The streets were bustling with sounds of cars and people, pigeons pecking at little crumbs on the ground, and Freya and Rosana bickering with each other. Freya "accidentally" stepped on Rosana's brand-new shoes. Cindy and Itsumi, ignoring both of them, were discussing rumors of a new book coming out while Leona was watching Annalise play an open-world RPG game on her phone. On the other hand, Janie was taking pictures of the bright blue morning sky. Moranda observed her while trying to adjust Janie's hand to get the best photos. It was hard, especially since her hand kept going right through Janie's, making her body shiver from the sudden coldness that touched her. Nonetheless, they got photos to use as references for later on.

All seven of them had to start running to catch the bus. One by one, they all went in and gathered around each other. Freya was next to the bus door at the back. As Freya was settling down and making herself comfortable, the sun shone on her face. Freya didn't notice yet because she was too busy pushing her dark brown curls away from her light brown skin. With the perfect turn of events, Freya's face faced the direction the sun was shining. As her hand held her curls away from her face, the sun made her skin glow and her hair sparkle. Her brown eyes popped out with the light hitting them, making her eyes look like honey. Janie stood and watched as Freya looked like a goddess. She wasn't the only one admiring Freya. Itsumi was next to her, looking at her in awe, almost like she was looking the most ethereal goddess ever. Itsumi's pupils dilated. She was capturing every precious moment of her. Freya noticed Itsumi's eyes poking at her and bopped her nose. Itsumi snapped back to reality and chuckled after seeing Freya's forehead. She bopped her nose and conversed with Freya about something that intrigued her when they raced to catch the bus.

Janie gazed at them with admiration. She wondered how they met each other in the first place and how life would be if fate didn't destined them to meet.

"Looks like they're really close," Moranda mentioned.

Janie nodded.

“They've been together since the day I met them.” Janie answered back through her thoughts.

"How long have they been friends for?" She asked while resting her chin on Janie's head.

Janie's head got struck with coldness, but she played it off cool. “They're almost seniors, so they must've been close since high school or back in middle school.”

Moranda hummed with delight.

Janie got curious now. She imagined Moranda as a teenager; a mature, observant, and dependable person. All the traits that Janie selected for her based on how she's been since they’ve met, and she believes it fits her character, and oddly, Janie stands by the fact that her face matches her whole personality.

Now, she applied her image of teenage Moranda to her playing with her friends in high school.

Eventually leading her to a question.

“Did you have friends when you were alive?” Janie asked, expecting a response, only to be let off with silence. The silence continued as Janie spun her head towards Moranda.

“Moranda…”

Moranda's eyes looked like someone in despair, her puffy ginger hair looking reddish, her brown eyes becoming duller, and her posture sulking down. Moranda's face was more serious than usual. Janie contemplated whether she should change the topic and try to make Moranda less dead. But she was interrupted by a sudden yank from behind. Annalise had her right hand gripping Janie's collared shirt, dragging her along with the rest of the group, who had already departed the bus. Annalise was playfully interrogating her, questioning why she was daydreaming when there was a high probability of losing such a short 14-year-old who doesn't pay attention when she's around a bunch of people. Rosana slightly giggled, covering her mouth to make it less visible.

To everyone else, it looks like she was daydreaming, enjoying the beauty of life and pretending the greenery that once covered the whole land was still there, behind all the run-down buildings, the awful smell of outside, and the dirty monochrome streets. But to Janie, she was looking at the now silent ghost that haunted her. Her gray aura slowly swallowed her yellow shine. She knew all too well that she was prone to other’s emotions.

Annalise groaned about having to walk to their destination. Freya threatened to manifest Annalise's little brother to bite her ankles, to which Annalise responded by kicking Freya's butt. Freya spun around quickly and grabbed Annalise's shoulders. She confirmed her grip was tightly wrapped around them and started to vigorously shake her. Rosana joined in by kicking Freya's butt too, which agitated her, and started chasing after Rosana. Cindy put her right hand on Itsumi's left shoulder as she sighed deeply. Janie couldn't muster up the energy to even smile. She stared gloomily. Leona took notice of the change of mood and wrapped her hand around her arm. She gently nudged her to keep walking with the rest of the group.

Everyone was here at the anime shop. Cindy took it upon herself to open the door for everyone. Rushing, they all went in, Cindy being the last to enter the store. Freya and Itsumi went together to the figurine section of the store. Rosana, Annalise, and Leona sprinted to the manga section. Janie decided not to chase behind any of them and took her own detour. She slowly crept towards the wall covered with posters and art. Her eyes scanned every poster and art, and she made sure her eyes gathered every little detail that might not be seen.

Janie was jealous. Of course, she admired the talent that went behind them, but she was beating herself over how her art didn't look like the ones on the wall. She wanted people to have their eyes overwhelmed by the beauty and majestic colors that tainted the dull white wall. Why couldn't her art taint other's eyes? What about their hearts? Would people be in awe if she showed her art? Do people actually take time out of their days to enjoy such beauty?

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One painting on the white wall captured her attention. It was different from the others. As she carefully observed the painting, she could feel the eeriness. She understood well that it was meant to make people uneasy. The woman placed on the canvas looked pretty, with her black hair parted to her sides, her eyes with no light left in them to shine, and her thin lips brightly red.

Her head was tilted to her left side. The whiteness of the canvas and her black hair oddly brought out the subtle eye bags that she had. Now her thin red lips were lifted at their corners... It made her look tired. The presence of the woman put Janie in discomfort. She didn't know why, but the woman herself was eerie. Janie stayed in front of the painting, locking her eyes on the woman, even though she was getting more, and more, anxious.

She forgot about Moranda.

Janie halted her attention towards the painting and searched for Moranda. Moranda, resting near Janie, was gazing upon the tried woman with steady eyes. Her soft gaze, full of yellow shine, gazed upon the lifeless ones. To Janie, it looked like Moranda was resonating with the woman in the painting, acknowledging her tired and weak spirit.

"Let's go..." Her soft and sorrowful whisper slowly wandered through Moranda's ear and out the other.

Janie began to lightly drift away, Moranda following along.

I wanna help Moranda... I wanna get better at art... Why can't I be greedy? Why can't I focus on myself? If I get better, will Moranda finally stop looking so sad?

Can my paintings even make her happy?

Janie gnawed at the inside of her mouth with hatred towards herself. She detested how talentless she was. How pathetic she was that she couldn't even fathom herself being good.

As Janie and Moranda drifted away from the posters, they met with Annalise and Rosana, looking at figurines on shelves. Janie hurried herself over to see what they were looking at, only to see that they were howling over a male figurine. She rolled her eyes, visibly seeing Freya and Itsumi getting ready to go home. Janie wanted to go home. Later come along Cindy and Leona with a bundle of brown paper bags, each holding two. They both went up to Freya and Itsumi, Freya, curious, peaked inside the bags and started teasing Cindy. It's not every day you see Freya teasing the quietest person in the group.

All at once, Janie felt a rush of coldness coming from her left shoulder. Looking to her left, she saw Moranda tapping her, gesturing to her to round up Annalise and Rosana with the rest of the group. Janie nodded and tugged on both of their sleeves, getting their attention.

Everyone gathered, ready to leave. All seven kids scurried, barely catching the bus ride back home. The sky was now an orange-pinkish hue. Janie adored how the sudden pink slowly absorbed herself within the comfort of his orange shade. Janie continued gazing in amazement at the now majestic sky. Catching herself dozing away, she noticed how Moranda didn't speak of the sky. She glanced over to where Moranda was. Her eyes caught sight of Moranda dozing off into the pink lemonade sky. Janie's corner of her lips curled up into a smile.

“Enjoying the view?”

"very much."

Janie felt a sudden rush of solace. It was almost like Janie's inner thoughts came to a compromise, calming her rather than overexerting herself.

The bus came to a rough halt, making everyone fall on top of one another. Rosana coincidentally fell on top of Freya, who was holding up Itsumi and, bearing Annalise's heavyweight, coming from her holding Cindy's and Leona's bags. Freya, getting agitated, shoved Rosana and Annalise from her back, leaving Itsumi holding onto her arm. Rosana got pissed off by this and started pinching her ear while yelling at her. Freya wryly smiled and taunted her with more yelling. Itsumi, afraid to get dragged off the bus, pinched both cheeks, making them postpone their bickering for another time.

Moranda snickered while covering her mouth. Janie also began to snicker. Annalise, on the other hand, was wheezing her ass off while gripping Leona's arm so hard that it left a red mark after she let go.

After a long bus ride, Freya and Itsumi dropped Janie off at her house. Janie was exhausted, releasing a deep breath once she fell back on her bed. As she spread her arms, she stared at her ceiling in a trance, almost forgetting Moranda. She jolted herself up to see Moranda sitting on her chair, looking at the canvas. Her reaction to the painting at the store was very similar to right now. Janie wished she could read her mind. Maybe that way, she could figure out what her heart desires.

"Do you wanna start teaching me, my private personal art teacher?"

Moranda smiled as she nodded.

Moranda gestured for Janie to sit in her chair, ready to begin teaching.

Janie sat down and listened to Moranda as she started from the beginning, teaching the basic fundamentals of art, such as color, anatomy, lines, perspective, value, balance, etc. Janie intently listened to every word that came out of Moranda's mouth. She wanted to improve and was willing to listen to a dead person rant about knowledge of her talent. Moranda's teaching came to a close. She pointed at Janie's old sketchbook, requesting her to start drawing anatomy.

Janie intensely studied the human body proportions. She pressed hard on her pencil, making dark lines and covering every mistake she made with darker and bolder lines, thus making Moranda stop her right in her tracks and guide her again. This proceeded on till midnight.

Outside was a relaxing shade of navy, lit with the few stars in the sky. Janie was done for the day, her eyes hazy, coming to a sudden close, leaving Janie in pitch black.

"Your friends... you should cherish them..."

Janie hummed in acknowledgment of what Moranda was saying.

"They remind me of my own friends." She paused, fiddling her fingers before opening her mouth once again to speak, "All the friends I made eventually betrayed me, leaving me to care for them below my feet... leaving me stranded alone in my own world."

Janie didn't speak, lying in silence, unaware of what to say.

She slowly drifted into a deep slumber, leaving Moranda alone again in her own world.