Chương 12: Heaven?

A vast green field.

That's where I am standing right now. The sun up in the sky shone brightly upon me. A gentle breeze swayed my hair back and forth. This place emitted a very calming and peaceful ambiance. Where is this? Am I like, dead? Is this heaven?

There was nothing around, and I didn't see the end of this boundless field. It would be pointless to waste my energy walking aimlessly. I laid down on the ground. My eyes bore into the clear blue sky above. Ah... how long has it been since I felt this peaceful? I wish I could stay here forever. Living alone, without anyone else around. To other people, that might be a boring life. But to me, that's all I've ever wished for. Well, after my mom died, that is.

"My child," a soothing voice resonates.

I arose from my position almost immediately after the voice called out. What the hell? I thought I was alone. I scanned my surroundings, but there was no one around.

My brows scrunched together, "That's weird." I have been imagining things a lot these days. Maybe there's something wrong with me. As there was no one around, I shifted back to my previous position.

"This is not your imagination, child." The same voice uttered out.

I shot up for the second time, then looked nervously at my surroundings again. But there was still no one around! What kind of sorcery is this?!

"Who are you?" It sounded like a man's voice, but I'm not too sure either.

"Do you wish to know me?" He asked, his voice louder than before, "Then I must show myself."

Oh God, is he a ghost? I was not a big fan of horror. I thought it would be better to skip his offer. "N-no!" I retorted, "D-don't show up!"

"Why? Isn't it you who ask who I am?" He sounded a little shocked to hear my refusal.

"Y-you are a ghost, aren't you?" I asked restlessly.

"You think I am a ghost?" He inquired with an amused voice.

I nodded unknowingly, "Y-yes, so please don't come out."

"What if I want to show up?" He laughed. This man was clearly teasing me.

"I will run away," I stood up, readying myself in case he really did show up. As I raised my body, a figure appeared out of thin air. I gasped and closed my eyes before I knew what he looked like.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH," I turned around and ran straight ahead without knowing where I was headed to. I ran with my eyes still closed, scared that he might appear in front of me out of nowhere. But being the usual unlucky person I am, one of my legs tripped over the other, causing me to fall flat on the ground.

"Pfft!" that obviously came from the ghost. He let out a loud laugh which made my face redden due to anger, or... embarrassment. "You are a funny kid, aren't you?" He asked in between his laughter.

I stood up but still didn't dare to look back at the ghost. He could have looked frightening, for all I know. Bloody face, one-handed, ripped mouth, empty eye shells, burned—

"I can hear your thoughts, you know," he said after he finally stopped laughing. What? He could read my thoughts? He IS a ghost!

"As I said, I'm not a ghost! Such a persistent kid," he huffed. "Turn around. Then you will be convinced that I'm not a ghost. I swear I don't look hideous."

I contemplated whether or not to turn around. My eyes were now slightly open, but then he appeared right in front of me before I decided to see him myself.

"Ack!" I closed my eyes again with both of my hands, "Don't appear out of nowhere!"

Both of my hands were jerked off of my face. "Open your eyes," he commanded.

I begrudgingly open my eyes, little by little, before completely opening them. And what I saw surprised me. The man in front of me was not scary looking at all. Instead, he looked pretty decent, just like a normal human being.

His head was covered with long red hair. A pair of amber eyes stared boringly at mine. His face was sculpted like that of a statue, big eyes, sharp nose, plump lips. Almost per—

"I am perfect," he smirked, "See? I'm no ghost. There's no ghost as handsome as me," he flicked his smooth hair to his back, a presumptuous look sprawled across his face.

"Stop reading my mind!" I glowered, "That's an invasion of privacy!"

"Well, it's not my fault I'm that great," he bragged. This arrogant little—

"Anyway, I have been trying to talk to you, but it seems something is blocking our connection."

"You haven't answered my question. Who are you?" I asked again, this ghost—

"For the third time, I'm not a gho—"

"Stop getting into my mind!" Aside from his good looks, there was nothing good about him—especially that attitude of his.

"Well, I can't help it!" He bellowed, "I was born with that power, okay?" I scowled at him but remained quiet. I needed explanations. "I can't say who I am before our connection reopened," I stared at him with disbelief, "But we will soon meet again. Maybe here, or maybe in your world."

He snapped his finger, and soon, we were transported to a different place. How did he do that?! We were in a green field just a second ago, and now we were on top of a cliff. "Keep your questions to yourself."

"I did! I didn't ask you any questions! You are the one who heard it yourself!" This guy keeps reading my—

He pulled my hand, dragging me towards the end of the cliff, "Now, you should go back."

"Wha—" Before I could even ask him any questions, he pushed my shoulder backward, causing me to fall into the pit, "AAAAHHHHHHH!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, this ghost!! I couldn't believe he just pushed me!! From a cliff!!

I lifted my eyes open with a gasp. My breath was heavy as I'd just fallen from a cliff, or so I thought. I looked at my surroundings and noticed I was back, no longer on that cliff and instead was in my room.

What? That was a dream? A one hell of a dream, indeed. It felt so vivid, especially when I was pushed off by that arrogant ghost. I couldn't believe there was someone as aggravating as him in this world. God must be having a hard time dealing with his annoying ass.

