Chapter 64 - 65. A Piece Of My Memory
"Hm?," He seemed to crack his memory to reply to me, "I guess there was, but I am not sure with the color," He opened a jar of the sweets he bought and ate it.
I took some shots of every angle in this park. I just felt that among all the parks I had visited, this one had the closest description from Antonie.
"What are you doing?" Erick's question did not halt me to keep taking some shots.
"Taking photos," I replied shortly while making sure that I missed nothing of this area in my camera.
"Tha, this is Zie's place...," He hung up his words so that I turned to him and he gave me saw him was signaling a shot.
"Yeah, I know," I nodded fast.
"You don't plan any silly and odd things with those photos, do you?" Erick used an observant tone.
I pushed a smile but I knew it was a stiff one, "No," I tried to convince him, "Don't think negatively toward me," I pretended to be upset and punched his arm lightly.
…
When we were about to leave the park, there was an odd feeling of losing attack me, feeling as though there were a lot of things were left behind. I turned my head to the park again for the umpteenth time before I went into the car.
A young man was standing in front of the entrance, he was in his school uniform and he waved his hand to me when the car was slowly leaving the area. It might be just a piece of my memory from the past.
"This place has changed a lot," I broke the silence, the car was running at medium speed so that I could observe the views along the streets. I felt like I never knew my own birth city with all the things in it.
Erick cleared his throat, "There are a lot of new buildings around here, and many of the old ones have been changed into shops," He said.
Formerly, there were a lot of European-style buildings around this area, but now all have been changed into modern styles and shopping areas.
"it looks like I haven't been home for so long time," Erick's laughter broke out and echoed that small area in the car once I said so.
"So you just realized it." His words mocked me, "It has been nine years, for now, you stopped coming here. That is including two years of your rehabilitation," He looked at me for a second, then he was back focusing on the street, "I really hope you get over from that trauma," I smiled sadly listening to him, "If it were me, I would not know how long it would take to lead a normal life like you now, going back to school as if it has never happened," I could not know if it was praise or a mock, but I was grateful to have a friend like him.
"Actually I haven't gotten over it a hundred percent, yet," I denied his presumption, "I just thought that if I let myself down too long, it would not change anything for my side," He gave me a thumb up in response.
…
As we had agreed that I had to report all of the results of my investigation to Azalea, I planned to go to that dimension this morning. At five in the morning, I left with Kerberos and Hana. It was half-past six when we arrived in front of the portal of the wizard world.
"I am doubtful if what I have done will be useful and will meet Miss Azalea's expectations," I told Kerberos and Hana about what was bothering me as we walked out the portal and walked along with the ruins that became familiar landscape in this dimension. I could not imagine if it was not in Euron.
"We must not give up, Tha," Hanna was trying to console me, "We simply have to try before knowing the outcome,"
I nodded, "Yes, you are right," I said. We were getting closer to where Azalea lived.
When we arrived, Azalea was waiting for me in front of the gate, "I thought you would run away," She teased me.
I just smile, "I am not a coward who runs away from his responsibility. I am not such a person," I said, "I want to meet Antonie now, can I?" I requested to her, "If what I have found out is not the one he has in his memory, then I have to go back and search,"
Azalea asked me to follow her, like the previous time. It was just I was put into Antonie's cage this time.
Antonie who was aware of my coming was surprised to see me. He just looke at me as if to say, 'you again'.
"What now?" He asked with a mocking face, "I am confused with you. If Zarina is someone who could get away from here, you are the first person who is coming in and out of this place with some kind of illogical reasons, I guess," this time he sounded upset.
I snorted, taking out photos I collected with Emma that had been printed, "Look at these!" I interrupted, feeling irritated, "o you still remember which playground you always see in your dreams?" I arranged the photos in a way that would be easy for Antonie to see. He looked at the pictures I spread in front of him seriously.
"It seems this is the place I saw in my dreams," he said as he took one of them and gave it to me, "The slide is similar to the one in this picture," It was the first park I visited, "But as far as I remember the color is not blue," He started checking the other pictures. then, suddenly he was quiet, "Where did you get these ones?" He said, next he picked up three sheets at once.
"That is the playground near my old school," I looked at him in confusion.
He looked at those pictures very seriously, "There are twins who were playing swings and one smaller kid, perhaps he was their younger sibling," He said then he put the photos down in front of me, "In this place, there was a slide. A rather fat boy and a girl playing over here," His hand handed out a picture of a row of benches in that park.
"There was a young man and a girl were sitting on that bench and eating their bread," and this time he gave a photo exactly like he was telling me, the benches were under the tree.
"When I came, I heard an ear-shattering explosion from a pistol. And when I looked around, I saw that young man fell down in front of that girl," Antonie spoke seriously, not like usually, "Not long after that I heard the second explosion. This time one of the twins was shot, he fell down from the swing. And the third explosion, that fat boy was lying on the ground. Blood was everywhere. Someone shot them."
Thud. I felt as if I was smashed with a hammer belonging to the hero character of a movie played in cinema at that time, "Were you there at that time?" I wanted to make sure.
"A man was holding a gun and set fire to three of them. That young man was shot in the head, the fat boy and one of the twin were in their heart," He looked at as if to say 'I just saw that incident'
For the coming pause, I got confused about what to say. I stared at him in disbelief so I decided to tell him, "I am the girl who was on that bench," I wanted him to know that I was there when that horrifiying incident took place, "Meanwhile, the young man who was shot in the head is the one whose spirit is in the marionette. He is sealed by the immortality spell.
Mixed between confusion and disbelief, he asked me, "Did you see me at that time?"
"No," I replied, "But there was another person in thereat that time, and you did not say it," I corrected his words, "He was a wizard, a friend of my father. He was the one who killed all those kids, the innocent kids, they did not even know him. he just came out of the blue, then massacred them without any reasons," I said angrily.
"I did not see the doer," Said Antonie, after trying to recall something, "When I came, I just heard three explosions, the next, three kids had already fallen on the ground," If so, he was a very lucky person compared with me. Because in the end, he lost his memory about that horrific incident, he did not need to feel anything. Besides that, he did not know anyone in that place.
"you are very lucky," I envied him a lot, "After that incident, I had to go on rehabilitation for almost two years.. I suffered from trauma, afraid of loud noise, especially from an explosion, balloon explosion, or anything," I took a deep breath, gasping for air, filling up my lungs that suddenly felt tight.