Far Away (Anna/Effy)

She had been hovering in the library for days, hiding behind bookcases every time someone nearly saw her. She'd been trying to ask someone to help her, she really had, but she couldn't do it. At least, not until she finally saw a familiar face taking a seat in the library. Anna studied her for a longer time than she could remember, still hidden behind a bookcase as her eyes were trained on the only human girl she'd ever had a conversation with.

Anna bit her lip and after several moments of hesitation, she left her comfortable hiding spot and made her way to the girl, biting her lip before she forced herself to talk.

"Say, I wanted to read a book, but I couldn't touch them, would you be prepared to help me?"

Elizabeth placed her books on the table, shifting through to find the homework she wanted to start first. Making sure that she was up to speed with everyone else was relatively easy, on most subjects she was. But there had been a few that her parents hadn't felt were as important as the school did apparently.

She smirked as she heard a familiar voice, looking up to see the ghost, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. Really she shouldn't be so pleased about it. Elizabeth doubted that would help the situation.

"I suppose I can spare some of my time to help a pretty girl in need," Elizabeth drawled. "What do you want to read? Shall I go get something from the shelves?"

Anna felt slightly nervous as she noticed the smirk on Elizabeth's face, but she forced herself to stay, twirling the fabric of her dress in her fingers. She felt the familiar tingle on her cheeks that meant she would have blushed when the other girl called her pretty. She hadn't been called pretty very often. Merlin, she was really, really bad with dealing with compliments.

She bit her lip in hesitation, and she decided that if she had gotten this far, she could just as well ask the question she'd been wanting to ask too.

"Well, before I died. There was this book I was reading, and I really want to know how it ends," she confessed. "It's called 'The Handmaid's Tale' and I have been wondering for 38 years to know how it ends. It's nearly maddening," she added, biting her lip again.

Elizabeth stood, trying to think if she knew of a book called 'The Handmaid's Tale'. It wasn't something she recognised. She headed towards the shelves, trusting her stuff to be left on the shelves, turning to glance at the ghost.

"Do you know where it is?" she asked. "Or who it's by, to make it easier for me to find it?"

She reached the fiction books and waited for her companion to direct her, gesturing down the isle for the ghost to take the lead.

"I don´t know, I know where it was when I went to school here, but I´m not sure if it´s still there," Anna told the other girl, starting to get a bit excited at the thought of finally knowing the end of the book that had been bothering her for 38 years. She really, really wanted to know.

"It´s by Margaret Atwood," she continued, starting to hover towards the bookcases again, eager to show Elizabeth where she had seen the book last. "I really hope it´s still here," she muttered as she moved her way through several isles and stopping in front of a particular bookcase. She was quite surprised she had remembered where it was.

Her eyes scanned the shelves and when she reached the third shelve she found it, a bright smile on her face now. "It´s this one!" she informed the girl, pointing out the book with her finger, careful not to touch it. Right now she did not want to be reminded her finger would go through it.

Elizabeth waited as the ghost moved towards the book cases, planting a hand on her hip and raising a brow expectantly. The author's name was vaguely familiar, but Elizabeth couldn't say she remembered ever reading a book by an Atwood.

She walked towards the ghost as she stopped, pausing for a moment as she saw the bright smile on the ghost's face. It wasn't something she'd expected to see. It made her look entirely different.

Elizabeth recovered very quickly however, moving forward and following the ghostly finger, picking out the book and nodding in approval at the cover. It was quite pretty. "Right, am I reading this from the beginning or starting where you left off?" she asked she she headed back to the table.

Anna bit her lip. She didn't really wanted to start from the beginning, even if it had been 38 years, she was so insanely curious about the ending, she really, really wanted to know now. Part of her even wished she could just ask Elizabeth to skip to the last chapter and read that. But she didn't.

"Would you mind starting from where I left of?" she asked shyly, playing with her skirt again.

"I totally understand if you want to read the whole book, but I'm really curious about the ending," she added nervously, rocking back and forth in the air as if she were balancing on the heel of her feet.

Elizabeth sat down at the table as the ghost seemed to be deciding where they would be starting the book from. She looked up as the ghost answered her, nodding in understanding.

"I'm happy to start from where you left off," Elizabeth said. "I'm amazed you can remember any of it after such a long time. Though you know, it would help if you told me where it was you left off, so I can find the right page," she pointed out, trying to ignore the fact that the ghost was pretending to rock on her heels.

