I put my phone in my pocket and listened attentively once more; the weeping sounds happened again. Was this weird experimental music from the Nether-Regions? I pondered.
With a newfound sense of strength and confidence from the morale boost from the eBunnee channel, I was no longer the timid Ms. Lilly. Instead, I felt empowered and ready to face whatever lay ahead. Without a second thought, I swiftly headed towards the source of the sound, driven by curiosity and fearlessness.
What I saw was not what I expected at all.
At the top of my landing, crumpled on the floor, was Larisa, crying into my portrait on the material banner.
"Sniff, sniff. Where did you go?" she sobbed. "I can't... I can't... Please come back... Sob, sniff."
Where did she come from? She wasn't here when I was checking the bathroom for damage to the walls.
I wanted an explanation from her immediately!
"Lilly!! Lilly. I can't... I can't..." she sniffled, her voice choked with tears. "You can't be gone. I looked all over for you! Sniff. I can't exist without you! Sniff, sniff."
She really didn't know I was behind her. Seeing her cry into my picture was endearing. I didn't know what she thought happened to me, but I felt sympathy for her. I wanted to strangle her, but the awkward situation unexpectedly brought me some popularity on eBunnee, so it had its silver lining. Being stuck in an unknown house with a strange man was hella creepy, but it was a life experience that would give me plenty to ponder. I was no longer mad at Larisa. In fact, I was overjoyed to see her again and couldn't wait to give her a big hug.
"La-Larisa," I whispered quietly behind her as I approached slowly.
She appeared drained as she struggled to lift herself to her feet and turned to face me. The moment our eyes met, a surge of adrenaline rushed through her veins, like a creature struck by lightning.
I held out my arms to embrace her, but as I did, I passed through her and toppled down onto one knee. I laughed at the absurdity and quickly stood up again. Larisa reached out, gently taking my hand to help me up. It was an extraordinary sensation; her touch felt more like ethereal, kinetic energy enveloping me than a human touch, yet the love in her embrace was undeniably real.
Despite appearing nauseous and dizzy, Larisa's face lit up with an overwhelming wave of happiness, completely obliterating any trace of the previous sadness.
"Li... li... li... li... li..." she sniffled. "Li li li lii." A surge of excitement coursed through her, and she began to dance with unbridled enthusiasm, much like a dog ecstatically greeting its owner after a prolonged separation. If I had a treat in my pocket, I would definitely have eaten it myself. She already looked dizzy and out of energy when I first saw her. Now, after all those dance moves, she just sat down on the floor and stared at me. With the small amount of energy she had left, she gasped out, "Where did you go?!"
"'Where did I go'?! I was right here until you pulled me through all those walls and left me in Mr. Creepo's house," I retorted, my tone infused with exasperation.
"I dragged you? I... huh? I rushed back as fast as I could. I couldn't stop my momentum, and I ended up far up the street and into some fish bar. I retraced my steps, searching everywhere for you, but you were nowhere to be found." She tried to stand again while repeating, "Li... li... li... li... li..." over and over.
Was she vocally ad-libbing the words to a chorus of a song she didn't know and just saying 'li' as a replacement for the words? There was definitely no melody or tune, but her breathy and exalted voice in this manner was like sweet candy for the ears. I discerned that she was attempting to say "Lilly," my nickname, yet lacked the energy to complete it fully. Whenever Eliza called me "Lie-lie," it usually meant to either playfully tease me or imply that I might be lying about something.
"So, Larisa," I began, wanting some answers. Before I could finish my sentence, she interrupted with, "La-Larisa," in a breathy voice.
"What?! I'm trying to get a serious answer from you here!"
"Call me... call me La-Larisa again... I really like that."
"Absolutely not! NO, NO, NO!" Just by looking at Larisa, I could tell she was oblivious to my irritation.
She looked at me with precious, innocent, big eyes and said, "The name La-Larisa makes me sound like a famous star. It sounds like the name of an amazing singer, like Kassy."
"So, you pushed me through all the walls unknowingly? How many other people had you pushed around with your chaotic pacing up and down through the walls? Did you also drag animals or cats with you?" It clicked in Lillian's mind that she really disliked spiders, so she made sure to add, "Maybe you dragged some spiders with you, too!"
Larisa didn't even flinch. "No, you three are the only ones I allowed myself to have a connection with: you, Kai, and Eliza," she said with more energy and enthusiasm than before.
"What about the spider that was resting on your shoulder for over an hour this morning? Does the spider have a connection to you?"
Larisa struck a pensive pose, her hand on her chin, deep in thought, then a revelation dawned upon her: "It must be a magical spider or something. It has eight eyes and fur. Yes, quite clearly, there is something magical about it." Larisa nodded her head as if she were agreeing with herself.
I let out an exaggerated sigh, rolled my eyes dramatically, and uttered, "Magic spider, sure."
"You never know," she said, giving me a smug wink.
Finally, she was back to her old self. I watched her as she tried to get up, but she moved quite slowly. It was hard to imagine how crazy it must have been for her—zooming everywhere, zipping through all the walls of the street and town! She even mentioned going through the fish bar, located on the far outskirts of town. She certainly ventured far, then. The silly girl had totally drained herself. Anyway, a magic spider? How on earth does she even come up with such silliness? A magic spider! I said, "I don't believe in magic and supernatural things. Well, that's that sorted then," I added, "Miss Ghostly Girl Thing from Another World."
