EN | Chilumi Week 2022

𝟻. ✧ Please, talk to me

Prompt: Childhood friends [2200 words]

The little boy Ajax wasn't good at making friends. So when new neighbors moved in not far from their home in Snezhnaya, it didn't change much for him at first. However, when he had to accompany his parents to welcome the new neighbors, Ajax was surprised.

These people were from abroad and had children about the same age as him, around seven years old: twins who were laughing and chasing each other while Ajax clung to his mother's leg who was in deep conversation with the neighbor.

He watched the scene of the twins with attention, envying these people playing with so much enthusiasm, the frank laughter escaping from them sounding like the soft sound of chimes. And when he met the little girl's eyes, Ajax forgot to breathe. Her golden eyes pierced him as she stopped chasing her brother to look at him. And Ajax hid even more behind the meager hiding place that was his mother's leg. This scene made the two mothers laugh, and they told the three children to go and play together. So he was forced to come closer despite his shyness, and to take part in the game.

Seeing his hesitation, the little girl took one of his hands in hers and guided him to the back of the garden where they sat on a stone bench under a tree with small wooden swords beside it.

And from that moment on, Ajax made new friends.

When he was at home, he came to the twins to pass the time and play various games. These two little strangers, who had difficulty acclimatizing to the snow and the bitter cold of Snezhnaya, managed to put a smile on the boy's face at all times, especially the little girl—her name was Lumine.

Her smiles were pure and frank, beaming at the simple vision of Ajax, the gold of her eyes sparkling at the arrival of her new friend. And Ajax did the same, cracking smiles he knew he couldn't prevent, and roaring with laughter at every opportunity with them.

He made many memories with them. But far too few for his taste.

For one never knows when it all will end.

A fire had broken out in the middle of the night in the twins' house several years after they had moved in. The flames melted the surrounding snow, lighting up the dark night with a shifting, frightening, out-of-place glow.

And Ajax, awakened by the commotion, could only watch from afar as the flames devoured the frame of the dwelling, an intense feeling of helplessness taking root deep inside him. He was only thirteen at the time, so there was nothing he could do except watch the adults rush to the scene to check if there were any survivors.

Ajax held his breath, worried that his neighbors and friends were already gone. What a relief it was when he heard that no bodies had been found in the rubble. Lumine had been found in front of the house, miraculously unharmed except for the soot covering her skin. But there was no trace of the parents and Aether.