''I'm sure you're going to love it. It's a huge room, and the best part is the bath. You could probably have a swimming race in there with at least twenty people. You know how to swim, right?''
Lorelei nodded.
''Great!''
Brant went on and on about every detail he could say about the room, even the most insignificant ones. His unyielding chatter was slowly drifting Lorelei to sleep. All this walking and running caught up to her. Before she even realised it, her legs gave out. She leaned towards the wall and started breathing heavily.
''You okay? I'll carry you there, alright? Take a bath and rest up for tonight.''
He lifted Lorelei in his arms, and that's when her hood came off. Revealing her long, silvery hair hanging towards the ground, almost wrapping around Brant's arms like tentacles. Brant was noticeably taken aback by the color of her hair. Lorelei could just tell by his facial expression. He wanted to say something about it, but refrained from speaking any further and contented himself by bringing her to the room where he dropped her off on the round bed.
''I'll bring ya a change of clothes for the night and for tomorrow. You can undress just fine, right? Hop in the bath; I will leave now.''
On these words, Brant left the room, shutting the door behind him. After everything that happened yesterday, feeling comfort and softness was something Lorelei could not refuse. She rolled and rolled around the bed, but it never felt like she would ever reach the end of it. She lay flat on her back, staring at the hanging chandelier. She felt herself sinking into the bed and losing control over her body. Lorelei thought she would soon fall asleep, but Brant's voice from behind the door made her snap out of it.
''Did you get in the bath yet? I brought your clothes.''
''No. I'm goIng iN.''
Lorelei got off the bed and took off her cloak as well as the rest of her clothes and searched for the bath entrance.
''WHere Is it?''
''The big glass door, right corner of the room from the bed. Just slide it to the right, and it'll open. I'll come back later to drop off the clothes.''
She followed the instructions just like Brant had told her and was met with a glass door that she slid to the right. Steam was the first thing that wrapped around every inch of her face. Lorelei thought that this feeling was fairly pleasant and entered. She couldn't see much inside the bath because of all the steam blocking her view, so she aimlessly wandered around trying to find the pump, but fell into the pit of water. She let herself slowly sink into it. She didn't try to swim back up; she didn't try to fight the water pulling her down. She just closed her eyes and embraced it. The water was not as hot as it made it seem; it was warm. Almost as if it had been perfectly controlled to stand between being too hot and being bearable for the body. Being submerged and nakedly embraced by the water was comforting to Lorelei whom lacked the feeling of being embraced for far too long.
''Comin' in!''
Those words startled her, and she jumped back to the surface. She looked down at her feet and noticed she was barely submerged in the water. It only went up to her knee; what felt like sinking in the ocean was really only her imagining it. She walked to the door and peeked through to see Brant placing new clothes in the wardrobe. She watched as he handily hung them one by one with delicate care. Almost as if he was handling glass. Once he was done with them, he walked out.
''Towel should be on the right. Take any; they're all clean. Sleep well. If you need anything, I'll be upstairs!''
He almost screamed it to make sure Lorelei heard him before closing the door. His heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway as he walked away from the room. Lorelei saw the row of towels hanging on the right and took the one closest to her. They were all the same: long, white, and fluffy. She spent the next five minutes hugging the towel before walking towards the bed. She had noticed it before, but the bed was abnormally big. A bulky, round, tailored bed just for her. She noticed a blue robe in the middle of the bed. Lorelei crawled to it and lifted it in the air. A marine blue night robe seemingly way too long for her, but she loved it. Lorelei got out of bed and put it on in front of the mirror. It was, just like she thought, too big for her, but it didn't matter. She twirled around the mirror until she got dizzy and jumped back in the bed, spreading her arms across it. It was a long day she spent, a really long day, she thought. Moving forward, but not forgetting the past. From that, memories are born. It was what the man had taught her. It was what Clovis had taught her. She felt her eyelids getting heavy and naturally fell asleep.
''Good job, Lorelei.''
…
Flowers. So many flowers, but they all look the same.
''What are those?''
''Cosmos, Lorelei. They are called cosmos.''
I see. Cosmos. It's the first time I've heard that name. Mister, Silvia, and Maria never mentioned any flowers named cosmos. They are brown, just like the treat Mister used to give me.
''Can I call them chocolate cosmos?''
''If you desire.''
I stretched my arm down to grab one of them, but it rejected my hand. All of them did.
''Is it because of what I have?''
''No.''
Then why did the flowers not want me to touch them? I was upset about it, but it was fine. At least this time I was speaking to It again and not having that bad dream. I don't want to see it again. It's too scary. I want to dream about having lots of snacks, but this is fine too.
''Where am I?''
''What's this big tree over there?''
''Why is there no sky here?''
''Why are the branches stretching out like that?''
I asked It so many questions, but It only answered the small ones. Why won't anybody give me any answers? I want to know too.
''You will. Take your time.''
It always reads in my mind like this. I don't like it, but sometimes I want It to know what I want without me having to say it. Is that a selfish thing to do?
''Not at all.''
I smiled at It. I knew where It came from. I'm sure of it. It's the tree. The tree speaks to me every time I come here. I started running to the tree. This time I was going to touch It. I ran fast, really fast. I've always been good at running fast. Mister always told me that. The ground… It trembled again.
''Am I going to leave again?''
''I'm afraid so. Until next time then.''
When is this next time? I wanted to ask It, but I knew It wouldn't answer me, so I kept running until I bumped into a door. In the middle of the flowers, a door appeared. It was the first time I saw a door like that. The doorknob… It looked like a face crying. On the door, there was the same crest the figure had in her right eye. Even though the doorknob looked weird, I still opened it.
''Are you sure you want to go in there?''
The ground trembled even more than before. It was the tree; It spoke to me.
''Why? Is it bad?''
''No. I was asking because I know what's in there.''
It cared about me, and that's when it hit me. Whenever I leave, does It feel lonely?
''How could I feel lonely? I do not feel such things.''
I didn't understand what It meant by that, but I'm sure it must've lied.
''Goodbye. See you next time.''
I waved high up at the tree to make sure It saw me and jumped through the door.
''Hello? Is there anybody here?''
The scenery changed. It was plain grass. A field of plain grass. Here the ground didn't tremble at all. So I wanted to take my time looking around, but there was nothing but plain grass. Then I saw a gray stone far from me. A single gray stone. I walked towards it to see it from closer. In the stone, I saw a number. A long number that I can't read. At my feet, in front of the stone, there were three singular white flowers. Someone must've planted them there, because there was still a bit of dirt around them. Maybe it was a grave for someone? I didn't know. I touched it out of curiosity, but then more of them appeared. They almost all seemed similar: the same three flowers, the same stone, but not the same numbers. Each one of them had a different number inscribed on it. Some were short enough for me to read, like 101 and 304, but all the rest were part of the numbers I learnt with Mister, so naturally, I wasn't able to read them. More rows of flowered stones appeared; those ones still had the numbers, but there was now a crown of flowers on them. It gave them a softer tone compared to the first row. The further I walked, the more stones appeared. I thought it would never end. Until I saw a little girl in front of one of the stones. She had the same silver hair as me, but I couldn't see her face since she was too far from me. I thought she would know something about those graves. So I screamed.
''Who are they? Tell me!''
It wasn't her who responded to me; the voice came from afar- the voices. They sounded cold, sad; all of them did.
''Who are we? … Tell us.''
I screamed at the girl again.
''Who are you? Tell me!''
Again. It wasn't her who responded. They did. They spoke as if they were one and the same this time.
''Who am I? … Tell us.''
...