She was dead. And with her body buried in a sacred funeral, he took a thumb driver out of her table's drawer.
Oh no, he didn't meant to. She wanted me to have it, was a lie he prepared in case someone asked. But, no one ever ask him anything anymore. He was not the favorite people to have around. Who would, in their right mind, want to be associated with him. A King of Thief, he used to proudly declare himself, since long before he could remember, seeking attention while elusively avoiding any accusation the law enforcement tried so hard to arrest him with.
Now? He didn't care at all.
Even so, he still prepared another argument. It was in his nature,he would say, as part of his brain would reminded him of the morality he was not familiar with. Then, they wouldn't press for more, because that's what they expected of him. They knew too well.
One thing he didn't prepare was, "What the hell are you doing here?"
He bolted out of her room, out of her house, leaving behind a man he knew by his voice as her brother suspecting him of doing something illegal. Or suspecting him of doing some nefarious act in his dead sister's room. And t was not like he took something valuable, like the shiny double blades hanging from the wall, or the family heirloom she told him before.
It was just a thumb driver, he grounded out in his mind. Yet, he couldn't help but slammed the door of his apartment and threw himself face down on the bed.
The need to breath made him turned his head. The clock on his bedside drawer lighted up with 21:56, too early for him to fall asleep. Then his gaze shifted to the opened laptop computer on his table. He looked at the clock again as his hand fisted the thumb driver out of his side bag. He fiddled with it as he heaved a sigh and made step to start his computer. The blank of his loading screen made a sad reflection of his face and he reconsidered his intention of robbing a dead girl's privacy.
Their last meeting was an unpleasant one to say the least. They shouted at each other and he almost made her cry, before she retreated with a whispered 'I hate you' and he was left alone with fuming heart. That night was cold, but their fight made his face flushed hot, his fists shook and he clenched his jaw. It went downhill from there.
However, the happy color of his desktop flashed and he stopped questioning himself. He stuck the thumb driver to the USB port on his whirring old computer before hesitation crept out of his heart for a second time.
There was no folder when he opened it, only thumbnail of videos with date as its names. He scrolled down, and down, and down, until the screen blinked and it scrolled down on its own. It came to a stop. Seven hundred and sixty four items, it said at the bottom of his screen. Clicked 'back', then 'USB Drive (D:)' once again.
So, like the masochist he was, he clicked on the first video and set it to play continously, then leaned back in the chair as it started to play.
A frowning young girl with fair skin and blonde shoulder-lenght hair appeared before the camera, seated in a neat bedroom with poor lighting.
"Dear me?" she cringed, "Um…" awkward silence, she fiddled with something out of the camera. "Well, my name's Fanny. I guess that's it. See you later?"
She went silent, but the camera was still on. She chewed her lips and pursed it, as her eyes avoided the camera, darted over ever so slightly. "I never do this before. It's silly. I only do this because my teacher tasked us to make self-video and to talk about anything. So here it is. See you never."
She bent slightly and clicking something on the keyboard. The screen went blank. It took him by surprise, at how he already missed her and how the emptyness around him felt less heavy.
Three seconds later, another video started to play.
"Dear me, again. It's me, again. Been awhile," She smiled, less forced than in the first video, "I still don't know how to do this properly, well, maybe there is no correct way. Because, no one else will ever see this, so, I'm just gonna say whatever I want. And I've decided to try this again, as you know, like, a letter to my future self? So, when I want to watch my silliness again or torture myself with self-humiliation … and from now on, I'd start all my future vids with 'Dear me' as my greeting.
"Anyway, here we go with a proper introduction. My name's Fanny but it's not funny at all. Pun intended. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm lame, got enough classmate to remind me of that almost everyday. But let's not go there. It's my second vid, I don't want to set a dark theme here," she paused, looked like she wants to say something more, but there was knockings on her door and muffled voice behind it. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She said, louder, a sheepish smile on her face, "Actually, it's almost midnight and my brother shouted from outside my room, telling me to stop whatever I'm doing here because I'm too loud for his sensitive ears. Talk about hypocrite."
The screen went blank again before the third video played.
"Dear me, I'm sorry," Her eyes opened wide, hands clasped over her head, as she whispered. He sat straight up right away, clearly missing something big over sometime she didn't record a video, holding his breath. She stayed silent for awhile until he considered to fast forward it, and decided against it incase he would miss some. She took a shuddering breath and look right in the camera, for the first time.
"The things is … I said I was gonna give a proper introduction but my brother came and I forgot." She could no longer hold it and her laugh burst out of her grinning mouth. "I got you good, didn't I?"
He released his breath, rolled his eyes, and leaned back on the chair, feeling tired already as her cackle echoed from the speakers. It was contagious, and he soon found himself smiling despite the annoyance he felt a moment ago.
