Black Clothes, they were all wearing black clothes.
Granny Lucia had passed away, and about a dozen people were mourning her. There was the owner of the local liquor shop, some of her friends, mainly other old ladies whiping away their tears, and there were also her grandchildren. Although their appearances fit well with the rest of the group, their mood was not exactly one of mourning.
The Lovaci siblings were tired.
Alysa was no longer that fragile useless child that was essentially nothing but an extra mouth to feed for the old woman. The lady had never been kind on her, everything about Alysa disgusted Granny Lucia, the fact that she was younger than her brother and could not have brought back money right away, her dresses made of old curtains, her red hair and freckles that made her look more like her mother than her father... Alysa, trying to look smaller in her black suit, was clutching at her own right arm, making her look like an anxious lanky teenager. She wanted to express relief, but in the midst of these mourning strangers, she felt like the odd one out. She wanted to go back home and take a nap.
Her big brother Remo was tired as well. There were visible bags under his eyes that he would rub once in a while. Lucis had two extra mouths to feed but only one kid old enough to bring back money home right away. He had been treated better than his sister, after all he looked more like his father, and was almost never denied dinner. He still looked slightly underfed, but that would be because he would often give his share of food to his sister in secret. Now he was the short one, with dark brown hair and eyes, he looked pretty average for the area they lived in.
They did go back home as soon as the burial was over. Alysa collapsed on the old mattress that served as her bed, and screamed. The sound was muffled since her face was litterally planted in the mattress.
She soon heard that her brother was moving heavy things around and seemed to be looking through some paper sheets. She decided to turn her gaze towards him to see what he was up to.
"Remo, what are you doing?"
Her older brother was stuffing some papers into a huge suitcase that she swore she had never seen before. When he heard his sister speak, he took a deep breath and declared, as solemn as possible:
"Alysa, we are leaving this place today."
"What?"
"As your big brother and legal guardian, for now at least..."
He was now facing her, and she had sat up on the mattress, listening intensely to make sure she had not misheard anything.
"I decided we are moving back to our old house."
Alysa's eyes lit up when she heard that.
"You mean the house by the sea? With the forest? The one you were telling me about?"
He nodded.
"We are going to finish our parents' work in the area. We will hunt the Thunder Witch down." he added.
Alysa was the last family member Remo had, and seeing her change in mood brought a smile to his face.
She almost jumped to her feet and started helping him, full of excitement. However, she became suspicious as she saw the papers that her brother was handling.
"Hey Remo..." she said, pointing at the sheets, that looked like a bunch of official documents.
"Are these forged?" she asked. "Is this why we have to leave immediately?"
Her brother jumped before unconvincingly shaking his head and laughing nervously. "Of course not, Lysa! Where'd you get the idea, huh? You never went to school and now you're a passport expert?" he teased.
"Shut up, smartypants! I can read a little, you know! And I'm almost certain that..." she grabbed her own passport from Remo's hands and started pointing at her name. "It says Alysa R Lovaci... I'm not going to comment on Alysa for now because that's a whole other matter, but I don't think R is a name..."
Her brother sighed and decided to ignore her.
"Remo did you get those from the mafia?" she asked casually.
"Okay! Fine!" he interrupted "As I said, we're leaving today, so you really need to get your stuff and put it in the suitcase otherwise we will miss the train!"
"Oh my god you got them from the mafia! How much do you owe them? Do I have to beat up some people?"
"I don't owe anyone anything! I'm not going to waste money on criminals, who do you take me for? I need it for other things!" he said, grabbing the passport and putting it back in with the rest.
"Yeah..." she rolled her eyes "I've seen you attempt to negotiate beans..."
After they finished packing and put on more casual clothes, they headed towards the train station. Remo was clearly nervous, and Alysa had to practically pull him to the train, as he was constantly stopping to look over his shoulder for fear someone was following them.
When they finally made it and were able to reach their seats, Remo almost collapsed. Both siblings felt that a change of air would benefit them.
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