Arc 0: Prelude 20 - The Hope

hope /həʊp/

grounds for believing that something good may happen.

Once again, the colorless ceiling she looked upon. Once again, the cluttered bed she lied in. Once again, the dimly lit room she locked herself within.

What day was it? What time was it? What was going on outside? How long had she been in this room? Where was everyone? Where was the end to this void? These were lingering thoughts in Lauren’s mind she had no answers to.

Another day. Another—

*ring* *ring*

Her phone was ringing.

Long gone was her desire to answer it.

The caller was most likely Chloe, like all those other times she wouldn’t shut up, she was the only one who was persistent in calling her almost every day after all. No one else from school ever bothered to care about her so it wasn’t like they suddenly realized her disappearance. Even then, they would have attempted to visit her like that young woman from the other day instead of giving her a call, and it couldn’t have been her as she never gave her number.

Point was: it was a meaningless call. So why then, should she answer it?

*ring* *ring*

Still, the phone kept ringing. It shook vigorously against the glass surface of her nightstand, echoing an irritating sound in her ears from the vibration. The noise was trying its hardest to attract her attention from one way and another, it wasn’t going to stop. And Lauren was doing everything to suppress it, but not even covering her ears with the pillow was enough.

*ring* *ring*

For a moment, she felt like throwing the phone again. However, another thought came to her mind. She could simply turn off her phone entirely. There was no point in waiting for other calls, she didn’t expect any after all.

“Leave me alone…,” she scoffed as she removed the pillow off her head and grabbed her phone.

Her vision was blurry for a second, as the phone’s bright screen was the only proper source of light she had laid eyes on for a long while. She tried blinking several times to fully open up her eyes and overcome the dry surface that covered her sight. After rubbing her eyes with her fingers for a bit, her vision finally cleared up.

And so, she looked at the phone once more.

“...!”

Like an arrow from a bow, she sprung up off the bed with her eyes wide open in shock. She carefully examined her phone’s screen with disbelief still plastered on her face. Her eyes could not believe what they were seeing—

【(01524) 0807 2003】

There was no caller ID. Only an unknown number.

However, one quick thought came to Lauren. With no time to think further or properly react she quickly answered the phone.

“H-Hel—” She coughed as she struggled to clear her throat. Having not spoken in a normal tone for a while, this was a natural reaction. “Hel… Hello? Hello?”

There was nothing on the other line.

Only the sound of the blissful wind echoed in her ears, albeit it was much gruffer due to it coming through the phone. Her heart pumped with great eagerness. Even though there was no answer yet, she felt new life breathe into her body once more. She tightly gripped her phone as she inhaled and let out an exhale several times, ready to speak up if an answer ever came back.

「Come on… answer please…」

“{.......................... hey…!}” A voice came through the phone; calm yet downcast. “{I’m sorry for… I’m sorry for not… getting back to you sooner. I kind of… wanted to be on my own for a while.}”

It sounded like his voice. It sounded exactly like Zachary Ashworth’s voice.

At that moment, Lauren’s tongue froze.

「Is it really…?」

She was speechless. No words ever came to her mind and that which she thought of couldn’t be uttered.

Nothing moved. Everything halted.

The world around her came to an indefinite stop. But, at the same time, there were several colors, of an unimaginable magnitude, being splashed across the room, painting the dark and decrepit room with never-before-seen light. This was a moment frozen in time, a moment to be cherished.

It was the moment Lauren Cherith learned how to live again.

“{Um… aren’t you… going to say something?}” His voice came through once again. It was low-toned, almost brimmed with sorrow, but it still had a tinge of benevolence within. “{Did you forget me? My voice? It’s… me… Zach…}”

「It’s really him!」

“{Wow… you really uh… forgot about me, huh…}”

Tears poured down to the ground. A smile, a long-forgotten smile was drawn across her face as she cried.

There was so much she wanted to say and do, she wanted to shout at him and call him out for his reckless actions, she wanted to scold him for leaving her like that for so long, she wanted to ask him where he was this whole time, she wanted to run out the door to wherever he was at that moment. However, only one proper response came to her mind, “Of course, I didn’t forget you… I’d never forget you,” she sniffled, “... silly!”

“{Ah… ha!}” Zachary chuckled before he started to laugh on the other line.

Joining him, Lauren both laughed and cried at the same time. She couldn’t hold back her tears, but these were tears of joy, and so she also couldn’t help but laugh along with him. If she could do so, she wanted to jump up and down, and bounce on the bed like a child who happily expressed their happiness.

「It’s really him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him! It’s him!」

They haven’t heard each other’s voices in so long, yet this brief, foolish interaction through the phone was enough to restore almost everything back to the way it was. Despite being limited to only their voices, they both felt like they were standing in front of one another.

Once the momentary reunion was over, the much-needed questions came back up in Lauren’s mind. “Where… where were you? Where are you right now? Do you have any idea how worr—”

“{Easy easy, calm yourself down, I’ll explain everything.}” Zachary said, “{But don’t you… think we should meet up first?}”

“Y-Yeah, sure. Where are you?” She couldn’t contain her excitement, “I’ll dress up and come to you right now.”

“{R-Right now?! Like right now, right now?! It’s almost sunset though!}”

“I don’t care, I want to see you right now… please.” She didn’t wait all this time for him in that small corner of her life only to postpone their meeting for another time when they were so close to seeing each other. They needed to see each other as soon as possible. She needed that.

“{I…,}” Zachary stopped. There was a brief moment of silence on the other line, Lauren’s expression quickly turned from joy to concern, “{... Fine, let’s meet up at school… the entrance for uh… old time’s sake.}” He chuckled.

“School! Right, right! I’ll be right there!”

“{Woah wait, hold your horses,}” Zachary spoke in a rather concerned tone, “{Are you really sure about this, Lauren?}”

“Yes, absolutely. Now, let's move.”

“{Wow, really that eager, heh.}” He chuckled. “{Well, I’ll see you then.}”

“Of course you will, bye!”

They bid their short farewells and the call was over.

Still, the world lit up with bright colors everywhere.

「I’m going to meet Zach!」

Lauren held the phone closer to her chest, closed her eyes, and then let out a huge sigh of relief. It felt as if someone was choking her the whole time she was kept up in her room and only when she heard Zachary’s voice was she able to finally fend off for herself and get room to breathe.

But there was no time to dwell on the thoughts of her life returning back. She needed to move quickly.

Done with the call, she rushed to open up her dresser.

「What should I wear?」

She tapped her chin as she wondered.

As she went left and right, carefully looking for the right clothes to wear for this celebratory occasion, she noticed something in the corner of her eyes.

It was the manuscript for the story she had randomly written, lying solemnly on the desk beside the dresser.

For some reason, she remembered what she had written in that story and began to further understand why she wrote it in the first place. There was a slight correlation between her feelings now and the feelings bundled within that short story. It was all over what she truly desired.

She held the manuscript in her hands and looked at it with a smile, “It’s a wonderful land!”

Placing it back on the desk, Lauren went back to her search for a dress.

This was a moment she could not believe was possible.

「I’m going to meet Zach!」