"Hmm..." I hum a tune in my seat. This carriage rolls only by a spark.
It's been nearly an hour since I left the hill, and I'm still riding on the carriage with a view of this human town for hours. My friend Starglaze floats freely like usual while I am stuck on my chair with an unwelcoming glare from my human parents. Looks like they weren't happy with me, but with someone else.
"Christine, why don't you take that hat off now? There's no reason for you to hide anything to us, right?" My mother rolls her eyes out.
"Well, I wanted to keep it this way until I get home. Don't want to...not wearing enough while I'm here..."
"Well, that's reasonable. I believe once we're home, you'll find more comfort with more appropriate foot."
"What's wrong with my foot? I didn't have dirt on my foot, right?" I beg to question my foot, but I raise only concern to my mother.
But my eyes caught more than my parents' thoughts. Outside, the world was grey and a bit yellow in the sky, and yellow was not a good thing for this town. Perhaps fitting into this town would be more challenging with those kinds of garments.
"Why does everyone look sad here, mother? I thought your world was—bright." I have no words but disgust.
"Yeah! I can't believe this is my audience of a six-year performance!" Starglaze complained as usual.
"Oh, dear. They're all happy with themselves! You just can't see it from here..." My mother replies.
"R-really? Humans are weird..."
Why is there so much smoke coming out of the houses? Are humans just cooking things? Are they really that hungry? They make the view worse with their blackened clouds flying in the sky. Now, I can't even see the sun well from here.
'Hey, lady! Catch!" A young kid caught me by surprise with his energetic yell. But not in the way I expected it would be. In a moment of shame, my face was covered with the look of a Frowling and those humans.
"Aah! My face!"
"Christine!" My mother comes to my aid.
"My eyeshadow! It's ruined...it's ruined..."
"Ugh, insolent children on the street! Always a troublesome!" My father plunges his face out to rant for me. But I have only tears of shame.
"Huhuhu...I can't look like this..."
"That's not true, Christine. You're all right!"
The carriage rolls and the contempt follows. Each swirl that I practised, each spin I took on the stage, and each jittery I endured from tiring myself—and this was all for these people to give. These are the people I was entertaining with? How unamusing yet sad—no wonder why they adored me so much.
"Mom, why do these people look at me? Do they hate me...?" My face remain shrouded under my strawhat.
"What? No! No, they aren't. Well, they are looking at our carriage, though..." The curtains was closed by my mother.
"Why?" Starglaze hovers.
"Because they don't have one."
"Why don't they have one?"
"Because they can't have one."
"Why can't they have one?"
"Because they aren't us. They can't afford their own..."
Starglaze pauses, "Why...?"
"They're not a star."
"How sad..." Pearl mumbled in a mixed tone.
Is this what the human world is? I thought all those sets on the stage and the scenery hidden in the red curtains were just a play. That was a glum and dull scene that no Joyling wants to play. But now I knew what humans are—a hypocritical judge with a jealousy for me. I pray Doorwell didn't have to share a fate like this.
"What do you think, Pearl? Is there anything you find familiar in this place? Maybe we could get you some of your childhood clothes?"
"I could get used to this. That makes me feel more—thrilled." For a moment, there was hope for that offer, but now there was a swarm of flies flying over my face. Eyeshadow ruined again.
"Aah! What is this?!"
Now, what would my home look like? Are these colours natural to all humans? Are dullness and blandness within their souls the source of their life? That could be imagined every day when I wake up, glaring at a horrible sight.
"Huhuhu...why is everything hate me here...? Huhuhu..." She weeps.
"I hope I was wrong..." Pearl mumbled.
"I hope I was so wrong about this..."
—————————————————————————————————
[Wiltham Mountain]
It was home at last, and it was dusk when I arrived. That home was somewhere high atop a mountain, passing only by an ascending rail and a thick fog. That fog was cold and dense like a wall, perhaps to sway humans from daring in. But the other side was bright and lively, much different to the human town.
The rail rests upon a mansion—lying on a hill like its own paradise. The gold gates on the frontline opened instantly, yet nobody was there to open them. Like one castle in a distant sky, this mansion felt like a dream come true.
"Brrr...Are we...are we living here...?"
"Yeah. We have this mountain for ourselves, Christy. What do you think?" My father was resilient with the cold.
"I like it! I love this place! It's far from town! And it's high!" She adores.
"But it's cold...brr..."
