In which Achlys, rewarded for her previous effort, is given the possibility to start anew.
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December 10, 2011
READING THE WORDS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, Achlys could only think about what redemption actually meant, the word echoing inside the four walls of her mind. Dictionaries preached it was the action of saving or being saved from sin, error or evil. Clearing a debt, whatever it was and whoever it was with. Was it that simple, really?
Here is a fact nobody wants to realise: real redemption is impossible to achieve — or so did Achlys believe. If you feel the need to redeem yourself why did you, to start with, commit that sin? Forgiveness isn't as easy as you want to think.
Many have wrecked themselves on the bedposts of lovers who don't remember them anymore, coming home with bruises, yelling it was in the name of feeling wanted, telling themselves it was the best they could've gotten. Why, then, do they feel guilty? They want to redeem theirselves. They know they've sinned, and hope for something else to erase their actions.
Many have ruined their brains on sharp words and harsh teeth, sinking their claws in the toys that are emotions. Refusing to cry, telling theirselves they wanted it and not just that they could have escaped the temptation but decided not to. If evil is inherent to one, how do you escape it? It's easy. You don't. You are what you are; dura lex sed lex.
Many have destroyed their futures in the pursuit of a hedonistic present in between the streets of cities built on the same basis. They snarled at anyone that dares mention what could have been, had they not followed the course of action that damned them. Why did they do it? They knew the consequences. Don't search for a way to fix what you intentionally broke.
So, as her neighbour and adoptive grandmother Meili bounced up and down happily, clinging into Achlys' arms and reading out loud the letter in her hand, Achlys could only think about redemption.
Around her, everything seemed to have been washed in an ecstatic light. Meili's short, neatly dyed platinum hair was suspended in the air mid-jump, creating a hazy halo over her jolly features. Her eyes were closed in a smile, corners creasing in the same direction her lips tugged, as she let out a light exclamation, "My Lys, you did it!"
Her father, standing behind both of them by the small balcony (sometimes, having such a small house turned out to be practical, as wherever you went you could still hear the conversations going on in the entryway) looked at Meili expectantly. In Achlys' mind, he was frozen having just turned to watch them, combed black hair swishing with the movement, with eyes of that glistened with a doomed sort of curiosity.
In that static image, Achlys, too, was frozen: her left hand was still closing the door, as the right one held in front of her the letter Meili had brought inside the house. It was open on top of her palm, outstretched for her to read its contents without grabbing it properly. She skimmed over it, running across words with meanings that didn't down on her until she went to read it again.
The scene resumed as Achlys read over the letter a third time; Meili's feet touched the ground, her father finished turning to look at them and she raised her eyes from the paper to look at the older woman as time resumed it's pace.
Still excited, Meili threw herself onto Achlys and started bouncing in a circle with her between her arms. The paper was discarded between their two bodies, as the younger girl grasped tightly Meili's shirt.
"My Lys, you've been accepted!"
"Accepted?" her father spoke up after an elongated period of his unexpected silence (Hàoyū, in contrast with his daughter, was rather extroverted, talkative and outgoing), "Accepted into what?"
"PLEDIS!" Meili yelled back, "What else? My Lys is a PLEDIS trainee now!"
The words, spoken in the same Mandarin Achlys had lived surrounded by since her birth, sounded strange in her mind.
It was then Hàoyū left the balcony door (hanging from a lone hinge, because he hadn't managed to fix it yet) and walked towards both women. Gently separating both of them, he pulled the letter into his hands and read it himself. Eyes wide and voice high, he mused, "You have been accepted, Lys. I have to congratulate you on this one."
"Let's get working right now! My Lys, we need to get your documentation sent to PLEDIS as soon as possible! Where's your passport— Oh, oh! We should prepare ourselves to visit Korea as soon as possible! Do you think a VISA will be easy to process or—"
"Wait." Hàoyū stopped Meili from pulling Achlys into her small bedroom, in search of all documents. His hand grasped Achlys shoulder, as she let herself be moved by the older woman. His tone was rather serious; his hand, cold. "We have to talk about this first."
"What do you mean 'first'?" Meili laughed, "Lys knows that she can tell any of us if she doesn't want to go forward with it, and has voiced her desire to be a trainee several times. You aren't choosing anything for her, so, Hàoyū, leave that conversation for another time. We have things to do know, don't we, my Lys?"
With a last tug of her arm, Achlys gave into Meili and started walking behind her. In hours, they had sent everything there was to be known about the girl to PLEDIS and they had started to make her suitcase in preparation for a meeting Achlys had been invited to in the entertainment's headquarters. Meili, acting as her lawful tutor, signed any necessary clauses as Hàoyū left aside his reticence to help his daughter.
Effectively, Achlys that afternoon had been given the possibility start anew, and had taken it with scary ease. Hàoyū feared that the possibility would make the past repeat itself.
Still, Achlys left China for the first time a month later, not knowing she would be unable to go back in years and that her father would cut all contact with her.
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