[ This chapter is meant to be read after the Chapter 10 and before the Chapter 11. It is an auxiliary chapter expending on one of the main character's back story. So not reading it, or reading it at any other moment in the story, would not drastically change the narrative of the normal volumes and chapters progression, but I still recommend reading it after Chapter 10 for the best experience! Thank You! ]
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Lab's Main Outer Residential Area
Unnamed
11 Years Old
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"I'm off."
"Oh. Ok. Yeah, of course. Be safe okay? Don't wander too far okay? Don't stay out too long oka-"
"I know that. Stop worrying. I don't want you to. You don't deserve to. Stop."
"Ok."
She left the house, and the oppressive mood within it. She loves to leave the house. It helps her. She leaves whenever she needs it. She's been leaving a lot lately.
Her face squinted as her feet descended the front porch. She sharply blew stinky air out of her nose, before trying to breathe as little as possible. It was bad today too. Tired of hearing the shouting around her, she put on blue headphones. Tired of seeing unconscious drunkards lying around, bottles in hands, she flipped her dark hoodie on. As usual, she was walking around with no plan in mind. She had already completed her main objective when walking out of the front door anyway:
Escape.
Escape is a strong word. She may have escaped the birthland of her curse, but she's never free of her mind. No matter how fast she walks. No matter how many times she speaks out loud to herself about how that rock has a nice shape or how she loves to look at the ceiling or how funny-looking this kid looks. She can never bury the noises. She's trapped in her mind with unwanted evils, born on a faithful, normal, redundant afternoon.
She is haunted by the voices in her head. Making her do things she doesn't want to do. Making her see things she doesn't want to see. Making her think things she doesn't want to think. They have been loud recently. Loud enough to make her doubt if the atrocities the voices are saying could actually be from her. Loud enough to make her want to end it all.
No. I can't do that. For her.
She came to that conclusion already. Many times actually. Looks like it's still not enough to truly believe ending it all is not worth it. If she does, the system will win. He would win. It's not something an 11-year-old should worry about. Everything that is happening to her. The way she is. It's not how an 11-year-old girl should be. But life made her that way. He did.
The young girl has been walking for a while now, recently abandoned by the round pebble she has been kicking since the beginning of her errand. A bad kick. Her head down, she didn't give any attention to the way she was going. She didn't really care either. As she wandered off, more and more noises were coming to her. People. More of them. She instinctively started to look up and survey around with her sentinel eyes, trained to spot the Foundation's uniforms. All she was spotting for now was dirty stained clothes. She then started to notice her surroundings.
I've never been here before.
People are funneling toward a narrowed tunnel. The girl decided that a thorough investigation was needed to feed her curiosity. And occupy the voices. As she was advancing down the path, a strange house entered her field of vision.
The habitations are usually small and deteriorated in the area. Built from scraps. The building she was now looking at was more refined. More solid in appearance. Bigger too. The numerous wall torches were illuminating the natural cave with a dim light. A somewhat populated flood of people were coming and leaving the place. They all had one point in common. The inhabitants had something in their hands. All holding onto something, as small or strange it can be. Most of the objects were new to the young girl. They were all unknown to her, and to them too, just like her headphones.
She stopped and stood before the building. She looked around. Nothing abnormal. She then started to march towards the front door. A big man was standing next to it. The moment her cheap shoe stepped on the first stairs, shouting emerged from inside.
The loud masculine fed-up voice was yelling and burying the young feminine crying voice. Loud steps followed. A door was shut violently soon after. A pattern she wished she didn't know that well.
The young girl followed the trail of noises. It brought her eyes to the side of the housing. A blue stripe urged in front of her. Her hoodie was stricken by the draft of air. She didn't know why. But she had to follow it. That azure brim. She felt like she needed to. She had an urge to. She quickly stepped off the stairs and ran towards the black sheen attached to the blue spot storming through the gloomy depths. The rocky walls' moist whiffs assaulted her nostrils as she was running down the path the figure before her went through.
Sobs.
She stopped abruptly, almost falling as her feet slid on the gravel. She was listening to the cries coming from past the corner. They stopped. Whatever is there probably heard the young girl coming its way.
"Who is this?!"
The voice was trembling, but it had weight and impact behind it nonetheless.
"Don't come near me!"
The dark-skinned girl could hear the sadness in her tone. The tears in her voice. She began walking forward again. In no time, they were in each other's visions. A young girl was curled up on the ground, her back against the cold wall. A freshly made salty pond at her feet. They looked at each other for a while. No words.
"Who are you?"
The sobbing figure asked. She realized all the sad kid was seeing was a dark hoodie. She continued walking towards this girl. She was hypnotized by the vibrant blue at the tip of her hair.
So pretty.
The one on the ground seemed older than her. But that was not important. Seeing the girl in that state made her think of herself. What she has been through. It also made her think of someone else. Her. The one that saved her. Countless times. Her, and her smile. She felt tears brewing in her eyes, the fruit of her untreated anger and incomprehension.
Why.