Anna thought for a moment, and then grinned as she realized. "I stayed on page 224. I remember, because I found it funny that if you added the twos, you'd get the four," she said, her voice getting softer at the end of her sentence when she realized how stupid it actually sounded. If Elizabeth didn't think she was weird already, she certainly would think that now.

Anna quickly made her way back to the table, perching on top of it as she waited for Elizabeth to join her. She nervously fiddled with her hands. "Thank you for doing this," she said quietly, biting on her lower lip.

Elizabeth tried not to laugh. She really did. Well, that's not a lie, she just tried not to make her laugh sound condeseniding, which was hard, because she almost always sounded condesending. But at least she tried. She gave the ghost a look that said 'really?'. "How cute," she teased, though in a very quirky way she supposed it was. A smirk crossed her face, her voice taking on a fake-innocent tone. "I always get amused when I get to page sixty-nine."

She began flicking through the pages after that, finally landing on the correct page, hearing the ghost thank her for it. Elizabeth muttered something under her breath, unsure as to actually how to reply. She wasn't used to being thanked. Generally when she helped someone, she did it in such a way that they didn't want to thank her. Instead, Elizabeth tried to ignore it, starting on the book, ignoring the fact that a couple of the other students in the library were giving her questioning looks. Most of them shrugged it off however, as she was speaking quietly enough.

It wasn't actually a bad book.

If she had been human, she would've gotten horribly flushed. Luckily for Anna, ghosts weren't able to blush. Because they didn't actually have blood. So there wasn't any to rush to her cheeks and initiate the red colour. Anna had never actually thought about page sixty-nine. But now it was all that she seemed to be able to think about. She bit her lip and hoped to distract herself when Elizabeth started talking, quickly losing herself in the story to avoid further awkward situations.

Annabeth hovered close to were Elizabeth was seated, because the girl was speaking softly. And every so often she slid off the table and leaned over the dark haired girl's shoulder, eyes gliding over the pages faster than Elizabeth could pronounce the words. Anna preferred to listen though, the other girl had a nice voice. It was quite soothing.

Anna lowered herself in a chair next to her and pulled up her legs. She just hoped no one would sit on top of her, even though it was possible. She stayed silent for quite a while, just listening. Then when Elizabeth was flipping the pages for about the seventh time Anna spoke up. "Do you like it so far? And do you understand?" she asked quickly before the other girl would start reading again.

It was bizarre. There was no other way to describe it. Elizabeth imagined that if her sister could see her sitting and reading to a ghost instead of doing what she wanted she'd never hear the end of it. It was hard not to get distracted by the fact that the ghost was hovering so close to her, and Elizabeth was so thankful she wasn't alive. It wouldn't made it more awkward.

Elizabeth glanced at Anna as she spoke, shrugging lightly. She was relatively good at following things, though there were bits she wasn't grasping. "I like it. I wouldn't say I understand it entirely. I feel like the introduction would've been rather important to understand the rest of the book, but you know. I'm not sure we'd get to the end if I had to sit here and read the whole thing. I imagine you're eager to know what happened."

Anna rested her head on her knees and nodded. That made sense. She was glad the other girl liked it though, it wasn't fun if you had to read a book you disliked. Anna fell silent again when Elizabeth got back to reading. She had no idea how much time at passed, nor did she really mind. She was really enjoying herself, and it was only after she heard a peculiar noise she realized that while she was a ghost and didn't get hungry anymore, her companion was a different story.

"You're hungry," Anna accused, cutting off the other girl's reading. "You should've said something," she continued, crossing her arms over her chest as she plucked at her once yellow dress. "Do you want to go eat something? I didn't make you miss dinner did I?" Anna asked, worried.

Elizabeth barely noticed time passing as she continued to read. It was a good book, even if she didn't entirely understand what was going on. It was well written. Interesting. She didn't even notice herself getting hungry until the sound of her stomach growling broke through her words, making her flush with embarrassment. She never usually allowed herself to make such a sound.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth insisted as the ghost cut off her reading, feeling even more embarrassed by the worry that was in her voice. "Though perhaps I should go get something to eat. I'm not sure what the time is, so I couldn't say if I've missed dinner."

