Chapter 3: Loss and Regret
What were the odds that she was just dreaming? She could easily be, she saw magic and fictional characters right in front of her. Something her mom would make fun of if she told her. And for the first time ever, she couldn't blame her. Everyone would think she is mentally unstable. Not like they did not already think that about her…
"But let's say I'm not dreaming and this is real. I've got bandages all over my body and my phone isn't with me. Besides, why would Kowalski lie? He is a human, just like me."
She could feel that the sympathy on his face was not pretence.
She needed sleep. The last 24 hours were as if out of a fairytale. The worst one.
She laid on the bed under the blankets. Closing her eyes, Annie allowed herself to remember the laughter of her brother, his warm brown eyes. If he was truly dead…
She wouldn't know what to do with herself. If she would even be able to live anymore.
She needed her dad. She needed him to tell her that everything is going to be okay. His hug. His smile. His reassurance. His calmness.
She didn't like her mom's attitude, this is why sometimes she felt like she didn't have a piece of love left for her. But deep down, that piece lingered. And it hurt.
"Don't cry, Annie.", she said to herself. "They're probably watching you from somewhere and wouldn't be happy. They wouldn't be happy to see you hurt, because they love you more than anything. They died, but you can do one thing to preserve their memory and talk to them. Just keep them in your heart. Your heart would never let them go, even if you tried. It knows what you need better than you do."
She could feel everything blurring out and in a moment she was someplace else…
…
The sun was lighting Annie's face and that woke her up. Sitting up in the bed, she moved her fingers under her eyes to make the sleep go away.
She had no idea where she was and what were those people expecting of her.
She was confused and regretful.
She shouldn't have asked her dad to stop at the grocery store. The truck wouldn't have crushed into the car.
Her parents wouldn't have died.
Her brother would have gotten the rest of his life to live.
She wouldn't have died and for some stupid reason came back, but in another world.
Not any world.
The world she wished she was a part of since being a five year old kid.
She wanted her life back. Was this too much to ask?
She did not know she was crying until her hand went to pull a strand of her hair out of her face.
And she let it all out.
She cried, cursed herself.
Cried, regretted how her relationship with her mom was.
Cried, hated how big of a liability she was.
She caused it. It was always like this. She caused every single problem her family had. Her mom and dad argued all the time because once she went out to see a movie without telling her mom. Her dad knew, because he was the one to pick her up after school, but had to go back to work and forgot to tell her mom…
Annie looked at the glass paravane and started throwing her hands on where she would've felt the surface, were it not magical.
Letting everything out.
PHEEEEWWW
On her knees now, Annie looked up.
Right in front of her was a niffler.
Not any niffler, but Teddy.
Newt Scamander's pet.
While "letting everything out", Annie's necklace had gotten out of her shirt. It was a birthday present by her mom for her 18th birthday. Despite their differences, the necklace gave her a sense of purpose. Even light.
Stretching his paws out, looking for anything shiny to devour, Teddy climbed into her lap.
But instead of grabbing the necklace, he just stared at her with his big adorable brown eyes.
She stared back.
She put her hands on the niffler and hugged him tightly.
His small pawns embraced her back. He put a cheek on her collarbone, right where her mom's necklace hang from her neck.
Suddenly, Newt's voice rang out.
"Teddy, how many times should I tell you to NOT disturb people like this?"
The niffler just looked back, his eyes gleaming with the mischief of a kid.
"Well, you've never hugged me like that, even after I brought you back safely from your own trouble here, in New York once not so long ago."
Annie heard Newt again, this time with a touch of sadness.
And, she finally dared to look up.
In the please of the paravane now stood 5 people.
Newt Scamander, still looking at Teddy with adoration and jealousy.
Tina Goldstein, surprised.
Jacob Kowalski, staring in shock and ready to scream.
Quennie, Tina's sister, reading her thoughts for sure.
Next up young Dumbledore's charming face.
Smiling at her, he said.
"Welcome to our world, Annie Cresta."