But she must not cry. Not now. Not tomorrow. Never again. For her. She must stay strong. And that girl. She needs someone strong. That's why…
The girl brought her hands to the brims of her hoodie. She started pulling it off gently. The girl at her feet was staring up at her. Waiting to see what was lying under. The piece of clothing fell on her shoulder. The sight of the crying girl froze her tears and mind. She was staring at a girl younger than her, with blue headphones on her head. Smooth dark skin. Eyes closed. And a smile. One big smile. It felt different than any other smile. It felt powerful. She looked at the smiling girl. She looked at her taking off her headset. She watched her crouch to her level. She looked at her as she put the headphones on her head, carefully covering her ears. All she did was look. All she could do was look. Suddenly, eyes slowly opened above her smile, revealing two bright purple eyes. She was still smiling. Even when she spoke. Even when her mind darkened.
"It's ok now. I'm here to help you."
Help me.
"If you keep them on your ears, everything will be ok"
I'm not ok.
"If you smile, the tears will dry quicker. The sadness inside will go away."
I'm dying inside.
She had no idea who she was truly trying to help by reaching out for that teary girl.
"No way.."
No tears. Even though the flow of salty water was streaming down her face strongly just now, they stopped abruptly. As soon as her aquamarine irises set on the smiling girl's headphones, not even a drop of water was welling anymore. Just like that. She had stopped crying. She stopped being sad even. She didn't remember she was sad actually. Her brain didn't have time to be sad. Countless thoughts merge with one another.
The blue-haired girl precipitously leaped off the ground and snatched the smiley girl's hand. She forcefully dragged her back to the path they came from. Even though she swore to herself that she would never come back, she was already coming back. It was that important. Important enough to make her break a vow she recently just made.
In an instant, the girls were back at the previous infrastructure. They came around it to enter from behind. No one saw them penetrate the building. They were now in the cyan eyes girl's room. She practically threw her impromptu guest on the stiff and squeaky bed. She then became an erratic catastrophe, storming all over her room, turning her resting place into a true warzone.
The dark-skinned girl was sitting at the edge of the bed, her violet eyes wide open, pupils following the scenery. She hasn't closed them since her hand was grabbed and pulled on earlier. This image of a young girl with her hair dyed blue at its tips, reflecting in her eyes, would then be burned into her corneas.
"FOUND IT!!"
The destructive tornado finally settled down as it found what it wanted. The bicolor head turned around to face the dragged-along intruder. She rapidly jumped on the bed, taking place next to her. She then started to speak with her guest as if they had been friends forever.
"Look!!"
The room owner was holding a strange device to her new comrade.
"Look! Look!!"
"I am!! What about it??"
"Oh! Yeah right haha, my bad."
The kid with the gifted headset pulled out a scrap of paper. The actual valuable information the other girl needed in order to understand her fanatic rambling. She gave it to her confused partner.
"What's this?"
"I- Can't you see? Look! Look! Look closer!"
She indeed could not see. She looked at the piece of paper with her squinted face. She leaned to look closer, as asked. She was staring at a worn-out illustrated instruction guide.
What am I supposed to look at? All I see are strange patterns all over. Hmm… The only things I can recognize are… A hand… A hand holding like a hmmm… It's hard to see, it's all dirty and wiped off. Hmm.. Oh, wait! That's the thing I gave her. ... The thing she gave me back then.
She stopped looking at the inscriptions to set her vision back on the girl sitting next to her. She looked at the headphones on her head, then she looked at her wide-open glowing blue eyes. She was nodding erratically with a big smile on her face, as a confirmation for her hypothesis. She stared back at the riddle she was holding.
So that's that, it's confirmed. All that's left is the last thing… hmm… Oh!? It's the-
She snatched the gear from the bed owner. She glared at it shortly, before slowly raising her head up, as the realization was all slowly sinking in.
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They spent the next hour trying to fully unfold the truth behind it. The complicity between them was uncanny. It's as if they had been ever-lasting companions, even though they had just met. After playing around with what was known by their ancestor from another time as some headphones and a music player, it happened. Sound came out. They both jumped back a little, holding a side of the headpiece each. They froze. They were staring at each other, as the first notes were playing. The first notes this era would hear. Their first notes.
They instinctively brought their heads together, fitting the headphones on both their heads, covering their respective outer ears with it. They stayed there. All night. Not feeling even a bit sleepy. Listening to that. That thing. Those sounds. They could not tell what it was. They could not decipher voices, words or instrumentals. But it was beautiful. They listened to the first song this new generation was given to hear. They had this exclusivity. Those two.
Listening to that one and only song. Repeatedly. Over and over again. Not knowing how to change to another song in the immense library. Not knowing they could switch songs. Not knowing there existed multiple songs. Not knowing what was a song. They didn't need to know. They didn't need to switch songs.
What was happening to them at this moment was the greatest event that would be brought to them to ever experience in their entire lives. Such an event. And they were experiencing it together. That event formed an unbreakable bond between the two girls on that night. The two broken souls had finally found one another.