Chapter 3: Path to change
It was time. Lucy had packed her small sized backpack which had all her items she owned for self. There weren't many actually. Most of the cosmetics and dresses were Madam Carry's arrangements. Yet she managed to own the dark red lipstick of the perfect quality which led to three years savings to purchase it.
Fondly, Lucy placed it among the clothes she had folded and packed. Checking around the room if she left something important behind, she exited her room into the silence struck late at night. Except for the dim ancient music audible from Madam's room, Lucy crosses over the door to the out path.
Madam Carry's door suddenly opened. "Lucy? Will you come in once, before going?"
Curious, to he girl adjusted her scarf she had worn upon the jacket top and jeans.
Once inside, she switched the music off. Walking over to the table and chairs, they seated in their designated places.
For a moment, Carry initiated nothing. Where Lucy wondered if she was alright.
"The world outside is not as good as it seems. God only knows-" Madam and Lucy were surprised hearing the word. It was forbidden to address a 'God', 'Priest' or anything resembling near that.
The world broke all relations with the Almighty such that it seemed it was people who cursed the Lord for never being worshipped.
"I am sorry. You all don't believe him but once upon a time we used to. My grandmother used to take me to church everyday. Then a year later, she was gone with him. I was very angry at him because I felt he went away and he took my grandmother away too. It was so childish of me. I was 4 back then."
As she fell silent Lucy prompted, "Then what happened?"
"Then everyone around me started disappearing. I blamed him," she claimed while watching upwards as if talking to someone directly. "Then I understood, He didn't do anything. It was part of life. I supposed His life was over too and he went away. But we humans have the tendency of not accepting, unsatisfied. We all blamed him."
"You don't think Go- um, He is at fault?"
"I think it was supposed to happen one day but we humans wanted to stay delusional. All of us acting like the damsel who is waiting for someone to help them in need. Well, not that my thoughts matter." Her tone changed into a merry one. "I, actually called you to warn you for looking after yourself. And no matter what, remember, you will always have a place here. Whenever you want to."
Lucy smiled to the woman. Protests and poverty was on high scale nowadays, corresponding with the deaths increasing day by day.
A single doctor failing to save a person leads to that doctor getting killed. That gave rise to many of them resigning from their jobs in the fear of losing own life.
"People don't realise, it's the people only who are responsible for this day."
Carry watched the girl, "Those are very true words. But hold your tongue if you want to survive. There are not people around, they are animals. Watch out."
"Oh! I called to give you something but I have done everything but. You should leave soon. The sun is on its toes."
Madam opened a drawer from her side to reveal a red pouch containing something. She handed the pouch to Lucy.
Pulling the string open, she looked up to Madam who encouraged her to peep in. Resuming she put her hand inside. Something hard and substantial felt to touch.
Finally removing it, Lucy found a necklace of emeralds. It was a beautiful one but the gift itself brought questions.
"Madam, this is very old. Almost ancestry. How did you get this?" Carry was stumped hearing the girl. She didn't even think of the possibility that Lucy was smarter than she appeared to be.
Quietly scolding herself for gifting the girl her own mother's necklace, it would have been better if she had sold the jewellery for hard cash.
"Yeah. An ancestral property from my family. I have no daughter of my own and always thought of you as my daughter, so this fits perfectly around your neck." Carry hopes her lie didn't give away. The day Lucy found how many measures she took for having her for herself, Carry hoped she would be dead by then.
Else Lucy would really come to kill her.
"Carry, this is too much. It's too precious. You should take it back."
"No!" The sudden denial caused Lucy to stare her suspiciously. "I-I mean, if you take this I'll feel like I did one good thing for all the bad things that came to you. Because of me." She added.
Lucy blinked repeatedly. The woman appeared guilty as if she had done a heinous mistake which was unknown to her.
Should she dwell in it? Then she saw the bag she carried. She was going to start afresh. Whatever bad things Carry did, Lucy wanted to keep that all behind.
"Okay. Thank you."
Madam walked from her seat to Lucy, hugging her strong.
"I will miss you little Lucy." She whispered to her.
Lucy bid farewell to the woman. The entire time since she left Carry's room to the outside of opera hall, she was stuck on the 'Little Lucy'.
Did she hear it before? It felt like someone used to call her that and as much as she thought of the two words, she could not remember who was the one to call that.
Taking hold of the first wagon that came in front of her, Lucy hopped in while turning back to see her previous residence disappearing from sight.
It was a farewell to that life. "Farewell, my friend." Not only to opera but to dance too.
Lucy recollected the memories of dances she did. Every time she went on the stage, it gave her a sense that if she showed her true self, she could land upon her soulmate. The only one who will understand what she wanted to say through her dance.
Over the years she improved and waited. For the person to come up to her and tell her he knew. He knew what she went through. She waited so much in this dumb world that one day she decided on leaving this line of work.
Dance was the thing she felt lost in. Yet, it meant nothing if no one understood that. Why should she dance for them then?
Each time she was done, her heart dropped in disappointment. None, not even her trainer and Manager Carry got the gist of it.
After she gave up searching the man to understand her, she vowed to stop dancing. That period began now.
As much Lucy was stubborn on her spirit, she was hungry after two hours of rigorous travelling. Wagons were too uncomfortable but the only affordable option for now.
The buses and trains required identification which she didn't have. She did not know what family she was from. Or what was her last name.
Without the dance group she was less to no one here. The thought terrified and thrilled her at the same time.
The wagon truck stopped at an inn after most of its passengers requested the driver to stop for refreshments.
"This one should have oysters Momma. I want to eat oysters!"
"This one also doesn't have oysters. Behave Jessie or I won't take you anywhere with me!" The girl Jessie and her mother were one of the companions Lucy had while travelling. She inquired they were heading to a coastal part of the country. The name of that place was so strange, she couldn't spell it proper.
"She is a bit child like." Jessie's mother explained her daughter's weird behaviour even though she appeared in twenties. Maybe older than Lucy herself.
"Oh. That's okay. She is cute."
The inn was small that Lucy and other seven travellers sat together in the tables.
The mother and daughter sitting in the same table as hers; Jessie's mother chatted, "The reef in Ynitjro is said to have cheap Oysters. Jessie never ate one. She loves oysters."
With that said, Lucy squinted her eyebrows. If she never ate it, how is it she loved them?
Lucy suspected if the mother-daughter duo were weird.
Jessie's mother might have caught up yo the strange way Lucy watched them. "It is unlikely, Yeah? The name of the reef is like that because a Korean took hold of that place. We all know how people love to take hold over any place and name it after them to show who it belonged to." Although the woman didn't know what she was thinking, Lucy decided best not to talk a lot.
For all the talking was done by them.
When the driver called for the passengers to get into the cheap ride fast, Lucy was the first to head in. The girl Jessie held her mother's hand wherever she went so she calculated if she got in first they both could be left behind.
Lucy hopped in, grabbing her bag which was lying horizontally which was odd as she had placed it vertical.
The possibilities could have extended further like why was only her bag visible? Where are the others? But her head was paining from the back, the reason of which she couldn't decipher why. As much as she fought, she did fall unconscious in the end.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone