me about how her dad passed away from a cardiac arrest and how it spored her hatred of all things magic and contributed to her deciding to quit it for good, causing a ripple between her and her mum. She looks down at the floor for the most part, clearly not wanting to see my reaction. Finally, she stutters over her words as she admits that she can’t control herself, explaining that the night at the club was something that had never happened to her before, a freak accident due to loss of control. When she finally finishes, there is an air of silence between us. She looks anxiously at me through her hair, trying to decipher how I’m feeling. To be honest with you, I don’t know how I’m feeling. Any normal person would spit out a laugh to all of this and say, ‘prove it,’ but I don’t think I needed any. The proof was in the pudding, as they say. I mean, as much as I didn’t want to believe it, it did somewhat make sense. I wasn’t ‘scared’ because to me, she was still the same person, the same Ember I met during freshers. The same Ember I’ve grown closer to for all these months, the same Ember that I’ve grown head over heels for…I knew that the others would take more convincing, but I just knew she wasn’t lying. After all, had her mum not given her dad the benefit of the doubt, she wouldn’t even be here standing in front of me right now. I’d need time to wrap my head around everything, but weirdly, it was something that I could do easily. I might not fully understand, but I sure as hell wanted to.
“That was- a lot,” I laugh. “and I’ll definitely need time to try and make myself understand all of this…but I believe you and I want you to know that I’m so sorry for what I said before, questioning what you ‘are,’ I had no right to do that,” I take her hands in mine.
She looks down at our intertwined hands, “y-you’re not afraid?”
“Never,” I say, squeezing her hands gently.
Just like when we got cockblocked by Sam at the club, this moment is abruptly squashed by the jarring vibration of Ember’s phone. She sighs before peering at the screen, “I’m sorry it’s my Gran, do you mind if I just take this?”
“Go ahead,” I gesture towards her phone.
Suddenly, a thick and chirpy Austrian accent booms through the room, “Hi Ember, how are you doing now sweetheart?”
“Hold on Allegra,” she tries tapping on the screen, “I can’t seem to get you off loud speaker.”
“Ember, hello?,” the voice booms again, “can you hear me? I hope you’re doing okay. Has the luck spell ran its course now, has anything happened to Arthur yet?”
Her eyes widen and she frantically jabs on the screen at supersonic speed now to get her off loudspeaker, but it doesn’t work, “I-I can’t hear you Allegra, bye!” and she hits end call. She starts awkwardly fumbling about before saying, “weird right?”
My heart is in my mouth as I try and process what I just heard. “Ember…what did she mean by luck spell?”