‘Closed..’
‘Forever..?’
The little girl still could not believe what she was seeing in front of her eyes.
‘Why… Astraea.. Michael.. why is this happening?’ She fiddled with the figurines inside of her pockets and noticed that Michael’s figurine had crumbled further.
The man from before left quite a while ago, the only one left was the little girl in what seemed to be a now empty street.
She could hear some shouts and screams in the far off distance, however, she did not care anymore, it did not concern her.
Just as the little girl was about to pull out the two figurines, she heard a voice from her side.
“You caused quite the stir, haven’t you?” It was another woman dressed in fully black clothing.
“Hello, miss?” The little girl kept up her etiquette, even though she was homeless, she made sure to learn from others how to be kind.
Especially to those older than you as this woman looked to be in her late 30’s.
“Name’s Evelyn, what do you think of coming with me?” The woman ignored the little girl’s kindness and offered her a deal she would find difficult to refuse.
Evelyn looked fairly wealthy, her blue eyes shining like the stars in the night sky.
‘Oh.. it’s already time for bed’ The little girl thought, however, she soon noticed some irregularities.
‘I don’t feel cold anymore?’ She checked around her entire body, making sure that everything was intact.
The little girl dismissed her own confusion and looked back at Evelyn “Miss, I am sorry, but, why would I come with you?”
She found it quite strange, she always came around here and no one wanted to take her in.
So why now?
However, the next words that came out of Evelyn’s mouth sounded cold “What choice do you have?”
‘What?’ The little girl stepped back as a bad feeling started welling up inside her chest.
“No, no, you seem to have misunderstood” The woman chuckled and pointed behind the little girl.
And upon turning around, she saw a bunch of guards running around, screaming and looking for something, or maybe even someone.
“They are looking for you.”
The little girl turned back to Evelyn with a confused expression clearly plastered on her face “Why?”
“Hm? Do you not remember what you did?” It was the woman’s turn to be confused.
‘..What I did?’ The little girl grasped the two figurines tighter, further crushing Michael.
However, she was not able to notice at the moment, she was too preoccupied trying to make sense of this situation.
Evelyn sighed and walked up to the little girl before crouching down.
“You killed them.”
‘I… Killed them?’ Those words made her heart race as she grasped the figurines even tighter, hearing a small crunch.
“I was walking by when I saw a bunch of threads appear out of nowhere and then out of nowhere, heads fell in front of me, color me surprised when I realized you were the one behind it.”
Evelyn sounded proud instead of terrified which further confused the little girl.
“W-What do you want from me!” The little girl began stepping back rapidly.
However, even she herself was surprised by the speed at which she was stepping back, it seemed impossible for her frail body.
Evelyn just watched on silently, an ever-growing smile on her face.
The little girl began running around at speeds she was previously not capable of running, it made her feel excited.
‘Michael, Astraea, are you seeing this?’ She stopped and excitedly pulled the two figurines out of her pocket.
And the moment she did, her previous mood was completely ruined, despair was starting to kick in.
The figurine of Michael had managed to completely turn to dust, meanwhile, the figurine of Astraea was perfectly fine.
It seemed strange how that was even possible considering they were in the same pocket.
However, even though one survived, the other did not.
‘Michael…’ She sniffed, tears slowly welling up in her eyes.
“Girl… stop.. I will get you more of those figurines if you want any, all you have to do is come with me.” The woman said while stretching out her hand.
She was on the verge of tears, but the thought of once again having Michael back by her side, made her stop thinking.
“Okay..” She grabbed the woman’s hand and suddenly, they were no longer in front of the theater.
Instead, they were in front of some sort of mansion, much bigger than anything the little girl had ever seen.
Evelyn took the both of them inside and sat the little girl down on a comfortable chair, however, despite her fatigue, she did not want to sleep.
“Girl, I will make you those figurines, in exchange, won’t you assist me with some personal matters?” Evelyn said with a small smile.
‘Figurines..’ The little girl absentmindedly nodded, ignoring the part where she was basically signing off her freedom.
“Good, very good!” Evelyn started laughing hysterically, her previous mask had fallen off, now it was the real her.
“I will train you well, I will make sure to put your skills to good use…” She said ominously, but to the little girl, it sounded like a pretty good deal.
She gets to have her friends back and all she had to do was work around the house? Who wouldn’t take this deal?
“Anyway, girl… no, what should I call you? It’s getting a bit annoying to keep calling you ‘girl’ ” Evelyn’s hysterical laughter stopped as she put on her previous mask.
‘Name..? I don’t have one..’ No one had ever given her a name, she was alone for as long as she could remember.
The only friends she had were the two figurines.
Michael and… “Astraea” She said out loud without even noticing.
“Astraea? What a beautiful name” Evelyn started nodding before calling out for one of the maids to come by.
“Get Astraea here some new clothes and draw her a hot bath” She said and the maids quickly got to work.
‘Astraea… I am.. huh?’ The little girl suddenly became wobbly, her head felt as if it was splitting apart.
The pain wasn’t as bad as she felt back in the alley, however, it was still no joke.
However, she could not tell what was going on this time, the pain felt senseless.
And soon after, it quickly disappeared, with the little girl now staring directly at Evelyn’s eyes.
‘Greed?’ A thought went through her mind before her eyes widened.
It felt like someone else was inside of her mind, but she did not dislike that feeling, it didn’t exactly feel foreign.
Instead, it felt familiar, it brought her peace.
However, that peace was short lived as in the next second, another burst of pain shot through her head, and this time, she could see some memories appear in her mind.
They were little and barely noticeable, however, to her broken mind, they were like clear pictures she could finally cling to.
And in some of those pictures, she saw herself, or more specifically, an older version of herself.
She was standing somewhere in a place that seemed nearly unidentifiable.
And right next to her was a man whose face she could not see, however, the emotions were strong enough to be felt.
Love, obsession, and all kinds of other emotions that she could feel.
And the only other thing besides the memories that she had gotten was a name.
It was a name that she was ever so familiar with.
‘Michael…’ The little girl called out in her mind as she looked at the man in front of her older self.
However, much to her surprise, the man disappeared, with only her older self remaining, now staring directly at her.
The longer she stared, the more memories she gained, they contained experiences, knowledge, and much more she could put to use.
But as she was starting to get immersed, her older figure disappeared, replaced with an empty and blank space.
However, unlike before, she now had some of the memories to fill the blank space, memories that were now hers.
The memories replayed her childhood, it was similar to hers, yet it deviated in some paths, giving different outcomes.
Yet, at the very end, everything aligned, Astraea was the little girl, and the little girl was Astraea.
However, before she could finish watching the rest of these new memories, the maids walked in with a bunch of clothes, placing them down on the table in front of her.
Evelyn smirked “Take your pick, Astraea..”
