The Forlorn Archives

Leilani starts to talk after a while, "I'm sorry, I still cannot process it well."

"I can understand, Leila. It's not your fault and don't say anything more if it hurts you that much. I can..."

"No, it's okay. I need to get through the experiences verbally with

someone reliable. I think about them every single damn night, completely ruining my sleep cycle."

"I'm so sorry."

Leilani smiles in reply, "I can do it...and thanks for being so kind and nonjudgmental so far."

"Of course." she reaches out to squeeze Leilani's hand, colder than usual maybe due to the nerves.

"So, that was like 13 years back..." "Sorry, how old are you now?"

"23...and I'm talking about the time when I was 10. Okay, now that I think about it, it'd be more straightforward to say when I was 10 to begin with." She laughs.

Oriana smiles, "No worries." She always appreciates Leilani's ever so positive attitude toward everything around her. She never saw her sad or distressed until that stupid party.

"Okay, where was I...right, I was 10 and I loved playing with dolls.

Mainly, I used to make stories about their lives and imagined them living the stories. So boring no?"

"No! Wow! This actually says how creative you've been since you're a little kid. That's actually impressive."

"Well, you're too kind. Anyway, moving on...so, that was a night when my sister went to bed as she had this date thing with her then teenage boyfriend the next day. She obviously needed a beauty sleep before a huge ceremony like that."

Oriana only smiles to let her go on.

"You can see, I'm beating around the bush a lot..." She chuckles nervously, "Oh, one important thing that I forgot to mention. We were at Lillehammer in Norway back then."

"You're from Norway?"

"I was born there but my father..." she noticeably stiffens at the mention of her father. "...was from Germany and my mother was half-Croatian half- Moldovan."

"Woah! Very multicultural. Really cool! Okay. So, you guys were in Norway for your father's work?"

"Yeah, for his business."

"Okay, and your sister was also born there? Ah sorry...I'm interrupting you."

"No, it's okay. It's actually better to ease into the hideous event rather than getting right to the point. No, she was born in Germany. She's 5 years older than me. I have no other sibling..." she lets out a small sigh, "So I was doing the same usual stuff with the dolls. I was making story about one of them going missing and others doing an investigation for her... Ironic, isn't it? It's more like what Landon is doing for Raya's disappearance."

"Uh-huh."

"It's crazy how I specifically remember the story from that night. I was very immersed in the investigation process when I caught my dad going out of the house in the middle of the night. I was obviously more curious than

any other kid my age, but I'm pretty sure any kid that age would go to the

window to actually see what their beloved father was doing out in the dark." Her voice sounds bitter, drenched in hatred and disgust.

Oriana sits still, trying to breathe as calmly as possible as she has no idea what would Leilani's description hold for the next scene.

"So I craned out of the window to see what's happening when I saw him inching towards the shed. Stupid me!" she smirks, "I thought he was working on our backyard as he couldn't get any chance to do that during the daylight cause his very important business was taking up all his precious

time..." she bites her lower lip to keep it from trembling, "I could've just let that go...let my stupid mind believe that backyard bullshit. But instead, I went out to help that monster to deal with the damn backyard and the stupid broken fences. I saw him disappear into the shed and I waited outside."

"I kept waiting and waiting and thinking how happy he'd be if he found me ready to help. After I don't know how long, I saw the door open a little. Seemed like someone was too scared to open it fully which was obviously so weird..." she stops to drink water.

"You alright?" Oriana sounds concerned as she looks at Leilani's pale face.

"Yeah, just letting it out bit by bit...it's too fucked up to blurt out, trust me." she tries to smile.

"I'm still saying it, you don't have to if you don't want to." "I want to...no worries."

"Alright! Take a deep breath, no pressure at all."

Leilani nods as she deeply exhales, "Then I saw her...that poor little girl."

Oriana shifts on her stool, struggling to maintain the eye contact. "She was hardly 11 or 12...she was shivering so violently and her

dress...her dress was so ripped off and smeared with blood." She squeezes

her eyes shut.

"O my God!" Oriana whispers through her tightened throat.

"She looked so scared, Oriana. She looked like she'd been experiencing hell...felt like she'd witnessed something beyond the darkness of this

world..." her eyes are fixed outside the cafe, with that distant look in them.

"She looked at me wide-eyed and tried to say something. She opened her mouth when...when that ugly devil of my father came out of the shed whisper-yelling obscenities at her. I couldn't believe my eyes...I was literally frozen right there, being absolutely unable to move or even think... All I could do was wondering what the fuck is reality? Am I in a disgusting nightmare? What am I doing here? What is this guy?"

"W-what did he do to her...?"

"He killed her in front of me...he knifed that poor girl in front of my fucking eyes." Leilani goes silent for a moment after that.

"O my God! O my God...O my God!" Oriana reaches over to hug her, "I'm so so sorry, Leila. I'm so sorry... I'm sorry." she cannot help tears rolling down her cheeks.

"He still didn't see me there...he raped her limp, dead body...in front of me." the words come out very coldly.

Oriana freezes, unable to utter anything or think about anything to say.

Her head starts spinning like crazy as she tries to hold on to Leilani.

"I didn't talk for a whole month after that. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I even couldn't think straight. All I saw, eyes open or closed was the scene

from that cursed night on repeat...on a never ending loop... Over and over and over again."

Oriana wants to say something...anything to comfort her but loses her words. Her tongue seems to be tied tightly to her teeth, she can't move it.

"Later, police said they found 8 more bodies inside a hidden chamber behind the shed...all of them were 10-13 year old kids."

And an eerily invasive silence falls onto the cafe.