Hmm… so… this one’s titled “Spark”? Oh, hi there! Good to see you again, I assume you also just finished reading this story too? Wonderful! If you’d like, I’d love to share my thoughts with you about it, and to hear yours as well!

You would? Yippee! Well, you can choose to comment first before reading my thoughts, in case you’d rather write it earnestly without any of my input.

Well, firstly, just what is going on??? How did we start from a highschooler who underwent a traumatic horror experience to a blooming new friendship between other highschoolers at way too convenient of a time?! Poor Opaké…

One thing at a time. Goodness me, in any case, did you notice just how unstable that girl was mentally? Does anyone that age really think like that as a human? (Who thinks about fried green tomatoes like that???) I mean, I’m not human myself, but maybe I was at some point. Still, it feels very off-putting to read for me. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed from her mind at times, especially if we compare to the protagonist of Heat. You read that one too right? If not, it’s a much calmer and happier time I think. A lot shorter too.

I felt uneasy anticipating the sort of effects the events would have on Iquesha’s mind, and even if she recovers physically, what becomes of her mentally? I’m sure she has family or something that can take care of her, right? That Maid… I don’t think they’d be able to care for her all the time. But who knows if she can exist the same even while back in a loving household? There’s no way I could recover from that…

But this “hero”, Lena. I’m really rooting for her!! I’m really hoping the reunion with that friend goes well, because I just want to see Lena happy! She seems so sweet, and while her dream may seem childish, it sounds earnest and sincere! I am kinda worried about her though to be honest. She’s definitely got a lot on her mind, and I can’t say she’s dealing with it well in particular. What’s the deal with this “Flame” power though? Does it have any peculiar side effects or weaknesses? We didn’t really get to see it in use for too long, but that makes me more excited…! Also, what was with that first thing Dawn said? The “hurt a bit more than I thought it would”? Cause if it’s statistically impossible for Lena to bump into someone just on average, it’d have to be something premeditated right? If the narration is from a 3rd person perspective, wouldn’t that make it more reliable to come to these sorts of conclusions? I want to think so.

Well, it really could’ve just been a freak occurrence. Considering the supernatural just plain existing, it’s not out of the picture entirely.

I think it’s interesting that human emotions produce these “Khastima” (and are Ghosts Khastima as well? Or their own separate thing??). Can’t say I’ve ever heard of the word before, but it’s no doubt derived from something. I can’t particularly imagine how one goes about ‘purifying’ them though, like, is it a whole process? It is some sort of ritual? Even though it may be a potential hassle, killing them may have a potential butterfly effect? If that’s the case, wouldn’t countless Khastima exist? The Maid sort of implies that there are just people defending themselves from Khastima, and that Emotion is present in the “Womb of Reality” quite often. …I’d rather not think about what this means.

But what does the Maid want? They’re making contracts with people, sure, and maybe it’s genuine benevolence. But why? I’m at a complete and utter loss. Their motivation and end goal is hauntingly nebulous and it makes me unsure of how to feel about them. I want to trust them because they’re beautiful, but they clearly know so much while doing so little. There’s also a pattern I’ve noticed, so far the Maid has been three for three on contracting women. I have no clue if this actually means anything, but it’s worth noting right?

There’s… a lot of passion in these people. Lena’s carrying so much, and I don’t think it only stems from her. Do you think this friend will match her? If Lena cares about her so much, there has to be something about this person that makes her so special to someone so unique on their own. The question is though, will it still be present? There’s been a five-year gap, and while that’s so little time on a grand scale, for humans especially kids, that’s so much time. From my understanding, becoming a teenager is when human kids finally start becoming conscious of the world around them. No ages were mentioned, but there’s a pretty decent age group one could reasonably guess at with what we’re given. The only problem with it is it has to line up with the “Flame Incident” no? If that was six years before when Lena and the friend had last been with each other, they had to be elementary school kids. Yet, the maid was contracted to this girl at that time.

That’s illogical isn’t it? There’s no way a child could’ve been responsible for something so seemingly influential in this world. Maybe there was deception as a means to an end. Why did the Maid appear sporadically in between all those years?

Ugh, too much thinking. I’m gonna go lay down and wait a bit before reading what comes next.

• Key points:
• Lena has some sort of power referred to as the “Flame”.
• The Maid is able to contract with different people, but has a connection (or is at least vastly knowledgeable about) to Khastima, supernatural creatures born from human emotion.
• Dawn is cute, but odd.

Please let me know what you think, I’ll try to piece what I can together while I sleep…