Warm sunlight beamed through the large windows of a quiet cafe, casting a kiss of light on the pair sitting at the counter. To the right was a golden girl, warm as honey. Her hair swept over her shoulders as the sunlight radiated off of its yellow-hue into a halo of light. 

She was like the sun itself, and the girl beside her was like the moon.

On the left was a cold chill, this girl didn’t radiate even 1/10th the warmth of her companion. Her long, slender fingers began to tightly grip the iced latte in front of her. The grip on the glass tightened and her pale hands began to turn pink at the tips. 

The moon girl continued to unconsciously tighten her hold while blankly staring ahead at the street outside the cafe windows.

Calmly taking in her reflection in the clear glass she saw cascades of soft silver curls drift past her shoulders and down her sides. Much like the moon, her skin was pale, one would likely say she needed a bit of sun as her complexion was leaning on the unhealthy side. 

Looking at her clothing, she felt that it contradicted her appearance somewhat. Her sharp eyes and cold demeanor were offset by the soft sky-blue dress with flowing ruffles, and small bow trims adorning the feminine and sweet set. It’s not that it looked bad, but something felt off to her.

She slowly twisted her head towards the golden girl, only now realizing that the other girl had been speaking to her this whole time. Her sharp, amber colored eyes narrowed further as they peeked out through the strands of her wispy bangs.

“I’m glad you came out today Bee.”

A warm voice filled her ears. It was so few words, and yet it felt so sweet. 

Unfortunately the moon couldn’t focus on the conversation that followed from the sun, her mind was finally catching up, and she was hit with a wave of confusion and panic at her current situation.

She was lost. In a literal sense. 

The silver haired girl realized she had no memory of the sunny girl beside her. Her brain was now flooded with question after question.

How did I get here? Where am I? Why can’t I recall anything? 

Who is she?

Who am I?!

Much like cold stone, her facial paralysis didn’t show that anything was wrong. The golden girl beside her was not alerted to any of the panicked thoughts racing throughout her head. She continued on with the one-sided conversation as the silver haired girl drowned out all sounds, focusing solely on trying to recover any memory she could.

A few words made it through the vacuum of confusion, “...you … in together?” But the golden haired girl didn’t get any response as she continued to be ignored. These random blips held no meaning to the silver haired girl, they were simply scraps of a conversation with who she deemed a stranger. 

All she wanted right now was to remember anything she could. Anything at all - but her mind was blank.

After some time of still being unable to recall any memories related to herself or others, she decided to momentarily give up and see if this other girl could assist her.

They were chatting, so maybe they knew each other… right? She could only hope at this point that was the case.

Now focusing on the other girl she finally took in her appearance and was filled with warmth from the smile that spread before her. At some point the sun had stopped talking, her pleading eyes glistening in anticipation towards herself. It seemed as though she was waiting for a response.

What was it that she asked though?

The moon had only caught a few words out of context throughout the whole interaction, her brain had been far too preoccupied with her own memory loss.

Could she maybe ask the sun to repeat her question? That seemed like her best option, and so she began opening her mouth to speak, but before being able to even attempt a sound -

[DING!]

Her mouth snapped shut as a brightly lit pop-up window flashed before her eyes. The glowing cyan virtual screen hovered in midair as small winged creatures fluttered about. 

Were they butterflies made of light? 

Was this all just a visual trick using the strong sunlight coming in through the windows? Mirrors maybe? 

She glanced around looking for something like a projector in the cafe that was creating these flashy elements before her. This had to be a bit right?!

This was all too much for her, her memory, this window, these, these, light bugs! Overloaded by one shock after another she didn’t even question if these events were connected, all she wanted was for the box to go away.

Looking through the pop-up window she noticed that the girl beside her wasn’t reacting to the display. 

Strange, she thought. 

Can she not see it?

Was this screen only visible to her? Or was the other girl just playing her part and pretending to ignore it? Again, was someone filming this all for her reactions?!

As she continued to contemplate the situation she realized that the golden girl was still eagerly awaiting a response to her earlier question. The girl hadn’t budged from her position and it was almost like…time stood still.

Almost.

If it weren’t for her light breaths, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest then she may have truly believed everything had frozen. But instead it felt like an idle NPC sequence. 

Continuing to leave the poor girl in this strange ‘pause’ setting, the silver haired girl finally turned her amber eyes to the glowing screen flashing in her face to see what it wanted.

[SELECTION]

The top of this semi-transparent box simply had one word, this label of SELECTION. Was this the only explanation she would get? What did it want her to select?

