*HUFF* Thank God I'm finally done with this monster... Well I hope you enjoy
Charlotte “Lotte” Evans sat at her desk one day, in the midst of a rare moment in which she didn’t have to sign forms, deliver papers to another soldier, or have to act as a superior’s secretary and get them coffee and tea. Yes, all was calm and quiet, the way she liked it. In the long run she’d rather have loud company with her than the opposite, but she got so few of these moments so she was going to milk it.
She laid her head upon her desk, her waist long black hair currently pulled into a ponytail splayed across the desk in front of her face. Her calm blue eyes stared at her hair, mentally picking out each strand. In the midst of her pointless thoughts her mind began to simply wander… back to the old days… back to old memories…
She happened upon many memories from the past. Some of them were happy: Her mother and she playing dress up with their fancy clothes, that one night every week when her dad would attempt to cook and nearly catch the kitchen on fire, and watching the stars at night, hoping they might be lucky enough to witness a shooting star. Though other memories were not so happy: Her father getting called to fight in Ishval, Her mother working two jobs just to pay the bills and Lotte hardly ever seeing her, her father’s death…
Yes, times had been hard but not as hard as those two weeks still stamped in her mind…
She slowly began to drift off into the memory…
Taijiin, Xing
A young 7 year old girl sat inside her house coloring. Her shoulder length black hair gliding on the surface of the table she used as a surface while she leaned down close to her work. Her muddied blue eyes were narrowed in concentration and her tongue stuck slightly out of her mouth as she struggled to color inside the lines of her drawing. She had drawn her and Momma’s big red house with 3 people in front of it, Momma, Papa, and herself. Her papa had a halo above his head and wings on his back; these signified that the person pictured was deceased and was now with the clan of the angels in the sky. It was true, Papa was gone. Momma said he had to go help Shung Tian (God) in the sky. I wish he hadn’t. I miss the days when Papa would come home with a big smile on his face and give me a hug, Momma a kiss on the cheek. Momma was happier, too. She would smile and laugh along with him; her eyes were brighter also.
Momma’s once radiant face and sparkling brown eyes were now dull; her skin had paled to a near ghostlike complexion filled with lines and wrinkles that came from frowning and stress. Her eyes were a dull muddy brown that seemed to show no emotion. Even the way she moved changed. Her gait was now robot-like instead of her previous swaying hips. She kept her hair up in the traditional bun that Xingese women often wore; she always used to wear her long black hair down when Papa was still here. He always told her he preferred her hair like that, that she looked beautiful and unique. Maybe that’s why she never wears it that way anymore…
Shung Tian would not send her papa back, she knew. He kept his warriors until the end of time. That didn’t keep her naïve young mind from telling her differently.
‘Papa will come back!’ she thought stubbornly, slamming her crayons onto the coffee table she had been using as a drawing surface.
Suddenly the door opened. Momma was home. Maybe Lotte would get a chance to tell her hello before she went to sleep. Momma had 2 jobs with long hours and it was hard for her to work so long, so she was often too tired to do anything when she came home and instead opted for sleep.
Something was different though. Momma had a determined glint in her eye that Lotte hadn’t seen for quite some time. Lotte was sincerely surprised when her Momma did not flop onto her bed, instead grabbing an overnight bag and putting all of their food from the kitchen into it. Lotte watched curiously until Momma called, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“Kuai!” she called sternly. Kuai was Charlotte’s name translated into Xingese. Ever since Papa went away she stopped calling me Charlotte, the Amestrian name Papa had given me himself, after his own mother whom Lotte had never met. Now, Instead of Charlotte Evans, Evans being her father’s Amestrian surname, she was now Kuai of the Taan clan.
“Stop standing around and help me!” Momma ordered in Xingese. I got right to work.
“What are we doing, Momma?” Lotte questioned as she filled the bag.
“We’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?”
“To Amestris… where it is safe…” Why are you being so vague? Lotte didn’t like the idea of leaving her home. After all, she’d lived here all her life, made friends and a lifetime of memories.
“But why do we have to leave? This is home. Home is safe!” Her mother’s face softened. It was obvious her daughter did not want to leave her home any more than she did. But they had to.
