Winter: Coldness; While Walking That Leads To The "Last" Circle PT. 1/2

The blaring of my alarm clock reached my ears, but the alarm wasn't meant for me to wake up today. I grabbed my phone from off the desk and turned the alarm off.

"Damn it, it's that late already?" I muttered, tossing my phone on the bed, exchanging it for a black tie that was already tied together. I put it around my neck, making sure it fit snugly underneath my black collar.

Okay, tie? I looked down at my tie before nodding. Shirt? I looked down at my black button up shirt, nodding to myself again. Alright, I guess that just means…

I looked down at my pants less legs before sighing. Do I even have pants that fit me anymore?

I heard a knock on the door, signifying that my time was just about up. Shit, she's gonna lecture me, isn't she?

I dragged my feet to the door, failing to push my hair, which just about reached the bottom of my nose, out of my face. I unlocked the door, opening it wide open to let in the person I had been waiting on.

"Why aren't you wearing any pants?" Lachesis asked, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"I don't have any that fit me anymore…" I said, trailing off as I looked away from her.

"I suspected as much. Here, try these on. They should fit, but if not, I have another pair you can try that should work." She handed me a pair of black jeans before walking in. "I'll be on the couch."

I nodded. "Right." I closed the door before heading back into my room, where I tried on my pants.

"How the hell does she know my sizes better than I do?" I grumbled, inspecting pair of jeans that fit me perfectly. "Well, whatever."

I stuffed my shirt in my pants before putting on my belt, sighing to myself. I picked my phone off my bed, putting it in my pocket before grabbing my black pair of tennis shoes that were just about new.

I walked out my room and plopped myself down next to Lachesis, who glanced at me while I put my shoes on.

"What took you so long to get ready? Don't tell me you woke up late."

"No, that wasn't it. I was trying to find something to eat, but it seems I don't have anything."

She just patted me on the back. "After all this is over, you can eat at my place today, got it?"

I guess it also means it's that time again. My thoughts wandered back to the conversation I had about a month ago with Pandora, but I quickly shook it off, feeling my heart beat faster just thinking about it. Tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow.

I looked at Lachesis, who was wearing a black dress with black heels, along with a black necklace I hadn't seen before.

"When did you get that?" I asked, pointing out her new accessory while finishing up putting my shoes on.

She looked momentarily shocked before looking down at her chest. "Oh, this? It was in my mom's collection, so I decided to borrow it without telling her."

"Wait, isn't that just stealing?" She let out a small smile.

"Nah, she doesn't mind. Besides, she knows what day it is so…" She trailed off, her smile fading away before shaking her head. "No, enough of that, what're we gonna do about your hair?"

Eh? I pulled a strand of my greasy hair away from my face, frowning. "It isn't that bad, is it?"

"What am I gonna do with you?" She sighed out, rolling her eyes. "Well, it's too late to cut it, so this'll have to do. Here, turn around."

I did as I was told and waited while Lachesis did her thing. She raked her hands through my unkempt hair, humming to herself.

"You really need to take better care of yourself, you know that?"

"I took a shower yesterday."

"You should take a shower every day!" she scolded, starting to pull the hair in front of my face to the back. "Man, at this rate, you're gonna have hair longer than mine, you know that?"

"Does it really matter how long my hair is?"

"You look better without your hair covering your eyes Depra," she said, finishing pulling all of my hair back before tying it with something. "There, all done. Turn towards me please."

I turned towards her, her soft blue eyes looking at my face with a vivid curiosity. "When was the last time I saw your face I wonder," she murmured to herself, and it was then I noticed that her hair was down.

"Did you use your hair tie for my own hair?"

"Wow, you noticed quicker than I was expecting," she said, standing up, smoothing out her dress as she did so. The dress went down to just above her knees, and she pushed her hair away from her ears as she smiled at me. She was also wearing a black jacket to cover her bare arms. "Well, I think I look pretty good with my hair either way, so it doesn't really matter to me. Anyway, ready to go?"

