Come Closer

Chapter 32

FLASHBACK

Moorwave City

Lyena and James looked at the house that Lyena once called home. The door was locked, from the outside, and the windows were barred. The garden was filled with dry leaves, and the flower trees that once decorated the front were dead.

Lyena couldn’t believe how different it had become; the neighbors had been changed, the area seemed deserted, and her house had been abandoned. This much change in just a year? She couldn’t believe it.

“Come, let’s go in” James urged Lyena to go in, after he broke the lock. The door opened with a creaking sound, showing them the dusty, damp smelling dark inside.

Lyena felt that goosebumps were rising on her skin when she looked around. She trembled a little as she took in the forbidding atmosphere of the house.

James and Lyena jumped as the door was closed with a loud bang by the strong wind. “I’ll turn the lights on.” Lyena said in a low voice, instinctively becoming too scared to speak in her normal voice.

James ran his finger on the accumulated dust on the table. “She can’t be here anymore.” He sighed.

“But where can she go? This is the only place we had.”

“Cousins, maybe? Or friends?”

Lyena scoffed. “We lost contact with them after our parent’s death. She would never even think about going to them.”

“Did she have any friends?”

Lyena shook her head. “Not that I know of”

James gave a ‘done’ look at Lyena. “You must have been quite an asshole to her if you don’t even know her friends.”

Lyena glared at him, but soon looked down. “I know”

“Let’s ask around about her,” James suggested.

An old man wearing baggy clothes opened the door. James and Lyena took in his disheveled and dirty grey hair and the unkempt beard. “What do you want?” The man asked, more like yelled, and Lyena and James could sense the hostility of this man.

“I’m sorry to bother you sir, but do you know what happened to the girl who lived in that house?” Lyena asked, pointing a finger at her house. The man just leaned forward and craned his neck around the wall, not bothering to step out. “Dead,” the man said, showing his yellowish teeth.

Lyena blinked rapidly. “W-What?”

“Couldn’t you hear what I said?” The man glared at them, obviously displaying that he was not at all pleased at the two strangers turning up on his doorstep disturbing his peace and quiet.

“Sir, we’re just here to know what happened to the girl that lived there. Please, sir. Tell us.” James gathered his hands in front of him. The old man glared at them. “She was found dead in the river. Drowned. People buried her in the cemetery… Now go away! I have work to do.” The man shouted and pulled the door to close it.

“Wait, sir!” James placed his palm on the door and pushed it, and stopped the door from closing. “How do you know this?” The old man scoffed. “The woman who lived here told me. The girl hadn’t eaten for days, mourning over her lost sister. She was the one who identified the body of that girl.”

“Who took care of her body then?”

“The wretched woman that I mentioned.”

“Then how that house-”

“WE DON’T TALK ABOUT THAT GOD FORSAKEN PLACE! It is haunted! By the girl. We sealed it shut. It is better if you do not disturb the dead.” The old man shouted and after a pause he slammed the door close, in their faces.

Lyena looked at James with widened eyes. She clasped his arm with her trembling hands. “J-James?” Her breaths became shallow, and her legs no longer had the strength to hold her up. James was quick to take her in his embrace. “Let’s go.”

…………

They slowly walked among the grey stones searching for one name. The sun was going down, washing the ground of the deaf with its orange light. In the middle of long brown shadows, there stood a gravestone, bearing the name. ‘Avelyn Moore’. James and Lyena knelt in front of the grave.

It was awfully quiet. No flowers were placed in front of it. Avelyn laid, lonely and still.

Soft sobs escaped Lyena’s lips, and she could taste the salty tears that ran down her cheeks. Her whole body was shaking. And she stretched her hand to touch the engraved letters on the gravestone. “I’m sorry” She kept whispering.

“…I’m sorry.” It was the only thing that her mind could comprehend. What else was she supposed to say?

James placed his arm around her, rubbing her back, up and down.

FLASHBACK END.

Lyena slowly collapsed on to the sofa. Her head was hurting like someone was hammering her brain. Her eyebrows were gathered together in a frown. She was confused.

Is this Avelyn really her sister?

Then why has she changed so much?

Why didn’t she tell her that she was her sister?

James, who was sitting beside her, looked up as he heard the light knock on the door. “I’ve found something.” Noah walked in, as he just came from investigating Lyena’s house. He looked at Lyena, and took in the girl’s depressed state.

“What is this?” James asked when Noah gave him a phone. He turned the phone around and inspected it. “It’s an old mode.”

“You might want to look at the messages.” Noah took the phone back and showed James something.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find you.” James read the message out loud. Lyena took the phone from him. “This was my phone…..The message…it was sent by Avelyn.” Lyena wiped her tears from the back of her hand.

“Yes,” Noah said, “but the strange thing is, the date the message was sent.” He pointed at the screen. James gasped. “It is dated to after two months of Avelyn’s death!”

“What could be the meaning of this?” Lyena whispered. “So the Avelyn we met there is my sister!.... That means she is alive.” She got up smiling in relief. “She’s alive James! We need to find her.”

She looked at James, who was already shaking his head. “Why?” She glared at him. “Hayden only knows her name.”

“BUT WE SHOULD TRY! At least….”

James looked at Lyena for a moment. And it was Noah who took the first step to nudge him a bit. “James, we can do this. If she came to Hayden’s party, that means she is not a commoner. She must be someone with money, if not power.”

Lyena nodded at that. “Yes, we can take that as a starting point.”

And James finally nodded his approval. “You both are right. But this search could be a liability for us in the long run. If anyone is to know that Avelyn is important to us, it would be good neither for her, nor us.”

“It is something to be done in secret.” Noah said to himself. “I’ll talk to Ryan and Adrian about this.”