章 18: Strange Town (3)
For a while, the four were enveloped in silence and fear. What was unknown was always the most terrifying. Even for Aerine, who was also part of the supernatural world, it was still surprising to be involved in this situation. What was more to these three humans?
"What do we do?" Divine chewed on her lips and looked around them; her eyes were filled with anxiety.
Aerine patted her shoulder and then decided to speak up first. From the days that they were together, her social skills had improved so much than before.
"First, we need to calm down. We can't think of any solution if we'll let panic get into our heads."
Fortunately, the three agreed with her, at least.
Ronald, the only male on the team, raised the most important question.
"Do we stay here or leave?"
There were a few days left of their trip, and reasonably speaking, this town might be strange, but it wasn't as if the residents were doing something to them... yet. So, if they could ignore the bizarre aspect of the town, then everything might proceed as normal, like the past couple of days.
However, the hardest part was that the moment they realized what was wrong, it would be difficult to just disregard it as nothing, and the four of them might not enjoy staying here, and that included the unpredictable chances that something might indeed happen to them during the rest of their stay in the town.
Stay or leave? Aerine also began to ponder about this. Could she risk her life in this town?
"What do you think?" She inquired; the decision was actually up to the group, as they were all together on this trip.
The four of them looked at each other, and it came as no surprise that the result was synonymous. They decided to leave immediately!
Aerine also didn't want to stay in the town because she did not know what made it peculiar. For the three, they were humans who had never even come across any supernatural events in their lives, so it was not unexpected that they also decided to leave.
Only a lunatic with strange curiosity would stay here to uncover what was happening in this town.
So, after they decided that, the group left Divine's room and settled their luggage and everything else to leave tomorrow morning. The sooner they leave, the better.
The next day, it was Ronald who talked to the staff of the hotel about their check-out procedure. Aerine couldn't be relied on in such situations, while the other two women were still horrified by the fact that the residents of this town were strange.
They were all huddled together as they couldn't help but observe the lobby of the hotel while waiting for Ronald. Aerine, too, was watching the situation in the lobby and the people there.
To someone who didn't know what was going on, the scenes in the lobby were actually normal. There were only a few of them there, aside from the staff, and so it was easier to take notice of what was different.
Aerine took all of the scenes to her mind and a chill undoubtedly ran down her spine.
This... was a similar scene that she saw upon arriving there.
Since they never actually observed the lobby when they went to their activities, this was Aerine's second time observing the people in the lobby. However, she was sure that she already saw this happening once, as though she had some kind of deja vu.
The only thing different was them and the conversation between Ronald and the front desk.
At some point, while she was looking at the staff of the hotel, Aerine vaguely remembered what happened. The tray he was holding would fall out of his grasp. And it really did happen!
The staff laughed and then took the tray to the ground. When he lifted his head, he met Aerine's eyes. In her eyes, the staff's expression would be no different than normal. Aside from the fact that he had a smile on his lips, his eyes were hollow and empty, completely devoid of emotions.
Yet, the moment that the staff happened to make eye contact with Aerine, life seemed to dawn on his eyes, and he bowed at Aerine before he left and continued with his job.
Aerine blinked and lowered her head instantly. Her heart was thumping loudly. She looked at her companions. Aerine observed their eyes as though fearing that they were the same, but she sighed in relief when she saw that they weren't.
"Can he hurry the fuck up?" Divine murmured with gritted teeth as she clasped her bag in her chest.
Everyone of them wanted to leave as soon as possible. Aerine had felt the urgency as well. She touched her chest once more and breathed.
It will be fine. It will. Aerine mumbled inwardly.
Soon, Ronald finished the procedures and joined them.
"What taking you so long?" Divine reprimanded him as soon as he approached.
Ronald seemed exhausted as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He scowled at Divine. "You should've talked to them instead, then."
And that shut her up.
Aerine didn't even care about their bickering and urged them.
"Let's go."
And no one would refuse that.
When they walked out of the hotel, the four of them decided to never ever nitpick on what might seem strange to them. It was better not to be involved too much in the town more than necessary.
A few minutes later, when they were steps away from the small town's vicinity, a problem arose.
"How can we leave?" Sheena asked rather innocently.
They were only reminded that they arrived here with a private van, and there wasn't even a source of transportation in this place, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
"Wait, let's call them," Sheena suggested in panic.
Divine breathed, "How? There's no signal."
The group looked at each other, and the expression of being abandoned seemed to be reflected in their eyes.
Aerine clutched her bag. "Let's walk," she then suggested. There was nothing else they could do unless they stayed here and waited for the production staff to fetch them on their last day of stay. Then they couldn't leave.
Oh, there was another option... Talk with those residents and hope there are normal ones among them.
And so... they walked. Yet a more despairing fact fell on them.
They couldn't leave. And no matter how far they walked, they would see the town ahead of them as though they were back at their starting point.
Aerine bit her lips and touched her chest while thinking of that someone.
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