It had been a week since Lola had come to this new home. A week since she had woken up in a hospital, and a week since she had been placed in this kind woman’s care. A week since she had been finally allowed to truly be something she never thought she was for a while.
A kid.
There were a lot of things that Lola had begun to learn and understand since she had moved in. One toys were the greatest gift on this planet, and no one could change her mind. Two the television was a device needed to be protected at all times, and three. It was really really nice to have someone to take care, and provide for her. Destiny Myers, had become the kindest woman that Lola had ever known in her life. She always had two delicious meals a day, and she was free to have a few snacks in between those meals. She always made sure that Lola had a new pair of clothes to wear, her favorite being the light pink pair of pajamas she had worn the other day. The large golden tiger spirit, or how Lola called her Aunt Malika had also been very kind to her. Always being there to help Lola up the stairs or just carry her around the house. Aunt Malika was Lola’s favorite place to lay and relax on, as her soft purrs both soothed her ears and relaxed her soul for some reason.
Ms. Destiny was very careful in how she approached Lola. She never did too much physical contact with Lola, and always asked before giving her something as easy as a hug or a rub on the head. The woman could be a lot of fun too, helping her play certain games that needed two people, her favorite being connect four, her touch was as soft as snow. Lola had started to love when bath time would come around as the woman was very skilled in giving baths. She knew one day that she would have to do it herself but until that day came, she would gladly keep being babied by this strong woman. Her favorite times were when they just lounged on the couch and just enjoyed each other’s company. She could sleep as much as she wanted, she could play or watch television until she got tired. It was truly amazing.
It had been the greatest week of her life.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had changed into one of the others. She didn’t wake up afraid and scared so Misery could’t come out. She rarely got angry so Ember was no longer around that much, except to tease her sometimes but even then it was getting rare. She often played with Kate every single day since her joy was shooting through the roofs. Still it brought a bit of pain to her that she had not seen or heard from Amber for a week. Lola really wanted to thank her spirit of strength for bringing her to this place. Though it wasn’t all good as often, Mystic would try and speak logic to her. She wanted Lola to keep her guard up to not make herself so welcoming of this woman. She was still under the idea that at some point this amazing dream would turn into a nightmare.
“I don’t care if this is a dream, I just don’t wanna wake up from it.” Lola would tell herself and push Mystic away. Cause that was all she cared about was staying here and she didn’t want anyone to ruin that for her.
However, she had to be sure and she was starting to believe the words that came from Ms. Destiny evernight. Because every night Lola asked the same question. “Will you be here when I wake up?”
And everytime she had been met with a kind smile, a warm glimmer in those golden suns for eyes as she rested a hand on Lola’s head. “I will be here when you wake up, no one's gonna take you from me.”
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe1QnZPf2M
So as the sun began to take its place in the large blue sky. A voice that Lola was starting to love began to fill her eyes. “Lola… Lola…. Come on little one, wake up please.” A small groan escaped Lola’s mouth as she pulled her pillow over her head to try and block out this noise. This for some reason had been the best night sleep she had gotten since coming here and she didn’t want to wake up from it, at least not yet at least. “Lola come on.”
“No thank you.” She complained as she tried her best to fall back asleep. “Come back tomorrow please.”
Her guardian chuckled a bit as she went on. “Lola, this is why I told you to go to sleep a bit early last night instead of staying up so late. We were gonna do a few things, this morning.” Lola let her guardian help her sit back up, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight as she was still getting used to waking up with sunlight instead of just pale yellow light. Or being woken up with a cold bucket of water. Once her eyes had adjusted, Lola found her guardian deep brown skinned face staring at her with a joyful look and a smile. “Good morning, Lola.”
A cute yawn escaped Lola’s lips as she stretched for a moment pulling up the bottom of her pajama shirt in the process. “M-Morning, Ms. Destiny.” She placed her small fists onto her face to rub out the last bit of sleep before taking the woman’s hand as she led her to the bathroom. Where, her morning routine would begin. Ms. Destiny would help her wash her face after Lola’s first attempt had not gone that well. Once using water far too hot and the other time using water far to cold, Ms. Destiny helped her find the perfect balance of both. After that it was time to brush her teeth with her now growing favorite toothpaste strawberry. From there it was a quick wash up underneath her armpits that never failed to get giggles to escape her lips and then finished with a chalky substance that Ms. Destiny said would keep her smelling nice for the whole day. Normally after that she would change into a clean pair of pajamas or some other form of soft clothes for today.
