Chapter 122 - 123. The Reason
Chapter 122 – 123. The Reason
A few more minutes had passed, then the creature began to show some movement. It paced back and forth in front of the door just like a human. Nevertheless, as the tips of its feet were just thin layers of smoke that were almost transparent it made it look like it was just floating. It seemed to be waiting for someone or something from the inside of the house.
Some more minutes had passed before I finally saw one person come out of that house. The person was a woman who was probably only a little bit older than me. She got another woman who appeared older, probably her mother delivered her from the gate as she was about to leave she said. "Bye Mom, I'm leaving." She said.
I couldn't help but to hear their conversation as that daughter said goodbye to her mother and her mother told her to come home before nine in the evening.
The creature observed every slightest movement that the daughter made even after she was quite far away, and so did the mother. Just right after the mother closed the gate and I could hear she locked the key, the creature walked toward the daughter; it probably had the intention to follow her.
I tried to be as calm as possible while the creature was walking near me. I closed my nose and my eyes tightly because the foul smell that was even more awful than before wafted up immediately as it was approaching.
A few moments later after some more time had passed; I finally braced myself to exhale some breath out and inhaled some fresh air while I was trying to slowly open my eyes. The creature was gone somewhere. It was just disappeared. I thought it was somewhere following that woman. I just chose to ignore it, then I immediately got up and ran out of the house alley.
When I was still there stood still and I was still feeling confused between chasing it or just going home, I stopped in front of the gate of the house and I accidentally saw a black eyeball that was lying on the ground that wasn't far from there. I felt so disgusted and it triggered my nausea up to the verge of I needed to hold myself together as it felt like something from my stomach was rising up into my throat. Couldn't help it, I threw up right where I was standing. The lingered foul stench from the creature only made things go even worse.
I ran to the ditch that wasn't far from the gate of the house, trying to finish the vomiting that just wouldn't stop, and kept going until someone came to help me. There was an officer; a policewoman that was on her was to do her regular patrol. She gave me a drink and asked me to sit on the terrace of one of the houses.
"Are you drunk?" She just helped me but then she asked harshly.
"Well no, officer, I'm not drunk!" I denied her accusation quickly. I didn't realize it that I was crying because I was so scared, I was petrified I even breathed heavily. "It!" I pointed to the black eyeball that was lying right in front of the door. "There!" I kept pointing it at her, hoping she would understand. However, the cop seemed to be confused about what I meant.
"What's in there?" She repeated. I was confused about how could I explain it to her and I was thinking that I didn't want to get involved with the police anymore. I chose to leave and I was running away immediately, ignoring the police officer that shouted at me so many times.
Winter and Mirai looked at me with a surprised stare when I came. There weren't only the two of them as apparently, Rey was also here. Rey didn't even tell me beforehand concerning the visit. "What are you doing, Tha?" Rey asked after I put the shoes on the shoe shelf.
"Getting caught by the police, daily struggle, what would you expect?" I tried to be funny, hoping the situation wouldn't get worse. All of them just laughed instantly, all of them except for Winnter who remained silent. She kept looking at me with her strange stare, then followed me upstairs to my bedroom.
"Tha, just stop there for a second!" She shouted as I was just about to open my bedroom door, such a tone full of an exclamation, not surprising it sounded more like an order I just couldn't ignore. "There's something I need to talk to you. Can you do that tomorrow? But just please don't take Mirai with you, Rey will take her for a walk tomorrow." I didn't even say anything to reply and I just nodded in agreement then went into my bedroom.
…
The atmosphere and vibes surrounding us during the dinnertime between the three of us were just too quiet, it was such an unbearable silence. Rey just went back home after taking all of the belongings from my sibling's bedroom. I was the one who asked it that way because Mirai would be occupying that room. I had the habit of pulling all-nighters and staying up so very late until the morning and it disturbed that teenage girl up to the point where my habit made her have sleep deprivation so she got sleepy so easily that she often fell asleep during the day. So that was the reason why I decided that she would sleep in her own room from now on.
"I met Azalea yesterday" Winter suddenly said. "Another member of our team was killed after being attacked by Aras. We have to get that team member back as soon as possible before things get even worse."
"Can we please just talk about this matter later at least after we finished having our dinner?" I kindly asked her with a smile. I understood that what she was telling was important nevertheless I didn't feel like it was just didn't seem right to say it now during dinner time.
Winter's expression immediately changed. I didn't know where did I go wrong and what kind of bad deeds I was possibly had done to her that she acted this way; she was severely annoyed, looked so pissed off like she was always seemed to be angry with me, and wanted to mess with me these days. I got the feeling she was always emotional with me after I followed her to the park that night. I was sure that she must have known that I was stalking her back then. Her senses were very sharp—except for the sense of smell—and it must have been very easy for her to detect my presence back then that time.
I washed all the dishes and cleared the table after we finished eating. Winnter sat beside Mirai while waiting for me to finish the work, and, I immediately joined them after finishing.
"Azalea asked our team to be more serious about bringing the creature back," Winnter said in a firm tone. "Frankly speaking, we haven't been able to search for it due to lack of time after being fully absorbed in each other's various activities and business." She looked at me with such an unpleasant look. "Tha, I understand that you have a human life." She said it with a tone that was different than she was using at me last time. She used an exclamation tone as if it was an order for me; now she was using a tone that sounded as if it was a warning. "I do understand it but you have to remember that we have the work to do too."
I couldn't answer all of those questions right now because I knew that this wasn't the right time especially due to the fact that Mirai was also here. Maybe I should just give up this time. "I apologize that I haven't been able to manage my schedule for these past few days, because there was always a meeting after the teaching schedule was over." I just gave it in not because I wanted to, but I didn't want to trigger an argument in front of a teenage girl, and I knew there were things that had to be justified in this situation.
"I'll try to get us to catch Aras faster," I added. "and oh Winnter, you have to remember it too that we won't be able to bring it back. We know it already the reason why it is here. It's here because of that creature. If we force it to go back by force, then I'm sure that you know the result already know the result." I just wanted to make my point by clarifying and highlighting the fact because I wanted that woman to understand that we were no match at all for that horned creature.