Day: 3171
Days Left: 2309
Lives Saved: 17
With his mind half distracted on thoughts about Sumit, Oscar's bubbling frustration grew to the point where he scrubbed the pan so vigorously that it flung out of his hands and crashed into the floor, startling the imp.
"Sorry, sorry," Oscar panicked, afraid to have caused any alarm or fear in the child.
The imp checked the pan and spotted a sizable dent in the metal.
"Shit," Oscar breathed before covering his mouth with his hand at such language in front of the imp.
The child repeated the word with a mischievous cackle whilst drying the pan.
"I assume you went to see Sumit then, dear?" asked Ivette, who was sat at a nearby table, going through the shared log book between the kitchen staff and farm, calculating how much food needed to be harvested for next week.
Oscar lowered his head in admitted guilt. "If he gets into trouble one more time, I'm not going there ever again."
"That's what you said last time."
"I know, I know," Oscar sighed. "But this time..." he paused, feeling the uncertainty of his conviction. Shit, he probably would go see him again.
Noticing Oscar's unhidden dejection, the imp hugged his leg and continued to cling to it even after Oscar repeatedly explained that he was fine. With the imp still attached to his leg, Oscar hobbled over to the table and sat opposite Ivette, inspecting her notes and double checking her calculations. The imp moved to sit on Oscar's lap, fiddling with a few pencils as Oscar and Ivette discussed business matters.
"You don't owe him anything," Ivette said during a lull in the conversation, easily discerning that Oscar was still distracted.
"But I'm the reason why he's..." something caught in Oscar's throat and he struggled to continue.
"Listen to me," Ivette reached for Oscar's hand, squeezing it gently. "You are not to blame for that man's actions. This is just his way of dealing and reacting to things. Something else could have happened and he would be behaving like this too."
"Really? Did he do something like this before his memory loss?"
"Well, no..." Ivette let go of Oscar's hand. "He didn't behave like this at all."
"So it is because of me-"
"No, no! Sumit is very different after losing his memories. He was a very patient and polite young man. I had never head him raise his voice or give into anger before. Though apparently, Rin said the friends of his before she met him said that he was just like that, he just ended up changing over time into how we- how myself and the others knew him to be. And he might do so again once he has realised that acting up won't make him happy."
He could have remained happy, thought Oscar, thinking back years before when they were first together. Though Sumit wasn't always happy, struggling with his memory loss just like Oscar, it was still better than now and Oscar was the one who ruined it all.
"Anyway, the point I was trying to make..." Ivette paused, wincing as she considered if her efforts to comfort Oscar was actually just making everything worse. "Sometimes people can't be who we hope them to be. They're their own person. People change all the time, especially if they've lost their memories. You have changed too, dear, in the last few years."
"Because I'm no longer copying Sumit," said Oscar with a slight smirk, before it faded away.
"I know it might never feel like it, but you did the right thing," said Ivette. "I still believe that. You can't have kept up that relationship after realising that you were just acting in a way to please him."
"I could have tried not to do that, though." Oscar shrugged. "Tried to be myself instead of breaking up."
Ivette frowned at him. "I know you have tried, you wouldn't be getting back together all the time if you were making the same mistake as before."
Oscar's nose scrunched up at the accusation, knowing it to be true.
"Anyway, in my personal opinion, I think it is best to leave him alone," said Ivette, then she added quietly, "let him work out who he is too just as you have done."
"So far, he's worked out that he likes to cause trouble." Oscar folded his arms.
Ivette chuckled slightly. "Yes." She stared at the table for a while, before finally returning to look at Oscar directly. "But in all seriousness, speaking from... experience, though it may be painful and difficult, you need to stop trying to help him."
Oscar swallowed, unable to retain eye contact for too long, as if he could not give her that unspoken promise not to.
"I think you realised for some time now, that it just makes things worse."
"So, I should just abandon him?"
"He will find someone else to help him." Ivette caressed the pages of her notebook. "He can make a fresh start with someone new."
Roughly Nineteen Years Ago
Not a bad haul today, Ivette thought as she zipped up her rucksack and slung it on her back, wincing from the weight and the awkward shapes almost poking out of the fabric. She glanced up at the enormous mountain of discarded items that was the Land of the Lost and wondered how long until she had rummaged through it all. How long before she would get bored down here what with the length of her prison sentence, counting down no longer felt like progress. Maybe she needed a hobby, something crafty as reading books was not for her with her attention span. Or a goal of some kind that was more beyond basic survival. She needed-
Ivette turned as she heard approaching footsteps, slow and lumbering. She reached for her knife at her belt, about to strike when she saw it was a young woman, her clothes absolutely drenched and clinging to her tall and skinny frame, her dark hair covering half of her face, only showing one of her impossibly radioactive green eyes.
