Best friends forever... Right?

Alisha had been tidying up her house when she found what she internally feared finding. She had ignored the existence of the little box situated all the way in the deepest corner in the back of her dusty attic, as if it would vanish by denying it. When she noticed the shapeless archaic box, her reaction was almost as if she didn’t believe it was actually there. At first she wanted to ignore the box again, although this time right in front of her. She wanted to continue tidying her attic, a task she had been procrastinating for nearly 20 years, out of fear to find objects reminding her of her past. But her body stopped her from continuing, it was as if she was stuck. She stared at the box for what felt like an eternity, until it became a different color and shape before her eyes. She then blinked a few times and looked back to see if her brother, who had offered to help cleaning the mess she had made over the years, noticed her but she couldn’t see him. He was probably taking a small break; it was lunchtime anyways. She tried touching it, tried to see if the box would still feel the same way in her hands again. But when she started getting, what felt like, too close to it, she quickly pulled her hands back where they were safe. 19 years had gone by, and she still didn’t feel ready. She heard her brother’s steps coming up the ladder and she quickly hid the box behind a big chair. “I made some egg toast. You want some?” Her brother’s joyful face that stuck out of the hole where the ladder comes out, made her get back to reality. She didn’t feel hungry, especially not after her discovery, but she suddenly felt the need to get away, outside of this attic, outside of this dusty, dark place that held all her biggest secrets. How did she get away with this, all these decades? “I’m coming”, she said, breathlessly.

“What’s wrong? You look pale.” A few minutes after she had tried to calm down, she followed her brother Jared down to the kitchen that heavily smelled like burned toast. They were now sitting on some broken tiles in the tiny backyard that clearly would need some trimming too. “Oh, nothing. I might have some allergies with spring coming.” He looks a few minutes at his younger sister, worried and skeptical of her answer but then he decided to let it go. “By the way, I saw you just received a letter. I don’t think it is one to remind you to pay your bills this time, since the address is handwritten.” He looked at me sideways with a small grin. “What kind of friend have you been hiding from me, Alisha? I thought you were all on your own since mom passed away.” Some tears seemed to be coming out of her eyes. Alisha quickly swallowed them away when she answered: “Not funny. To be honest, I have no idea who it could be. I do have friends, in fact, you have met them quite a few times now, and you know them well enough they aren’t the types to send letters. It might be a letter that was meant for the neighbors but has been put in the wrong mailbox.” Jared shrugged. “Maybe.”

Later that day, when Jared had left after not having done much more tidy up afterwards, Alisha’s mind brought her back to the letter. She was sitting in her living room, lit by a small dimmed light, and she picked up the letter that her brother had put on the shelve next to the chair she sat on. The envelope had a cream-colored appearance with a rough surface. The envelope felt heavier in her hand than expected. Something thin but solid was inside. The address of her house was written with a blue pen in a not very neat handwriting she didn’t immediately recognize. Her curiosity made her impatient, so she decided to not spend any more time looking at it. What was she waiting for? The envelope was closed with adhesive tape. The sender didn’t really seem to have put much time it, or another possibility was that the person just didn’t generally have that good of a handwriting. She ripped the adhesive tape and opened the envelope, looking at what was inside. When she held it upside down, a small bracelet joined by a note fell out. She was now sure this letter was indeed meant for her, since the bracelet immediately reminded Alisha of high school. She had given it to her former best-friend Paige to make a promise. A promise of them being friends forever and a promise of keeping secrets between the two. Alisha sighed at the thought of these old times. She was so innocent back then. What had happened to her friendship? It had only lasted seven years after that. Of course she knew the reason, but it still hurt. She wished that she could go back and change all circumstances if that would be possible. Then she looked at the note with the same handwriting on it, and she now recognized it as a deteriorated version of Paige’s handwriting.

“Hi Lea (I know I was the only person who called you this, am I still allowed to do so?),

I just found this and I thought it belongs to you now that we have distanced ourselves. I also remembered how you were a friend to me like no one in my life has ever been, and it makes me sad that things have happened the way they have. And since we have parted already 20 years ago (Can you believ it?) I thought it might be safe to contact each other again. The police is busy with different stuff, I hope. This is not a message to try to convince you to be friends again, I know that that’s something that will probably not happen again. Anyways, I AM trying to ask you if you would like to hang out for one afternoon. We could both bring the old stuff we still have, so we can look back on it and have more peace if that makes sense. If you’re interested, please call me on the number I wrote on the back of this. Even if you don’t want to do what I offered, I’d still like to hear your voice again.

Toodles, Pea :)”

Alisha smiled a little by the sight of the old nicknames Paige had written also at how familiar they still sounded, and she read the note again to take in every word. Then the big questions wandered in her mind. Was she ready to do this? Was she ready to hear or see people from her past again, and most of all, was she ready to open the box? She took a deep breath. Maybe Paige was right about having more peace again. It was worth the try, right? She ticked the number on her phone before she would change her mind. The phone rang only twice before she heard Paige’s matured but still high-toned voice again.

