Giselle Rivers: A Wildcard Week Short

Alpha Belt
Mortal Realm
Rivers’ Residence
2015

Elle wasn’t sure if she was meant to be that way.

She wasn’t exactly sure how she ended up turning into the person she was at that moment. Whether the person she was right now was good or bad, she couldn’t exactly decide. Whether the change was good or bad, she couldn’t really decide either. With that in her head, she could already feel Amy glaring at her and Blake sighing from outside her bedroom. A mildly amused smile graced her lips.

Elle wondered if she was destined to be the person she was at that very second.

The younger and present her were very different, she thought on many occasions. The younger seemed to have it all, academically active and definitely more on the social side. She cringed (just a bit) at the thought of her younger self being chosen as the class representative more often than not. She cringed once more at the thought of her younger self liking the responsibility.

So what happened?

Life happened, she answered dryly. Problems happened. Issues happened. Transfers happened. Within a snap of a finger, the Elle she was back then became someone much more different.

With the passage of time, she unconsciously started to shift towards the person her element dictated her to be.

Elle Rivers was a Storm.

She was a different kind; much different from Amy who was ready to explode at any given moment of time. Elle’s Storm built up slowly from the bottom and boiled with ease, filling up and piling with the small instances that happened. She wasn’t easily set off like Amy, who seemed like she had an unending stock of rage and anger within her. Elle (liked and) preferred to stew a little bit, building all her feelings until they were unable to be contained.

It was an unhealthy method, but that was how she did it for so many years. Elle was the type to simmer quietly in the background without anyone knowing; unless the person had impeccable observational skills. (That person was usually Amy, but then again – the brunette-haired lady was Elle’s Watcher, so that was technically part of the job description.)

When she was simmering, it often went unnoticed. Elle could put on a front and pretend that it was all okay while on the inside she was already starting. Only when the worst seemed to come did the Storm in her truly come out; and up to that day, only a limited amount of people had witnessed the Storm. She could count the number on a single hand alone.

Storms were destructive; storms were unable to be contained when they reached their utmost worst. Preparing seemed to do only so much compared to the actual thing. Storms took people’s lives apart and uprooted belongings, crops and much more. Anticipating for it seemed like the worst part because no one truly knew how much damage one could ultimately bring.

Elle believed that a hundred percent.

She embraced her Element willingly.

With the embrace came the acceptance; with acceptance came the belief that she too was a storm who couldn’t be tamed or kept hold. It came to a point that she kept herself away from the rest of those around her, building walls and proclaiming that with the height of the sturdy stone walls, she wouldn’t hurt anyone.

You’ll keep trying and trying, but you won’t be able to break these walls down. You’ll get tired, and then you’ll give up. Everyone does. Besides – who would even want to try and get close to a Storm, right?

A deep part within her whispered that she build walls for an ulterior reason – that hurting others wasn’t the main reason why. Stubbornly, she denied and denied until the reason came back to slap her in the face.

I’m building walls so that no one can hurt me.

All people had their limits. Some had limits to how much they could take until they could really feel pain – physical or emotional. Some had limits to how much they could keep giving until they had nothing left for themselves. Some had limits to how much they could burn all so that they could keep others warm.

Elle had two particular limits: the extent to how much she could get hurt, and the limit to how her kindness could be ‘abused’.

Everyone in the world had their own reasons for who they were. Everyone had their own personal experiences, their own life-changing situations, their own epiphany. Elle had to admit that she hadn’t reached the epiphany yet, but the experiences she had were enough to form her into the person she believed she was; the person she presented to those commonly around her.

From the extroverted and leading child, she transformed into someone much quieter, more observant, and more apathetic (than she liked, in all honesty).

There were times wherein she believed that the current her was the her she was fated to be. When anyone tried to convince her otherwise, she would reason out that it was simply life’s usual shennanigans. Elle believed that her experiences turned her into the person she was at that moment. And she accepted it. after all, she couldn’t change the past. It was either she deal with who she was or end up resenting herself as long as she lived.

And Elle didn’t want that.

Elle wanted to be happy.

She embraced her Storm and let it consume her; she let the Storm within her fuel her strengths. The Storm was what came during the tea-filled nights where she would stay up and write; the Storm was what came when a certain person needed to hear the raw truth. The Storm was what she became when she had to defend herself for the thirteenth time; a Storm was what she became when the best side of her was coming out.

A Storm was destructive; a Storm was known to wreck lives in the negative aspect of things. And Elle believed that she too was destructive in her own way. (Which was partially why she built up those cobble walls in the first place, right?)

Elle knew that Storms were there for a reason. She knew that after every Storm came a calm; after every disaster came a time for repair and recovery. Amidst the Storm, there were hidden blessings in disguise. In the lucky times, people were spared and only material things were lost. Lives were kept safely. Replacable goods could easily be replaced. Countrymen shook their heads in amazement whenever a so-called disaster wasn’t so much of a disaster in the long run.

After all, everything and everyone had a purpose. Everything was put there for a reason. Elle believed in that as well.

Her positives outweight her negatives.

Her being a blessing outweighed her being a disaster.

Her being present was better than her being absent.

She stretched on her comfortable bed, pulling the scarlet covers over herself and checking her phone. The sleepy-eyed girl glanced at the notification and silently started to type much after in the comfort of her own room.

Outside, she knew that her Watchers were either annoying each other (Blake being annoying and Amy being, well, annoyed) or ignoring each other. She knew that they were there. And she felt safer. Despite their long absence, she knew that they were doing their best to make it up to her. And she was grateful.

Elle was a Storm. How she had turned out that way, she didn’t exactly know. Why she was that way, she didn’t exactly know either. She still questioned, occasionally doubted, momentarily wished she was someone else.

But with doubt came the fighting urge to say otherwise.

This is who I am.

I am a Storm.

And I am more mere destruction.