"See you, Monday, Ran."
Noreen said as Rana closed the door of the shop.
"Have a great weekend, Noreen," said Rana looking briefly at her and raising her hand in a wave. "Bye."
Noreen turned her back and walked on.
Rana locked the door with her key and hid it back inside the inside pocket of her bag. She closed her shop at five when it's Saturday.
She walked in the opposite direction Noreen took and headed along the streets deciding to buy cakes as she passed by a patisserie shop to give herself and Julienne a sweet treat.
It was Saturday after all after a long working weekday. She knew that Julienne would feel elated seeing it. That woman loves cakes more than her. It's her behemoth addiction.
What amazed Rana about Julienne was despite her best friend amassing a large quantity of sugar in her system she didn't get fat easily. Julienne has a beautiful curvy body which Rana envied while she could only be either slender if not so skinny.
She passed a meat shop and bought roasted meats and barbecue and continued her path until she walked down the subway station and took the Tube back home. It was a quiet ride for her as usual while her ears were plugged listening to the latest Taylor Swift song Willow.
The train reached West 46th Street and opened its doors. She rose from her seat and went out. She walked out of the subway and ascended the stairs.
The street was dotted with cars. A black car was driving fast so fast as Rana stepped out on the sidewalk. She was caught shocked by the sudden gust of wind that hit her. She felt like her breathing would be knocked out of her chest. Kids, she thought with a shake of her head. She bet it was a teenager who was driving it. Teenagers these days could be so unruly and wild and feel like they're a boss when they're behind the wheels.
Rana steadied her breathing and continued walking. It took ten minutes to walk to her apartment. Then, she stopped by the building of her apartment. It was a mixed red and white-colored apartment with seven floors.
She shared the apartment with her best friend Julienne Rosewood. They had been living in the condominium apartment since they were twenty-two. They lived on the top floor, the seventh floor.
She walked up the stairs to the entrance of the building and walked to the elevator and pressed seven. She waited until the door sounded and opened.
A guy with chocolate skin wearing blue long sleeves, black slacks, and a pair of black shoes greeted her.
"Hey, Ran. What's up?" he asked in a bright voice. "Just got home?"
Rana looked at him. She nodded and did a double-take look at the man.
"Jack?! You're dressed," said Rana surprised and trying to sound not too nosy but curiosity winning her added. "You have any special occasion you're going to, Jack?"
Jack Sparsefield is her next-door neighbor who lives across her apartment. The guy works in a sports shop so he's usually always seen dressed in casual clothes. Always in his T-shirts, jeans and sports shoes.
Jack smiled and winked at her showing her a red felt box.
"I'm asking Jillian tonight. Bid me luck."
Rana rewarded him with a big smile.
"Good luck, Jack."
She said before the elevator closed.
She walked straight to their apartment. And stopped by the red door and opened it. It was locked.
Rana opened her bag and took out her keys. She unlocked the red door and went inside.
There's a trick to the color of their door. It appeared red from the outside but it's painted black inside.
Rana closed the door and called Julienne.
"Jules! I'm back." She said in loud voice.
No one answered her.
"Where are you? Are you in?"
She looked around the room. The walls of their apartment were painted white. And contrary to the antique and vintage room that Rana housed in her shop and Julienne working in the museum, their apartment is mostly modern except a quarter where they threw in their vintage and antique ideas.
She went to the black dining table that occupied half of the floor while the other side of the room was arranged with a long orange couch and a white sofa covered in a fluffy dirty white carpet with a TV on the wall. She put the box of cakes and plastic bags of meat on the table and pulled a black chair and sat on it looking out in the big glass window.
Dusk was yet to come with the sun only to set. The light from the horizon was a mix of bright orange and yellow. The sky was dusky blue and the clouds were almost pink.
She looked around again but heard no movement from the other room.
"Maybe she's sleeping."
She thought. Rana checked her phone. Julienne always texted her when she's going somewhere. There was no message from her.
She rose from the chair and knocked on her room.
