Girl

Agnes stepped off the bus, Lucille already waiting patiently on the sidewalk for her. People walked busily down the streets on either side of the road and Agnes glanced over her shoulder as the bus closed its doors noisily and bustled further into the heart of Evergreen to drop off any of the lingering students aboard. When the bus rounded a corner, Agnes turned her attention back to Lucille, who was peering from shop window to shop window as if patiently waiting for her companion’s attention.

“So, since you’re new to Lyseria, I guess you don’t know many of the shops here, huh?” Agnes smiled at Lucille and glanced to the left of them, down the sidewalk and toward the way they’d come from, “I’ll take you to my favorite store to shop for pajamas then.”

Lucille nodded, turning on the heel of her foot and joining Agnes at her side as they began to walk down the sidewalk, people passing them as they went on at a leisurely pace. “So,” Lucille began after a long moment of listening to their uniform shoes clunk against the ground, “How much do the pajamas at your favorite store cost?”

Agnes glanced down at Lucille, who stood at only about 5’1”. She was in junior high school, though, so no doubt she’d gain another inch or two before she stopped growing completely. “Depends on the set you like, honestly.”

Lucille nodded in understanding, looking troubled for a fleeting moment before her face returned to calm composure. “Lyseria is very different from Mexico.” She glanced all around her pointedly, as if to make it clear that this truly was a foreign landscape. “The town I’m from doesn’t have paved roads, it’s just smoothed dirt and gravel. These stores, too…” She paused in her stride, reaching out and pressing her hand completely to the cool red brick of a hat store, mannequins displayed in the window with various styles of headwear. “Ours are made of adobe or wood, if you’re rich enough.”

After a moment, her hand fell from the brick and she returned to her stride at Agnes’ side. “I imagine Mexico is very different from Lyseria.”

“Is America?” Lucille asked curiously, looking up and to the right at Agnes. “Very different from Lyseria, I mean?”

“Not really…” Agnes trailed off, collecting her thoughts and glancing at her surroundings much like Lucille had done only a moment before, “In the city, it looks almost identical to Lyseria, the only difference is everything is wrote in English instead of Lyserian.” She smiled, amused at her own private joke, “I lived in the countryside of Montana, so there weren’t many buildings or paved roads. There wasn’t much of anything, really, unless what you were looking for was corn or wheat.”

Lucille laughed, clearly amused at this idea, and Agnes laughed with her. “It must have smelled like bread there all the time!”

“Sometimes!” Agnes agreed. It never smelled like bread unless someone was cooking it, however her mood had increased since her conversation with Lucille and it was such a silly idea that Agnes couldn’t help but agree with it and encourage the belief.

Turning a corner, Agnes stopped at a store with a bright blue door and white walls. There were no display windows, but a sign hung overhead with the picture of a girl in a dress. Under her, in swirling cursive, was the word, “Dream”.

Pushing the door open, Agnes stepped aside to let Lucille into the small town home with creaky wooden floors. She smiled, taking a deep breath and recognizing the scent of lavender and rosemary from the woman’s tea that was always brewing here, “Alright, Lucille, go ahead and find something for yourself.”

Lucille peered around the main room which was full of mannequins wearing all sorts of various clothes. Day clothes, night clothes, fancy, not so fancy, you name it. After a hesitant moment, she finally stepped forward and deeper into the store, dragging her fingertips against the lace of a frilly sleeping shirt, “This all looks… very medieval.”

Agnes smiled weakly, pausing to peer at sizes of shorts on shelves, “Yes, the owner here is a very old woman who takes most of her inspiration from the Victorian period.” It had become a favorite store of hers for the main reason that all this clothing looked like it belonged in some sort of brazen magical girl related show. Like Sailor Moon.

Lucille peered around a mannequin wearing an ankle length sleeping gown with long, billowing sleeves. “So it’s all meant to make you look like a princess, then?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“Interesting.”