"Miss Famous Bunny Girl!" Larisa uttered back at me with a giggle.
"Miss Bunny Girl?" I never quite understood why she called me that, but I really liked it.
Eek! I just sounded like Larisa in my head! Exactly like when she said she liked being called La-Larisa... La-Larisa? I didn't even mean to say La-Larisa. I was speaking softly and stumbled over the first syllable of her name because of anxiety. Larisa, sometimes, I swear...
Sometimes, you just can't help doing something; it's just natural. And the most natural thing to do right now is to call her "La-Larisa" and see how she'd react.
"So, La-Larisa..." I uttered.
In an instant response to my words, Larisa leaped to her feet, joyfully proclaiming, "La-Larisa here in the flesh!" She giggled. "How may I be of service to you?"
Uwa! That truly brought the ghost girl back to life, I thought. "If it pleases you, I shall address you as La-Larisa from now on!"
"Yay!! Thank you so much, Li-Lillian... Heeeee!!! I am now one with Kassy! We are equals!"
"Why do you keep mentioning Kassy's name? You're not even a singer. You don't even know Kassy, apart from the posters I have of her, and you've only heard the songs I played while you were in my home."
"I saw her book too, and I totally adored the cover! It was soooo awe-to-the-some!"
Even though she'd only looked at the cover of the book, it was nice to see her show genuine interest in Kassy's. So, I playfully remarked. "Well, who knows? With your cover-reading skills and perhaps a sneak peek at the inside cover, you might just be ahead of Kassy herself. I highly doubt she has even read the cover, let alone the rest of the book."
"The inside cover? Nopie-do, I didn't get that far into it. I also had a problem picking the book up, so I just stared at it thoughtfully on a table and poked at it periodically."
It dawned on me that she must have encountered the book during the Zeal Mastery Class. In hindsight, I couldn't help but feel regret for not reading it then; it would have been far more enjoyable than conversing with Jess and Jyn in that class. Jess was just "ewww" and not at all interesting, Jyn was just his lapdog, and Kassy is simply A M A Z I N G!
Before Larisa had time to think, I blurted out, "You have 10 seconds to prove your allegiance to Kassy! Now, go, go, go!"
"Lilly?!" she muttered. Larisa didn't know what to do, but she remembered a few words from a song Lillian had played before, so she started singing the few words she recalled: ♪ Slap slap Kasss Kass, Slap... ummm... slap slap slap slap... ermm... slap... Kass ♪
"Please, I implore you to stop! You're tarnishing the artistic brilliance of this fantastic song with your rendition! You only know a few words. And wait a second! That's done with my voice! Why are you mimicking my voice to sing it?"
Larisa's heart sank as she scanned the room, desperately searching for something that might remind her of Kassy, but alas, she found nothing. With hope in her voice, she turned to Lillian and said, "Lillian, I just heard you sing it like this, and I absolutely loved it." Then, a familiar song flooded her mind—one whose lyrics she knew by heart. "Bunny girl, I've got another song to sing," Larisa exclaimed with excitement. "This time, I'll sing it using my own voice. I'm sure it'll sound much better, I promise."
She's not going to use my voice, so it should sound much better? Charming lady indeed. -_-
I knew she unintentionally dissed my voice, but still, it burnt. Regardless, I was hyped to see what she was going to showcase.
"Ahem... ahem... aaaahhem..." Larisa cleared her throat, signalling the beginning of her magnum opus: ♪ The captivating journey of Kassy, a spirited school dropout, took an unexpected turn. Branded rebellious by her teachers, Kassy seemed destined for a life adrift. Within the depths of her soul resided an ethereal gift… her voice! ♪
I stood there, utterly mesmerised! Though I knew every song by Kassy, I had never, ever heard this one before. The way she sang it was absolutely captivating! "La-Larisa, I absolutely adore it! Just whoa!! This is like enchanting chocolate sauce for the ears. What is this? It's not one of her songs that I recognise.
"Oh, I learnt it from the back of her book and made sure to memorise every word."
"Ahem, the back of her book? No way, ghost La-La-Land-Larisa!" She was just singing a book blurb to me! Unbelievable! I am not going to lie, though—I absolutely loved it! I am sure she can sing the literal phone book and make it sound like a love ballad! At least she wasn't singing the product label to some of Kassy's endorsed stocking products. Speaking of which, Kassy already has a song where she talks about her legs for a solid 3 minutes. Whether it's Larisa or Kassy singing the label of some of Kassy's stockings, it would undoubtedly be profoundly beautiful.
There was undeniable magic in experiencing live singing in person. Larisa's singing just then was absolutely entrancing to me. I dreamt of meeting Kassy one day and having the opportunity to hear her sing live, but she had suddenly gone missing. While the studio claimed she was taking a break, unsettling rumours circulated, and I chose not to entertain them as they could be quite scary. My heartfelt wish was for her safety and well-being.
"Bloopity-bloop! Zippity-zooink! Congratulations! You've got new alerts!"