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Agott Arklaum, the 105th Arklaum, the black sheep of the family, is no stranger to anxiety and solitude. Deep, desolate, solitude. She found herself withdrawing from the crowd again that night. The others are celebrating the grand opening of Mr. Qifrey and Mr. Olruggio’s plant-based restaurant, The Happy Silver Tree. But here, amidst the darkness of the night, under the scattered stars, sitting on a swing in the park, alone, Agott Arklaum is drowning in her own thoughts.
She brought with her a pack of baby carrots, slowly munching on the tip. The first time she faced her test (unexpectedly), she was horribly humiliated. Is it because she was weak? Or because that weirdo, psychopath Laroga Arklaum caught her by surprise? Agott’s mind drifted to her mother’s unimpressed expression as she sat in her “throne”, tall and menacing to the small and weakened girl. She thought, perhaps she wasn’t eating her vegan diet right or maintaining exercise. Maybe she accidentally consumed some of those lactose-based drinks. Agott sighed, head hung low in desperation. One more failure and the Arklaums would consider taking away her powers.
The mental image of her mother staring down at her with utter disappointment played in her mind, “You can never be a proper Arklaum.” The words sting, “You have not got the drive.” She frowned and unknowingly gripped the chains of the swing tighter. “You’re wrong…!” She recalled she shot back at her mother, her fists punching the table, eyes almost teary, “I’ll prove it to you!” Agott sighed. What a stupid kid she was, challenging her mother like that…
“It’s so quiet here…” A whisper caught her off guard, snapped her back to reality. Dark magenta eyes met golden ones. Agott slowly realized who that person was. It was the meadowy-haired girl, the one who turned her into a stuttering, blabbering mess. “Coco, what are you doing here?” She asked despondently. However, she never intended to shoo her away; it’s just that she doesn’t really know how to talk to people. Coco pouted a bit as she approached the swing next to Agott and sat on it. “I just wanna come here. The stars are beautiful tonight.” Coco replied, as if trying to hide her real intention. Agott knew that Coco was a bad liar. She can read her face slowly cringed and contorted with awkwardness.
Agott stares to the front blankly, “Just be straight with me. You came here for a reason, right?” Agott took another baby carrot. Coco turns to face her, an awkward “ow, you caught me” smile decorated her sweet face. “It’s almost scary that you can read other people’s minds with your mind’s eye,” Coco said. Agott shrugged, “I didn’t use my mind’s eye.” The village girl widened her eyes, “Oh…” she looked away, “Am I that easy to read?”
“Like an open book.”
“O–oh…”
“Back to the topic. WHAT do you want, Coco?”
Coco stopped for a while, she slowly swung back and forth as her eyes lingered on the starry sky, into the silver, emanating moon far, far away in space. “I argued with the village chief’s son when I came home a week ago,” she continues, still swinging back and forth, “He said that there are no craters on the moon that can be seen with the naked eye. But I said that there is. So, we bet which one is right, and the loser would have to wash the dishes at each other’s house for a full week.”
“Coco, you know that’s RIDICULOUS, right?”
“I know! But that boy seriously needs to be put in his place. He needs an ass-whooping,” she clears her throat, “Metaphorically.” Agott pouted dejectedly once she heard Coco’s extravagantly ridiculous story. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, “Okay, so what do you want me to do then?”
Coco’s eyes sparkled with excitement, the kind of eyes that Agott knew before her mind started spewing something so astronomically out-of-the-box.
“Can you punch a hole in the moon for me?” She asked with a chirpy voice.
“Excuse me?”
“Can you punch a hole in the moon for me? Big enough so people can see it from Earth without a telescope?” She repeated, now with puppy eyes. “WHAT? No! That’s crazy! Why do you think I would agree? What makes you think I will do that?” Agott immediately stood up, towering above Coco, and wrapped her arms in front of her chest as she looked away.
Coco stares at her again, with droopy, teary eyes. She looks like a wet puppy. The girl fiddled with her fingers and said softly, “Because it’s you? It’s…Agott…the one who always does whatever for her friends. No matter how hard it is.” Coco’s answer struck her heart with an unfamiliar sense of warmth. She unknowingly clutched her chest as magenta eyes widened with an unknown feeling. “What…?” Agott’s heart fluttered at Coco’s genuine words. She doesn’t need to use her mind’s eye to look into her and tell that she is being honest. Coco is always honest. The most genuine person she’d ever met.
The young Arklaum pouted at her, giving the meadowy-haired girl a frown before swiftly grabbing the rest of the baby carrots and eating them all. Coco was simply awestruck by her action, then she backed away from Coco, maintaining her distance as slowly, a white, blinding light emanated from her eyes, crackled like a live wire, her curly dark hair slowly stood up, afloat, like she was suspended in water. So elegant, so…gorgeous. Coco’s eyes sparkled with amazement. Agott’s body slowly takes off from the ground, as if an unseen force lifted her up from the Earth. Coco watches with googly eyes as Agott said, “Only this once…” But there’s a slight trembling in her voice. Coco doesn’t need a superpower to know that Agott will certainly do it again, her and the others’ requests, no matter how utterly ridiculous.
“Punch a hole in the moon. Big enough so that the naked eye can see…” Agott mentally said as she made her way to the Earth’s atmosphere, flying up and up and up, higher than she ever had been. She can hold her breath in space for 45 minutes. She made her way to the moon and flew so fast she broke the sound barrier. On Earth, she looks like an asteroid, inches away from hitting Earth. Agott faced the giant, silver-colored rock. With all of her energy focused into a single punch, she swings her fist onto the moon’s surface, temporarily creating what could be a loud boom if only she were not in space. She couldn’t hear anything. Sounds didn’t travel; it’s all still and silent. Strangely, the kind that she loves the most. Only solitude and eternal serenity.
Coco’s eyes widened with excitement, with childlike wonder as she watched Agott up there, the moon, although it remains a small, round, glistening orb in the vast night sky, she could see Agott’s trails inches down to Earth, to where they were. In the blink of an eye, there she is, the young Arklaum hovering above her with her spiky hair, afloat, and her eyes shine bright with white blinding light. She slowly hovers down landed in front of the awestruck girl.
“It’s done.” She said dryly. Coco looks at her briefly, she found that her beautiful curls had gone shaggy and straightened a bit, she smiled teasingly.
“Your hair’s gotten shaggy.”
“It’s—”
“I like it.”
“You do?”
Coco nodded, “I like you with or without your curls.” She said as she played with her hair. Agott stopped covering her hair and gave her a half-hearted smile. They spent the night chatting for some time, and when Agott left to enter the restaurant, Coco caught a heart-shaped crater on the surface of the moon. She smiled and followed inside soon after, humming all the way until she also reached the restaurant.
***
“Coco, why is the village chief’s son in our kitchen?” Coco’s mother asked one day when she found a boy washing their dishes and pouting with teary eyes. “Oh, he’s gonna be washing our dishes for the week,” Coco answered lightheartedly. Her mother scratched the back of her head. Confused and concerned with what kind of shenanigan her only daughter pulled off this time.