Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

July of 2025, Antwerp, Belgium. It’s a warm and sunny day, the city is Bustling with tourists from all over the world. The street vendors are sweaty, and the waffles are crisp. Everyone is chatting away to some point, with the occasional people yelling for no reason. One apartment complex inside the square has an art museum on the first floor. Inside that complex on the third floor lives Maya and her cat.

Right now, Maya’s slick black cat is sitting on her lap. That cat is purring up a storm!

“Naiomi…” Maya says as she keeps stroking the cat.

“Muurrrp! Muurrrp! Prrrrrr~”
“Naiomi, I have to go back to work.”
“Purrrrr~!”
“Oh fine, just don’t jump on my computer again.”

As soon as Maya picks up Naiomi, she starts squirming like a fish on a rod and jumps. Not without nicking her skin. Maya walks back to her bedroom, in which she converted it to part-study.

She opens up her computer and works on her side game. It’s for kids, and she’s making it after a series of complaints came in about having no under 13 games.

She does a janky test run, the game’s code works, now onto-

“NAIOMI!”

And the keyboard crashes under Naiomi! All her tests are gone, the code is in a hundred different tabs, and the test-sprites are corrupted. Maya looks at her cat in a mixture of annoyance/disappointment. She looks back at her computer, powers it off, and goes over to the bathroom.

Her clean dark-brown hair reaches her chest, she puts in her daily low-pony, freshens up her natural makeup, and decides to go for a walk. She leaves Naiomi alone and walks down to the first floor. Obviously, the art museum is now too packed with tourists to even enjoy it. So she goes into mainstreet, it's still somewhat hot. The street is littered with shops and people, so she goes to her favorite clothes shop to window shop. It’s closed today! So she goes to a coffee-shop that is too packed. Then to the park, where it’s too hot, then to the center, where its too loud, then to the vendors, who ran out of waffles, then, and then, and then-

She just goes back to her apartment. That little cat looks sad, so Maya cuddles with her and finishes work.

Now it’s night time, the city is still going as Maya is just relaxing with her cat. The TV is playing a popular Belgian show: Temptation Island. The night soothes into sleep, Maya is getting ready for bed. She thinks it’ll be another peaceful night, until her phone buzzes.

Oh, it’s an EMail from Mymy. What is it this time? One of her many news reports? Something about history? A troll? Or, whatever Mymy sends.

Nope. It’s an Invite to the class reunion.

All of the sudden, Maya is overcome by anxiety.

“WHAT ABOUT HOW THEY TREATED ME?!?!?!”
“WILL THEY STILL THINK I’M A FREAK?!?”
“WHAT WILL MYMY THINK!!!?????!!”
“WHAT IF IT'S STILL EXACTLY LIKE SECONDARY?!?!”

Maya is absolutely freaking out and talking to herself like a crazy person, her mind is racing, she pacing all over, the cat wakes up; until she realizes that she hasn’t seen her family in person since she moved out.

In fact, Coco hasn’t talked to her since graduation.

She still feels uneasy and tries to reach out to her Best Friend Lina, forgetting that Lina always goes to bed at 9:30 PM, unless she’s out with Maya. She’s always there for her, but this is something which has to be answered urgently. Sadly, cats in real life can’t talk like in Sailor Moon. Maya lies in bed, with her brain jumping from “Yes” or “No”.

She accepts the invite, at 11:30 at night. An hour after she goes to bed. All that she can say is “fuck”.

Today may have been the invite, but tomorrow she has to plan, and leave the next.

Chapter Text

Maya wakes up as Naiomi wakes up. The morning is the same. Wake up, feed the cat, feed yourself, get ready and-

start packing.

Maya immediately dashes off with somewhat unbrushed hair to her computer. She becomes a keyboard warrior, typing and saving away. She restores her code, locks and saves it. Then she re-makes the test sprites, uploads it to the locked files. She rapidly posts announcements on every single one of her boards, trying at every possible moment to not make a typo. The glitter of her MMO’s banners fly by her, now distracted by who’ll take care of poor Naiomi.

Maya texts Lina:

| Hey, I’m going on vacation for a week, can you watch my cat?|
|Yeah why not! I’ve only pet-sat for indoor cats, however|
|She's an outdoor cat, sorry|
|No problem! Will you be ok with your MMO?|
|Can you admin while I’m gone?|
|No Problem|
|Thanks :)|
|NP ;D|

Despite the lightheartedness of the conversation and relief of game-management, Naiomi is still on her mind.

She goes back to her computer, rapidly researching outdoor-cat pet-sitters. Very few are available in one day’s notice. Her fingers run across the keyboard like a cheetah chasing its prey. The EMails fly like birds across a valley. So now, they wait.

Naiomi looks with those kitty eyes to never leave. Maya has to ignore her, purely out of fear her parents will give her up. She darts off to the bathroom, and sees that she hasn’t even completed her hair and makeup- at 9:12 AM. She does her makeup as carefully as she can, as there’s still too many things to do today. She brushes her hair, trying to unknot every piece. She puts it in the low-pony, because who knows what she’ll need today?

She goes back to her computer again, and revives a few of the greatest answers anyone could receive.

|No, i’m booked now|

|Sorry, black cats are against my religion|

|You sent your EMail too late, I’m sorry|

Well fuck. The only option now is… mom and dad.

Maya shutters and hugs her cat tightly. But not for long as she needs to check what to bring. Her ADHD brain started to split, clothes, kitchen, bath, clothes, stressing her out even more. Eventually, her mind just fade over to clothes.

Now what to bring? Well, obviously her black-and white short sleeve and red skirt, and some undergarments, a swimsuit, more clothes, and the finishing touch- her pajamas! Now to the bathroom, where she packs her toiletries and boom! Her suitcase is done.

As for her other bag, it’ll have to wait until everything is charged. So she goes to her phone, checks traffic, and decides to just book train tickets.

But that text bubble stares back at her. The cat can ride a train, but can she stay in a different home?

Maya sends what feels like one of the most riskiest text in her life. She shoves that charger in her phone as deep as she can, as all the other electronics peacefully charge.

Suddenly time slows down, it feels like the clock is ticking backwards.

She checks her phone, still no text from mom.

Tick, tock, tick, tock

Don’t look at a clock. Just take the cat for a walk.

Maya puts on her shoes and visits the art museum with her cat. The paintings vary from unknowingly incompressible, to gorgeously eye-catching. Until she sees a phone, with her brain forcefully imagining her mom giving up her cat, THAT SHE BOUGHT.

So she takes a walk into the square. Still touristy, but somehow, the world seems lighter. Besides the heat. Maya puts Naiomi down and they start their adventure. They start off near their apartment, every stone feels like a building block to paint on. As they walk around, they see a little kid and his mom. The kid is trying to paint onto a building with his paintbrush as the mom watches. Nothing much is onto the wall except his name.

“KrIStOF” he tries to write. He seems to be around 4 years old, and his light blond hair looks like it’ll stay. It was nice seeing the child. The path keeps going, and Maya sees her favorite vendor open, so she buys a waffle, and plain fish for her cat. A little snack won’t hurt, as she and her cat sit to eat. People look at her cat in awe, it’s incredibly friendly and well-trained on a leash. Although messy when chewing up her fish. They get back onto their route, fighting against the heat. Time starts to slowly speed up. They manage to walk to the park in high heat, and rest under a tree.

It’s a wonderful time, the kids are playing, the sun is shining, and the cat is right next to her. It’s a nice time until she feels a buzz. However, that's just her brain imagining things. They keep resting until recharged. Then Maya decides to forfeit against the 26c heat and go back to check her electronics. The walk back is still just as pretty, but more draining because of the heat. Maya accidentally looks at a clock. It’s 14PM. She has been on a walk for over three hours. All of the sudden, she realized why Naiomi had finished that large fish. Then she felt slightly guilty.

The walk back felt like more of an uphill battle. The vendors seemed like they were about to explode under the heat. Maya felt like she was a melting chocolate bar, and Naiomi was done. Everything felt like it was going to end, until she made it to the first floor. The harsh wind of the AC blew on her, and it felt wonderful.

They trotted up the stairs back to the third floor apartment. Maya opened the door, everything was cooled. She locked it behind her, and everything suddenly felt like a 1st person shooter. She creeped to her room, still cold.

Maya braves her fear, and picks up the phone.

Her mom replied.

|Maya, you’re an adult. I trust you with that cat|

The adrenaline drop was so harsh that Maya nearly fell. It was now 17PM. Seeing her clothes and the other bag, she decided to do a quick wash. She loaded up the bag with extra chargers, and now everything was sorted out. Except Naiomi needed food now. She made Naiomi dinner, had a nice meal, and got ready to relax. Except tomorrow she’d have to shut everything down and get her key.

She sat on the couch with her cat. This time, the TV was blaring a German show: Babylon Berlin. The show was glittering; and for once Maya wrote down the show’s name. The cat was full and purry, the couch was also soft, and the chatter of the tourists started to die down.

She put all the little important things into a pile for tomorrow, laid out her clothes, and got ready for bed. This time, Maya went to bed at the same time as Lina. She nuzzled into a sleep, with all seeming fine.

She woke up in her dream, unknowing she was in one. Her and Mymy were talking on the beach, with Mymy bouncing up and down explaining the current weather enthusiastically. The water was salty and the sand was soft. Suddenly, Mymy started flipping on the beach in a circle. She came back to Maya, and now Maya was somehow wearing a golden dress. The dream carried on, until a shadowy figure approached Mymy. It came closer, with the dream becoming distorted. And then-

Coco?!

Coco looked depressed with greasy hair and a long-

Maya jolted awake and shook her head.

“Ridiculous” she said at midnight. She forced herself back to sleep, as she had to wake up at 5AM, sharp.

That feeling lulled in her, as she simply ignored it and went back to bed.

Chapter Text

Good Morning. 5AM. Feed Cat. Get Ready. Get important things. Put everything else into Bag two. Lock down everything. Get Bags. Put Cat on harness. Put Cat into bag. Lock door, and goodbye for a week, Belgium.

To have one last touch of Belgium, Maya walks as slowly as she can. She takes the escalator down, to see that the Art Museum isn’t even open yet. The streets are very empty, as it’s only 6:45 AM. One breakfast shop is open, but Maya has no time for a delicious meal. Naiomi starts meowing for freedom, but she cannot leave. Maya needs to keep her in a bag during the train ride to The Netherlands. The street Vendors’s shops slowly fade as Maya gets to the train station. The station feels like it’s a different world this early in the morning. However, Maya makes it just in time with 15 minutes to spare before her train comes.

7:30 AM, the speaker blares,

“ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM, 7:30 AM, ARRIVING NOW, ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM, 7:30AM, ARRIVING NOW”

Maya quickly gets up and grabs everything, the train flies into view. The doors slowly open to reveal very few passengers. She takes everything and boards her seat. Now the tourists start emerging, but still very few to become a problem. Maya loads everything up, buckles Naiomi in her seat, and the train leaves.

“Goodbye Antwerp” Maya utters under her breath

Here she goes. The train passes through the entirety of Antwerp, with the tall apartments and culture blaring out at Maya. It feels like she’s still right at home. Everything feels familiar, especially the bad areas the train passes through. It reminds her of when she first got to Belgium to live with Lina for a while. But instead of new, it feels like a replay of everything she sees everyday. Maya starts to nod off to sleep, but quickly wakes up as soon as the train leaves Antwerp. She sees the neighborhoods of Belgium, still refined as ever. The refined homes and apartments vary from street to street, making the trees blend right in. Price doesn’t matter, everything is very affordable. The train sleeps into these neighborhoods, and some woodlands, and Maya goes to sleep holding her cat’s bag.

Maya’s in her dream-land. She sees a girl with black hair that changes to Dark-brown at random moments. It takes a while for the vision to become clear.

It's Young Maya.

Young Maya doesn’t even recognize the New Maya at first. Young Maya walks around a certain Dutch place, as New Maya tries to get her attention. The places keep changing as the young Maya grows, and harder to keep up with. Eventually, Young Maya turns into Teen Maya, and the places slowly stop changing so quickly. Allowing New Maya to finally be able to catch up to her. Soon enough, there's a sudden shift to Teen Maya’s room. New Maya sits on Teen Maya’s bed, and the creak is so loud that Teen Maya quickly jumps up, and is surprised. New Maya stands up to meet her teen self, and her teen self is shocked and surprised that the New Maya is her. Before she can say anything, the sudden yell of the speaker says:

“THE TRAIN HAS ARRIVED, WELCOME TO ROTTERDAM”

Maya jumps awake, still groggy, but now in a rush. She grabs all her stuff, quickly gets Naiomi, does a quick check, and dashes off to the second train. The speaker feels as its overlapping, as it screams:

“TRAIN FROM ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM, 8:35 AM, HAS ARRIVED, PLEASE BOARD THIS TRAIN. ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM, 8:35 AM, HAS ARRIVED”

Maya quickly boards the train, and the guard just takes her ticket seeing how tired she is. She puts her luggage where it belongs, buckles herself and Naiomi, and waits for the train to leave. The person next to her complements her cat, and they start to chat a little bit.

“So, why are you going to Amsterdam?”
“Oh, I'm just seeing family, what about you?”
“Well, i’m just visiting for business.”
“What type of business?”
“I work in the Game industry, in fact I just came out from a meeting in Berlin.”
“What’s your rank?”
“I’m an investor, and you?”
“I made the MMO The Nights of Light!”

The investor is shocked to be sitting next to the developer of the Number One MMO, The Nights of Light. Maya and the investor exchange numbers for business, as the investor decides to do some extra work. Maya, one again, drifts to sleep, letting the old sights of The Netherlands pass by her.

Maya wakes up in her dream world again, resuming where she left off with her teenage self. She’s facing right towards her, and Teen Maya is about to say something.

“Where are we going”
“To Zwolle”
“Why?”
“To see Family”
“Why would you do that?!”
“Because I miss them?”
“WHY?!?”

New Maya shakes her head.

“You’ll see.”

This time, Maya woke up 5 minutes before arrival, and wondered why she had that dream. After all, she never had the chance to meet her past self. After all, it’s only been a few years since graduation. It was better not to dwell, as the train quickly arrived in Amsterdam. With the sheer amount of tourists, Maya got her Luggage, Naiomi, and Bag 2, and Secured them onto her.

As soon as she stepped out of the train, the differences punched her in the gut. She completely forgot how Amsterdam was like, and how similar the food was. The rush of the people are like lights, the Stroopwafels are thin and sweet, and the weather felt like a sudden cold flash. Maya slowly made it out of the train station, as the Dutch culture blared at her. Nothing felt the same about this place, absolutely nothing.

She finally walked over to the second train station, successfully guarding her stuff. The speaker seemed somewhat soft, making Maya almost miss her train to her hometown. As she boarded, she whispered:

“Zwolle, Maya’s coming back”

As the train started to take off, Maya couldn’t sleep as she hoped. She tried her hardest to sleep through the dull, woodland landscape to no avail. Naiomi quickly dozed off, unknowing how short her nap would be. As the train went through the route, a hint of nostalgia kicked Maya. She kept trying, but her racing mind kept going. As soon as she arrived, the speaker gave a final speech, and Maya got everything and left the train. However, there were no trains to her old neighborhood.

Stranded, Maya stood in place for a while and decided to walk, until she remembered how isolated her town is. The lukewarmness beat on, and Naiomi was getting fussy. With the shortening time, Maya decided to uber, and quickly ran back inside. 20 minutes later an uber showed up, with the normal, yet clean car clickbaiting her from the run-down car. Maya asks the driver if this is for her, and it exactly is. She shoves everything into the Uber as best as she can, and locks Naiomi in the seat next to her.

