Stellina

Drops of Crystal

"Don't you just love the sunshine, Lina?" Cerise purred, skipping across the cobblestone. The sun bathed the city in its golden splendor, the sparkling water so bright it forced Lina to avert her gaze. For the first time in what seemed like forever, hues of yellow and blue frosted the sky instead of coating it in gray.

Lina patiently trailed behind the vivacious little girl, nodding her head in agreement. She clutched the notebook in her hand, biting the pen in indecision before finally pressing the tip against the paper. "Can I talk to you about something?" The words felt strange, foreign. Ones Lina had never tasted before, even when she could speak.

Cerise skipped back to Lina, her curls bouncing along with her steps. She unfolded the note. "Of course, Li, you can talk to me about anything."

Lina cringed upon hearing her nickname. She hesitated before writing, "It's just my patron, Madame Riviere. She wants me to help find this missing girl for her. For some reason, she thinks I can find her even when no one else has been able to for several years."

"Wow, a missing girl? From Marseilles? I've only heard about this kind of thing in mystery novels," she said, then looked Lina straight in the eyes. "Just help her find the girl. If you don't find her, at least you tried."

"Yes, but I don't even know this girl. I have my own problems, my own family to take care of. I mean, I can't even keep my own family from falling apart." A tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it away instantly. "What makes her think I can bring this other family together?"

Cerise's countenance grew more serious. She drew nearer to Lina, touching her shoulder. "I know your family has a lot of problems, but I think that means you have to do it," she said. "Perhaps you have to so no family ends up like yours."

The words hit Lina deeper than she would have liked. She shook her head, wishing the tears away. "Excuse me," she wrote, and with that, she hastened her pace into a practical jog, leaving Cerise standing there alone near the shore. She struggled to push the words out of her mind, to silence that naive, jubilant little girl who thought everything looked like sunshine even when it was cloudy. Even Madame Riviere's voice was hard to push away, remaining longer in her mind than she would have liked.

Only when she approached Rue Chape was Lina able to successfully bury the words that haunted her. The words that she so struggled to run away from.

When she reached their apartment, Liliane was already standing outside, waiting. "Our secret place?" she asked.

Lina nodded.

When they entered the abandoned apartment a few doors down, Lina felt a breeze almost as refreshing as a salty ocean wind. It cleansed the day's sorrows from her soul as she bent down to collect the parchment-paper letters. Liliane cast her a glance, a subtle smile spreading across her lips. Together, they curled up in the farthest corner, the farthest from their apartment. Timidly, Lina unfolded the letter.

You don't have to see the ocean in order to fall in love with it. If you close your eyes, you can feel its beauty. The cool, salted breeze rustling your hair, or the lapping of the waves echoing in your ear. You can see its beauty without opening your eyes at all. That's what it's like to be with you.

Her heart warmed, the poetic words thawing the ice that had gradually begun to form there. A soft smile formed on her lips as she exchanged papers with her little sister. Her scars seemed extra prevalent at the moment, red and glaring.

The next one she read was more personal, more raw.

I saw a little girl today. She was swimming in the ocean, giggling, splashing the sandy shore with mirth. But when I turned around, she was gone, disappeared into the depths of the waters. The water seemed so still; gone was its mirth, gone was its bubbles. So of course, I dove in the ocean to save that little girl. You should have seen her big sister's face when I dragged her to the shore, still coughing up sea water. I had never seen someone so grateful for something I did.. She even came to visit me while I was stuck in bed, struck ill for a month after the incident. That's what makes it all worth it. I would be stuck in bed for months and do it all over again to see that innocent face, spared from the ocean. Perhaps that is what made my life worthwhile.