Lina:
Listen, I'm so sorry for bothering you considering all that's happened, but I felt I just couldn't leave you in the dark, not anymore. I'm an old friend of Loria's and well, I know about your situation. If Jake gets this to you in time, I'll be in Cafe Detestez on the river. I own the joint so you have about twenty years to find me before I die or make enough money to go on vacation. Either way, I look forward to our talk, and wish you the best of luck.
Bobby
Lina folded up the now crinkled slip of paper and tucked it into her back jeans pocket, mulling over the contents in her mind. She sat on an old, fragile wooden bench, with brown paint peeling off to reveal splintering pine. She wondered if the cafe was still really there. Would Loria really talk to someone about her?
She imagined it would be lonely, the life of a guardian, living light years from home, tasked with the taking care of a child she'd never known. Lina could picture herself giving in to that kind of loneliness, being desperate for someone to share her burdens. It would be hard to fight that kind of instinct.
The sudden cry of a distressed duck snapped Lina back to her original train of thought, before the mysterious letter was torn open by anxious fingers. She got quickly up from the bench, producing a creak in its rusty joints. It was fall, and a few orange leaves were scattered across the cobbled ground. A cool breeze chilled the air, causing Lina to hug her warm fleece tight against her body.
Her hands twitched as she walked, out of nervousness much more than the shivers creeping through her bones. She traveled up the pathway slowly, torn between a desire to reach her destination as soon as possible and an intense fear of the unknown that was holding her back. When she arrived at a cherry red door set into a cream-colored, brick apartment complex, it was with shuddering breaths that she grasped its knocker and sent three heavy thuds echoing throughout the building. Footsteps could soon be heard approaching the entrance, accompanied by a wizened old face shortly thereafter.
"Hello there, what can I do for you today miss?"
"Umm, um, well, I was just wondering, me and my mom used to live here, until, we had to, er, move away. It's just, I was hoping that I could be able to see it one last time..."
"Oh are you miss Lina! I heard what happened before, so very, very terrible. My neighbor told me about it, when I moved in, was trying to scare me from buying the place, if you can believe it!"
The old woman was a wretched sight. She was shrouded by a long, tattered silk robe of the brightest red, and only about half of her teeth remained intact. In fact, most of her features were not at all present as they should be, including her hair and eyebrows.
"Well that's not very nice."
"No, no it wasn't!" The woman huffed, obviously still deeply offended and baffled by the wrongdoings committed against her.
"Well do come in!" Lina was led upstairs, the lady claiming that the bottom floor was much too messy for company. The pitter-patter of tiny feet could be heard running across kitchen-floor tile...
"Why don't I show you your old room first."
Lina's brow began to perspire, palms sweating. Her eyes had been starting to well up, but she wiped them away frequently enough to hide it from the elderly tenant.
"That sounds great."
She walked into a room that had often plagued her dreams. Its walls were plain as could be, painted the most boring shade of off-white that could possibly exist. The entire room seemed to be designed for a quick getaway, no holes in the wall signifying frames might have once hung there, no scratches or drawings, no signs of any life at all. Only a mirror still stood intact, forgotten.
The lady noticed Lina's sudden shortness of breath and trembling legs. "Why don't I give you a moment alone."
She nodded gratefully in response as the woman left, bending down to sit on her knees, and crying mournfully at the empty room, so devoid of life.
She sobbed for many minutes, racked with grief. This was the first time she'd ever been back since the death, and memories were coming flooding back. Her first step, first laugh, first time Loria read her a bed time story.
But despite her overwhelming condition,a single part of her body still managed to remain true to her purpose. One hand reached out slowly, sloppily toward a loose floorboard, and pulled it up to reveal a compartment beneath. Laying before her was a box - her Box. She opened it quickly and held up what was inside. A slim piece of wood, carved like a wand.
Curiosity temporarily replacing grief, Lina brought the beautifully crafted artifact closer to her face, studying its ornately detailed surface. The wood was olive green, carvings of rose stems wrapping around it. It smelled a little bit of olives too, forcing Lina's nose into an unsavory wrinkle.
She looked back at the box, noticing a very detailed and complex encasing, similar to the wand in its flourish and style. It was lined with sapphires and silver trim. Knowing the poor old tenant was certainly not letting her out of the apartment with buried treasure, she put the box back under the floorboards and wrapped its contents inside of her jacket.
Lina stood up slowly and turned towards the door, pushing herself off the ground with the force of her hands against the floor. When she had turned all the way around, the mirror suddenly greeted her with an unfriendly image. Her usually sky blue eyes were red, bloodshot, tear stains visible on the sides of her cheeks. She looked deeply into that face, deeply into those grieving eyes for what was only a second, and marched steadily downstairs to thank the tenant for her hospitality and head on her way.
She soon found herself back in the crisp autumn air, strolling down by the piers and shops. Having had enough drama and intrigue for the day, she decided to stop in a small restaurant on the water, hoping for a break from life in general. She ordered a hamburger the size of her head and a hot chocolate for old times sake.
She scarfed down her meal rapidly, pausing intermittently for air, but other than that, nothing seemed to slow her in her mission for nourishment.
"Excuse me miss, are you Lina?"
"Yes, how are you?"
"Good, and you?"
"Very good at the moment thanks."
Lina continued to devour her food as the man stood there at her table, waiting to be noticed. It took her quite awhile to realize that she had not heard the departing footsteps characteristic after most waiter-customer exchanges.
"Sorry, can I help you?"
"Oh, I thought you knew. I'm Bobby."
The last of Lina's food stopped in her throat, and she flushed bright red. "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't realize this was your cafe, I just wandered in."
"Oh I see," Bobby replied, pulling up a chair to her table. "Well I'm just glad we got a chance to meet!" The man was cheerful, his ruddy cheeks and twinkling eyes just prominent enough to distract from his overstuffed belly.
"Umm, me too."
"I know this must be hard for you but I just needed to discuss this with someone. I mean, it's crazy, the whole thing!" He lowered his voice. "That you're a-an alien."
Lina leaned forward across the table, speaking in hushed tones, "Shh, keep it down! No one can hear you!"
"Oh yes, sorry, sorry. I can get a little overexcited sometimes"
He paused for a moment, scanning the room, gesturing toward Lina's mug. "Do you like your hot chocolate Five?" His tone was more sinister now, his eyes locking with hers.
"How did you know i was number-" The hot chocolate. It was familiar, eerily reminiscent of the kind Jake's mom had made for them all those years ago. Suspicion started to creep through Lina's bones.
"Who are you Bobby?"
"Well, I suppose my formal name is Setrakus Ra."
At that moment, the walls of Cafe Detestez began to grumble, causing the entire restaurant to shake with violent force. "Help!" Lina screamed instinctively out, but no one was there to answer her call. Everyone had conveniently left moments before.
Slowly but surely, the cafe drifted out to sea, its walls now fallen to reveal a floating barge, previously hidden by the layers of brick and ceramic tile decorating the humble eatery.
"It's interesting really," Setrakus Ra said. "How trusting you people can be."