As the Uber goes, the nistola hits Maya hard. Everything, the old Elementary school, the playground, the woodlands, everything good about her childhoods just sits. Sits the way it did just like when she left. The Uber arrives at her house like a lightning bolt, she pays the driver and gets her stuff out. She opens the bag and gets Naiomi out on a leash. Naiomi takes a solid minute to recover, as this is not her home.

The walk back to her old house was surprisingly pretty. There were no tourists in sight, kids were running like little fairies, Naiomi was quiet, and the sun was cooled, but still shining. Each step felt like walking on a pier, with the water humming to the beat of the river. When she arrived, the same home stood as tall as ever.

She went in and knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again, and a slight creek opened. Maya’s mom looked at this girl in suspicion, as nobody knew where she lived besides her family.

“Who’s there?” Maya’s mom said sharply,

“Me, mom” Maya said warmly,

The shock of this girl being her daughter overwhelmed Maya’s mom. She kept opening the girl to see a cleaned up Maya standing right in front of her. She didn’t think Maya could ever want her hair this short in a low ponytail, or clean herself up, or wear simple makeup, or even wear shorts bare legged. It was truly her, and she saw that cat. Maya’s mom let both of them in. Maya settles her bags so her dad can greet her. Maya picks up her cat to have her mom pet her. Her dad is welcoming to the cat, and somehow, her mom likes the cat.

Maya chats with her family for a short while, until,

That strange feeling touches Maya again, and she keeps ignoring it.

Actually, it may have been Mymy. After all, Mymy did move to-

“HELLO FAMILY!”

Mymy pops out of seemingly nowhere, scaring both her and her cat. The cat leaps out of Maya’s arms, scratching her again. Mymy gives a slight chuckle, and apologizes to Maya. Maya accepts, until Mymy comes closer and Maya is surprised.

Mymy looks a lot less racist, still as lively as ever, but she grew out her hair to be mid-waist. The orange she put in a long time ago, now serves as a tone-split in her hair going to her waist. Mymy’s bangs are incredibly pretty, as they swoosh from side to side. Her makeup is a lot more natural, but her eyes pop-out like fire crackers from Mascara. Mymy’s clothing may have been dimmed, but still shows her matured personality.

Mymy and Maya’s parents are also adjusting to Maya’s new look as Maya to Mymy. Obviously, with her parent’s age they still look the same from 4 years ago. With the kitty coming back over, Mymy gives her delayed greeting and pets the cat. As everyone talks, it turns out the entire family is coming to dinner tonight. Mymy and Maya are surprised again, as nobody knew about this. Turns out, as soon as Maya sent that message saying she’s coming over, Maya’s mom spread the word to her entire family.

With dinner at 19PM, Maya and Mymy grab their stuff and head off to their rooms. As Maya opens the door, a litter box is there. With nothing being the same. The old, filthy, cave has been turned into a hardworking study. With a new bed, desk, computer, and even floor. Nothing is the same, and that comforts Maya somehow. She settles in, gets Naiomi ready, then goes to the bathroom to freshen up for dinner.

Mymy gets the short end of the stick, as her old room is halfway renovated into a Gym. Her parents still have her bed and dresser, but there's now equipment everywhere. Along with some tools. Mymy gets the rest of her stuff organized, and cleans up some of the hazards.

Maya comes out of the bathroom with freshened up hair and makeup, with her hair loose. Her, Mymy, and parents come into the living room, as they all set up dinner and talk.

Maya has that sickening feeling again, but it kicks her.

It’s probably her cat making her family uncomfortable. She quickly gets Naiomi, puts her in the room, gives her some toys and makes her comfortable. She locks up the cat, with that feeling still lingering. She talks with her family, with good progress being made.

DING DONG, family is here!

Her mom calls for dinner, and Maya goes upstairs to release the cat. The cat ignores everyone and follows Maya for food. She multitasks greeting and feeding until the cat can safely eat her food. Maya washes her hands and goes to the dinner table.

Her mom yells out for her last sister, Coco.

All of the sudden, that feeling fades away seeing Coco.

Coco emerges from the shadows of the stairs, her hair is down to her mid-thigh, greasy and low. Her hair has turned into a brownish-yellow from her lack of care. She doesn’t wear makeup anymore, showing her eye bags. One eye is hidden from her hair, just like her thighs from her dark-shoulderless comfy dress. Her black leggings barely show skin, and she just put on a pair of slippers for dinner.

Maya looks at her in a mix of schadenfreude, despair, and empathy as she sits down next to Mymy. Maya tries to say something, but she’s too overwhelmed by emotion to even comment. As dinner starts, the main attention goes to the guests of honor, Mymy, Maya, and Coco. Her mom quickly organizes the questions, with Maya being attacked first.

“So, Maya, how’s Belgium?”

Mymy holds a childish chuckle in

“You see, Belgium-”

Mymy lets a little laugh out, Maya doesn't care anymore, but her mom scorns Mymy slightly.

“Belgium is a nice country, it’s extremely cheap, besides the high taxes. For Antwerp, you never stop seeing beautiful art.”
“Do you have Boyfriend still?”
“We broke up four months ago…”
“Do you have Job?”
“I’m a game Developer, I-”
“For who?”
“No, I make my games.”
“Yeah, yeah, what DID you make?”
“The Nights of Light. Top rated-”

Her family gasps in disbelief. Nobody thinks Maya was capable of making a successful game. Maya pulls out her phone, looks up the game, and proves everyone wrong. Her face underneath the most successful MMO. Although popular among people 13-18 years old, it reeks in a lot of money and players.

“Can you play it?”
“Later, thank you”

“What was your first successful game?”

Mymy was about to ruin Maya’s new family reputation, as Maya quickly cut her off,

“COOKIE LIFE!”

In reality, it was the third experimental game that brought her money during the pandemic. Nobody needed to know it was actually a Tentacle hentai game she made when she was 18.

“Whats an MMO?”

Oh god. How to explain video games to grandparents…

“It’s like an online social club”
“But if it’s on the internet it can't be social!”
“No, that's social media. Video games can be social with voices.”
“But you’re just screaming into a screen then!”
“Not always, I met Juliette tr-”
“Video games are just distractions though!”
“Recently, they’ve been beneficial.”
“Are you sure with this youth?”
“Yeah, many people can make video games their job now and become rich!”
“Oh, so can we also play… your M-M-O?”
“Absolutely, but later.”

Undefeated and glorious, the questions now tackle Mymy.

“Mymy, do you have boyfriend yet?”
“4 months and going strong!”

Maya looks over at Mymy, both knowing the irony of the day Mymy’s boyfriend met Mymy.

“How’s college?”
“I graduated and am now a famous reporter!”
“Nobody knows you in Amsterdam!”
“Throughout Drenthe…”

Maya looks at Mymy, confused, and a quick glance of shame to Maya tells her that she was lying about being famous in her country.

“Are you rich yet?”
“Just starting witha lootttaa hope!”
“Do you get viewers”
“Yep!”
“Do you live on your own?”
“Well, I mean I live in a sweet apartment!”
“Do you also have pets”
“No, maybe in the future, yes.”
“Do you still play Korfball?”
“I stopped at 19, got a little busy.”
“How’s your biological sister?”

Maya looks at Mymy in a form of, Why didn’t you tell me this!?, as Mymy slowly looks away from Maya.

“She has a great life! I do get a little jealous sometimes with how fast she’s advancing, but we love each other!”

Maya whispers to Mymy to talk about this later, in hope they’ll both remember.

Although Mymy has a slight scratch, the questions shoot at Coco like a tank.

“Do you have boyfriend”
“Never found a date…”
“Did you go to college or-”
“N-Nope.”
“Do you even work?”
“I wish”
“What about rugby?”
She goes quiet, “I wasn’t good enough…”
“Also your art…?”
“Nobody wanted to hire me for non-digitized art…”
“What about your band?!”
“We disintegrated…”

With the questions killing Coco, her time in the spotlight was short. Everyone goes back to chatting, quickly making the atmosphere more light. The only two affected being Maya and Coco. Feeling and giving an empathetic look, Maya tries to say something to Coco

“Don’t ever become like her again”

Her mother whispers over to her in a sharp, unforgiving tone. The world weighs down on Maya. Obviously, she knows what it's like. She doesn't want to go there again. But that shiny golden girl that everyone used to love, has been completely tarnished. Life wasn’t fair, and Maya wanted to make her sister be gold again. Coco did not deserve this whatsoever.

As dinner ends, Coco fades into the shadows as Maya keeps watching. She cleans the cat's bowl and the people’s plates as quickly as she can. The family resides in the living room, as Maya excuses herself to upstairs. Nobody has a second thought as to why. Maya knocks on Coco’s door. No response. Maya knocks again, but louder.

“Come in.” a dejected Coco says.

“Hey Coco, um, I just wanted to chat-”

The state of Coco’s room was appalling and dreary. The shelves piled with trophies are still there, but now tucked away with dust. On one of the shelves of trophies, there was an ‘Adult League Welcome Badge’ case empty. Below that was a present, an unopened getting into college present. Below that shelf was a completely empty shelf with only diplomas and awards from her youth. Everything was unchanging and dusty. The room was cluttered to the brim, with her bed being the only place for any sort of hope.

“Chat about what?”
“Anything”
“No thanks”
“Why?”
“NO THANK YOU, DICK”
“Well… I know you aren't social right now, but I know how you feel.”

Maya says walking out the door, but not before Naiomi does a quick meet-and-greet with Coco.

Maya heads back downstairs with her family. The conversation is roaring! Although Maya is a little jolted, she eventually is able to blend right in. The conversation roars until 22:30 PM, where people start leaving to go back home. With nobody staying, Maya and Mymy freshen up for bed with Naiomi protected. With everyone in bed, Maya knocks on Coco’s door one last time to say goodnight.

“Hey, goodnight Coco.”
“Goodnight, Maya.”

Just like that, Maya heads off to bed with Naiomi. As Maya lies in bed, fire burns inside of her. She knows that Coco can see the light if she did before. With an empathetic and understanding hand that Maya never had, recovery will be better.

Chapter Text

“MMRRROOOOOW!!!”
“Naiomi…”
“OH MAYA!”

7:30 AM, the clutter of sounds jolts Maya awake. Although she was on vacation, her cat’s feeding schedule wasn’t. Maya clumsily gets up from the lack of sleep to feed the cat, not before getting spooked by Mymy right in front of the door.

“Mymy, we’re just visiting. You don’t need to-“
“Actually, I just wanted to tell you that I got three tickets for Walibi Holland!”
“Oh! Thanks Mymy.”

Seeing Mymy still in her pajamas, Maya felt comfortable enough to leave the study without getting ready. Her unbrushed hair and unwashed face was not a sight, but Naiomi knows she needs food.

“Good morning girls, I made you favorites.”

Mymy and Maya emerge to the dining table, seeing a breakfast-feast their mother made. The table has Naiomi’s cat food, Stroopwaffles, tea, coffee, chocolate bread, eggs, and Kruidnoten. However, with Coco still not up, there feels like there's something missing to the feast. The Kruidnoten watches Maya with an evil glee, and Maya gestures to Mymy. The girls start eating, as Mymy eats the Kruidnoten for Maya.

“So, what are you girls doing today?”
“Well, I have three tickets for Walibi Holland, but I don't know who else to bring…”, Mymy says in confusion

Maya quickly has an idea.

“Do you think Coco would like to go?”

Right! Walibi Holland! That amusement park was the one park that Coco always loved going to. After all, it was always the family’s default theme park for an outing. Coco always tried to urge Maya into playing whatever games her and Mymy were playing.

“I don’t think Coco would like it.”
“Why?”
“She now likes these… films?... It is where an Ugly man kisses a pretty girl…”

As the mom starts to explain what type of “films” Coco watches, Maya sinks her head into her hands. She knows exactly what her mom is talking about, as Mymy turns red in secondhand embarrassment.

“...she watches a lot of those strange films now. That’s all she does! Bed and film, like a child!”
“That, was a little too elaborate for me, mom.” Maya says, holding back her cringe.
“Sorry girls, did you like the food?”
“We loved it mom!” Mymy says, quickly breaking the awkward aroma
“I’m glad it was good.”
“Are you sure Coco wouldn't like Walibi now?”
“I guess you can try, Maya.”

Maya dashes off to the bathroom to get ready as Mymy cleans up everything, Hair, Makeup, clothes, and perfect! Maya looks at herself in her favorite outfit, excited to see the old theme park with her two sisters. However, Maya remembers that she can’t bring Naiomi. But before, time to wake Coco. Maya knocks on Coco’s door and slowly creeks it open.

“Good morning Coco~”
“Mrnfing…”
“I know you’re tired, but would you like to go to Walibi Holland with me and Mymy?”

Coco perks up, a place of the past excites her. She thinks of the new and old rides, and decides to go. However, she still felt that weight weighing down on her, on how nobody would give a failure something.

“I’ll give you… 10 more minutes. Just be up by eight, ok?”

Coco nods, and knocks back to sleep…

“Ten more minutes… I really turned into a child…”

Mymy’s in the bathroom with Maya’s phone, so Maya just decides to get it over with and asks her mom if Naiomi can stay at home.

“Maya, because Coco will be out, the cat isn’t going anywhere.”

With an uneasy affirmation, Maya asks Mymy to hurry up for Coco. She goes back into Coco’s room to wake her up, and Coco slowly gets up.

“Coco, this will be fun. I promise.”
“You don’t know that”
“Well, it will because I haven’t spent any time with you in 4 years~!”
“I-I guess so?”

[Bullshit.] Coco thought. [Complete Bullshit, when has Maya enjoyed doing anything that didn’t involve a computer? She never enjoyed doing anything with me anyway…]

Maya waits for Mymy to finish, so she can finish getting ready in her study. By the time Mymy emerges, it’s already 8:20 AM, and they need to leave around 9:10-9:30. Maya grabs her stuff to let Coco freshen up, and goes to study with Naiomi to finish getting ready. When everyone is done, Maya and Mymy go out to the car to wait for Coco.

“I’m guessing you drove here?”
“I only live in Drenthe, it ain't far from here.”
“Then you’re driving to the park”
“Maya, I already did enough driving.”
“Well, I am not dealing with Dutch traffic.”
“Fair, but isn’t Antwerp worse?”
“I’d say it’s better.”
“Oh… I-I wouldn’t think that… ever.”

Coco emerges from the house, with only a slightly different appearance of a different colored dress, and some black tennis shoes.

“Now Maya, don’t ghost us again, alright?” Her mom said with a half-joking half-serious tone
“I won’t mom, or will any of us.”

[Ghost… ghost… Why would mom mention that?] Maya thought.

The girls buckled in as Mymy started the car. Mymy looked at Maya with a mischievous look to try to get her to drive, but failed. Mymy started to drive off, trying at every single moment to convince Maya to drive. Maya ignores every single attempt, as Coco is unreacting to Mymy’s antics. Maya looks out the window, the scenery feels like Deja Vu, the trees, the children playing, and the occasional run-down shops. The Woodland declines, and Walibi Holland emerges like a mountain in a valley. Mymy finds a parking spot as best as she can with the tourists, and shuts off the car.

The girls get out, with Coco dragging behind. Maya forgot how wonderful this place actually was, finally seeing the park’s daytime glow cast a ray of joy on her. She keeps up at pace with Coco as Mymy dashes off to find a place in line as it rapidly gets longer. Mymy dashes to the last spot before the line becomes unbearable, with Coco still lagging behind. Eventually, Maya just drags Coco to Mymy to secure the spot. The line drags on, with time becoming slower by the steps of the people. The gate eventually peers through, and Mymy checks all three of them in.

The park inside looks to Maya as it would seeing heaven, the park feels a lot larger than before, the people are enjoying every moment of themselves, and the games are in abundance. However, the roller coasters look more like a challenge than a one-way ticket to hell. Mymy’s eyes dilate, and Maya gets ready to experience something new with Coco.

