Queen of Cards (English version)

Day 6 (3/3)

"Jenny? It's Rachel."

I hastily wiped the tears at the corner of my eyes before inviting her in the room, perfectly hiding the trembling in my voice. We sat cross-legged on my bed. My best friend had brought two plates with steaming lasagne from the dining room, hers containing a vegetarian recipe.

"Come on, eat it quickly before it gets cold."

I let out a faint giggle.

"You could've eaten with the others, you know?"

"Are you insane?! It would have been so boring without you!"

Seeing her taking care of me that way moved me so much that I again had tears in my eyes. I could be so emotive sometimes. Rachel gently took me in her arms and stroke my hair while I buried my face in her neck, my tears staining the black cloth of her light oversized sweater with short sleeves. She slightly laughed.

"That's funny, a few days before, it was the opposite situation!"

I also smiled. I was really happy that I could count on her during those dark times. Our friendship managed to stay pure despite everything that the game's Master had done in order to sully it. I held my friend tighter as I wanted to make her understand how much I did not want to lose her.

"Are you feeling better?"

I let her go. I had completely run out of tears and had an awful headache. I nevertheless reassured Rachel, who wiped my cheeks with her sweater.

"It'll... It'll be my fault if Mark..."

"No girl, stop blaming yourself! You did absolutely nothing wrong!"

The pretty brunette was scolding me like a mother with their child.

"Anyway, Mark would have been caught without your help. You may have not seen it because you were tired this morning, but he was weirdly staring at Alan during the whole breakfast. It was really embarrassing, I was afraid he would have jumped on him."

I looked at my friend, my eyes filled with hope.

"So, you think I could've done anything?"

"I'm sure of it, love."

This sentence reassured me a little bit, even though I was still feeling guilty. I could not prevent it. Rachel continued to comfort me as she saw me lost in my own thoughts. She was really willing to make me smile at all costs.

"By the way, the Queen created all this mess! Like, come on, she steals tablets, then cards... I suspect her to be a little kleptomaniac. The Master made a mistake, he should've given the Thief's role to her!"

Her outraged look made me laugh.

"You really should make a video 'game review: things to improve'."

"Oh well I'd give a three out of twenty mark for this game! And it's only because I'm the main character."

I put my hand in front of my mouth, faintly snorting. She had inherited my arrogance. I was so proud of her.

"However, if that kleptomaniac Queen dares to touch my records, it will be war!"

And I absolutely believed her! Better not lash out at Rachel. She had an amazing talent at destroying lives.

"Talking about records, would you like to listen to some songs?"

I frantically nodded. I was really grateful to Rachel for everything she was doing in order to take my mind off things. We first quickly gobbled our meals, which had unfortunately become cold in the meantime. I apologised for having delayed lunch, but Rachel immediately reassured me: it was far from being a tragedy. She then opened her bedroom door, allowing me to lie on her bed while she was bringing the empty plates back in the living room. I comfortably sat on her bed, picked some vinyl records at random in her collection and admired their sleeves. I eventually opted for an ambient album, music style I liked a lot. I had barely put the record on the record player when Rachel entered the room.