Two Lost Souls

On Christmas Eve, everything in Malta sparkled, apart from the counter of The Lost & Found Café-cum-Bookstore. As the name stated, it was a café with a bookstore, where all the used books parted ways with their readers on the last page and found new ones.

Its tiny balcony was draped in tinsel, fairy lights twinkled inside, and a Christmas tree made of books stood proudly in the centre of the room while a playlist that came into existence when different Christmas playlists had an accident was shuffling between carols, pop, rock and kpop.

Natalie, a girl in a white Christmas hoodie and red-rimmed glasses flicked through pages of her diary behind the dimly lit counter. She spent most of her time working here, apart from when she was attending classes.

Today, not only was the store open till 12 a.m., but there were also Twenty-Four-holiday reads, which were wrapped in gifting paper with a description tag of what they had to offer. The rack had the privilege to be stood next to the bestsellers so that people buying coffee downstairs could be lured up here.

Natalie was seated behind the counter, scribbling a wish for Christmas in her diary with loose bind and colourful paper. Although she wasn't sure if her last-minute entry will be considered, she needed a chance at life, a chance to find someone who hasn't gone missing.

She was doodling bunnies with Christmas hats when a book slid into her view: "I will take you to places you might never have been before and lift your feet up from the ground. I will let you lose yourself in me to help search what's never been lost."

She looked at the person standing in front of her with Bambi's eyes. A man in a denim jacket, black bucket hat and mask stood towering over her on the other side of the desk.

"I'll take this," he said.

"Oh ok, that will be three dollars" Natalie took the book and placed it in a plastic bag with some Christmas bookmarks and postcards.

"Happy holidays," she said, handing him the package and stared at his back as he went down the stairs after paying.

The silence felt louder after being broken so she went out to the balcony. The winter was in its complete glory and hinted towards a White Christmas with the sky, a clear blanket of black that contrasted with the white earth- the simplicity of it was one of the best sights she had acknowledged. There weren't many people around and the one who was there looked too drunk to buy a book.

She came back and stuffed her things in a bookbag, slid three dollars in the cash register, switched the lights off, making the room glow with the twinkling lights and picked a random book as a present for herself.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered to herself, "and Happy Birthday."

❆❆❆

The music in her headphones shuffled to 'Like A Star' by RM & JK as she placed two pieces of Mississippi mud pie with a box of leftover Christmas cupcakes in her bicycle's basket and hit the road.

The winter wind played with her brown locks which were too small to stay in her bun as she peddled through empty streets glowing under the faint light of store windows.

She imagined herself as a lost kite with long red ribbon torn at the end in the night sky, going where the wind leads her. She saw herself passing Santa in a helicopter loaded with electronic devices as he looked for a helipad, and reindeers jumping over stars. She imagined flying restlessly until she is too torn to continue.

Paddling to the beats of Mistletoe, she reached her building which resembled a cereal box with exposed bricks, by which its name, 'The Box Building', was inspired. Natalie could imagine builders in suits and ties sitting at a round table and debating for hours what to call it, until someone says, "Oh c'mon, how much more time to name this box building!"

She bit on her tongue as she knocked her bike's handle to the letterbox while trying to lock it. She needed to change the lock which was jammed up with her holiday bonus, but she just hadn't come across shopping yet.

Taking the boxes from her basket and letters from 102 and 202 she went inside and knocked on Mrs Lilly's door. A plump lady who always smelled like lettuce- "Natalie, my dear!" -but she was sweet.

"We had extra cupcakes and here are your letters, Merry Christmas." She said.

"Thank you so much, honey." A loud cheer came from her home and their kid doubled over in laughter. Natalie imagined him rolling on the floor holding his tummy with his tiny soft hands.

"Would you like to join us for a hot cuppa?"

"Oh, no no, please enjoy your holidays," Natalie said, taking a light step back and waved her bye.

"You too, cutie pie." Mrs Lilly chuckled. "And thanks for the cupcakes!"

