26 Mar 2023, 06:22
Echoes of a Promise
JUNE SELWYN
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Date: March 26, 2023 | Solo | Dialogue: X
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*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Date: March 26, 2023 | Solo | Dialogue: X
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[quote]Splish, splash.
Cool water ran from the tap of the lavatory sink, the sound a white noise to the seemingly endless din of June's mind. June stood in front of the sink, staring at the cascading water, watching small drops bounce up as they hit the stone basin, only to drip down the drain. She wasn't quite sure how long she'd been standing there, but it didn't matter. That wasn't important.
So then what is important?
The thought danced across her mind. June's expression was blank. She wasn't so sure what was important anymore. Her family seemed to be cracking apart, the once solid unit now fragile, broken. A small tear fell down June's cheek. Broken. Her family felt broken. June hadn't so much written a single word in response to her mum's letters, and the matriarch of the family seemed to have gotten the message. June didn't want to talk to her, and so her mum finally wouldn't reach out. Good. Yes, this was exactly what June wanted.
Then why do you miss her?
"Shut up," June muttered to herself. Shut up, you stupid thoughts. Please, for once, shut up and let me be in peace.
The Slytherin was finally pulled back into the present at the sound of the door opening. June quickly pretended to be washing her hands as the stranger headed into a stall. She sighed, splashing some of the water on her face before shutting off the faucet.
And then, for the first time in a while, June looked at herself. Really looked at herself. She looked.. Well, altogether she looked fine. Her proper polite visage was unchanged, her gentle painted-on smile ready to greet anyone who greeted her. But to June, her eyes seemed... Emptier. Hollow. Fake.
Had she been faking? Had June's attempts to be put-together, successful, unaffected by the world... Had they backfired?
As June dried her face on her robes, a promise echoed across her mind. A promise she had made to herself what felt like so long ago.
I am going to conquer my time at Hogwarts.
The hope of that promise slammed into June's conscious like a battering ram. Whatever June had been doing since Christmas break was certainly not conquering her time at Hogwarts. How could she have forgotten something that had once been so important to her? It was as if June had let go, put her focus on the wrong things, become passive.
June straightened herself, staring herself down in the mirror. A spark was alight in her eyes. In that moment, June renewed her promise to herself. "I am going to conquer my time at Hogwarts," she whispered. With a deep breath and a nod to the girl in June's reflection, she headed back out into the world anew. Determined. Awake. Alive.