UNDEAD BECOMES HER, wednesday addams

xix. taking the carriage ride

The phone calls became a regular thing, and eventually Ollie stopped panicking when Wednesday's name showed up on her screen. 

She was finally back in her own house, though no longer in her room. Her condition had progressed so much that she was now living in the greenhouse, in a metal tub full of dirt and worms. She got up every few hours to power-wash herself, but other than that, mostly ambled around her warm and tiny space.

"You know what's boring?" she said to Wednesday one night, stretched out on the floor to relieve her back pain.

"You consider a great deal of things not worth your time," Wednesday replied. "What is it this time?"

"It's only been, like, two weeks since we got out of Nevermore for the semester. I am so incredibly tired of being here. Let me die suddenly in front of a freshman or something and irreversibly change the course of their life. Do you eat dictionaries? Your vocabulary is so old."

"I prefer the words I use. It helps me get my points across better. How are you feeling?"

"Terrible. The infection, when mashed into a paste, makes a great chip dip. What's new in your life?"

There was a long moment of silence, and Ollie considered just hanging up to make Wednesday do something. Then her compatriot said, "I have my very first stalker. It's not quite as fun as I imagined."

"Oh, it isn't fun? Just like you potentially losing your mind wasn't fun? Imagine that. Only you would think being stalked is fun."

"You sound bitter," Wednesday noted. "Have I struck a nerve?"

"Uh, yeah. Half the girls I know have been stalked. Mostly by exes. I've been stalked, too. I had to change my phone number twice and get a restraining order. It's at times like these when I wonder if you need prescription medicine or a better therapist. Not because you aren't a freaking delight, but because you need to learn how your words and flippance affect other people."

"I did say I found it less fun than I expected."

Ollie did hang up then. Wednesday, thankfully, didn't call back. 

What made this whole thing worse was that technically, Wednesday had already been stalked, and by extension, so had Ollie. Ms. Thornhill- Laurel Gates- had followed them across Jericho, through the town and school, without tipping either of them off until it was almost too late.

Not only that, but Ollie had almost died. They both had. Wednesday survived due to ghostly interference, but the only reason the Archemoros girl survived was because of her affliction. 

Both a gift and a curse, it was. Whenever she managed to fall asleep, all she saw was yarrow growing out of her abdomen, blood spilling from her wounds.

It was infuriating how little Wednesday seemed to care. 

The first apology was a voicemail, hard to hear and full of static. The second, third, and fourth were texts, all with exceptional punctuation. Ollie didn't open any of them. Not because she didn't want to, but because she was too tired to deal with the Addams girl any further today.

She woke up in the middle of the night and read the texts. Wednesday must've looked up "how to apologize to your friends when you said something mean" because the first text was three paragraphs, stilted, and thoroughly not comforting.

The second text was a little shorter and less formal, acknowledging the hurtful words and actions, and a promise to do better. The third text was the most un-Wednesday-like of all, simply reading, I am genuinely sorry.

Ollie processed her feelings, and waited to respond until morning. 

There had been some progress made in the reversal of her affliction. There would be no cure, no fixing the damage done, but there was a possibility of slowing it down using medicine and certain kinds of non-toxic plant removal. 

She'd started practicing DIY surgery on herself so that she didn't have to keep going back to the hospital, spending a few hours every day intermittently removing plants from her stomach and legs, putting the clippings in the worm bin to become fertilizer.

Every time she performed kiddie surgery, Ollie made sure to pull out as many roots as possible to prevent re-seeding or anything else the plant might do. It was a bit tedious, but it would be worth it in the long run.

She finally got rid of all the yarrow, culled most of the decorative flowers, and destroyed a spider web that hung between her ribs and her spine, right between each of her lungs. She felt bad, and deposited the spider (a harvestman) in the garden.

If anyone had walked in, they would've noticed a dozen crumpled-up pieces of paper, each detailing why 'sorry' wasn't good enough, how words did cut people down, et cetera, et cetera. She'd put way too much energy in this, and if she kept it up, she was going to need a nap. 

The text Ollie ended up sending simply read, I accept your apology. Within five minutes, Wednesday was calling her. 

"Good morning," Ollie said, instead of what she actually wanted to say, which was, God, you're clingy, since it probably wouldn't have gone over that well. "How are you this awful morning?"

"You took forever to respond." 

"It took less than twelve hours for you to leave three texts and a voicemail and for me to respond to you. Chillax."

"Do you really forgive me?"

"No, I don't forgive you. I accept your apology. It's not the same thing. I'll probably forgive you as soon as I see your face at Nevermore again, though."

Wednesday grumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, at least I'll have something to look forward to when returning to that infernal campus."

"Yeah, all the friends that love you and want to support you, cough cough Enid. Have you texted her?"

"Yes, she's recently changed up her wardrobe and desires my opinion. It seems my fashion sense is rubbing off on her. The eye-burning pink is as prevalent as ever, but there are some monochromatic elements now."

"Aw, she's becoming well-rounded," Ollie cooed. "Have you visited her yet? She told me she invited you to San Francisco over the break."

"I've arranged to visit her for the weekend," Wednesday said. "Loathe as I am to admit it, I find myself searching for her grueling optimism and sunny disposition on things, even though I know perfectly well she is across the country."

"That's what friendship does. It makes you value people for who they are, especially when they aren't here anymore."

There was a lapse in conversation, filled by a semi-awkward silence. 

"So," Ollie said. "A stalker, huh? Tell me more."

A/N

Last post-canon chapter. I know it's shorter than the others but I wanted to put it out before I forgot about it completely. Now we wait for Season Two and I disappear off this platform for another year. Like, comment, subscribe, all that jazz. Seeing the engagement for this story has really made me feel good. Love you all.