Natalie ran upstairs to be welcomed to her place 202, with a green sticky note in the middle of their door that read "Wreath" with an underline and a small smile at the corner.

Smiling, she opened her door to an empty studio apartment.

'Your handsome is not here because he is busy making a party lit by his looks and dj-ing. Though, mostly by his looks.' read a sticky note on the counter.'Ps: Don't look at your desk!!'

Placing the cake on the counter, she went on to find a turquoise box with a white ribbon on her desk. The song shuffled to Christmas day. She took the box and sat on her bed. A place can tell so much about a person, like her brother's bedside was all band posters and a mixture while hers was just pillows and comforters, shouting how clueless they are about her.

Smiling at the box, she lifted it to her ears and gave it a light shake. Her eyes went large on hearing a slight ting, indicating bells. She quickly opened the ribbon and found a wooden reindeer with a bell on its neck and its tiny twin sister.

She added the tiny reindeer to her charm bracelet and went near their window. After hanging the biggest reindeer at the end of the wind chime, she gave it a light tap, its blissful ringing brought her joy.

She slid back through the apartment and placed the cake in a proper container, took her purse, an umbrella and stuck a note on the counter.

'All delusions should be left in the year coming to an end- Your dj-ing overpowers your looks. 

Ps: reindeers want to go ting ting ting around the moon, though where is the moon?

PS: Do not look inside the container!!'

She ran down the stairs and started walking towards the bridge. Light snow started falling on her umbrella and melted away. A quarter till Christmas, the streets looked like a blank page in the middle of a book and she was the only character walking in it, unsure of the direction and unsure of the destination, 'Lost Stars' by Keira Knightly as her only companion.

A dark, empty alley in a residential area can be scary for some, even suffocating and boring, but for her it was like a blanket, comforting her, and letting her breathe.

She habitually stared at people engrossed in a book at Lost & Found, how they breathed evenly in peace, same was with her brother when he would practice mixing tunes. She couldn’t do that, no matter how many breathing exercises she did. It was a need to accelerate in walking or cycling, it was a necessity to be out of breath to be able to breathe.

She ran until she was huffing and puffing like a toy train, slowing down, she came to face her reflection on a store window. She stared at the girl and whispered in a pained voice, "What do you want, who are you?" The girl stared back at her with a questioning look.

Out of breath and filled with disappointment, Natalie reached the bridge. She folded her umbrella and looked around to find a familiar face staring intently across the bridge.

"Did you go to places and get your feet lifted from the ground?" She asked while tugging his sleeve.

"Pardon?" The man in black said, taking off his headset.

"Did you find what hasn't been lost?"

"Ah!" He chuckled, "I am still at the start," Natalie nodded to him and the first cracker burst, lighting the sky in blue showers. They both stood speechless, staring at the world is lit up with hope.

After the show ended the people erupted in applause and started to disperse with hurried steps. Leaning towards her in the crowd, the man asked, "Would you like to have a cup of hot chocolate with me?"

"Sounds clean, sure." Natalie agreed, and they mixed up with the crowd. "Can I get those small marshmallows as well?"

"You can even have whipped cream,"

The man stole glances at her, having an inner battle to ask or not to ask until they were walking a down a cobbled road. The crowd had disappeared like post a flash mob in some movie.

"Although it might be too late to ask, who are you?"

Natalie stopped in her track and stared at the man's brown eyes jailed between mask and cap, "In my case, it's too early, I am not sure."

Voicing out the worry she has been walking around with making her eyes teary, but she stood straight facing her fears.

The man stared intently at her as he did across the bridge and then lighted up in a grin like the fireworks.

"That's great!" He said. "You have a lot of time to find that on our way because I am completely lost, and it might take us some time to find an open cafe at this hour."

"That is great," Natalie chuckled "Afterall, Lost is the best place to start searching from."

The man let go of his mask, not feeling the need to hide anymore and Natalie kept breathing, not needing to be out of breath.

Perhaps the guy was just breath-taking, either way, the two lost souls kept walking down the street, talking and laughing towards an unknown adventure as a sledge passed in front of the disappearing moon.