The Lovely Suicide Children

Chapter 53: Leadership

"Does this mean I have to go?" I said, looking from Ava to my mother.

The two of them exchanged glances. "Has this ever happened before?" My mother asked Ava.

"Not since this place formed," Ava replied back. 

My mother shook her head, placing a finger to her chin. "How can she have committed suicide if she's not dead then? How is she here?"

"Well," Ava looked at me then back at my mother. "Due to the fact she cut herself and was hit by a car that resulted in her coma, could be the cause. Although the only problem is that the longer she remains here, her real body will deteriorate on Earth. She has 30 Earth days to decide what she wants and where she will stay. If she's still here on the 30th day, she'll stay. Forever."

There was a long silence before mother looked at me. She stretched out her hands once more and pulled me in for a hug. I had never been so happy to have hugged my mother. It felt good. Smiling, practically beaming with joy, I grabbed her hand. "I want to stay! This place is so amazing."

She folded her fingers with mine. Together, we walked past the stone doors and into the mansion. Kids and teenagers ran through the halls. Adults laughed and watched them play. Everyone had on beautiful clothing, and some of them glowed. However, as we walked through the hallways where pictures of children hung on the walls, I saw guards too. They didn't have weapons, but unlike everyone else, they had strange glowing armor, but their faces weren't glowing, and they weren't smiling. In fact, when mom and I walked past, they seem to hesitate. Straightening their posture, and looking away from us.

"They don't look too happy," I told my mother.

Mother shrugged before we came to the spiraling stars that seemed to have gone on forever. "6th floor," my mother said. Before I knew it, I found myself in a room that was shockingly familiar. It looked like my mother's old bedroom, except cleaner. She had the same single person bed, that same brown dresser, and the same beige carpet.

"Everyone gets a little homesick sometimes," she told me as if she had read my mind. "even me."

I sat down on her bed and examined the place more. "If I were you, I wouldn't miss home after finding this place though."

Mother turned around and smirked at me. "That's why I had to get you here first," she smiled.

I smiled back, but my smile quickly faded as I thought about Amber and Sunny. "Mom, where's Sunny?"

Mother broke our eye contact and focused her gaze on the window. "She's fine. Just broke a promise that's all."

"But what happened to her," I repeated.

She glided over to me then sat down. I let her softly stroke my hair with her boney, almost transparent fingers. "Nothing happened to her," she spoke in a low, reassuring tone. "but like Earth, we have rules to make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

I put my hand on hers. "She was just trying to protect me, though."

"No," my mother stood up quickly. Her eyes fell on me, making me feel if I had said the wrong thing. "She tried to get you to leave. Don't you see," her smile came back. "I needed Sunny to make you feel the need to...you know. Just so I could have you here, Olivia. Your father was no good to you, and neither was that wretched school. Life down there was meant for failure. There was no fair game. But here, nothing is rigged. You can live the life you deserve. It was my job to protect you on Earth, and I failed. But I had to"

I didn't know what to reply. I sat there, trying to understand her argument. "I understand, mom. I really appreciate your help," I looked into her bright glowing eyes. "But I would really love to see her again. She just wanted to do the right thing. I would also like to see Robert and Amber-"

"Olivia!" My mother yelled then quickly looked away from me. Getting up, she walked swiftly towards the window. I saw her take a deep breath before facing me again.

My heart was beating, that I felt. Normally I would have replied if I had been on Earth, but now I was a little scared. I looked down at the floor, too uncomfortable to make eye-contact with my mother. I then felt her touched my shoulder and I flinched before finally looking up at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," she said. Her words were light, like a feather. "We'll talk about your friends later, but mistakes have been made, and we need to a settlement for mutual agreements to be understood. Okay, hun?"

Did that sound okay to me? No. I didn't like it one bit, but there was nothing I could do about it. She was in charge. I could only take my mother by her word. I nodded, and smiled at her, doing my best to be optimistic about it all. "I understand," I said.

"Perfect!" She clapped her arms together. "Now, I have much work to do, but I'll see you soon. Go out and meet everyone."

"Um," I stepped up off of her bed. "I'm not good at making friends."

My mother smirked at me then crossed her arms. Air from the window waved my hair around, soothing me. "You won't have to worry about that. The Lovely Suicide Children are dying to meet my daughter."

"Are you like, in charge around here?"

She nodded. "Recently, I took on the highest position. Here, time goes faster than it does on Earth, days are like months here, so I've been in charge for a while. Everyone knows you. We've been waiting for you," she let out a breath of air. "In no time, you'll be a leader just like your mother. Now, go and make friends."

With that, she walked out of the room, leaving me to myself. I looked outside of the window at all the children and people my age walking around. I didn't care much for them, just for Robert, Sunny, and Amber. I would be careful, understand the place and the people first before I asked for my friends back. But one thing was certain, I was going to get Amber back. My promise to her would not be broken so fast. Even if she wasn't here, Sunny was and she knew where Sunny was.