“Coco! Wanna join?”
“I-I guess…”

Maya thought some familiarity would help Coco regain her life, after all, it would be nice to make up for all of the missed years. Maya and Mymy run like free-spirited teenagers, as Coco tries to keep up. The first thing they all see is a hardcore roller-coaster, in which Maya internally gags on. However, the coaster with a fun-looking exterior clicks to them like magnets, and Coco is once again forced to join. Mymy starts to slightly lose her shit at the sight of the old theme park, and Maya quickly gets her on the coaster. Realizing whats about to happen, the coaster blasts off like a rocket. For the entire ride, Maya sees the things she couldn’t when she was younger, like the bliss of every group at the park, or how everybody seems to be having a great time, maybe even the scenery of the woodlands. Maya and Mymy play almost every fair game they see, until Maya sees Coco’s favorite game.

“Coco?”
“Mmm-?”
“Do you think you can beat your last score there?” Maya says as she gestures towards the punching bag.
“N-no”
“But you’re still strong, Right?”
“I mean, well…”
“Coco! I wanna see!”
“Well, I can’t even do rugby anymore…”
“Well, that doesn't mean you’ve lost that much strength!”

Coco, convinced, goes over to the punching bag. With Maya’s delusion, she believes that there truly was no way for Coco to ever lose her strength.

BAM!

|SCORE: 300|

BAM!

|SCORE: 307|

BAM!

|SCORE: 310|

Maya and Mymy look at the score in disbelief, as Coco’s strength was truly no more. Her highscore from 900-1000, has gone down to barely over 300. Something that only Mymy could punch that weak.

“I fucking knew it…”
“Hey, Coco, there’s-”
“I need to sit for a while.”
“Alright, come join if you’d like then…”

With Maya losing hope, Mymy directs her to the one game she was always good at. It was obviously the target shooter, they both got their guns ready, and wallets out, to hopefully gain a bear.

“So, Mymy, what is it about you bio-sister”
“Bio-sister?”
“Yeah, I thought you hated her? You didn’t tell me you forgave her”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you all about her and me. So, her name is Eiko, and she messaged me in December… 2020!”
“Why?”
“It turns out she was looking for me, she apparently wanted to find me again.”
“After you ran away?”
“Yep!”
“Why would she want to connect with you if-”
“Now that was the mystery! Turns out our bio-parents are total assholes! Eiko doesn’t like our bio-parents, and was really lonely.”
“So she reached out to you because…?”
“She wanted a relationship with me!”
“That’s sweet, so do you visit her in Japan?”
“No, my Japanese isn’t good enough.”
“Is it like a 6-year olds?” Maya jokingly says
“Haha! Well, it’s more like the problem is that my Japanese is at a B2 level, and I at least need a C2 to visit Eiko’s place.”
“Never expected you to do that!”
“Do what?”
“Connect with Eiko.”
“I didn’t either!”

Maya changes gears in her brain, ready to confront Mymy about her secrecy.

“Mymy, like Eiko… why did you hide all those things?”
“What things?”
“Oh I don’t know, you lying about being famous, Eiko, Boyfriend status… why did you do that!?”

BAM- “CLOSE!” The mechanical voice says

“Well, I just forgot to tell you!”
“We’ve been texting since I moved out! We are in our early twenties Mymy!”
“I-I told you! I just forgot!”

BAM!- Mymy tries to hold back her tears and the real reason

“Do you still view me as a child?!”
“No!”
“Then why do you keep secrets?! Nobody texted me except for my friends, you, and mom and dad you secretive bitch!”
“Maya I-”
“What, do you think i'm too much of a-”

BAM!
The lights go off, as Mymy’s face starts to well up with tears. The worker doesn't even notice Mymy’s stifled upset expression, and gives Maya her prize.

“I-I-I…”
Maya feels slightly anxious seeing Mymy about to cry, “Ok, Mymy, let's sit with Coco? Ok?”

They go sit with Coco, still in the same position since a few hours ago. Mymy starts having the tears flow, as the reason starts to forcefully break through.

“It’s because you ghosted us…”
“Ghosted? I never-”
“You disappeared for three days straight when you first moved to Belgium.”
“Well, Lina couldn’t pay internet that month so I had to get a-”
“I know t-the story, Maya.” Mymy says as she quickly faces away from Maya to hide her tears.
“Lina couldn’t pay for the internet, so you had to get a job to help and bla bla bla… YOU COULD’VE STILL USED THE LOBBY’S WIFI! Or… I don't know! Talk to a neighbor, or go to a coffee shop or just anything!”

Maya tries to give a hand to Mymy, but she moves away,

“You traumatized the entire family, Maya. You were seventeen when you disappeared that one night…”

Maya’s memory completely blocked out that detail. She forgot the rage she felt that night she decided to live with Lina. She forgot how poor Lina was when she invited Maya to live with her. She forgot her very first days in Belgium. She puts her hand back, and her expression changes to shame as she hears Mymy stifling and sniffling. She finally realized how badly she messed up.

“Mymy…”
“Y-yeah..?”
“I don’t like the way you don't tell me things like-” Maya takes a quick break “like the way I ghost people…”

Mymy turns around to face Maya, with her eyes slightly red with some mascara down her face. She realized Maya was genuinely sorry, but the wound of not seeing her sister physically was still there.

“Mymy… I really am sorry, I-”

Mymy quickly hugs Maya, and Maya returns the favor. They give each other a good, long forgiving hug. Maya checks Mymy if she’s ok to drive. Although the wound was still there, it was finally starting to heal. Mymy decides to go to the car in the sunset to get it ready.

“And I wasn’t even worth talking to…”

Coco’s wound hasn't healed even remotely after today. However, there are still more days to go get Coco on her feet. The girls get situated in the car, tired after a long day in the park. With new understanding, they drive home. When they get there, Maya slowly opens the door through fear Naiomi might be gone. Her mom answers the door and sighs.

“Come in. Maya, I hope you're not mad at what dad did with the cat.”

Maya looks at her dad with the cat in his lap and starts laughing. The cat is completely dressed up, with clothes scattered all over the floor. Naiomi looks defeated on her dad, and they both start laughing together as they spend time with the cat. They play and dress up the cat as her mom shakes her head on how ridiculous the cat looks. Mymy eventually joins the family for some time with the cat. Maya and Mymy soon freshen up, with their dad now wanting a cat. Everyone retires for the night, and Mymy visits Maya one last time.

“Goodnight Maya!”
“Goodnight Mymy.”
“Just remember the class reunion is tomorrow!”

[The reunion… right. You can’t visit without going to that reunion… oh god…] Maya thought nervously as she hugged her cat. She knew that although she was visiting family, Mymy would still make her go to the reunion. Maya fell asleep anxiously, unknowing of what was to become of her classmates. Or, as a matter of fact, how they would even treat Maya now.

Chapter Text

“GOOOOD MORNING MAYA!”

Mymy yells out to Maya at 5:30 in the morning, startling both her and her cat.

“I~ hope you’re ready for the reunion today!”
“Nope.”
“Oh I know! Don’t worry Maya, we’ll be having lots of events today!”
“Like what.”
“Like swimming… so I hope you got your bathing suit!”

Oh god, just to make today even worse. First Mymy acts like an air-raid siren way too early in the morning, then it’s the reunion, and now swimming. The thoughts greeted Maya with sickening morning anxiety. But, she knew this was inevitable if she was going to stay with family. Maya begrudgingly got up and went downstairs with Mymy, just happy to see the new and old. This time, the table was set with less food. However, there was still that evil Kruidnoten eyeing her down.

“Mom, I can’t eat Kruidnoten anymore”
“Oh, I thought you loved it still.”
“No, I… uhm… uhh…”
“Did you develop an allergy?”
“...yeah… yeah I developed an allergy to Kruidnoten when I was… 18.”

Although her mom sighed in disappointment, her buying into Maya’s lie was much better than finding out she had bulimia. Maya sat down with Mymy, with both having relief on their faces. However, knowing that Mymy wasn’t craving Kruidnoten, she remembered Coco. Taking the bowl of Kruidnoten upstairs to Coco, Maya realized that the reunion could help Coco. Unlike Walibi Holland.

“Good morning Coco”
“Morning…”
“So, today is the reunio-”

Just like that Coco suddenly had enough energy to be able to get out of bed with ease. She took the bowl of Kruidnoten and rushed downstairs with Maya. To their mom’s surprise, she makes Coco her favorite, stuffed Puff Puff, a fluffy South African Breakfast. Although Coco can only be as energetic as her depression lets her, she quickly ate up and rushed to get ready. Maya looks at her with hope, not until

[They’re gonna call you fat]
[You know they might not like you still!]
[They might be adult mean girls!]

Those anxieties softly scratched Maya, finally pushing her to text Lina.

|Lina ||| I Need Help|
|Yeah Maya are you ok?|
|I’m going to my reunion today|
|Today?|
|Yeah|
|Do you want me to go over there?|
|Aren’t you being admin for my game?|
|Yeah, but do you need me?|
|Not IRL but can you please text me when I text?|
|Don’t worry, i’ll keep my phone on me|
|Thanks :)|
|Don’t worry, they probably changed ;)|
|I love you Lina|
|You too Maya :D|

The affirmation of Lina and Maya’s bond comforted her a bit, suppressing the thoughts. Maya finished her food to check on Naiomi and get ready. Still over an hour before Naiomi will wake up. She looked back at the bathroom, and truly thought that this would be Coco’s first step. Mymy follows, and immediately goes off to her room to pick an outfit. Maya does the same, and looks back at Naiomi wondering if she should bring her. She decides to bring her cat as more of an anxiety companion; despite the fact that her having a severe anxiety attack now would be very low. She waits for Coco to be finished, but Coco excitedly runs to her room before Maya can even see her. Maya freshens up and wears the {BERLIN ‘22} shirt. A dazzling long-sleeved black and dazzling purple shirt, with some cute adidas shorts. She puts her hair in its daily style, and goes back out to see Mymy mad at her for taking so long.

Mymy rushes in, then Maya checks on the cat. She’ll be up in thirty minutes. With nothing to do while her sisters get ready, she sits at the desk with a brand-new computer. While looking at it, she realizes that she may have forgotten to reset her Data from her old computer. Or rather- that her parents have gotten rid of it. Without knowing the password, she drops in on Coco. She opens the door to see Coco’s hair light again from the shower, but still a long, ratty mess. She’s wearing what she usually wears, except that she has a long dark skirt and a cute t-shirt. As Maya peers into Coco’s room, she sees her old computer was given to Coco.

[Perfect! I can teach Coco how to use the co-]

Before Maya finishes her idea, she suddenly remembered that she never wiped her history on the computer before she moved. With Coco in her own world playing with her hair, Maya creeps into her room. She tries to log on, to see that the password was changed. Coincidentally, Coco’s password hangs right on the computer. She enters the password, and it reveals a wasteland of a computer. Completely dead with no other apps besides chrome and the defaults- with the wallpaper not even changed. Maya looks back at Coco, deep into her own fantasies about seeing the old band. She creeps out of Coco’s room, and Mymy darts out the bathroom yelling incomprehensible language as she dashes to their old bikes. Maya snaps Coco out of her fantasy, and goes to pick up Naiomi. They grab their stuff, and dash back to their old bikes. They see a slightly mad Mymy glaring back at them

“You realize I can’t be late to MY OWN REUNION!”
“Don’t you mean the class reunion?” Coco says in an weirdly cheerful voice
“Yes I-“ Maya put Naiomi in. “We’re late!”

Maya puts Naiomi in a makeshift cat-passenger seat Mymy installed, and they bike away almost like old times. Mymy angrily bikes out of town, with Maya keeping pace with her. She tries to calm her down, as Coco stays in the back. Eventually, Mymy sees the time on the clock with 30 minutes to spare- just enough time for a ten minute break. Coco smiles, humming an unfamiliar song as Mymy and Maya chat. A sense of dread occasionally makes Maya’s voice break, as Naiomi lets the soft wind blow on her. The pathway is virtually unchanged, with minimal paving and dirt roads still intact. The woodland is still blooming, and the sky is as blue as ever. As the school nears, Maya feels more sick than ever. She puts Naiomi on a leash as Mymy quickly gets everything ready. Maya sees a glimpse of Vera, who was secretly hoping the reunion wouldn’t happen today. Coco enters first and quickly disappears, as Maya slowly walks in.

Maya wanders around the school to walk Naiomi, everything is still unchanged and empty. The schoolchildren have just gotten out, so everything is still fresh from last year’s students. The library only has new computers and books, the bricks still have graffiti as early as twenty-seventeen, and the school yard shimmers with grass. Instead of refreshing, it feels more as if Maya’s walking through a graveyard.

[The clock is ticking, they’ll be here soon]
[They’re going to think you’re still a pathetic loner!]
[What if everyone is still better than you?!]

As the clock is two minutes till ten, Maya heads back. She knows about all the “fun” that’s going to happen today. The uncertainty weighs on her as she gets back five minutes after ten.

“YO ZOEY!”
“ZOEY…?”
“ZOEY GI-”

Maya turns around

“MAYA?!”

It’s Cleo and Yfke. Two of Coco’s old band members, Cleo was doing the shouting as Yfke had never been a yeller, sober or not. Cleo was still goth, but more of a slight personality trait. She has less makeup, but is still dressed in all black. She looked a lot better with short black hair. Her clothes were more casual and alternative, but not all out. They looked matured and dark, especially with her jacket that was around her waist. Yfke, on the contrary, had grown out her hair all the way to her mid-calves. It was thick and dry, but glowing from being fully platinum blond. Her clothes matched, but were incredibly baggy. Her pants were like a bell, but her shirt was nothing but a loose tube top. Something about her eyes indicated that she quit doing drugs a while ago.

“Yeah, that’s me. Who are you?”
“Cleo… and Yfke”
“Oh yeah, you guys look…”
“Really weird?”
“No, Pretty!”

Cleo smiled, as it was a nice break from the hate comments.

“Thanks, and you mean that for both of us?”
“Yeah, you too Yfke.”

Yfke smiled too, as she never expected to be called something nice as a recovering drug addict.

“You know Cleo, are you Grjfix?”
“Yeah, i’m that successful solo artist- wait are you the creator of Night of Light!?”
“Yep!”

They laugh, as they didn’t expect to meet two celebrities in the same class.

“Maya, you were such a loser! I didn’t expect you to become famous!”
“Well, I mean, yeah, I was. I’m sorry that I never got to know you”
“Girl it’s fine, at least you’re doing better than Yfke.”
“I’m… still… doing… ok”

Yfke’s voice was slowed down a lot, Indicating that something happened.

“Yfke, are you ok?”
“She’s fine. Her, Kroos, and Goof had a graduation party, and they all OD’ed at the end. Uhm, Kroos died. She had to be admitted to the hospital, and Goof was somehow ok.”
“Yep.”
“S-sorry Yfke”
“It’s fine”

The guests slowly start to arrive, and Mymy does a wonderful job at greeting them. Still no sign of Coco getting out of hiding.

“Speaking of which, where’s Coco?”
“I don’t know”
“Is she not coming?”
“No, she’s here, its just that-”
“That’s she’s busy?”
“No, you just… um..”
“She just has to fix some things? Yeah, Coco is probably pretty rich and famous now.”
“Yeah… totally…”
“Sorry for interrupting, want my number?”
“Yeah, I'm currently working on another game that I need music for.”
“Wanna collab?”
“Hell yeah!”

As Maya enters Cleo’s number, Zoey finally shows up. She grew out her hair and looks pretty plain. She doesn't care about being mundane. As a matter of fact, she always wanted to be a background character. Turns out she works a boring nine-to-five job with her hobbies on the side. Everyone expected Zoey to become boring.

“Hey, nice cat though. What’s her name?”
“Naiomi.”
“Awwww… she’s cute…”
“Thanks, i’ll leave you with real Zoey now.”
“Haha, alright.”

