[Seasonal Event] What Must Be Done

It was painful watching him do this. Not just because the situation itself was painfully tragic, but because there was nothing she could do about it to make it better. Everything about the situation was wrong, and she was powerless to change it. But when he turned and asked her to look at the other rooms, she quietly nodded and went up the stairs to do so. The hall was scattered with debris and leaves, footprints left by the monster and claw marks on the walls and doors showing why. Rooms that had closed doors seemed to have remained untouched, but those with open doors had been trashed. She waited until the end to approach one particular room, the one that was supposed to have been hers for Long Night. The door was closed, and surprisingly devoid of signs of monsters, yet she still worried about going in. For a long moment she simply stared at it, before gaining the courage to open the door and step inside. Everything was just as they left it. Her little bag of things remained in the corner, untouched. The personal items of whichever Palmer children used to call it theirs still were tucked away. The bed was still unmade. Silently she walked over to it, seeing the proof of the blissful moments spend there before everything fell apart upon the sheets. The suddenness of the emotions that took hold of her caught her off guard, a choked sob escaping her lips as she stared at the bed. Tears she had forced herself to not shed welled up and flowed over down her cheeks. This room had been so important. The emotions, the actions – it should have been the beginning of something greater. But it had all been ruined. Long Night had taken away Emmett’s family, and it had taken away her chance at happily ever after. She hated herself for feeling like this. She was so selfish, wishing for more from him. He was grieving. He was struggling. He had lost everything. And selfishly resentment had begun to grow in her for the distance it put between them. Chaste hugs, a hand squeeze, forehead kisses…those were fine and well but she wanted more! They had had more! She wanted him to grieve, he needed to grieve, but she didn’t want his affection for her to be lost in the darkness like it was. She wanted – no, craved – to be his light in the darkness, his solace to his pain and instead he kept her at arm’s length with half smiles and menial requests. Slowly Phoebe sank to the ground, hiding her face in her hands as she cried, overcome and breaking as she was finally confronted with the reality of her despicable greediness. Phoebe In a gentle way, you can shake the world