They fell silent as they browsed, Lucille looking at sleeping gowns while Agnes looked at full sets that involved the shirt and pants. She was just about to narrow her choice down between a set with purple and blue stars or a set with orange dragons when she heard footsteps approaching. Glancing over her shoulder, Lucille came to a halt right next to her side. Worried due to Lucille’s sudden look of agitation, she tilted her head and set her pajamas aside. “What’s wrong?”

Lucille looked around herself, eyes darting from mannequin to mannequin. “I can’t afford anything in this store. Look!” She focused on Agnes, holding out a baby blue sleeping gown. It had short, sheer sleeves that ended mid-upper arm. Lace and ribbons decorated it, looking like it truly belonged to a princess. Agnes glanced at the price tag, seeing it cost about fifty dollars. “This one night gown is way too much for me, how can you afford any of this?”

It occurred then to Agnes that Lucille probably was one of the students who survived solely on the stipend provided by the academy, and she felt rude for having suggested such a fancy place. “I’m sorry, Lucille. You’re right, this is all way to expensive.” She was about to set down the night gown on top of her discarded pajamas when she felt her wallet nudge her hip in her skirt pocket. Staring at the gown in her hand, she looked over her shoulder at Lucille and slowly sighed. “How much do you have?”

The dark haired girl fumbled into her blazer pocket, tugging out a handmade pouch with bright colored thread tied to keep it shut. Agnes took it from her hand and gave her back the gown, dumping out the few dollars and change that had been stored inside the pouch. She was thirty short of the full price. Turning to her pajamas set, she glanced at their price tags and saw she wouldn’t be able to afford either and placed them back to where they belonged. “Head toward the back of the store.”

Lucille looked at her in confusion, but Agnes urged her toward the back with a wave of her hands. Nodding, Lucille turned and made her way back, weaving through mannequins and shelving units. When they arrived to a solid oak counter with an old woman sitting behind it, Agnes lifted her hand in a wave. “Mysty! I brought you a brand new customer, just like I promised to do!”

The old woman adjusted her circular framed glasses on her large nose, leaning forward against the counter to peer at Lucille for a long moment. She grinned, leaning back slowly and lowering herself into a creaky rocking chair. “It’s been awhile, Aggie dear! I’m sure you had a nice summer break?” Agnes nodded in response to this question as Mysty continued on with speaking, “Nice to see a fresh new face! After you brought that other young friend of yours in who called my clothing too “Disney inspired” I never thought you’d bring in another!”

Amused at what Lorie had said the year before when Agnes had brought her in for pajamas, she cleared her throat to stifle a laugh and took the gown from Lucille. Placing it on the counter, she said in a cheerful tone, “Lorie doesn’t really like girly stuff like this, unfortunately.” Gesturing to Lucille, she gave a quick introduction.

Mysty hummed at Agnes, “Well, I’m always happy to have a visitor. Not many people come into my store anymore.” After a moment of silence, she leaned forward and looked at the price tag on the gown Lucille had chosen before turning to her cash register and punching in the price, “That’s fifty dollars, Aggie dear.”

Agnes nodded, setting the pouch aside and pulling her own wallet out. She was about to pass Mysty a full fifty when Lucille suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. “No, Agnes, you don’t have to buy that for me…” She looked up at Agnes, her black eyebrows furrowed together and the corners of her lips turned down in a definite upset pout.

Smiling, she patted Lucille’s hand on her arm, “Don’t worry, it’s the least I can do for a friend.” Then, she reached out the rest of the way and gave the fifty to Mysty, who put it in her register cheerfully and went about wrapping the dress in tissue paper. When she finished, she grabbed twine and tied it in a nice bow around it like a package, slipping a branch of lavender and a branch of rosemary into the bow.

Lucille picked it up off the counter slowly and turned to Agnes, “At least let me buy you coffee.”

Knowing it was no use to reject it, Agnes conceded with a nod, “Coffee, then.” Turning to Mysty, they leaned over the counter in tandem and exchanged a peck on each cheek, “I’ll see you again shortly then, Mysty.”

