Festival for Lucy

The gathering of people created a mesh of sweat and humidity around the streets of the festival stalls. Lucy’s family, through their experience through the years of managing a stall at times like these, found themselves near the center of the high concentration of people. Business, as usual from the combination of location and quality of goods, passed by quickly, resulting in them selling out well before the darkest of the night.

It was another sight for Camie to commit to her memory. Everything was different from how she saw it from Ficus’s panel. Sitting at a stand in the stall as a “decorative display to lure in customers” according to Lucy, Camie was able to see the volume of people pass left and right. People came to greet Lucy and her family as well as buy the popular candy flowers. Everyone was different, but they were all happy.

Their smiles were contagious, and, before she knew it, Camie’s face slowly tilted up into a grin. However, it was an empty grin and a fleeting happiness. At the present, Camie was influenced by the happy atmosphere, but she still had not forgotten about the events from the week prior. Albert’s sudden dismissal and Lucy’s frequent trips to the secluded rooftop garden gradually gnawed at her conscience. She thought everything would be fine at first, but as the week dragged on, she began to feel that something important to her was missing. As soon as she became accustomed to the crowd passing by or visiting the stall, her heart faded, leaving only her smile as a front. By the time the family began to pack up their stall for the day, Camie’s face dropped into an emotionless stare.

Lucy noticed it halfway through when she was clearing the table in front. Holding Camie’s tiny hand, she whispered, “Camie? Is something wrong?”

Camie’s hand tightened around Lucy’s finger in an affirmative response.

“Hold on, Camie, five more minutes and I’ll be done.” Lucy felt helpless being tied up with her current duties. She sped up her hands, worrying that Camie would suddenly break into tears and have the entire city be aware of her existence. “I’m here Camie. I’m here. I’m here Camie,” she said, repeatedly under her breath in an effort to comfort her without alerting her family or the people around her.

“Mom! I’m done!” Lucy finally announced. “Am I free?”

Her mother was busy talking with the next stall neighbors, so she had to pause to give a reply to Lucy. “Sure!” she replied with a wave to come over to her. Lucy did so, and was handed a 100 mark note. “Enjoy yourself,” her mother said to her ear before returning to her conversation. Lucy gave a bow of thanks and promptly took off with Camie in her arms.

In the main street, people were swarming on the sides at popular stands and flooding the center to reach their destinations, be it returning home early or finding a friend or simply reaching an area of interest. Lucy, hugging Camie in her arms, strangely did not feel out of place. To the people passing by, the motionless doll she held simply looked like a possible prize or something that was bought at a stall. Moreover, they were too preoccupied by their own business to care.

Lucy was also too preoccupied to wonder if she stood out in the crowd. Because she didn’t want Camie to break down in public, she had brought her away in a hurry. Now, she was pacing towards one end of the street to find a peaceful place with significantly less people, so she could divert her full attention to Camie. However, she still had yet to notice that Camie was already recovering within her embrace.

Feeling better from being in the comforting hold of Lucy, Camie’s eyes began to wander again around the streets, buildings, and people. Once again mesmerized by her surroundings, Camie was lost in thought and awe. There were lights, twinkling red, gold, and white, and they jumped across the roofs and skipped over the streets in a geometric structure. Now that she saw them up close, it was like they were beaming down at her. They stretched out into stars and moved to her gaze, as she continued forward in Lucy’s embrace. The clicks from a lady’s heels, dressed to impress, could be heard apart from the crowd’s chatter as the person wearing them brushed past.

From the lady passing by Camie felt a sense of familiarity. Although she was mostly hidden by her cloth which displayed an elegant hue of red dust that fit the image of a blushing moon, there was someone in Camie’s memory that resembled her. The way she walked, her height, her smell. Everything pointed back to her first memories.

“Ficus?” The name that escaped Camie’s lips by surprise blended into the babbling ambience. Despite that, the one word turned the loud environment into white noise between Lucy, Camie, and the unknown lady. Lucy and the lady stopped in their tracks at Camie’s voice.

“It is Ficus, isn’t it?” Camie repeated her claim.

Lucy's heart stopped for a second. “Camie? There’s people…” Her sentence trailed off as she became aware of her surroundings.

The people streamed past the three, unbothered and ignorant of the magic before their eyes, as if they were engulfed in a bubble separating them into their own private world. Lucy noticed that their mouths were moving, but she couldn’t make out who was saying what. In fact, she couldn’t make out what was being said at all.

“Troublesome, isn’t it?” the lady spoke out without a shred of caution from her surroundings. “The soul’s cognition paired with a bond of familial love, that is.”

Lucy was still coming to grasp what was going on. “Who are you?”

“So it is Ficus,” resolutely declared Camie.

“Ficus? Your original owner?” Lucy whispered into Camie’s ear.

Ficus walked closer to Lucy until she was at a comfortable talking distance. “You must be Lucy. Pleasure to meet you, and thank you for taking care of Camie while Albert was gone.” Ficus turned her attention towards Camie. “It’s been a while, Camie.” She smiled warmly. “Quite a few days since we last met.”

“It’s been weeks. No. Months!” replied Camie, throwing her hands up to exaggerate how long the time was since she last saw Ficus.

“So it has.” Ficus was impressed by Camie’s growth in knowledge. “You taught her well,” complimented Ficus to Lucy.

“Th- thanks.”

Something to say… something to say. Lucy racked her brain for a conversation to start with Ficus.

“There’s no need to linger and chat, really.” It was as if Ficus could read Lucy’s mind. “I came to enjoy the festival. See what there is to buy. That sort. But if you want to chat, you can come walk with me.”

