Descending back into the foreign realms of her dreams Lotte found herself back barefoot in the ashen lands of the cavern she was in prior. Walking behind the mysterious giant figure and her servant.

It was a daunting task, one that felt like days or weeks passing by her in mere moments with no clear destination in mind. Lotte’s eyes started to wander, taking in every small change in scenery.

Dunes rising and then falling, cracks in the ground that become massive rifts. Then there were the people. Dressed in rags and forming with her a horde as they walked together in this endless cavern.

However, Lotte realised she was different from them.

Blue lights were flickering 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 might just not be able to see it herself but that couldn’t be it. She witnessed how others cupped their hands around those flames in their chest, caressing them for some sort of comfort.

She was indeed different from them but how?

Whatever it was, Lotte continued to walk among the train of people that expanded with each step they took.

Gazing at the giant woman at the front again who was 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 as anyone else?

The more time passed the closer they got to their destination.

A temple, a palace or just a massive stone structure with successively receding levels. Lotte’s eyes popped wide open taking in the sight of it and the landscape around it.

A city built on the ashes of a desert inside the great cavern they wandered in. Built in crevices and dunes. Stretching further than any of them could see.

Houses of simple clay, inhabited by people of different ages, gender and body stature, dressed in the same clothes and with a burning 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 again 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 got bored and picked up a history book,” Lotte shut the tome-like book but underestimated the loud bang it created when closing. Startled by the sound it created she quickly gave a glance over the library, hoping to not have alarmed anyone.

“Relax, no one is here. Otherwise, a guy would have already come here to stare at your charming sleepy face,” Liara gave a cheeky remark, colouring Lotte’s cheeks red. “Sorry that I came late today, cupcake as an apology?”

Ignoring the obvious rule of not eating anything in the library Liara pulled out a bag of freshly baked cupcakes. It was 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 made me wait for more than four hours.”

“I know, I’m really sorry,” the smile on her face dropped, her usual happy expression disappearing but worst of all, she has yet to try one of the muffins. In any other case she would have started with her third one while Liara was at her first.

“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 was procrastinating on all her assignments.

Strangely no teacher was paying attention to it, despite their usual strictness about it.

“Actually yes,” Liara slammed her hands on the table with an echo louder than the one from before. She leaned forward towards Lotte, her face stern and eyes piercing. “We are putting too much effort on these useless assignments!” She hammered her hands several times on the table, throwing a tantrum.

“W-what do you mean?” Lotte stuttered, taken aback by the sudden brashness and outburst. “This is for history class, we can’t just not do it-”

“We can and we will,” Liara grabbed Lotte by the hand which was holding a ballpen and now drew a thick line across her notes. Liara practically dragged her out of the entire library with no time to gather any of her belongings. “We will watch a movie today, whatever they stream. Then we will 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 but Liara grasped Lotte harder than she expected and they ended up falling against a wall.

“I’m sorry Lotte, 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. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“It’s alright,” Lotte shook her head in response, taking a sidestep away from her, Liara was too close again. “What’s wrong Liara? You don’t seem like yourself and you have been absent a lot lately,” and they didn’t see each other for over two weeks, was what she planned to add but refrained from doing so.

“I-” Liara looked away, hands fidgeting and moving her body nervously. “Can we talk about it later? After a movie and maybe a milkshake?” Her eyes, they 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.

Unsure how to respond to that, Lotte gave her a simple nod which was already enough to bring Liara’s usual joyous attitude back.

“Before that, can we pick up my stuff and-”

“No time for that!” she grabbed Lotte by the hand and yanked her back into the streets, practically running with her in tow. “We can get them later, let’s go and have some fun!”

---✮---

Trying to find a cinema and avoiding the ones that were bursting with visitors, the two of them ended up at a small theatre. A play by hobby actors with barely an audience.

Only the elderly were here and it didn’t help that they were not allowed to bring any snacks with them.

However, Liara was prepared for it and had them covered with various stuff. More than enough to last for a week or the five hours of the play.

“Can we talk now, the other spectators were shushing at us even when we were whispering,” asked Lotte, sitting with Liara on a narrow staircase inside the theatre building. “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,” she finished the last cupcake from before. “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.”

Giving up on the play they started to wander in the city, passing shops and boutiques but never going inside any of them. Lotte was wondering where Liara planned to go, she had said something about getting milkshakes after the movie but they passed several of those stores already.

“Liara, I am worried-”

“Let’s go for a trip,” she suddenly said. “Just the two of us for five days. Nothing too big or fancy and visit the neighbourhood cities and the countryside.”

“This- this is a bit sudden, I-”

Lotte did not have any kind of idea anymore on what was really going on. Liara was consistently trying to change the subject, unable to share what was bothering her.

“Liara, you know we can’t. We have school, four assignments due next week and at least two club matches coming up,” which was actually a lot when she said it out loud. The schools really needed to slow down on everything they were throwing at them.

“I know,” her fingers closed around Lotte’s hands. “I won’t ask the impossible of you but please, it’s just for five days and at the end of the trip I will tell you what is going on. Can you promise me you would think about it, please?”

