„I found myself searching for the light in the emptiness. Once longingly grasping it with a good hold, I left the darkness and welcomed a new beggining." -Hillary Wolf
After giving a hand to her brother with a certain chore, she went to bed and slept better than she had in weeks.
Finally, all the girl could think about was nothing else besides the dangers her and Sylas had gone through and the shopping. All her worries were swayed away for that night.
Her notebook was innocently waiting for her on the desk to be opened, but Vivien was already in deep sleep.
She hadn't noticed the bright purple sparkles coming from it, just silently drifting off to unconsciousness into dream land.
In the meantime, Luis was in his room and watching a show.
The girl woke up from her deep sleep with unrenowned energy for the day. She immediately did her morning routine and exercised a bit in her room, then got off to writing more on her text for the upcoming free-speech conference she was going to attend.
She needed a lot of material and time to build it into something people could follow and state their opinions on.
While writing, she received texts from her friends asking if they could all meet up. The hang out would take place at the mall in Tallis, where they had usually met up before so many other time and Vivien had already memorized all the places to go to there.
Vivien agreed to go out, it had been a while since they went outside, and she thought it would be the perfect time to consider telling them about the peculiarities she and Sylas had gone through.
Her mind was at peace knowing Grace and Rachel would never desert her.
Her duty of writing was almost fulfilled, all she had left to do was continue elaborating on the last topic of superstitions, but she would have been late for the assigned time to meet her friends.
So she packed up all her material and arranged it on her desk, then left the house.
Grace was already waiting in front of the mall. Once seeing Vivien walk towards her with fast steps, she waved happily and smiled.
„Hi, Vivien! How are you?"
„Acceptable. Are we waiting for Rachel?"
„Uh huh. She should be here any second."
„Cool. I won't be standing in the same place. Come!"
Grace followed Vivien, looking in a really good mood. It was evident based on her facial expression that the girl didn't need to ask her how she was feeling as well.
The two walked around the mall and chatted for a bit, still waiting for Rachel to arrive to their assigned place.
Once receiving the message from their friend, they walked towards the entrance and greeted Rachel.
„Have you been waiting for me, my dearest damsels?"
„Ew, refrain from using that particular word. Hey, Rachel!", Vivien greeted her.
Rachel hugged the two, almost chocking Vivien and Grace out.
The trio walked around the mall and entered various shops. The girls looked around for clothes, this time nothing catching Vivien's eye.
After about an hour, Rachel had gotten hungry and advised the girls they should eat something.
They went up the escalator and checked for a place to eat at, stopping to order their food. Once receiving their meals, the three took a seat at the nearest table and started chatting.
Vivien kept thinking the whole time how to tell them about something so hard to believe. Maybe she could use her right hand to show the purple magic to make them believe her.
Rachel kept talking non-stop without giving them enough time to react while eating her food.
Her words were difficult to discern due to the loud voices around and the muffled sound of a drink machine.
„A cousin of mine encountered this weird otherwordly creature thing in a dream and she was super concerned, it felt like it was trying to speak to her. She woke up and stepped out of her room and boom, there it was, the monster creature in her dream was standing right there! It jumped at her. But then she said to me that it was only another dream in a dream, it was even weirder than imagined. I don't remember what she told me afterwards, I didn't listen anymore. BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? A dream in a dream! Not far off from my idea that aliens exist, but not the weird green ones we see on TV."
„Uh huh, very weird indeed! I would have panicked!", Grace answered. How did she even understand any of that?
Vivien listened to Rachel cracking jokes and telling stories for a bit longer, Grace laughing at her silly storytelling, but Vivien couldn't even follow up with anything. Her mind was set on just one thing: telling them what she'd gone through the past month.
Once Rachel noticed Vivien wasn't really talking, she asked her if there was anything wrong, and Vivien started to tell them about the time travel.
„I walked inside the library from school and time changed, it was 2028."
„What?", Rachel asked.
„My hand emitted a purple light. Allow me to present it to you now."
The girl wasn't sure if she could actually show the magic or if she could control it whenever she wanted to, but she tried it in that moment anyway. She hoped she wouldn't embarrass herself.
Vivien raised her hand and struggled to make it go purple again. Eventually, it worked. The purple light was visible, and both of her friends stared in awe.
Rachel took her hand in her grasp and looked at it for a while. She ran her finger over it as to assess if there was really anything else emitting the light, but she could only feel the soft skin of Vivien's hand.
„There's no way! What is this? Some sort of, malformation? Have you went to the doctor yet?", Rachel asked, looking at Vivien's hand from every angle possible. Her dark eyes would go over every single line in her palm to not miss a single detail.