Shi Son’s POV (Lotte’s mom)
Emperor Qiao had found out she’d had a child with an Amestrian man. The emperor didn’t particularly care about Shi Son (her) being with another man, he just cared that people of his race were bi-racially breeding. ‘Amestrians are scum,’ he had said. He wanted the people of his country to be of pure Xingese descent; he did not allow hybrids among his purebreds. They were his, the citizens of this country were mere possessions to him, and he didn’t like it when the other kids touched his toys.
Shi Son had a friend whose mother was one of the Emperor’s servants as well as his wife. Tai Chou was his name; he was the fifth son of the emperor and was often granted access inside the palace, though he was not allowed to see his father, his own flesh and blood. Tai Chou was now 29 years old and had never so much as had a conversation with his own father.
One day, while running errands inside the palace he “accidentally” eavesdropped on a conversation between the emperor and his informant. It just happened to be about her.
Apparently, the emperor had just been informed that one of his citizens bore an Amestrian’s child. The informant was ordered to death later, for not finding out sooner; the child was already in grade school. The emperor was furious and ordered Shi and the child to death; ‘the child is different and would never be a part of its race as long as it lived; the mother is corrupted and needs to be punished.’ That was his only “reasoning” of sentencing a woman and a little girl to their deaths.
As soon as he heard the conversation, Tai ran to the hospital, where Shi was currently working her shift, and told her everything. He had already calculated many plans in his head on how they could escape.
Without even talking to her boss, she left work and went home to start packing.
Lotte’s POV
“Momma!” Lotte yelled for the third time. Her mother started daydreaming amidst the packing and had been staring off into space for several minutes. Momma had had a relaxed face the entire time she spaced out, something Lotte didn't see often. Momma never relaxed, not counting sleep. Momma blinked several times and her calm expression dissolved while the strict and commanding physique set in once again.
"Grab only the necessities, now." she ordered. Lotte scurried away like a spooked animal and went to her room. Once she was there, she grabbed two blankets and two pillows, then ran back to Momma. When she got there Lotte could tell Momma was irritated. "Put the pillows back and take only one blanket." Momma looked like she was in a hurry, so Lotte hurriedly did what she was told.
The majority of what momma packed was food and bottled water. The rest of the bag's space held the single blanket and two bandanas. Momma quickly zipped up the bag. She signaled for Lotte to come along and she did as she was told. They were about to reach the door when Momma seemed to remember something. She stopped, opened up the bag and grabbed the two bandanas. The first, a pretty blue bandana with Xingese calligraphy, Momma wrapped around Lotte's head to cover up her face, the eyes an exception, and then proceeded to do the same to herself. Before Lotte could question her, Momma spoke.
"You are not to talk to anyone unless I allow it. Keep the bandana on and don't let anyone know your identity. Be very quiet and follow me," Lotte nodded furiously, already obeying her mother. 'See, I didn't talk!' she thought proudly. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Momma grabbed her hand and practically dragged her outside. They quickly walked through the streets, Momma's eyes never straying to the citizens around them. They walked for about 10 minutes before reaching their destination, a house similar to their own.
Suddenly, before they even got to the door, it opened. A man walked out, holding a bag that probably held things similar to theirs. The man himself was tall, taller than Momma, and had to be at least 6 feet tall. He had a full head of short dark brown hair and a small amount of facial hair at his chin, signifying that he hadn't shaved in a few days. His eyes were small and angular, like most of Xing's citizens, and he looked to be a little on the thin side. He wore an expression of stress, haste, and worry all mixed together. Still, he seemed like a usually nice and calm person, which meant the circumstances must be worse than they seemed.
“Have you gotten ready?” He asked looking to Momma. The innocent question made her turn red with annoyance.
”No… of course not! Why would we come here if we were ready?!” Momma retorted sarcastically. Yet again she has managed to surprise me today. Momma’s old personality was starting to leak through that cold, emotionless mask. ‘Hm’ Lotte thought, ‘Maybe whatever is happening isn’t such a bad thing…’ Even the man cracked a smile.
“Ah, you’re always so charming, Shi Son…” he laughed.