I glanced at my wall clock, to see it was now one in the afternoon. I didn't really have anything to do right now, and I didn't feel sick. Maybe I could go to Luke's office to help him with some work. There was still a pile of paper work when we finished working yesterday.

I promptly changed into more proper attire, then traveled to his office right away. I looked around and my surroundings were just like the usual, no one in sight. Sometimes I wonder if this place was actually a grave. I rarely saw anyone around besides the maids and servants. It was such a waste for a manor this big to not be lived by people. It could fit at least fifty people, or maybe more.

As I walked to the office, I noticed something was slightly off. I heard loud murmurs around me. It was usually quiet, as I said before. So this sudden change piqued my interest. I followed the source of the murmurs and noticed they came from the training grounds. The training grounds were located at the back of the building, so a voice that loud could obviously be heard by anyone near it.

I walked towards the training grounds and finally could see what the ruckus was all about. But what I saw made me stop in my tracks. I saw a bunch of... naked bodies. They were giggling and having the usual chit-chat, but some of them were kind of tackling each other. I unconsciously let out a little shriek at what was in front of me.

It seemed that my presence was known to someone as I heard footsteps coming from behind me. "Violet?" I turned around and saw a flabbergasted Luke. Fortunately, he was clothed, "What are you doing here?" He took a glance at me and what was behind me.

"S-sir, I was going to go to your office but I heard some noises so I came here to check on it but.. a-am I interrupting something?" My cheeks warmed up at the sight I saw before.

"No! You are not interrupting anything! Uhh... you see it's not like what you think it is," he stuttered. The fact that he stuttered while explaining was not very convincing. Not wanting to make the situation worse, he held my hand and dragged me away from the unseemly place. We went to the garden of roses, away from people.

"So... what happened back there was uh... a tradition! Yes! A tradition!" He had a very perplexed look as he explained.

"Yes... okay," I nodded but was still not convinced.

"Anyway! You said you wanted to go to my office. Why?" He quickly changed the topic, so that I won't ask any more questions about his... tradition. But I complied and decided to not ask further.

"I don't have anything to do, so I thought I could help you with some work."

"How is your body holding up?"

"I'm fine, sir. You don't need to be worried about me." He stared at me with a sympathetic gaze and I knew he was feeling guilty again about what happened, "It's not your fault, really." I smiled at him.

He nodded, "Do you want to go somewhere? I could use a company."

"Where?"

"You'll see." He smiled, "I'll go get a carriage ready. You should change into thicker clothes."

I nodded and went back to my room to put on a coat. I walked out of the house to see a carriage was ready. "Shall we?" Luke held out his hand and I took it on my own. He helped me up into the carriage before stepping inside.

The carriage soon departed and we went our way. Luke seemed to be focused on his mind, so I didn't bother to start a conversation. I was actually still curious about his tradition, but he didn't seem to want to share his knowledge with me.

"Violet," he called out, "I have been thinking, can you just call me by my name?"

That was what he was so focused on? "Can I?"

"Of course you can. Call me Luke. Try it." He stared at me with an expectant look, making me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

I opened my mouth to call him but soon closed it again. His gaze made it hard for me to call him! I don't know why I was shy to call him by his name. I was too used to calling him as sir.

"I'm listening." Why was he so eager to hear me call his name? His gaze stayed glued to me, with no intention of leaving soon.

"You are staring too hard, sir. It's hard for me to call you by your name if you look at me so expectantly."

He laughed softly, "Then I won't look. You can call now." He looked away to the outside of the carriage, but I could feel his attention was still on me.

I breathed in and out a few times before calling him, "L-Luke."

His eyes made their way to mine and his face lit up in delight. "Yes, Violet," a broad smile decorated his handsome face, and I felt my cheeks rise in temperature. Why was this so hard to do, I wonder.

I scooted to the window, distancing our bodies further. I was embarrassed, so I tried to hide it from him, despite being in the same small space.

"We have been living together for a week now, but we haven't learned about each other. Shall we play a game of truth? We can learn about each other better that way," he smiled dashingly.

I nodded my head, as there was no reason to reject his offer. After all, we also didn't have anything to do while we were on our way.

"You can ask me a question first," he offered.

What question should I ask? I was not particularly curious about him, so it took me some time to ask him my first question.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"I'm twenty-four," he answered, "What about you?"

"I'm seventeen," It was pretty surprising to know he was seven years older than me. Sure, he did look manly, but I didn't expect him to be much older.

"Hmm," he nodded, "Your next question?"

"Your favorite food?" He chuckled at my question. I guess my questions were boring. But I don't know what to ask! Besides, even if these were all basic questions, I still didn't know the answer to them all.

It was now that I realized I didn't know anything about him. But it was probably the same for Luke. We didn't know anything about each other. He could be a serial killer for all I know, so it was better for us to play this game and get to know one another.

"Hmm... hard question," he stared at me, "Mine is probably yo—chicken." What was he trying to say?

This game of truth continues until we arrive at our destination. I didn't ask where we were going to, so when I stepped out of the carriage, my face beamed with happiness almost immediately.

"A festival!"

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