"Thank you, Ms Starstuhm. I couldn't imagine myself crying again in this place after everything I have been through." Lisa commented at the door.
She was leaving this place, and there was nothing I could do to stop her. Poor me, and cruel Starglaze had to ruin it for confidentiality. For me, she was only standing there and ready to leave as soon as the last wind hit nine o'clock.
"You'll do this again next week. It's not a big deal. Soon enough, maybe that prayer can go real..." My mother was quite fond of this human.
"Donna...shh..." David whispers.
That moment was too sad for the two of us when we had to part again. Not even half a day and there's something grew within us as a distant friend, yet we couldn't let a star hear it. All that was left for her was a gift of bowl for me in return. How can I be so tempted by this useless gift?
"Come on, come on...just go..." Pearl whispers.
"You really want her to go? She was fun." Starglaze mumbled.
"No, she's not. And she better not be back for tomorrow. I've had enough of you and her here..."
"Treating your best friend like that, huh? I guess I get where those annoying faces come from, Christine..." Starglaze thinks it's funny to have me deadnamed.
"I'll be sure to note you for the next Wednesday at—nine?" She pauses.
She was quiet all of a sudden—what a weird way to leave your farewell to me. But her eyes were sharpened away from the parents, looking into something deep and higher than the floor she was stepping on. Her sadness turned to shock as our eyes met.
"What was that?" She asks.
"Is that—"
My shiny head must have shone so brightly from the window above our head, leading the sun into her eyes and perhaps unveiling a part of me within the darkness. I was happy that we finally got to meet our eyes together, but the humans acted out so quickly.
Slam! "There you go. Now she's gone..."
"W-what? Hello? Mr Starstuhm?"
Our moment was ruined. The humans intervened again to put us in misery, as I heard Lisa mumbling outside, begging to be let in. But Starglaze and I had been distant from the stairway with one-sided smiles before I could help her out. Maybe I shouldn't do anything about her. Maybe I wasn't meant to help her.
"Come on, Pearl! Let's have some fun in this house."
"Pearl? Pearl!"
"Alright, alright...I get it..."
—————————————————————————————————
Upstairs it was. Me and Starglaze were busy with our personal needs. My mother was here to give some love to our game—a Gleam game. It was our popular game, and we've been playing it since we were newborn Joyling. Although I found the rule vague and fading in my head.
"So, eager to show us how you played it, Christy?" My mother sat before me, unfazed by Starglaze's motive.
"Oh, me? Hehe, well...I think Starglaze would know more than me..." I still think about that human girl again.
"Am I? Oh, well...let's see about that!"
The excitement was tense, and the three of us were playing at stake. Gleam was a favourite game of mine because it was the only game that could cheer the void in my heart. But I was not very good at it, not when Starglaze was around.
"Woo! Three steps ahead!"
"Oh...I just got three sparkles away. It's sparkles, right?" My mother was slightly ahead of me, even though she knew nothing about this game.
Each time we've played, Starglaze was ahead of me with his intellect. This star knows more about the superiority of this game than I do, especially when I'm not even playing it. I wasn't even enjoying a game today, only the thought of the humans.
"Phew, that was too tense even for me! I really need to know "
"You can do that while I head to the restroom! So much stardust to waste now!"
"Stardust? Waste? Oh, it better not be what I think it is!"
Starglaze hovers away from the game, and my mother trailed him from behind in fear of the worst. So here I am, left alone again with my thoughts as I continue imagining the human me in this room and this blouse. The looks still draw cold and emptiness in my skin.
"Oh, well..."
"Oh, human...hm..."
I left my window open for fresh air, trying to alleviate my head as I waited for Starglaze to return from the bathroom. But as I waited for long, I felt the boredom in my skin returning with the absence of voice around me. Once again, I returned to nothingness.
"She was never good for you."
"Yet she is."
My mind is still conflicted, wondering if I should help that human girl here to know me better than she had guessed. But I guess she wouldn't like to know me as a Joyling—or a monster in her way of calling me 'one of them.'
"Why persist?"
"Because she does."
"Why stubborn?"
"Because she is."
"Why bold?"
"Because she's not afraid. She's—"
"*GASP*"
Echoes from someone I didn't expect. From the window that I opened for fresh air, a human girl has climbed upon it like a worm through the tunnel. One question that I had for her was where did she found the ladder in the first place?
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"You're not human...oh, Fire Son...what are you...Are you a monster...?"
"I saw you upstairs! I saw your face. I thought you were a ghost!"
Her eyes were paused at the sight of me, as I am to her. But her hands were covering her mouth while mine was laid low. Her pupils dilated while mine remained. She was content, while I was slightly but not surely. But she was determined to see this mysterious pearl.
"I don't understand. This day was so strange...why did this happen? What am I going onto?"
"I only came here to mourn my friend Christine...and then I found you here..."
"Did those humans kept you? Did they kidnap a child because they lost Christine? Is that why they were so happy?"
She was afraid, yet she climbed further into the room and joined me in this game. Her knees crawled through the floor while she approached me, slowly with her eyes closing on mine. We were fascinated by each other, and we could feel as if we were looking into another world.
"Why are you quiet? Don't you understand me?"
She was getting closer to me, and I'm not moving anywhere. As she took her time inspecting me as much as I wanted her, I was waiting for her. I was waiting for her to take a hint about me, giving the best with my stance as I remembered how she remembered me.
"Your dress...your head...you look familiar. I...recognize this style before...I just don't know where."
"Long time no see, Lisa." My eyes were still nervous about this encounter.
One voice—one voice is all needed to turn Lisa's struggle into tears. Her eyes are opened—in another way—into an enlightenment and shock that brings comfort and joy to those tears she was shedding. Her hands are holding her mouth while she cries a tear of joy.
"W-what?"
"You heard me, did you? Lisa. Friend of mine...how was it, friend?"
"You...you do have her...no, wait. It can't be! I can't believe it!"
Even she still denies it. The sight of her friend was right before her face, and denial still existed within? No wonder this void still stretched open, looking for the honesty of her only ones. But I'll hold my laugh knowing if I had to judge her.
"You deny it? You told my family how you believed a life down that studio. And yet, you didn't believe me?"
"Well, I do believe she was alive! But I cannot believe that you would be here now! If you were here...does that mean..."
"I'm all alive and well, Lisa. But that's not something you should know.
How can I not be so full of surprise? I thought of myself as somewhat boring before. But for Lisa, I'm such a stunning view. She immediately wrapped her hands around my back, reuniting with her old friend in the room I knew we shouldn't be together.
"You're back..."
"You're back, Christine..."
She was silent when she hugged me, with no rush and no intense joviality. But somehow, I can read her love as much as I remember being with Doorwell. She wasn't tight, but she made a hug that felt like she sought me—a love that felt more than my human parents do.
"She's not coming for you."
"Yeah, I'm back." I hugged her back, eyes closed, and embrace the sunlight for a while.
—————————————————————————————————
My new room was not a good meeting for the two of us. Lisa kept looking left and right with contempt, even holding at my mirror with the shiny pearls that I couldn't stop her from. She does know how to use it without cracking like most humans do. But her attention lies more on me as she sees my new looks.
"My, your room is awful. I guess six years without a child made it easy to throw things away, huh?" Lisa sat before me with a smile.
"Congrats on the new bed, by the way. I could've helped you with that..."
"So, care to explain what happened here? Because I know what happened here, I just don't know why." Was she interrogating me? How brave of her instead of running away.
Stories began to unfold in our eyes, especially since we had that connection standing still. Lisa and I were not that far when it came to conversation or interest. The two of us wore a blouse, loved purplish things, and had a good fit by nature's gift.
"It wasn't long when everything went off in the studio. There was an explosion everywhere, but this human warned us beforehand and saved all of us from the falling sky. We went into the vault as he told us, watching the evil human life snuffed before our eyes while we glanced only one light into the light world."
"In the end, we lied behind the vault that Sebastian used to abuse the likes of us for half a decade. I guess what doesn't kill us spare us. Then we waited for so long inside until a few humans opened the vault. Some humans caught me behind the dark spot holding the best look I could spare during scarcity."
That moment of escape from the clutch of the humans is the reason why I could get to see my lost best friend again. As Lisa's eyes glimmered in hope and admiration, I could tell that she was diving into this conversation more. Her basket lies beside me, with a sandwich wrapped in a tissue that I didn't know she had.
"Well, to be honest, I think that's one extreme adventure you had there with your funny friends." Lisa handed me one.
"But I'm not sure if I really like a few parts about it..."
"I know. I should've never mentioned those final acts throughout six years in detail. It's not like you understand them..." I folded the tissue back as it once set in a rectangle. Keeping the looks is important even if they no longer hold a purpose.
"No, I mean. What do you do with this 'Doorwell' is rather...odd. Why does it sound like you're...I don't know...hurting her...?"
I was frozen. Nobody had ever caught me like that so easily, especially Starglaze, who had heard that many times. But how can a simple human from a life that has never been touched by stars and fame ask such a question to me?
"I didn't. I didn't hurt anyone there..." I brush it off calmly.
"Christine, hurling a bucket of paint above Doorwell's head is not something out of accident or a prank. Especially when Doorwell was not around her."
"Well, I...I had a few judgment with her."
"Is that so? Not that I doubt you...but I wouldn't say you judge someone without a craving."
Such a keen girl. If my mother could tell my void just by the looks of it, I would've been done before I went here. But this girl kept showing more astonishment to my face. She was so caring that not only did she know I was hungry for a sandwich, but she even deduced me by my looks. I was cornered by her words.
"I...well, you're right. I do have a lot of covetousness for her."
"Heh, lucky guess." She praises herself. Lucky guess? More like clairvoyant's premise.
"But why? You're Pristine Pearl, nobody catches your gleam, lady. Doorwell got nothing on you."
"Well, it's—"
Before I could explain further about it, Starglaze and Mother are finishing their business behind the white door. Should I let her stay any longer, the humans would've made a bad decision on both of us. I could hear their footsteps like I once dreaded Sebastian's.
"We need to leave now." I quickly headed to block the door, but Lisa wasn't paying attention.
"What?"
"Leave! My mother is going back and if she finds out we'll be doomed."
"We don't have to hide. Maybe we can convince them?"
"No, we can't!"
"But, Christine..."
"Leave! Now!" I yelled as I pushed my hand at her.
But it was a silence I gave to her, not a harm or a warning. Long before, I can cast a star out of my hand to silence a naughty Joyling or a terrible Frowling, earning me the name among my kinds. But a long time has passed, and I've remembered only a slight of it. My hand no longer wield the star anymore.
"What was that?" Lisa looked at me with such confusion.
"Star. I'm casting a star...on you." I stood persistent and dominant while Lisa was on her back.
"So...where is it? Am I supposed to be dazzled?"
"You were supposed to be afraid. Star is hot, you know...?"
Lisa looked at me with a smile against what I had hoped from her. Instead of being taught of the danger, she proudly fascinates herself with the grip behind my gloves. But before she could lay her finger, I gently pushed my hand away and warned her.
"Please, you need to leave this place before they find you."
"No way! If I had known about this all along, I would've stayed here and helped you out! Come on, Christine! Leave this place with me!"
"No, you don't! Just go—"
SLAM! The door opened with force, and Starglaze was always the interruptive Joyling he was. Irritated and left with a sheet of tissue on his back, he and my mother had a long argument in the walk about some misuse of hygiene within the home. Lisa, on the other hand, could have been an inch away.
"I told you many times, I don't make dirt," Starglaze argues.
"Well, you just burnt the toilet, creature! I want to see you try cleaning that mess!"
It's not surprising to see Lisa around me. With her now knowing of my gleam without others' permission, Lisa has become a danger she didn't expect to be. Now, my mother and Starglaze are standing on the line as they try to take her away from the window.
"Mom, Starglaze! I can explain."
"Step off, Pearl! You were given a chance to leave this place at once, young lady!"
"Woah! That thing...wait, I know you! You're Pearl's annoying partner!"
"Annoying? That's it!"
Starglaze didn't even hesitate to hurt Lisa by any means. He charged into her with an immaculate speed in hopes of killing her, only to find himself floating out of the house as she dodged by surprise. I'm flattered, but it wasn't over for her.
"Sorry! Sorry! I'm not trying to hurt anyone! Gosh, that star really is a prick in the bum, isn't it?"
"Eugh..." I did not like to call him that or to use that phrase. But I admit he could be.
"Pearl, why are you letting her in?" My mother confronted me.
"Because she's my friend! She doesn't even hurt me!"
"Well, now that she knows about us, it'll be a danger for you!"
Before anyone could come upstairs to stop Lisa, she climbed out of the window with the ladder she was using to climb up here. The humans didn't make it fast enough to catch her, especially the doctors who were supposed to keep me alive.
For Lisa, she walks through them like I went through steep hills with only a roller shoe—hard to navigate but easy to lean. Everyone in the house was surprised to see her, especially since she was turning the whole session for herself.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Who are you? Where did you come from?" Mr Daniel, you weren't very agile. But she was—just like me.
"Stop it, kid! We can talk about this!" Ms Adele, you weren't very clever. But she was—no doubt with that eye.
"C-Christine, thank you for everything and I'm glad we're still friends! We'll see again, Baki-o!" She jumped away from the gate and disappeared into thin air. But if I remember correctly, there shouldn't be a road downhill for her to survive.