"I just need my wallet."

She nodded, walking towards the front door, while I walked back into my room, grabbing my wallet from off my dresser and putting it in my left pocket.

I reached towards the back of my head, feeling the length of the ponytail that Lachesis gave me. I guess it is long, huh? It went all the way down to my shoulders, and I let out a sigh.

Maybe I should cut it soon?

I walked out my room to see Lachesis holding a small black purse. "You have everything right?" She asked, looking me up and down.

"Yeah, do you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not the one who forget things you know."

"I wouldn't dare mess up anything today, you know that," I said, scowling, and she nodded.

"I know. Now if you could only dress up this nicely every day, the girls would come flocking!"

Ugh. "Let's go already." I opened the door to see a grey sky inviting me outside. It was cold, but not windy, with nothing left on the trees but the branches that grew from them.

In other words, it had officially become Winter.

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After we had grabbed everything from our two destinations (I went to a toy store and Lachesis went to a grocery store), we walked in silence to a nearby bus station to take us to our final destination.

I sighed, looking up at the sky above before frowning as I felt something cold touch my nose.

I looked around to see more of the thing that made me cold, and a realization dawned onto me on what this phenomenon was:

It was snowing, just like it was all those years ago, on that day.

The bus arrived, and we got on, paying for our ticket before heading out away from the city, towards the farmlands I had run away to some years back. I glanced over at Lachesis, who was sitting closest to the window, and she was gazing outside, a sad look upon her face, and her blue eyes had an even softer look than they normally did, one mixed with sadness and grief.

She caught me staring at her, but her usual reassuring smile didn't show up, so instead I patted my hand on her leg, the only way to reassure both her and myself.

It was all I could do, since I couldn't smile for her either.

We rode the bus to the stop just before the one I would take if I were to go see the nice old couple who stayed in their little house with their land.

We got off, looking at the wooden gateway accompanied with a set of well-worn stone stairs leading up to the mountain, Olympus.

We started our long way up, taking our steps as slow as possible, a sense of foreboding weighing down on us.

Even after 12 years of coming to this place, the walk upwards never got any easier. Not for Lachesis, and certainly not for myself. It wasn't as if we dreaded coming to this place; it was the opposite actually. We liked coming here but hated ourselves for doing so. It was unfair after all, being able to enjoy each other's company like this.

But for me, there lie another, albeit just as important, more recent reason. This was the only day of the year in which I had complete and utter guaranteed silence. No incidents, no voices, nothing but my own thoughts to keep me company within my own head.

I felt Lachesis pull on my sleeve, snapping me out of my thoughts. We had reached our destination.

It was a graveyard, filled with names I didn't care to know and names I didn't want to know were there. However, what we were looking for wasn't a grave within this graveyard.

We walked among the graves, most of them so worn down that even if I wanted to try to read the names, I couldn't. We walked and walked, until we reached the edge of the graveyard, where a small path within a grove of trees awaited us.

We both stopped, hesitating. I glanced at Lachesis, whose eyes were locked onto the path. I looked back at the path and took a deep breath. I walked forward, into the path that would lead us to the place we come to year after year after year, always on the day before it occurred.

And then, we arrived.

It was a small ledge that overlooked the entire eastern side of Olympus, with the endless sea in the background. And near the edge of the ledge was a small monument, shaped like a stone pillar with a pointy edge at the top. And inscribed on the monument was the very reason we came here for.

Lachesis and I walked to the monument, setting down our gifts. I pulled out a giant toy car and placed it gently on the ground, while Lachesis pulled out a liter bottle of fruit punch with some cups along with a family size bag of cheddar chips.

December 24th, 2021, 12:00 pm: "In Honor of our Dear Friend, Captain," I said, reading what was inscribed on the Monument. Below that was his name, the name of our dear third childhood friend, the cause of my first regret.