But today seemed to be different.
As what was waiting for her was a pair of blue pants that were rougher to the touch that had a zipper and a button on them. As well as a white shirt and apparently she also needed another longer shirt to put over that, this one soft like the lambs she had seen on television the other day. “What are these?”
“What I have had you wearing since you came here are more relaxing clothes for indoors. Since we are going out we are gonna be wearing clothes that are a bit warmer and made for outdoors.” Lola nodded at the explanation, though she had to question why she couldn’t just wear pajamas everywhere.
Once she had gotten these jeans on that were just a bit too big for her, and after learning how to properly put on a t- shirt and sweater so they weren’t on backwards or inside out. (Like she had done the first three times) Lola found herself sitting on the stairs leading to the downstairs hallway as Ms. Destiny began to tie a pair of snug fitting shoes on her feet and finished adjusting the black belt around her waist to help keep her pants up.
“Where are we going again?” Lola asked taking a few steps to get used to these tennis shoes as Ms. Destiny called them. She was used to ust bare feet or the occasional slippers she had been given at the facility she was in.
“We are going to a clothing store, and we are going to a grocery store.”
“What is a grocery store?”
“It is where I buy all the food or have them shipped from there to here.” Ms. Destiny explained.
“And why are we going to a clothing store?”
“To get you some new clothes,” Ms. Destiny confirmed as she unlocked the door to her house and opened it. “Are you gonna come with us Malika or are you just gonna stay here and be lazy?”
Lola heard the large cat grumble from her favorite spot on the couch. “I will stay here and protect the house just in case.”
“So you are gonna stay and be lazy, good to know.” Lola hid a fit of laughter behind her hand. While these two were very much different creatures they were as close as sisters, almost hard to tell the spirit animal from the person it came from sometimes.
Lola followed Ms. Destiny outside and into the back seat of her very loud and fast car and a moment passed before it began to roar to life and they were out leaving the quiet neighborhood and into more busy looking traffic. As they drove past, Lola found herself kneeling on her seat as she stared at the one place that she wanted to visit before this amazing dream turned back into a true nightmare.
A long building that bent at an angel, it had colorful equipment with kids her age playing and laughing. Lines were formings as some of these students began to be led inside by taller adults, all with colorful backpacks on as they headed to school.
“I wanna go,” Lola thought to herself.
“Give me sometime Lola,” the girl in question jumped and turned to see Ms. Destiny looked at her from the rearview mirror. It was like the woman could read her thoughts sometimes. “I just need to get a few things in place and than I will be able to get you enrolled in school.” Ms. Destiny’s eyes then turned a tiny bit stern as she added in a kind voice. “Also can you please sit in your seat and put your seatbelt back on.”
Lola nodded her head as she quickly sat and put her seatbelt back on just as Ms. Destiny had shown her. Lola smiled in pride as Ms. Destiny nodded at her in approval. “W-What… what things need to be put in place?” She had to know, cause maybe she could help get those things moving.
A soft hum escaped the woman’s mouth. “Well for one we need to take a trip to a doctor so you can get a formal checkup to make sure you body is healthy, just in cause you have allergies that I need to let the school know about. We need to get your mental state looked at as well to see if you are mentally capable of going to school right now and that could take a while. Lastly we need to get you legally under my care, in other words I would have to adopt you. Which is actually the quickest of the three things we need to do.”
Lola didn’t really understand most of those words and she really, really, didn’t want to go to a doctor's office. Doctors had always been so mean to her, always poking and prodding her. However, if it meant being able to go school then she would do anything it took. “Can we do all of that stuff today?” She had seen a phrase on television that said to just tear the bandaid off and deal with what happens next.
“How about we focus on getting your clothes and our trip to the grocery store first, and then tomorrow I can see about getting all of this stuff done. However,” and Ms. Destiny turned around in her seat to fully face the child as they pulled to a stop at a red light. “Lola this is gonna take time and we cannot rush this very long process, your safety and health matters a lot to me little one. However, I promise you that you will one day be in a school where you can learn as much as you want.”