Alisha was waiting for Paige to come. It had been a week since she decided to call her, but the time had gone by so fast, that it felt like a day. It was this morning when she had finally dared touching the box in the attic, that was fully cleaned up since yesterday. The object was safely placed next to her. The bell rang and Alisha’s legs felt numb while walking to the door. Opening the door already felt like a dream, especially when she saw Paige’s face. They both gasped for air looking at each other. “You’ve changed so much, Lea! Oh my”. One of the first things Alisha noticed about Paige is the old tattoo that she secretly got at 16. She wanted one, but her parents wouldn’t let her, so they had both sneaked out so Paige could get the image of a shark on her arm. It was one of their first rebellious actions. Alisha grinned to herself, thinking about how ridiculous that actually was. Now her old friend would be stuck to that one tattoo forever. She also noticed that Paige blond, long and straight hair, contrasting Alisha’s own black and frizzy hair, was now short. “Let’s go inside, shall we? It is cold in here.” Alisha closed the door behind Paige and they both entered the living room. She now felt a bit embarrassed, looking at her very small house with dull furniture, not knowing yet how far Paige had come financially. But she didn’t really look bothered by her surroundings, Paige’s eyes rather immediately fell on the box placed on the small brown table in the middle of the saloon. “You still have our little box? Oh wow, I was actually scared that you had lost it or thrown it away.” She came closer to it, looking at it, as if it’s gold. “I can’t believe I am actually seeing this again”, she said softly. “Have you opened it already?” She looked at Alisha. “No, I haven’t. I wanted to wait for you.” Alisha then looked down to her knees. “And to be honest, I was scared to… to… want to go back again maybe? I just knew I had to leave my past behind for good. I am ready now though.” Correcting her posture, she seemed to say that last phrase to convince herself that it was true. Paige nods and says, “I get it. Let’s not lose any more time now.” She picked up the box before Alisha could say no, and she opened it. A few photographs were on top, all with the two being together in different unique places around the world. “We have traveled so much”, Alisha nervously whispers. “Now I can’t even remember the last time I got out of the country.” “But where would you get the money from? I have a terrible job and sorry to mention it, but I think by looking at your place, your financial situation isn’t great either. Although you do have a house for yourself, unlike me. But let’s not talk about that.” Paige quickly took the photographs out of the box to reveal some shredded newspaper reports underneath. They all had something in common; every headline included the name ‘The Adikia’s’. One was about the biggest bank in the city that had been robbed without having left any trace again by the infamous ‘Adikia’s’, another one about how even criminal experts were puzzled about how the magical pair had gotten away so many times, and another one where the author wondered what and how many people were behind the infamous name. “Little did they know there were only two.” The two women grinned at each other. Underneath those shredded newspapers, Alisha then took a small notebook out of the now deeper box with the name ‘The Adikia’s’, again, written on it. “Oh my God”, they both said at the same time. “All our secrets are literally in there. I thought we had buried it!”, Paige said with open eyes. “I thought so too. We could get in trouble for this. We might have changed our whole life circumstances but we cannot be sure if they don’t know anything about us anymore. Technology has evolved so much since. It’s scary.” “True. Let’s burn all of this when we finish.” So they took all the shredded newspapers out, and there were a lot more than expected, when a small figurine of the Greek goddess ‘Adikia’, could see the light. “The goddess of injustice. Our name. Because we didn’t steal for ourselves. But to give it away to the ones who really needed it, and to stop injustice in this world.” “AND to travel.” “And to travel.”, Alisha repeated while giggling a little. She didn’t feel as anxious anymore, it was now replaced by excitement. All the way underneath the box was a key to be found with a text engraved in the copper that it was made of; ‘The only key that will take your freedom from you.’ “Interesting. Can you remember what this was for?”. Paige shook her head no. “Wait, wait. I think I get it.” Alisha pointed at the even smaller letters underneath the engraved text ‘Pont des Arts’. Paige stared at the words and then said, “Yes? Am I supposed to understand it now?You were always the brain, remember? Not me.” Alisha took back one of the photographs they had found on top of all the objects. “It’s not that hard. What do you see on here?”. Paige shrugged. “Um, I can see us, smiling as if we were the happiest on earth, someplace on this planet God knows where, and…” She looks closer. “We’re standing in front of a lock bridge.” “Exactly. And where is that lock bridge situated?” Paige then saw the letters written on the back of the Polaroid. “At Pont des Arts in Paris”, she mutters. “So the key to freedom is…” “Friendship”, they both say while staring at each other triumphantly. Then they both laughed as hard as if they had not just met each other again after 20 years, as if they hadn’t been actual criminals, no, they laughed exactly like only best friends can do.