She grinned, flashing only her gums as she lowered herself back into her chair slowly, “Be safe out there, girls. Something weird has been coming through Evergreen recently, people aren’t acting like they should.”

Lucille looked a bit worried and confused, but Agnes smiled and brushed off Mysty’s old superstitious ways, waving goodbye and guiding her new friend out of the store. Lucille’s arms were crossed against her chest, the package firm in her grip as if it were some extremely important treasure that she just couldn’t imagine even the idea of releasing. Amused, Agnes tucked her hands into her skirt pockets, “Where do you want to have coffee then? I know of a couple places near here, just depends on if you like sweet coffee or bitter coffee.”

“Sweet coffee is my personal preference.” Lucille said softly and Agnes nodded, gesturing for them to walk further toward the outskirts of Evergreen. There was a lull in conversation, but Agnes was braced for Lucille to pursue the topic of what might be going on in town.

Sure enough, the silence wore on Lucille’s curious nerves and she finally cracked. “Is it true? What Mysty was talking about? How people aren’t acting properly here in Evergreen anymore?”

Agnes was sure that the last thing Lucille wanted was to leave a dangerous place in Mexico only to come to a dangerous place in Lyseria. She didn’t blame her new friend for having worries and doubts, it was natural, especially when Mysty was so superstitious that she couldn’t send anyone away without some kind of warning! “Don’t worry about what she says,” Agnes said, a bit dismissive to the idea of anything negative occurring in Evergreen, “Mysty comes from a family that has had some bad blood with the Mayvers. Both of their families have origin roots here and Mysty swears up and down that the Mayver family is actually a coven of warlocks and witches who have learned the ability to be immortal.”

Lucille didn’t seem to think it was as funny as Agnes did, however. She still looked paranoid, glancing over her shoulder every now and then the whole time Agnes explained why Mysty said what she did.
More amused than she had been before, Agnes scoffed in a bit of laughter, “You don’t actually believe in that kind of thing, right? Witches and warlocks? Immortality? None of that is real, Lucille, take my word on it.”

Lucille remained unconvinced, but forced a smile and mumbled, “You’re right, as if Principal Mayvers could be a witch!”

Agnes grinned, “She definitely has the ‘horribly ugly hag’ part of being a witch down!”

Lucille giggled at the joke, unable to hold it back. “Just imagine! Principals Mayvers flying all around Evergreen on a broomstick with a pointy hat and revealing dress! Next thing you know, she’ll be able to turn into a black cat and summon dragons on whim!”

Spurred on by Lucille, Agnes laughed harder, “Maybe she’s actually Maleficent!”

“She could be!”

So caught up in laughing, the girls rounded a corner without much thought until Lucille suddenly stumbled forward slightly. Agnes, thinking she hadn’t been paying attention and fell over herself, began to laugh a bit harder as she caught her new friend and helped her stabilize herself. “Whoa, watch out there, klutz! If you fall on a crack it might turn into some weird witchy portal!”

However, Lucille didn’t laugh this time. Pale as could be, she stared blankly down at the sidewalk just behind them near the corner they had just rounded.

Agnes lifted an eyebrow, “What? What is it?” Lucille didn’t speak, however. She just lifted a hand and pointed shakily to where she stared.

Finally, Agnes turned to look and felt her throat close up in horror. Lucille hadn’t tripped over her feet.

Sitting on the side of the building on the corner were black trash bags, one of which had been ripped open by some sort of wild animal. Tumbling out of it was a full human arm, the elbow disappearing back into the trash bag. Next to her, Lucille gagged roughly and turned her back to Agnes. To vomit, judging by how hard she was retching. Agnes had no idea what to do, there was an entire human arm in a trash bag in a pile of other trash bags.

Lucille whimpered sharply, “Call 911, why are you just standing there staring at it?!”

