Chapter Text
Fresa couldn’t sleep. Her mind was too full with racing thoughts she’d never dared let herself consider until now - now that she was finally on the road, and she might actually have a chance of finding out the truth.
As far as she could tell, Mocha was fast asleep in his sleeping bag in their tent, leaving her alone with her thoughts and the thousands of sugar stars in the sky. She sat on the licorice grass and stared up at the sky, breathing out a heavy sigh.
Her brother had been missing for so long, and she still had no idea what happened to him. All she knew was that Mocha had come home one day, without her brother, and announced that her brother was gone. She’d been so young then. Years had passed, and she still didn’t even know what had really happened to her brother. Mocha refused to tell her.
As she stared up at the stars, tears began to drip down her chubby cheeks.
Maybe her brother really was gone. Maybe she’d never see him again. What would she do then? What could she do?
“What are you doing up so late, Strawbabe?”
The familiar voice caught her off guard, making her flinch. She tried to wipe her tears away on her sleeve, but she could still feel the tears stinging in her eyes.
She turned to look at Mocha with a shaky smile and tears still glistening in her eyes.
“Sorry if I worried you, Mocha. Just had a lot on your mind.”
He winced and raised a hand to run a hand through his milk foam hair. “You know you can always come to me, right, sweetheart? I’m here for you.”
I’m not your sweetheart. That’s what she wanted to remind him. But she just didn’t have the heart to argue this time.
She looked back up at the stars and drew in a shaking breath.
“Do you think he’s still out there?”
Mocha sucked in a sharp breath. “Your brother?”
She sniffled and nodded. “I want to believe he’s alive. But I just don’t know anymore.”
“Of course he is,” Mocha blurted out. “And we’ll find him. I promise.”
Fresa hated to admit it, but she didn’t believe him. She wasn’t sure he even believed himself. If he did, why hadn’t he tried to find him until now?
Of course, she said none of that out loud.