the clematis was a beautiful flower. it bloomed in tropical zones, such as the amazon rainforest or other tropic areas in the middle of africa, congo & the neighbouring countries across the equator. it was known for its stunning beauty & its breathtaking meaning, its symbolism of whimsical nature & mischief.
whenever mizi laid eyes on sua, the black-haired girl always reminded her of that flower. the girl was her friend, the best in the sanctuary. they often explored the artificial landscape together, scouring what limited land the conservatory offered the adventurous pair. they traveled, hand in hand, skipping across the grass that came soft to their bare feet back when they were too young to understand.
“sua, do you know what god is?”
“…people used to believe in him, no? what was beyond human power was said to be in the will of god. they’d pray to him for fortune that only he could provide, like chance.”
“hm. i wonder if he got mad at us & brought on the aliens..! that’d be morbid, wouldn’t it?!”
“it would! but, i don’t imagine he’d go as far as to do that. maybe this is out of his hands. our fortune, perhaps it was never in his control at all. he created us, he created everything, yet he can’t control us, so there’s no saying whether or not he can control chance.”
mizi idly spun the blooming petals of a clematis between her index finger & thumb, looking down upon the flourished flower before glancing back up at sua, where the pair were laid side-by-side across the hilltop. the dull white ceiling of the sanctuary didn’t provide the youth with any nighttime scenery… but they had their imaginations to aid.
they’d point out random parts of the ceiling, marking the places where each believed stars would have been. they memorised these locations, mizi making sure to remember every spot sua pointed out to hold a star. mizi often turned on her side, to simply gaze at sua whilst the other girl pointed out the locations of the stars. it was serene back then.
they’d grown up.
the girls grew up together, mizi letting her hair grow & flourish like a clematis’ petals in bloom, just for sua. they stood side by side, singing their way through these bloodletting competitions disguised as concerts that harvested the humans’ voices for the aliens own sick pleasure.
“when the time comes & we compete against each other,” mizi often told sua, “we’ll sing a duet. sing in synchrony, so the score will be the same & neither of us will get killed,” mizi would implore, squeezing sua’s hands where she held hers. she’d smile, ever so bright, nearly surpassing to a grin as they discussed their plans to cheat the system & to win together, so they’d remain together, foreverafter.
eventually, the time came. the time where the two girls, best of friends since childhood, would compete against each other. everyone knew that only one would emerge alive, still in her soul & body as a whole. both of the girls knew this, but they had a plan, & it was all they could do to pray to god, no matter whether they’d forsaken them or not, that it’d work.
mizi took place on the platform, sua standing alongside her, holding hands as they’d done so many times prior in childhood. they held their microphones, not yet lifted up to lips already preparing to sing for their lives.
the platform slowly began to rise, the faint cheering of the aliens awaiting their next spectacle becoming more & more coherent as the platform raised both girls onto the stage.
mizi turned to sua one last time, grinning as bright as she’d done so many times before whilst discussing this very same plan.
“sua, we sing together,” mizi spoke, hardly suppressing a chuckle despite how her eyes were already filling with tears—from the foreshadowing of what was to come or from how glorious sua looked in this light, mizi herself didn’t know.
she squeezed her hand.
“win together, & we’ll remain together.”