The Awakening - Green - July, 2010 (Alexagramma)

She hadn't seen Alex after Valent9ne's Day.

Not that she's expected to. No, for the week after, Annagramma hadn't seen anything at all.

She had done as she was told, gone to the room and waited, waited for Simon to join her, waited for his anger to lash out, for his hands to strike, for his wand to ignite and for his teeth to find her flesh and draw blood. She had expected the worst, even prepared herself for it. Instead, the man who had walked in seemed fairly calm. He had told her to pack a bag, for about a week, for the both of them, insisting how it would be better for them to step away from the situation. No longer used to questioning anything, Anna had done as instructed and they had left the big house.

And then the punishment had started.

The girl didn't know where they had gone, just that the room was dingy, as was the narrow cupboard in which she had been locked for the first forty eight hours. Without food, bathroom breaks or the ability to even sit down, she had bene forced to remain standing, soiling herself and crying as her hands and head beat against the solid wooden door locked with complicated spells she wouldn't have known how to break even if she had her wand. When her fiancé had finally opened the cupboard two days later, it was to have Annagramma fall on her face from exhaustion and hunger, hitting her head with a crack on the hard floor. She vaguely had a recollection of red but before the wetness surrounded her face, she was unconscious.

The next time she regained a little bit of her sensation, she felt cold. Without looking, she knew she had been stripped bare of all her clothing. The starchy material underneath her denoted some kind of hospital bedding.

"From top to bottom, i don't care. I want to know where that bastard's fucked her."

"Mr. Quinn, there's so much blunt force trauma in the patent's vaginal and anal areas, it's impossible to-"

"Then what the fuck do I pay you for? Do semen tests, rip apart her asshole if you have to. i want proof of what they've been doing behind my back."

Annagramma let go of the world again, there was nothing in it for her anymore.

The next time she came to, a hollowness made itself known deep inside her. It didn't hurt. But it didn't hurt so much that it was wrong somehow. It felt like nothing at all.

"Mrs. Quinn, please don't try to sit up, you've been anesthetized for the procedure."

"Wha-" the blonde managed through cracked, raspy lips, laying hr head back down on the stark white pillow. Above her was green but not the green of the trees. It was the yucky smelling green of hospital gowns and industrial strength cleaners.

"You'll be glad to know the Hysterectomy went fine. Normally we don't perform them on someone as young as yourself but your husband was adamant."

"My husband?"

The nurse continued on, saying how attentive Mr. Quinn was, how he had come in every day while she was sick, how he would be back soon. Anna closed her eyes again. Nothing made sense and the emptiness inside her was so gaping, it threatened to swallow her whole.

***

The next time she saw the Quinn estate again, they were well into March. Jenny had had her baby and it was a bouncing, beautiful girl. And as much as Annagramma wanted to play with the new baby, it filled her with a propound feeling of sadness she could never explain. The green from the hospital still danced behind her visions at unexpected moments throughout the day and the smell of clinical grade sanitizer was so strong, she found herself physically gagging at a stimulus that wasn't even there.

Most mornings, the blonde woke up with tears running down her face, unable to explain why she had been crying in her sleep and most nights, when Simon moved roughly and presumptively inside her bone dry body, she didn't even co sider moving. There was no more blood left inside her to dirty the mattress, so what was the point?

March turned into April which turned into May which turned into June. News of Alex's exam was discussed at the dinner table with George insisting that their baby brother would do well and Simon retorting with how Alex hadn't done a single thing well in his life. It was the first time in months that Anna had paid any attention to conversations gong on around her, and as talk moved away from Alex, so did her attention.

In the periphery, wedding preparations were in full swing. Apparently a late summer wedding was highly sought after and fashionable, pleasing Madam Quin in that regard. June and July flew by with her, Jenny and a team of planners organizing every aspect of the ceremony, with very little input required from Anna. In truth she was only needed when the uppity designer and his staff came to the manor for fittings, frowning disapprovingly at how much weight the bride to be was losing so rapidly. Always slender to begin with, Anna now looked malnourished, because she was. Hunger wasn't a thing that existed anymore, as were concepts like "warm", "happy" and "colors".

Except for the hospital green that still remained like a persistent spot in front of her vision these days.

The end of July saw more activity around the house. With only two weeks to go till the big day, family members and close friends were slowly filling into the manor and the estate, temporary accommodations prepared for them all. Anna had been temporarily unhoused from her room to another suite at a far corner of the guest wing to give her designers and beauticians more room and today, the girl was stood like a mannequin as someone poked pins and needles inside the long white dress she wore. Her reflection in the mirror showed little emotion, green eyes dulled and emaciated frame unmoving because the pain no longer registered. The designer remarked that she was the quietest bride he had ever worked with and didn't get a response. It was okay, he didn't need one.

