Saturday, 27/9/1996

 After lunch, Miss Eleonor approached Amelia. Eleonor had taken Miss Ursula’s place as the head caretaker six months ago, as the latter had been unable to keep working at Saint Cecilia’s due to ailing health.

 “Amelia,” started Eleonor as they’d arrived in her office. “I asked you here to tell you something important.” The way she said it immediately felt ominous. “Your aunt Camille is coming to get you tomorrow. To take you with her.” For a long moment, Amelia could only stare at the caretaker. She had trouble processing what she was hearing.

 “What do you mean, tomorrow?” She’d not been told anything about that.

 “Yes, well, they said not to worry you beforehand.”

 “Why are they coming so suddenly? Where are they taking me?” It made no sense to her.

 “To live with them, of course. That’s why you’ve been here all this time, isn’t it? Waiting for them to be ready for you. Isn’t it about time?”

 It was crazy. In all this time, she’d not heard a peep from them, and now she was told she had just one day?

 “Why... Lily... she just left for the hospital.” A couple of days ago, Lily had come down with a fever. It had got worse, and Nurse Lena had suspected that it might be pneumonia. So just this morning, she’d driven Lily to the hospital.

 “Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not up to me.” Not up to her... Miss Ursula would never have given such an excuse. Amelia clenched her fists subconsciously.

 “I have to go see Lily.”

 “I’m sorry, but that is not possible. Your aunt gave specific instructions, and no one would be available to go with you in any case.”

 “Then I’ll go by myself!” She was feeling angry.

 “Sorry, but that is simply not possible.”

 No matter what, for some reason, she was being denied every way of getting in contact with Lily. Even though she’d stayed here to help with Lily, rather than be eventually placed with someone else as she waited for what was now happening, suddenly that seemed to count for nothing at all. She was merely told to get her things ready, and that her aunt would already be here in the morning.

 And so she was. Aunt Camille. Unfortunately, she had even less patience for Amelia’s pleas. Not only that, but she was driven unceremoniously to an airport. An airport, of all things. It quickly became apparent that her aunt expected her to get on a plane. No matter what she felt about leaving otherwise, a plane was just not an option for Amelia. She had a serious panic attack in the middle of the terminal. Technically, it wouldn’t have been her first time flying since the crash, but she’d been pretty out of it at the time already and was additionally put under heavy sedation for the rescue helicopter flight out of the mountain since there was simply no other reasonable way to transport her. She had no memory of the flight itself, but her aversion had only gotten worse ever since. As it was now, the whole scene left her aunt with no choice but to cancel the boarding – there was no way the flight crew would’ve even taken in such a panicked child against her will.

 At least from the aunt’s point of view, one saving grace was that they were early, and it was a fully booked flight. They managed to find someone else to take their place – apparently, another flight had been cancelled. This was also lucky for Amelia in the sense that had this not happened, her aunt would’ve been even more insufferable because of the wasted money. Regardless, once she’d recovered, Amelia wasn’t exactly subtle in letting her know what she thought about her idea of making her fly, of all things.

 Unfortunately, despite the delayed departure, nothing Amelia could do would convince her aunt to let her go visit Lily. No matter what she said to the contrary, to her aunt, Lily was just some orphan of no consequence that would soon be half the world away anyway.

 And so, a few days later, they set sail for the United States in a ship. Amelia insisted on being on the deck as they left the port. She stood there staring at the shore as long as it remained visible.

 “I hate you” was all she would say to her aunt for the rest of the day. It earned her a slap in the face the first time, but that was nothing compared to what she’d been feeling inside of her for the past three days.

***

 After a full week in the hospital, Lily was finally released to return to Saint Cecilia’s. She’d been afflicted with pneumonia, and her fever had been extremely high. She rarely got sick, but this time it seemed the bacteria had wanted their pound of flesh.

 As they were on their way back, Nurse Lena had given her the news that Amelia had left the children’s home. She had a hard time understanding what she was hearing, and Lena wouldn’t elaborate. As soon as they arrived at the children’s home, Lily, despite still being weak, dashed inside and into the room she’d shared with her friend for nearly two years.

 She couldn’t understand it. All traces of her friend were gone – all but one, in the sense that inside the bag she’d had with her at the hospital was a certain storybook, and inside it a certain photo. As she held her bag tightly against her chest and stared silently at the bed where she’d spent so many nights with her friend, for the first time in as long as she could remember, tears flowed silently but freely down her cheeks.