Work Text:
Nadia scrolls through one of her social media accounts feed, mindlessly dashing her finger across the screen in quick, small, and repetitive bursts. Her thumb slips in its motion, causing her to pause on a post. It was an ad for a dating app named "Eros," themed in light pinks, white wings, and red arrows. It had a slogan across the pink background, adorning the words "100% guaranteed Love at First
Swipe."
Like how Nadia made most of her mistakes out of boredom, that same reason led her to click the download button. It was like loading up a high-end game on a toaster. The screen showed the advertised pink theme, with three
red arrows revolving in a circle, mimicking the classic little grey loading icon. It was moving extremely slow, like an easy-going turtle crossing a busy street. Nadia had already thought the app was ridiculous, and the long wait didn't improve the experience. Before Nadia began to shut down the program, the screen turned into a section to fill out a profile. Nadia sighed, not too excited to fill out all this
information.
After about ten minutes, she had filled it in as simply as she could. She was 19, had bright green eyes and black hair, lived at an apartment complex on 43769 Cherry Hood Road, and- some details were a little bit more
personal, deep, and vague than you'd expect from a dating app. Not the usual "What's your favorite color?" but more like "What's your worst regret?" type of inquiries. She shrugged it off; it was just a stupid app, at worst, a weird
little online platform. She saved her profile, moving onto the main portion of the app, that 100% guarantee.
Unlike the start of the app, this process was quite fast. It landed on a profile of a girl her age, with brown eyes and hair dyed a bright red. Nadia didn't learn much else about this individual since what she put together was from the split second of the selfie she saw before accidentally swiping right. A big salmon colored-heart swelled up on the screen, a looping animation of a small arrow swinging into an arm in the center of it. More waiting… Heaven only knows why Nadia was so impatient.
Even after the excitement of waiting,and waiting, with just a side of sitting tight, Nadia had fallen asleep. Even later, when she woke up, she still didn't remember that this happened, continuing throughout her day. She went to work and ran a few errands before arriving home. A shell-tinted notification and buzz from this dating app reminded Nadia again. It was a message from that red-haired woman, from which the name Lola appeared on the same announcement. Nadia's eyes brightened, suddenly extremely
interested in something she didn't even recall existed ten seconds ago. She quickly typed a little "Hey, how are you?", soaking down into her aged green couch, even forgetting to take
off her shoes.
The two young women sat over the chat client, speaking over the internet for hours. Nadia and Lola hit it off almost instantly, talking about how random the app was, speaking on different music, and chatting about anything they could find in common. They just bounced off one another, perfectly matching one another's energy. It was like they were perfect for one another, like they were bound to one another. So much time had passed that when goodbyes were said, it was about two in the morning. Nadia swung her head up just in time to find her mother walking through the door. This made her shoot up, sitting properly on the couch.
Nadia's mother was a simple and traditional woman. The only thing that wasn't "traditional" about her was that she wasn't religious. Everything was done a certain way, the same way: the laundry, meals, holidays, almost anything under the sun. Her mother came into the living room and started to scold Nadia.
"Why are you still up? And shoes- on
my carpet?... Have I not told you about
this before? I must be speaking
another language-" Nadia's mother continued to ramble on, slowly starting to talk about
her day, then started asking Nadia a
load of questions.
"Well... I was just... I might go on a date soon. I met somebody today." Nadia murmured a bit shyly at one of her mother's inquiries. Her mother cheered at the prospect of her daughter dating, wiggling her eyebrows in interest.
"Is it one of those nice boys in your classes? Oh!- or one of your coworkers?"
"No, Ma… Just, listen, okay? I know how you're going to react, but just... please relax....." Nadia muttered, causing her mother to tense.
Nadia found her mother's gaze before sighing and trying to rush through her words, ".. met a girl. She's starting a career in nursing, and her name is-" Nadia was quickly cut off by her mother, her maternal figure becoming disgusted and disappointed with her.
"Absolutely not. Just- No. Absolutely not. Not in my house... Just go to bed. You're confused. I shouldn't even be explaining this to you." Her mother muttered, denying the conversation and distancing herself from Nadia. "Not my daughter. You don't know what you're talking about... Night, Nadia...just go to bed."
Nadia looked at her mother like a candle that finally burned out. Nadia could feel her eyes start to mimic dark storm clouds, surprised and saddened at the suddenly sour mood. She fled to her room, opening that light pink app once more, immediately trying to talk to Lola once more. The only message Nadia got back from was leading her to her window. Nadia stuck her head out and met with the sight of that red headed angel in the dark morning sky.
That became their routine. Any moment they got, they were texting through the app or chatting through their windows. When they were in the windows, they usually joked about
running into the woods they could see through the windows together. It was like fate that they lived next to each other, with even their windows nearby. Neither of their families accepted this relationship between them, causing them to sneak around. They quickly
fell head over heels for one another.