"Jules! I'm back. I have cakes. They're waiting to be devoured by you."
Rana said waiting for Julienne to open her door. When no answer came from inside the room, she rotated the knob opening it checking for Julienne inside only to find an empty bed. The bedsheet, blanket, and pillows were replaced in floral bright red colors compared to the white and yellow mix Julienne was sleeping on earlier. She closed the door and went back to the dining area putting the cake box in the fridge and pulled a chair to wait for her.
"Where are you?" She texted.
No reply came so Rana decided that she'll just wait for her to text back. Looking out into the window, the bright orange and yellow colors of the soon setting sun reminded her of the afternoon Rana met Julienne.
Rana met her when she was eighteen years old. Her memory was a blank slate she remembered when she met her. She was sitting on the hospital bed she recalled the day she saw Julienne in her room.
Rana was looking past the narrow opening of the dark green curtains. She could see the trace of green trees and the bright blue sky. Only a small beam of sunlight peered through the shaded curtains. She's been awake for a while. A nurse came in earlier to check on her. Her head felt a little heavy. She could feel a dull pain at the back of her head.
She raised her right arm and saw it was veined to dextrose.
A shadow to her door caught her peripheral vision and she saw a young girl of her age with blond hair standing by the doorway.
"You can come in," Rana invited.
Julienne was looking at her with a shy smile on her face. She walked towards her.
Then her shy smile broke into a big grin.
"I'm glad you're awake now."
She said in a bright voice.
"Who are you?" Rana asked.
"I'm Julienne Rosewood. I'm eighteen like you," she said. "And…I'm…I'm your best friend."
"You don't sound confident about that."
Julienne released a nervous laugh.
"I'm your best friend."
She said with confidence. Rana looked at her with a strange face.
"I don't know you," she said bluntly.
"Do you know your name?"
Rana thought for a second, then for a while. Then, it struck her. She doesn't remember her name. She looked back at the girl called Julienne.
"I'm…." she trailed thinking how she was called but strangely she didn't remember how she was called. Everything felt blank in her mind. Blank and shadows. "I'm…"
Rana looked up at Julienne.
"Don't you know your name?" Julienne asked awkwardly peering through her. She walked to her side.
Rana looked at her, irritably.
"Maybe you know my name."
Julienne only looked at her.
"You don't know my name."
Julienne shook her head.
"But you just called yourself my best friend. Why don't you know my name?"
Julienne released a sigh.
"Dad said you might have amnesia. We found you by The Lake and you've been in the hospital for a month now. And you just woke up this morning."
She explained.
"Did someone come to visit me?"
Julienne looked at her with sympathy and shook her head.
Rana observed her silence and suddenly felt sad and sorry for herself. So, she has been in the hospital for a month now and no one came to see her.
She released a tragic sigh.
"Guess, no one loves me enough to see me while I'm sick."
She said with a flat face and shifted her sights to the windows again.
Julienne walked to the glass window and drew the curtains to the side. The bright afternoon sun burst into the room flooding the shadowed room into the light.
"Better?"
Rana nodded.
"When do I leave the hospital?" she asked.
"Dad said you can leave tomorrow once you're found okay," Julienne answered.
"Okay," Rana replied looking outside.
Biting her lips, Julienne asked her.
"Do you know where you live?"
Rana turned her gaze back at Julienne.
Dread filled her. Not only did she not know her name. She also didn't know where she live.
She looked at Julienne with a blank face.
"You can live with us," Julienne said easing awkwardness between them. "Dad said since no one came to visit you while you were sick and assuming your parents must be dead…"
"My parents are dead…?" asked Rana feeling incredulous.
"Wait. Stop. Hold it," Julienne said in a rush. "Only assuming they are…"
Julienne trailed and looked at her carefully.
"Okay…" Rana said releasing a very long sigh.
"Well, anyway. Dad said you can stay and live with us. We're trying to find your parents."
"Thank you."
Julienne put her hands in her pocket.
"Sure."
"So, anyway…." Rana started. "I don't know my name." She said looking at her. "And you said you're my best friend."