Zoey looks at Maya, also surprised. She motions at her to come back, but is too quiet with shock for Maya to hear her. She decides to go find Coco to reunite her with her old band. Maya walks around, with no sign of Coco on the outside. She keeps searching, and then finally finds her in the only exposed bathroom. It was the only bathroom open, and not locked up. She was tweening her looks and hair, thinking that it was exactly going to be like old times. Maya breaks Coco of her fantasy once again, reminding her that the reunion started fifteen minutes ago. Coco walks out to find the rest as Maya looks into the mirror. However, she quickly has to get out, as Naiomi starts licking the floor.

Her and Naiomi walk back to the field, forgetting how large the school actually was. Around now, only three people had to show up before the activities could begin. The field looked almost like it did when it was a school day in the late 2010’s. The sun was beating down onto the glimmering grass. The trees provided a nice overcast, with the leaves still as a statue. The bark rose with glory, unbothered by the chatter. The people walked and mingled with each other, although always returning to their favorite person. Mymy was with her old group, with only Bert and Coco acting slightly strange. Maya runs forward, until she remembered that she had no one to meet up with. Maya walked to a lonely log that had fallen recently, and she and Naiomi perched there. She took out her phone to answer some of Lina’s texts as Naiomi tried to rest, until a familiar figure emerged right next to her.

“Are you Maya?”
“Y-yeah. I am. I know, I changed a lot.”
“You look a lot better than I thought you ever could.”
“Thank you,... Vera.”

Vera slowly peered out of the shadows to sit with Maya, letting Mymy take full control of the reunion. She looked the same as she did five years ago, as with her age the number “five” meant a lot less than to ten years ago. She moved closer to Maya, only to pet the curious cat.

“So, how are your students currently?”
“I got a good class this year. Better than your class for shure.”
“I remember, me and my sisters weren't the best.”
“Haha, I know. Especially with Mymy always being a little egotistic brat.”
“I know, and Coco being not too smart with technology.”
“Seems like tech-illiteracy did her well.”
The women go silent, both knowing how Coco is like now. With Maya only more knowledgeable than Vera.

“...so, do you have anything besides teaching happening with you?”
“Nope. I wish i’d play guitar more often… speaking of which, what happened with you, Coco, and Mymy?”
“Well, you can see what happened with Coco. Mymy is a famous reporter in Drenthe, and I’m a game developer.”
“...and what type of games do you do?”
“MMO’s, like my game Nights of Light.”
“Every teenager is playing your game now, especially all my older students.” Vera said, hiding her amusement.
“I know, it's the most popular MMO with teens! I made a lot of money off of it, live a good life, Belgian taxes can’t hurt me, I made it my life!”

Vera, twenty-three years old and right out of college. An energetic young woman with bubbly-pink hair enters her new classroom. She graduated with an education major with Music as a minor for her Bachelor's. She decides to make music her life, unknowing how hopeless that path actually is. She decides that she’ll keep playing- to become the next Nirvana- or even the next world-wide star! Hopeful and energetic, she sets up her general music class. Thinking that teaching will only be side-gig before she becomes a musician. The years pass, she becomes jaded by the reality, with her only passion being tainted. The only aspect of her life, has been shattered in twenty-twelve, shortly after her thirtieth birthday. She learned that everybody wants them young, and no matter what she does, nobody cares. Trying as hard as she can, her depression eventually creeps on her, and she slowly crawls back out of her head.

“Maya…” Vera takes a deep breath “...you shouldn’t make your games your life.”
Maya looked up at her “But, it’s the only thing i’m interested in…”
“You’ll get wrapped up with it, like a delusional college kid.”
“I just graduated college though…?”
“What i’m trying to say is that, you’ll lose your wealth if you don’t be diverse.”

Maya had a slight gasp at the realization, becoming anxious.

“Maya, you can start a company, or get a full time job. Maybe even do streaming, there’s lots of things that you can do now.”
“Maybe, i’ll ask my friend.”
“Who’s your friend?”
“She’s my Best Friend, Lina. I’ve known her for a long time-ish.”
Vera smiles, “I’m proud of you, Maya.”

Maya quickly turns to Vera, as an “I’m proud of you” is something that she thought she’d never hear in her life, especially from a teacher that hated her. Mymy’s voice breaks the conversation, as Tryn and Weil clumsily come in last. Tryn and Weil got married at twenty after dating for two years. They only married because Tryn was pregnant with his child. The marriage was rough, but Tryn’s internal misogyny wouldn;t let her leave Weil, who was slightly abusive. After the birth of her first child, she has a mental breakdown. Which scared Weil from ever abusing her again. She became like a maniac, and got pregnant with their second child shortly after. She was always firm about tradition, and that path led her into a rabbit hole of being a traditional housewife. For Weil, he became incredibly trashy, who works long hours to escape his wife, but still gives his family money.

Mymy stands up onstage, ready to begin the activities. She first wants everyone to answer a questionnaire for the first activity. Maya fills out her slip of paper,

Name: Maya Shoppenboer
Occupation: Game Developer
Achievements:
-Moved to Belgium
-Own a pet
-Own a apartment

Failures:
-Not going home enough
-Only texting friends
-Some financial errors

Being sad about not having enough room for the rest of her life, she luckily sees the bio section, where she puts the rest in. Everyone else puts theirs in, even Coco, who has nothing in achievements. Coco goes back to her group, as Maya notices them gesturing for her to join them. She leaves them alone again, as she also notices Coco failing at conversation from nothing going on in her life.

Mymy and Vera get up onstage to announce the top three best-performing people, and the three worst. However, first was a moment of silence for Kiki and Kroos. Everyone knew of Kiki’s death, as it was seen in a news article with a “powerful, but small, white Somali girl”. Little actually knew of Kroos’s death, as people knew he and Yfke would get high, but he wasn’t popular enough for anybody to actually remember him. After a minute, Vera takes over.

“Thank you, Mymy. So because nobody would host Mymy’s very American Idea, I was in charge of funding the event. So, Mymy, you’re lucky that you were actually able to pressure a teacher into doing something… Now for the top three. May Cleo, Mymy, and Maya come up.”

The crowd gasps at how Maya is second, and Maya stands there with her cat right by her side. She’s equally shocked at how people are looking at her, no insults were made, nothing was thrown, and everybody was actually clapping for her. Mymy stands right next to her, along with Cleo. Feeling confident and proud, Maya stifles happy tears, quickly, as a mic gets passed down. Mymy is first, she cheerfully talks about her wonderful life in Drenthe. She talks about her growing career, boyfriend, home, and life. Everybody nods, as they expected Mymy to turn out this way. Especially Bert, standing next to Cato looking at Mymy with rosy blush in his cheeks. Then the mic gets passed to Maya, with the crowd anxiously wondering how she was doing. Maya starts off with her career, with the crowd once again gasping after learning that she made a successful MMO. Then they see her cat, and awww towards the kitty. Naiomi’s slightly scared with the noise upsetting her. Maya picks her up, and she cuddles in her arms. Maya’s life is the most intriguing, as new Maya successfully shocks the crowd. However, Belgium jokes quickly appear with Mymy trying to hold in her laughter. Maya knew that this would happen with Dutch people, as Belgium is probably unknown to them. After Maya’s lengthy talk, the Microphone gets passed to Cleo. She doesn't talk for a short time, but nor a long time either as people already know her. Eventually, she accidentally tells the crowd that she and Maya might be working on a game together. People start asking questions, curious, but Cleo quickly shuts them down. The girls step down, with Maya returning to where she was standing

Then Vera announces for Coco, Axel, and Goof to come up. Not out of shame, but more for curiosity of rankings. Two people start sniggering at Coco and laughing, but quickly stop as Vera starts talking. They’re too deep in the small crowd to make out what they look like, but Maya glares at whoever they are. People also stare at Coco, not knowing what happened to her, but have a sympathetic surprise. The three worst interviews go on for a long time, and Coco straight up refuses to do one, saving everyone’s time. Turns out Axel became a restaurant worker with low pay. As Mymy walks back up, still cringing from Goof’s belief that being a chainsmoker retail worker is ok, she announces that they’ll be going to the beach. With the bus still a bit away, and trying not to destroy the trail, the people assemble into their groups.

“Maya, seriously. We genuinely want you to come join us!”

Maya hesitated, as she wasn’t sure about joining Coco’s group for fear of her reaction. However, she eventually does under Cleo’s pressure. It starts slow, and the conversation is mainly about Naiomi. However, it quickly picks up speed, and Coco feels as if she lost her place. Her attempts to join in fail, as she can’t relate to anything that the girls are talking about. Maya quickly catches one of Coco’s problems. As they chat, the bus arrives. Maya grabs Naiomi and her bag, and they get on the bus with Cleo’s friends. Coco sits alone, and glares at Maya from a distance. Maya tries to get her to join in, but she refuses.

“Coco, I didn’t steal your friends. I promise, we want you to sit with us!”

Yet she’s still speaking to dead silence. Maya sits with her new friends, although they’re only the basics of being a friend to her. On the bus, the woodland passes Maya again, but this time her old town pops out at her. She never went on this trip, especially the beach trip that the whole class went on when they were fourteen years old. It felt like a piece of nostalgia that Maya missed out on, with the Netherlands passing by her again. The woodland grows on Maya, and the cities are bright like firecrackers. The bus ride rocks back and forth, with the flow of traffic matching the pace of the people. The heat is killed by the bus’s abundance of powerful fans and windows. But the scenery starts to slowly fade out, as her focus turns to the chatter of her friends. Zoey sits and listens, providing the occasional cool remark. In what seems like a flash, the bus arrives at Zandvoort Beach. The area is wide and open, with a few homes far from the coastline, but still visible to walk to. The bus parks at its stop, leaving the people behind. Vera decided to stay at the school so she could get a break from people in general, missing out on the warm beach. Coco is the last one off, and the people start to walk off to the changing rooms. The chatter continues, as Coco stalks Maya and her group, feeling resentful. Maya is unaware of Coco’s presence, and continues chatting with her friends along the long beach.

They eventually arrive at the changing rooms, reaffirmed for dutch floods. It’s not too glorious, but it also doesn't look too disgusting to go into. Maya goes into the first, and cleanest, changing room. The mirror reflects back at her, judging her appearance.

[Maya, they may like you, but aren’t you too fat for that?]
[What a bony body! You can’t go out like that!]
[They’re going to be disgusted at you! Look at how little you’ve put on!]
[YOU GODDAM FAT BI-]

Maya punches her toughs out of her head, as she has been wanting to wear this black one piece for a while. The room was dark, so she couldn’t look for any affirmations about her body, but she had to get out. She had to get out before her anxiety got too bad, or before Naiomi eats anything. She steps out, in what feels like stepping into lava and

Nobody looks.

Her anxiety is relieved, and she finally sees her reflection. Her body is still skinny, but it’s not anorexic. In fact, she looks pretty with her weight gain. No fat rolls are on her, and she’s still proportional to her entire body. Everything is smooth, especially with her rightfully flat stomach and well-crested thighs. She walks Naiomi to the nearby car park where she might be watched. Maya unhooks Naiomi from her leash and puts it in the bag, and she feels safe. Knowing that she has her collar, and that Maya has her treats, Naiomi goes to play with other cats. Maya walks back to the beach until she remembers that she forgot her phone in the stall. As she takes the long walk back, she’s left alone with her and her brain.

[If Coco is at the beach, then she should be able to find a boyfriend. Her face is still pretty without makeup, and as long if a girl has a pretty face she should be able to find someone. Did I lock my door? Wait i’m staying with my parents. Although she’s acting weirdly reclusive, Axel may want to date her. He may have moved to Japan and is an office worker but she’s still hot. She can still find a boy-]

Maya, lost in her thoughts, opens the stall door. Finding her phone, and Coco shirtless. Her body is not a sight, she’s unknowingly anorexic. Her muscles have completely gone away from four years of no training. She’s clearly not eating enough, as food is her last priority with her in her room all the time. Her body has succumbed to her mental illness, but with a hope of recovery as there’s still some fat to keep everything intact. There’s only signs that she’s at least been eating something.

“H-hey Coco! Can I have my phone” Maya adverts her eyes to not embarrass herself, or her sister.
“Yeah.”
“T-thanks”

Maya seeing Coco’s body adds to her mental list of Coco’s problems. She’s finally realizing the level of intervention that Coco will need, and she’s still up for the challenge. Knowing how long it takes for Coco to get changed, she decides to meet up with Cato and the gang. They’ve already claimed a spot for five people, and each of them have their own things to add to the large striped blanket. Maya sets down her things and secures the spot. She decides to finally chat with Lina as Zoey and Yfke talk away.

Shortly away from them, Bert and Cato have saved a spot for three people, allowing Mymy to join. Mymy decided to stay with her old group, as she’s been too busy managing the class reunion. Mymy gets changed into a cute halfway bikini, with only the top having small stripes at the collar.

“You know, today is my day.”
“I don’t think Mymy is going to have feeling for you”
“Well, as soon as she hears that i’m a rich stockbroker she’ll love me!”
“Mymy isn’t that money-motivated anymore, but you are attractive now.”
“Thanks Cato”
“Welcome.”
“Also, how’s your current client?”
“Annoying, like all rich people. She wants this basically impossible ring, and my team has been telling her no.”
“Even crazier than your bathing suit?”
“Yep.”
“Is she a billionaire?”
“No just another egotistical millionaire in Amsterdam.”
“Wow… wait Mymy is coming!”

Cato and Bert get up, with her jeweled-out bikini causes a flash of light into Bert’s eyes. Cato isn’t rich, not famous. She’s a jeweler for rich people. Her passion for materialistic things led her into that path, thinking that she was going to become beautiful. Instead, it turned her into a grounded person. She kept in touch with Bert, who on the other hand, became a rich stockbroker. He became hopeful, as he repressed his late crush for Mymy, he used a lot of other short-term girlfriends for a replacement. However, Mymy left a small hole in his heart that only the right girl could replace.

“Hey Mymy, we got a spot for the three of us. You’re the closest to me though.”
“Thanks guys, wanna get in the water soon like everybody else?”
“I want to, with you.”
“I wanna swim too, Bert.”
“I know, but wanna get a room for the two of us?”

Cato facepalms in her hand, as she knows how this is going to end.

“What?”
“For the two of us?”
“Why?!”
“So we can love each other into the sunset.”

Cato and Mymy look at Bert with a horrified expression. Both are surprised at how terrible he is with confessing his feelings.

“Bert.”
“Yes?”
“I would never have sex with you, especially after that one time you screwed me over.”
“We were pre-teens though”
“Bert, Mymy’s right. That incident would kill any girls love for you. Even if it was when we were twelve.”
“I-I…”
“Bert, you’re a great friend, but you missed your chance when we were…” Mymy sniggers “...thirteen”
“Can we just stay friends then.”
“I’d like that.”
“So are we going to swim or what?”
“After you Cato!”

Mymy quickly drops off her stuff and heads towards the water with Maya. Her and Maya start chatting away as Bert, ok with Mymy and him being friends, starts to cry.

“But… i’m… rich”
“Bert, Mymy doesn't like you.”
“I loved her since sixteen…”
“That was in the past, Bert.”
“She… she’s still hot…”
“Bert, Mymy is not going to fuck you.”

Cato comforts Bert as they slowly make it towards the water. Mymy starts joking about being a weather girl reporting for the beach, and replays a similar report she once did to Maya. Tryn and Weil get their spot. Tryn sets her kids down, as the married couple takes turns playing in the water to watch their children. This was Tryn's first moment of genuine happiness in years. Everyone plays in the water, as Coco watches far away in the shade. She sits and mourns over the loss of her old friends. She just entertains herself, distracting herself from the joy in the water.