"With a dress and a glove like that, you'll get used to that kind of cold in no time, Christine." The father jokes. But I feel something was cracking.
Crack! "I think something just cracked..."
The first thing I stepped into this world was the marble tiles lying on every corner of this garden. Sure, perhaps some rocky plates on the ground, but they're not as much as the soft, slippery marble that I swipe my shoes on. I need to see more of these tiles inside the house.
"I was so wrong...and I like it..."
"Uh-uh..." Starglaze teases. The one star made me smile less after he saw me too excited, especially with that thief-like face.
"What?"
"Aww, Starglaze...what if I get to live horribly with humans? What if they don't know me~?" He parroted on me.
"I never said that!"
"Oh, you sweet silly Joyling. Think you can fool this star after all those years? Think again! Hehe..." He left me wandering—a friend he had always been.
"Oh, whatever...I'll go look around this place, then!"
Grasses don't grow here, but water does. Lots of splashy pools around the porch—all clean like a bathtub. Clearly this was not an appropriate place to bathe or a clam to stand shimmering. But who can't resist the pristine reflection from the water that reflects such a pearly view?
"Yep...that's water...so real..."
"Hehehe, look how happy and simple our daughter is. Quick, take a screen shutter." My dad was standing on the other side.
"No!!" I almost dropped myself into the water as I heard that word.
"I mean, not here...! I don't want to look like this in the picture...! Hehe...!"
*Splash* A fountain springs before me, betraying me and ruining my looks again. I fled as fast I could before the family find me like this.
"And not with this look!"
Weirdly, statues seem to always be a crack or a goner. Those beautiful ladies and handsome gentlemen can't show their faces around me—it begs even a question about whether they're one. But all these statues look like they were carved with pure love and adoration for someone so admiring. Who could've torn their beauties?
"M-mom? Why are those statues...off-headed?" My hands are poking.
"Oh, they're just like that, Christine. Not many of these people last longer than you think." She was calm as the water.
"But I think they're...neat. Well, maybe you should add my face in it?"
"We would like to. But we're no carver...maybe I'll ask for a sculptor to see your—?"
"N-no, it's okay! I think my face may look so odd for a display, anyway." Once again, I could not risk myself with openness.
Woosh! The stone dust blows into her face, messing with her eyes again.
"Aww....not again..."
Time to waste no more time. What I'd been waiting for was lying behind the two black doors with a gold knob. My patience grew thin, and my human parents had me stalling for a temporary beauty.
"So...? Can we see the mansion?" I asked, leaning sideways, filled with eagerness.
"Aww, look who just has some energy going up. Looks like our little ballet was on a different shoe today." My mother appraises me.
"Oh, quit with the facade, Pearl. We can see how much you're excited for this."
"Oh, really? I didn't know that..."
The door opens before my eyes—the mansion unveils itself. As the black door swung sidely, I knew I was in a good time for a show. I stood at the center, holding my mirror impetuously. Starglaze could only hold his bow at this moment.
"Come on in! Welcome home, Christine! Time to relive that past once more, shall we?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" I clapped in jovial.
"I better have a personal room here! Not for sleeping, just for personal reasons..." Starglaze brags.
My eyes glimmer in excitement. I couldn't hold myself. The red carpet on the floor led my eyes into a beautiful hallway until that hallway dimmed, and the lights appeared so frail and flickery. That moment was a big letdown for me.
"Oh...?" Pearl mumbled. Smile had never faded so quickly.
"What in Frowling's teeth..." Starglaze commented.
My hopes might exceed those of a human. It looks simpler for a castle, but I see it wasn't one now. Terrible walls without a star, but an ugly plank of wood could do something better than concrete. But why the blood maroon paint and the black wood?
Only paintings on the walls? Not even a proper exhibition if one. But my eyes are not sore by this view, but rather I find them an entertainment to see. The abstract, the blur, and the canvas? They were somewhat tempting.
*Blink* *Blink*
"Well, still remember this place? Or are we still in that...missing chapter?" The father sets a playful tone.
"It's not bad, but..." I feel sick. Happy but sick.
"Why is it small...?" My fingers were knocked on the wooden wall. The echo was deep in the earth.
"Well, nobody lives here but us, Christy. Surely we can't just invest so much space here, right?" My mother sets her coat on the hanger beside the door.
"Why not?" Starglaze pokes me.
"Because with pension wealth, we maintain ourselves in our home appropriately. Besides, we're not spending an entire pension to make an unnecessary space in this house."
