Lotte found herself back in the ashen lands of the cavern, wandering closely behind the giant deity and her attendant.
Days or weeks passed by her in mere moments with no clear destination. Lotte’s eyes wandered, taking in every minor change in the scenery.
Dunes rose and fell. Cracks opened up to form massive rifts. Souls dressed in rags came together to form crowds and hordes as they walked together in this seemingly endless cavern.
Lotte knew she differed from them; she felt different.
Blue lights flickered inside their bodies like wisps of fire, but not for Lotte. Examining her own chest, there wasn’t any light at all.
She thought she couldn’t see it herself, but that wasn’t it.
Lotte witnessed how others cupped their hands around those flames, caressing them for some sort of depressing comfort.
She was indeed different from them—but how she didn’t know.
Whatever it was, Lotte continued to walk among the train of souls that expanded with each step they took.
She gazed back at the giantess leading the train. Like a guide, she was drawing in lost souls by simply existing. As if she was a giant flame attracting the moths to her gloomy light, but why did she approach only Lotte?
And why did Lotte feel the same attraction to her as the other souls?
There wasn’t an answer to any of her questions, and the more time passed, the closer they got to their destination.
They reached a temple, a massive stone-like palace structure with successively receding levels. Lotte stood speechless before it, processing the sight before her and the surrounding landscape.
A city unfolded on the ashes of the desert, built inside the great cavern they wandered in. Crevices and dunes stretched further than the human eye could see.
Houses of simple clay popped out left and right wherever Lotte looked. Inhabited by people of different ages, gender and body stature, dressed in the same rags and a burning blue light inside of them.
She somehow knew what this place was. “A city built for the dead.”
—✮—
“A city built for the dead?” asked Liara, shaking her friend awake from her half-slumber. “Is this a subject for a history assignment?”
Lotte was spooked to see Liara suddenly before her. “Wha- no, sorry, I-I got distracted and found this book.” Lotte shut the tome-like book but underestimated the loud bang it created when closing.
Startled by the loud bang, she glanced around the library, hoping to not have alarmed anyone.
“Relax, no one’s here. Otherwise, a guy would have already come to stare at your drooling but charmingly sleepy face,” Liara gave a cheeky remark, colouring Lotte’s cheeks red. “Sorry that I came late today. A cupcake as an apology?”
Ignoring the clear rule of not eating anything in the library, Liara pulled out a bag of freshly baked cupcakes. They were definitely from a bakery. Liara couldn’t bake anything even if her life depended on it.
“Liara, we planned to meet at,” holding her muffin with her mouth in a half bite, Lotte checked the time on her watch, “it’s 12:30. You’ve made me wait for four hours.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.” The smile on her face dropped, her usual cheerful expression disappearing, but worst of all, she had yet to try one of them.
In any other case, she would have started with her third one while Liara was at her first.
That was one of the first warning signs that something was up.
“Did something happen?” Came out of Lotte’s lips in concern for her friend.
Liara hasn’t been the same for the past few weeks. Skipping class, not attending club meetings—Lotte wished she could ditch them too—and Liara procrastinated on all her assignments.
Strangely, despite their expected strictness, they were lax with Liara, giving her free rein. Something was not right.
“You know, yes, there’s something!” Liara slammed her hands on the table, the echo louder than before. She leaned forward towards Lotte and her stern hazel eyes reflected from the rims of her glasses. “We are putting too much effort into these useless assignments!”
She hammered her hands several times on the table, throwing a tantrum and throwing the books and papers on the ground.
“W-what do you mean?” Lotte stuttered, taken aback by the sudden brashness of her outburst. “This is for history class. We can’t just not do it-”
“We can and we will!” Liara grabbed Lotte by the hand, who was still holding a ballpen and now drew a thick line across her remaining notes. Liara practically dragged Lotte out of the library without letting her gather her belongings. “We’ll watch a movie today, whatever they stream. Then we’ll go to the, I don’t know, park? No, what could we visit? Oh, we could-”
“Wait, stop!” Planting her feet firmly on the ground and attempting to yank her hand free, Liara grasped Lotte harder than she expected.
They ended up bumping together against a wall.
“Oww, I’m sorry, Lotte,” Liara apologised and rubbed her head. “I didn’t notice I was holding your hand so… firmly?” An uneasy smile formed on her face, brushing Lotte’s and her clothes from the loose grout of the library wall. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m alright,” Lotte shook her head in response, taking a sidestep away from her. Liara was too close again. “You don’t seem like yourself. You’re hectic, more so than usual, and you have been absent a lot lately.”
“And we haven’t seen each other for weeks,” mumbled Lotte. “Is everything alright?”
“I-” Liara wrung her hands and fidgeted in place. “Can we talk about it later? After a movie… and maybe a milkshake?” Her eyes neither sparked nor shone as Lotte was used to seeing. They were just sad. Not even a little smile on Liara’s face. “Please?” begged Liara.
Lotte gave a faint smile and simply nodded, which was more than enough to bring Liara’s usual self back.
“Before that, can we pick up my stuff and-”
“No time for that!” she grabbed Lotte by the hand again and yanked her with her to the streets, practically running with her in tow. “We can get them later. Let’s have some fun!”
