[Revue Starlight] Maya and Claudine reminisce

Maya and Claudine reminisce

The door squeaked lightly, waking Maya up from her reverie. A maid quietly came in with afternoon tea and biscuits that would go untouched. After placing the tray on the beside table next to the elderly woman, she silently took her position near the window. Maya began pouring the tea.

"Claudine, would you care for some tea?

In the bed a frail old woman was dozing, but her eyes opened at the sound of her name being spoken. The room around her seemed so familiar... if she'd asked, Maya would have told her that it used to be her study in their sizeable, but not immodestly large, estate. They'd converted it to a palliative care room once it became clear Claudine was struggling.

She didn't try to sit up. Something told her she didn't have the strength for it.

"How are you feeling today, Claudine?"

"Ah..." her voice was weak. Was it always this hard to speak? "... tired."

She frowned.

"Who... who are you?"

Even the stoic Maya, once one of the world's leading actresses, struggled to hold her resolve. Every day she was tested... there were no "good days" anymore.

"Claudine, I'm Maya. "

"You're not my Maya..." Claudine struggled to sit up, shaking terribly as she failed to support her weight. The maid hurried over to help, propping her up with pillows. When Claudine was stable, Maya dismissed the maid with a tired nod. "My Maya was dazzling, handsome..." She looked at her companion. "Though... you have her eyes..."

It started with simple things. Claudine asking the maids twice in a row to make tea, forgetting about dinner with Maya the night before, having trouble following conversations. The couple were already well past the prime of their careers, mostly appearing at events and talk shows as one of the famous Seisho "fated couples", but they had to withdraw from even that small amount of work. Their years of work and love together meant nothing the moment the doctors came back with the scans. Their world was shattered, and all they could do was enjoy the time they had left. Maya hated whoever coined that phrase, as every day it grew harder to even remember the shine Claudine had once had as she grew weaker in front of her eyes.

"Claudine, do you remember when we met for the first time at the academy? I was terrified of meeting you in person, you were so glamorous and shining, even in those silly adverts."

Claudine shifted in the bed, images of her past trying to breech the surface of her memory.

"I always looked up to you... imagine my surprise when you turned out to be so childish!" Maya giggled lightly. The woman in bed blushed, then frowned, unsure where that feeling came from.

"Do you remember what I said that night of the revue? Together we could go higher than anyone, together we could do anything..."

Unbidden tears began rolling down her face. Something clicked inside Claudine's mind, fog almost cleared from a certain memory. She reached out and wiped the tears from Maya's face.

"You... I don't..."

Frustration welled up inside Claudine as she struggled to remember anything. Who she was, her past, the woman in front of her. All were opaque to her. She lay down against the pillows supporting her, energy spent. Maya dried her eyes, her resolve firm. She had tried one last time to find the woman she loved, but now...

She reached into her handbag and pulled out a small bottle of pills. Prescribed by the doctor to help her sleep due to stress, she had saved them all in case... in case she couldn't leave her and Claudine's future up to fate. She divided them into the two steaming cups of tea, giving them a stir as the pills slowly dissolved. She looked up to see Claudine watching her from bed.

Claudine nodded.

The pair drained their cups quickly.

"I couldn't go ahead and leave you to follow me all alone... this time we go together, ma Claudine."

"Such... such a troublesome girl... ma Maya."