And the World Keeps Spinning ((Evelyn))

[Casey Allen G5]

((This post takes place two weeks into Eden, Ezzie, and London’s tour.))

“Welcome to Leeds, Eedie.” Kaden said ruffling her blonde hair. Casey pushed his hand away resisting the urge to giggle as she stared out her tinted bedroom window. This was Kaden’s hometown, but he was no busy in London he barely ever visited. Casey twirled a wavy piece of blonde hair as she looked about the city as the bus continued to move. She smiled and pulled away from the window. “Good to be home?” She asked Kaden. He sighed and jumped on her bed. Casey eyed him. “Why don’t you like it here?” She asked turning back to the drummer. “I do.” He sighed. “But it isn’t really my home anymore you know. London is and that’s you’re fault.” He faked a harsh tone. “Hey now.” Casey said pointing a finger at him. He laughed and threw a pillow at her. “Hey!” She laughed throwing one at him. Kaden was used about to throw another pillow when there was a knock on the door. “Yes?” Casey asked absently as she eyed Kaden. “Sound check it ten minutes, Ede!” Bradley called. “Yes dad.” She nodded. Kaden chuckled. Casey put down the pillow and held out her hand. “Truce?” She asked laughing. Kaden chuckled again. “For now.” He said shaking her hand. She nodded and then the two of them left the room.

“And sing. Hey. Hey! Make some noise. Hey-yea!” Eden sang clutching the mic to her. “Hey yea.” She said finishing off the song and then eyeing her father. Bradley nodded. “Good job.” He smiled. “You’re done. But hair and make-up in an hour!” He called as Casey already started running off. Ezzie had her sound check next and then London so Casey was up for a bit of a break at the moment. She walked through the back-stage and eyed Carson and waved. He waved back and she smiled and kept walking. He still thought of her as nothing more than Eden Sweden. Casey had gotten to the point where she wanted to tell him, but she wasn’t quite ready so that was that. Casey sighed and ran back to the bus. She ran into her room and then the huge closet that connected to it which was a room in itself. She snatched up some of her own clothes and put them in a cute tote bag. If she was going to explore Leeds she sure wasn’t going to do it in her Eden clothes. She then put on a pair of sunglasses and headed out.

After changing from her blond wig and sparkly attire, Casey walked around a more rural part of Leeds a few minutes away from where the concert would be. It was away enough so that Carson wouldn’t spot her. He was the only one that knew Eden and Casey to be two different people. London didn’t know Casey at all so she didn’t have that problem. Casey kicked at the ground absently as she walked down the street. The tour was fun but tiring. They were in a new city every day and then when they had an off day, the usual still had rehearsals or they had a fun day which didn’t even last a full day. Casey had something new to do every five minutes so really she didn’t have to worry about Carson finding out much. There wasn’t time for that. When Casey had a spare moment she was either avoiding London, with Ezzie, or hanging with the boys. This was why Casey also found her own spot in a new city. She always changed out of her Eden clothes and walked around to find her own place to chill. This was her favorite part of traveling. Casey’s eyed lit up as she found a park nearby. She smiled and walked toward it.

Casey eyed the families laughing and playing around her. She smiled slightly until images of her old family flashed in her head. Joel and Casey would go down the slide together as Heaven pushed them lightly and giggled. Bradley would smile and film it all of Heaven’s muggle camcorder. But these were old memories. That family did not exist anymore. They disappeared when Heaven left and they would never return. Casey shook her head lightly and tried to ignore the little ones playing about. She sat on the swing holding the chain sides with both her hands, her arms draped about it. She scuffed her feet on the dirt below her not thinking about it at all while she did it. She ignored the voices singing in her ears and instead hummed her favorite song so she would have to listen to the chipper people. Casey eyed her watch. She still had half an hour before she was due for hair and make-up and she would use every second of her time left. She shook her head slightly and went back to humming her favorite song as the day went on around her.