—✮—
Finding a cinema which wasn’t bursting with visitors was impossible. The two of them ended up at a small theatre, watching a play by hobby actors with barely an audience.
Only some elderly couples were here, and it didn’t help that no one could bring snacks.
“Muffin?” Leave it to Liara for having you covered with more than enough to last for a week or five hours of the play—don’t ask where she was keeping it all.
The girls sat down on a narrow staircase of the theatre building.
“Can we talk now?” A random old couple shushed at Lotte despite the break. “I don’t think I can take any more of that show. A movie would have been fine, but this is exhausting.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Liara finished the last cupcake from before and licked her fingers. “Watching the second half will be torture.”
“There’s a second half!?” Lotte exclaimed, gaining another round of shushes from a nearby elderly couple. “I feel like the mob will turn on us with torches and pitchforks if we talk any further.”
Liara chuckled at this. “You’re right. We better bail now.”
Giving up on the play, they wandered the city, passing shops and boutiques but never going inside any of them. Lotte was wondering where Liara was leading her. She had said something about getting milkshakes after the movie, but they had passed several already.
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It’s as if she didn’t know what she was looking for either.
“Liara, I am worried-”
“Let’s go on a trip,” she blurted out. “The two of us. Just for five days, nothing too big or fancy. We could visit the neighbouring cities and the countryside and-”
“Wait, this is all too sudden-”
Liara was going around the subject, unable to tell her what she truly tried to say. Lotte’s worries only grew.
“Liara, you know we can’t. We have school, four assignments due next week, with at least two club matches coming up, which is frankly quite a lot when I say it out loud. The school needs to slow down on everything they are throwing at us.”
“I know, but,” Liara’s fingers rubbed the tanned skin of Lotte’s hand nervously, “I won’t ask the impossible of you. Please, it’s just for five days. And at the end of the trip I… I’ll tell you everything. Can you promise me you’ll think about it, please?”
Everything in Lotte’s body yelled to trust her and just go with it. But on the other side, there was a tiny little voice in her brain saying, “No, don’t do it.”
Liara had been her best friend for years, and frankly, the only real friend she could count on.
She was always sweet, cheery, sarcastic, and had an obvious sweet tooth, and was always by Lotte’s side.
Whenever she had troubles with her parents, school, or anything else, Liara was there.
Lotte always relied on her. She couldn’t bring herself to say no, no matter what the tiny little voice said. “I’ll think about it. I can promise you that much-.”
“Great!” It came out of Liara’s mouth like a bullet, drawing in the eyes of the crowd. “I’ll wait for your answer for the next three days. No text or call. Come at 5 am to the channel near the school, the one where the club docks their boats. Thank you, Lotte. Don’t forget to pack light!”
With a final firm hug, Liara bolted away, leaving Lotte gobsmacked by the amount of information. “5 am? Don’t you mean 5 pm? Liara? Liara!”
—✮—
Lotte couldn’t decide what to do. With each step she made home, something in her chest nagged her. As if her heart already knew the answer, but then, fear.
Standing before the door, the feeling grew worse.
She wasn’t afraid to see her parents, but couldn’t deny how uncomfortable she felt around them sometimes.
Noticing the smell of her father’s cooking didn’t help to ease those tensions—though maybe a little.
“Back home already, sweety?” Her father stepped out into the living room when he heard Lotte.
He wiped his hands off on his apron. Wiping his hands off on his apron, he styled his blond hair back neatly. He hugged his daughter, and his blond circle beard scratched her forehead.
His stormy grey eyes locked with hers, and he sensed her worry. “Tough day?”
He always looked so different from her and her mother. It caused him so many weird and unnecessary moments with the school, other parents, or even the police—particularly with them.
Whenever Lotte was little and alone with her father outside, someone would ask if she really was his child.
Lotte’s mother loved those moments when she heard about it. She often explained to Lotte how he even was a lady killer back then. A term Lotte always hated whenever she used it.
Everyone knew they liked each other a lot, to Lotte’s dismay, who had to watch it daily. She was happy for them, but there were limits if you asked her.
“Your mother will be home in half an hour. Go up and-”
Right on cue, the front door opened. Not noticing her taller daughter, Lotte’s mother almost walked into her, her head bumping lightly against Lotte’s chin.
For Lotte, her mother looked as stunning as always in her grey work suit. Except for her height, the two of them looked almost identical—minus the glasses she now wore and the few wrinkles and eye colour.
You would have a hard time telling them apart.
“Charlotte? Didn’t you say you planned to stay till the library closed?” Her mother checked the watch on her wrist, tapping it lightly to check if it was working before giving her usual criticising look. “Are you slacking off again? Don’t forget that next week you have-”
“Does it matter? Since you both came back early, we can eat together,” interjected the only man in the house, taking off his wife’s jacket. “Go up and get dressed. I don’t want my efforts in the kitchen to go to waste for either of your tardiness.”
Usually, Lotte loved her parents as any other child would, but on many other days, they were a handful.
Her mother always expected her daughter to give her best and excel in anything, criticising her on every small occasion.