"I'm serious, tho. I'm gonna give a good intro this time. So, here we go, again." She took a deep breath and sat upright, stared right at the center. "My name is Fanny. I'm a student now, but I'm counting my days before I'm officially part of the Imperial Army. I like to do many sports, like volleyball and badminton and pole vault. And no, it's entirely different from pole dance. God knows my classmate always tease me about it.
"But let me tell you something, tho. I have this desire, this dream that I could never forget no matter what. You see, I like to spend my days outside, whether just laying under the a tree, above it, or hiking that hill behind the public library," he glanced to the opened window beside him, but he could not see said hill, as his neighbor was drying a large blanket right outside of it, "But the real reason why I do pole vault is 'cause it feel's like flying. And that's my dream. I want to fly."
She was joking. Or so he would thought if he didn't know the outcome already.
The next video, and the one after that, or the other one after, that was all she talked about. Well, not always, as she too, have time to talk about her strict and loving big brother, her favorite trees to nap, boys, and an annoying snack maker across the street that she was sure have put a gazilion tons of addictive in it.
He continued to play the videos. Sometimes he watched in intensity, trying to remember her weird smile and her tone-deaf singing. Sometimes he watched just to fill the void of his own loneliness. The weeks went by more slowly, now that his so called co-pirate was gone as well.
Flying, he thought as he layed down on his bed, hands under his head, eyes glued to some cracks over the ceiling, while Fanny did her hair and talked about her latest experiment and how she almost succed in her flying trial. Her non-stop talks soon became a lullaby and he was about to fell asleep, if her shrill voice didn't startled him.
"I did it! I did it I did it I did it!" it became a mantra, and his thundering heart beat matched her excitement perfectly. He sat up abruptly, his wide eyes searched the screen as she shouted 'I can fly' over and over. He grinned, watching as the camera swang tree by tree, and he was just now became aware that she was outside, actually flying, or close to it anyway, by steel grappling hooks, with her camera attached to her body. Her first time flying.
He liked her, the thought left a bitter taste in his mouth as he remembered their very last encounter. He ran his hands through his hair and heaved a deep sigh. He stood, headed over to the bathroom, while the next video started to play, "Dear me, I met a thief and his monkey crime partner." He let it play. Her voice a constant sound in his empty home.
Then, the dreaded day came and he gripped his chair, wanted to bolt out of his own home as her tired face appeared. The video after their last encounter. He couldn't even remember what they fought about.
"I hate Claude."
She paused for a moment, as she looked like she was trying to sort her thoughts, while he only heard the deafening roar in his ears and a heaviness that suffocated his chest. He clicked 'pause'. Her squinted eyes stared down at him, frozen. And like the good little masochist he was, he replyed from the start.
"I hate Claude."
Clicked.
"I hate Claude."
Clicked.
"I hate Claude."
Eventually he let it play, and he was filled with tightness in his chest, hotness in his ears, churning feeling in his stomach, coldness in his hands, tremor in his body, he could no longer identified the emotions he felt. Or couldn't feel.
"I hate Claude."
And he fled like fire burned under his feet.
In the empty apartment, Fanny's voice continued to narrate from the whiring old computer.
"-she said she would come if I called, and she did! Nothing like the suave Princess she displayed in the army…"
"-out. She was out. I knew it. She was a witch. All my life, I've been spending my money on her sweets and she strike again. A witch I tell you…"
"-was there you know. And I want to smack some sense into him. One more thievery and Claude will be no more. A jail, for sure…"
"-oh Heaven above, an angel, can you believe it? I know some people are beyond redemption but there was an avenging angel, green light dripped out of him. With his shiny green-lighted sword. I swear I could hear Claude claim that it would be in his hand by next week. I kind of miss him, sometimes, when I forgot for a moment how…"
"-best tree ever. With big red leaves and strong branch, I would spend my life…"
"-here we go again, with me and my empty…"
"-better hear me, my future self, don't ever make the same mistake like I did. I lost my friend, and maybe I won't get him back ever again…"
Another video loaded, and an image of Fanny stared back without anyone watching. "Dear me, I have a mission tomorrow. I can't say what, but you must know it anyway, being we're the same and all."
She turned her head to the side, looking through the window beside her at the blue sky that day. "And after that, I would reach out to Claude and take all my words I said that night and apologize. I hope that he will hear me out. It suck to live without a friend." She gave a small laugh. "And I dare to want us to be more than that."
Her smile was clear, pure of hopefulness and promises, and then the screen went blank.
In three seconds, her voice started to narrate from the whirring old computer, as she began again.
"Dear me? Um… Well, my name's Fanny…"