As she stared at the box questioning its purpose, two additional words appeared. 

[ACCEPT] // [REJECT]

They had swiftly lit up side by side underneath the first label, and she let out a small sigh, only now realizing she had been holding her breath as she read the new words. 

Well, at least this is now providing me with some sort of next step…

Thinking to herself she wondered what these two options meant. Inadvertently she glanced towards the blonde girl who was still sitting beside her. Pure and shining silver eyes were still patiently waiting for a reply, soft hands were clasped in front of her chest as if praying for the correct answer from the silver haired girl.

Right.

There had been a question. This girl before her had asked her something before this window appeared. She had actually said a lot of things earlier, but what had she been talking about? 

The cold, statuesque girl stared with difficulty at the two options presented before her. Her left hand slowly lifted up, her index finger ready to interact with the glowing display - but she pulled back at the last second. 

She was hesitant to make a choice. Tightening her hand into a fist, her almond shaped nails began to dig into her palm, nearly drawing blood.

The two options were nothing more than simple words. There was no context, so she wondered if it was safer to select REJECT. 

That must be right. 

Right?

Who knows what she would be agreeing to if she blindly accepted! Even though the girl beside her felt warm, kind, sunny, pure… and maybe was a little cute too… isn’t that the perfect cover for someone who is trying to con you?!

Not only that, but her memory was gone! How could she trust someone else in this kind of situation? She didn’t even recall who she was, so how could she trust a stranger?!

Even without her memory, and even though she was utterly confused, it didn’t mean she was born yesterday!

Her internal debate had now concluded, and she swiftly lifted her hand back up towards the box and its glowing butterflies. 

[TAP]

Pastel blue nails met the cyan blue screen and passed through the light box. The winged lights fluttered in glee as they all began to disperse into smaller particles, fading bit by bit into the air.

As the lights slowly eroded away, the last portion clearly reflected her selection. Little by little the final word of REJECT, was collected by the butterfly-like creatures. Bright blue specks were now gone, as though they had never existed, and the previously expectant and bright eyes of the radiant girl before her dulled in an instant as if she knew what was coming.

The cold girl didn’t notice the loss of warmth from the other girl, her focus full on the selection box as it disappeared into nothingness. As soon as the window left, her throat tightened. 

It felt as though something was stuck, leaving a firm pressure on her vocal chords as she slowly opened her mouth again.

“I’m sorry Maddi.” she quietly choked the words out, her voice a bit hoarse as if she hadn’t spoken in a while. “I’m sorry, I really am. I’m just not ready. I don’t think that I can right now.” 

As the words continued to flow, her eyes widened in disbelief. This was her voice. She was the one currently speaking to the other girl. The words were coming out of her, but she didn’t feel that she had control over what was being said. 

Sure, people blurt things out all the time without thinking before speaking… But this wasn’t the same! She was being forced to talk somehow!!

Was this what REJECT had meant? 

By interacting with that strange box did she somehow grant it permission to forcibly take control over herself in order for it to reject this poor girl on her behalf? 

Just what was going on?!

At this point she still had no idea what she had rejected, or why her voice sounded so pitiful while apologizing over and over to this girl. Wanting to clear up the misunderstanding and tell her she didn’t mean it, it wasn’t her, she soon realized a problem.

She couldn’t speak. 

Each time she tried to open her mouth to attempt to talk it felt as though someone had tied a noose around her neck. A firm grip around her throat kept even the smallest of sounds from escaping her, and her mouth snapped shut yet again.

How could this be? She clearly wasn’t mute, she had just spoken aloud! Why did it now feel like her throat was on fire, why couldn’t she speak?!

Nothing. No sound. No mouthing of words could even come through.

“Creaaaaaak-” The metal legs of the cafe barstool were dragged across the floor like nails on a chalkboard. The sharp metallic noise brought the silver girl back to the situation at hand, the hairs on her arms rising in discomfort from the sound. 

The golden girl, was it Maddi that she had called her before? Yes, Maddi’s beautiful doe eyes were now wet. There were no tears streaming down her face, the salty water was instead flooding the corners of her now reddened eyes. 

She stood up, her face lowered, “It’s okay Bee. I should’ve realized sooner…” Maddi turned her body away as though she couldn’t face the girl before her, “It’s my fault for thinking that you… that we…” Her voice trailed off as she quickly turned and ran out of the cafe doors. Tiny droplets of crystal clear water sparkled in the sunlight, trailing behind her.