C7 Lost Goddess 1/2

It's been a week since Isla died from falling off the third floor. Everything has calmed down and most people that were part of the incident went back to their usual daily lives.

At least that was what most people were doing.

I'm here waiting for Isla's mom to get out of her room.

I haven't eaten good food for the last week after the supplies from their fridge ran out a week ago.

"I'm so hungry! Mom! Please get some food!"

…

She's been crying in her room quietly since Isla died.

I understand her though, her daughter died right in front of her but she wasn't conscious to help her or even witness any of it.

Although I do want to comfort her, she just won't open the door for me. I've been cooking for the two of us and giving her food but it only ends up being eaten by me.

Two days went on like that and I thought I'd just cook for one and just eat it if she won't, to save food and somehow last for a little longer until she calms down.

I didn't expect for her to be like this.

"It looks like you won't be going out anytime soon."

From the way it looks, you might think I'm not grieving but inside I am.

I just can't afford to show it. Right after Isla said 'Seth take care of mom'.

I took a quick bath, changed my clothes and went out of the house to somehow get some money to feed myself and mom or maybe beg for some.

"Mom! I'm going out for a bit to beg for delicious food!"

I said that out loud for Isla's mom to hear, and maybe realize that she's actually hungry.

While taking the keys for the scooter, I walked towards the elevator.

*ting!

The elevator reached the ground floor and I exited the building and rode the motorcycle near the hospital.

**

In front of me was a bakery shop.

We know somebody here, Isla and her mom would usually buy cake whenever somebody close to them bore unlucky events.

*cling *cling

The chimes rang when I entered the shop which prompted the freckled short girl by the counter to welcome me.

"Welcome customer!"

She welcomed me with a bright smile on her face like most shops would.

"Oh! it's the regular at the hospital!"

I walked close to her and leaned to whisper:

"I know your secret."

She flinched in surprise and fell off the box she was standing on.

This girl and her twin sister would often trick people into thinking that the two of them are one person. They always say they teleport to the hospital and back whenever shifts are up to occupy both stations just for fun.

Isla and I already confirmed that they were twins by going both in the hospital and the shop at the same time.

There were already rumors about them but we just wanted to confirm it with our own eyes.

"Ouch! My height dropped!"

Her height dropped?

"I know you're just standing on a box, you know?"

They were twins but their height had a noticeable difference.

They must have decided that standing on boxes would even it out and it actually did.

"J-just what else do you know-I mean, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Relax, I won't tell anyone."

"I told you I don't know what you're talking about!"

She averted her gaze towards the floor to hide her face which was showing an expression of a person who is not used to lying.

Even though I told her I knew their secret, she still continued to play her act like it was the natural.

"Isla died, you know?"

"Isla died? Damn sis she didn't tell me anything about someone dying again-... Wait, Isla died!?"

Looks like this twin didn't get the news. While still lying on the floor, she looked at me with a curious yet stunned guise.

"Yes, about two weeks ago."

"T-two weeks?... My regular died two weeks ago but no one bought a cake?"

Her eyes were tearing up as she said all those ambiguous words.

I thought for a second that she was crying for Isla, but she was actually crying because she didn't get an order of 'death cake' for Isla.

"Wait, this is no time to be crying. You're here for the cake right? Just wait for a few minutes, I'll bake it right away!"

She wiped her eyes with her small hands and stood up to run inside only to be halted as I said I wasn't here to buy cake.

"No, I'm here because I'm broke and I'm hungry."

"You're not here to buy cake?"

She fell to the ground on her knees while crying once more after hearing my reason for being here.

Just how much does she value her cake to the point that she would cry for it?

"Mom doesn't go out of her room to work and we running out of food."

"Then why don't *sniff you work?"

Most occupations nowadays require magic and since I'm not blessed yet nor will I ever be, I won't be getting any job anywhere, anytime soon.

This place is my only chance.

"Will you let me work here?"

If I can work here, then it'd be for the better. I don't really like the idea of asking for food.

"No. *sniff"

And of course that's what they all say.

I've been everywhere searching for a place to work. I don't really have many quirks to work for many businesses, so my options were quite limited.

Doing house chores was what I'm really confident about.

"If you're not going to get some cake then get out!"

"Are you really more worried about your business than a customer's death!?"

She stood up and flared her nose then started to sermon me.

"Of course not! If somebody dies you have to celebrate in memory of their death! Cake is the best one for them because that's what they always do!"

Isla's mom really spread the 'cake for unlucky events' policy in this particular shop.

"I think you mean 'memorialize' not 'celebrate'."

"It's the same thing, check the dictionary."

When I took out my phone from my pocket to browse the word 'celebrate', the shopkeeper jolted as if she remembered something and ran off to the back kitchen.

"Celebrate… Thesaurus… Ahh! She was right!"

"I told you so!"

She said while running towards me with a cardboard box container which were meant for cakes on her hand.

Reaching me, she extended her arms with the boxed cake as if to indicate that she was giving it to me.

"What's this for?"

I ask with a confused look.

Did I already beg for food? I thought that was my final resort.

"This is Isla's order from before she died."

My heart thumped after hearing her answer.

She's making this up right? She's just doing this to cover for her sister's mistake about not saying anything about Isla's death right?

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, she said this was a 'better luck next time' cake, from the time when you couldn't get blessed at the cathedral ."

I felt the wet hot tears filling up my eyes as she paused before uttering more words from her lips.

"I'll give this to you for free, if you keep our secret to yourself. Don't worry, this is newly baked, nobody picked up the original so it's covered with molds now and I can't serve rotten food or I'll go to jail."

*sob

"Whaut secreet???"

I said in a weird way.

"That's a good boy. Now please get out of my shop before you scare all my customers away."

I walked towards the exit then halted before turning to face the freckled shopkeeper to state my gratitude.

"Thanks Lilibeth."

"My name is Lily!"

"Your name tag says so otherwise."

I pointed to her uniform before mentioning.

"This is my sister's and mine- Ahh no! this is my name! Right! My name is Lilibeth! Your welcome and please don't come back here without money anymore."

I exited the building and took a deep breath before taking another step forward.

*inhale

As I was about to take my step, I bump a small kid who was walking head down like some kind of lost child.

"Hey! Watch it!"

The girl exclaimed when she fell to the ground after bumping into my bigger body.

I looked at the small girl with a keen bearing.

"Have we met before?"

The small girl looked familiar.

She was wearing a pure white dress.

She had an adorable face with green eyes and very long blonde hair. It was so long that she had to leave it dragging on the floor while walking.

She had a circlet keeping her hair from swaying too much.

Her height was a two heads shorter than mine.

The figure she had wasn't worth mentioning, it was straight, no sign of any curves in the chest nor the bottom.

A perfect little grade school girl.

As I was looking intently at her puffing her clothes, she stopped to face me with a stony face turning to a wide smiling surprise.

"I found you!"