Her guardian hadn’t broken a promise to her yet. So with a small hint of sadness Lola nodded her head and accepted that it was gonna take a while but she would be in school sooner. Preferable tomorrow if she had it her way.
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6r35JCrKm
“Whoa…” Lola thought to herself as she and Ms. Destiny entered through a magical set of doors that could open on their own. She didn’t know where to look first as her eyes locked onto every single thing in her path. There had to be hundreds of really big looking stores and shops, hundreds of people walking to and from them. Some went up a set of stairs that moved on their own! She could smell something really good coming from wherever those stairs lead. She jumped back and hid behind Ms. Destiny’s legs as a rowdy group of young women came into the store talking. “There are a lot of people here.” Lola said, grateful for the gentle touch of Ms. Destiny;s hand as it came to rest on her head.
“I know, which is why I want you to stay right near the whole okay, I don’t want you getting lost, okay little one?” Lola nodded her head before taking Ms. Destiny’s hand and together they ventured forth staying to the first floor of this large building. They didn’t go too far until they took a right into a nearby building. This one was so colorful with different kinds of clothes hanging on racks and on hanger, different shoes, it was big and went way far back towards a series of stalls where people were going inside to try on these outfits. There were enormous signs of girls her age or older in some of these outfits. As they entered, Ms. Destiny walked over and had two different sizes of jeans, shorts and more soft looking pants, as well as two different sized shirts. “Okay, Lola before I let you go and pick some items that you want. I want to get you measured so we know what size to get you.”
“W-Wait,” Lola barely heard the last part of the woman’s sentence. “You mean I get to pick some things?” She asked, her eyes wide in surprise.
Ms. Destiny’s smile grew wider as she nodded her head. “Of course you do little one, whatever you want… within reason.”
She had never been allowed to pick things for herself before. She was more than grateful for this woman’s kindness, so grateful that she couldn’t stop herself as she practically threw herself around the woman’s waist in a hug. Her arms were not long enough to reach around the woman but that didn’t matter. “Thank you,” Lola whispered. “Thank you so much.”
She had felt the woman tense up for a moment but then she felt a hand placed on her head and the kind voice of her guardian. “It is my pleasure to do this for you, Lola.” After a moment Ms. Destiny turned Lola around towards the hundreds of clothes before giving her a small pat on the back to get her moving. “Now go and pick some things that you want and stay where I can see you please.”
As Lola nodded her small head she moved tenderly through the rows of clothes trying to find what she might want. She turned to her left to see a girl much shorter than her with dark blue hair and her small arms crossed around her chest walking beside her. “You can’t keep letting her in like this, how many times do I need to tell you this?!”
“If she wanted to hurt us she would have done it by now,” Lola defended as she stopped in front of a bright shirt that had a matching pair of pants hanging beside it. “Why would she let us pick clothes out, if she is gonna hurt us.”
“Emotional warfare,” Mystic replied in a series voice. “She is gonna get your hopes up and because you are too dumb to see it she is gonna hurt you when you are at your highest.”
Lola's smile turned upside down as she turned her gaze onto the soft carpet of this store. “I am not dumb,” she whispered softly.
“That isn’t what I meant,” Mystic tried to defend but Lola was in no mood to hear her knowledge or wisdom, as she called herself.
“Go away,”
“Lola you are being.”
“Go away!” She declared firmly. “You hurt my feelings, you always hurt my feelings.”
Lola looked over at Mystic who had a look on her face that made it look like she had been slapped. “I don’t-'' Her face then shifted into one of anger as she pointed her nose up and huffed. “Fine, go ahead and be mad at me, but remember who has always been in your corner since day freaking one!”
As Mystic lift a different one took her place. This one someone that Lola very much wanted to see if she was gonna have fun and pick an outfit. “Come on,” Kate declared as she reached up to wipe the single tear that appeared on Lola’s face. “Let’s go have fun, no more thinking about bad things or people that hurt our feelings.”
