The Makers of Destiny: Monarchy

Chapter Two: New Encounters

A new routine had started. Lillian no longer saw ghost girl, or rather, Ameria during her morning walks to school. Instead, Ameria is always waiting for her after school on Fridays. It doesn't matter what day, Lillian will never see a sign from her on the mornings; the house would always stay silent and devoid of life when she passed. Then on Friday afternoons, Ameria will be sitting on the grass without fail, ready to call out to her enthusiastically. On rainy days, she would be sitting on the bench on her front porch, sheltered from the rain, but still waiting.

Furthermore, for reasons she couldn't explain, Lillian will always respond and let herself through the black iron gate. No matter if she had a huge homework load that weekend or not, Lillian will unfaltering join Ameria on the front yard.

Cheyenne was always there too, but she no longer spoke to Lillian. Rather, she would be sit on the swinging chair hanging from the large oak tree in Ameria's front yard, reading the same book, not even bothering to look up. The book she was reading was wider and thicker than an average novel, closer to textbook size. The cover was worn and brown, with gold geometric shapes decorating the sides and the title written in swirling calligraphy. Once, when Lillian had dared to peek at it, she noticed she did not recognize the language. Eventually, she figured Cheyenne was a foreign student studying abroad, and maybe she came back for a few weeks or so. The book she studied so intently was probably her textbook on some ancient art in a language Lillian didn't understand which explained the strange old looking cover and the foreign language. Besides, her conversations with Ameria was engaging enough to keep her wondering about Cheyenne.

First thing first, Lillian had a lot of questions about her former ghost girl. However, Ameria seemed to had just as few answers

"What does abattoir mean anyway?" was one of the first question Lillian asked her.

Immediately, Ameria laughed. Lillian noticed Ameria doing that a lot. It was like there was a hidden joke in everything that only Ameria could see; her eyes always seemed to sparkle with amusement which made Lillian uneasy as she would felt that she said something wrong. There was also the sunglasses. It doesn't matter what kind of weather they had that day, Ameria is never without her sunglasses. Furthermore, it was like she had different pair every day. Lillian had the same black one for three years already.

"I can't believe you didn't search it up yourself. I mean, you bound to had gotten curious."

"So what does it mean?"

"It means slaughterhouse."

"Why did you say it would be a great word for me to know?"

"How in the world do you still remember? That was like half an year ago!"

"It's not easy to forget a creepy conversation with the new girl in town."

"Oh, please. It was simply small talk between two potential friends."

Their conversations were always along those lines. One way or another, Lillian would find herself talking about a different subject as their conversation went all. Somehow, Ameria managed to change the topic so subtly Lillian never noticed until it would be impossible to stick a question innocently between the lines of the conversation. It was almost like Ameria had practice in doing it. Of course, the thought was so absurd Lillian once again dismissed it. But, their conversations always left Lillian picking through them to find any clues that Ameria deftly dropped on her walks home. It was infuriating at the very least.

One day, another strange conversation yielded much more than Lillian perhaps ever wanted to know. Unbeknownst to her at that time, but her life had already started its steep downward path that would define her for the rest of her life.