Everything in Lotte’s body yelled to trust her but on the other side there was a tiny little voice in her brain saying no. Liara has 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 but was always by Lotte’s side when she had troubles with her parents. Lotte really couldn’t bring herself to deny the offer but- “I will think about it, I can promise you that much-.”

“Great!” It came out of Liara’s mouth like a bullet, drawing in the attention of the crowd. “I will wait for your answer for the next three days. No text call, come at 5 am to the channel near the school, you know, where the small boats dock. Thank you Lotte, don’t forget to pack light!”

Liara bolted away, leaving Lotte taken aback. “5 am? Don’t you mean 5 pm? Liara? Liara!”

---✮---

The channel near the school was where the boats docked for the clubs and others went in for a small trip. Lotte didn’t decide yet but it’s like her heart already knew the answer but then fear gripped it.

With every step she took to get home the feeling grew worse. She wasn’t afraid to see her parents but couldn’t deny how uncomfortable she started to feel around them.

Noticing the smell of her father’s cooking didn’t really help to ease those tensions but maybe a little bit.

“Back home already, sweety?” Her father stepped out into the living room when he heard Lotte entering through the door, wiping his hands off on his apron. His blond hair was styled back neatly, and his facial hair shaved into a circle beard. The grey eyes of his stared back at her own pair.

He always looked different in their family, causing a lot of weird and unnecessary moments with the school, other parents and sometimes the police. Lotte’s mother described him to be a lady killer back then. A term Lotte always hated to hear whenever she used it.

Everyone knew they liked each other a lot, to Lotte’s dismay who had to see it every so often at home.

“Your mother will be here in half an hour, go up and-”

Like on cue the front door opened and Lotte’s mother came in. Not noticing her taller daughter she almost walked into her, her head bumping lightly against Lotte’s chin.

For Lotte she looked as stunning as ever in her grey suit which she always wore for work. Except for her height the two of them looked very much alike, minus the glasses she now wore and the few wrinkles and eye colour.

“Charlotte? You came back soon, didn’t you say you planned to stay till the library closed?” she checked the watch on her wrist, tapping it lightly to check if it’s broken 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. “Now up and go and get dressed. I don’t want to have my efforts in the kitchen go to waste for either of your tardiness.”

Usually Lotte loved her parents, like any other child normally does but on many other days they could be a handful. Her mother always expected her daughter to do and be the best in anything, criticising her on every small occasion.

Her father, on the other hand, was more caring but could also be terribly biased.

“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.

It was because she came down in shorts, a tank top and a ponytail. Summer was coming and Lotte was exhausted. Begrudgingly she spent additional fifteen minutes to change 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.

“Now look who is coming downstairs, doesn’t she look beautiful?” asked her father with a proud look on his face and a wide smile.

“She does but I think she could have worn less. After all, it is pretty hot today,” Lotte’s mother sat there, waving for air and rolled up sleeves. 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 obvious she wasn’t comfortable but she didn’t want to look that part, so she mastered up her acting smile and sat down for dinner.

“Did you hear that Charlotte’s former nursery schoolteacher got fired?”

“Really?” Lotte’s mother was surprised. “He was a bit awkward I must admit but what did he do?”

“He was about to get married,” Lotte’s father finished chewing his food for an unnecessary dramatic pause. “To a man! I am glad you took Charlotte out of the nursery school when you saw them.”

“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 a-”

“AH,” Lotte yelped, having 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 to get a closer look at her.

Thankfully she wasn’t hurt in any way. “It’s nothing, I will go change myself, do you mind if I use the big bathtub upstairs?”

“Of course but are you sure you are alright? Do you need help? I can go with and-”

“It’s ok, keep up the talk. I will go 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 who is getting wronged for being who he was.

Any excuse would have worked but when her hand slipped and she knew she could catch the bowl with the other she simply let it happen.

It was so easy yet so hard as she bit her lip.

---✮---

“Missy, are you sure your friend is coming? It’s four am in the morning.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Liara barked back to the boatsman. A sigh left her lips, hoping Lotte would come or not while getting her stuff in order on the boat.

The sun wasn’t up yet and the night was cold. She had been here for the past two days even though she only got to tell Lotte about her plans hours 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 boatsman tried to pick up a drink but sensing the glare of Liara to remind him he was on duty he put it back. “Besides what makes you think she would come anyway?”

“I don’t, I just feel it,” responded Liara with a bright grin but uncertain eyes. “This is how it is between us. We are 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 really are here! What was it about meeting up at five am?”

“No way, you came!” Liara rushed up the stairs to run herself into Lotte, it was too dark to see anyway. “You are earlier than expected, were you excited for the trip?”

“Obviously, look” 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, boatsman, drive us!”

“I’m not the damn chauffeur!”

“Yes you are!” The two respond 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 out with its artificial lights but it didn’t bother them.

Falling on their bags and shoulders touching they talked and talked. Imagining where the trip should drive them.

They didn’t spend a single thought on parents, school or responsibility. They just enjoyed the ride and what came alongside it and eventually both hoped to share their biggest secret to one another.

Character Profile

Name: Liara Shepard

Age: 16 ; Height: 164cm ; 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 cereals

Dislikes: School, assignments

Ethnicity: French, Greek