“You know, if Kuai wasn’t here I would have so many things to say to you…” She retorted playfully. Lotte could only watch in awe. Momma, smiling? Laughing? It was kind of weird…
All laughing and signs of happiness vanished when they saw the Emperor’s soldiers marching down the street. There weren’t many, Lotte noticed. Only a small group of them, 5 men, she counted, marching down the street. Each one held a spear and wore their armor/uniform. They stared straight ahead, eyes never straying to the Xingese citizens around them, though the citizens themselves were doing the exact opposite. They all stared with dark wide eyes. Some of them pulled their small children close to them and tried not to be seen, which is what Momma did, pulling Lotte close to her and pulling both their bandanas over their faces so they wouldn’t be recognized. Once the men passed, Momma became commanding once again. She grabbed Lotte’s hand.
“Let’s go,” she ordered the man, who had still been watching the soldiers down the road. He was startled when he heard her voice but immediately tightened his hold on his bag and followed them down the road the same way they had been going previously. They had been walking in silence for a few tense minutes before Lotte chose to speak.
“Hey Momma, why were the soldiers here?” She asked. Her mother quickly put her hand over Lotte’s mouth.
“I told you not to speak unless I allowed you to!” Lotte was then disappointed in herself for not remembering her mom’s orders. She thought better than to mutter an ‘I’m sorry’ and simply nodded.
Momma was becoming more and more uneasy by the minute and they started walking faster and faster until the trio was sprinting down roads, winding through streets (and people), until they eventually ended up at yet another house. Oddly, instead of going to the front door, the man with them looked around suspiciously before signaling for Momma and Lotte to follow him. They went around to the back of the house and surprisingly (at least to Lotte it was) found horses and camels in a pen in the backyard. The man put his finger over his mouth as a signal for them to be quiet and then walked over to the horses. He opened the gate, which the owner “smartly” left unlocked. He went up to 2 of the horses and pulled a few sugar cubes out of his pocket and slipped them into their mouths. The horses were happily chewing away on the sugar cubes and didn’t make a sound when he led them out of the pen. There were saddles and reins near the owner’s back door that he grabbed. ‘Huh,’ Lotte thought. ‘This must Mr. Kan’s house.’
Mr. Kan was a horse and camel trainer. He raised horses and camels for people to rent and ride. It looks like we’re riding to Amestris on horses, then. Lotte just made another realization. That also means we’re stealing them… great…
The man whom she had still yet to be introduced to was finished putting the saddle and reins on the horses. He helped Momma onto the first one. Then he picked me up effortlessly and put me in her lap. He then hopped on his own horse and they started riding. ‘I can’t believe Mr. Kan didn’t catch us,’ Lotte thought as they rode away.
They rode for half an hour before they neared the border. Taijiin was pretty close to the Western border, so it didn’t take long. The ride was rather pleasant, that is, until the yelling started. The trio looked behind them and saw the group of soldiers from earlier, except they had multiplied. There were now at least 15 soldiers, no longer marching, but instead riding horses of their own and chasing the trio. So they had been looking for us? That must be the reason we’re going to Amestris.
Momma and the man quickly sped up the horses into gallop from the previous slow trot they were pacing in. The soldiers screamed out at us in Xingese and threw more spears and knives at us; thankfully, they all missed. Suddenly, the man reached behind himself into his bag and pulled out a much smaller bag. Momma seemed to know what he was gonna do and steered their horse to his right side. Now, the soldiers were behind him. He turned around for a split second and emptied the bag onto the ground. Lotte only had a split second to look and saw that he had spilled marbles and nails onto the pavement. It was certainly effective in stopping the soldiers. The horses were slipping and falling, whinnying in pain. That was kinda cool to watch though…It was almost as if the man had known that would happen. Lotte admired him for the quick thinking.
After getting the soldiers of their tails, they winded through a few more streets before the officially reached the beginning of The Great Desert. Without any second thought, they trekked on. Momma had a smile on her face along with hope.
“We might actually make it!” she exclaimed, practically falling off her horse. She turned to Lotte. “Kuai, honey, this is the start of a whole new life for us! Aren’t you excited?!” Lotte took this as permission to speak.
“Uh huh, sure.” Lotte said, even if she was just trying to make her mother happy. Lotte had no idea what Amestris was like and she was scared of this change. Nonetheless, she kept the smile on her face. She then remembered a question she’d wanted to ask her mother all day.
“Momma, why are we going to Amestris?” Shi Son sighed. ‘I guess it’s time she knew,’ she thought.
“Well, the emperor didn’t like your dad.” Close enough, right.
“Why? Everybody loved Daddy!” Lotte exclaimed. Well, apparently not.