She added her gaze flickering at Julienne's face.
"How would you like to call me, Julienne?"
Julienne thought for a second.
"You can call me anything you like. You're my best friend, right? Call me a name?"
Rana said babbling and teasing her.
"Yes, you're right. We're best friends." Julienne agreed easily. "Best friends are forever. So, as your best friend, I'm calling you—"
Julienne looked into the room and found something sticking out of the wall hidden by the door.
"Sweep. Let me call you Sweep."
Rana looked at her darkly, frowning. Julienne burst out laughing.
"You said anything. It doesn't sound bad."
"What if I call you Broom?"
Julienne creased her head.
"Hang on. Just give me a second. Let me think."
"I'll give you a minute to think about it.
Rana said looking at Julienne then shifting her gaze back outside.
"Time's up."
She said once she's done counting until sixty.
"Rana."
Julienne said after a while.
"Rana."
Rana said echoing the name.
"Yeah. Doesn't that sound cool?"
Rana thought for a second.
"Sure."
"So, Rana, what's your last name?" Julienne asked her again. A smile was playing on her lips.
Rana looked at her blankly once more.
"Let's figure it together."
Julienne said with a serene smile.
The two newfound best friends thought what last name Rana should have. They tried to figure it for the next half hour while laughter and snappy comments were exchanged between the two girls. After almost an hour, they agreed on what to call Rana.
Julienne looked at her with a big smile while the bright afternoon sun shone on her golden locks reminding Rana of the golden hairs of corns when they're ripened.
"We'll call you, Rana Fielders."
Julienne was out on the top floor of the building hanging the bed laundries that she just finished washing. It was Saturday. She’d been alone in the apartment since Rana left for work very early. She woke up past nine am earlier and just lazed around the entire morning. She watched at least two films--a romantic and an action movie. By the time she finished watching the two films, it was already lunch. So, she closed the TV for a while and went to the kitchen to make shrimp pasta and toss salad for lunch. Then, she made lemonade for her drink. She loves weekends. Especially, Saturdays like this. She can laze all day round and just do whatever she wants. Saturday is her solo day as she likes to call it herself as Rana is out in her shop all day while Sundays are for her and Rana. They decide whatever they want to do together on Sundays. The first day of the week. Before work resumes the next day. She straightened the soft thick white blanket on the pole metal and bent over to get t
The floor was bustling with work. Phones were ringing. Sounds of typing could be heard. People were moving in different directions. "Shane, come to my office for a minute. We need to talk," said the plump woman dressed in a formal black coat covering a white top and gray pants when she came over to Shane's station. She wore thin round gold-rimmed glasses with a gold chain hanging loose with its end secured to the glass support tucked in the ears of a golden hair pulled back in a twist knot. The woman crossed the floor and went inside her office. Shane finished typing the last sentence of his article and saved it. He rose from his chair and walked to the office. He opened the door and closed it. The woman was typing in front of her PC. She sat with a very straight posture. Her name is Laura Simmons, the editor-in-chief of Daily Newspost, their newspaper publication. She stopped when she saw him and looked at him through her glasses. "I like the last article you wrote about the pan
How will I get you out of there? Shane thought as he looked incredulous at the object with utmost intensity. When he lost that bracelet twenty years ago, he gave up the thought of returning to Lunara. But now that he's seen it, there might just be a chance. But he needs to know how to get it out first. He didn't know how to go back to his old home which was metaphorically speaking a billion light-years away. And when he found himself inside this strange place of New York City where he arrived twenty years ago the first thing that he kept looking for was that moon charm bracelet that had been secured to his wrist. It never lost itself while he was still at home back in Lunara despite playing all day long. It had a secure fit that prevented it from falling off his wrist. And now the only thing that reminded him of who he truly was--was securedly locked inside the glass-covered case displayed among the ancients of the world. He was chewing on his cheek as he looked at it with grim fer
She must be Enara. Shane thought in silence. His hands curled at his side. Its knuckles whitened. Shit. Julienne cursed inwardly. Did she just say amnesia? Julienne felt embarrassed revealing Rana's condition to Shane. He looked shocked she noticed. She observed him with fury and asked nicely. "Will you please forget I told you that Rana is an amnesiac?" "Why? It doesn't matter." He retorted. His voice was flat. He tried his best to contain his shock. "You're not supposed to know it," said Julienne with a large sigh escaping her lips. "You're a journalist remember? What if you write something about her on the paper? Amnesiac people are points of interest among sensational newspaper writers. It would deeply hurt Rana." Shane looked back at Julienne's cross expression and gently patted her shoulders. "Don't worry. I don't divulge secrets, Julienne. I'm a news journalist not a gossipmonger nor a tabloid writer," he said with emphasis. She still looked at him with distrustful eyes.
