If Only Queen Remained Silent

Chapter 5

pg. 06 } chapter 5

THE SKY is painted sky blue with flying white cotton clouds that engulf the background. Around the area of the vast park, you can easily distinguish the people who are coming back and forth with desserts and different things in their hands.

My eyes gazed towards the rides that people had come on and tried. There are a lot of them who look excited with gaping smiles flashing through their lips while holding hands with their loved ones.

I licked the ice cream in my hand as I waited for Bright to come and pick me up.

"Did you wait long? The takoyaki stand was booming with customers, and it took me over ten minutes to get here," she said, and then put the food on top of the table.

"It's fine," I say with a smile.

The two of us took a short break after we started off with the shooting game not too long ago. Bright takes me on another trip in which she introduces me to different places, such as today's event, an amusement theme park.

She made me wear the same outfit she did; matching tee-shirts she saw at one of the stands, and a cat headband on top of my head. She also bought me snacks while we roamed around.

"Are you enjoying the rides so far?" Bright asked me, her right hand holding a cotton candy.

I answer and then pick up the takoyaki from the table. I started savoring the taste of the food as the sauce got onto the side of my mouth. I wiped it off immediately.

"So, where do you want to go first?" My eyes turn towards her for a second before I point towards my mouth, which is filled with food. I make a motion to wait before I chew the food and swallow it.

"W-We can try out the hoop-something game?" I suggest pointing towards the other stand close to the shooting game. I saw a lot of kids trying out the game, unable to shoot one ring at the bottle to win a prize.

"That works!" Bright exclaims, a beaming smile flashing through her lips.

After finishing the food we had on the table, we tried out the other stations and rode on our way.

It was a fun experience.

The sound of people shrieking and laughing piques my interest and gets me excited. It was like it had put me in a crowded place filled with emotions.

The last station we tried was a horror booth. It was an old building decorated with spooky decorations comprising spider webs, black curtains, small skulls, and creatures of the undead.

"Are you scared?" I heard Bright ask me. I looked at her. She has her lips curled into a sweet smile as though she is trying to tease me.

I let out a chuckle.

"What if I am?" I asked her. She then puts her hand out, out of nowhere.

"Then you can simply hold hands with me," she says, before intertwining her fingers with mine.

Truth be told, I do not know what comes into her mind most of the time. I am nothing but a housekeeper, but she keeps treating me evenly.

I don't want to burst her bubble, but I have already noticed the small hints and details of her actions and words, but I do not want to conclude.

We walked towards the dark alley entrance of the horror booth with hands intertwined and our breaths making small clouds of cold fog. The sound of eerie footsteps echoed throughout the four corners of the room, followed by the touch of cold air that swept through my skin.

I hold her hand tight.

People dressed as zombies, a chainsaw man, ghosts, and the undead appeared out of nowhere, attempting to scare us out of our wits.

My heart was racing, my body trembling. I could feel my sweat pouring down my forehead despite the cold temperature of the building.

When Bright led me towards the other part of the room, it sealed my lips like a glued lid.

It was a decorated park with zombies and ghosts of children. I tremble more.

"Are you alright? Are you scared?" Bright asked me once again as we passed through the other door.

I only nodded my head, my heart still pounding hard from the fear. I couldn't even scream inside the horror booth and felt as though I had been voiceless.

After we had passed through the exit, my skin finally felt the same scouring heat from the outside, and my sweat was as visible as the teardrops of a crying lady.

"Looks like you were silently screaming," Bright jokingly said. I smiled in response.

I was as pale as a ghost when I came out of that booth, and she waited for me to relax before we tried the other rides.

When evening finally came, our last stop was the Ferris wheel.

"Are you sure you're okay now?" she asked me again when we were already sitting in the car at the wheel.

"Yes, I'm fine. The cold water helped me earlier," I reassured her before taking another gulp of the bottled water we bought.

For the first time in my whole life, I was able to experience enjoying myself. All of the rides so far were so entertaining that I couldn't help but smile ear to ear.

Some of them may have been frightening at first, but after a few more tries, I am in ecstasy trying the extreme rides.

"I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have asked you to try it out," Bright suddenly says before lowering her head. She is still talking about the horror booth from earlier.

My eyes widened in shock, shaking my head. "N-No, don't be! I also wanted to try it out despite my reaction," I answered before I scratched the side of my chin. "Although I didn't particularly like the park theme," I say.

She raises her head suddenly.

"Why?"

"No particular reason," I answer.

The theme just probably spooked me earlier since they filled it with children.

Once the car hit the top and suddenly stopped, I almost froze in shock.

"Relax," Bright says, chuckling. She puts her hand on top of mine, trying to reassure me. "This is part of the ride," she whispers before gazing towards the window. "Look, you can stare at the night sky, the city lights, and the rides from below."

