It was much deeper than she’d expected. Finally reaching the old time capsule, she paused for a moment, realizing there was no way she could’ve felt it from the surface. Perhaps, it was just her remembering it that manifested in her feeling it despite not truly being able to.

Kneeling on the soft grass, she placed the old time capsule before her and drew a nervous breath. The scent of freshly dug earth filled her nostrils. Maya couldn’t recall the exact contents they’d buried—only that it was something they’d once considered treasure. At this point, she’d be content to find anything but a nest of bugs.

She prepared herself and opened it.

Inside there were some faded—now indistinguishable—stickers, a handful of pretty rocks, some rough crayon drawings that were destroyed by humidity, candy and a chocolate bar that had gone bad years ago and a sterling silver necklace with an intricate rose pendant Leo had gifted her.

It seems it wasn’t airtight enough to preserve the contents so the only redeemable item was the necklace.

Maya chuckled to herself thinking how naïve kids could be, putting consumable items in a box underground that was meant to stay there for at least five years.

However, the contents weren’t what mattered. It was the thought; of what it meant for their friendship. Originally, they planned to dig it up every five years and refill it, innocently believing they would continue with this for years while living in this house together when they grow up. Planning their future way ahead.

In reality, Maya hasn’t thought of Leo for years. A new sadness came across her, realizing she still misses him. It was before the first five years expired, he’d left her, putting a sad conclusion to that story as well.

Maya picked up the necklace and cleaned it with her palms. It was still in good shape. It must be real silver. There was no hurt in keeping it.

The rest of the time capsule was buried back in its resting place. She had been excited at first, but now it only felt like she had dug up a grave of her happy childhood memories.

It was already afternoon when Anna came back with hands filled with groceries, carrying them toward the kitchen counter.

“That’s a cute necklace you got there,” Anna noticed.

“Thank you. I found it this morning,” Maya felt awkward accepting a compliment.

“In your mom’s old stuff?”

“No… It was buried in the backyard.”

Maya’s statement was met with confused looks from Anna.

“I had a childhood friend who moved away when I was twelve,” she explained. “We buried a time capsule in my backyard, like, ten years ago. I remembered it this morning.”

“How sweet. You should give her a call and tell her you found it.” Anna’s attempt to persuade Maya to talk to other people was rather thinly veiled.

“It’s a him. Leo,” Maya corrected her.

“Oh,” Anna rushed to assume from Maya’s experience of never talking about boys. “Did he steal it from his mother?”

Maya chuckled meekly. “He might have. I don’t really know.”

It wasn’t likely that a seven-year-old bought a silver necklace all by himself. Mrs Davis would certainly have mentioned it to Maya’s parents if they bought it.

“Well, she won’t miss it if it’s been ten years.”

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Anna was sorting out the groceries and Maya gave her best effort to help her.

“Has anyone paid a visit today?”

“No,” Maya lied.

She wasn’t sure about the reason herself. Was it technically a lie if she never let the person in? Fortunately, Anna seemed to believe her.

“Will you tell me more about this boy?”

Anna would latch on to anything just to have something to talk about with Maya. They didn’t have much in common, but Anna would make an effort to spend at least an hour of her time in the day with Maya. Maya would pretend like she didn’t notice her obligatory therapy sessions. It was the time she would check on Maya and how she was doing with her meds—the bare minimum to make sure this teenager was functioning.

“He was just a next-door kid, the same age as me so we often ended up as playmates. We lost touch after he moved away. What’s there to tell?” Maya shrugged.

“Were you sweet on each other?”

Maya tried to hide herself blushing. Long ago, they both considered it was a given they would marry and live in this house.

“We were just friends.”

“Sure sounds like it.”

“We were kids. And neighbours. Not much more.”

“Mm-hm,” Anna clearly didn’t believe it.

“So… how did he end up moving away?”

It wasn’t surprising Anna was unfamiliar with the circumstances. After all, it had concluded long before Anna entered her life.

“His parents divorced and he moved to live with his mother.”

Anna sighed softly. “That’s sad… Breaking up a friendship because of adult stuff.”

“Yeah,” Maya looked away, pensively.

“I’m sure there are plenty of boys at school just waiting for you to come back from summer break,” Anna teased her.

“I don’t think so. Nobody knows I exist anymore.”

“You’ll make friends this year.”

“I’m not sure I want to.”

“Maya, you have to seize your life before it runs past you.”

Anna was trying to be supportive. Maya thought she was trying too hard and it only felt forced. It was getting darker so Anna lit up a candle.

“What’s that for?”

“When the lightning struck it messed with electricity. All our light bulbs in the house burned out. I changed some of them in rooms but those are too high up for me to change,” she pointed to the absurdly high ceiling of their main living space. “Don’t worry, I called a guy, he’ll fix them up tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

They were forced to keep each other company by the candlelight while Anna was preparing dinner. There was nothing to distract them as most of the electronics that would occupy them were damaged by the lightning to some extent.

Maya pondered for a moment, realizing she didn’t know much about the woman she lived with—her only lifeline. Initially, Maya disliked Anna for entering her life uninvited, but even with time, she never bothered to ask any personal questions about her stepmother.

Her misconception that Anna married Maya’s father for an easy life was falling apart lately. This woman wasn’t as clueless as Maya had thought. Anna switched up lightbulbs herself, something Maya couldn’t even imagine doing.

She didn’t keep the house as pristine as Maya’s mother but Anna cleaned the house and made sure the space was liveable despite working full time. Unlike Maya who had all the time in the day but never had done any housework.

She even cooked. Maya’s mother didn’t cook and her father was too busy as a business owner so they mostly ordered food from restaurants, but Anna makes at least one homecooked meal a day. At least she was adept in providing necessities for Maya.

Feeling pressure in her brain that comes and goes these days, perhaps having some circuits fried in her brain from the incident, Maya zoned out looking at the candlelight. There was something about it, with it flickering and dancing.

Perhaps it was just boredom that made staring at just about anything so fascinating. From staring at a source of light, she began seeing things in the flame. It seemed sentient. Was it trying to communicate with her? The room filled up with light as the flame grew higher.

“Maya. Are you okay?” Anna’s voice sounded worried.

“What?” Maya snapped out of it, and the flames dampened, returning to normal.

She looked back and forth between Anna and the candle. It was just a normal flame. She must’ve imagined it.

Anna narrowed her eyes slightly, then turned back toward the stove. “Will you let the electrician in if I’m not home tomorrow?” Anna changed the subject, seemingly to avoid dealing with the weird quirks of a teenage girl.

Maya was slightly annoyed Anna was still walking on eggshells around her. Puberty was a thing of the past by now.

“Okay,” she agreed listlessly.