~ Long Lost ~

~ pt 1 ~

Biana walked out of the room in silence, not making a single sound with her worn-out shoes.

The woman's voice boomed in Biana's head. "Return in an hour," the woman had demanded.

Biana walked on the dirt path full of pedestrians in the dark, at about 7 PM. Walking past the flowers on the side of the road reminded Biana of her childhood, full of excitement.

Nowadays, there isn't much of that for her. Ever since she was twelve, work felt like torture—hand cleaning clothes, sweeping the floors, making food, and much more for almost a whole day.

Soon enough, Biana approached the cabin. How she and her friends could afford it was hard work, but no miracle. They earned it. Biana sat in her usual chair, waiting for the others to arrive. They're taking too long, she spoke in her head.

A few seconds later, though it felt like hours, she saw the door fling open forcefully, revealing two people—Tam, who has brown hair, maybe even dark red. Her eye color can change from hazel to blue, depending on the day. She's quite tall.

Next to Tam was Will, with his bright orange hair and all. Not only that, he was the tallest of the group.

"I'm here!" they both screamed.

"Okay!" Biana screamed back. "Where were you guys and where's Nik?"

"I was finishing up my task," replied Tam and Will.

"I also asked," Biana commented, "Where's Nik?"

"Probably planning some plan to get us all to escape this place," speculated Tam.

"Agreed," mumbled Biana. Again, she thought. Why can't you come for once, Biana complained. All of these years, you ditch us?

She remembered when they were all younger, about eight years old. Jumping around, excited to start earning money, how long ago that was. Now seventeen, they were working all day, getting ten cents a day. Painful, indeed.

"Earth to Biana, earth to Biana!" Will announced, closing the door.

She had been absorbed in her thoughts. Biana blinked when she saw an object in her face. "You've been staring at Nik's chair for the past hour," Tam teased.

"Yeah, right," Biana glared at Tam, then looked at her lap.

"Seriously, though," Will said. "What's up with you?"

None of your business, she wanted to say, but she also wanted to say, Where is he?

Instead, she didn't respond.

"You can tell us what you're hiding," Tam spoke. "We won't tell anyone—"

Just then, the door slowly creaked open. Biana quickly shot her head up, startled by the sound. Suddenly, a blue-haired dude poked his head in.

"Who in the nine worlds—?" Tam questioned but got cut off.

"Nik?" Biana whispered.

With Will and Tam's jaws slowly dropping and tears forming, Nikolai walked over to Biana and hugged her. She sobbed and sniffled.

"Y-you came back," stuttered Biana.

"Not empty handed," Nik smirked.

***

Getting up from her chair and throwing her arms up in the air, Tam exclaimed, "This is not happening at all!"