In 18 years, Lyra Queen, has yet to:
- Kiss a boy;
- Meet her mother;
- Go through a near-death experience.
In a week, she is going to do all three.
cover by @sereneur
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Lyra
Looking at us from the ajar door was a twenty-something-year-old woman, who was obviously not my mother. Her eyes were just one or two shades darker than Lucas and her red hair framed her face and seemed to touch the small of her back. Definitely, not my mother, possibly my sister but I doubted that.
"Sorry to bother you. I'm Lyra, this is Lucas and..." From the door, I explained to her in small, relevant bits of everything important and that would make her help us. I refused to believe we had the wrong house and that this whole trip was for nothing. She listened and looked between the both of us with interest before responding.
"I'm almost sure you're looking for the woman who lived here before me," She opened the door a little wider inviting us in. She was careless, if not for the boxes spread across the floor, for the fact that she was letting two strangers inside her home just like that. "I'm actually just moving in. Sorry for the mess. I'm Janet, by the way."
We entered through a short hallway leading straight into the leaving room which had nothing more than a TV, still boxed away and two puffs. She walked us over to the kitchen, equally as empty with only a counter, a few high chairs, a stove, and the fridge. The windows were massive but covered by thick curtains that were surely meant for a bedroom, not a kitchen. That must be why the house is so dark. This woman doesn't know how to place her curtains. Boxes of different sizes and colors covered nearly every surface, tagged by big letters written in black markers and some in blue. The smell was familiar to me. Not quite sure what smell or from where but it reminded me of something.
"I moved here less than a week ago. She hasn't even finished moving all of her stuff out of here. Apparently, she's moving to a different town so it's a little slow," She placed glasses of an orange liquid in front of us and both of us smiled as a thank you. I was too shocked to answer so I let Lucas do all the talking. I was in the right place and I had the chance to meet my mother but I was one week too late. "I'm sorry to hear about your story but I'm happy as well. She's so kind, it's hard not to like her. I can't quite remember her name, though. I'm sorry. I took care of everything with her husband. You look so much like her, it's incredible actually."
So she was nice. And married. My heart jumped weirdly at that. Was that good? That she was married. I mean, I didn't have any fantasy about her getting back together with my father but it certainly complicated things, right? That she was married. And worse, that she was moving out of Baldwin. Baldwin was the closest city to Blume and it was still a few days' drive. Imagine her moving somewhere I could only go to if I took a plane or... Lucas's hand sneakily caught mine under the table. He could tell I was overthinking.
"You said she was moving to another town. Do you know which one?" She shook her head at Lucas, hair following each movement of her head.
"Sorry," She looked uncertain for a second, "I know that'd be a breach of privacy but she still has some boxes of photos she hasn't picked up. Maybe you could look at it just to make sure it's her?" This woman might as well have been my guardian angel.