"Hang on, let's see if we can fill out the top a little with some padding..." the man muttered, leaving her alone in the room to retrieve whatever he needed to transform her into the vision Madam Quinn wanted.

Annagramma didn't move from her position at the center of the room, the white gown spread out like a large duvet around her decorated with bows and pearls and lace. Once upon a time, she would had laughed at someone dressed like that. But laughter seemed like a distant memory now.

Once upon a time seemed too long ago.

And that happy girl was a stranger to ehr now.

Alex had known, without a doubt, that the issue Annagramma was having was due to his presence around the house. They'd been so familiar for far too many years now, that the witch couldn't be faulted for being excited to see him. For believing that making him a cake for Valentine's Day was not a problem when she was with another man. For thinking that running up to him and throwing her arms around his frame was nothing except friendly. Annagramma couldn't possibly have understood that, and Alex understood.

Which was precisely why he'd gone to ground from that day. Staying at one of the Quinn's second homes, he'd had no reason to come back to the main house. His schooling had taken off, and he had to concentrate on those lessons fully. Which would give Annagramma the time and space that she needed to get ready for the wedding that was fast approaching.

His phone was a constant stream of messages about the wedding from his older brothers. Plans for suits, plans for Stag Dos, plans for everything that Alex had little to no interest in. He would clear the messages almost as soon as they had come through, scouring them only for the mention of Annagramma and how she was -- those messages never came, but he hoped for them anyway.

The months seemed to meld together, Alex getting deeper in to his study books as June came closer. He gave himself little room for distraction from those books, truthfully, only long enough to eat, shower and sleep, the young man had little time for anything else. Except on the lonely nights, when the text was forgotten, and alcohol slipped in to his system to try to switch off. That method rarely worked in making him switch off, and instead he'd turned towards the nearest bar, when he could find the most willing woman to take home.

Red heads, he'd would have noticed if he cared to remember any of their names. They were all red heads, but no matter how hard he tried, each time an end would come, it would be with his eyes closed, an image of Annagramma pulled to the forefront of his mind. There had been times he'd used her name by accident in those moments, and with a hard shove, a stinging slap, or a deeply meant 'fuck you', those women would be out the door and he'd be alone again.

Messages from Anna had stopped coming by the time his June exam had come to fruition. Alex had sat the exam with rigour, trying to get the highest mark possible from the hours of studying he'd completed thus far. The exams had gone well, two safely tucked away in the summer's sitting, the boy had felt entirely empty for the rest of the month.

Repeating the process of existing each day.

July had rolled around, and with it, the wedding.

Alex had been summoned home two weeks before the wedding date. Guests had, apparently, started to congregate at the Quinn's home, and therefore he was expected to be there. To join in the various events that would be being hosted in the next fourteen days, and ensuring all guests felt quite welcome. Undoubtedly, his mother would be trying to fix him with someone in those circles to, and the mere thought of it made Alex feel sicker than the long nights of alcohol that he'd become accustomed to in the last few months could.

The young man had arrived after breakfast that morning, hoping to go to his rooms, and hide there with a book until dinner, and then make himself as scarce as possible amongst the guests until he could disappear anew.

That plan was flawed almost immediately as his own rooms had been taken over by the wedding preparations, and he'd been told he'd been moved to the guest rooms for the time being. Not unaccustomed to being made to move out of the way for others in this house, Alex had dismissed the member of staff who'd offered to show him to his new room, in favour of moving freely on his own. The youngest Quinn had followed the instructions and had been slowly making his way down the corridor -- most doors were open, but full with things going on. The further down the hall he came, the fewer options there were for his own room.

Until he came upon a closed door, and he paused.

Knocking brought no answer, so Alex had stepped in, and looked around for a sign this would be his room made up here.

But that was not what he found.

Instead, his eyes found Annagramma, stood in a dress of pure white.

"Anna..." Alex breathed.

But it was not the beauty of bride in white that made him react that way.

"What's..." Alex started, dropping his bag in the doorway as he moved towards her. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, denoting lack of sleep. Her frame, always so slender to begin with now looked beyond malnurished, weak... "What's happened?" He finally asked, moving to her side to assist her.

"Are you sick?" He asked gently, trying to take all of this in, and not being able to compute it at the same time.

His mind had not gone to other possibilities, but it was coming around to that point in that moment.

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