Marina 

“Okay so you mean to tell me that you went to an abandoned town, found a girl, took her in because is now aware of your family secret and she is living with you in your house in fear that she will reveal everything?” Astro exclaims 

“Yeah that's pretty much it,” I say in response 

“That's not fair I want cool things like that to happen to me too” 

“No, you don't” I sigh “I'm still shocked that Johnny allowed her to stay I was kind of expecting him to turn her away”

“I knew Johnny was a good person on the inside,” Astro says jokingly 

“My brother has always been a good person!” I hit Astro playfully in the head “But I know what you mean maybe he is turning around now that he is getting old” 

Astro nods his head in agreement, he follows it up by saying “I wonder how he will turn out when we get old. We are already nice so does that mean we will get grumpy?” 

“I think I'd rather eat a bucket of boom berries” we both chuckle. 

“I knew I asked you about your sword, how did you end up liking it?” asks Astro 

“I thought it was pretty great. I know it's kinda bad to say this but I'm pretty glad that we fought that demon yesterday. It got me a chance to test it out!” I grab the necklace placed on my neck and just stare at it. I glaze my finger over my mother's handwriting, it's still crazy to me how this is something that is hers. She made these strokes to create my name, this is the way she used to write hearts and it's now engraved in something that is mine. I have never seen any of my mom's things. It's almost as if she never really existed. If it weren't for my cousins then I think I'd probably have no way to imagine her. Thanks to them I have stories in a way she lives through their memories. 

I start to feel my eyes feel heavy. I almost didn't notice it but Astro and I had been sitting in silence for a bit. Astro is one of the few people I can sit in comfortable silence with but I think even him could sense the tension in the air. Before he could say anything, my mouth said to me, “I want to learn more about humans.” 

Both Astro and I have a slightly shocked look on our faces 

“Are you sure?” he asks hesitantly “You never tried to learn from outside of what the triplets have told you” 

“I want to learn more, I'm tired of being left in the dark about this part of me, the triplets could never understand completely how it feels to be part human I thank them for trying but I just want to learn more I mean there's got to be something that I've not been told I want to fill the hole that's been there for my entire life.” I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I didn't even know it was there. I had been so used to being turned away from this but if there was one person who I knew I could trust about this it was Astro. As I expected Astro took my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and said “your right you deserve to know and I'm going to help you.” 

“Thank you Astro, I knew I could trust you!” I smile at him, “I think maybe there could be some books about it in the bookstore we talked about last time” 

“The bookstore?” he pauses. “yeah think that's a good idea” 

“Great it's not much of a walk from here I think it's a five-minute walk” 

“Alright sounds good!” 

We got up from the bench we were sitting on and started heading over to the library. As soon as I get up my stomach takes a swirl. It's clear to me that I might find some things that may not be pleasant, perhaps there was a good reason that so little was revealed to me. On the other hand, I could find something beautiful and new. It's the not knowing that is slightly terrifying for me. I think that I'm old enough, I'm ready for whatever I may find, if I find anything at all. Humans are banned, and it's a huge possibility that human-related books could also be banned! It wouldn't hurt to try and at least try. I snap back to reality to realize that now we have come close enough to where I could see the store in the distance. My feet started to feel heavy almost as if my self-consciousness didn't want to go in. But at this point it's too late to turn back now and I have spent too much time in this weird phase where I have no idea what anything is so I don't care what my self-consciousness says. I am going to this gosh darn store and I am going to like it! I shake my hands almost as if I were shaking the stress out of my body. 

I am now facing the door and I freeze for a bit before Astro opens the door for me. 

“Welcome in!” an older gentleman greets us while at the counter. We wave at him and smile. 

“I have no idea where to look,” I say defeated. 

“Maybe we could try the section titled ‘species’” Astro shrugs and I follow him to the section.

We start scanning the shelves trying to look for anything remotely relating to humans. Astro goes over my shoulder. 

“I found this one!” He holds up a book titled “Human Behaviour”. I almost jumped from excitement. I try to contain my joy as best as I can. 

“Thank you!” I manage to let out, he hands me the book before saying “I'm going to try and hit other shelves to see if I can find anything else you keep looking at this one” 

“Okay, sounds good!” I say

I tried looking over the area I had looked out before to see if I had missed a title; to my luck, I had not. I'm standing there for a while before I look up to my defeat. 

I turn around and bump into someone and drop my book. I let out a quick ‘sorry!’ before bending down to pick it up and I went to pick it up but a hand met mine. I looked up to see that it was the girl, the same girl that I had run into yesterday. I am so caught up in the moment that I almost didn't realize that I still had her hand placed on mine. I let go of the book and she goes ahead and picks it up for me. She looks down at the cover and I feel as if my heart wanted to scream so much that I wanted to rip it off my chest. 

“Human behaviors? Are you interested in learning about humans?” she says 

“Yeah something like that” I chuckle 

“I used to be fascinated about learning about humans, we are so alike yet so different” She hands the book back to me. 

“Is that so?” I say 

“Of course, once you read it you'll understand” She smiles at me and I almost faint, she takes a closer look at me. “Hey, don't I know you?” 

“Me? Perhaps so I'm not sure-” 

“Yeah! You the soldier that saved me yesterday, I never got the chance to thank you formally”

“You don't have to worry about doing that!”

“Of course, I do, if it wasn't for you and your friend I don't know what would've been of me” 

I can't help but zone out while she is talking this is the first time I stand face to face with her properly, slowly I start to notice things about her such as the bow on her head resting there so elegantly almost as if she spends hours in the mirror looking for the perfect place to make it stand out. Her dark long hair pairs with her bow. She is wearing a long flowy blue skirt that moves like the wind when she makes a small move, her dress shirt is tucked under her sweater, and in theory, her outfit would look terrible on anyone else but for some reason, it sits so perfectly on her. 

“You know what? These books are on me whatever you pick out” I snap back into reality once I realize what she had said. 

“No of course not how could I possibly accept that offer”

“How else am I meant to repay you then?”

“You don't have to repay me, it was my pleasure to save you.” I can feel my face burning up as I realize what I had just said. I've never been so forward. I'm surprised that I am even able to say these things. I've never seen myself as the type to be good with this sort of thing. She smiles at me and looks around before saying “It was nice to see you again but I must finish my work now I hope to see you again someday” 

“Likewise,” I say and before I knew it she was gone, is it normal to miss someone as soon as they leave? 

Astro comes around the corner holding two or three books in his hand. 

“Hey I found these in that section over there,” he says

“Thank you Astro I think these will do plenty” 

“Were you talking to someone i think I heard some conversation coming from here” 

I think for a bit before saying “No, I think you were just imagining it” 

He shrugs off, and we go over the counter to pay for our books. 

“Thank you come again,” says the man behind the counter, and just like that I have now the possible key to my past. The sun is setting and the darkness starts to arise. I hate the darkness, it's nothing compared to the day which is filled with fun, lively streets, and lovely creatures. It makes me grateful for the sun because without it things would be gloomy, while Lumidawn is already gloomy as it is. I wonder if the human world is like Lumidawn.