"Or an unnecessary brag from a talking star," My dad is still disgusted at Starglaze. His gaze lingered long enough to feel like a question left unsaid.
But as I said, it wasn't too bad for a home. It wasn't just as big as I thought it would be. So many hallways dipped in red and so many hallways cluttering like a maze. How many steps did I have to walk only to find one room that isn't a long passage?
I was lost in the maze, trying to find my way along with Starglaze in this place. But our presence couldn't compare the confusing pattern on the wall and the movement of seemingly squiggling lines. My body even started to feel off.
"Pearl..."
A voice came to me. I thought it was Starglaze, but when I asked him, he said he heard nothing. Was I the only one who heard it? Because it sounds so terrifying.
This was too difficult. For a moment I was far to the left, and my mother's echoes from the right. For another moment I was further to the right, and my father's chatter echoed behind her. And for the third time I kept going forward, their chatter echoing left and right.
"Augh! What is this place!" Starglaze rants.
"Come on, Pearl! Let's go back to where we started before we get lost like a Joyling." He wasn't around me, and I could slowly hear him fainting away.
"Pearl? Pearl? Friend, where are you?"
"I'm lost..." Pearl muttered, "And it's so stinky here..."
"And I am ugly again..."
"Pearl."
"I am a beautiful girl...I couldn't be ugly..." She mumbled.
—————————————————————————————————
I'm still wandering through the hallways with Starglaze, and we still find no way out. Nothing! Nothing changed than this weird, decaying smell of roses and sweets. Even Doorwell didn't smell this terrible with that ginger icing, but there were no sweets around. How can the humans endure this?
"Oh, no! I only have one more, Starglaze! I don't have enough to keep up! What do I do...?" Pearl checks her makeup box.
"Augh....this is the worst day for my face to shine...worst even!"
"You say that! But I haven't changed anything in my face since I arrived here..." Starglaze brags.
It's the sixth time, and my kit has started to deplete. So many things have bugged me for so long since I came here, and now I remember only that Doorwell may never have this feeling in her new home. Why did I never get as much treatment as Doorwell did? She does less, but she gets to the point. I keep getting cluttered despite the same. I have started to lose grip of my name more.
"Pearl." A shadow appeared before me.
"S-Sebastian?? How did you...n-no! I can't...it can't be!" I fell on my back. As fast as I could, I crawled back from the shadow, but it only stood there watching.
"Get away from me! Help!!"
—————————————————————————————————
Woosh! A carriage comes in uninvited through the gate.
"Who's that?"
"I don't know, but we better checked it out." The father mumbled.
I was there, fighting for my life. Perhaps not fighting, but I am not in a time of peace with the shadow. It's so tall and grim; could have ripped me with its claws. I was only a Joyling without a grip on reality, and now I was stunned by its menacing entrance.
"Ehehe...Mr Sebastian! F-fancy to see you here...I thought...I thought you were on a...vacation...?"
"Pearl...the moon..."
"Y-yeah! I am! I'm still your P-Pearl!"
"The moon. The moon..."
The shadow reaches for my hand. What seems to be a comforting approach was clearly a trap. My eyes have never been so pressed to scream, but I couldn't scream with a tight throat and twitching eyes and fingers. The shadow is tempting for a scare, with its sharp claw.
"Aah! Noo!" I fled further into the hallway, wherever I could find myself far from the shadow.
"Starglaze! Starglaze! Starglaze, please don't ignore me!!"
"Starglaze!!!" I fled without a cautious look. And without looking cautiously, she crashes into a door.
"Ouch...what am I hitting onto...?"
"You think this would do?"
"Aah!"
I fled so far that I ended up safe and sound in a tight room. Such a small room, but it looks safe and better than an empty hallway. That shadow may not follow me here, but it surely is still out there waiting for an inch of Pristine Pearl with its sharp claws and a handful of ribbons. Though it seems less antagonizing than Sebastian. Was it really him?
"Oww...huhuhu....why is this happening to me...?" I cried.
"First, my makeup is ruined, and now this? What's wrong with me...?"
"Huhuhu...where is Starglaze? Where are my parents? Where is Carolina? I don't want to be here...huhuhu..."
No more running, no more crying—it was too tiring. I had never been this tired before, and I knew I wouldn't be in many years. But these humans are growing more irritating than I thought they would be. Just from the look by the window, everything seems to be peaceful there than here.
"I'm tired...why am I tired? I shouldn't be tired..."