Lethe's Lament

Chapter 6: True Tears

The industrial light of the ice cream shop cast a sharp, eerie glow on Aaron's face as his expression turned from his usual happy-go-lucky grin to a pensive frown. The image frightened Lily a little, as she was reminded again of the History class from that morning. She still didn't know whether it had been real or not, and she was scared to think about it too much. Her throat closed up uncomfortably at the memory of her friend's wild confusion. Hastily, she took a deep breath and steadied herself. At the opposite end of the table, Aaron sat up straight and assumed a position that was probably meant to represent a kind of "professor" persona. He pushed up his non-existent glasses, and, in an annoying nasal voice, started to give his lecture.

"Class, today I shall be telling you about the five rivers of the underworld according to Greek mythology."

The memory shot back into Lily's mind, but she didn't want to interrupt Aaron's bit, which he seemed to be enjoying a bit too much. She grinned, slouched back as much as she could on the high stool without falling over, and mimed taking notes. Aaron masterfully lifted a single, judging eyebrow and continued.

"According to most sources, the five rivers each represented one emotional aspect of death, these being Hate, Pain, Despair, Forgetfulness, and for god knows what reason, Fire. They were named Styx, Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe and Phlegeton respectively, and each was associated with a god."

When pronouncing "Phlegeton", Aaron made sure to make it sound as gross as possible, and in doing so sprayed spittle all over the table. Lily winced, wiped her face with her sleeve and punched Aaron on the shoulder.

"Dude, that's gross!"

Aaron chuckled and pulled a face. "My humble apologies, miss Thomson."

Lily scoffed and sat normally again. "How do you even remember that? You never pay attention."

"I may not see the need to remember the name of every notable ruler of China from the beginning of time until the death of the universe, but I'm a sucker for a good story, and I thought those names might come in handy one day."

"You're a weirdo."

"Sharp observation."

Their back-and-forth was interrupted by two large, elaborate glasses of dark blue ice cream, with chunks of chocolate chip cookie, various assorted nut types sprinkled throughout, and drowned in an excessive amount of chocolate sauce being placed on the table between them.

Aaron got a kind of maniacal glint in his eyes as he grabbed his coupe and placed it closer to him. "Mister Grant, you are an ice cream wizard."

Mister Grant made a noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a chuckle and, with the low, gruff voice that was to be expected of a gigantic, bearded man, he replied: "I wish I was, kid. It would make my job a whole lot easier, and my fingers a lot less cold." "Still tastes superhuman." Aaron said, deadly serious. "Nothing but hard work. Closest thing we have to magic in this world." He gave the two a friendly nod and went back to the back of the store.

Aaron grabbed a huge spoonful of the ice cream and stuffed it in his mouth. When he had successfully managed to swallow it, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and picked his backpack up from the floor next to his stool. Lily hadn't even noticed that it was was there, and wondered why he'd brought it. He grinned.

"Alright miss Thomson, as a reward for listening to my carefully constructed ramblings, I think you deserve this." He zipped open the bag and pulled out a clean white piece of paper in a thin plastic sleeve. "You've already seen it, but I figured you may want the real deal." He laid the piece of paper down in the middle of the table and, as Lily had feared, it was the portrait. Lily gingerly picked it up and stared at it. The longer she looked, the feeling of holding this portrait, this anchor of a world that could not and should not be real, the more nauseous she felt. Opposite her, Aaron nervously fidgeted with his bag. 

"I uhmm... I hope you like it. I know the tear streak is a little weird, and I don't really know why I put it there, but it just kinda... felt right? I mean, it does look pretty cool on you..." He paused and tilted his head. "Wait since when do you have that streak on your cheek? How did I not notice that?"

Lily looked up and frantically tried to cover her cheek with her hair. "It's nothing. It's fine." She shot up from her stool. "I'm sorry, I really have to go." She said, starting to panic. "I'll pay you back later."

As Lily started to hastily walk away, Aaron grabbed her arm. "Hey! Wait up, what's going on? Are you okay?"

Lily tried to shake him off, aggressively biting her lips, her eyes moving back and forth between Aaron and the exit. "Aaron, please let go. Please." Her voice cracked. She felt tears well up in her eyes.

"No, seriously, tell me what's wrong, maybe I could help."

Lily felt the air turn cold around her, and this time she knew for certain. This was real. There was no stopping it now. She stopped struggling, and looked Aaron in the eyes. "I'm so sorry Aaron... Please don't leave me." She fell forwards and hugged her friend tightly, and as she felt tears stream down her face, she felt her consciousness leave her body. 

Her soul felt cold and liquid as it slithered through the air and into the brain of her best friend. She felt herself dripping and flowing steadily through his memories, attaching to anything she recognised as herself out of some kind of animal instinct. No, not animal. This felt older, more sacred, more... alien. She flooded his subconscious, absorbing emotions, smells, sounds, colours, everything. After what seemed like eternity, having done what she came to do, she seeped out of his eyes, his nose, his mouth, taking the memories with her. As the water evaporated, she returned to her own familiar, heavy body.

Aaron collapsed onto the ground, taking Lily with him. Sobbing, she laid next to him, too afraid to look at him. From the back of the store, mister Grant came rushing over.

"Hey, what's going on here? Do I need to call an ambulance?"

Lily felt like she was struck by lightning. In a sudden jolt of adrenaline-fueled instinct she scrambled to get up, falling backwards into a wall in the process, and bolted. She bashed open the door and ran out into the night.

Back in the store, mister Grant helped up a dazed looking Aaron.

"Are you alright, kid? What happened? Where did Lily run off to?"

Aaron stared back at him blankly.

"Did you and Lily get into a fight?"

Aaron frowned.

"Shit, sit tight, I'm calling an ambulance."

Mister Grant gently sat Aaron down on the floor, with his back against the wall.

"Wait." Aaron mumbled, as he looked up at mister Grant.

"Yeah?" mister Grant replied, his hand hovering over the company landline.

Aaron groaned and rubbed his temples.

"Who's Lily?"