Short Stories

Lumi

TW: Descriptions of death and blood

"Lumi, are you awake?"

Cold, blurry, distant.

"Lumi?" The voice got louder, a girl voice maybe.

"Who ar-are you?" A voice called out, shaking slightly, my voice. The place was most likely a medical facility of some kind from what I could see.

"That's rather peculiar, memory loss wasn't an after effect." The girl was pretty, her blonde hair was split into two drill-like tails, and her bangs framed her face nicely. She wore a necklace of sea glass beads and a sumptuous gown. She walked around replacing towels and flattening wrinkled sheets.

"Who are you?"

"Ah, I'm Cordelia, a friend of yours." She gave a pleasant closed eye smile and continued with her work. "Where am I?" I held my gaze on the girl, her eyes were green flecked with gold and silver like some precious gem of some kind. "You're in The Rosebridge Academy for Young Ladies." Her smile was gentle and her hands were soft as they clasped my own. "I see..." it was cold, so very cold as if someone poured ice down my back.

"Well, Lumi, you should get dressed. I'm sure auntie will be happily surprised at your awakening." She gave me a folded white gown with a dusty blue ribbon.

The gown had light blue flowers made out of soft ribbons, the gown was airy and soft. Cordelia carefully tied my hair in a neat knot, with two strands of slightly wavy hair bordering my face. My hair in color was a light dusty blue and my skin was pale, but there was a light bluish tint.

"Wait here for a moment Lumi, I'm going to get a hair comb." She said quickly, dashing out of the room. I waited patiently, the room around me had large arched windows splashed cold light on my exposed forearms and face. Slowly time passed as I waited for Cordelia, large fluffy pieces of cotton danced outside, I wrapped a dusty blue shawl over my shoulders and opened a window.

It coated my eyelashes with slight spikes like needles, but it became a mild cool rain. Wind whipped rapidly around me as the strange cotton fell on my skin, but they left a slight residue of water. I studied the delicate structure of the cotton carefully, like mandalas patterns. It looked more like ice than cotton, many of them twirled around the ice crystal creating a beautiful image.

"Lumi?"

Cordelia stood surprised, in her hands a beautiful jeweled comb. "Yes?" I turned toward her, the shawl slipped to my elbows, covering my forearms and hundreds of pieces of ice. The window shut without a touch from anything. "Lumi, did you like the snow?" She asked, placing the comb in my hair.

Snow? Was that its name?

"Yes, it was pretty."

Gazing out the window helped ease the anxiety building up in my stomach as we drew closer toward the large emerald green painted doors, but I couldn't tell why. I couldn't remember why I was so scared, why there was a knot in my stomach that only seemed to grow. "Don't worry/" Cordelia said, walking in with a slightly rigid step.

"Cordelia, you've come."

The voice was strong, hypnotic almost but not gentle, a bit hard to describe actually. The headmistress sat on an uncomfortable looking chair with a posture that rivaled a ruler. Her hair up in a severe bun and her eyes a sharp green flecked with gold and silver, much like Cordelia's.

"Good morning Auntie, Lumi has woken up." Cordelia's voice was extremely soft but still loud enough to have a slight echo. "That's wonderful." Her mouth stretched in a smile, her gaze turned towards me. Something about her eyes was unsettling. Cordelia gave me a little nudge, and my voice came through, "Good afternoon headmistress." The voice that came out was gentle and soft, like snow. My fingers pinched a part of the gown and brought it up, my legs crossed and my waist moved forward.