Agnes looked sharply to Lucille then back to the arm, yanking out her cellphone and dialing for help as fast as her trembling fingers could manage. Pressing her phone to her ear, immediately someone asked what her emergency was. She stuttered roughly, trying to get out the words that she was staring at a human arm in a bag, but somehow it wouldn’t force its way out of her throat. It was as if her lungs forgot how to inflate. As if her brain forgot how to put together a sentence and speak.
Lucille reached out and yanked the phone away, sobbing into it roughly, “Please, I think there’s a dead body cut up into trash bags! I don’t know what street we’re on but the building number I’m by is 3117!” Agnes faintly heard someone say that help was on the way on the other side of the phone, but her eyes couldn’t look away from that arm. Why was there no blood pouring out? Why was someone cut all up and then just ditched casually in trash bags on the street? She couldn’t understand, didn’t want to understand!

Lucille grabbed her and finally forced her to look away, “Agnes, I’m scared! What Mysty said was true! We had witches in Mexico, they would take away children at night and feast upon their skin to be young and beautiful forever! They took my little brother when he was seven, and now they’ve come for me and my sisters! Just like they told my mom they would!”

Startled by Lucille’s sudden outburst, Agnes looked at her and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Witches said they were coming for you?! Calm down, Luce! Do you even hear yourself? You sound like a whack job or something!”

Agnes turned back to look toward the arm and felt her throat constrict again. She began to turn in circles, looking all around her. At her side, Lucille whispered, “Where did the bags go?” Agnes turned back to where they had just been, staring at the empty spot of sidewalk. They were just there, how could they have possibly vanished all of a sudden? No one had come and grabbed them, Agnes and Lucille definitely would’ve seen them. They couldn’t have taken all of those bags at once anyway! Lucille whimpered again, “They’re here! They’re coming for me and my sisters!” She grabbed at Agnes, throwing her arms around her waist and sobbing against her arm, “Don’t let them take me!”
Agnes felt herself trembling, afraid and unable to explain what had just happened. Slowly, she hugged Lucille tight and whispered, “Hurry, let’s go back to the bus stop, before the cops get here and think we’re just some pranksters or something…”

Lucille nodded, letting go after a minute and allowing Agnes to crouch down and pick up her gown which she’d dropped suddenly when she began to get sick. Together, holding hands tight until their knuckles were white, they walked quickly back to the bus stop. As fast as their legs would carry them. It had been an almost twenty minute walk away from the bus stop, but it took them less than ten to get back, just when the bus was pulling up. It halted and opened the doors and the girls bolted on as fast as they could, going straight to the back seats and sitting side by side.

The bus jerked and began to move slowly, the engine revving slowly as it heated up to get moving again. The wheel they sat on made them bounce on their seat and for a while, neither of them spoke. Agnes stared out of the window, trying to make logic out of what had just happened. Trying to make sense of it in some way, but she didn’t think she could. There was no way it was witches, like Lucille seemed to have convinced herself of. Magic, witches, all of that didn’t exist! It was just a movie or a television show!

Agnes yanked her phone out of her pocket, knowing how she could show Lucille it was all imaginary. Scrolling through her apps rapidly, she opened Netflix and watched it load slowly. Lucille noticed the flash of color, looking at the phone screen curiously to see what Agnes was doing. Quickly, she began to scroll through her previously watched shows, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find it. Staring in shock at her phone screen, she closed Netflix and immediately opened a browser page.

Lucille looked from phone screen to Agnes before finally asking, “What are you looking for? A television show or something, now?”

Annoyed, Agnes just shushed Lucille and typed in the name of the show. However, Galactic Warriors: Princess’ Magic got no results. It was as if the show had never even existed! She leaned back in the seat, staring blankly at her phone screen which was asking if she meant some other show or something. What happened to it? To Tammy? What about Star and Jules? There was no way all of that was part of her imagination! She didn’t just pretend to watch a show for two full days, three full seasons! She wasn’t that creative!

Still confused, Lucille read the title and folded her hands in her lap, “Is that the show you were looking for? I’ve never heard of it, is it any good?”

