A Day To Remember
"Where are we going?" Luz asks.
The only person who can answer that question is Amity, the same person who follows closely behind her, keeping her hands on her shoulders to make sure she doesn't bump into anything or get off track. "I told you, it's a surprise!"
"What kind of surprise makes you put me in a blindfold and walk for miles?"
"A really good one. And it hasn't been miles, stop being a baby!"
For what's seemed like all afternoon, the two girls have wandered through the woods of Bonesborough like this, seemingly to no end. Luz has had enough problems lately without some sort of shenanigans to get her into trouble, but she knew not to argue with her girlfriend when she told her they'd be leaving school to take care of something important. If it's important to Amity, it's important to Luz too. Even if she has been feeling crummy.
Thankfully it would seem she'll finally discover what's really going on as Amity stops her, hurrying to circle around her before she frees her eyes. "Alright, we're here," she says to Luz, waiting for her to take off her blindfold. She doesn't hesitate long to, and when she does, Amity shimmies her arms all joyfully towards the direction of what appears to be just some old, dilapidated building. "Ta-Da!"
"What is this?" she asks with a little chuckle.
"This… is the Bonesborough Museum of Humancraft," Amity answers, smiling proudly.
Luz tries not to burst her bubble too much, but she finds it hard to get too excited. "It looks like a run down department store."
Amity's smile doesn't wane though. "Well, no one really knows what it is. Some say that it came from the human world. It just showed up in town one day, and they turned it into a tourist attraction until Emperor Belos shut it down."
"So you thought it would be a good idea to come to a place restricted by the Emperor himself?" Luz questions with a raised brow before smiling. "I'm so proud of you."
"You better be. I'm skipping fifth period just to bring you here," Amity tartly reminds her.
"Skipping class? Amity, I don't know-"
"Before you say anything else; Luz, I know you've been feeling down the last couple days. You don't have to hide it," her girlfriend begins, finally cutting through some of the tension between them. "If you don't want to talk about it, at least let me bring some fun into your life for a little bit. Okay?"
It's true. Luz hasn't been feeling herself lately. A lot has been on her mind, and it's made it difficult to really be happy. However, she also knows that Amity is right. She could use some fun, and who better to have it with than her favorite witch.
"Alright. But if we see any trouble, let's ixnay on the ueseumay."
"Yeah, no, I'm actually kind of terrified. But let's think positive!" Amity tells her, and with that, they cautiously make their way into the old 'museum.'
Upon entering, they are pleasantly surprised to see that there's no sign of the Emperor's Coven. The best this place has to offer in that regard is a warning poster on the door of the building, but other than that, things are quietly copasetic.
Looking around a bit more, Luz actually feels some of that cloudiness in her chest casting light as she realizes the truth. "This is just an old department store! Just like the ones back home!" she chirps, and she and Amity share a smile before she scurries further like a child on Christmas morning.
Never in her fourteen years did she think she would be so happy to be in an old Mart Mart, but just being here is enough for memories of her time back home to all flood her mind. The more basic things like appliances and pharmaceuticals don't do much for her, but seeing things like boxes of her favorite cereals and characters from her favorite movies plastered on packages and posters all warm her heart with nostalgia.
For a few minutes, the two girls go on like this. Luz points out something fun about her human home, Amity laughs at how funny it is or nods at how interesting. There's a lot to see, everything from those weird 'television' things that humans apparently obsess over, to toys and board games that make both girls remember that their homes maybe aren't so different.
One aisle in particular stands out for both of them. "Huah!" Luz loudly gasps as they step into it, and Amity just raises a brow as she studies its contents. There's plastic spiders and rats, fake skeletons and organs, and pumpkin buckets all varying in size, shape, and even color.
"Why do you guys have normal witch stuff?" she wonders, but Luz is more than happy to explain what's really going on.
"No, silly! This is Halloween stuff!"
"Hallowhat?"
Luz's face animatedly glowers. "You guys don't celebrate Halloween? What is wrong with you?" Amity just shrugs, but Luz won't let it slide so easily. Not when something as important as Halloween is at stake! "Okay, so once a year all the humans get together to dress up in funny costumes and go around pulling pranks on each other and giving each other candy! They call it Trick O' Treat, and it's amazing!"
It's a very bizarre concept for Amity, but she decides to humor Luz as they both take turns picking up and checking out the strange plastic novelties that the so-called Halloween department has to offer. "I see," she simply says, putting down a fake dismembered head. The real thing is cooler.
Luz is much more excitable about the whole thing, though. She takes time to appreciate everything from the fog machine cauldrons to the candy corn driveway lights, and even the candy corn itself. Too bad it's expired though. One thing in particular really catches her eye though, and she almost freezes in place upon noticing it.
"Heh, I know this," she utters as she approaches it. A Jack O Lantern carving kit. Amity has no idea what it is or what it is for, but she keeps that to herself to instead listen to what Luz has to share with her. "Every year me and my mom would take one day to just sit around and carve pumpkins together. We would get so messy, and she'd always save the pumpkin seeds to fry them up. I hated the way they tasted, but she loved them. Heck, I think she liked Halloween even more than I did."
Something in her demeanor changes. Her eyes aren't as vibrant, her voice is more quiet. Amity notices it, and she feels her heart sink a little. "Luz?"
She doesn't respond right away. She just skims over the carving kit a little more before putting it back in place and letting out a heavy sigh. "The thing is, I hated those fried seeds. But I'd give anything to eat one with her right now."
