Lia - Chapter 1

“Why’d you pick these?”

“Huh? Oh, they are Mama Lucy’s new favorites.” Lia said, pointing at the white chrysanthemums in my hand.

Mama Lucy was our mother’s mother — mine and Lia’s. She was fond of gardening. Obsessed, I’d rather say. She even insisted on naming us twins Basil and Rose. But our mother’s immediate refusal saved us from the mild inconvenience.

It was a rather normal September evening that we were on our way to pay our grandmother a usual visit. Lia was in her best clothes that day. She feigned a half-smile but under that, I knew, was the thrill and joy she felt before each of our trips. She must’ve been thinking about all the things we would do together. First, we’d have a cup of warm mint tea. Next, she’d surprise her with an LC Waikiki designer handbag that Mama Lucy vaguely talked about during our last visit. Finally, they’d lose track of time in their lengthy conversations on botany. Sometimes, this was followed by another cup of tea if Mama Lucy hadn’t fallen asleep. I wasn’t as regular a visitor as Lia was but that day, she specifically asked me to tag along without reason.

What torments me is how vividly I remember that moment, when that BMW collided with ours, skidding along and permanently marking the smoothly paved road. The windscreen shattered and it wasn’t until I was about to lose consciousness that I saw the white chrysanthemums now stained crimson red. My eyes shut tight and all I heard next was the screaming and yelling of the passerby.

I opened my eyes and found myself and Lia together. But this time she was 6 feet deeper under the ground and I was sitting next to her grave while my mind played our final moments on loop. It was getting darker and I didn’t know how long it’d been since I last ate or replaced the bandage on my arm with a fresh one. I felt fatigued and numb but couldn’t leave Lia alone in this strange land. I held white chrysanthemums in my other hand and silently chatted with her, until, in an instant, my eye caught the inscription on the gravestone:

LUCIAN AARON
A Ray Of Light To All.

That was my name.

I was briefly alert but it didn’t last long before another fragment of our memory came along. But, this too, was interrupted by the quick yet familiar footsteps coming from behind me. Impulsively, I looked back wide-eyed and stared at the woman wearing all black in absolute horror. Realization followed disbelief.

“…Lia?”

Her face and arms had patched up wounds. Maybe I was hallucinating because it all seemed too instant and real to process. But, if this was going to be the last time I could see her and embrace her, I wasn’t going to lose it. I stood up with every last bit of energy I had and limped towards her.

“A…are you really alive?”

Right when I was about to hold her, she went through me as if I were nothing. Lia then walked towards the grave and sat next to it. The monotony on her face this time hid grief and excruciating pain. She proceeded to place white chrysanthemums on the grave and wept.

Finally letting her tears out, she said in a fragile voice, “Lucian, I can’t do this without you anymore. Please come back.”

And that’s when it struck me.

I was dead.