The woman was heavily panting, clearing having done some sort of extraneous exercise, tired and depleted of energy as she made another dragging step of her foot closer. "Excuse me," she mumbled through chattering teeth. "Sorry, I-" She noticed Ivette's knife finally, and retreated back, her arms wrapped around her waist in retain warmth unfolded and raised in surrender. "Sorry, I just... I just got here and there were monsters in the water and I almost drowned and I'm so hungry and tired and scared and..." She swallowed, gazing at Ivette with large pleading eyes. "Please, can you help me-"
"No." Ivette returned her knife to her belt, sensing no threat, and walked off.
There was a delayed reaction before the stranger called out again, begging for help and expressing her fear of being in the Eternal Abyss and her loss of memory.
"You're on your own, dear!" Ivette groaned back, walking faster. "Rule one in the Abyss, don't trust any other prisoner! I know a trap when I see one!"
"But-" The woman finally started walking after Ivette, though keeping a respectable distance so as not to be stabbed. "We could work together! Two people have better chances of surviving down here than one!"
"I have done fine by myself all these years! Not going to jeopardise that now!" Ivette huffed, feeling the weight of the backpack slowing down her powerwalk and how she might not escape this stubborn woman. She didn't want to have to resort to transforming, not when the blood moon was so close. "Keep following me and I'll bloody shiv you!"
This finally caused the newcomer to stop and perhaps give up.
Ivette continued walking for a bit before glancing back to see the woman rummaging through the Land of the Lost and picking out some sort of ragged green material and wrapping it around herself in an attempt to keep dry. And then she reached for something else and Ivette rolled her eyes, knowing what was going to happen next. The monster that usually occupied that area lunged out of the pile and at the woman with its webbed hands, an amphibious humanoid creature with a lipless mouth revealing its long brush-like thin teeth.
The woman screamed, unable to fight back against the creature with how weak she had become from swimming and the amphibian monster tackled her to the ground, drool dripping on her face, as an antenna popped up from its head, a glowing orb at the end. The woman was caught in a trance, unable to fight back as she was about to be eaten.
Sighing, Ivette swung her heavy filled rucksack at the amphibian, catching the creature off guard and knocking it off the woman. She swung again, lobbing the bag at it until she exhausted herself and used her shoe to whack it until it eventually retreated back into hiding in the Land of the Lost. Catching her breath, Ivette picked up her rucksack and side-eyed the woman who was still in shock at almost being eaten. Again, she sighed, shook her head and walked off.
"I'm not babysitting," she grumbled to herself. "No. Definitely not!"
*
Ivette tapped her fingers on the chair, biting her lip in frustration at herself, still in disbelief at herself and regretting all of her life decisions.
"This tastes really nice," said the woman with radioactive green eyes, sitting across from her. "What's in the water?"
Ivette couldn't believe how easy it could have been to poison this woman, if she had any poison to begin with. "It's as close to tea as you can get here. Just a leaf that has been stewing in hot water for a while."
"Clever," said the woman. "Get what luxury you can."
Ivette nodded, wanting this conversation over and for this woman to leave. Maybe she should try and threaten her again? But it was nice to receive compliments and the woman was certainly very vocal over how grateful she was. Yes, let her stay a bit longer before the praise wore off. Maybe impart some wisdom, enough that the woman would leave her alone for the rest of their eternity here.
"You're only staying here one night," Ivette stressed, having said this multiple times.
The woman merely smiled back, humming a tune blissfully as she sipped her drink, staring around the large empty warehouse. Only a small corner had any belongings in it, with Ivette having made a disorganised pile of what she had salvaged from the Land of the Lost. The rest of the warehouse was unfilled, with so much room left that it felt somehow suffocating, but not as much as the open vastness of the Eternal Abyss, the sector that they were in just a flat marshland with nothing in it.
"This place is quite big," remarked the woman, glancing around. "You're lucky to get it."
"I drove off the previous inhabitants," said Ivette, omitting how she had done so. No one would dare take the place away from her now.
"How long have you been here for?"
"None of your business," snapped Ivette.
The woman lowered her head and remained silent.
They did not speak again until later in the evening when it grew dark, with Ivette telling her the rules of her stay, to not cross certain lines or touch any belongings which the woman obeyed, still showing her gratefulness. However, Ivette struggled to sleep that night, not because of caution at having a stranger nearby but because of the muffled sobs she heard as the young woman cried herself to sleep.
When morning came, the woman was already preparing to leave, thanking Ivette for her hospitality before going out in the Abyss alone.
Ivette hesitated, watching the woman tidy up the bed roll and gathering her belongings, which were just the clothes on her back.
After grumbling her irritations under her breath, Ivette said, "you can stay a few more nights."
"Really?" the woman sniffed, getting a bit teary-eyed.
"The blood moon is coming soon and it is not safe." She waved her hand dismissively. "But afterwards, you're gone. Understood!"