“Our emperor doesn’t like people of other races. He only wants his citizens to be of pure Xingese descent. He wanted to try and hurt me and you, because you aren’t “pure”, and because I’d loved an Amestrian man…” Lotte didn’t know what to say. She never knew the emperor was so cold. The man only looked sadly at the pair, it just wasn’t fair.
Soon, Momma replaced her frown with a smile. “But… we’re already on our way to Amestris! Once we get there, everything will be better! You’ll see,” That actually did cheer her up a little.
They all rode in silence for a few minutes until Lotte asked the man,
“What’s your name?” He looked over at her and smiled.
“Tai Chao. I’m a friend of your mom’s. I’m also moving to Amestris.”
“Why?”
“I’m sick of the way our country is run,” he answered, “My father is an evil, selfish man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The fact that he wants to hurt you and your mother convinces me of that. In Amestris, citizens have at least somewhat of an amount of freedom. You can marry who you want; you can pretty much go where you want, work where you want… It’s like an unreachable paradise compared to Xing.” So he was one of the Emperor’s many children, yet he disliked him? It was harder for Lotte to understand the situation, considering the short time she had known her father; he seemed like the greatest man alive.
“It won’t be unreachable for much longer,” Momma chimed in.
“Mm hm! So be happy!” Lotte assured.
After a few hours of riding, Lotte was definitely feeling the heat. The three of them had all put on tan light coats with the hoods up to protect their skin from Sun, which was currently beating down mercilessly on them. There wasn’t much around them save the hot sand, some shrubs and a few trees.
“I’m thirsty…” Lotte complained. Momma and Tai Chou were sweating bullets and both dying for a drink but both too modest to ask for a drink first. Well Lotte ended that contest…
“Why don’t we stop? I think we’re all a bit thirsty,” Momma suggested. They stopped to let the horses rest and drank from the water bottles they brought. They then continued to ride until nightfall.
They tied the horses to one of the trees around them that they had found in this desolate wasteland and tied the horses to them. Afterwards, they settled down on the ground to sleep.
What they weren’t aware of, though, was that The Great Desert’s temperatures drastically dropped after sundown. They were shivering within minutes; even with them all huddled together with both of their blankets they couldn’t shake the cold. Lotte fell asleep while Momma and Tai Chou were talking. She was woken some time later by someone shaking her shoulder. Lotte cracked open an eye and saw that it was still nighttime. Momma was the one shaking her shoulder with a frightened look on her face. Before Lotte could speak, Momma urgently whispered, “Get up!” Lotte complied and finally saw what her mom was so worked up about.
Tai Chao was standing before a large desert rattlesnake, who was hissing so loud it was a wonder that Lotte hadn’t heard it before. It was dark so Lotte see much detail on the snake; what she did know was that it was longer than she was tall, it made a rattling noise, and had a dark band like marking across its wide forehead. Tai Chao stood between us and the snake as though protecting them. The horses were still tied to their trees a foot in front of Momma and Lotte. He was slowly backing up to the horses as the snake continued to hiss and move closer to Tai also. Finally, after what seemed like hours of agonizing silence watching the two, Tai Chao had made it to his horse though he still faced their new opponent. Lotte, slowly and quietly, let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Oddly, instead of getting onto the horse, Tai Chao reached into his bag, which was tied around his horse’s neck. He slowly pulled his hand out, revealing a small hunting knife in his hand. What was he thinking?!That snake can strike him much faster than he could attempt to stab it. He’s crazy…
The snake seemed to be getting impatient as its hissing grew louder and louder. It was enough to scare the horses, who started to whinny and stomp around. Crud… They stomped enough to startle the snake, which lunged at Tai, fangs bared; it latched onto his left arm and the 2 onlookers both screamed when Tai yelled in pain. He desperately stabbed at his attacker. It only bit down harder every time Tai stabbed at it, putting him in even more pain. Momma couldn’t watch anymore. She put Lotte down, grabbed a stick, and ran over to the quarrel. Despite her fear of snakes, Momma lashed out as the snake with her stick and managing to catch it in the head a few times. The evil reptile let go of Tai and turned toward Momma, aiming to bite her next. Wow, this thing is persistent…
Lotte grabbed a rock off the ground and joined them, throwing it at the snake. She screamed when it launched toward her. Lotte closed her eyes in anticipation, waiting for the painful bite. She was confused when she did not feel searing pain.