[I guess this is Karma for what I did to Maya…]

The thought echoes over, and over, and over. Making her depression worse. She knew that she was a fuck up, she knew that she was the reason why her parent’s can’t renovate her room. After all, the sun was setting, and to her, it wasn’t like there was anything to do today. Even the slightest hope is probably fake to her.

As the sun sets, everyone packs up their stuff. Maya’s clean up is smooth sailing so far, as she only has two goals. Find her cat, and go pick up Coco. She started walking to the open cat park where she dropped Naiomi off, and starts looking for her. She keeps looking for her, with the dooming anxiety rising. She keeps looking, until she realizes that she went missing. Her anxiety sparks, and yells out that the cat is gone. Luckily, people know what her cat looks like, and Mymy halts the bus coming until they find her cat. Maya’s anxiety starts spiraling into a peak, and beach’s details become a blur, as her cat is the only thing on her mind. She runs around like a crazy person in her bathing suit still, with the temperature dropping making her unbothered. Soon, she finds a giant wooden plank, and looks behind it. She finds a white girl with Black hair and blue eyes petting Naiomi. She looks like she’s around ten to twelve years old, and possibly Canadian. Maya approaches the girl, and talks with her.

“Hey, who’s cat are you petting?”
“Naiomi, is she yours?”
“YES! Thank you so much!”
“Thanks crazy woman, speaking of which do you know where the cat park is?”
“Yes, but I'm not a local.”
“Cool, I'm not either, i’m born in Canada.”
“Born in Canada?”
“Yeah my parents are Dutch immigrants, they moved for more money and stuff when my mom was pregnant. Did I tell too much like an American?”
“Yes, but it’s ok. Where are your parents?”
“In Canada, they sent me to live with my Grandma for the summer so I can get my C-two certificate or something. I mean i’m already fluent in four languages!”
“Oh, what are they?”
“English, Dutch, French, and German”
“You’re very smart.”
“Thanks. If you can, can you tell me Write name on chore list?”
“Write name on chore list?”
“Write Emma on chore list… thanks… cat stranger?”
“Maya, and thank you a lot for finding Naiomi.”
“No problem… weirdo.”

Maya walks back with Naiomi, nearly dropping from her relief of finding her. Thankful for that Canadian girl, her next goal is to find Coco. However, with the temperature dropping, she has to quickly change before it gets too cold. Finally, she sees the water crest under the beaming sunset, making an orange splash in the sky. The sand feels soft and warm between her toes, and the breeze is cooling, but a little chilly. The sand looks like it’s made of pearls, as each chunk has its own shine and personality to it. Maya finally makes it to the changing room, where she wastes no time drying off and changing back into her regular clothes. She double checks that she has everything, even Naiomi on her leash, and goes to find Coco. She sees Coco, back into her clothes under the same shady spot. Before she can round her up, she hears two voices.

“Did you seriously only come because you still have no friends?”
“Yeah, especially your sister who needs new foundation”

Maya finally turns around, only to see her old bullies. She knows who they finally are, Roos and Ilse. Roos went down a stereotypical mean-girl path, becoming a nurse. However, Ilse wanted to stay in school forever, so therefore she became an educator. However, since she still doesn’t have all her credentials, she can only be an assistant. It’s clear they look stereotypically pretty, but they are the only ones who think that. In reality, they look plain as hell.

“Yeah, I think you’re the one who needs to fix her crusty-ass makeup. Also, I do have friends.”
“Really Maya?”
“Yes. Her name is Lina, and the ones in France or Germany.”
“Awwe, someone’s lying.”
“Nope, see my contacts. Have you guys even made a single friend outside of you two?”
“Well, I'm an… assistant teacher?”
“Oh, so you befriend the kids and suck at your job because you still think you’re fifteen?”
“Well… uh, I…”
“Oh my god, at least she’s doing better than you NEET sister.”
“At least I still have a family.”
“I do too, but we don’t have any losers like you or Coco.”
“I still love her”
“You don’t deserve love though because you’re still an addict.”
“Are you blind, did you not see my contacts?”
“I did, they're not enough.”
“So is two greater than twelve? Damn no wonder why you’re flunking at being a nurse.”
“No wonder why you’re devolving into being a neckbeard game designer.”
“No wonder why all your patients die on you.”
“...well… you look unwashed…”
“You probably have so much plastic surgery in your body that it makes you look ten years older.”

Roos and Ilse get slaughtered by the insults, with Maya only making things up off the top of her head. She feels satisfied, as she killed a part of her longtime anxiety. Coco looks up at Maya as if she’s a guardian angel. Coco feels like something has been unlocked inside of her, but she doesn't know what. Maya, feeling like she’s glowing, picks up Coco. They head to the bus, where once again, she joins Cleo’s group, and Coco sits alone. Mymy and her old friends sit behind Coco and Maya, with her intention to only really keep in touch with Cato, and minimal contact with Bert. The bus starts rolling, and Yfke and Maya quickly drift asleep after the long day.

Maya wakes up to Teen Maya, looking out of a large window.

“This is why we went to Zwolle?”
“To visit family, yes.”
“N-no… to help Coco.”
“I didn’t know she needed help.”
“But, she was s-so good.” Teen Maya’s voice starts to crack, and she starts to grow.
“I know, and we’re going to help her.”
“...did I do this?” Teen Maya starts crying
“It’s not your fault… me”
“It-is, it-is, i-it is…”
“She did this herself, but with other factors destroying her.”
“I-is that true?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, Coco.”

Teen Maya hugs New Maya, and Teen Maya grows and changes into her current self. Her reflection hugs her, and she hugs her reflection back. They fuse into one person, with her dreamworld becoming bright. Some things become more organized, and then Maya slowly wakes up to the bus pulling up at their school. Vera has already left, not wanting anything else to do with this reunion. Everybody says their goodbyes, even Coco to her old friends. With everyone gone, Mymy meets up with her two sisters, and sets up their bikes. Sandy with the sea breeze affecting them, they have a glorious ride home. Their ride is wonderful, as the trees wave to them, except the dirt path with bus marks in them. Maya breaths in every fresh ounce of the air. They get home, Naiomi enjoys her freedom off leash, her mother is still preparing dinner, and everybody settles down. Coco runs to her room, and Maya goes in to check on her. She finds Coco uncontrollably sobbing on her bed.

“Hey Coco, are you ok from today?”
“Y-you stole my friends.”
“I didn’t want it to come off that way…”
“Well, they’re still my friends!”
“You lost contact with them though?” Coco starts to calm down, allowing Maya to put her head on her lap.

“N-no, well, No.”
“Coco, you couldn’t keep up with the flow of their conversation.”
“I tried…” Coco’s face wells up with tears again “...it’s still like that… it’s still like that.”
“It’s not like that.”
“At least I have friends.”
“Coco, you may have had friends then, but you don't have any friends now.”

The realization struck Coco, still crying, but slowly accepting the reality. Maya leaves Coco alone, as it’s better to leave her alone when she is in these moods. Coco stays on her mind the entire night as her, Mymy, and her dad sit on the couch to watch TV. Coco lingers on Maya’s head, and she knows for the rest of the time she’s in the Netherlands, something must change. She will try to do it, even if it fails. As night falls, the girls get ready for bed. Maya drops in to say goodnight to Coco, alive but unresponsive in her bed. Maya feels uneasy, but hopeful. She falls asleep, as she fights off the list of Coco’s problems dancing in her head.

Chapter Text

|BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT|

Maya wakes up the the hum of the alarm, Naiomi is laying right next to her. Before she can even leave the bed, Mymy opens the door.

“Maya”
“Morning Mymy,... got something planned?”
“What did you say to Coco last night?”
“I said she had no friends?”
“You’re lucky she didn’t punch you”
“O-oh…”
“Yeah, you should probably check on her too.”
“Yeah…”
“By the way, morning.”

With Mymy finally leaving, Maya finally gets out of bed. She heads downstairs to feed herself and Naiomi. She reflects on the things she did yesterday, and Coco laying in her bed. A delayed reaction of a mix of confusion and surprise hit her, as Coco would’ve usually hurt her if she said those things to her. She started to walk inside her memory while making Naiomi and herself breakfast. Mymy is standing right next to her. She's been up for a little longer than her, but a lot less tired. She’s in her own world, allowing Maya to safely dive into her mind. It started off with Coco and Mymy’s adoption, which would’ve been fairly innocent if Mymy didn’t scream “fuck!” inside their living room on her second day. Then she went to the next one with Coco, which was fairly dull. Most of them were dull, irrelevant, or boring. Very few were happy, until Maya approached the first week her old band rehearsed at her home.

Maya, annoyed at Coco’s antics, burst into her room to quiet down. She was having a horrible day after everyone was bullying her, and Coco could see it. She did put a makeshift sound barrier up, but it wasn’t enough to hide the screaming match. Maya initiated it. Again and again, they would frequently argue while her band was over. Nobody cared about it, as barely anyone saw Maya with respect. Sometimes Coco would initiate it though, or Mymy would make it worse. Then there was that one time when she was sixteen, where Coco hung her out a window in rage. As an adult, Maya absolutely knew she deserved it. Soon, she got better during Covid, and Coco slowly faded out of her life. She spent her days hiding from everyone, becoming worse by the minute. Maya only had very few glimpses of these memories, as her life online and Mymy stuck out to her more.

She exits her head, to find Naiomi done with her food, and Mymy texting random people on her phone. She decided to get ready and check on Coco, who she finds sleepless.

“Morning Coco”

No response is heard.

“I’m sorry for what I said last night. I know if I were you I'd get incredibly upset over that too…”
“I know.” She said in a faint voice.
“I know… Do you just want to spend time together?”
“I-I guess… I c-can’t sleeep..”
“Why can’t you sleep?”
“People”
“Do people stress you out too sometimes?”
“No, there has been so much change and I… need to sleep.”

Coco forces herself back to sleep, only having two hours of it. Maya goes to the living room to plan out her day with Coco, as Mymy, still distracted by her phone, comes back in too. She sits down next to Maya on the couch, as Maya lazes on the couch. It’s still early in the morning, and there’s nothing planned out for the entire week. She felt like her dad, who was always too tired from work to do anything. He was always incredibly lazy, and felt somewhat of an absent parent. His presence at family gatherings still solidified his family bonds. Either way, he gave the needed attention to the girls, but never had the time to expand it. Maya kept laying out on the couch, wondering what to do with Coco. Bored, she eventually headed upstairs to get ready for the day. When she came back downstairs, she was home alone with her sisters. Something that frequently happened when they were young. Naiomi had energy, so Maya decided to keep playing with her until Coco woke up.

Eventually, after a grueling silence of two hours, Coco finally came downstairs. She was still tired, but functional.

“...so Coco, what do you want to do today?”
“I need to eat…”
“Well, after you eat, do you want to hangout with me and Mymy?” Maya said, nudging Mymy to get off her phone
“Shure.”

Maya, enthusiastic, quickly had twenty tabs of ideas open in her brain, unable to choose one. Mymy finally gets off her phone, needing to be filled in for the past two hours.

“Huh..?”
“Do you want to hangout with Coco and I?”
“No, i’m staying home today.”
“Alright,... who were you texting?”
“I was texting Bert and Cleo, turns out Bert is just lonely!”
“Oh yeah, after the confession?”
Mymy quickly cringes, “Yep, he really is like a workaholic!”

Maya laughs, and her and Mymy start chatting away as Coco slowly gets ready for the day. Maya was eventually able to decide to just take a long walk with Coco as her and Maya could get some chores done, and have Coco go outside. However, Maya’s idea was primarily made by her stubbornness not to drive. Coco eventually comes down at Ten-fifty AM, and joins Maya as she yells out “BYE” to Mymy. Then, Coco and Maya’s adventure begins. With the afternoon roaring in a small local town, the bikes fly by like horses on a racetrack, with the occasional children being playful little menaces. The sun shone brightly, having the heat pound on them like a hammer. The girls start walking, and the town gets longer.

Maya and Coco stop at a clothing store, where Maya wants to buy new bottoms for herself. She thought that maybe she can refresh Coco’s wardrobe, so she wouldn’t wear the same dress everyday. Or even better, get her to change her clothes more often. They enter, and Maya starts to find her size for shorts and skirts. Coco wonders, looking at all the pretty clothing. She looks at a skirt, a black flowy skirt that drops down to her mid-calf. She wants it, but doesn’t know what else to wear. She didn’t realize how long she’s been wearing the same clothes for. Then, Maya approaches her. She has a pleated black Jean skirt, a pair of new striped underwear, a fitting red t-shirt, and a cool Jean Jacket. She looks at Coco,

“I can buy that Coco”
“Well, no thanks.”
“I brought enough cash for this trip”
“N-no”
“Well, I think it would look good on you!”
“I don’t know what else to wear with it!”
“Oh! Do you have any shirts?”
“Yeah… but I only wear one shirt…”
“Then lets find another!”

Coco agrees, and they keep searching the somewhat small store. They eventually find a shirt on sale, it’s a long-sleeved toned-yellow and black striped shirt. Coco checks the size to see if it covers her up, and it’s exactly a medium. The girls checkout their clothes at the cash register, with the total being a lot less than they expected. They go back out with two crumbly paper bags, with still many hours to spare in the light of day. They keep walking, with the houses greeting them one by one.

“So Coco, have you been drawing still?”
“Somewhat”
“Can I see your art when we’re home?”
“No”
“It’s fine, then can I teach you how to draw online?”
“I-I… maybe.”
“Well, if you can watch YouTube, then you know how to search something up, right?”
“I, yeah. I’m not ever good with computers…”
“I'll make you good.”
“That’s also because you’re a successful game developer…”
“…and that I was too chronically online when I was a teen.”

The silence creeps up on them. Then Coco realized that she never knew what Maya was actually doing online until now. However, Maya could already tell what Coco does online. They keep walking until Maya quickly finds an art vendor, she buys Coco some new art supplies. However, she couldn’t buy the better ones from her lack of money. She put them in Coco’s bag, as Coco just stared back at them. Although Coco had nothing going on, she still drew at least twice a year. Each art piece in her hidden journal was good as the last, as her artistic talent never truly went away. She always thought that she had a chance in the art world. But as twenty-twenty approached, life started to become online. The young Coco kept trying harder and harder, with nothing pleasing her parents. Nobody even said a simple Hello to her anymore, and her friends started to naturally drift apart. She only found solace in one place, her room. She started to isolate herself more, as if she couldn’t even keep up, why should she even go out?

“Coco…”
“Coco hey…”
“Coco?”
“Oh, hoi… Maya.”
“We’ve been sitting on this bench for an hour”
“Oh…” as she looks at Maya’s phone, striking noon.
“Are you hungry, because I-… wait is Naiomi fed..!?”
“Not really”

Maya starts texting her parents, making shure if Naiomi was fed. Luckily, Mymy decided to feed her some cute Japanese cat-food that Eiko sent. Maya felt relieved that Naiomi was being taken care of, but also guilty for not taking her on a walk with her and Coco. She turned back at Coco.

“Are you hungry?”
“Not really”
“Then can we get Waffles?”
“They still don’t have Belgian waffles”
“Right.”

Maya, hungry and losing focus, started to have food pop up all over her brain. Everything was appealing, but most of the options could only be found in Belgium. Her and Coco soon settled on Poffertjes, the only food that they could even be remotely fine with. Then Coco finally got up, with both girls starting to profusely sweat from the sun. They kept walking, as the heat started to tie them down in chains. As the chains get heavier, a savior food vendor comes to their rescue. They get their food and water, as they are only halfway home. The heat starts catching up to them, as Coco’s weak body gets progressively more tired. However, Maya has more plans to spend time with Coco. They eventually find a bench to stop and eat, as Maya feels her clothes sticking to her skin from the sweat. Irritated, she quickly spots a museum with the AC blasting like a polar snowstorm. Coco and Maya quickly finish their food, and go in.

