Chapter 102 - 103. Wedding Invitation
I arrived at school a bit late. I contacted Winnter and Mirai to eat out because I had no time to cook. Thank goodness, Rey had brought some food. Ery called me and nagged me from A-Z because I was summoned again by the police without telling him. Of course, the news spread so quickly and came to his ears.
"Tha, is that true that Mirien was alive again before she finally died?" His voice lowered like whispering.
"I don't know," I didn't want to say anything to that hot mouth because I knew it would spread so fast from him. "I can't tell you everything Ery. I'm sorry." I hung up the phone.
Things ran very smoothly today. Some teachers still asked me about the progress of the case because it was not yet exposed to the public which meant it was not yet finished. They looked interested in that incident no matter what their reasons were. I tended to avoid them and went home quickly once my classes were over even though it was not time to go home yet.
When I reached my home, my mother was waiting for me. I was surprised at her coming because she didn't notify me of her coming. "Finally you decided to live here." Her voice was cold.
Before I could reply to her, Winnter went out from the door and would open the gate for me. She looked at me and my mother in a bewildered look. I ignored her confusion and gestured to her to hurriedly unlock the gate.
"Whos she?" My mother asked. She looked at Winnter with an observing. "You don't pick up a troublemaker at home again, do you?"
Winnter didn't seem to bother it. She went inside straight away.
"She is a friend," I replied short and left her outside.
She followed me and sat on the sofa in the family room. Meanwhile, Winnter took Mirai out of the room. "Tha, I'm going out for a minute," She whispered to me, " I don't like that witch," She quipped.
"Please, be back before night. There is something I want to talk about with you," She nodded and walked out without saying anything to my mother.
"As I remember, you have another friend, besides that boy, the keeper of this house. She said as if she was trying to recall something.
'Is it Zie or Emma she is talking about?' I was wondering.
"His name is Zie. Where is he?" She finally came up with that after some moment. "You kept talking about him as if no other topics suited you." She looked a bit annoyed this time.
Being confused as well as happy having seen someone else was still able to remember Zie, I asked her over curiosity. "Why are you looking for Zie?"
"Leave it," She cut it short to change the topic. "Tell me, do you plan to live here or back in that small house? If you don't want to live here, I'm going to sell it. I'm here for that. This house is too awful to keep." I knew what she wanted to tell me. The house kept too many memories for us. Besides, my brother ever told me that it was my father who designed it.
"You just want to clarify what has been done and given by father, don't you?" I sought an agreement. "I will live here, but I plan to study next year so I may go home only once in a few weeks. I don't want to sell this house." There was no fear nor doubt when I said all I wanted this time.
She looked at me flatly, Then, she got up from her chair. "Fine, if that is what you want." Then she left without saying goodbye to me.
We never had such a good relationship. This made me confused and unable to understand the way of thinking of any of this family. I didn't know what kind of bond tied us. There was no care or whatever it was towards one another in a place called family.
I saw her get into her car and leave without even saying anything to me. As soon as she was out of my sight, I contacted Winnter and asked her to come back. There were lots of things to discuss with her.
Apparently, my mother left something on the table, but I wasn't sure when she exactly did it. It was a wedding invitation from my father. Mother wanted me to come to that wedding with my brother. I stood still unable to absorb what the two adults were thinking about.
I dumped that innocent card in the rubbish bin and decided never to see it. when I was about to go to my room my phone beeped. It was my brother that sent me messages. He said that mother sent something via courier to his workplace. It was the same invitation card sent to me and a message for us to come to that wedding.
"Tha, will you come?" My brother asked.
"Where to come?" I asked back, behaving innocently.
"Didn't she send you father's wedding invitation?" He sounded confused. "or is it only me who got it?"
"it seems that I received nothing." I lied to him. "Brother, is the card from paper?" I tested him.
"Sure it is. What else do you think it is made of?" He sounded annoyed with my joke.
"Hm, isn't paper combustible? It's better if you burn it. I believe the fire would love it." I said straight to the point and hung up.
Winnter came along with Mirai. I could see them breathless due to running home.
"She has left already?" asked Mirai. Her eyes were brushing the whole parts of the house.
"She is my mom," Her face was shocked all of sudden.
"Wow?" She seemed to disbelieve me. "Sorry for that, then."
…
Three of us were in my room, watching a recorder I got from the chief police officer this afternoon. At first, he did not allow me but I didn't know why he finally allowed me to take it home.
We watched the clips of that CCTV recorder several times, twice or three times. There was something odd that made us confused. "Was it the same person?"
Mirien was with me until twelve midnight, but the autopsy claimed that she died before I came. "Winnter, is it possible a dead person can get back to life? You have ever lived with wizards, I believe you know about immortality spell belonged to Anthonie, right?"
Winnter was silent before she finally replied. "Meaning?"
"Forget it." I didn't want to talk about it. It was a pretty tiring day for me.
…
That night, three of us including Mickey started the search. The tubby insisted on joining us because he was curious about Aras. And I could not stop him because he got support from Mirai.
I thought I would search along the forest or some sort of place where many animals would likely be, but I was wrong. Winnter took us along an area beyond my prediction. "I heard his horns were here this afternoon," She was quite confident, "I was about to run after it, but you know what happened next, right?" It was city drainage.
"How come an animal bigger than a horse going into this tunnel?" I was sceptical as it was illogical for me. It should have been a much better place." I hated dark and narrow places like that.
But when we reached the bottom, it was not as narrow as I had imagined before. "Now I know if that creature fits in here." I turned on the flashlight I had prepared, and so did Winnter.
Winnter gave earmuffs to put on. "When I say put on, you simply do that and don't take them off—no matter what happened. You got me?!" We nodded as the reply. I felt there was something unusual about her but I didn't know exactly what it was.
She walked in front of us and asked us to keep our mouths shut. Perhaps she was trying to hear a certain sound. "The running water is disturbing me." She was a bit upset, while we were all quiet and stayed alert.
We kept walking for about twenty minutes. Faintly I heard wood knock familiar to my ears. "The knocks" Winnter was aware of that too as a matter of fact.
"Sister, can you turn on more torches? It is so dark." Mirai complained, distracting my attention.
A second after the complaint, the light slowly came out from Zent that was staying beside her. This way Zent looked like a glowing plume of gas in the shape of a bear. "Very well! You're the best!" that girl raised her thumb up to Zent.
"Smart Zent," I praised it.
"Tha, why do I always hear wood knocks anytime I am with you? Are you like that kid who has a big bear stalker or a giant penguin?!" Winnter looked upset with the knocks.