She opened her eyes and saw that Tai Chao had stabbed the thing right in the center of the head.
“Are you girls alright?” he asked his two companions. Momma freaked out.
“We’re just fine but look at you! That thing bit you!” He glanced at his new wound and didn’t seem to think much of it.
“Eh, it’s not that bad…” Ooh…wrong answer, Tai.
“Not that bad? NOT THAT BAD?! What if that thing was poisonous? It sounded like a rattlesnake! You could die within minutes!”
“Nah that was just a Gopher snake. They’re non venomous and typically imitate rattlesnakes. You can tell them apart by the band across the “Gopher’s” head,” he guided his finger across the band on the snake’s head that Lotte had noticed earlier. “There’s no need to worry,” he assured her.
“Well, nevertheless, we still need to bandage it or else you might get an infection.” Momma walked over to where the trio had been sleeping and ripped a strip of one of the blankets. She used a small amount of water to pour on the wound and clean it, and then she wrapped the makeshift bandage around his arm tightly and used one of the bobby pins in her hair to make it stay. He muttered a quiet ‘Thank you’ and she nodded in return. Tai Chao then took his gaze to the reptile he had just killed.
“Well,” he said, standing up and putting his hand on his hips, “’Looks like we got breakfast,”
“Snake? Ewww!” Lotte protested like any other little kid would.
“We can’t afford to be picky. Soon enough we might run out of food and then you’ll be begging for snake stew,”
“Snake stew?!” Lotte’s mother only laughed as Tai sat down to skin the reptile.
Later, when they ate, Lotte actually found the taste of snake not so bad; it was almost appealing. The sun was starting to rise and the three set off once again. The next week and a half of trekking the desert had been similar to that first day. They rode, ate, drank, and got attacked a few more times. Tai Chao had proved himself a man every time and killed their current foe but not without getting a little scratched up. He now had a little bit of a limp, Momma had taken a few blows to the head from falling off her horse, and Lotte herself had gotten a few scratches on her arm from a recent coyote attack. She wasn’t fatally wounded or anything, just a little traumatized. On their 11th day riding Tai, the one who had been leading them this whole time, informed them that they would reach the Eastern Amestrian border in only 30 minutes at their slow trot. They were all excited and jabbering away happily until, once again, bad company broke their jabber.
Xingese warriors appear out of nowhere with guns this time. They were pretty far away from the small group, but their galloping horses were gaining on them fast. And, they had multiplied yet again. At least 40 soldiers were now aiming to chase them down.
Were Lotte and her mother really so important that they’d come all this way just to kill them? The soldiers must not have seen the group until just today. Momma and Tai immediately made their horses start galloping, desperately trying to escape their fate. Bullets flew past Lotte’s head and she dug her head into Momma’s back and prayed for it all to be over soon.
One shot must have hit. Momma and Lotte’s horse whinnied in pain and crumpled to the ground, bringing its passengers down with it. Lotte landed on her right shoulder pretty hard and had tears in her eyes. She looked over to Momma, who was trying to get up quickly despite her leg obviously being in pain. Lotte then found Tai, whose horse had stopped. Tai himself was on the ground moaning in pain and clutching his stomach which was oozing blood; he was shot.
“Come on Tai. We have to share a horse!” Momma yelled. She limped over to him and tried to support him on one of her shoulders to get him to the horse. The soldiers were pretty far away but would be there in less than a minute, now that their horses had slowed down.
“No…” he wheezed, “Just leave me…”
“Damn it, Tai! I don’t have time for this!” using the amazing amount of strength the adrenaline boost in her blood seemed to give her, she hauled Tai over on the back of the horse and clumsily climbed on herself. Lotte ran over to them quickly and Momma practically threw her on the horse in her haste. They immediately started galloping again.
“Hold on to him!” Momma yelled to Lotte. Lotte held on to the saddle and turned around where she was sitting and held on to the bleeding man’s clothing, pushing pressure on his wound. The soldiers sped up and started shooting at them again.
“You should have left me,” Tai gasped at the sudden pressure.
“Sshh…” Lotte soothed, “Save your strength,”
“One horse won’t be able to hold all three of us for very long. Drop me!” he ordered.