Each art piece to Coco feels like a semblance of something. Something that never happened to her, a familiar something that was there, but buried away under the layers of dirt. Her and Maya eventually trail off from each other, ending up in each of their respective exhibits. Unaware, Maya ends up in a completely new exhibit. With the recentness of the museum, the exhibit felt like herself. She kept walking, and felt estranged. Everything felt weird. The phone was buzzing with Lina’s updates and texts, but it was faint compared to the blurry pop-art of the world. After walking in a land of colors and turns, the museum sewed her in. The museum, a modern stranger, had another modern stranger inside her country in it. Maya looked around at the Dutch people, and then herself. She was no longer Dutch, despite living the majority of her life inside the country. For no particular reason, an anxious wave of sadness spilled into her. As her mind was sorting through her past life, but she needed to find Coco.

As for Coco, there was a light room. Broken, but radiant. Each light flickered to its own degree, and the darkness felt infinite. Some lights were burnt out, as others needed to be repaired. The symphony of lights created an unwanted show, as it made some people sick from the flickering. The door was somewhere, but with everything else, it seemed like it was a tight box of nothing. Coco kept walking, wondering if it got better. She soon gave up, as this exhibit wasn’t even finished. Like usual, she found a bench, and sat there. Maya eventually found her on the bench, and they carefully came out of the museum together.

Feeling weird, Maya tries to break the ice with Coco.

“So, how did you like the museum?”
“... it was strange”
“Yeah, was that built recently?”
“I think it was built sometime when you were in Belgium.”
“I was gone for five years”
“Well, I think it was built sometime between twenty-twenty one, to twenty-twenty four.”
“Alright. Let’s go home.”
“Yeah…”

Looking at their bags, Maya realizes that she finally has the materials she needs to help Coco. Tired, and feeling weird, they walk back. With the spell of the museum on them, the radiance of the town feels dim. Nothing pops out to them, except Maya notices a building, now painted a fiery red. The ground feels wobbly, as they walk faster than they should in humid weather. The steps take each of their own pounds to each other, as the uniform walk sees nothing, besides home. As they get home, Maya checks her phone, only to find it completely blown up by all her friends. She temporarily ignores the texts to unpack her bag. Coco goes up to her room again, sets the bag on the floor, and sits on the bed. She stares at the wall, thinking, and the wall states back at her. Seeing Coco’s door closed, Maya decided to wait thirty minutes, just so she could relax and text. She spots Mymy in the living room, having the best lazy day of her life with absolutely no regrets on her face. The only person she’s been texting so far is her boyfriend, who occasionally sends photos of himself to make her happy.

Maya sits next to her, answering away as she switches languages like a switch.

“Hey Maya”
“Hey Mymy”
“That definitely was a long walk”
“How long?”
“It’s fifteen PM”
“Exactly?!”
“Well, ten minutes later. Did you get more bone muscle?”
“I think Coco did. But Mymy, you know not to do that.”
“Oh… right. I’ve just been watching TV all day.”
“...and texting your boyfriend?”
“Yep. Best day ever.”
“That’s great. Are you going to bring him over?”
“I don’t think I can. He works in a fishing shop, he works with the fish.”
“What does he do with the fish?”
“He’s a fisherman, and sometimes he slices them up for the shop’s restaurant. So he often has to travel to the shore.”
“Is he home this week?”
“I’m glad he is to watch the house!”
“And you live with him already?”
“Yep! When will you find a boyfriend again?”
“I don’t know. After that one guy I broke up with, it feels like all my options are limited”
“Maya, it was just one crappy man. Shure, you were crying hysterically and losing your mind over the breakup, but there’s a lot more men in the world!”
“What if I can’t talk with them in their own country?”
“Just find the right one. The one who speaks to you so you can speak back means he’s a good man!”
“I guess so. But can I borrow some money?”
“Unless you drive, then i’ll fund your little dream-trip to Ireland”
“Then forget about it”

Maya goes back on her phone, finishing up talking to her friends. Eventually, she goes back upstairs to help Coco. She’s laying down on the top of her bed, now staring at the ceiling. Nothing about her dusty room has even remotely changed, except there was that bag right next to the computer. Maya gets Coco out of bed to teach her how to use the computer.

“Ok Coco, is this your password”
“Yeah”
“Ok, type it in.”

Coco spends at least five minutes figuring out what keys to press, as Maya helps her try to get faster.

“Ok, Coco, QWERTY, remember?”
“ Q W E R… TY”
“That’s good, so you are getting faster. Now click Chrome.”
“... that?”
“Yeah, take the mouse and click it… alright.”
“How do I search?”
“First, you click the search bar, then then type something in”

With heavy supervision, Maya carefully watches Coco Make her search. Surprisingly, it’s successful. But she later realizes that Coco has been buying those “films” offline, as her history is completely glitched out.

“Why is your history glitched?”
“I tried to download something.”
“Oh, Coco, that’s malware…”
“Oh...”
“Let me clean up your computer while you watch…”
“That's how you do it?!”
“Yep! It’s that simple.”

With Coco slowly grasping the basics, she finally starts to see the computer. With Maya successfully wording the information so her brain can grasp it. Two hours later, Coco finally gets how to use the basics of the computer. With Maya only hoping that Coco can figure out social media. But a blanket of safety drapes over Maya, as even now, Coco has always been generally disinterested in social media.

“Now, let’s dust off your room and re-place your journal.”
“Alright.”

As Maya creates a little dust-tornado in Coco’s room, she recognizes her art supplies. She looks at her old artbook, and places it right next to her new sketchbook. She faintly smiles at her new pile, as she suddenly wants to draw again. As another two hours pass, the women are standing in Coco’s similar room. Everything was still there, but her art supplies were more accessible, and it no longer felt like it would suffocate you with the sheer amount of dust. By surprise, the girl’s mom calls them to dinner. Coco and Maya head downstairs, only to see a full dinner table. Maya smiles, Coco’s face remains unchanged, Mymy’s excited, but her mom gives a death glare to Coco. Naiomi even joins, as her food is in a safe spot near the family table.

In what felt like an eternity, the family enjoys a lively dinner with everybody together. Along with a new family member, Naiomi. The lights make it like an elegant gala, with the sheer preparation from the food paying off. Maya enjoys the bitterballen, a stuffed Dutch meat dish. Mymy slurps down the Pannenkoeken, a meaty type of pancake, as Coco nibbles on the Zuurkoolstamppot. The parents watch their children eat their food, blessed that they did so well on the dinner. With everybody full, they wash up for bed. Naiomi follows Maya around, and she nearly trips on her multiple times. Coco finally does a full wash for bed, and Mymy washes up, and falls into bed like a rock. Maya’s mom, tired from work, hangs out in her room.

The last two standing are Maya, Naomi, and her dad, as they go to watch TV in the eerily silent room.

“Maya”
“Yes dad?”
“I’m sorry that I never got close to you when you were a child”

Those words strike a chord in Maya’s heart, as her brain keeps digging for something to be anxious about.

“...I was always busy. Your mom didn’t work when you were younger, and only worked part-time into your teen years. I always had to work overtime so we could afford to live here. We weren’t as rich as we were now…”

[but why were you so mean mom?] Maya starts losing control of her anxiety, unknowingly feeling an attack coming on.

“...eventually my life became work, afford, TV. I couldn’t think about you guys at all, it was hard when we were too busy just trying to keep the house.”

Maya grasps every single piece of her dad’s apology, and forgives him. But she still feels the anxiety rising. She tries to fight it off as her and her dad go their separate ways. As soon as she lies into bed, her mom starts yelling at Coco, and Maya gets into a full-blown anxiety attack.

In the next room, the words her mother is saying repeat the exact words she said to Maya

“YOU FAILURE! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? WHY ARE YOU BURDENING THE FAMILY?!?”

Maya forces her mind to go blank, helping her get out. Naiomi rushes to her side and lays on her to comfort her during her attack. Her face is flushing, and is sweating like a rainstorm after her shower. Even so, she now only shakes like a washing machine.

“NO! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! YOU KNOW YOU’RE UNDESERVING OF LOVE! IF YOU COULD GET OUTSIDE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS COUDL BE FIXED YOU UNEMPLOYED DEGENERATE!”

As the words were only similar to it once was, Maya was able to bring herself down even more. It felt endless and that she was going to die. Her cat started pruning her, and she was finally able to reach out to help her fight off the attack.

“COCO! YOU ARE NOTHING! WHY DO YOU KEEP LIVING HERE?”

Finally, after her mom stopped screaming at Coco, Naiomi cuddled in with Maya. She slowly recovered, and felt herself coming back together. Although intense, she was able to fight off an anxiety attack and recover. She got under the covers, not until a distressed Mymy came into her room. She sat next to her on her bed.

“Maya, are you ok?”
“I’m fine Mymy”
“Alright.” Mymy looks back, “goodnight”
“Goodnight Mymy”

Maya falls asleep, and it’s only ten-thirty PM. As for Coco, she lays in her bed, wide awake in a dead body. Even though she learnt how to use a computer, her mind turns black, and death creeps up her shoulder. With nobody in her room, the darkness drowned her. She fell asleep, thinking about today. These thoughts became more prevalent than ever, but numbed with the fun today.

Chapter Text

|BEEP…BEEP…BEEP|

Maya groggily woke up to the sound of her alarm, strangely tired from last night. She saw Naiomi still sleeping, a rare occurrence for her to be off her feeding schedule. Mymy wasn’t at the door, having nothing planned. As for Maya, she finally had a peaceful morning on vacation. She walked downstairs for breakfast, to only find her parents relaxing before they had work. It was strange, as Maya wasn’t used to this-ever.

“Good Morning Mom, Morning Dad”
“Morning Maya” her mom says, disgruntled after last night. “Did I wake you?”
“No I.. just had insomnia”
“Summer does that to people” her dad commented,
“I’m glad you didn’t end up like Coco, Maya”
“Y-yeah, but I-” Maya quickly stops herself, as she didn’t want a morning argument.
“I would allow this degenerate behavior if you were a teenager. But that Coco is doing this as an adult. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.”
“I helped her yesterday”

Her mom looks back to her, with a cold stare. A cold stare of disbelief that Coco could be helped.

“...I dusted off her room, got her new clothes, she learned how to use the computer, and I reorganized some things.”
“But did she get job?”
“No”

Everybody goes silent, the parents ignore Maya and continue their morning. Without protest, Maya goes back upstairs to freshen up. The awkward aroma was impossible to ignore. Still persistent, Maya planned out her day with Coco. Like many times before, her brain wasn’t being useful to her. She tried her hardest to think of what to do with Coco, but all that her brain could focus on was cat, argument, food. The argument worried her, as she didn’t know if Coco felt fine, or Mymy’s thoughts on the argument. But she couldn’t go home, as she still had three more days before she could get on her train for her departure.

Then she realized that she could alternate between Mymy and Coco. If she spent time with Mymy in the morning, she could finally get all the missing information through her lies. As for Coco, she could keep improving her in the afternoon. She didn’t know what to exactly do, but all she wanted was to squeeze out as much time as possible. As the memory of her leaving to live with Lina resurfaced, Maya realized that she truly didn’t know how it affected everyone in her family separately. She only knew that her parents were worried sick, especially her mom. As her mom called over 200 times with no way to reach out to her. As for her dad, he blew up her phone full of texts. As she finally got out of the bathroom, she went to wake up her cat. Naiomi, in a lazy mood, had Maya carry her downstairs for her food. But as the clock struck eight, her parents had already left for work. Soon, Mymy also came downstairs as Maya was making her cat’s food. Her hair looked like a rats nest, her pajamas were wrinkled, and she had slight eye bags. She gave a faint smile to Maya and greeted her, and she promptly sat down on the couch.

“So, Mymy. Does that happen every night?”
“I don’t know”
“Is Coco ever open about… that?”
Mymy rubs her eyes, “...nope, we don’t talk often enough for me to know”
“Alright…”

Maya’s concern only grew, as memories of her mom treating her like Coco when she was a teen started to resurface. She tried to hold back the tears, and she was successful, as the result was a sloppily made cat breakfast. Maya grabbed a cup of coffee, and decided to make toast. Overcome by her emotions, she quickly dashed upstairs, as Mymy started to make her own breakfast. She started getting anxious again, but not to the point of an attack.

She knocked on Coco’s door, no answer.

She did it again. Silence.

She did it one last time, and the door slowly opened.

Coco looked at her through the door, looking as worse as ever. Her eyes were puffy from crying, her hair had lost its color again, and some of it was severely tangled. Usually manageable, her eyebags had dark coloring to them. A type of purplish color someone could only get from skipping too much sleep. Her skin was also slightly dimmed, as her clothes and face picked up the last bits of remaining dust.

“...Morning Coco”
“Morning.”

There was an awkward pause between them, as Coco stared dead into Maya eyes.

“Are you ok?”

Coco’s soul completely left her body, and she tried to hug Maya, but something prevented her from doing so. She let Maya into her room, and they both sat on the bed.

“Was that an argument, or was mom berating you?”
“An argument..”
“Does it happen often?”
“Only in the last 6 months. Mom didn’t intervene as much before…” Coco’s voice starts to break, and Maya hugs her, having empathy for her mothers wrath. But Coco felt no comfort.

“Please just freshen up and come downstairs, alright?”
“Alright.”

Shortly after Maya left, Coco took the new clothes Maya bought and went to the bathroom. Maya headed back downstairs, and Mymy was scrolling on her phone.
“After Coco is done, do you want to go to the park?”
“I’ll see”, as Mymy keeps scrolling on her phone

Antsy, Maya cleans her cat’s bowl and plays with her. As Coco finally got out, Mymy took her time going upstairs. Maya and Coco sat in the living room together, with nothing to say after last night. They each had their days planned out, with the only change in Coco’s day is that she would go get lunch with Maya. Suddenly, Mymy gained a lot of energy from getting ready, and she agreed to hangout with her in the park. They left Coco home alone, and they started walking to the park. The town is eerily quiet, as it’s a time of day where most adults are at work, and the children are in no mood to play. The town for once, felt like it belonged to Maya. She felt as if she fit in, despite her overall disconnect from The Netherlands. They kept walking, as the town felt small without its people in it. They quickly arrived at the park, as there was nothing to look at, or any changes that felt odd. The park was quiet and fresh. The overall nostalgic feel mixed in well with the unique woodland it had, and the pathway was smooth on foot and bike. Despite rarely going to the park when they were children, they felt like they were in the right place. Maya and Mymy did not stop walking, until they found a bench near a well-maintained lake. The ducks quacked loudly, and the water was still. The ripples sang a tune that only the water knew, as the plants gave a sightly look.

“So, Mymy…”
“Yeah?”
“I still have questions about the things you’ve told me.”
“Oh… like what?”
“Everything. After learning about your biological sister and how you’re only famous in Drenthe… what’s true and what’s not?”
“...not a lot.”
“Not a lot of things are true?!”
“No, not a lot are lies. I only lied because I wanted you to think I could do better.”
“Mymy, you’re already doing great. But do better at what?”
“Even though we were fifteen, and well, I was dumb too, you told me that well… I would get…”

Mymy quickly shuttered, as she couldn't even get out the words that Maya once said to her, but Maya was still clueless as to what was wrong. She tried to get Mymy to say what she said, but the memory of that moment was separated in each of their timelines.

