Reflections of the Past | Ghost and Pals fanfic

13# Recognize

{TW! Depressive Themes like death and grief.

Disclaimer: I've done my research and now know that Lilia was referred to with they/them pronouns. However, due to them being from the 1920s in this universe, they'll be referred to as she/her by some people.}

After the exhausting mission, both physically and mentally, Cakey decided to return to her own dimension. She dropped herself onto the small childhood bed of hers, causing the dust on the blanket to fly around in the air, but she couldn't care less at this moment. All she wanted to do was relax for once.

The silence was interrupted by the loud ringing of the old rotary dial. Cakey groaned as she struggled getting up and walking to pick up the call. Before speaking, she made sure to take a deep breath and smile to cover up her exhaustion. "Flower Sequious, how may I help?"

It was the landlord of her mother, he asked if Flower would still live there and continue paying rent or if she had found a new apartment. Her smile faded at the reminder that she was an orphan. The decision whether to continue living there or in her grandmother's bakery was very simple, since anyone would choose a pretty old fashioned house over a grey, depressing apartment that was way too overpriced. Besides, she still had her duties as a traveler and had to help, so it would be best to live in the bakery "Maggie's Muffins."

"I'll clear the apartment soon," Flower answered quietly. "How much time do I have?"

"Three days." And with that, the landlord hung up.

~~~

Meanwhile, in the mirror dimension of the bakery, Tamari was alone trying out a new recipe they had found on the internet. All ingredients were already on the counter, but he still tried to find a knife. They checked the drawers, the shelves, nothing there. No wonder there were no knives, people probably stole some and took them home. It wasn't like anyone really cared much about this bakery for the public, or at least dared to enter it. Tamari was aware of the rumors surrounding that bakery, but they couldn't care less about the possible dangers.

From under the oven, a large spider crawled towards Tamari's foot. Tamari looked down as the spider climbed up his leg and towards his chest. "Oh, greetings, tiny companion. Are you planning to transform me into The Amazing Spiderman?"

The spider kept moving towards Tamari's hand, then bit with their fangs into a sensitive part of his artificial skin, injecting strange liquid into the android's yellow cooling liquid. Tamari looked confused and flicked the spider away, then got back to cooking like nothing happened.

~~~

Most of the furniture of the apartment had been thrown away. Some were broken, some covered in maggots, others were so dirty that they would cost much more money to clean than to buy a new one. The only furniture and objects she could keep were a few pieces of clothes from her mother, kitchen utensils, everything from Flower's old bedroom and the dusty box of cassettes. She also took some valuable items that could perhaps make some money at the flea market or something. The entire atmosphere felt dead, somehow even more lifeless than ever. In the process of getting rid of everything, Flower had at least three emotional breakdowns, her body heavily dehydrated from all those tears. Her mother had left her and the entire world forever. Was she not worth living for? Was it her fault? Why hadn't Flower noticed that her mother was struggling with staying alive? She should've been a better daughter, should've worked more and made her more proud, then maybe she could've prevented this.

At the end, the apartment was just as empty as herself.

Flower rented a cheap truck to carry everything to the old bakery and had to lie about having forgotten her driver's license. In reality, she had no idea how to drive a car. And so she was struggling to drive while trying to remember all the traffic rules she had to learn back in elementary school for bike lessons. Thank goodness the streets were mostly clear. On the way home, she accidentally ran over a rather large spider, but she couldn't have cared less at this moment. She wanted to cure her numbness, to feel something again.