Chapter 36 - 37. Dark
I tried to free myself from something wrapped me tightly. I kicked, and punched, but it was elastic. It would always go to previous shape so fast. I screamed several times, but my voice was swollen back without reaching out.
I heard something exploded several times near me, cruel laughs from someone and hard pounding sounds. After some time, it went still, so quiet, slowly the thing that covering me opened and I was so shocked to see what was presented in front of me. The Manjis was standing face to face over a mutilated body. I was sure the pieces of mutilated body belonged to the woman who chased me previously. It looked like they were discussing something because they were unaware of me looking at them for quite some time.
And slowly the thing that blanketed me flew and united with one of the body standing there. She looked at me and smiled, "the flowers you gave us were so beautiful," she said.
"We cannot take them for free," said another one with taller posture. "Men are usually very greedy and deceit us. They would ask more than they gave to us. But you are so different," she walked toward me slightly staggered like commonly old grandmothers. "We didn't want someone has vision like our late sister was killed. We came to do what we could do." It was the last words before their bodies were finally brought away by the wind.
Distinctively I heard Mickey's bell clattering. Soon he showed us by the alley. He was so shocked looking at the body's condition in front of me.
"Come on, let us go!," I snatched him in my arms and took him away from that place as quickly as possible. "Where is Kerberos?" I asked him while running.
"He said there was a problem in the spirit realm. Recently many people are willing to trade spirits but they cancel it in the end." Explained the tubby cat.
…
Emma asked me to close the shop for two days. Somehow I was still coming to the shop to take care of the flowers there. The two storey building felt so quiet. Mickey was sleeping on the cash register desk, while Kerberos helped me watering and fertilizing the plants.
I took a long deep breath and breathed it out slowly to relieve the stress. The last few days felt so much horrible. It seemed like my normal life turned for 1800. Today the Manjis came to rescue. I think they are actually good," I remembered they said that I reminded them of her late sister. "Sometimes, I think they are like a double edge knife. If you use them for good deeds, they will be useful, but if you use them for bad things, they are very dangerous,"
"Yes, that what they are," Kerberos replied. "They are weapon," he added. "The Manjis are supposed to live in the underworld with me, they came from hell. Their bodies were made of dust and ashes of the burning there. There were two burning materials, very dark rocks and human. That why the Manjis know well all kinds of sins the human made and their characters." This was the new information for me. "Both their eye balls were taken away from them but not their heart. The purpose is to give fair justice without seeing the physical conditions of human, their status, and their face so that they don't take pity an adhere to what human ask them to do. But some day they will be relieved from that duty and lifted to the world." I listened to the long explanation of that spirit realm keeper.
"I really think they are not totally blind," that was my conclusion from what I had experienced with them.
"You are right, Miss. Their eyes are blind, but their hearts are not. They know how to pay back and how to thank," Kerberos walked toward me. "I can see they like you, Miss."
I did not say yes or no to what Kerberos said, a short message came, it was from Emma. She said that she would stay at her brother's house until the next day. She asked me to cancel all the deliveries out of town until she got a driver to replace Miko. I could not imagine how her heart state at the moment, two people closed to her life had died at the same time.
I closed the shop as soon as my jobs were completed, and was ready to leave. When we walked with Kerberos and Mickey, a crowd in front of an alley attracted my attention. It was the alley where that lady was killed this morning. Somebody had found her body I guessed.
I turned around and decided to find another alternative way to go home. I did not want to get involve with the police again, or something else that would draw broader public attention .
That was like what I thought, though. In a pretty short time, the finding of mutilated body was soon spread in internet so massively. I tried to ignore it and pretended not to know it at all.
"I want to go Mr. Oka. Would you two come along with me?" I suddenly wanted to meet Zie.
Mickey and Kerberos did not reply me, they just kept following me to the nearest bust stop. So I assumed they agreed with me.
In the bus we were so quiet. I wished the bus speeded faster so that I could reach the place sooner. I brought some food of our favorite and hoped Zie would like it too.
"Kid, do you live somewhere near that bus stop?" someone asked me.
"No, but I work somewhere near that place," I told him.
"is it true that in the last two days, murder took place near there?" I frowned, felt like I was being interrogated and I did not like it.
"Yes," and I planned to stop the talk.
"Is that true that the wizards are behaving again?" someone behind me wanted to join the talk.
That was too much. I hated it. So I chose not to reply and turned my attention to the view outside the bus window. Ignoring them was the best choice I supposed.
We were arriving at the bus stop near the tourist destination. We walked along the street until we reached two big trees that was like a gate , then we walked into the forest.
Today the weather was really cold. The mist was going down slowly covering the path at our front. My visibility was so short that I stumbled on something several times. Mickey complained that the road we walked on was so slippery. Moss growing on rocks and fallen trees blocking our way made our walk really hard. To the worst, it started drizzling.
"Kerberos, take us fly please, this is too hard for me," Mickey moaned.
I did not want them to argue so grabbed Mickey and kept walking.
My feet kept walking, until finally faintly I heard someone was laughing. I stopped and turned to Kerberos. "Is this path for hiking, too?"
Kerberos stopped walking, he seemed to realize of something. "I am sure this is not the route for hikers," he said.
We chose to ignore that voice and continue our walking following the paths without taking down vigilance.
…