It was already late afternoon when Lory and I decided to go back to our room after eating something for dinner. I was lying on my bed, thinking about how to spend the remaining time. One peek at Lory and I could tell how wrecked she felt. Lory had always been the more active of the two of us, but now she was just glaring at the ceiling.

“Let’s play Dead Man, Lory!” I tried to cheer her up.

Hopping on her bed, I unfolded the board and began to arrange the tiny figures. Dead Man was a game that we had made up some time ago - Lory had even painted daggers on the small round stones. One was a defender, who tried to snatch away the figures of the other player. The opponent was an assassin whose goal was to evade the defenders’ warriors and kill the king. Each time the defender would jump over an assassin’s figure, he would also lose his own stone. He had, however, a few more in reserve than the assassin.

Lory reached out a hand so I could pull her up until she was sitting cross-legged in front of me.

“...Alright,” she blew a strand of hair out of her face. “I hope you are a better loser than last time!” a dimmed, slightly provoking grin escaped her lips. Despite being the defender, Lory immediately started to hunt down my figures. Her aggressive playstyle would have catched me off-guard, if only it hadn’t been the hundredth game we played against each other. I dispersed most of my stones around the edges. Lory picked on quicker than I had expected, so I just went all in. 

Wait, should I let her win? But she’d notice if I did it on purpose and get mad...so no matter what I do, I will screw up...well in that case…

I used a few openings in her formation to reach her king while trying to maneuver some stones in a zigzag pattern. In the end, I had only one stone left, but Lory’s weren’t able to reach her king since I attacked from multiple angles. I watched my friend's face as she suppressed the urge to throw the board away.

“You’re no fun, Nate!” my friend proclaimed with a wealthy chunk of frustration. “You can’t even count this as a win, you have only one stone left!”

“But win is win, isn’t it?” I asked rather puzzled.

“You literally sacrificed everyone without any further tactic while hoping that I would take the bait!”

I started laughing. 

“You’re really taunting me??”

“No, but your eyes are glowing again - it makes me happy,” I answered simply. Lory’s face turned red. 

“Huh, did I say something wrong?” I observed her carefully, afraid she might have gotten sick.

“N- no, it’s just hot in here,” she complained as she jumped up and quickly left the room.

I sorted the figures and put the game away. It isn’t hot at all.

That night, Lory slept in my bed again.

***

The room was cool. Sunlight fell through the windows on my closed eyes, causing me to wake up. Lory was still asleep. One of her legs hung over the edge of the bed while her head rested on my chest. Her mouth was drooling.

How unladylike, I joked in my head until I noticed something wet on my pillow...seems I had been drooling too. 

Whatever.

A few birds were chirping outside, occasionally hopping on our ledge as I tapped my friend on her head, which was covered by her dark purple hair.

“Nooo, we are free today,” she grumbled.

“It’s thursday you lazy potato.” I stood up, lifting Lory’s body in the process which then smacked back into the bed. My friend was still mourning under the blanket as I left for the bathroom.

Our first class of the day was basic sports with Mister Clarington, who worked part time at our orphanage. The short but vigorous man was a dedicated athlete and teacher, whose routines often pushed us to the limit. Thanks to that however, we were all in pretty good shape unlike some kids I had seen downtown. Clarington ordered us to stand in a straight line as the last girls joined from the locker room. Lory wasn’t amongst them. 

“Sorry, but where’s Lory?” I asked a bulky girl with a long ponytail while we had to run in circles. 

“Dunno, she wasn’t in the locker room,” she answered matter of factly, her face didn’t acknowledge me once.

That was strange. I knew she had packed her sports bag before we headed downstairs for breakfast.  

“Miss Cera intercepted her on her way here,” another girl informed me quietly. I recognised her - she was one of the girls who chuckled at me during class yesterday. A bad feeling crept up my chest. There is no way, I thought as I sprinted straight through the open door. I could hear Clarington’s surprised and angry curses behind me but I couldn’t care less. Rushing through the dark courtyard which separated the main building from the gym, I made my way to the auditorium.

“I’m sorry Nathan, they are already gone,” Miss Cera’s voice rang in my ear once I had reached the entrance door. It was one of the few times where there was warmth in it, something that sounded like empathy. Blood started to pulse violently in my head and I threw myself against the window. In front of the gate were two black carriages pulled by two horses each. One was already leaving. I was about to sprint to the other one which was still at halt - it wasn’t impossible that Lory could have been in this one. Just as the thought was born in my head however, it was already killed. A cold shiver rushed through my body as it was stripped of all motion. 

What is going on? I wondered, unable to comprehend why my body acted like this. 

He was probably in his late twenties or early thirties. His sturdy body was covered by a black trenchcoat which ended just above his knees. Black trousers and shoes covered his lower half. His face was sharp and bangs of black hair fell down to a pair of thin-framed glasses. He moved on two legs, of course he did, but never had I seen someone carry himself like that. There wasn’t anything wrong with the way he walked, but each step he took seemed so purposeful, it wouldn’t have been far stretched to believe he had planned them years ago.

I nearly didn’t notice the two other figures behind him, dressed in the same clothes. One of them was a man, the other a woman with white hair that didn’t quite reach her shoulders. She was the only one who shifted her gaze towards me, and our eyes locked - at least for a fraction of a second until her gaze pierced through me. I instinctively took a step back. The woman paused for a short moment, then snickered a bit and continued to follow the other men. They left the building, approached the last carriage and disappeared.

I stood still, clenching my fists until my nails bored painfully into the skin of my hands.

“Why...I couldn’t even say goodbye,” I sobbed.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and dropped on the grey stoney ground.

My friend was gone... and wouldn’t come back.