“I… really don’t think you realize your impact of how you disappeared”
“I think I’m starting to, Mymy. I didn’t know how much you cared about me until that day.”
“Did you? You barely even responded to my texts for a few months.”
“I do. You were crying at Walibi, and I just felt.. awful.”
“I guess you know some of it. It’s just- you left at the worst times for the family. But you were in your room all the time, or out when most of us were asleep- You didn’t know anything!”
“Mymy, that’s why i’m here now. Helping you, Coco, Mom and Dad by just being here”
“Just because you’re here doesn’t cure that wound”
“It’s the start, right?”
“Maybe. I know you’re sorry Maya, and I accept that, but there’s just some things that still hurt years later.”
“I know how that feels Mymy. I still worry that Naiomi might disappear like how Nyoga did even though it’s been sixteen years.”
Mymy gives a chuckle. Genuine, but forced in her mental state “Well, Coco can’t get rid of her this time”

Suddenly, Maya remembers that she left Naiomi at home. She forgot to say goodbye to her, check on how she was doing, or if Coco was fine being alone with her. She immediately pulled out her phone, and forgot if she even had Coco’s contact. Unwilling to borrow Mymy’s phone, she started frantically looking. In her short, rapid search, she opened Whatsapp, that app she rarely used. She didn’t scroll far, and Coco was at the bottom of her contacts. Four years.

It has been four years since Maya last texted Coco.

Although she was familiar with Coco’s presence once again, she was still hesitant to send a text. But not knowing how her cat was doing, she forced herself to send it. Mymy looked over at Maya, curious as to why she shut down suddenly. For Mymy, she thought that she was just anxious again, but Maya deflected. There was an awkward pause, as time kept going. The ducks were swimming in the pond, unbothered by the heat. The cold river and the humidity made a swimming pool for the ducks, although too disgusting for humans. The sisters kept sitting there, relaxing at the sight of the ducks. There was nothing, nothing to be bothered about. Maya’s phone finally buzzes, and it’s Coco.

[H0i MaYa, CAt is FiNE. No a11g3iS. WhY d1D u T3Xt?]

It was at least enough information to calm Maya. She didn’t need to respond to Coco’s question, as it could have already been answered through Maya’s trip. Mymy kept peeking over, curious who Maya was texting. Maya finally answered, and kept talking to Mymy. Although slightly awkward from the long pause, they enjoy a brief conversation, and then finally decide to head back. The park seemed larger, but the environment was definitely more humid and hotter. The sisters started walking on the smooth dirt path, with only some stones this time. Mymy tripped on one, and got her hands slightly dusty. Maya checked her phone, a total of four hours had passed, an almost-perfect overlap for her and Coco to get lunch. Once again, the town was still quiet, but this time, it was Mymy only talking at Maya. With Maya enduring Mymy’s long rants and unnecessary details about her life, they finally make it home. Maya immediately starts looking for the cat in every room possible, she checks under her bed, all open cabinets, and even small places the cat couldn’t fit into. She was nowhere, and she started to panic.

[What if Coco gave her away… like Nyoga…]

Then a loud meow was heard from upstairs. Maya slowly crept up there, to only find the cat hanging out on the opposite side of Coco’s room. Her door was halfway open, with her staring directly at the cat. She was hanging out near the door to prevent allergies, only wishing that she could pet Maya’s cat. Relieved, Maya enters Coco’s room and picks up her cat, wich shed all over her floor.

“So, Coco?”
Coco looks at her, trying to prevent an allergy attack “ja?”
“Want to clean up first and then get lunch”
“I need claritin first… but sure”

Maya takes her cat down to Mymy, who is laying on the couch texting her boyfriend. She holds Naiomi, and kisses her on the nose, as Maya goes to grab a broom and duster.

“Did your allergies just start to happen?”
“No, I didn’t have allergies before when Naiomi was near me. So I thought I didn’t have a cat allergy anymore, I let her in shortly before you came home, and I sneezed.”
“But don’t lock her in your room Coco. I thought she was going to disappear like how Nyoga did…”
“Maya, i’m sorry for ruining your life”

Maya looks at Coco, getting a good look at her again.

“I’m fine now Coco. Everything is ok with me now, with you… i’m sorry that I was an asshole to you when we were teenagers”

Coco looks back at Maya, unsure if she can accept her apology. She knew she meant well, but although it was healing, the scar of abandonment was still bleeding out. They went back to cleaning in silence, with Maya having to occasionally kick the cat out of the room. After Maya made Coco’s bed, Coco finally freshened up to go outside. Then Maya went back downstairs to find Mymy back to scrolling, completely unaware of her surroundings. As in her surroundings, Naiomi broke several pieces of glass while Mymy was distracted. The cat was sitting on a ledge, giving Maya a stare for her to challenge her. She did, but after she angrily ripped Mymy away from the phone, they both entered a race to clean against the cat’s nonstop destruction. Maya won the battle, and she locked Naiomi in the study just in time for Coco to get back downstairs. Mymy sat on their dad’s chair dazed, and waved goodbye to Coco and Maya.

With the roaring lunch hour of a Thursday, finding a place would be harder than usual. As some people didn’t work to Friday, and others didn’t work at all. The children were flooding the food stands and restaurants with their families. Somehow, despite it being a Thursday, the amount of people made it feel like a Friday evening. Maya knew the mission, and Coco already wanted to give up. They started walking, and pushed through the crowds like pushing down a wall. Coco got stuck in a few crowds, not without Maya’s fair share of getting stuck in lines. The environment was humid, and felt hot like a watery hell. The air no longer felt breathable, and every step was like swimming on land. Sweat was like bubbles, and nobody’s hair stayed intact. Coco’s already unwashed clothes became even more sweaty and droopy, the sweat couldn’t even be hidden anymore, as the stains wouldn’t stop growing. Maya’s makeup started to streak down her face, with her hair gradually becoming a rat’s nest from every step she took. The ground was uneven, and the world felt slightly dizzy from the heat combined with the humidity. The fans did not help, and after a grueling quarter walk, they slipped into a new restaurant. Still relatively unknown to everybody in town, but it has Air Conditioning. The breeze was like ice cubes across their neck, and helped them keep their heads straight. The sisters stood in the entrance underneath the AC, and they both stank. Luckily, there were relatively few people to see how deranged they looked from the heat, and the host quickly sat them down. The chairs were unusually comfortable, and the building was relatively clean and maintained. It had an expensive feel to it, compared to the two dishes that were served. Maya quickly realized that she didn’t know what restaurant this was- or how expensive the dishes were. But with the two of them too tired from the heat, they decided to eat there anyway.

“Well, Coco, we found a place”
“Yep”
“Do you think it’s nice”
“I guess”
“Coco, are you still thinking about last night?”
“Y-yep. I can’t get it out of my head” Coco whispered.
“You said this has been happening for the past 6 months though?”
“I know. I should be expecting it by now with how old we are… but last night… that was the worst one yet…”
“I heard”
“Yeah…”

Coco looked away from Maya, with her mental state deteriorating right in front of Maya. However, she forces it back down, as the belief of her never caring for Coco starts to win. The waiter brings the menu, and Coco stares at the menu for a few seconds, and picks it up. Maya looks over, getting that sickening feeling again, but Coco’s wall effectively makes Maya not know what’s wrong. They order off the menu, with Maya convincing Coco to eat some more.

“Well, this restaurant is really cheap”
“Yep, I still think i’ll be overstuffed”
“No you won’t Coco, I can afford all of this.”
“I think I could pay for a meal here”
“Most likely. This restaurant is just… cheap.”

Another silence ensues, and Maya keeps trying to get Coco to open up, desperately hoping that her progress isn’t destroyed.

“...w-well, we can do something like twenty questions with all of us tonight Coco!?”
“That sounds good.”
“I-it is?”
“Yep”
“Thank god, we can finally have an activity all three of us can be happy in”
“...and I guess I can get filled in on your lives”
“Maybe Mymy will show us a photo of her boyfriend”
“You know Maya, I think Mymy has been lying about him”
“Why would you say that?”
“She lied about everything, I can just tell. That melancholic bitch has been so bad at it- and it’s just- infuriating! And I don’t even know what to say at this point!”
“She did the same thing to me too Coco”
Coco takes a short breath, and comments “I guess this game will help me know the truth”
“I already forced her to debunk her lies. She’s telling the truth… for the most part”

Coco glared at Maya, now wondering if she was telling the truth with her and Mymy’s bond. They kept sitting in silence, and started eating as soon as the waiter brought their food. Even while food was out, they slowly ate in silence. Coco felt her rage pile up inside of her, but this time it was an unexplainable one. One that couldn’t be blamed on Mymy. At the same time, a guilt laid on Maya, feeling horrible for being unable to prevent the argument. She kept eating her meal with Coco in silence. They slowly finish, and pay for their food right at the table, with the bill only totaling up to 21.34 Euros for two people. With Coco still in her head, Maya kept trying to bring her out of it. The direction became increasingly clear to Coco, in which she wanted to stay on. Yet, she knew how her night should go. They left the restaurant again, with it only being slightly filled up. Eventually, Maya gave up, and the silence became the only thing that stood there. Even in the busy crowds, the only thing that could be heard was silence. The silence was felt, seen, and heard. Nothing was there, everything was a blur for each step. Every animal was just another speck of dust, and the family home looked like a shoebox. For a moment, their minds went blank. It went blank right at the front door, and only filled up once again when they opened the doors.

It was unexpectedly clean. With Mymy dressed in cleaning wear and sweaty, the entire house has no more traces of dust. Except the sister’s rooms, as Mymy didn’t want any of their belongings to get displaced. Especially with Maya’s cat. Meanwhile, Naiomi was laying inside a kitty burrito on the couch, nicely wrapped and tucked in by Mymy. The girls greeted each other, and Coco immediately darted straight to her room. It was only fifteen PM exactly, and there was too much time to kill.

“So Maya, do you know where we can play your game”
“Do you want to play it?”
“Yep! But do I have to buy it?”
“Nope, just download it on your phone.”
“I thought it cost something?”
“It’s free on the phone, but you only need to buy it on itch io Mymy”
“Well, wanna play it together?”
“...only with two devices”

As soon as Mymy downloaded the app, she immediately spent .50 Euros on currency. To prevent Mymy from spending more, Mymy gave her many gifts to give her a boost in game. For Maya’s surprise, Mymy was completely immersed in her game. Although it looked like a general MMO, the unique European influence of Germany, Belgium, France, and Ireland is what attracted most players. Along with the freeing aspect of not being reliant on pay to play, or pay to win. The only thing that cost money was the currency to buy exclusive armor and accessories, wich people were willing to pay almost anything for. With only Coco missing, time flew by, with them only looking at the clock when their parents got home. It was 17PM, which was unusually late for both their parents. With Maya slightly delirious from the heavy gaming, she asked why her parents were home late in a somewhat younger manner. For her mom, she had to work overtime as her dad got out early. However, due to the car having some difficulty in starting, having her dad pick her mom up after her minimal overtime. With dinner not made for anybody, Coco in her room, and the girls playing video games, their mom started screaming at them. But it didn't last long, as unlike Coco, this was a slight mistake.

As everyone was tired, the family decided to fend for themselves, and their parents went to bed early after the overtime and car problems. Coco finally emerged from her room without any reason, and went downstairs. She stared at a wall for a minute, until Maya invited both of them to hangout in the living room. Surprisingly, Coco accepted, and they started chatting. Overall, it was light.

“...Well, my boyfriend and I have been dating for a while. I don’t think I'm exactly in the honeymoon phase.”
“Mymy, you’ve only known him for a few months. I don’t think you can trust him”
“He’s better than the others though”
“Give it time, he’s a good man but you need to rethink about moving again”
“I guess… we haven’t moved into each other's home yet”

However, things quickly got dark when Coco accidentally mentioned Maya moving to Belgium, and Mymy felt herself about to tear up. She held back the guilt, rage, and regret she felt on that day. But Maya finally started to learn how bad things became, she was truly understanding how her disappearance impacted the family. Coco was giving up on life, as the pandemic was taking everything away from Coco. Her friends were drifting apart, and enjoying their lives at home. Coco couldn’t understand technology, but still had to persist to get her diploma. She learnt nothing. She learnt nothing as everything she was good at was physical. She couldn't practice for rugby, her parents started putting too much pressure on her, and eventually, she retreated to her room, for a long time.

As for Maya, almost nothing changed. As a matter of fact, things got better for her. Her anxiety wasn't as crazy as it was when she was in school, so she could do her schoolwork without interruptions. With everybody in their rooms most of the time, for the first time in her life, she felt like she could freely roam the house without anybody interrupting. Sometimes, she would pass Mymy, who frequently looked distressed, but that didn't matter to teenage Maya. She also met her best friend, Lina, one month exactly after the pandemic started. It first started as a troll, of both of them trying to catfish each other. When they revealed who they were, it was strange. However, they kept talking, and Lina was the friend Maya never had: A patient person who respected her boundaries, and shared a lot in common with her. Maya understood Lina’s struggles, as she, too, was mixed race, as she was half Congoese, half Belgian. However, she came from a much larger family where she had seven siblings in total, and she was the middle child. She was introverted without anxiety, and was living on her own due to her bad past in her hometown. Their relationship deepened quickly, as it felt like they were waiting for each other for a long, long time. Lina helped Maya realize what she wants to do, helped her learn to code, and encouraged her to make many games for money. Maya was getting better with her, and eventually revealed how her family life was like. She invited her to live with her, but Maya was unsure and anxious. Although her anxiety improved slightly, it was nowhere near great enough to go back outside.

But she knew she always wanted to leave.

Soon enough, she accepted. Lina, once again, provided Maya help with her escape plan. At this point in their friendship, she knew Lina was not trying to harm her whatsoever, as they even saw each other's faces during a skype call. She helped Maya pick out a college for her lacking academic credentials, and it was perfect just for her. It was so desperate for students, as its acceptance rate was one-hundred percent. Maya applied, and got in.

Then the night came. Everything was paid for by Lina, and everything Maya needed was packed up. To leave no trace, she even took her blobfish and would carry it the entire journey. Maya remembered the rage, the anger, the fury, and the impulsive decision to leave in the middle of the night, with no goodbyes whatsoever. Nobody knew of her plan. But back then, she thought nobody would care about her, even though Lina was her new best friend. She remembered the journey, the nerve-racking anxiety she felt being outside, and the beauty of the night. She also remembered the long nighttime bike ride to the station, where she flipped off her hometown, and for the first time in her life, felt at peace.

Mymy and Coco listened attentively, with Mymy finally breaking.

“I’M SORRY THAT I ALWAYS TEASED YOU FOR BEING ALONE!” and Mymy burst out into uncontrollable tears at that moment.

“M-Maya… i’m sorry… it was only on that day I knew I-I knew how you felt” Mymy was trying to use her last bits of strength to reveal something that nobody knew, a part of the story that would make Maya truly understand.

“...I met this guy online, his username was KingDutch… with two exe’s and underscores. He made that account when he was 12, and I thought he was nice. Well, I really did. Nothing about him alarmed me, and we… had the same political ideas… heh” Mymy slowly started to regain her composure, with Coco trying to help stabilize her.
“I remember, we used to chat often, flirt, send cute selfies… it was wonderful. Eventually, we started dating despite the ten year age gap, I really should have known not to do that. The texting became more often, and eventually he would start harassing me.” Mymy started to cry again, but she kept going.

“I thought it was normal, I thought him texting like that was normal. It only became worse when we started to call each other over discord, he would demand we’d call every hour to make sure I wasn't cheating. I did. We became closer, and it kept hurting me, as I just stopped taking care of my hair and letting it grow…” Mymy took some deep breaths.

“We decided to meet in real life, at his place. Obviously our parents didn’t care. I went in, I took off my jacket ....” Mymy started to cry again, “...and I got molested…badly. He kept stripping me and doing these vile things to me, but I got out.”

Mymy looked at the ground, appalled at what happened once again. But she was determined to finish her story to help Maya understand.

“...and it just kept happening. I got assaulted daily, touched, and abused. The night before you left I was distressed, I passed by you, and you didn’t look at me. I felt disgusting… and when you left that day, I never felt… so… alone before. I finally understood how you felt all those years, as nobody cared. I couldn’t tell anybody. I laid down on the floor, and everything just seemed dark. The walls closed into me, and I was empty. And I was there, and nothing else…”
Mymy’s eyes were completely red and tearful, “I just wanted someone there for me.”

