Chapter Text
Jinx was happy to finally have a house of her own to live in.
It was far too big and she wasn’t too pleased that it was her sister’s girlfriend who had paid for it. But the house was truly hers . Hers to start over, hers to make a home out of, hers to grow and thrive and make a life for herself.
As much as Jinx liked living with her sister and being with her, it had been harder and harder to do lately. Vi was devoting more and more time to her fiancee, soon-to-be wife, Caitlyn, and she didn’t have much time for her little sister anymore. Growing up, the two of them had been close - even despite the four year age difference between them. Maybe it was foolish and naive of Jinx to think that nothing and no one could ever tear them apart.
But then Caitlyn came along and that changed.
Jinx knew that they couldn’t be kids forever. She and Vi had to grow up sometimes and make their own lives. But it still hurt when Vi seemed to choose Caitlyn, a rich outsider, over her own sister. Vi insisted that that wasn’t the case. That she loved the both of them equally as much. But Jinx could see it in the way Vi looked at Caitlyn. She loved her more. She wanted to move Caitlyn into what had once been their apartment and start a new life with her. It had been why Vi rushed at the chance to help Jinx find her own place and Caitlyn had been happy to once again show off how much of a supportive big sister-in-law she was by paying for the house.
It made Jinx feel sick.
She was tired of having to deal with Caitlyn. She was tired of Caitlyn being nice to her. She was tired of Caitlyn trying to start a relationship that was never going to be anything. Jinx didn’t like Caitlyn and she never would have. No one would like their replacement very much, would they?
In order to try and forget all about her hatred towards her sister’s girlfriend, Jinx decided that the best thing to do would be to organize her new house. She still couldn’t believe that she had her own house. And a Victorian Era house at that. It was large with two floors and two bedrooms (she could invite some of her friends to stay over so she didn’t feel so lonely) upstairs. There was a parlor room (Jinx didn’t think those were still a thing) and a large kitchen (as if Jinx knew how to cook anything in there) as well.
It was the perfect house. And yet no one seemed to want to keep it.
There was a history of people buying the house and keeping it for a while, only to return it back or abandon it without any reason why. It was very strange but Jinx was just happy to get the house. And they had even gotten a deal on it. Jinx had walked around the house, trying to find a reason as to why the house was cheap. It was a gorgeous house and Jinx had expected for it to be so much more. There had to be some sort of a catch.
And yet Jinx hadn’t found any.
She had no choice but to accept the fact that she was extremely lucky and keep it moving instead. So that’s exactly what Jinx did. She thankfully didn’t have a lot to unpack but it was still exhausting having to unpack and organize and put things where they belonged. She was used to having Vi around and making decisions like that for her.
But Jinx was on her own now. She needed to grow up already and make decisions for herself. If Vi could move on from her, Jinx just had to prove that she could do the exact same thing. She didn’t need Vi. Even if she did absolutely miss having her big sister around right now. She definitely missed those muscles of hers. Jinx needed Vi to help her carry these things around. With just one box, her spaghetti arms seemed to be done for.
“Whew, there’s the last of ‘em, Jinx. You deserve a little break,” Jinx declared to herself, smiling at the progress she had made in her closet.
She still had her art to finish hanging up on the walls, meaning she had to take down the art hung up all over the walls of this home. Whoever last owned this house seriously had a love and appreciation for art. But the paintings all seemed to be so dark and depressing. Jinx would rather hang up her own work on the halls and add a much needed splash of color to the place. It was her own after all, not anyone else’s.
Just her place.
Jinx had managed to bring some water bottles over to the house, putting them in the fridge so they could get cold. She left her new bedroom and made her way down the steps so she could be able to get a bottled water for herself. It was only when she was halfway downstairs that she heard something strange. Something that sounded a lot like a young woman humming a song.
But there was no way that was possible. It was just Jinx inside of this house and she knew that she was definitely not humming.
Jinx slowly crept down the stairs and towards the kitchen where she was hearing the humming. The closer she got to the kitchen, the louder the humming became. It was growing more and more obvious that she was no longer alone in the house. Someone else was here with her. The new presence made a shiver go down her spine and goosebumps flood throughout her entire body.
Jinx debated on finding a weapon to try and get whoever it was that had broken into her house. But she didn’t have any real weapons on her. The only weapon she could think of was a knife and that was inside of the kitchen. That’s when Jinx knew that she had no choice but to walk inside of the kitchen and see whoever it was that was now residing inside of her kitchen.
Jinx pushed open the door and saw a petite blonde girl wearing the prettiest maroon colored gown Jinx had ever seen. It looked like something straight out of the 1800’s, if Jinx was being honest. She was even wearing maroon colored gloves on her hands. Jinx was confused and didn’t quite know what to make of it. Apparently, a blonde girl who looked to be the same age and around the same build as Jinx had broken into Jinx’s house. But for what purpose?
“Hey!” Jinx exclaimed. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The blonde turned around and Jinx faltered when she saw how beautiful she was. Her face was gorgeous but the thing that stood out the most was how blue her eyes were. It almost made Jinx forget the fact that she had broken into her house for some reason.