She doesn't look to Amity, but she watches as Luz looks straight ahead at nothing in particular, losing herself in old memories from a world she left behind. It isn't long before she's sniffling and tearing up a little, and that's when Amity knows to intervene. "I'm sorry I brought you here, Luz. I didn't mean to make you sad."
To her surprise, she softly smiles at her. "Don't be sorry. I know you were just trying to do something nice for me." It takes her a moment to meet her gaze, but she's able to summon the strength to do so with time. "If anything, I should be sorry. I've been shutting you and the others out when I should have just told you why I've been feeling sad."
There's hundreds of things that all come to Amity at once. She could tell her never to be sorry for feeling emotions, or that she is always here for her. The sentiment is clear, it's the right things to say that are hard to find as she keeps looking at the other girl. It doesn't bother Luz as much though, because she decides to just go ahead and vent out her frustrations.
"Here lately, I've been thinking a lot about whether or not I'll ever make it back home. Don't get me wrong, I love you. I love Eda, King, Gus, Willow, the others…" She tries to fight the tears, but they fall anyway as she continues on. "But there are so many things I left behind. So many things I never got to see and do. And worst of all? I miss my mom. I miss her so much…"
Although she isn't sure what to say just yet, Amity does know one thing. She will be here for Luz, and she shows her that as she wraps one of her arms around her, gently rubbing her shoulder for comfort. She stays quiet a little longer, letting her sweetheart get everything out that she needs to say.
She doesn't expect her to become angry though. "I'm so stupid!"
"Luz, don't say that. You're not stupid."
"Yes I am! I'm an idiot!" she argues. She then reaches into her pocket for her phone, her movements prompting Amity to disengage from her hug. She intently looks at the device for a few seconds, then averts her eyes to wipe more tears away. "I have all these stupid videos and pictures of cats and Azura and dumb stuff that doesn't even matter on saved, but I don't have any pictures of my mom!"
For a moment, Amity stays quiet. She carefully considers what to say about all of this, knowing how fragile she feels about something she doesn't have much control over. With the passing time though, Amity's mind wanders back to an old memory, one that she thinks Luz might understand.
"Can I show you something?" she asks, and Luz turns back to her to see an inviting hand. "Give me your hand."
She wants to be angry, but she doesn't want to direct it towards Amity. Not when she's doing so much to try and be here with her. So she accepts her hand, holding it while the other girl gently rubs her thumbs over her skin.
"When I was little, my mom and dad didn't work together. Mom stayed home with us, but my dad would always leave to go out of town. Sometimes he'd be gone for days at a time," Amity forlornly explains, her voice timid and somber. "One night, I was really missing him, so I went to talk to my mom about it. She did something that I'll never forget."
"What did she do?" Luz asks, the tears subsiding for the sake of empathy and curiosity alike.
"It's better if I show you," Amity tells her with a soft smile. She then leans closer as if she wants to kiss, but instead, she gently presses her forehead against Luz's. "I want you to think of a time that you and your mom were really happy together. Try and focus on it for as long as you can."
It's an unexpected gesture, but Luz decides to let her have this. "You're not going to scramble my brains or anything, are you?"
"I would never risk hurting you. You know that," Amity insists, and Luz just takes a deep breath before closing her eyes.
"Okay…"
She doesn't overthink it, she just allows herself to feel the pain that comes with remembering times with her mother. Through the pain though, there's happiness. Laughter shard, smiles exchanged, unconditional love. One memory seems to stand out from the rest though as she quietly reflects on it, a day where she and her mother carved those Halloween pumpkins all afternoon on a sunny autumn day. Tears come to her eyes again, and Amity's eyes well too as she uses her magic to see the memory.
"There it is," she says, smiling as she views it like a photograph. "It's beautiful…"
For a moment, nothing is said between the two. They just focus on the memory, their hearts in sync with equal wistfulness. Through the silence though, Amity opens her eyes, a strange blue glow shining from them.
"Amity?" Luz calls as she realizes what's going on, but Amity doesn't get excitable. She just calmly extends her free hand out to her.
"Let me have one of your glyphs."
It puzzles Luz, but she realizes there's no time to question this right now. Instead, she reaches into her pocket for one of her sheets of paper, and she lets her girlfriend have it. With great composure, Amity closes her eyes again to concentrate on the piece of paper, and within seconds, a magical blue surge of energy emits from her hand.
Luz watches as the paper is shrouded with this magic, awestruck with how Amity seems to be doing this after sharing her memory with her. It somewhat worries her, but only until Amity opens her eyes again, letting out a gasp as the blue energy dissipates from her hands and eyes.
She takes a second to recover, then invites Luz to take the paper from her hand. Although somewhat apprehensive, she follows her lead...
"Oh my gosh… Amity," she says, fighting back more tears as she looks at what her girlfriend did for her. Where there was a blank sheet of paper before, there's now a fully detailed image of the memory of Luz and her mother carving pumpkins together on that autumn afternoon, the two of them smiling brightly over their shared moment of love and fun.
Amity blushes over her reaction, nervously rubbing her neck as she thinks of how to respond. "I'm sorry if it didn't come out right. That was my first time trying this."
For Luz, there is never a moment of reconsideration. She feels the same thing she does looking to the picture that she does looking back to her best girl, and she is sure to let her know it with warm smile. "It's perfect. I love you Amity. I love you so much."
Like before, hundreds of things come to mind for Amity as she tries to find the perfect thing to say. Seeing Luz smile again helps her decide quickly though. "I love you too."
And with that, they wrap their arms around one another, hugging each other tightly as they share their newest happy memory together.
THE END