Maya sat there, and the words she said when she was fifteen finally came back.

[I hope you get molested by a conservative]

She said that out of pure fury during a screaming match with Mymy. After she remembered them, they echoed throughout her head. Her wish came true, and Maya finally realized what she had done abandoning her family like that. Her mom was irritated and had gone insane, Coco gave up on life, and Mymy was alone. She finally realized that although the wounds were finally starting to heal, there would need to be a lot more work done. More work than she could currently put in. She came over, and hugged Mymy. For once, Mymy genuinely felt an apology from Maya, and Maya looked back at Coco, then Mymy. Each one of them would need a genuine, different apology.

Maya held Mymy while she calmed down, and they tried to finish their game that they were playing. Unsurprisingly, Mymy won despite her unregulated emotional state. Her and Maya hugged one last time before bed. Deep down, Mymy knew that Maya understood what she did, and that this was the first stage of healing for her.

The women washed up for bed, and Maya fell asleep with her cat, and Mymy dozed off in her partially-converted room. As for Coco, she couldn’t deal with anything anymore. Even after the game, where Mymy forgave Maya, she couldn’t think that there was anything redeemable. Parents just want her gone. They only yell at her now. Maya left, and her coming back isn;t fixing anything. Mymy is busy with her new life and career…

And Coco? To her, why would she be anything? She couldn’t even learn anything from covid, or even have something good happen to her.

Coco started searching her room, nothing. Then she went to the garage, still nothing. There were no pills or anything of harm in the bathroom either, and the ones that her parents needed? The pills could only get you high. Coco sighed,

[I guess it has to be painful]

She took the sharpest knife from the kitchen, went back up to her room, and started organizing everything.

Chapter Text

“COCO!”

A scream was heard at 3:12AM, immediately jolting Maya awake. Her adrenaline was running, and Naiomi thought it was a nighttime playtime. Maya looked at Coco’s room, and the door was wide open, and she immediately darted over, she froze.

After Coco made a sudden thud, Mymy went to go check on her. There she was, with her wrists slit and letting out a lot of blood. Her skin was slightly pale, but she was still breathing, while their father called 112. Coco looked defeated, but her expression was unsure in the panicked faces from Maya, Mymy, and their dad. Naiomi entered the room, jumping on Coco in hopes to eat her later. Maya immediately grabbed her and locked her in the study, as her dad went into another room to stay on call with the ambulance. Maya's mom called her over, as Mymy decided to prepare everything for the ambulance. Maya’s mom held Coco’s wounds with a grudge, having mixed emotions, but mostly feeling irritable. She instructed her to hold Coco as Mymy was trying to keep things together for the paramedics, as the mom went to grab more supplies to prevent the bleeding. Maya held her, and she looked like a husk. Nothing was there, nothing is here in that current moment. Just Coco, and Maya, where one was a body with a dying pulse, and one who flew away. Their mom came back in, applying pressure to the wounds with some water, and paper towels to hopefully make a makeshift wrap. Maya kept holding her, as the chaos kept gradually increasing. The cat was banging on the door, the world started to become hollow and distorted, and Maya felt like she was in third person.

Maya’s head started to spin with everything going on, her brain was sill in it’s normal ADHD hyperactivity, but it kept spinning to Coco.

Coco, the golden girl

Coco, the big Sister
Coco, the athlete

Coco, herself

Coco, now nearly dead.

She got a good look at her room and noticed how everything was in boxes, and a piece of paper was on her desk. She was immediately jolted back to her mother accidently rocking the body and snapped at her to keep Coco still, as now Mymy went back to the Study to check on Naiomi. She heard her dad stay on call with the paramedics, while giving out every ounce of information that he knew about Coco, with some being related to her, as others were just distant childhood memories. She heard Mymy’s panic, and saw her mom getting increasingly pissed. The seconds kept shortening, and the mom was eventually able to lay Coco down on her bed.

“COCO! WHY ARE YOU SUCH A FAILURE?”

The exact same words were said to Maya in her teens.

“Mom…”

Her mom stayed firm in her posture, with her back upright, while keeping a cold, mature, feel.

“Have you ever thought… that you’re the reason why your children keep failing?”

The words finally hit her mother, as she started to relax in the chaos a little. The memories of her shouting, berating, and only praising her children for the end goal all came back to her. Then memories of teen Maya came up, and how she never cared to ask how she was doing. The yelling, screaming, and neglect finally hit her. Then came Mymy, as she was never there for her during Covid, and barely knew what was even going on with her at that time in her life. Then came Coco, and her, doing the exact same thing to her once she entered her depression, flooded back.

Her eyes became regretful, and Maya knew that her mom was starting to realize her past mistakes, but she would never directly apologize to anyone. The mother and daughter looked at one another, having the amends finally starting to be made. The paramedics arrive, and Maya’s mom is quickly diverted to them for the next steps on Coco. Maya looked back, as Mymy stood beside her, holding her cat secure in her arms. They saw Coco being hauled out onto a stretcher, to a van to flip a coin on life or death. After the paramedics are done, the parents go to the sisters.

“Maya, Mymy, we have to kick you out.”
Mymy slightly tilts her head, “Because of the paramedics?”
“We’ve decided to have this home spotless for when Coco comes back. This includes getting rid of all cat fur and going through her room.”

Maya freezes, as she still cannot go home with only two days on the clock. She also couldn’t go to a hotel nearby, as there were no pet-friendly ones, nor did she want to sleep on the street. She also knew that finding an AirBnB would be hard too, as there were none nearby.

“Maya, do you want to stay at my place for a while?”

Maya gladly accepts, as she learns that she’ll also meet Mymy’s new boyfriend. Without hesitation, they start to pack their stuff, and Mymy decides to drive. They grab their bags, roll up their stuff, Maya gets her cat, and says goodbye to their parents. At four AM, they get on the road to Roden, Drenthe. The car ride was eerily silent, as Maya looked out the window, Naiomi was sleeping peacefully in the backseat, curled up on her side in a mound of spare pillows Mymy brought. Mymy was trying to keep her focus on the road, while looking dreary-eyed and delirious. Her vision looked blurry for a side, but she kept her hardest to keep her eyes on the road.

[I guess I really can’t help her, can ?]
[Was this all worthless?]
[Will Coco live? Is she just a memory now?]

Maya’s mind wandered into the deep night sky, with the sun still waiting to get up. All that she could think about was Coco, and only Coco. What she did wrong, if this was her last day with her, if her final words to Coco were… nothing. She didn’t even wave goodbye to Coco while occupied with her mom. Then her mom came up, and she started to overlap her teen self, Coco, Mom, and Mymy’s assaults all together. Would she really change? Even after those years of torment?

Maya looked back over to Mymy, starting to slow down the car. It was clear she had been up earlier than her, as her eyebags looked darker than Maya’s, and her hair was still a bit messy. She kept slowing down,

“Mymy, do you want me to drive?”

Mymy looked back over at Maya and nodded, she smiled and pulled over onto the side of the road. She got out of the car and stumbled into the passenger seat from the sheer exhaustion of Coco’s possible death, and soon started to drift to sleep before Maya even got the car started again. Still, that night sky of a cat was just laying there, unbothered by the world.

[halfway there…] after Maya looked at the GPS.

All that she knew now was to drive, and that Mummy was not fit right now to drive. She paid attention as much as she could on the road, and it was just a tunnel. There was only road, and more road with homes, and road with woods and homes. Coco would bounce around on her mind, with an equal mixture of regrets. What did she do wrong? Eventually, Maya saw a house that needed to be repainted, it looked liveable, but nothing fancy like the rest of the neighborhood.

[ARRIVED, 147 LAAN DJIK, RODEN]

Mymy jolted awake, now 5:20 AM, a small crowd of people started gathering around the car. Maya waved, and so did Mymy. However, Maya was slightly confused about the fame, but Mymy knew that this was just the paparazzi from being famous in Drenthe. Yet, again, nothing fancy, no cameras, just questions, paper, and fame. Before Mymy explained anything to Maya, they quickly collected their stuff, hide the cat, but not before somebody snapped a photo and ran away. Maya just followed Mymy’s lead, as she knew nothing about the place, but Mymy seemed to know everything.

“This is my Boyfriend’s house, he’s been wanting to meet you for a while.”

Now some things made sense, like why Mymy was excitedly knocking on the door.

“Why aren’t we staying at your place again?”
“Too small, also my couch isn’t a good bed.”

Nobody answered, but somebody was there. Then a deep “COME IN” was yelled out from across the house. Mymy checked her phone, and turns out she forgot she sent a text earlier that morning about Maya needing a place to stay for the night. She opened the door, and Maya came in next as Mymy went to put away her stuff in her boyfriend’s room. Maya, holding a cat, hands full, dragged everything in, and dropped everything right there. The cat stayed by Maya as she quickly locked the door, and kept dragging her stuff to the living room.
Obviously, the house was small, but it was decorated with Dutch paraphernalia, some fishing equipment, a loose hammer on the bookshelf, and some cheap furniture. The couch felt like it had a bad assembly job, but the hand-me-down cousins made it a lot better than it could’ve been. Yet, there wasn’t anything to complain about. It was good, as the house showed a type of independence most people don’t achieve until later. Maya went on her phone, as there was nothing to be done yet, but then she got up to try to find Mymy, until her and her boyfriend came out.

“Maya, this is my boyfriend, Hans.”

Hans, a stereotypically German name for someone like him, but it somehow fit. He was an extremely tall man, around 182 cm, blond hair, blue eyes, muscular, and had seen some stuff. He was gigantic compared to the two women, and he had a beard he was trying to grow in. Turns out, he was 27 years old and a fisherman, which explained why his home looked the way it did, as he was trying to renovate it to have more rustic, beachy vibes that suited Mymy too. Maya still stood at him in shock, and shook hands with him as the three decided to make themself comfortable in the living room.

“Maya, Hans. Hans, Maya.”

They shook hands, as Maya looked up at him. She still felt as if she was a midget, despite only being a few inches taller than Mymy. Hans seemed to want to cause no harm, his eyes were visible, and it was clear that he loved Mymy. Mymy and her Boyfriend sat on the couch, as Maya went to put away her stuff in the space they organized for her. She soon rejoined the pair in the living room, wanting to know more about him. Hans welcomed Maya back in, with Mymy using his thighs as a footrest while laying down on the couch.

“So, Maya, I guess Belgium is wonderful with its taxes and it’s art, eh?”
“Pretty much, prevents overtourism and allows good stays.”
“...and with the abandoned roads?”

Mymy was starting to make jokes about Belgium again, and so did her boyfriend. Maya played along, as this time, it was actually more funny to her than just Mymy shenanigans. They seemed to have a similar sense of humor, but Hans had his limits, and could calm down Mymy and make her level-headed when she got too riled up. As for Mymy, she kept Hans moving to finish things.

“Well, two celebrities in the same room. Who knew that both of you would become famous?”
“Thanks, babe.”
“Now Maya, about Nights of Light?”

Hans also was genuinely curious about everyone's lives, and he genuinely wanted to try out Maya’s games. He was attentive to everyone, and knew how to carry a conversation. He matched Mymy’s energy well, but still retained his collected self. The conversation kept going until noon, where he finally decided to make some lunch for the guests. As soon as he went into the kitchen, he found that Naiomi broke into one of the fish-stashes and was having a feast. Maya suddenly remembered that she completely forgot all about the cat, and darted into the kitchen to fight Naiomi off the fish. She wrangled the tiny furry beast, until the fish ripped into two, the cat spit out the tail onto the floor, and Naiomi walked away, proud of the sheer chaos she created. Maya went to wash up, and noticed that the bathroom had been fully renovated.

She saw a few historical Bobbleheads of people like Metternich and Mao Zedong, and it finally clicked why Mymy was taking him so fast. He was perfect for her, similar to work out, yet just enough of a foil to not have the relationship end. As she finished washing up, she just decided to go back to her room to talk with Lina some more. Over the past few days, she had been doing fine, sending Maya voicemails in which she laughed at, and had the game in great management. As she was about to send a text,

[Coco…]
She crossed her mind again, the pain from this morning started to overwhelm her again, her anxiety spiked, as Mymy and her boyfriend were in the same room preparing a wonderful lunch.

Everything about Coco led Maya into an anxiety sweat, and waves of guilt and regret flowed over her. She wasn’t sure about telling Lina, yet she knew that she had to tell someone eventually. Even better, get a text from her mother to come home. She couldn’t even do some light work on her phone. But Naiomi was in the exact same room with her, and she hugged her as tight as possible.

[It’s too early for her to go… why was I so shitty to her as a teenager?]

She was asking herself questions about Coco she already knew the answer to, and the cat started to distract her, and then Maya ran out of the room.

“Hey Maya! Just in time for… oh, did your anxiety act up?”

Hans noticed too, but Mymy took the lead. Maya brushed it off, as she was one again, distracted by the lively atmosphere that was going on. Everyone sat down at the table, with Hans making a cute fish plate for Naiomi on the table. Maya ate the fish sandwich, which was a nice mixture of seabass and herring. Turns out, Mymy’s Boyfriend might get promoted in the next few months, which distracted Maya from Coco once again.
After lunch, Maya just decided to spend the day at home with everyone, with her occasionally taking the cat out to go to the bathroom. At one point, everyone just had fun playing with the cat, taking turns to dress her up, and giving her a little photo session. Maya would persist at doing work on her phone, with her occasionally getting distracted by social media. Nothing much happened, they would chat for a while, do work, and hangout, until the day ended.
Maya freshed up for bed, with her not having to do as much to her hair, as she didn't go out at all. She saw Naiomi on her bed, not wanting to sleep in the cat den tonight, and smiled at the thought that she finally met Hans today. She sat down on her bed in her sleeping area, until she saw Mymy at the door.

“...is it about Coco?” Maya asked nervously.
“Y-yeah. I feel horrible.”
Maya perked up, “Why? You never treated her badly like I did, or have her hang you out a window.”
“No, I also used to treat her badly too. Even now, I should’ve asked her more questions…”
“...and I should've kept in touch with her.”

Both stare at the wall in guilt, realizing that today may have been the last time they would’ve ever seen Coco. They both had lingering guilt of the past inside of them, yet, none would admit it to each other to try and stay strong.

“How did you treat her poorly?”
“Well, I used to constantly push her over the edge. You rarely did it, even though you would scream-fight during her band practices, and I would make it worse. What I did is that I would constantly tease her, sometimes bully her, and she would often punch me for it… One time, me and my group decided to pull a prank on her during school hours-”

“How old were you?”

“I think we were all thirteen. Well, what we did is that we found her drumsticks that she used for school, broke all of them, and destroyed her practice drumset. Honestly, we had no idea that it wasn’t hers. I think she was having a crappy day, because as soon as she saw the destruction, she cried, and all four of us got detention.”

“Why did she get detention?”

“It was for something during rugby practice… I forgot what it was.”

“Well, this one time…”

As both sisters admit their guilt to how they treated Coco, a little weight was lifted off of them, as if it felt like admitting their sins. Yet, both of them knew that it wouldn't undo the years of damage to Coco. Before they knew it, it dawned late and Mymy just wanted to go to bed. They said their goodnights, Maya turned off the light, and snuggled in with her cat.

[BZZT!]

Her phone had a new message at 00:01 AM, as Maya has already been sleeping for an hour. It was from her mom. Maya quickly picked up the phone, thinking that she texted Lina.

It was from her mom.

[Maya, I just sent this to Mymy too. Turns out Coco wasn’t successful, and she’s fine. Turns out, she didn’t do as much damage as we thought. The hospital thinks it’s ok to discharge her early, we’ll be proofing the house like the doctor asked. You can come back now.]

A sense of relief filled Maya, but she still thought of the other direction it could’ve taken. At least Coco was still alive, and she could still spend one last Dutch Day with her.