Shane brought Katarina to the 150th-anniversary celebration of the American National Museum. The pop artist was singing her latest hit while they were seated at the back. Other guests and special guests of the night occupied tables before them. Katarina was dressed in a cherry red dress and her hair was twisted in a knot behind her head. While Shane was dressed in his black tux beside his fiancée who looked fabulous and ravishing in her hot red dress, his sight was already caught stolen by another woman dressed in a bright sky blue dress whose hair was also put up. He could only see the slender nape of her head. The woman turned her head revealing her oval face with curly caramel strands to see Shane looking at her. Rana gave him a small smile upon seeing him and turned back her attention to the stage. After another song, the pop artist was replaced by a band led by a male and female singer who played the music, and the dance floor was opened by Mayor Blasé and his wife. All the othe
Rana was asleep. It was past midnight on her digital alarm clock. Her head was lying comfortably on the pillow while her back was flat on the bed with the blanket covering her entire body. She stirred a little but was still deeply soundly asleep.She was walking along an empty road. But it wasn't so dark; she felt the light cast by the moon above. She could feel the chill in the air. Reflexively, she checked her black leather vintage wristwatch. It was midnight.Where could she be? She looked everywhere around her.The place was unfamiliar to her eyes. A thin fog has descended the road and everything around her. She felt the cold breeze as a slow wind blew past her. She was dressed in her current day working clothes--a yellow top and a pair of black jeans and her favorite brown boots but her sleeves were short. She felt goosebumps on her skin when the chilly air touched her skin. She blew a breath and saw smoke coming out of her mouth.She averted her gaze to the side and saw trees tha
Rana stirred in her sleep. Then, she opened her eyes.She saw semi-darkness. Her room was dark but a shower of light was cast from the windows. She turned her head toward the window.Through the thin laced curtain, she could trace the roundness of the moon. She hasn't locked the window earlier. It was tilted open letting the gentle breeze of the wind enter her room. She felt the wind cool on her face.Who are they? Those people up in the sky? She thought to herself as she lay still on the bed.She feels like she knew them but she doesn't know their names.Wait. How could she feel she knew them? She'd never seen them before. She shook her head at the sudden weirdness of her thought streaming then.Rana rose from the bed and went by the window while she kept her eyes fixed at the moon outside. It was illuminating with its round white light. It felt unusually bright and white tonight, she surmised.She stood by the window, one hand holdi
He was standing before the moon. Then he was entering it. He was forced by its light energy. He was being sucked by its unknown force. He tried to resist it but felt that he couldn't move any further. He tried to mask his fear. He turned around to see Enara looking at her with horror in her eyes. "Enos." She said in a frightened voice. "Enara." He smiled at her with his typical mischievous smile. "Don't go." She said with quivering lips, eyes widened with fear. Her caramel hair was slightly blown by the wind. He felt the strong force sucking him closer until he passed through it. "Enos!!!!" He could barely hear the shrieking sobs of Enara calling after his name. It was blocked and unamplified by the barrier that felt like water. "Enos!!! Don't go!!!!! Enos!!!" He heard Enara's cries calling him. He felt himself in the sky and saw clouds around him then saw below glittering lights and dots