[evelyn]

“Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been eight months since my last confession.” Though she knew that the priest could not see her clearly, Evelyn bowed her head and bit her lip, feeling remorseful. This was one of her mother’s main arguments against her attending Hogwarts; the long period of time in between her confessions. Georgia confessed frequently, following the example of her own parents, and had expected her daughter to do the same without fail which Evelyn had, until entering Hogwarts. It was impossible to confess without a priest and not many in the magical world were religious. The idea behind it was that those who confessed very frequently and on a regular basis would be strengthened and supported by divine encouragement. Understanding her silence, the priest urged her to confess every sin she had kept to herself because only then could God show His mercy and forgive her for her wrongdoings. Her sins were neither numerous nor unforgivable so it did not take long for her to reel them off. Perhaps the only thing that Evelyn had never told a priest was that she was a witch, that she went against all natural laws. With this fear locked away in her heart, Evelyn spoke her contrition prayer clearly and with the hope that, when the time came, she would be forgiven.

With her sins confessed but her heart no lighter, Evelyn stepped out of the church and blinked at the stream of sunlight that blinded her for the few seconds it took her eyes to adjust. She didn’t want to go back to the house, not really. Her mother never looked at her with much warmth so early on in the summer, not when she believed her daughter had been committing a sin every week she did not attend church or confess. “Hypocrite,” Evelyn mumbled, scuffing her shoe against the ground resentfully as she walked aimlessly. Her mother had made her father become an adulterer; how was that not sinful? She sighed, forcing herself to glance back at the church as if to remind herself that, barely five minutes after confession, she had yet another thing to confess because she had disrespected her mother. Evelyn had honestly thought that she had stopped considering her mother to be a hypocrite; certainly the priests had urged her to clear her conscience by respecting her mother at all times and Evelyn always tried her hardest to please and to excel. Absent-mindedly, her right hand rose to touch the crucifix around her neck lightly. Yes, she would make herself stop. She had to if she wanted an eternity with God.

Evelyn glanced at her watch, calculating just how long she had left before her mother would start to wonder why her confession was taking so long. Maybe an hour, she guessed unsurely. After all, her mother was out shopping and had been gone already when Evelyn had left to visit the church so Georgia wouldn’t be sure of the time she had left. Just as long as she was back before her mother, she would be able to coax Azure out of whatever hiding place she had chosen to pounce out at people from today and retreat back to her room. A ball landed at her feet and Evelyn glanced around curiously as she bent to pick it up. After locating the group of children it had come from, Evelyn bounced it in her hand twice and then launched it back at them, pleased when it landed almost exactly where she had wanted it to. One of the kids ran up to her eagerly, dirt and grass smudged across his face. “Come and play with us,” he pleaded enthusiastically, “Jack and his team always beat us and it’s our turn to win!” Evelyn opened her mouth to decline but it closed unwillingly when she saw the beseeching look on the young boys face. She had always wanted to join in with the other kids when she had been younger but they had never really liked her and her mother had discouraged the idea anyway. But what was stopping her from indulging both herself and a few kids who wanted to win for once? It was a good thing to do, Evelyn told herself persuasively. She would be making other people happy and that was always something worthwhile of anyone’s time.

Breathless but grinning, Evelyn sat on one of the swings. The game had lasted for just half an hour before the kid’s parents had showed up to collect them but, just as always, Evelyn had set her mind to winning and she had done so. The kid that had first begged her to join them – Colin, his name had been, Evelyn recalled instantly – had thrown himself at her and hugged her before leaving, staining her own clothes with some of the dirt that had been on his. She would definitely need to get home before her mother. Evelyn grimaced, looking down at her mud-splattered jeans and blouse. She could get the dirt off them easily; she just didn’t want to explain to her mother about how it had gotten there in the first place when she had only been going to the church to confess. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to use magic during the summer,” Evelyn murmured to herself wistfully, rubbing away a speck of dirt on her hand.