Rachel's black hair would block her view sometimes.
Vivien struggled to make her hand stop flickering the light. Surprisingly, the magic listened to her again.
The happiness the girl felt realizing she could finally control the tingling sensation and the flickering light was unimaginable. She felt relieved and let out a sigh, having had the fear that the magic wouldn't have shown itself.
Grace also scooted closer to assess what was happening. With curious and narrowed blue eyes, she looked over at her hand and she realized what Vivien was explaining really happened.
„Why haven't you told us before?", Grace wondered.
„Would you have believed it?", Vivien asked, retreating her hand from Rachel.
„Definitely not! It's surreal, I don't even know how it can do that. Can you turn it purple again?", Rachel asked, wishing to see the magic once more. She scooted closer to look at her hand again.
„This isn't some game!", Vivien said. Rachel stood down at her seat again while pouting.
The girls had all kinds of questions for Vivien which she could already imagine.
She told them all about what happened with Sylas, with Jude and when she found out about the curse.
The girl also mentioned the monsters she encountered in her way and the time dealer, Leonard. No detail was missed from her narrative.
Grace was staring as if she couldn't believe it all, and Rachel was smiling, wanting to hear more.
The two mentioned they also wanted to enter the future realm, but Vivien let them know it was too dangerous.
Grace was concerned for Vivien's safety and didn't know if it was a prank, meanwhile Rachel seemed dejected since she wanted to see the future as well.
After a few more hours of talks about certain topics, the trio parted their own ways and Vivien was left all by herself in the mall.
...
A day later, Monday came. Vivien was barely excited at the thought of the idea that another week of school was evidently making its way into her life, but she was content knowing the secret she kept from her friends was revealed.
Well... the fact that she had her personal journal had been disclosed already by Sylas... she really kept no more secrets from them now.
The girl stepped inside the school. Walking along the hallway, she noticed a familiar slender and tall boy walking towards her way. The two haven't talked ever since Friday. Vivien was happy to see him again, he brought a sense of clarity to all the chaos and stress. Her soul felt embraced by a certain warm presence, as if she knew she was cared for.
„Hey, Viv! Glad to see you're finally not thinking about glurbs and Huldras."
„Am I not, really? I surmise that the notions also invade your mind."
„I'm on your side in all matters, sweetheart. I'm quite an expert at beating up monsters, if you need me, don't hesitate to contact me. I give free services. It won't cost you."
She chuckled at his implication.
„That was the first time I heard you laugh!"
„I must've laughed at something you uttered on a prior occasion, but within the confines of my own mind."
„Ah, I see! You like to hide your addiction to my humor. That's soooo cruel of you, oh the anguish and desperation! It hurts my heart, I might faint!"
„Don't speak in that way!", Vivien had remembered about Sylas from the future just then when he mentioned the heart. She hadn't visited the boy from the future anymore, and she promised she would go see him again the last time she saw him! The girl completely forgot!
„What, am I embarrassing you in front of the others?"
„No... I solely dislike dramatism!"
Vivien had a thought about her own birthday just then.
She'd turn 19 in about two months, and the idea made her curious about his own birthday. She decided to ask him about it out of the blue.
„When's your birthday?"
„4th of August. What about yours?"
„Mine is on 19th of January."
„It must be so weird to celebrate your birthday so close to New Year's Eve. Hah, imagine people that celebrate it close to Christmas or Easter, or who are born exactly on those days."
„You get used to it. Do you perpetually celebrate your birthday?"
„Eh, my 18th was a big day, but I don't know if I'll be holding anymore parties in the future."
„You should. Your birthday is a day in which people should devote their attention to you and altogether create the best memories. It's important to celebrate it so that you don't feel completely invisible. Everybody matters, these little parties may not symbolize anything to you or to other people, but we have no idea how much significance they truly hold for our everyday happiness. It's a benefactor!"
„Yeah, I suppose that's right. I'll make sure to celebrate my birthday because you told me so. Thanks, sweetheart."
„You're welcome!"
She smiled at him, and he smiled in return.
„Should we head off to class?"
The girl nodded and they walked together to class.
The boy's hands were in his pockets, moving forward with a smug look on his face. He was portraying that same nonchalance.
„By the way... it slipped my train of thought that we have to meet up again at your house."
„Huh, why?"
„Because I forgot to add something to the project we worked so hard on and our english class is tomooorrooow!!"
„WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER? You waited for the exact last day to tell me?!"
„Meeeh, it will take like two minutes."
The two walked to their class together in silence. Tallis was blurring into view from the windows of the school and Vivien looked to her left. She was secretly looking forward to having Sylas over to her house, though she tried hiding it.