The Untitled Document

Part 5 ~ Visitor

 I face the two girls. "What are you good at?" I ask.

I didn't really need to ask, after watching them for a week, it wasn't that hard to tell. I was asking mainly to see what they thought of themselves. Self confidence is very important. I expected Aurelia to answer first, being the one who is more talkative, but after a moment of silence, Silvia tentatively spoke. "I'm good at art and writing. I like creative things in general, I guess. Does that seem helpful enough to you?"

Huh. Maybe Aurelia didn't have an answer. That was fine. She wouldn't be allowed to join if she was just going to remain silent. I stared at her. Did she really think she wasn't good at anything? She still didn't speak. I decided to try to jog her memory a bit.

"We don't have very many people that can do that, that's really helpful," I said, referring to Silvia. "What about you?"

Aurelia finally decided to speak. Either she had thought of something, or she truly believed she was useless. "Nothing. I'm not smart. I'm not creative. I'm not persuasive. I have absolutely nothing." Did she really believe that? Or was she trying to convince me to lower her expectations? Her grades are good. She's kind of funny. Maybe she thinks grades don't count. I don't think she has any extracurricular activities. Either way, if she was that bad at estimating her own abilities, I probably won't accept her. I face them, looking like I'm ready to make a decision.

"Are we allowed to join?" Aurelia asked. Wow. This is like auditioning for a part, not even doing anything for the audition, and asking if she got the part. I licked my lips, reaching a decision. "You, of course, but your friend there, I'm not so sure. She-"

Silvia unexpectedly interrupted me. She looked fierce. "You accept both of us, or you accept none of us. You don't get to only accept me and not my friend." She's being really brave right now. It would be really easy to just throw her overboard right now. I would never do that, but she should realized that I could.

"Okay, fine. I'm not accepting either of you. I can find another person with your talents. I can't have somebody weak, however. One mistake, and we're all going to be caught. I'd prefer that to not happen." I wondered how Silvia would react. I would still rather accept both of them than neither of them, but I was curious to see what Silvia would do. We were stuck on a boat, in the middle of a body of water. She couldn't just walk away.

"No, you'll accept both of us. Because if you don't, I'm reporting you. I may not have evidence, but I can get you investigated." Oh. Blackmail. That was an interesting extreme. I honestly didn't care if they chose to investigate me, that was only a minor inconvenience. Besides, who could get me investigated with no evidence? Did she really think she could do that? Then again, she probably still looks down on me for what happens at school. That's probably it. Suddenly, I felt a need to accept Aurelia. I realized that all the observations I made were extremely valuable.

"Fine, you're both members. And I am now your leader." This is going to be interesting, but I expect them to be very helpful. I told them about the subgroup system, and our role in the giant machine that is the Mucendot Art Club. I, however, did not tell them my opinion on said system. I knew that Helena was indifferent to it, and that Benjamin supported it, and I did not want to cause any arguments that would only break our group apart. When we got off the boat, we parted ways.

"So, what did you think of them?" I asked.

Helena replied, "Silvia was nice. I didn't really like Aurelia, she seemed upset that you allowed me to join but was reluctant to let her join. Did you see the way she was glancing at me?"

Benjamin disagreed. "Aurelia was okay, she seemed nice and reasonable at least. Silvia looked like she was trying to be a vampire. Not a vampire, just trying. Trying way to hard, it seems. She's so pathetic and cringy, trying to stand up for her friend and all that."

I sighed. "That's a little much, Benjamin. Anyway, I'm tired. I'm going to try to nap all day, so don't text me."

Benjamin grinned. "So I shouldn't send you screenshots from GTA 5?"

I understood that was meant to be a joke, but my patience was wearing thin. "You know what I mean. Anyways, I'm leaving. Goodbye."

I settled down at home, happy that I had an opportunity to catch up on my sleep after an entire week of fatigue. Sleep quickly claimed me, and I found myself in a dream. "Hello?" I murmured. I was in a large, circular room, with large windows and a staircase leading up to a throne in the center. Golden light pooled in from the windows that stretched from floor to ceiling, and a large, fragile chandelier hung from directly above the throne. Sitting on the throne was a teenage girl wearing a flowing dress. Her wings fluttered as she turned to look at me with piercing red eyes. Even though she looked nothing like her, I knew that this was Silvia. "Hello," I said.

Silvia flinched, before whispering, "Is the connection working? Can you hear me?" Her voice sounded like it was coming from a very old radio receiver, and for a second, my vision blurred with static. For a second, I felt like I was lying down on a soft, warm surface, then the throne room came into clarity again. "Please be kind to me," she whispered.