Agnes hissed at Lucille, “It’s not an actual show.” Realizing she was taking out her confusion and anger out on Lucille, who had visibly flinched after receiving Agnes’ sudden acidity, it made Agnes take a deep breath and sigh slowly. Tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling of the bus, she mumbled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m just… I don’t understand what just happened on the sidewalk and this show used to exist, but for some reason it doesn’t all of a sudden?”
Lucille watched Agnes’ face for a moment before looking away, staring off out the window. “I don’t know how to explain any of it, but we need to get back to the academy. That’s all I know right now. We’re not safe right now, not in Evergreen.”

Agnes didn’t argue with her, knowing that whatever was doing all of this wasn’t something she could understand right now. She wasn’t sure if it was something she could ever understand. Sighing weakly, she nodded at Lucille, “Yeah, I agree.”

For the rest of the bus ride, neither of them spoke, and Agnes allowed her mind to wander as she watched out of the window of the bus. Lyseria was a beautiful country, whether you were on the seaside or on the mainland, like they were. Plains rolled with lush green grass and vegetation and the closer they got to the academy, she could see it on the horizon. The tall white wall with the white, wrought iron gate that kept students in and strangers out. The tall dormitory and school buildings, with pastel blues painted across the shutters and everything detail related. It was truly beautiful against its surrounding settings, even Agnes had to admit. Agnes would’ve rather seen her family’s small two story ranch home on the horizon though, any day. Montana may not have been quite as beautiful, or had quite as nice an education opportunity as Lyseria Academy, but it had her family. It had her mother’s comforting hold and her father’s protective hands. She thought of her brother, laughing and sprinting through the corn fields, Agnes close behind him.

Despite all of this longing pent up inside of her, Agnes knew that she couldn’t tell her family about it. Knew she couldn’t ask them to bring her back to Montana. They were almost to the academy when Agnes finally spoke, Lucille staring through the windshield of the front of the bus. “Do you ever miss home?”

Startled at the sudden approach of conversation after nearly half an hour of no speaking, she turned to Agnes in confusion, “What?”

“You heard me…” Agnes mumbled, staring out of the window to her left still, “Do you ever miss Mexico? That tiny, cramped house you said you lived in? With the witches stalking you and your sisters and your family struggling to even survive? Do you miss it?”

Lucille watched Agnes for a moment before looking forward again, her hands fidgeting in her lap, “Yeah. I miss all of my family and the feeling of having a meal, all of us sitting at one table and talking and laughing together.” After another moment, Lucille smiled weakly and glanced at Agnes, “I don’t regret leaving though, because if I get a good education I can go back and help them. Take care of them all like they took care of me and my sisters, you know? This takes a lot of money to send us here, money we don’t really have, and it hurts to be apart from my parents and grandparents. It hurts them too, I know it does.”

Agnes watched Lucille as she finished speaking, staring off into the distance as if she could see her family standing there, in Mexico. As if she knew they were crying and talking about her too, right then and there. The only difference? Lucille didn’t cry. She sounded sad and lonely, but not once did her eyes water or well up with tears. She was tough, probably had to be.
“I miss home too…”

Lucille looked at Agnes, smiling weakly and patting her hand in comfort. The bus came to a slow and jerking halt in front of the school again and Lucille stood slowly, grabbing her gown and making her way out of the bus slowly with Agnes trailing behind her.

As they stepped through the front gate and entered the campus of the school again, Lucille and Agnes both felt the weight of uncertainty drift away, even if for only a moment. Agnes was just happy to be on land that she was familiar with. Somewhere where everything made sense to her, where she knew what was going to happen and how it would happen.

Agnes stopped walking for a moment, Lucille not noticing and continuing further into the campus to head back to the dorms. Her blue eyes look at the wrought iron gate as it slowly swung shut, seeing the bus between the curving and pretty cut bars. She could’ve sworn that she’d seen someone dressed like a witch in her peripheral vision…