Starlight

Prologue 3 - Mochi (Mei's POV)

It's been a couple weeks since those guys came and gave us the news about our house... This morning when I went outside to get water by the stream, I noticed a bright fluorescent flyer on our front door, such an ugly color. The country is a place without color i suppose... lots of earthy greens, muddy browns, the brightest thing in sight is usually the sky or the sakura petals during spring. But neon yellowy-green, it reads like a warning sign, which it was. "EVICTION NOTICE" in bold letters across the top. My mother taught me to read on a basic level, nothing fancy but enough to get me by more than most in these parts, she was an educated woman and I guess she wished the same for her daughter, sometimes I do miss her still... Despite my talent for reading, I had no wish to spend a second longer inspecting the flyer, I tore it up and tossed it into the wind, the trash bin was still too close in proximity for me... God forbid Elysia piece together the pieces of paper and figure out what's going on. I know my mom would scold me for littering however...

That stupid flyer bugged me for a few days, I knew we had to leave deep down but where would we retreat to? There was no way we could rough it out in the streets and living out in the wilds of the country would be seemingly impossible. I pondered the decision heavily for days, Elysia continued on in her routine as usual, I try my best not to cause her any distress wherever I can.

"It's for you." She says cheerfully, placing a small garland of interlinked wild flowers atop my head. I look up at Ely from the floor and give her a warm smile, "How do I look?" I ask.

"Like a princess!"

I let out a bolstering chuckle, I've never been the type of girl to see herself as a princess... Maybe once upon a time around Ely's age. "That's impossible, you're the princess!" I say matter-of-factly, taking my crown and placing it on top of her own.

"We can both be!" She replies innocently before frolicking into the field of flowers and tall grass to collect more vegetation.

Would I truly be able to care for her on my own and against the world... I'd need a job surely, maybe in the city where Elysia can go to school and get a proper education. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all!

That night after the sun had set and the lightning bugs illuminated the air around us, we tucked into bed together and giggled like school girls as we took turns pulling at each others hair and kicking one another under the covers. "You know I'm only a few years older than you I can still kick your butt!" a small foot promptly kicks me in the back in response. I roll over ready to attack and end up halted in my tracks, every time I looked at her I got reminded of the situation at hand, it makes even these little moments difficult to enjoy.

"Say Ely..."

"Yeah?"

I brush her messy pink hair away from her face and smile softly, hoping to cushion the news I was about to bestow upon her. "What if we ran away?" I ask.

She looks visibly puzzled, likely contemplating it seriously for a bit before responding. "But why? Where would we go?"

Truthfully I haven't really gotten that far but I opt to suggest something anyways to appease her. "Well what about the city, have you ever been?"

She shakes her head and stares onward, waiting for me to elaborate.

"Well..." I pause for a moment, trying my hardest to draw up a mental image of the fuzzy city scape deep in my memory. My parents only took me a handful of times for picking up essentials during the harvest season. "There's bright shining lights everywhere!"

She cuts in with a bit of excitement in her voice. "Like the stars!?"

"Yes, like the stars. And there's yummy foods right outside your door, they never run out! There's other little girls like you and lots of fun things to do together." I naturally left out the crime and other unsavory bits of truth about city life, if I'm going to get Ely on board I need to make this place sound magical.

She looks at me mesmerized, "You had me at yummy foods, when can we go!" She urges, kicking her feet under the blanket happily.

"Soon Ely, get some rest tonight so we can get ready to leave. We'll pack all our most special things tomorrow, okay?" She nods contently and nestles into her pillows slowly nodding off to sleep with a smile on her face.

Mission accomplished for now.

The next morning we got up like usual, rice cakes for breakfast then onto packing up the house which didn't take long. Between Elysia and I, our belongings were minimal. As I dig through old dusty boxes of junk I come across a small shoebox with the word "Mei" scribbled on top, I carefully pull back the top and peer inside. It's contents consist of miscellaneous children's trinkets such as marbles, jacks, even a couple of my old dolls. I rummage through and unearth a truly special artifact. My child hood best friend, a stuffed cat my mother made for me as a girl, she sewed buttons into it's eyes and marked it's mouth with a little X. She told me the style was popular in children's toys at the time, looking back now it definitely strikes a bit on the unsettling side... Nonetheless this toy kept me company through more lonely nights than I can count. I place the dusty cover carefully onto the box and lug it down stairs to show Elysia who was busy deciding which of her favorite dresses to bring along. "Hey Ely look what I found!"

She snaps around and runs over curiously inspecting the box. "What's this?"

I open the box and watch her face as it lights up, I admittedly feel bad for forgetting I had these until now, she could've used some more toys to keep her busy as a child. Unlike her usual reckless self, she methodically and carefully picks through the box, being sure not to damage anything inside. She lifts a few pink silk ribbons from the bottom of the box and holds them up to the light before massaging her fingers into the smooth material. "They're so pretty!" She exclaims.

"You can have them, anything you want in there you can have actually... Oh! And one more thing." I lean forward and unveil the kitten plushie I'd been holding behind my back as she went through the box of toys. "This is Mochi... He was my best friend when I was your age you know... I want you to have him!... I know he's a bit rough looking, maybe not the cutest guy but y'know he does mean a lot to me. Maybe I can clean him up for you a bit or fix that terrible mouth, poor guy can barel-" My rambling trails off as I finally look up from the dingy stuffed toy at Elysia who's eyes were bubbling over, her mouth was crumbling from a smile into a frown as she burst into tears. "Thank you big sis!" She blurts, tackling me into a big hug, her warm tears and snot soak my shirt sleeve as I pat her back to try and calm her down. "Hey, it's okay don't cry. You're welcome Ely!" She pulls away and wipes her tears on her dress before mustering a big smile. "Here." I say softly, passing off the silly stuffed cat to her.

"You don't need to change him, he's perfect." She brings the toy to her face, holding it's fleece to her cheek wistfully. "I'm going to take good care of him, I promise!"

"You'll be a good mom, I know it." I reply, motioning her to come sit in front of me. "My mother used to put my hair up with these when I was little, I was so crazy though they'd always fall out of my hair so she stopped doing my hair after a while.." I say with a chuckle, pulling Elysia's hair back into pigtails before fastening them with the pink silk ribbons she was examining before.

"Go look!"

Elysia stands up and hurries over to the mirror, she gazes into it for a moment before fluffing her pigtails up and examining her hair from all angles. "I really do look like a princess now!" She twirls around a couple times and pulls the ribbons tighter so that they don't slip down her hair.

"You always look like a princess, silly. Go ahead and finish packing up now, I have a few things to do around the house still." She nods vigorously in response and continues to scour the box of trinkets for more treasure before I retreat to finish packing the rest of the house.

It's not much obviously but to her it probably means the world... I hope anyways, maybe it'll make up for how hard these next few months are going to be.