“I would like that,”
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcAgEPKJsR
After nearly an hour and a half of shopping. Lola was back in Ms. Destiny’s car, not clad in the woman’s daughter’s clothes. But in the first outfit she had ever been allowed to pick in her life, and she could not be happier. This one being a soft pink sweater, and a matching pair of pants underneath. She had on a new pair of white shoes that fit much better than the ones she had been wearing before. The back of the car had been filled with bags and boxes of new clothes, so much so that Lola had to sit in the front seat. She couldn’t help but giggle as she could tell that the woman was being very careful in her driving. If she could have tied Lola to this seat she probably would have.
Eventually pulled into a large parking lot that had a lot of cars sitting in different spots. People leaving a large building with carts filled with bags and boxes of some kind. Ms. Destiny pulled into a nearby spot and opened the door for Lola before taking her hand and leading her into this building. Lola’s eyes went wide as she stepped into a large open space that had so many different kinds of veggies and fruit. It was a bit chilly and she was amazed as a few of these racks produced a small cloud of mist from somewhere that seemed to be keeping these veggies clean. She looked up at Ms. Destiny who had a very long list in her hand and she seemed to be drawing a line through a few things.
“So I am gonna let you pick five things that you might want to try, Lola.” She explained looking down at the small child. “Whether that is five fruits or five veggies is up to you, or a mix of both.”
“Can,” she began carefully. “Can I maybe pick more than five?” There were so many options here that there was no way that she couldn’t pick more than five.
“Just five,” Ms. Destiny said, much to her disappointment.
“Maybe just three more?” Lola suggested as she cutely held up three fingers.
“You can pick five,” Ms. Destiny said firmly.
“What about just-”
“Lola,” the girl stopped as Ms. Destiny’s voice took on a much firmer tone than she heard so far in the week she had been with her. “You can pick five items from this part of the store, no more than that. I don’t want you picking more than that in case you don’t like all five and don’t want to eat them. So no more whining or asking to get anymore than that, am I understood?”
“I’m sorry,” Lola whispered.
Ms. Destiny placed a hand on her head, a small way to show that she was not upset with the girl. “It’s okay, I know you want to try everything, but we won’t have room for all the things you want to try.”
After Lola had carefully picked five things that she very much wanted to try, she couldn’t help but kinda want maybe just one more thing. She had been debating between two items and she very much wanted both instead of just one. As they were moving through the allies, she felt a familiar presence start to wash over and then walk beside her. She had not seen this girl in nearly a year and a half, it was so rare when this feeling came over her. Her naughtiness, her greed, and jealousy. Her green eyed monster, her emerald serpent.
“S-Sammy?” Lola questioned as she looked at the lime green haired girl with a pair of matching slit like eyes.
This girl stretched her arms over her head and rolled her shoulders. “My, my, my….” she said in a singsong voice that always held a darker undertone. “It has been so long since I have been summoned or even felt the need to wake up. I almost thought you had forgotten about good old number six.” She was a bit taller than Lola with much longer arms and legs, much skinnier but more athletic looking like a sprinter. She spun around a bit, her eyes locking onto Destiny who was walking behind them. “So that is the famous guardian I keep hearing so many whisper about.”
“What kind of whispers?”
Sammy waved her hand dismissing that conversation. “That is not important, what is important is all of this.” Sammy said, looking around once more. “So many items, so many things for us to have, including those other two items that you so desperately want.”
“Ms. Destiny said I couldn’t have any more.” Lola said softly as she didn’t want this woman to hear this conversation.
“Come on, Lola.” Sammy said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and whispering. “Look at how focused this woman is.” Lola looked up as Ms. Destiny as she was looking at boxes of pasta. “She barely knows what she has in that cart, she isn’t gonna care if we go and get those last two items you want.”
Lola found herself looking at the cart they had and did agree that her guardian probably would not notice if one or two things were added. “How are we supposed to convince her to go back?”
“We don’t have to convince her, we just go and do it.” Sammy pointed up at a large number. “Look that number says 4, so if we go back to that bigger arena and than come back to this one, we will find this woman very quickly, we sneak your items in and then everything is good.”
On paper that sounded like an amazing plan to Lola, after all Sammy used to be the queen of getting her what she wanted when they were stuck in that facility. That was until something happened that made her so scared that she never wanted to come out again. So once Lola was sure that Ms. Destiny was not playing mind to her, she took Sammy’s advice and went back to the larger open area that had all of the fruit and veggies that she wanted to try. After she had found what she was looking for, two small packs of black berries and raspberries. Lola found herself feeling giddy as she went back to aisle four and then her jaw hit the floor. As Ms. Destiny was not in this aisle anymore.
