TRWYF: A Pair of Cheeseburgers

“Ialan! Save me–!”

“...” Ialan doesn’t know what to do but to wait. Right now, Raia is napping, leaning on the other side of the square dent, hugging her worn-down school bag. He said they’ll leave once the rain stops, but it instead turned into a light storm, pouring water. Good thing they have enough space to take shelter.

“Don’t worry, Lena. I will save you.”

But he is just flooded with questions. How’s her life back home? At least it seems she goes to school every single day, she’s well dressed (until bullies ruin her uniform), and all her daily education necessities are provided. Ialan took a peek in her bag earlier and confirmed that most of her notebooks are brand new. If the bullying has been going on for a while, that would mean her notebooks are constantly being changed to replace the ruined ones. Her body is a calendar of the abuse she’s receiving. Ialan can’t say that all of them are from bullies; they could be from accidents or from someone else other than the said offenders. Regardless, he can see some bruises that have healed, are healing, are days old, and are fresh. The same goes with grazes and cuts. Is she being targeted because she’s a Misfortune-Cursed Child? Even still, neither he nor David has been bullied to this extent. Is there something else? Because she’s always a transferee?

Approximately 2 hours later, the rain is finally calming down. “It is getting late…” At this point, Tuesday classes should have been over 30 minutes ago. “A few minutes past 4:00…” Ialan thought from his mental clock. “We can’t stay here forever.” He stands and gathers his belongings.

He gently taps Raia to wake her up. “It’s getting late. We have to go.”

She slowly sits straight and yawns. “Hn… the rain’s finally gone…?”

“Yes. Lot safe now,” he offers a hand to help her stand up. “Do you know your way home?”

“I do… but can you walk with me while our way home is the same?” she asks, a hint of drowsiness in her tone.

“...Sure. I will.”

On their way. Ialan kept thinking… it’s been seven years since they last talked. He last saw her roughly 3 years ago among the crowd of a parade in this same city, when he, Marina, and Emeru visited. Which is why he agreed with Emeru’s plan to migrate to Caotica, when his usual self wouldn’t. He wanted to find her once again. And he did, once again. They are walking in these streets side by side, once again…

They pass by the burger stand Ialan saw earlier. Ialan stops. “Say, Raia. Did I say I will treat you to a burger?”

Her face lights up, recalling he did say that the previous day. “Yes! You promised!” Yeah. That’s what Ialan thought he would say. Even when he never said that. 'I 'promised', huh...'  he thinks to himself, finding it funny. They sit on the stand’s stools. There is a perfect item on the menu to buy. “One buy-one-take-one cheeseburger, please.”

“That stand always has a yummy taste from it. “Cheeseburger”...? I wonder what it tastes like. I want to try it someday~.” He remembers her saying that once upon a time.

“Ah, best choice! Nice fluke~ I smelt this place earlier when I was running. I’ve been curious of what that burger tastes like since,” enthusiastic despite her depressing state. One could say this is how she really is.

“Just imagine bread, beef, and cheese in one big bite.”

“I can’t… I forgot how they taste,” she says, disappointed. Ialan’s still observing her memory. She can’t remember events beyond ‘yesterday’ (which is a different yesterday from Ialan’s). But she can remember the existence of ‘beef,’ ‘cheese,’ and ‘bread’ (just not the taste) (supposed that she didn’t eat any of those from her yesterday)—knowledge from the past that’s beyond yesterday. Not to mention, she can still speak. Words, at least, she remembers. It’s almost like her brain is picky about the things she forgets. Specifically events.

“Then, you are about to know the taste.” After a few minutes of waiting, their burgers are served. It’s still hot when they pick it, but Raia quickly digs in and startles Ialan.

“Hot!” she cries. “But delicious~” and more bites. “This is more than I thought! Is that goo the cheese?” She peeks inside.

Ialan watches, content, and he takes bites from his own. “I think that is mayonnaise. See, this yellow sheet is the cheese. It’s not melted enough to be goo.”

“I see… I really like the cheese. And the mayonnaise, too,” she chomps on it like it’s the best food in the world. Earlier, she ate his lunch vigorously, but now he can see that was out of hunger. This one is out of personal interest. He keeps catching himself unknowingly smiling.

Unfortunately, Raia’s cheeseburger quickly vanished into her stomach. “That was so good… It’s bread, beef, and cheese in one big bite~.” She wipes around her lips, “With mayonnaise and the red thing.”

“Ketchup.”

“Yes! Ketchup.”

After the delightful snack, they go back on their way home, slowly going distant from the streets and places from their childhood. Soon, their path home diverges. “I think we are on our own from this point,” Raia said.

She semi-jogs across the street, looks back, and waves, “Thank you for today, Ialan. Let's meet again tomorrow!”

