Sick

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella ran down the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. She was heading for her office, but when her stomach lurched painfully, she knew she was going to be sick. So she ran instead for the girls' bathroom down the hall. Inside, she went to the first stall and threw up. She sat there on the floor for a long time afterwards, just leaning against the toilet and crying.

[Moaning Myrtle]

"Now! Isn't that NICE!" said Myrtle popping her head out of the Toilet "Let's all go throwing chunks in to Myrtle because she can't stop it!" She began to wail and sobbed "I can't even be in my U bend without having something Foul coming at me!" she began to sob in great heaves.

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella was already crying heavily when the ghost popped out of the toilet and started wailing. Shakily, she looked up at the ghost of the girl who had died so long ago. "I... I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I just... I.. oh...." She was unable to form a coherent sentence, so she just gave up and dropped her head down on the toilet seat while she broke down in tears.

[Moaning Myrtle]

"Oh my! and they said I wailed! Now now, don't cry like that" she said feeling bad that she had made the woman cry "Now If you keep that up you'll end up in the stall next to me!" she said floating crossed legged above the woman. "what are you doing in a student's bathroom anyway? Adults aren't usually in here at all! unless you call that man that cleans the toilets an adult!" she said singgering as she remembered how he'd curse at the floods she could cause.

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella fought to regain control, taking deep, calming breaths and wiping at her eyes. "I've just had my heart broken, that's all," she said in a choked voice. "I normally don't come in here, but I felt ill and this was closer than my office..." She felt her stomach give another jerk, and she threw up a little more. She flushed the toilet and looked up at the ghost. "I'm never drinking again..."

[Moaning Myrtle]

"That would about do it! I remember a prefect come in here not long ago bemoaning firewhiskey... My entire life was miserable! At least you have time to change it! I died in a toilet!" she said starting to cry again.

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella blew her nose on a sheet of toilet paper. "I drank a whole bottle of firewhiskey, or so I was told. I don't really remember anything beyond the first drink." She let out a choked sob, as more tears began to flow. "My life sucked until he came along... I can't believe he left me..."

[Moaning Myrtle]

"Well i can't say my Unlife is anybetter!" wailed Myrtle" I was never Pretty enough for boys to like me! Your positivly a beauty queen and your eyes are puffy and red and you have boogies coming out of your nose!" Wailed Myrtle more, she floated into the stall next to the one the woman was in and wailed more.

[Isabella Rothschild]

"I'm not beautiful," Isabella choked. She had never thought she was, anyway. Her father had certainly not thought she was beautiful. But Voltaire had... She burst out crying again. "Why? Why did I let him leave me? Why couldn't I go with him? It would have been so easy..."

[Moaning Myrtle]

"YEs you are!" wailed myrtle from the next stall "And if you ask me, if he was gonna leave you , you going after him wouldn't of worked!" she said bitterly poping her head back into the woman's stall. "You don't even have spots! i always had spots! i still have spots!" she sobbed and pulled her head back into her stall.

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella drew a shaky breath. "Thanks. But I never felt beautiful until he told me I was. He used to say I was enchanting... and I said he was bizarre..." She sobbed again for a moment, then tried to regain her breathing. "He gave me every chance to come with him. He begged me to. Why... Why couldn't I do it...? I can't live without him, why am I even trying...?"

[Moaning Myrtle]

"trying to what? trying to make me feel like a great ugly cow! Ugh! Enchanting! I was never ENCHANTING! I was always Fat, Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!" She Sobbed and sank into her toilet.

[Isabella Rothschild]

"I'm sorry," Isabella said. She realized that as a child, she had felt much the way Myrtle had when she was alive. She had always felt ugly and stupid and useless. Her parents had told her she was all of those things and she had let herself believe them. It was strange, now she knew that Alastor, whom she'd always thought hated her, had actually had a crush on her, even though she'd been nasty to him. She wondered if Charles's pursuit of her had actually been for the same reason, or if it really had just been because of the bet.

Isabella blew her nose again and got to her feet. Her legs felt wobbly, and she clutched the stall door for support. "Thanks for the talk, Myrtle," she said thickly. She walked over to the sink and washed her face in cold water, trying to restore herself to something remotely human-looking. She frowned at her appearance, wondering how anyone could think her beautiful. She was pale and splotchy from crying, her eyes were swollen and red, and her hair was a tangled mess. Sighing to herself, she dried off her face and walking shakily out of the bathroom and down the hall toward her office.

[Moaning Myrtle]

Myrtle bubbled in her U bend.