Memories

It was as if a samurai was revisiting his comrades' graves. Jecca placed her hands together and placed them against her forehead in front of the gravestone before chasing after Abby.

Orei was standing all alone in the soundless environment staring at letters on a grave. All that could be heard was the wind blowing leaves and the sound of Jecca's footsteps running after Abby.

She went up towards the grave, standing in front of it. Not doing anything, not saying anything she just stood there.

Having missed out on both her brother's funeral and burial she didn't feel like she belonged there. She didn't feel like she had the right to stand there and mourn her brother's death.

As she turned back to leave, she felt arms around her. It wasn't the warm comforting touch of her brother but a malevolent entity. The same one she saw in her bathroom, filled with eyes staring right at her.

Orei started to hyperventilate as the entity pulled her ever so closer to her brother's grave. It was going to pull her into the grave with her brother.

Her eyes flickered as she felt a warm hand grab her wrist and pull her out. It was Jecca, she had returned to grab Orei. Jecca pulled Orei out of the graveyard. But no matter how much they ran the entity was always behind Orei.

They made it to Abby's house. Even standing a distance away, the stench overwhelmed both of their noses. Trash was littered across the yard and the garbage bins were overflowing with trash. Her house looked like an abandoned haunted house. 

The red paint had peeled off her walls and the roof tiles were cracked and damaged. The house had probably not had repairs since forever. 

From the dilapidated house emerged a familiar figure. Abby came out of the door holding something. She opened up the garbage bin and threw it inside. After Jecca heard Abby slam the door. She went up towards the garbage bin and opened it.

And almost immediately she found it. The photo album was lying amongst the heaps of garbage. Jecca snatched it up and then they made it back to Leto's house. 

It was almost nighttime and as Jecca rang the doorbell over and over again, they finally gave up and decided to head home after no one answered.

After a long day, Orei was exhausted, she had not walked this much since forever. Her legs were aching and her energy reserves had been completely drained.

She jumped onto her bed, the squishy mattress making her bounce up and down. It was originally her brother's bed. But after Maro realized that she had it easier to fall asleep on his bed, they switched. 

The photo album that she held in her arms landed on her face. Lifting the album, memories flooded back as the photos Leto had photographed years ago were there.

"August 17th: I was taking pictures of trees when Abby wanted me to photograph her with her new pink umbrella."

Beside each photo was a description.

Orei scrolled through the album. 

"Orei's 12th birthday! Was is she gonna wish for?"

"Orei always wanted to perform with her brother so we saved enough money for a violin!"

"Orei's first note!"

"Maro is baking lemon cake for everyone!"

Continuing to the next page, Orei realized some of the photos had been removed. The text was there but the pictures were gone.

"Sleepover at Orei's… hehe…"

"Jecca and Abby fighting over Maro's cooking…"

"Jecca feeling silly and cosplaying as a mushroom."

"Jecca and Orei drawing onto Gel's face as he was sleeping."

"Summerbreak with everyone! At the beach!"

"Abby loves watermelons!"

"Maro and Gel are really into volleyball!"

Orei's eyes couldn't stay open anymore. They kept closing and reopening. She wanted to see more, she wanted to relive more memories. But exhaustion finally dragged her into the dream world.

She was back. 

This time there was no white void. There were no drawings scattered across the floor. She was lying in Maro's lap as he watched a TV series.

She turned her face up to look at her brother. Maro tilted his head down and saw that Orei had finally awoken. 

"Good morning sleepyhead," he said smiling.

Her arms were quick to act as they were tightly wrapped around his waist.

Without saying a word a warm gentle hand stroked the back of her head as she pressed her face into his stomach. 

After a while of head rubs, Orei finally sat up and asked where the others were. 

"They are playing outside, Leto said that it snowed enough for them to build a snowman so Jecca ran out."

"You wanna go out with me?" Orei asked.

"How about this, you go out and tell the others to come in after 30 minutes… I am gonna go make something nice for them once they return."

Orei wrapped her tiny arms around Maro's neck and pressed her warm blushing cheeks against Maro's. 

"You are extra clingy today aren't you?" Maro said whilst rubbing her back.

Outside, Jecca was rolling up a massive snowball. It was almost the same size as her. It required both her and Gel to push it. But once they completed it. A massive snowman was finished. Abby added the sticks as arms and the carrot as nose. Leto gathered up pebbles and lined them up in the middle of the snowman.

"HEHEHE! Look at our magnificent snowman!" Jecca outburst.

"I'm actually surprised you know the word magnificent sis…"

"HEY!"

Jecca scooped up some snow and threw it at her brother. After that it was like a domino effect, causing everyone to throw snowballs at each other. 

Orei was sadly hit 6 times and was defeated that day.