A few days later, Nadia was in her room, doing a small project for her personal finance course. Suddenly, her and Lola's connection and that "Eros" popped into Nadia's mind. She paused the video she was listening to and started searching for anything she could find about it: Name meaning, origin, app developers, and social media or forum posts. Speaking of forum posts, she found one on Blueeit, the most detailed thing she could find, sparking the beginning of weirder times.
It was filled with a bunch of rumors and
theories, one of them being that "Eros" was run by Cupid himself. Nadia reported some of her findings to her lover, texting Lola the forum post. “You think Cupid brought us together...? It'd be romantic, but Cupid doesn't exist, he isn't even possible. Sticking wings on a baby, how would that even work? Myths for Greeks and Romans, my dear." Lola typed back, letting out a chuckle to herself. It was just silly, and she was sure of it.
"Fine, whatever you say. I'll drop it, but it's most definitely possible. Why else would I be so in love with you?" Nadia teased, even though her first text was serious. Nadia and Lola started another one of their long talks, both coming to their windows to be face-to-face. Nadia was extremely joyful and cheerful around Lola, and, albeit a bit calmer, so was Lola.
Suddenly, their focus shifted to Lola. Suddenly, their focus shifted to the woods as usual, but not in the playful way they usually mentioned it. They planned to leave around ten p.m., twenty minutes from now, and to go about a mile into the woods. Their passion for one another became so strong if their love was a smell, it'd be the sweet, pungent smell of fresh fruit.
Nadia had been in her room, rushing to get everything together. She wasn't as tranquil as Lola, but she was not any less infatuated. She had started her leave a bit earlier so she could get out at the agreed time and get into the spot in the wooded area they picked out. Lola hadn't been there yet, so she dropped her bag to relax. Before she could sit down, though, she heard something in the woods, deep-sounding stomping and clicking. She quickly moved from that area, deciding not to stick around to see what it was.
Lola exited later than she was supposed to, getting out more around ten-fifteen due to her misplacing an important medication textbook. She itched at her brown sweater, before hurrying into the woods. She snuck out to their meeting spot, her eyes widening in shock. All she saw was Nadia's bag and her belongings scattered about, including a photo of Lola. For all Lola knew, Nadia had been mugged, kidnapped, or worse. In all reality, it'd just been a wild animal going through her bag while she was gone, but Lola didn't know that.
Sure of it, without her lover in sight, Lola started to weep slowly. Her red hair fell over her like bloody rivers, her pale knees falling to the green grass and in front of a small patch of white flowers. A branch snapped lightly on the ground a few feet away in front of her, which was then followed by a loud, ear-piercing screech of noise. Pain shot through Lola's lower body as her head whipped down, staring at her chest. She had been shot, a red hole through her brown top, leaving her aching and shocked.
At that moment, Nadia came back, smiling at the sight of her lover before letting out an anguished cry in realization. A little blood came out, bleeding onto the patch of ghostly flowers. Nadia fell, bringing Lola into her lap. A gasp came from the woods, A little blood came out, bleeding onto the patch of ghostly flowers. Nadia fell, bringing Lola into her lap. A gasp came from the woods, and the shadowy culprit saw his mistake. He ran, his boots clacking away. Nadia leaned in, giving Lola a chaste kiss. Their first kiss. Lola felt dazed and tired, the light fading from her eyes slowly as she leaned into Nadia. Nadia's waterworks had stopped, but her pain didn't.
Her heart was shattered. Though she was still here physically, mentally, Nadia was gone. Nadia blamed herself and her impatientness, losing hope. Two people died that night in the woods.
Nadia had to be involved in Lola's legal case. Nadia had originally been the suspect for Lola's execution before quickly being ruled out. The case ended soon after, leaving Nadia with more questions than answers. Without the killer found, blame was still on herself in Nadia's eyes. She searched everywhere, even local gun vendors and hunting stores, for people who might've been in the woods at the time. Eventually, she ran out of spots to search, hitting one last store before opening her phone. She stared down that stupid pink app, blaming it for her loss. She deleted the app; her hope was finally depleted.
Nadia gave up on herself. She didn't take care of her hygiene; she ate only microwaved meals or soggy fried food, and she barely slept. After Lola's death, everything seemed meaningless, boring, and dull. Nadia gave up on her job, hobbies, and classes. The list of regrets, wishes, and deficiencies was a long one without her lover by her side or her window.
These became the precursor for her bad health, causing her to get sick constantly. Her mother watched her daughter spiral, feeling responsible and sorry. After one of these ill times, Nadia caught pneumonia. Her cracked mirror heart and frail immune system couldn't handle it. Even in her faint state, she mustered her last steps, moving down the stairs of her apartment. She came upon the woods she lost her love to, starting to tread in between the wooden skyscrapers. The wild critters spoke in the woods, the naturality of life in the forest floating around her. Nadia stopped and lay against the orangeish-stained flowers sprinkled with her late beloved's old sanguine hemoglobins. She let out a cough of blood and ichor onto the flowers before kissing one of the flowers. She smiled with the rest of her life force, finally reunited with her partner once more.