((Some of the parts about confession might be wrong since, unlike Evelyn, I'm not at all religious myself and my Catholic-informant wasn't available for questioning so I had to rely on Wikipedia. So, basically, don't kill me if there's anything wrong with it because I know very little.))

[Casey Allen G5]

“It’s easy to feel like you’re all alone. To feel like nobody knows. The great that you are, the good that’s inside you is trying so hard to break through.” Casey kicked the dirt beneath her feet as she sat on the swing. Casey loved this song. Bradley wrote it for Eden and it was defiantly one of Casey’s favorites, mainly because she felt like the girl in the song. Some songs Casey knew her dad wrote strictly about her and others Casey was a story teller telling the story of a girl. She was sure that a few of the songs were about her mother, but she never had the strength to ask. Casey doubted that Bradley wrote the song for her. She didn’t tell him about the sadness that had been building ever since her mother left. She was too afraid to tell him. But the song was Casey even if Bradley didn’t realize it. Casey watched the dirt keep up a couple of inches as she swayed back and forth on the swing. She wished she had her guitar to strum the song lightly but it was on the stage. Casey loved playing her guitar but Eden didn’t give her that chance. She wanted to write her on songs and try new music, but what would her fans say? It was too risky. She couldn’t change a thing.

“Maybe it’s your time to lift off and fly. You won’t know if you never try.” As she sang those words, a light bulb went off in her head. This was about Heaven. It was about all the years Casey’s mum spent in chemo and treatment for her cancer and how miserable and worn out she was. And how great of a person Heaven was even if she didn’t realize it. Casey’s stopped singing as her mind lingered on those words. He gave her permission. Casey understood now. Heaven didn’t just leave. He gave her permission to. She was miserable and she felt as if she was in a bubble for all those years . She talked to Bradley about her pain when she realized that the doctors were wrong and she would live and he told her to go. Casey felt a tear fall down her cheek. It was his fault. Casey was piecing everything together. Bradley wrote this song after Heaven left. But they didn’t put it on Eden’s first album because they had enough songs so they waited until the new one. Bradley was giving Heaven permission to leave in this song and Casey didn’t even realize it until now.

Casey let another tear fall, but no more. She had spent too many years crying over her mother. Bradley let her go, but it was Heaven’s choice. If she was a stronger person, she would have stayed. A stronger person never would have left her son and daughter. As a kid Casey thought her mother was so strong. She thought she was super women. But she wasn’t. She wasn’t anyone Casey could look up to because she was a coward. Casey’s anger flipped back to her mother as she thought more about it all. Casey eyed the ground and didn’t look up. She just wanted to fade into a different world, but she couldn’t. This was her world and it was too late to change it.

“Don't let anyone tell you that you're not strong enough. Don't give up, there's nothing wrong with just being yourself that's more than enough. So come on and raise your voice. Speak your mind and make some noise.” She sang as another tear fell, but they stopped as soon as Casey heard someone near her. The girl had been playing with some kids earlier, Casey had noticed. Actually, she looked familiar. With another glance, Casey was certain that she went to Hogwarts. And upon hearing her next comment, Casey was sure of it. Casey brushed the tears away, but the evidence was on her red and blotchy skin. She sniffed a little. “Me too.” She said loud enough for the girl to here. “Hey, I’m Casey. I think I have some classes with you.” Casey didn’t know her name. She spent most of her classes with Ezzie and Carson of course now he was in NEWTS so it was pretty much just Ezzie, but next year Casey would have most of her classes with him again. “You’re in erm..Ravenclaw, yes?” She looked around to make sure muggles didn’t hear. What Casey really wanted was someone to talk to, but she couldn’t. She just had to fake it like she normally did. The lies never stopped with her.

((Lookie who replied. Hehe. It's sadder than I wanted but Casey is a downer right now and wants to be sad. Silly Casey.))