I remember my days from before, back when we first made Abracadabra Designs. None of us thought much of it. 'Open a fashion shop. We all want to so let's do it!' It seemed simple because there was no reason for it not to be. I try to scan through the memories as if they're files on a computer. I like to go over them, yet I'm often not sure where to start.
Perhaps the first week— that was interesting.
"Luna come on! Xavier needs you out front!" Maisie calls.
"Why?" Luna asks while stitching a button onto the collar of a dress. She looks up at the five different pieces of clothing held aloft around her in a glittery purple cloud.
"The display fell over, and you and Xavier were who initially set it up! You'll know best how to fix it!" Masie answers.
Luna sighs, placing the dress and sewing needle on the desk in front of her. She flexes the fingers in the hand that now holds a wand instead of a sewing needle and she waves it casually at the clothing that immediately separate and settle onto individual hangers. Luna, now standing, rushes out to join her employees and friends in the main room. As she makes her way over to Xavier and Maisie, her eyes note Flina using her wands to make mannequins do a dance. She giggles, then stops once she lands at her destination.
"Watch and learn." Luna says with a smile before pulling out her wand. Xavier repeats the action, and both use said wands to neatly fix the dress and blouse display.
Flina, clapping her hands together, compliments them.
I was always good at fixing the displays, or at least they all thought I was. Out of the four of them, Flina always seemed the most impressed; I think it was because she wasn't great at organizing. She would always use her magic to mess around with the displays, which I would always find pleasing. She was lively, so full of joy. Back then, it seemed like I was all about order. But honestly, I just wanted to mess around too. I suppose I did from time to time though, like that one day we got really busy.
Laughs can be heard ringing throughout the thin walls of the sizable shop. Flina waves her wand, moving the mannequins to walk into each other. More laughs erupt.
"I'll take the dress that the taller mannequin has on!" The customer smiles.
"You'll look great in that! Let me fit you!" Alize says with a smile. "Everyone interested in pop fashion, go over to display A-2. Everyone into gothic fashion, go over to display A-4. We've got new summer magic style items over at B-3 if you're interested." Alize points to each section as she introduces it. "Flina, show our customers more of our latest items!"
Flina nods with a determined smile on her face. She jumps into the air, using steps made from glittering cloudstuff to aid in her ascent. Luna observes Flina coming her way, so she prepares herself to jump onto the steps. But to her surprise, Luna is lifted into the air, quickly being flown across the room to meet Flina half way. Luna remembers the times that she would turn her face away from customers, in an attempt to keep her scar out of view. But with Flina, the scar doesn't matter. The world was bright and big, and Luna can face it.
Flina smiles, which makes Luna smile too. Flina is silent, but her actions speak louder than words ever could. She is a joyful person that wants others to see the joy in life. Next thing Luna knows, she and Flina are dancing together, the crowd of customers cheering them. She isn't sure how long it will last, but it feels like forever.
Flina was different from all the others. I mean we all took joy in what we did, but bringing joy to others was Flina's whole life. Our shop had many loyal customers. Mainly only one group of people visited us. I was comfortable with it staying that way, but Flina wanted to branch out, share the joy with more people. I knew how risky that was. I didn't know about the Foundation or anything, how could I have? I just knew that magic was… special. To most, we showed card tricks and pulling bunnies out of hats. But to our community in our boutique, we showed real magic. It was only a matter of time before we were discovered.
I don't even want to recount the emotions; Hurt. Anger. Sadness. Hopelessness. Why should I try to go over it? When they came, I knew they were trouble. Flina simply wanted to share her joy with them. She wouldn't listen to me. But they would have found out anyways, even if she didn't make all the mannequins move around. They quickly explained who they were, but none of us understood. For some reason though, one of the doctors looked at me differently. Was it because of my face?
Maybe that's why I insist on wearing a face mask now. Maybe it's because my friends were the only ones who could look at me like I wasn't horribly disfigured. Maybe it's because Flina always made it clear how much she loved my eyes. Maybe I wanted to hide them from those who didn't deserve to see.
Ask me how I ended up becoming one of them, while my friends ended up as objects.
Did they just take me up off the street? That's not how you would think they chose their employees.
The truth, apparently, was that with my education and background, they found me valuable. They asked me if I was okay with this, though I suspect now that they knew the answer and just didn't care. Why did I choose this? All I wanted was to run a fashion shop with my friends.
They still don't allow me near them and I don't even know what Site they're being held at. Ask me how this happened. Ask me why I chose this.
Honestly, I don't know. But I hope Flina is doing okay. She can find the joy in literally anything.
I hope she can bring joy to the researchers assigned to her.
I wish I could be more like Flina. I wish I could take joy in all this. Everything is good, right? That's what the pills they give me say. They say 'your life is here, you are a Foundation employee. Don't mind the past joy you once had. Forget it ever happened.' But the pills aren't quite loud enough. I still get the memories. I still live those moments. When I do, feeling is reintroduced to this vessel that's meant to be me. Maybe one day, I can completely mute the pills and their numbing screams of silence and turn up the volume once again.
Maybe one day, I can get us all out of here.
Maybe one day, we can run our shop again.
Maybe one day.

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