Street Signs

Chapter 29

BRIELLE

A cold night, a lucid moon, heaven's eyes shone in the black as a divine watchful mother. It was the type of coldness that reached into my bones, as if my heart was a door left wide open to the icy wind, slamming only to open again. The only thing to do was keep moving, keep heading toward the street. The sky was a rolling blanket of cloud the color of wet ash, and the ground had its dank reflection. Each step became a prayer for Zayden as I walk, seeing the light from the ground where I last saw him lying.

I stood firm as I looked down on the ground. This time, I was stronger but somehow guilty for escaping again after the good talk with my dad. I just could not stop myself from not doing anything, knowing that things were still left hanging. There was no concrete answer. There was still no resolution. How could I dare to shut my mouth when some of my loved ones were still suffering?

However, I had never forgotten the signs I got from this street. I might be silent for their eyes for some days, but I didn't completely remove my mind from this matter. Every night and day, wherever I'd go and whatever I'd do, I would think of these signs. However, I believed that I wouldn't be able to explain everything just through me and my thoughts, I would be needing someone to help me out in this. I needed that someone who created these signs.

The cold air breeze touched my skin as I sat and touched the ground. There was complete silence in Abbey since I was the only person staying there. Though it was past midnight already, the lights were still open, giving way for me to clearly see the way and every detail that was there.

It had been weeks since I last visited Abbey, and the first sign I saw there was also the last. I came here because I was hoping to see another sign again. I wanted new information since I was outdated these days. Even when I visited Uncle Hernand and Aunt Yadora, I didn't ask about Zayden's case because I knew it would just add up to the melancholic atmosphere.

Still bowing my knees, I took my phone from the pocket of my jacket and went back to the text I received from a hidden number. "THEMSELVES UPON BACK TURNED INTENT THEIR HAVE ONES LOVED MY AND ME HARM TO SEEK WHO THOSE," that when reversed would become, "THOSE WHO SEEK TO HARM ME AND MY LOVED ONES HAVE THEIR INTENT TURNED BACK UPON THEMSELVES."

Until now I was still getting confused with these texts and I could not think of a concrete answer. I might have an opinion about this, but it was neither right nor wrong. If ever the number was not hidden, I should have been texted it right after I received these letters. However, it seemed that I must be the one to find out the missing pieces of this puzzle.

And to the sign that I first saw in this street, I could think it had a significant connection to the texts I had received. Going back to the sign I saw here, the symbol was a circle with a moon-like figure on its side. A line was placed at the center of it, and on its left side were two lines also, that had different sizes. At first, I decided to take a picture of it, so I could show it to someone I know, but as I was capturing it, a light appeared again. The light seemed to be writing something on the ground and beside the sign. I just observed it until it was done curving the message. I found it hard to read the letters because of their cute font size, so I leaned my face closer to the ground just to see them. When I was finally done reading them, my eyebrows puckered in confusion and disbelief. "A SIGN FOR ZAYDEN'S DEATH."

For a person who did not believe in magic or paranormal things, it was too hard for me to believe at first. But because things just happened in an unexplainable way, I tried to comprehend, and later came up with the idea that perhaps this world was a fantasy. This was also the reason why I did not become exaggerated the moment I entered Serinokuni. I was a little shocked, but that was also the time that I got amazed because magic did really exist.

It was ridiculous to think because when I was a child, I only heard magic in stories and only saw it in movies. I could still remember one of those nights, my mom told me a story that involved magic and supernatural powers, she told me that these were one of the things that she would be glad to have.

But, going back...

Thinking of the sign that appeared on the ground of this street, I could think it did not come with an ordinary person or should I say, a human. Most likely, it was from a different creature, perhaps also looking like a human, but with magic. If that was the case, then everything that might be happening involved the supernatural. It might be a crazy standpoint, but it might be real. Also knowing that Zayden's cases such as his death and loss of his remnant were unknown and mysterious, these things might have been done by an immortal creature.

I had never thought I would be in this weird situation.

As I looked back to the picture of the sign I had captured before, the wind became even stronger; the leaves started falling. So far, I only showed this photo to Aunt Yadora, and even she didn't know the meaning of this. But if I would be looking deeply at it, the sign had its connection to the meaning of the text or probably the meaning of the sign was the text itself. If that was the case, then what did it want to illustrate?

The thoughts that were running inside my mind were like a train that had no plan to stop. I was confused because I needed to gain a greater perspective, to take a step back and see the wide-angle version. There was a lot more to see, little wonder I couldn't figure things out back then.

I was about to turn off my phone when in time, it rang. As soon as I knew that it was Queen who was calling, I answered it immediately. However, what had greeted me wasn't his voice but the noise that was coming from the crowd in the university. "Why is it so loud there?" I asked him.

"Oh my god, b***h! Where are you?"

"I'm in Abbey. What's happening there?"

"What are you doing there at this point in time?" he asked. "I thought you're also inside the laboratory! Oh my god, I can't believe this!"

I puckered my brow. "Why, what's happening?"

"Is it your team who planned a ghost hunt?"

"Yeah, why?"

"They were all locked in the laboratory. They are shouting there, saying that the nun is going to kill them! Why did Cheveyo even permit you to do that nonsense f*****g activity, bitch."

My jaw dropped, but I had doubts if it was real.

"By the way, what are you doing in Abbey? You better go home now because it's too dangerous for you to stay there all alone. Do you have someone with you, huh?"

"None," I answered.

"That's what I'm saying," he tsk-tsked. "Get home now, b***h! Don't stay there. I'll see you tomorrow. It's going intense here!"

I did not move from my place for some time because I was a little bothered by the news in the university. When I ended the call, there were still shouts there or some were cries already. However, I did not believe that my team had seen the nun because it might just be a prank for them to catch the attention of the crowd. Just by the moment I entered the laboratory, I knew none would show up. Even in the basement, the nun was not there because the stares I saw there probably came from the one who had been following me.

It wasn't a ghost, but I believed it was an immortal.

However, if it was indeed that I was being chased by an immortal, for what reason? Was it connected to everything that was happening? Was it even related to Zayden's death? Or, was it just me who was the reason for every event that was passing?

The stares I had seen in the basement was as the same as what I had seen in the caves. Before I leave there, I caught it but it disappeared right away. Those stares were not as if they had a bad purpose, but it was more of being watchful. In those eyes, there was no evilness nor kindness, more of neutralness.

Hallucination or not, perhaps those stares were also a sign.

I turned my phone back to my pocket and wandered my eyes all around the street. I just felt a sudden touch of my hair that I knew didn't come from the wind but from the shadow that had been wandering since I came here.

It must be the same shadow I first saw here. Why did it keep on following me?

That shadow as well... was it the one who stared?

I was still roaming around my eyes secretly at every side when my bracelet lighted, a fascinating white, as the strands of my hair had been blown by the strong wind. There was something puzzling me, enough to send my hand to my brightened bracelet just in case. Perhaps I was being warned by it that someone was just behind me.

Someone was really behind me.