Chapter Text
“Oh my-- word. You kept this?”
Mary turned around, confused, her hands full of old papers that they would sooner burn or shred then keep. Part of cleansing her home, she found, was getting rid of old memories she didn’t care to keep, along with creating new ones.
Lilith held up a torn and worn magazine, the edges creased and the front ink fading. It took Mary a moment to even recognize what it might be. But as soon as she made out the silhouette of the city, of New York, her face flushed and she went--immediately--to take it from Lilith’s hand.
“Y-yes,” Mary replied, reaching.
The magazine was only held farther away as Lilith scrutinized the cover. “Top Ten Things to Do in New York Before you Leave It?”
“Yes… I got it as a gift from a classmate.”
Lilith raised an eyebrow. “What? Did you do a history tour of New York?”
Blue eyes widened as Mary shook her head. “N-no, I spent almost a year in the city for university… Lilith, could we please just toss that?”
There was hesitation in Lilith’s face as she flipped through the worn old thing. The pages folded so neatly along the already worn creases.
Pause.
“No.”
Mary opened her mouth to say something but was surprised to find she didn’t even know what she wanted to say. “No? Why keep it? For a scrapbook?”
“Nine of these things are things you’ve never seen. Number ten… eat a bagel…”
“That’s the one I’ve done.”
Lilith rolled her eyes. “Number nine, Root for the Mets?”
“I don’t like sporting events, now can we just forget it?”
There was a meaningful look shared between them, with Lilith’s intensity and Mary’s trepidation towards whatever idea Lilith was formulating.
“It is the summer holiday, Mary. You haven’t got things to do, really. You’re not grading, the curriculum hasn’t changed… let’s go do these things, as silly as they are. You need to get out of Greendale. Away from… this nexus of a bad luck town. Despite what your name is, I have to say that warding is not particularly your strong suit.”
Mary thought about it. Thought about it as she resumed cleaning out her closet. Her desk. Cooking dinner.
And by the end of week, by the end of the last day of term…
Lilith came back to find the magazine on the freshly polished dining table, two train tickets to New York tucked into the pages.