RETROUVAILLE

S1 C6: Aftermath 2/2

It's a cold night in this neighborhood Mahsa's in, one of the most common ones in the month of October, but it's still a solid opportunity to walk.

It's not like she could go anywhere else anyways, so she trails away without a particular destination in mind, just somewhere far enough to forget about everything that just happened.

Fight or flight? Try to fight, then end up choosing flight in the end obviously.

Stuffing her hands in her pockets and turning to a corner in their town. For such a large city, her hometown was very uncharacteristically slow at night for some reason. Just a few hours of silence with some moments of noise every now and then and then it wakes up again.

One of those moments being what happened between her and her friends.

Mahsa expresses her dislike in that thought audibly by sighing. She should stop thinking about what happened, it shouldn't bother her that much.

Reia didn't even care when she did, so why would she care now? Why should Mahsa care despite knowing that? It's just gonna hurt her again if she still chooses to keep caring, trying even. Distracting herself and not letting her dwell or realize how she's feeling about this is a better approach.

Way back then, Mahsa would consider this a dead town. She would rarely hangout with other people, just in her room with her family. Sometimes going to the astronomy shop her mother owned, that was basically her life cycle.

That was until she met a girl with dark brown hair with a blueish hairclip who played on an ancient, worn out harp someone threw out of their house, it was placed just right infront of Mahsa's shop. She instantly thought that the girl had this immense white glow illuminating her. Everything else around her put into shame from how she immediately caught Mahsa's attention.

She has never seen someone play the harp before, let alone play that well. She felt this weird feeling of wanting to get to know her, know the parts no one else knows, despite not even knowing her name yet.

She continued to secretly admire that girl's notable skill in playing the elegant instrument, she would always come by, and Mahsa would always be at the store.

Once she got the courage, she asked the girl for her name.

That girl was none other than Reia.

Mahsa introduced herself, and asked her if they could be musical partners, the girl with the blue hairclip agreed. They would call each other "partner" for a formal term, but eventually broke out of it due to them being name-to-name basis.

And from that day onward, she slowly but surely became friends with her. Which turned into becoming friends with the rest of the group.

She learnt that this town wasn't boring, she just needed someone to share it with.

Now, that was all taken from her, because of someone who chose to dream rather than believe in reality.

Mahsa stops at a particular convenience store, the same one her and her old friend were at.

The same place where everything started.

Mahsa sits on the curb outside, there's a cashier inside to come wake her up if she somehow falls asleep. She doesn't want to go home anyway, her parents don't care anymore.

She pulls her knees close to her as she stares at the empty street, hugs them tightly and sets her chin on the caps. Breathes in. Feels the air around her lungs. Exhales.

Peace.

"Hey uh, can I bother you for a second?"

Mahsa turns around and her eyes widen in the feeling of recognition, she can tell that the feeling is mutual once the girl says the same.