solomon's lament | completed | final product under editing

| nine | you don't remember, do you?

"So, uh... really good exposition dump, right?" Isla jokes dryly, but Margot sighs with a small shake of her head. Tic had long left the room, after Cosmo had beckoned him, stating he had something to do in a slightly serious tone that intimidated the latter just a little.

"Don't leave this room, okay?" he had requested, before closing the door to the room. Only reason Margot complied with the request is because she didn't know her way around.

"It doesn't explain why we can't leave this island, or even what's beyond the water and sand," she frowns, resorting to chewing on the inside of her cheek. "When he said that eventually we all leave, that probably hints at some horrible fate the kids have dealt with."

"But why give these kids luxury only for them to suffer...?" Isla asks slowly, then the answer slowly dawns onto her pretty face. "Oh, that's just sadistic. That's just gross." Margot nods solemnly.

"We need to figure out what to do. Do we get help out of town or do we go and help the kids or... Gah, if we stay in the town there's a good chance we get captured and god knows what'll happen to us to keep us quiet. If they'll even keep us quiet. It seems like selective people know about it."

"You're doing that overthinking thing again," Isla points out, and Margot huffs out.

"Of course you'd say something like that." Her patience has slowly thinned from this situation; she really shouldn't have said something like that, and there was really no excuse for it.

"I beg your pardon?" Isla is confused. Of course she is.

"You've always been chill with everything!" Margot stands up, starting to pace in front of Isla as she wrings out her curly hair. "You're fine with everything that happens and yeah I wish I had that calmness that could easily and more logically assess things but you don't get to judge me anymore!" She lets loose a small, anxious groan that tenses her shoulders as she continues pacing, mumbling solutions that could get them out of this situation.

" 'Judge you anymore'? Margot, we just met. I honestly don't know much about you." Margot halts, her heart going down with her.

It's a long period before Margot swivels around to face Isla. When she does, her face is blank, unable to really take in the situation. She finally got the truth. "You really don't remember me, do you?" The forced-out chuckle leaves an ache in her shoulders as she commands them to relax.

"Remember you?" Isla's brow is raised, pink mouth twisted into an uncertain line. "We go to the same school, yeah, but-"

"That's not where we actually met!" Margot blurts out before she can stop it. "W-We were friends once. You moved to this town in September in first grade. Your hair was always in a ponytail and you wore these earrings your dad had gotten you and you rarely took them out." Isla slowly frowns.

"Where did you get that from...?" she asks slowly, increasingly uncomfortable being in the room. Margot wants to stop, but now that she's dug her grave she didn't see a reason to. She had to be sure. She just- had to.

"We were friends all the way until sixth grade. You slept over at my house plenty of times. I-I even told you my real name. Isla, please tell me you remember something," Margot pleads, ignoring the stinging sensation in her eyes.

"Margot, you're starting to creep me out," the brunette warns, grabbing fistfuls of her skirt.

"Tell me I didn't ruin everything in vain; tell me I didn't just uncover some huge secret just because I was scared I lost you." A small sob is forced out from Margot's mouth she tried to contain, and before she knows it, her knees fall to the floor as she attempts to suppress the tears that threatened to spill. "Come on, Isla, you have to remember something. Please!"

"I. Have. Never. Met. You," Isla emphasizes firmly, her brows arched as she glares at Margot. "We've never met until the party. Get that through your thick skull. You're hallucinating or you're just being irrational. Whatever it is, I have never met you."

"No, no, this isn't real. This can't be happening..." Margot rubs the side of her face, taking in a shaky breath. "I really ruined everything, didn't I? Oh god."

"Margot, I'm sorry you think I'm someone else," Isla begins, tone much softer, eyes now gazing sympathetically at the mess in front of her, "but I've never met you. Not once."

Margot's head lifts. "Nothing. You remember absolutely nothing." She nods, putting on a large smile that was too forced; the breath that entered tightened her chest. "Okay. Okay, that works." She stands up from her hunched position, walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Isla glances up at her, incredibly confused and overwhelmed from all this. Margot doesn't answer as she merely wipes the tears from her eyes, closing the door behind her.

---

Soon enough, Margot understands what the leaving part means.

Songbird is sitting on a couch, eyes hazed over and not reacting to Cosmo, Tic, and a couple others comforting her.

"It shouldn't have been time," one of them whispers achingly as they adjust their hijab. "She should've at least had a week more or so."

"At least she's holding on strongly," Cosmo sniffles, running a sleeved arm over their eyes. "She's handling it better than I thought." Margot's heart seems to shatter for the second time that night, as she gazes at Songbird. Little girl who had so much life in her just a few minutes ago suddenly hardly could move, even her breathing was stiff.

Tic cuddles closer to her; he's placed her on his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her, though she only gave a small sigh in response. "Hey, Song. You're doing really good, you know? Mom's gonna be so proud of you when you go see her." Oh, god. Here they were, sending these kids off to this... thing.

Songbird's lips curl into a tiny smile, eyes slowly shutting. Her whole body looks small and frail, as if a simple wind could cause her to crack and shatter immediately.

Margot gazes closer, brows raising almost to her hairline. The outline of Songbird's body has seemed to take on some sort of white tinge, which slowly travelled to the rest of her. Eventually, she was completely engulfed in the strange white, before disappearing altogether, as if the light had swallowed her.

Margot watches as the little girl was gone from that room within seconds. One of the kids that was hugging her had broken down into tears, running through his hair. Tic crouches down to hug him, glancing up at the intruder. She takes a step back, staggering as she hits the doorframe. "I, uh-" Distasteful. Here she was, barging in something that she had no business in.

Cosmo turns to face what Tic was staring at, and laughs softly. Their blue eyes are filled with tears, but that doesn't stop them as they approach Margot, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, we should'a explained this a bit better. We don't really like talkin' about when they leave. It's kinda emotional on alluv us, y'know?" Margot nods, trying to will back the sickening feeling welling in her stomach.

"Where do they go...?" she forces out.

"To where Ma is. Beyond the barrier of the island. Someplace we ain't ever really seen though it's somewhere in that carousel, alright, but we will at some point. We'll all get there," Cosmo sighs. They glance at the tearful few, releasing Margot to comfort them as they mourn.

Margot glances out of a window, eyes catching onto her reflection. She's a bit of a mess, in her oversized wrinkled pink jacket and her ruffled skirt. Her hair is tangled and her brown eyes squint in sorrow.

Her brows furrow as she tightend her lips into a determined line. She was gonna get out of here.