"Yes, yes! Thank you!" The woman took Ivette's hand wanting to show her appreciation but Ivette pulled away. "Sorry," said the woman. "Just... thank you, thank you so much..." She paused, then chuckled slightly. "I don't even know your name."
"Ivette Espinosa," Ivette replied reluctantly. "And you?" she asked, not caring really.
"I..." the woman frowned, glancing away in thought. "I can't remember..."
Ivette studied her, wondering how the woman had already lost her memories considering that the curse did not act that quickly.
"I can't remember my own name," the woman mumbled quietly.
"Just choose another one. It doesn't matter too much down here who you are."
"Did you choose Ivette Espinosa?"
"No, I remembered my name and wrote it down."
"Ah." The woman nodded. She was silent for a long moment in thought. "I can't really think of any names." She looked around for inspiration, at the junk that Ivette had collected over the years. "How about you give me a name?"
"Me?" Ivette scoffed.
"Well, you will be the one using it more than me," the woman chuckled.
"A name..." Ivette shrugged. "Maria."
"Maria?"
"Maria."
"Maria."
This was bad, Ivette thought. It was like naming a stray animal when you only plan on feeding it the once. Eventually, it will be living in your house permanently. But that won't happen. It was just a few more nights. She won't be getting attached to this stray.
*
It was not just for a few nights. At first, Ivette extended the agreement to wait until the effects of the blood moon had properly vanished and it would be safe, or rather safer than it could be for Maria as there would be no out of control monsters hunting her down. But then those extra days turned into weeks as Ivette could not with a good conscience let the woman go off on her own in this dangerous world knowing nothing. So, she imparted her wisdom, any survival tactics she had learned herself and waited until Maria's mask finally arrived, Maria now being able to transform into a monster and protect herself. Of course, Maria would need training to use her mask correctly which meant she had to stay a few more weeks. But then after that, when all the excuses had been exhausted, Ivette told Maria that she could stay... she supposed... if she liked... Ivette didn't care one way or the other.
Ivette couldn't imagine how she went for so long in the Eternal Abyss alone. Maria could be quite annoying sometimes with her awful singing and incapability of sitting still and quiet for long periods but her joy was infectious. Wherever she went she found something of interest and fun, inventing games which Ivette sometimes reluctantly joined in. And then there were times when Maria got too bold for her own good and teased Ivette endlessly about her height and old age which was replied with Ivette whacking her with a dinosaur claw stick she had found.
It was difficult to describe their relationship as Ivette did not want to admit that anyone down here in the Abyss could be a friend; she certainly would not have chosen to be friends with Maria outside of survival reasons what with how much she got on her nerves and her immaturity at times. Maria was an odd mid of occasional childish and playfulness with the out of pocket wisdom she carried, and the cynicism of an old person, sometimes more cynical than Ivette which she did not think was possible. She was sometimes stubborn to a fault, and then other times would give up so easily, losing hope and defeated over the slightest challenge. A list of contradictions this child was and so unpredictable in her nature. But there was one thing that was constant, a routine she developed; every day Maria would go back to the ocean where she had entered this world, and stare up at the sky, at where the closed portal was and wait a while. The woman would sit there and do nothing for perhaps an hour or so to begin with, but with each passing day, she remained at that beach a little longer, until eventually that was all she did. She would climb up to the highest point on the beach, close to the portal as she could and wait for hours on end. Some days, Ivette had to convince her to come down and eat and sleep, or when the weather became truly terrible. And Ivette wished they could back to the time when she would spend their days together, collecting things from the Land of the Lost and making trinkets and ornaments out of them, or drinking tea, or trying to grow more plants. But they couldn't back to those times anymore, it was too late; Maria had already been lost to that rock spire ages ago and could not leave. She would cry at night, at how much she wanted to leave the Eternal Abyss, Ivette having to cradle her to sleep like an infant until she sobbed herself to sleep or left to go back to the rock spire. No matter how many times Ivette pleaded with her, to lose hope of escaping and just wait out her imprisonment it fell on deaf ears.
And then when day, Maria finally left. After so many failed attempts, she managed to escape when the portal opened.
Ivette watched from afar, seeing the silhouette of the young woman disappear into the light. She remained standing there for a long time, staring vacantly at the sky and the rolling waves on the beach.
"Did you know her?" asked a voice.
There was a pause before Ivette finally turned her head to see an elderly man by her side, dressed in white. "Yes," Ivette eventually managed to mumble in response. "I had known her for... maybe a couple of years or so, maybe three."
The man nodded. "She will be back soon enough."
Ivette frowned at him. "She will?"
"She won't be the same person, I'm afraid to say." He looked at Ivette. "I've known her for quite some time too. They always wipe her memories away."
"But she will be back?"
"She won't be the same person you knew. It will be like meeting a stranger."
"But she'll be back."
Apologies for not posting yesterday; I had to cover for someone at work and didn't have enough time to finish the chapter.
Thank you for your patience!