“No!” Lotte shot back equally as authoritative, “You’re not allowed to die! Do you hear me?! We’re gonna get to Amestris and you’re gonna be okay and—“Lotte was cut off when a bullet grazed her right arm. She yelled in pain and nearly let go of Tai and fell off herself. Tears clouded her vision, yet she continued on.
“—A-and we’re gonna be happy and… YOU”RE NOT GONNA DIE!” He smiled at her brashness and was proud of how brave she was being in this situation. He had only known Shi Son’s young daughter for a week and a half and he already loved her as though she were his own daughter.
They were nearing the Amestrian border. Once the trio made it there they would be home free. The Xingese soldiers weren’t allowed past the borders (Then again, the trio wasn’t legally allowed either) and they would give up if she could make it across. After all, they didn’t want a start a war or anything with Amestris, a country that seemed to be angered easily.
“I’ll hold on for as long as I can,” Tai rasped to Lotte.
“You bet you will! You’re going to die when you’re an old man, not now! I’ll personally make sure of that!” He chuckled, a bit of blood dripping from his mouth.
“Alright, it’s a promis—“he was rudely cut off by a bullet lodging itself in his head, killing him instantly.
“Tai Chou? Tai Chou…” more tears filled Lotte’s pretty blue eyes as she called for him, “Tai Chou! TAI!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as tears flowed freely out of her eyes. She burrowed her face into his shirt and sobbed. Momma began to cry too, already figuring out what had happened. Her best and oldest friend had been killed while making sure she wasn’t killed.
Lotte lifted her head up to look at the man she was mourning over. The last week and a half felt like an eternity and she already as though he was her dad… She never said ‘Thank you’ for that…
Her weak grip on him was beginning to loosen as they kept hitting bumps. She tried to hold on to his body but the angle was too awkward and he was too heavy. He slipped from her grasp and fell to the sand floor. They still continued to move. Lotte bowed her head and continued to cry.
Momma pushed the horse as fast as she could until they somehow made it past the Amestrian border. She still kept galloping until they were well past the border, long after the soldiers were gone, until they ended up in a town. The pair shakily got off the animal and began to walk down the streets. To where? They had no clue. They were both pretty shaken up; Momma grabbed Lotte in her arms and they both cried hard and loud.
A kind looking woman rushed over to them, well as fast as she could with her large pregnant belly. “Oh my dears are you alright?” they didn’t reply, “The woman took one glance at the girls’ disheveled looks, “Why don’t you come with me, have some tea…” She put a hand on Momma’s shoulder and started to lead them. Momma didn’t argue and followed the woman.
Apparently, the nice lady’s house was also an inn. She started a one-sided conversation with them and told the pair her name was Lisa and she lived here with her husband Jim. They were in a city in Amestris on the edge of the Eastern border called Youswell, the town’s uses were primarily for mining and her husband was a miner too. The opened their home as an Inn just to make ends meet. Apparently, a corrupt military official by the name of Yoki had just started running the place and was taking all their money. The lady babbled on and on until the door opened.
“Oh, *Jim is home!” Jim was a tall, buff man with a strong, booming voice. He had short light brown hair with a mustache and a goatee. His blue eyes seemed to shine when he talked, and was probably one of the happiest people they had ever met. Eventually, the couple had gotten the girls to talk and didn’t judge them when they confessed to being illegal immigrants. Instead, they allowed Momma to work at their Inn. They could only pay her 10 cenz an hour, but they also gave them a free room and free meals every day. They stayed there until Momma got enough money to get a place of their own and they moved into a small apartment in East City. They got used to Amestris, surprisingly, fairly easily and didn’t complain at all.
Even though they didn’t have Tai Chao’s body, Momma and Lotte still made a small grave for him, one that Lotte visited every chance she got. They were finally happy; Amestris really was a paradise, to them at least. The journey was hard but, how can you be rewarded for anything if you don’t work for it? It gave Lotte great memories and the occasional nightmare, but, in the long run, they a lived life here in Amestris.
“…--tte. Lotte. LOTTE!” Lotte nearly fell out of her chair when her friend called her name.
“There’s a meeting we have to get to. Come on!”
“Alright I’m coming!” Lotte smiled as she ran to catch up with her friend and the group of women they hung out with. She laughed when they told jokes and gossiped and just plain talked. Yes, in the long run, being together is much better…
*Remember Khayal’s dad?