Ialan lightly waves back, nods, “Sure. Tomorrow, again.” Then watches her walk away. Further and further into that perpendicular street from his path, until her figure was too small to be recognized. He feels uneasy letting her go. Seeing her walk along. Then he starts walking back home by himself, alone, like usual. But… unusually lonely.

Right before 5 pm, he slides their wooden door open. “I am home.”

David was arranging their used carpentry tools, and Marina is preparing rice. She looked to Ialan and greeted, “Welcome ba—…” Her face fell in slight confusion when she saw his face, “...—ck…” It’s his usual uncaring face. But something’s… something’s off. Or new?

“...Had a great day? Bet you had a great day. Should I cook your favorite meal for dinner as a celebration?” she suddenly asks.

“What? No, no need for that,” he says before tossing his lunch box into the sink. Weird. That's not usually the first thing he does after coming back home.

“Hmm…” Marina, without hesitation, opens the lunch box and sees it empty, of course. But… “You didn’t eat your lunch, did you?” There is more debris than usual.

“No,” he clarifies while looking for a shirt of his from the piles of folded and unfolded clothes on the couch. “Raia did.”

“Raia?” Marina notices he doesn’t have his vest he had on from this morning. She places the rice cauldron on the stove and turns it on before she gets completely distracted. “Your vest?”

“Raia has it.”
“Raia???”

Things perked David’s interest too, and he goes back to folding clothes to hear more details. “A girl?” he asks, more focused on the topic than the clothes he’s folding. “A girl this bold on the first day is bad news…”

Ialan removes his uniform, revealing his school's tank top underneath, and wears the shirt he picked over it, “Lena was not her name, after all.”

“LENA???” Marina and David ask at the same time, heads now leaning closer to Ialan.

“Wha–” Ialan is jolted that David reacted like that. “How did you know?” he and Marina this time, questions David in unison, with her voice sounding more alive.

“Ah, heard it from the chief. Finally found her, eh~?” He flaps a shirt, slightly grinning. “Lucky you.”

“So that’s why your smile muscles are exercised~” Marina teasingly jokes.

“Oh? She’s that of a something~?” Why is this Davey acting kinda like Marina about this matter?

“Well, he won’t be jumping from school to school if it's not for catching after this ‘Lena’. Fufufu, sweet, right~? They were childhood sweethearts~”

“Friends. We were childhood friends. And her name is ‘Raia’. She doesn’t know about ‘Lena’.”

“Shame…” says Marina. She has her elbows on the top of a chair, her chin on her hands, and her eyes curious. “I’d love to meet her soon. Ialan always used to describe her as the most angelic person ever.”

“I never did that.” Oh, what a pain this woman is.

“You never met her, sis?” asked Davey.

“Their history started and ended before I stepped in,” she explains.

“Drop that; I have something more important to discuss. Sister, 7 years ago, when I just moved into the house, remember when we asked Aunt Theia to use her advanced clairvoyance to look for Lena’s state?” David's eye twitches a little at the mention of "Theia."

Sis replies, “She said she was dead. Because her existence is undetectable, apparently.”

“And we believed her.”

“Naturally, because she’s named the ‘Greatest Herbal Witch of This Age’. So who wouldn’t,” she justifies, crossing her arms and leaning forward on the chair.

“SHE’S WHAT—” asked the boy who wants to achieve the title of The Greatest Herbal Witch of Today.

“Shush, Davey. I get your point, Ialan. You also said that 3 years ago. The problem with Aunt is she’s too prideful to admit she’s wrong.”

“She said what I saw during the parade was probably an illusion. But I know what I saw; I saw her, and I was right.”

“Yeah.”
“And I met her today.”
“You did,” Marina nods.

“But you see… There is something wrong with her. Her memories are wiped. She does remember how her yesterday went. But the stories she told… they never happened. I was in her yesterday. She wasn’t in mine.”

David neatly aligns the folded clothes. “Maybe she mixed up her dreams with reality?”

“Scary dreams,” Ialan grabs his folded clothes. “We will meet again tomorrow. I have this urge to help her out from her agonizing situation,” he says as he’s about to enter his room.

“Ah, wait a sec,” Marina calls. When he turns back, she tosses him a small first aid kit. “The Batch Head distributed these kits, one per member.” Ialan looks at it, a square zipper kit a bit larger than his palm.

“They just randomly sent this out. I thought it was weird—they never did this before,” said David while checking the inside. Mini-betadine, mini-alcohol, few cotton balls, Q-tips, band-aids, bandages, gauze pads, pretty much all a first aid kit has, but smaller and fewer.

Sis laughed, “Haha! Maybe because you’re not there anymore that they start to learn how to actually take care of themselves?” Ialan walks into his room, clothes and kit in hand.