Merciful Shadow

Veracity

I opened my eyes groggily, only to realise I'd be awoken by Astra herself. Doing what, exactly, is a question I couldn't quite answer at the given time; ae seemed to be jumping up and down like a child on an early Christmas morning.

"Deltaaaa wake up!!" The words were stretched out and said in a very whiny sort of angry-sounding tone.

I sat up slowly, and rubbed my eyes before reaching for my glasses and taking a moment to figure out what was happening. A sweet aroma filled the air, somewhat sickeningly.

"I made pancakes, come see!" She bounded off into the kitchen, loudly stomping aer feet.

I could hear the sound of water flowing from the sink and presumed astra was washing up. I decided to get out of bed and go eat before the pancakes Astra had made got cold.

Astra was sitting at the table, playing on what looked like a nintendo DS and was moving their arms around frantically as if it would somehow help her win whatever she was playing. They looked up briefly and smiled at me before redirecting aer attention back to the game.

"We're going out." I muttered firmly.

"huh? what for? where?" She asked, eyes bright with curiousity.

"Nothing much, just a few things we need to do." She looked at me even more excited, practically bouncing out of their seat.

"Let me get ready!" ae exclaimed. As I watched them fly through the door, preparing for going out I took a bite of the pancakes. They weren't the greatest but... Sweet, and I appreciated her kind offer.

I took the opportunity of Astra's absence to rush over to the cabinet where Ana's box lay. I rarely got a chance to admire its contents since Astra had moved in. I took the wooden box down carefully and carried it over to the table where I'd been sitting. Her earth coloured eyes gazed longingly at me from the tattered piece of paper in my hands. As I ran a finger over her hair I attempted to stifle the choking sensation in my throat.

Astra returned hastily, wearing a flowy white dress with pink flower patterns along the edges, and a flower crown to match.

"Is this okay? I thought about wearing my shorts, y'know the denim ones but-" she stopped after seeing the expression on my face and walked silently over to the chair next to me. We sat in silence for a few moments, I intended to explain but I feared that if I began speaking the tears behind my eyes would reveal themselves.

"Is that Annabella?" ae said quietly, straying from their usual bouncy tone.

I sat in silence for a few more seconds before selecting one of the questions floating around my head.

"How do you know her name?" my tone was harsher than intended and I worried that I'd upset astra, but her expression simply revealed a small, distant smile.

"She was my best friend. Do you remember the first time I came here? I asked about her then too, I thought I should probably be careful about telling you I knew her, it might've scared you a lot; you didn't know me that well then,"

That was about two weeks ago, I still don't know a great deal about you.

"My parents were away a lot and so she used to come and see me, y'know for company; she always seemed so worried about me being left alone, I could take care of myself, of course, but she didn't seem convinced whenever I reassured her."

"So that's where she went, your house?" Anna used to disappear often, It worried me a great deal.

"If you mean in general rather than one specific time then, yep! She came to see me once every week at least, no matter what."