Anna glanced behind her back, eyes searching for the huge clock she knew that hung there. Half past seven it said. So half an our late for dinner. A look of guilt spread over Anna's features as she turned back to Elizabeth. "I'm really sorry I made you miss dinner, you're half an our late," she said, fingers tightening on the folds of her dress.

What if Elizabeth would be angry with her?

Anna bit her lip and tried to think of something, relief washing over her as she realized something, resisting the urge to smack herself for not remembering before. "I can take you to the Kitchens though. I don't know if you know them, but I know where they are. I am sure the house-elves wouldn't mind making u-you something," she said, nearly blushing at her slip-up.

Oh, she'd missed dinner? Well that was just fan-fucking-tastic. She loved missing dinner. Though it wasn't entirely bad. She wouldn't have to sit in a hall full of people. Ugh. People.

"It's fine," Elizabeth said, though there was an edge to her voice that clearly said it wasn't. "I don't need to eat. Though I suppose it's not really something you think about, is it?"

Though when the gost offered to take her to the kitchens, Elizabeth felt slightly guilty. She tried not to let it show on her face, standing and turning her attention to packing up her things instead. "I don't know where they are. I've never really needed to know. I imagine I have past them and such, but I've just forgotten," she wondered if she should say thank you. "I'll go take the book out, and that way I can read more of it to you later. If you want. And I don't have other stuff to do."

Perhaps there was something wrong with her, feeling guilty and offering to spend more of her time with some dead chick. It would explain things.

(Mel: "Perhaps there was something wrong with her" Perhaps? Really? We're going with 'perhaps'? Alrightie then...")

Annabeth quickly felt herself feeling more guilty at the edge in Elizabeth's voice. She nervously fiddled with her clothing, it hadn't been her intention to make the other girl miss dinner. She didn't want her to be angry with her. Anna bit her lip nervously.

"I'm really sorry. I haven't been hungry in over thirty-eight years, I just forget," she said quietly.

"I'll take you to the kitchen it's the least I can do!" Anna said quickly getting back on her feet. "And only if you want, I don't want you to do anything you don't want. Though I'd love if you want to read more to me, but only if you want!" she said nervously, rocking back and forth on her feet. "I wouldn't want you to regret spending time with me," she said softly.

Elizabeth resisted the urge to sigh at the apology she recieved. Really, she was such a pansy. Elizabeth didn't know why she was willing to put up with the ghost. And she did not feel guilty about it. Only annoyed.

"It's okay. No need to be so apologetic. Really, you say sorry far too often," she said, putting her things in her bag and throwing it over her should as she stood. "Come on then, show me this kitchen. And I'll read more to you-stop being so questioning and take the offer. I'm not going to regret it. I wouldn't do it if I did."

If the bloody ghost continued to be so whimperish she would.

Anna nodded and hovered ahead, not saying anything. There was one thing she actually liked about being a ghost, the fact she had always been a bit nervous around people. Even though she missed them while they weren't there, she hadn't missed the fact she always managed to do things wrong. Anna glanced behind her, making sure Elizabeth was still following and then continued making her way to the kitchen.

They were only halfway when the girl managed to open her mouth again.

"My mum always used to tell me that if you weren't sure your intentions were well received or clear, you should apologize, just to make sure other people know that you didn't mean any harm," she said softly, still moving as she spoke and not looking back at Elizabeth to see her reaction, not even as she continued. "I know it seems silly, but it comforts me that I'm doing something my mum would've approved of. Even if saying sorry about everything seems a bit whiny and unusual. And unnecessary."

She's nearly apologized for speaking her mind, but stopped herself just in time.

Elizabeth had to try really, really hard not to make a snarky comment about the ghost's dead mother. Surely not even she was that mean? Though it was hard to resist. It would've been so easy to come up with something. Doing something her mother approved of. She spent half her life doing things her 'mother' approved of. And she was fairly certain her other mother didn't really care what she did, whether it was excelling in school or throwing herself off a cliff.

"I'm sure your mother is very proud," Elizabeth said, trying to make her voice devoid of sarcasm. It was also hard. "Looking down on her little girl who still holds manners even after all these years," she scoffed, voice dry as she spoke again. "I don't know how you manage it."

What was that about not being too mean to the poor little ghost girl? Though surely that wasn't too mean. That was almost nice.