Maybe in Another World Solo

Interacting with: N/A Mentioning: N/A Date: Christmas Break 2025

Word Count: 1080

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It was Christmas. A time that was supposed to be happy and joyful, yet there was something in the air. It was heavy. Dark where the light should have shined through. The halls were empty as Avery walked them. A shroud of old memories and ghost laughter of happier times. It was her first time back in London since her twelfth birthday at the house she shared with her parents. She was only there for a short time. Picking up some extra clothes and everything else she still needed when she was to return to Hogwarts. She would soon be leaving on the train to Swansea, Wales where she would meet her grandmother at the station. Then she would be home with her family. Reunited with the people she loved the most. Though something was stopping her from being excited let alone happy. This could be her last Christmas with her grandfather. Though she knew he was still alive, to her he seemed so weak. A completely different person to the man she'd known as a small girl. It was hard to watch him wither and die before her eyes. She was useless. There was nothing she could do to save him. All she could really do was just watch. That was the hardest part. She couldn't lose him. Not yet. Tears began to well in her eyes as she walked down the empty hall. The memories flooding her mind. The ghosts of laughter brushing her gently. She walked quickly out the front door. Locking it with the key her father had given her before she made her way to the station. Her father had decided she was old enough to go alone, so she would be alone on this ride. It would be quiet. Something Avery had begun to get used to. Though she was always surrounded by people, something became silent within her. A piece of her falling apart with her grandfather. She was the only one to see it. She knew she should tell Mikey or even Lya. Both of them had always been there. Even through the hard moments, she didn't want to ruin their Christmas by worrying for her. They had their own problems to deal with anyway and didn't need hers added to the load. That's why she was alone. Walking the cold streets with her coat pulled tightly across her. Her knit red hair speckled with snow that was falling softly. Avery would have thought it beautiful if her mind wasn't full of everything. People shuffled by her on the streets. Some cheery and some like her. Quiet. Brooding. Obviously thinking of something deep as they walked. The train station was full when she arrived. People hurrying to get home for Christmas early. Luckily Avery already had her ticket. Otherwise she probably wouldn't have made it home that night and would have had to stay in her parents' house. A place she didn't want to go back to. She wasn't ready to face her mother if her mother even came. She had made her point clear that she wanted nothing to do with her only and only child. Her daughter whom she didn't even love. At least, not anymore. Whatever feelings of love Avery's mother had for her when she was little was gone now. Like a candle finally burnt out after days maybe even weeks of burning. As she boarded the train and found an empty seat closer to the back, she set her bag down next to her and leaned her head against the cold window. Looking at the snowy land before her without completely registering the beauty of the pearly white untouched ground. The train ride was long. At least, it felt longer than usual when it really wasn't. It was the same as always, but Avery wasn't in the mood. She had kept her head leaning against the window the entire time until she had to get up to leave the train and meet her grandmother at the station. As she stepped off the train, her grandmother immediately caught Avery's eye. The old woman still standing tall despite her age and smiling. Completely opposite to her grandfather who was now looking weaker than ever the last time she'd seen him. She had a glint of mirth in her eye as if she'd done something and probably had that Avery didn't know about. Avery didn't even ask. There was no point as the woman probably wouldn't tell her until the right time came. Though Avery put on a smile even though she felt tired and empty as she greeted her grandmother. "How was your trip?" She asked kindly once they'd made it into the taxi. "It was fine. Not too eventful and actually boring." Avery responded. There was no other conversation the entire way home after that. The two women silent as they both knew what was coming. Avery knew her grandfather wasn't doing well, but just by the silence on her grandmother's end confirmed the thoughts. Then they were there. The house Avery had been dreading seeing. Luckily her trunk was already there. Probably sitting on her bed after being dropped off earlier that day. That meant all she had left to carry in was her backpack with the things she had gotten from her room back in London. Avery followed her grandmother into the house. Her head reeling with memories of the past Christmases spent there as she walked along the snow-covered path. She sighed heavily as her grandmother squeezed her hand and opened the door. There he was. Her grandfather was sitting on the couch. He was pale and thin. Paler and thinner than she had remembered when she last saw him. She ran off at the site. Unable to look into his eyes and see the sadness within them. It was too hard. Too much to deal with. She ran until she collapsed onto her bed in her room. The sobs that she'd held in finally came loose. Breaking out of her like a tsunami unable to be stopped. That was when the memories came flooding back. Memories of laughter, joy, the innocence of childhood. Memories of times that would never happen again. Maybe someday it would get easier to deal with the pain. Or maybe it wouldn't. Maybe there was another world where the pain didn't exist. Maybe there wasn't. Either way, Avery didn't know what else she could do. She was powerless. Hopeless. Broken.

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