Ficus’s offer hovered in the air before Lucy. “That would be nice,” she admitted. “But what about Camie? What will she do?”

“It’s reassuring to see that you think about her at every chance you have.” Her voice sounded truly relieved. ”Camie moving around and talking in your arms shouldn’t be a big deal right now. We’ll continue in this manner.” She twirled her finger around, pointing at the bubble of space that the people unconsciously left around the group.

“Come along, now.” Ficus turned to continue on her original path. “The night is still young, and there’s a place I want to see.”

Carrying Camie, Lucy quickly walked to Ficus’s side. “Who are you, Ficus?” she asked.

Ficus simply smiled and stayed silent. Lucy fell back and couldn’t bring herself to ask another question after that. The two stayed silent for the rest of the walk, Lucy following closely after Ficus, who guided her like she was parting the crowd in two. The people talking outside of their private bubble all sounded muffled. Everything was so easy to gloss over. Everything except for the person in front of her.

Camie paid no heed to the special area that was spread between the rest of the crowd. Her focus was also on Ficus. The comforting feeling by staying with Ficus was so nostalgic for her. All she could do was to burn the image in her eyes and hope it wasn’t the last time she would see Ficus.

A light fragrance began to waft into the vicinity of the trio. Ficus stopped at a bakery’s stall. They were selling biscuits packaged into plastic bags at a tremendous rate. Bags were flying off the shelves while money was exchanged just as quickly.

Ficus lightly laughed. “Even though you followed me, you didn’t even try to chat. Was I too intimidating?”

“Yes.” Lucy answered curtly. “Yes you were.”

“Oh my. Straightforward. That’s cute.” There was no tone of indignity from Ficus in reaction to Lucy’s reply. Only amusement. “Yet, there was one problem your straightforwardness caused recently.”

Lucy wasn’t entirely sure of what Ficus was hinting at, but she had a good idea. It was probably associated with the issue surrounding Albert. She stayed quiet, seeing how, no matter which way she looked at the problem, she was the reason why he told her to leave.

“Cheer up.” A bag of biscuits was brought to Lucy, which Camie tried to snatch. “Not for you, Camie,” Ficus whispered to the doll before returning to comfort Lucy. “You still have a chance to fix that gap you have between Albert.”

Lucy meekly accepted the bag. “How do you know?”

“Hmm.” Ficus had a knowing smile on her face. “I think it’s best if you take a blind step by yourself. If you want to find Albert, he’s somewhere in this crowd.”

“What if I don’t want to find him right now?” Lucy didn’t think she was ready to see Albert yet, and it showed on her face. Anyone could tell that she was feeling dejected. It was contagious enough for Camie to clutch herself closer to Lucy.

Ficus lifted Lucy’s chin. “Then you might not have time for tomorrow. Isn’t it a coincidence that the festival’s most important day matches up with the anniversary of Albert’s most memorable day? Don’t lose heart, Lucy. You can do this.”

Her words seemed unreasonably confident to Lucy, but, at the same time, because Ficus was the one that spoke those words, Lucy felt reassured. There was no way she should lose hope now. Her lips curled into a weak smile.

“Thanks, Ficus.”

“No need. It’s enough already that you are taking good care of Camie.” Ficus patted Camie on the head. “Be a good doll now, Camie.”

“Mm!” Camie gave one strong nod of obedience.

“I’ll have to get going now, Lucy, take care.” Ficus stepped into the crowd, and the babbling around Lucy started to fill into understandable conversations. Talks about what was popular, where a couple should go next, and approval over something a person recently bought.

The sudden return into the world left Lucy exhausted. She headed over to an empty bench at the back of the wall of stalls. The chatter was once again in the background ambience, but this time, it was done at a normal level. There were no people, and the trees that lined the main street on a normal day reached to cover the lights from the festival, casting shadows over Lucy.

Camie fiddled around with the bag of treats in Lucy’s hand. It rustled as she moved each biscuit around to find all the shapes and designs in the bag.

“Do these really taste like a ray of sunshine?” Camie asked, turning towards Lucy. She noticed that the smile from earlier had turned into a blank stare. “Lucy?”

Lucy snapped back from her thoughts. “Yes, Camie?”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes…” Lucy was about to finish there, but decided to tell Camie everything. “Not really. No. It’s just that I don’t want to see Albert yet.”

“Ficus said to do it now though.”

“I know, but…” her voice trailed off. “You wouldn’t understand, Camie. I just don’t want to meet him.”

“Why not? Even if I don’t understand, you might, Lucy. That way, you can say it in a way that I can understand.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Lucy stared at Camie’s puppy eyes from being left out. They exchanged looks a few times. ”Fine. I find it a pain to meet him. I think it’s better to talk to him after we both calm down some more. I don’t want to be too reckless, or we might never talk again. I’m worried my emotions will get the best of me and I’ll say something that I regret. Plus, what if he doesn’t want to talk either? I just think it’s better if we wait a couple days before we meet again.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand.” Camie turned forward again.

Suddenly, she raised both of her arms. “But you should try again! You’ll never know. And you should trust Ficus’s words. Because Ficus is never wrong.”

“Ah, how nice it must be, to be so naively optimistic,” Lucy said, in a light hearted manner.

“Hey! It’s not optimistic. It’s the truth!” complained Camie, flailing her arms.

Lucy laughed. Camie’s trust in Ficus cleared the hesitations she had with meeting Albert.

“Very well. If you insist, Camie.”