Lucille and Eliott met when they were both very young, here is a piece of their love story.
They truly loved each other, maybe in a wrong way, but love isn’t always an easy thing to live and to do.
From 2014 to 2019. From Lucille to Lucas, with a lot of Eliott in the middle.
Goodbye
Saturday, December 12, 2015, 14:08
Lying on the sofa in the living room, Lucille was immersing herself into her book, Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian. On the small table next to her was her cell phone and a hot cup of tea. Everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds. After being graduated with great marks, Lucille had joined high school, the same as Eliott and two other friends.
The life of high school's young girl pleased her beyond all hope. The growing independence, interesting teachers, new knowledges... And beyond all this, important things that didn't change. Always the same neighborhood where she felt so good, friends, Ali, Charlotte, long talks with her mother, her habits, her little pleasures and Eliott. More than a year since the two teenagers had chosen to be together. An eternity at this young age. Everything was going well between them. Eliott was the human being with whom Lucille preferred to spend all her free time. Indeed, they had fights. Which couple doesn't know any of them? Eliott's changing mood combined with Lucille's susceptibility sometimes resulted in full hours of cries and misunderstandings, but that never lasted. They always brought themselves together.
That day, her mother was at work and her little brother was at their father's house. Silence fell in the living room, Lucille's playlist had just ended. Not really knowing what to listen anymore, the girl looked, absentmindedly her mother's CD shelf. She grabbed Ben Harper's album Diamonds on the inside and slid it into the CD player. Eliott used to make fun about her musical tastes. "This is soo boho!”, “Ok guys! Be careful, Lucille is choosing the music, we're screwed!"... Some teases which amused Lucille as Eliott's own musical tastes were... originals.
She sighed happily as she fell back onto the couch at the sound of Ben Harper's sweet voice. She loved so much this kind of afternoons. No schedule, no obligation. Just a good book and some music she liked. Knowing that she would spend the evening with Charlotte and some friends to let off steam on the dance floor, this weekend was absolutely perfect.
She had no sooner opened her book than her phone rang. Nevertheless, good things never last las they say... Catching her cell phone, she saw Charlotte's picture appear on the screen.
"Hi Dollface!” She greeted her, picking up.
At first, Lucille didn't hear anything at the other end of the phone. Then, after a few seconds, the sound of growing sobs reached her ear.
"Hey.” Lucille said, straightening slightly.
"Lucille... Ali..." Charlotte's shrill voice was full of tears, she was crying.
"Ali what?
-He's dead.”
Lucille felt the whole universe dissolve all around her. Nothing else existed except the voice of her friend saying the same words again and again. "He's dead. He's dead. He's dead."
Her tight throat blocking the air, Lucille had a hard time breathing. It was impossible. Not him, not now.
"How?” She asked.
"...On his scooter... He slipped... And... There was a car..." Charlotte answered with many heavy sobs.
The two friends remained a long time without saying anything, Charlotte crying, Lucille struggling to fully understand the terrible situation.
Then she hung up and at that moment the girl felt alone, so alone. She wanted her mother to be there. She would have taken her in her arms and would have comfort her. Just like when she was a little girl and had nightmares. As the first tear rolled down her cheek, the reality hit her hard: Lucille was no more six years old but almost ten more and she was alone in this big Paris apartment. The contrast between Ben Harper's sweet voice and the chaos of her thoughts was unbearable.
Eliott. His name cames out in the middle of her scrambled mind. He too must have known. If Lucille couldn't have the comforting arms of her mother, she would have those understanding of Eliott. They would share the same sorrow, dilute their same pain in their cuddles.
Without taking the time to think too much, she slipped her feet into her sneakers and rushed outside. In the street, Lucille did her best to hold back her tears. At the foot of the neighboring building, she entered the entry code, climbed up the stairs and knocked on Demaury family's door.
It was Eliott's mother who came to open it. When her eyes fell on Lucille, she raised her eyebrows, visibly surprised to see her here.
"Lucille? Eliott isn't with you?
-What? No... I... I came to see him..."
Noticing the girl's red and wet eyes, Eliott's mother looked worried.
"What's going on Lucille?
-It's... Ali, he had an accident, he... He's...”
Mrs. Demaury didn't need Lucille to finish her sentence to understand its terrible end. Her whole body shook and she turned back to the living room.
"Chris.” She called her husband. "Eli isn't at Lucille's and..." The girl didn't hear the rest.
Remaining there, in the entrance, totally helpless, no longer understanding what was being played around her, Lucille took a few steps inside the apartment. With trembling legs, she collapsed on a wooden chair. There, she took her head in her hands and burst into tears. It was too much. Too much for a very young girl like her. She cried like a child facing the greatest of sorrows. Her body shook with jerks, tears spurted out of her big hazel eyes to crash on her hands and on the floor.
After what seemed like an eternity, Lucille heard Eliott's mother walked over. The latter was putting on her coat when she saw the teenager in tears.
"Oh... I'm sorry, love..."
She crouched down in front of her and took her in his arms. She held her tight as she would have done for her own daughter.
"I know, it's very hard... There is nothing to say for now... You have the right to cry, to scream, to insult.” She whispered, stroking her hair.
Finally relieved to find a kind shoulder to express her pain, Lucille let herself go, resting her head on the shoulder of Eliott's mother.
The two women remained motionless for a moment, one snuggled into the arms of the other.
"Look, I'm sorry but we have to go get Eliott.
-Where is he?” Lucille asked, backing up slightly before sniffling loudly.
"I don't know. He had someone on the phone and he went out saying he had to see you.” Eliott's mother said, handing her a tissue.
"He must not be far...
-We don't know either. A few years ago, he had a very very very hard time because of the loss of his grandfather and now... I don't like to know he's alone outside.
-I understand...
-You can stay here if you want."
Anxious at the thought of being all alone again and feeling the great worry in Eliott's mother's voice, Lucille shuddered.
"Can I come with you to help you find him?
-Okay but you call your mother first and you tell her everything."
The trio spent a good part of the afternoon browsing Eliott's favourite places. It was only around 5pm that they found him, sitting on the pavement near their old school.
Back at the apartment, Eliott's parents and her own mother agreed that Lucille spend the evening and the night with her boyfriend.
She snuggled against him all night long. He, staring into the void, as absent from his own body, never put his arms around her.
