I can't breathe. What's happening? My body burns. It's so hot in here. What's on top of me? Someone, anyone, please help me. Please, I can't take this anymore. It hurts, so, so much. Please, will someone have mercy? Mama… Papa… someone, anyone! Please! Help! I can't take this, my body, I can't breathe, please, send help. Please… help me… I can't take it… I think I might just… go away. Yeah, I'll go away, just for a bit. Anything that'll get me away from this… from them… from him… especially from him…
Bye-Bye.
Elizabeth Thompson sifts through a vast variety of dresses. Her hands run through the various fabrics, feeling the cool cottons and smooth silks. She thinks of the younger girl sitting behind her, and settles for a pale yellow dress with quarter sleeves and white lace trim. She picks it and a pair of stockings, then bends to get the lone pair of black shoes. Despite the countless amounts of times she'd mended, dyed, and glued the shoes, the obvious sign of age is ever-present. I wish I could buy her new shoes, she absently thinks as she walks over to the girl.
Her mind wanders to her lousy job, which just barely let her keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs, as she sets down the attire. She strips the sitting girl of her button-up nightgown and lifts her arms. She takes the canary colored dress and puts the girl's arms through the proper holes, then her head, then fits it over her torso. She places the girl's arms down to her sides and gently pulls her hair out of the dress, letting it cascade down her back. She gets down and puts her small feet through the starch white stockings, then pulls them up, over her long legs, and stops at her thighs.
"Up you go," she murmurs as she lifts the girl to her feet. The girl remains standing, still as a statue. Elizabeth crouches down once again and shimmies the stockings higher, over her hips. "And down you go again," she sets the girl down. She remains near the ground and puts the black shoes on the girl's feet. "There we go," she finishes as she fastens the shoes and stands. She lightly grabs the girl's hand and pulls her to her feet, walking her to a simple wooden chair and setting her down again. Experienced hands run through the girl's golden hair, smoothing stray away hairs and eliminating knots as gently as humanly possible. "You have such beautiful hair," She sighs as she parts a section around her face, pulls it back, and ties it behind the girl's head. Satisfied, she takes a large black bow from the nearby dresser and clips it over the tie. "It's to your booty, girl!" She laughs happily as the slightest of blushes dusts the girl's creamy cheeks.
Just then, the bedroom door is nearly knocked off of its hinges by an energetic Patricia Thompson, a short girl with golden hair and considerably womanly figure; Elizabeth's younger sister. "LIZ! Black Star's back from German! He's here to stay! He's here to stay!" She jumps up to her sister and tackles her to the ground. "Liz! This is so great! You can't imagine how happy this makes me!" There are tears on her pink cheeks, but her cyan eyes are bright with joy. Elizabeth tries to be mad at her sister for tackling her, but fails miserably, for she hadn't seen her this happy since the love of her life had departed on a three year long mission to a foreign country.
"Gosh, Patty! Get off! I can't breathe! And he wasn't in German, he was in Germany, you idiot," She looks up to the girl on the chair and adds, "I have to get Maka to her appointment! Get off, you ditz!"
Patricia gets off of her seemingly annoyed sister and hurdles onto the silent girl. "Black Star's coming back, Maka! He's coming back for good!" She rubs her cheek against Maka's and gives her a tight hug. Maka remains still, but there is a slight paling to her skin. Seeing this, Elizabeth immediately gets up and removes her sister's arms from Maka.
"Patricia Thompson, watch it with Maka!" Patricia momentarily loses her excitement, apologizes, and then resumes her thrilled hopping.
"I'm sorry, Liz! I'm just so… Ah! He's coming back! He's finally coming back!" Elizabeth genuinely smiles and hugs her sister.
"Yes, yes, I know! And I'm happy for you! But please, let's get Maka to her appointment. We can't be late again," Patricia nods, but doesn't seize her grinning as she skips away, most likely to the kitchen. Satisfied with her sister's questionable cooperation, she turns to Maka. With deliberate cautiousness, she takes the girl's smooth hands with her calloused ones and lifts her to her feet. "Come on now, baby. Today, we might be able to get you something better than this," She skillfully guides the girl out of her room and to the short hallway. The pair pass a wall of old photographs containing bittersweet memories, a cluttered bedroom, a tiny bathroom, and stop at the clean yet jumbled kitchen, where Patricia is scarfing down a burrito. Elizabeth rolls her eyes and continues walking past the equally minuscule living room. "Come on, Patty," she shouts as she takes a ring of keys from an abandoned ashtray.
"Yeah, coming!" shouts Patricia with a mouthful of burrito and handful of cookies.
Elizabeth sighs and exits the cramped apartment, Maka in tow. "Sheesh, Patty, keep up will ya?"