“What are you doing in my house?” she inquired, her voice soft and… slightly fancy. It reminded Jinx a little of Caitlyn, only less posh and annoying.
Jinx frowned as she took a step back. “What are you talking about? Who are you?”
“My name is Luxanna Crownguard, pleased to make your acquaintance. What might your name be?” the blonde quickly introduced herself with a friendly smile and a polite curtsy.
“Jinx. Jinx Lane,” she reluctantly answered. The girl not only dressed strange but she also acted strangely too.
“You have a lovely name! I’ve never heard anything like it before,” Luxanna complimented as she sat on top of the countertop, beginning to swing her legs back and forth.
“Thanks. Why do you talk funny?”
“Funny?”
“Like you’re in one of those old movies.”
Luxanna only appeared more confused than ever, frowning while her head canted to the side. “Movies?”
“Yeah, movies. Whatever, what are you doing here anyways? I don’t remember hearing you coming in.”
Had Jinx accidentally left the door open or something? Even if she had, it still didn’t explain how she hadn’t heard her come in. Or why was she wearing that dress? She looked like she had been plucked from the very paintings still hung up on these very walls. Speaking of… the girl looked very familiar for a reason Jinx hadn’t quite been able to put a finger on.
“I heard you walking around and decided to see you for myself. It’s been a while ever since this house has had some new visitors walking inside. My, your hair is so blue. I haven’t seen hair that blue since -,” Luxanna began to excitedly ramble.
Luxanna frowns, stopping herself from saying anything more. She rests her hands on her lap and gently swings her legs back and forth on the table instead.
“Hey, are you alright?” Jinx asked, growing concerned for the girl. But at the same time, Jinx couldn’t help but feel that something was off about her.
“How long will you be here?” Luxanna asked.
“I’m living here. I bought this house. Well, my sister’s girlfriend did. It’s a complicated story,” Jinx responded with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Girlfriend?” Luxanna furrowed her brows in confusion. This was another term she had never heard about, along with movies.
“Yeah, they’re two women together. Don’t tell me you’re a homophobe, blondie,” Jinx answered.
“I haven’t the slightest idea what a homophobe is. But I do know that two women together is just as acceptable as a man and a woman being together. Love is love, regardless of who it was. I always did believe in that. My family wasn’t so easily convinced unfortunately,” Luxanna sighed,
So Luxanna wasn’t against the gays. That was a bonus, Jinx supposed.
“I fell in love with a girl once. She was the best thing to ever happen to me. She made every day feel like it was summer. Every day felt brighter when she was in it. Everything tasted a little better too. I worshiped the very ground she walked on,” Luxanna recalled.
“What happened? She break your heart or something?” Jinx raised a brow.
Something in Luxanna’s eyes shifted and the bright blue suddenly became darker. “Something like that.”
The sound of glass cracking was enough to make Jinx turn around and try to investigate the noise. She saw that there was a crack on the window, one that hadn’t been there before. It had happened out of nowhere. Jinx turned around to try and respond to Luxanna. But she would be surprised to find that Luxanna was no longer there. She had vanished into thin air, surprising Jinx.
There was no way she could have just vanished without making some sort of noise or letting Jinx know that she was leaving. Had Jinx imagined the whole thing? Was she losing her mind? Was she spiraling all over again?
No, Jinx had been doing well lately. She was taking her medication as normal. So what had just happened? She had clearly talked to a girl here moments before. Unless she hadn’t and she really was losing her mind. If Caitlyn were here, she’d probably tell Jinx that the stress of the move and everything else was getting to her. She’d then recommend a shrink for Jinx to talk to, as if that’d make a difference. Jinx had already talked to several and it hadn’t made much of a difference besides all of the medication they gave her. It was definitely a good thing that Caitlyn wasn’t here. Just hearing her posh accent would’ve definitely pissed Jinx off and she didn’t need to land herself in any more hot water with Vi.
But back to the matter of the mysterious blonde who vanished in thin air.
Jinx frowned as she walked around the house, trying to look for any sign that Luxanna was real and had been walking around in her house. So far, there was nothing to signify that Luxanna had even been inside the house in the first place. Everything was left untouched and the doors were all still locked. More and more, Jinx was convinced that she had just imagined the whole conversation. She had to. As crazy as it sounded, it was the only explanation as to why it had even happened in the first place.
Walking inside of the parlor room (a.k.a. the soon-to-be game room), she huffed in frustration as she looked around for any sign of Luxanna. This time, Jinx wouldn’t even have to look far. She just had to look at the wall in front of her and move her gaze a little further up to see a giant sign of Luxanna staring back at her.
Hung up on the wall was a beautiful portrait of a blonde girl who looked to be the same age as Jinx. She looked… exactly like Luxanna. The same shoulder length blonde hair, the same blue eyes and full pink lips. The only difference was that she was wearing a pink dress in the portrait, while Jinx had seen her in a maroon colored gown. Nonetheless, it was the same girl. Jinx knew that to be true. What she also knew was that the portrait had come with the house which was probably hundreds of years old. If that was the case, it meant that the girl in the very portrait had to be hundreds of years old as well.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Jinx had a feeling she was going to be asking that question a lot more than ever.