“Oh no…” Lola whispered as she ran deeper into this aisle that was covered in different kinds of pasta and glass jars that had different kinds of red and white sauce inside. “Where is she!” Lola shouted as she looked at Sammy who was leaning up against one of the shelves. “Where is she?!”
“How should I know?” Sammy replied with a shrug. “I didn’t expect her to leave this aisle.”
“Sammy?!” Lola whined. “We have to find her, or we can’t go back to her house. I don’t know how to get there, I don’t even know where we are right now!” Lola shouted as her heart started to race a bit faster. “What if she leaves us here?!”
“I don’t see how that is my fault.”
“It was your idea!”
“I didn’t make you come,” Lola let out another higher whine as she quickly raced out of this aisle, nearly bumping into another woman’s shopping cart.
“No, no, no!” Lola thought as she tried retracting her steps towards the fruits and veggies aisle but she saw no sign of her tall guardian. No sign of her dark skin or curly dark brown and golden hair. “I don’t know where she is!” Lola ran towards the 4th aisle once more, hoping that maybe her guardian had come there to find her, but it was empty aside from an old couple that was walking down it. “Mystic!”
Lola turned around and found her spirit of knowledge leaning up against a wall. “What?!” She asked, still looking cross from what happened earlier. “I am not gonna help you.”
“Why,” Lola asked.
“Because you hurt my feelings, like you claimed that I hurt yours. You decided to listen to Sammy of all people, so deal with the consequences of doing that!”
Lola looked down at Mystic with tears starting to fill her brown eyes. “Please, help me, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where I am.” As her heart seemed ready to explode out of her chest. Lola felt her mind go blank and that was the last thing she remembered before she found herself waking up. In Ms. Destiny’s living room, she had been asleep on the couch. “Hello Lola,” the small girl turned around to see Ms. Destiny sitting in her recliner. Her eyes locked firmly on the girl. “We need to talk.”
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0myLGVP59
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9C3eCgjXgd
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXf8CeTBtJ
If anyone in the store was watching they would have seen a small girl with short brown hair and a weak frame start to grow a bit more. Her body gaining muscle that it shouldn’t have had, she slipped off this nearly bought sweater as she did want to ruin it by accident. Her arms grew stronger, her legs firmer, she rolled her shoulders listening to the cracks that came from them. Her hair grew longer and turned a beautiful amber color, her eyes taking on a similar hue as the physically strongest of the group took control of Lola’s body. She could feel Lola’s heart starting to race with each passing moment, her mind filling with the worst thoughts that could come from this scenario. She was lost in a store and had no idea what was happening, she didn’t need knowledge, joy, fear, anger, or greed.
She needed her strong lion.
She needed Amber.
Amber let a growl escape her lips as she took a deep sniff of the air taking in the hundreds of scents that were in this place. She kept going until she found the scent she was looking for, that dark chocolate smell and she could sense worry coming off the woman. Amber sighed as she opened one of these containers that Lola had foolishly went back to get, she had listened to that damn serpent of greed and now it was gonna get her in trouble. Amber popped one of these red berries into her mouth enjoying the flavor that spilt across her rough tounge as she walked down to aisle six. She walked through it until she saw that woman moving with her shopping cart, her dark golden eyes scanning the place, eyes filled with panic. She paused for a moment as she saw Amber walking towards her. “Hey,” Amber said, raising her hand in a wave.
She finally had a chance to meet the woman that she had brought Lola to. That night in the storm she had ran, and ran until she had run out of energy, she had gotten lucky and had no idea what this woman was like. She only knew that Kate loved her, Mystic oddly hated this woman, Ember put up with this woman, Misery… well Misery hated everyone. Sammy wanted to find ways to abuse this woman’s kindness for her own greed.
It was time for Amber to meet this woman fully.
Speaking of, this woman stopped the cart in front of her and looked down at Amber relieved. “Where is Lola?”
“She is somewhere safe inside of this head, she was about to give herself a panic attack and no one was really helping at the moment.” Amber lifted up another berry to her mouth and popped one in. “We need to talk, Destiny Myers.”
140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBzHOaeZxY
