Chapter Fourteen: Three Older Sisters

As midnight approached, Hesta awoke alone on the soft bed.

Around six o'clock that afternoon, Mrs. Lavette, the dormitory administrator, had delivered three packages, each about 29 inches. One of them was a black suitcase. It contained everything from toiletries to changes of clothes.

Mrs. Lavette, in her late forties or early fifties, was as kind as Valenti. She had short, light blonde hair and had helped Hesta send her first email since arriving at the base.

After Mrs. Lavette left, Hesta made no move to unpack. She collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, and quickly fell asleep. She was startled awake by a harsh shattering sound that suddenly came from the living room.

Hesta slowly sat up and looked towards the living room. It seemed the mirror she had deliberately pushed aside that afternoon had finally broken.

A familiar sobbing and comforting whisper drifted from the living room. Hesta listened for a moment in the darkness. The crying sounded very familiar... it seemed to be the same one she had heard in the bathroom that afternoon.

Hesta quietly got out of bed. She heard intermittent conversation from the living room. Although she wasn't sure if it was a good time to greet them, her hand was already on the doorknob, turning it downwards.

To her surprise, the moment she opened the door, another door directly opposite also opened.

"Excuse me?" The head of a silver-haired girl peeked out from the door opposite. "I have to get up for special training at seven tomorrow morning, could you keep the noise down?"

Tulan's crying stopped abruptly. However, due to the sudden halt, her sobbing intensified.

"Thank you." The door quickly closed again. In the last sliver of the opening, Hesta's gaze briefly met hers—those were also a pair of blue eyes. Hesta saw three metal bone pins on the brow bone of her left eyebrow, and complex tattoo patterns on her bare shoulder.

With a "bang," the girl's face in the shadows disappeared. Only the band poster on her door seemed to look at the three people in the living room with a provocative and mocking gaze.

The girl who had been quietly comforting Tulan turned around. "Are you the new person who arrived today?"

"Yes," Hesta nodded.

"I'm Liz Fletcher," she said with a slightly helpless smile. "Would you like to come to my room for a bit?"

A few minutes later, Hesta sat in Liz Fletcher's room with a mug of hot chocolate. Fearing she might be cold, Liz had given her a thin blanket to wrap around her bare calves and feet.

Liz had short, apricot-brown hair, slightly lighter than Tulan's. A faint dusting of freckles stretched from her left cheek across her nose to her right cheek. There were also some less obvious tan lines from goggles around her eyes, and faint dark and light border lines on her wrists.

Liz had bandages on her index and middle fingers of her left hand, the edges slightly curled up, as if they hadn't been changed for several days. Hesta could tell these were the marks left from her most recent mission sortie.

The hot chocolate Liz had prepared for Tulan remained on the bedside cabinet. Tulan hadn't taken a sip—she was curled up in a ball, facing the wall and sobbing. Liz continued to gently rub Tulan's back, comforting her.

Hesta held the hot chocolate, its aroma as rich with sweetness as it was with bitterness. After tasting it, she didn't drink anymore.

She silently observed the room—it was filled with bookshelves of various heights, each one packed to the brim. Yet, even so, there was still a large pile of books stacked by the bed and the corner of the desk. Liz had cut several grey-white checkered bed sheets herself to cover them and protect them from dust.

On the wall by the head of the bed hung a picture frame, but instead of a painting, it held a well-worn leather gun holster. It was nailed to the center of the frame, the leather strap hanging in mid-air, worn white.

At the foot of the bed hung a brown accordion with button keys. The bellows looked very clean, without a speck of dust, indicating it was used often.

After a while, Hesta put down her mug. She began looking through the bookshelves next to her, layer by layer, until she spotted a copy of "Edgar's Dark Tales Collection" and stopped.

"Your name is Jane Hesta, right?" Liz suddenly called out from behind her. Hesta turned around and found that Liz and Tulan had somehow turned over and were looking in her direction.

Tulan was resting her head on Liz's lap. Her eyes and nose were completely red. She was clutching a pillow, her brown hair casually tied into a ponytail, falling onto Liz's knees.

"Yes," Hesta replied. "Miss Valenti Viking brought me here this afternoon."

"I know," Liz smiled. "Miss Valenti also sent me your file this afternoon... From now on, until I leave the training base in September, I'll be your assistant. Outside of your daily lessons and training hours, you can come to me or Tulan if you encounter any problems."

"I can't help much," Tulan mumbled.

"Haha, what are you saying?" Liz gently tapped Tulan's head.

Hesta suddenly remembered the pair of ice-blue eyes she had seen through the crack in the door. "Who is the one next door?"

"Her name is Ligo. She arrived last year," Liz replied. "I, Tulan, and Ligo are a third-year, second-year, and first-year here, respectively. Theoretically, we are all obligated to provide you with assistance during this time. However, Ligo is a bit special. If she offends you in daily life later, please don't mind—she's a bit unstable mentally and is still undergoing treatment."

"Unstable?"

"It's usually after the 'Project Group Training' ends. In daily life, she's fine," Liz answered with a smile. "What were you looking at just now?"

"Edgar's Dark Tales Collection," Hesta pointed to the spine. "Someone read this collection to me before."

"Really?" Liz's eyes lit up. "This book is quite popular in District One. I had a hard time getting the complete upper and lower volumes... Who read it to you?"

Hesta remained silent, causing Liz to hesitate, wondering if she shouldn't have asked. But soon, she suddenly spoke, "...It doesn't matter anymore. She didn't read the horror stories from this book to me, but specifically chose some... passages related to interior decoration."

"Decoration? That's an expert!" Liz seemed even more delighted. "I remember Edgar highly praised the decoration style in the western part of District Three. He even wrote an essay called 'The Philosophy of Decoration'."

Hesta looked at Liz. "Do you like Edgar too?"

Liz smiled and shook her head. "I only chose this book because I took an elective in Gothic Literature. Since then, apart from the first story, 'The Black Cat,' I haven't flipped through the rest... How about you? Which story do you like best in here?"

Hesta took out the lower volume of the book. She skillfully opened it and, after a few casual flips, quickly found the part she had heard and seen many times before.

"Miss Fletcher, would you like to hear it?"

"Please call me Liz," Liz said, smiling at Hesta.

"Liz."

"Then... please."