Her father, though, was a stay-in parent. He was more mindful of her freedom, but he also was terribly biased, caring a lot about how she presented herself outside or at home.
“Charlotte, sweety, change your clothes. You’re not going downstairs like that or anywhere near where the light is touching,” he told her with a look much like her mother had minutes ago.
Because Lotte came down in shorts, a tank top and a ponytail.
Summer was coming, and Lotte was exhausted.
Begrudgingly, she spent an additional fifteen minutes changing herself into something he would deem “appropriate for the public eye”.
Meaning a dress with leggings and a thin jacket and, of course, tidying up her hair with a brush.
“Now look who is coming downstairs. Doesn’t she look beautiful?” asked her father with a proud look on his face.
“She does, but I think she could have worn less. After all, it is pretty hot today.” Lotte’s mother sat there with her sleeves rolled up and waving her face for air. She didn’t change her outfit after coming home from work. “Take off your jacket. I can’t imagine you feel comfortable in it.”
For anyone else, it was clear she wasn’t comfortable, but she didn’t want to look that part, so Lotte mustered up her acting smile and sat down for dinner.
“Did you hear that Charlotte’s former nursery teacher got fired?”
“Really?” Lotte’s mother gave a surprised reaction. “I must admit, I’ve found him awkward since he never married and hung around so much with the single fathers. What did he do?”
“He was about to get married,” Lotte’s father finished chewing his food for an unnecessary dramatic pause, “but to a man! I am glad you took Charlotte out of the nursery school when you did.”
“Ergh, I feel terrible,” her mother groaned in response, and Lotte’s eyebrows rose in anticipation. “We should have got her out of there sooner. Can’t believe we left our daughter there with an f-”
“AH,” Lotte yelped and drenched her dress with a bowl of hot supper.
“Are you alright, are you burned?” Her father was the first to rise from his seat.
Thankfully, she wasn’t scalded. “It’s nothing. I will go change myself. May I use the big bathtub upstairs?”
“Of course, but are you sure you are alright?” Her mother inquired. “Do you need help? I can go with and-”
“I’m fine; please, keep up the talk. I will take a bath and review my notes before school on Saturday. Good night.” Lotte needed an excuse to leave early. She couldn’t hear them talk any longer about someone getting wronged for being who he was.
Any excuse would have worked, but when her hand slipped, and she knew she could have caught the bowl, she simply let it happen.
It was so easy, yet so hard, as she bit her lip in pain.
—✮—
“Missy, are you sure your friend is coming? It’s four in the morning.”
“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Liara barked at the boatman. A sigh left her lips, wondering whether Lotte would come or not.
The sun wasn’t up yet, and the night was cold.
Liara had been here for the past two days, even though she only got to tell Lotte about her plans half a day ago. It should have been earlier, but it was too hard to convey.
“She won’t come. Give it up. No sane girl would agree to this crazy trip,” the boatman tried to pick up a drink, but Liara’s glare from the side was there to remind him he was on duty and he put it back. “What makes you think she would come, anyway?”
“I don’t, I just know she will,” responded Liara with a bright grin but with uncertainty in her eyes. “This is how it is between us. We’re friends who can count on one another.”
“What kind of friend refuses to tell the real reason for this trip?”
“This one,” thought Liara. She already felt horrible about keeping it secret, but she swore to tell her once she-
“I can’t believe it. You are here! What was it about meeting up at 5 am?”
“No way, you came!” Liara rushed up the stairs to run herself into Lotte. It was too dark to see with sunglasses. “You are earlier than expected. Were you excited about the trip?”
“Watch this.” Lotte tried to bring her lips up with her fingers, grinning forcefully, but Liara noticed it right away. Something wasn’t right. It must have been her parents again—she was sure of it.
“I’ve gotta say,” Liara helped Lotte to get her things on the boat. “I love your outfit choice. It’s bold. Shorts with tights and a leather jacket. Someone is in for fun.”
“You bet I am.” Lotte undid her hair to let her hair open. “Let’s go, boatman, drive us!”
“I’m not the damn chauffeur!”
“Yes, you are!” the two responded even louder, settling in on the boat and riding through the channel. There was not a single star out in the sky. The big city blocked it all with artificial lights, but it didn’t bother them.
Falling on their bags and shoulders touching, they talked and talked. Imagining where the trip would lead them.
They didn’t spend a single thought on parents, school or responsibility.
They simply enjoyed the ride and what came alongside it, and eventually, both hoped to share their biggest secret.
Character Profile
Name: Liara C. Shepard II
Age: 16; Height: 164 cm; Gender: Female
Friends: Charlotte “Lotte” Mae
Liara is the best friend of Lotte who she met when she first moved to their new place. They got along quickly during their club activities and spent a lot of time together afterwards.
Has a big secret she wants to share with Lotte but doesn’t know how.
Hobbies: Track, Swimming, Archery, Sightseeing, Fashion
Likes: Sugary and spicy food, hanging out, Lotte, club activities, making bets with Lotte,
Drinks milk first before eating the cereal
Dislikes: School, assignments
Ethnicity: French, Greek