She flashed a gaping smile through her lips, pointing toward the mesmerizing view outside the window.

She is right. The area from outside the Ferris wheel flashed vivid colors of different lights. From the night sky, you can see the visibility of the lights that do not sparkle in the daylight and how magnificent it is to stare at the cities and little people that are walking down the ground because of their own affairs.

My eyes twinkled with sparkling colors.

If only I had seen the world's beauty before I awoke from a dream.

A bitter smile suddenly emerged through my lips before I noticed something in my peripheral vision.

"Ma'am," I called out when I felt Bright caress my hand. She held my hand tightly with her soft and smooth skin before she slowly leaned forward towards my face.

Her eyes were reflecting the colors of the lights from the outside as my heart started to pound hard.

I wanted to call out to her, wake her up from her dream, but for some reason, I was frozen in place.

I trembled.

In an instance, when I felt her lips touch mine, I couldn't help but lose my breath. The feeling of her soft full lips tracing mine sent thousands of shivers down my spine.

I didn't know what to think, I just wilted away as the second passes. Before our lips gradually parted ways, the sound of booming fireworks engulfed the darkness of the night sky and I saw reflecting fire.

I flinched.

When she finally opened her eyes and slowly leaned away from my face, her eyes widened in shock, as though she had woken up from a dream. She quickly removed her hand away from mine, and the look on her face says she was unaware of her actions just now.

I could still feel my heart pounding hard as I saw her face flushed red.

"f**k!" she cursed. "I'm so sorry!" she immediately added, as though she was guilty and didn't know what to do.

The car was now slowly hitting its way down the ground and so, after we had landed, the two of us exited with an awkward tension.

We could still eat dinner before we came home, but the excitement on our faces was drained. When we came home from a long car ride, the two of us just simply walked towards our room with no words, and with that, the day ended with us, embarrassed and confused.

Or more likely, I am entirely confused and embarrassed.

The next day, the chirping of birds woke me up. I felt sore all over my body, probably because of the long rides and walks we did in the amusement park.

Once I came out of my room to do my daily routine, I noticed a small note on the table written by Bright.

"I'm really sorry about what I did last night! I was just not myself and I did something so horrible with no consent! I'm really sorry. Please forgive me. If it's awkward with you, I'll come less often to the apartment for the time being. I'm really, really sorry!"

My finger automatically touched the part where her lips pecked mine last night.

"What am I thinking?" I thought to myself.

After the incident in the amusement park, just as Bright has mentioned, she came home seldomly. And even if we were on the same roof, we would only exchange short conversation before the two of us go back to our rooms.

Whenever she talks to me, I can tell that her voice is trembling from embarrassment, but I still acted normal in front of her.

I am her housekeeper. I cannot be someone who will easily be flustered by a small gesture made by their employer.

I bit my lip.

However, thoughts of being fired because of the small incident cross my mind, and whenever I think of it, I can't help but be nervous. If I lose all of this opportunity, then I might roam around the streets again just like before and become lost in the world of cruelty.

As I finished drying my hands with the towel hanging in the refrigerator, I heard a knock on the door.

When I checked to see who it was, it was none other than Amanda.

"Hello, dear, here is my freshly baked apple pie. I hope you'll enjoy this since I am experimenting right now," she says, and then hands me over a warm pile of food.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed and then grabbed the food from her hand.

"Sam already left a week ago, but has he ever reached out to you?" she suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Sam? The last time we spoke was when he helped me with the box, Ma'am," I said, and then turned around to put the food on the kitchen counter. Amanda comes into the room and then sits comfortably in the living room. I closed the door.

"I see," she paused for a moment before looking around the room. "It seems like Bright has been coming here more often than before. It's a good thing that this grandchild of mine is opening up to people," she says, to which I stopped stirring her cup of tea for a second.

"Why? Was she not sociable?" I asked Amanda.

"Well, I do not know how my daughter-in-law raised my grandchild, but I have grown to know in the past few years that Bright has secluded herself from communication," she narrates.

I only nodded my head before giving her the tea. "Thank you, dear," she adds before taking a sip.

We talked for a few minutes before she had to leave because she had to attend to other matters. As I escorted her out of the room, my eyes landed on the small scars on her wrist.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" I suddenly asked her out of nowhere. Her eyes then widened in shock before she quickly hid her hands behind her back.

"Yes, I'm fine, my dear," she responds with the same gentle smile on her lips. And with that, she quickly turned away from me and walked away slowly.

Weirded out, I wanted to stop and ask her more questions but judging by her actions, she does not want me to pry on the matter.

Is Mrs. Amanda alright? Is she thinking of doing something? Lots of thoughts crosses my mind but I only shook my head.

After I returned to my room to fix the leftover cup of brewed tea on the kitchen counter, I noticed a small keychain sparkling on the couch.

"Are these her keys?" I whispered to myself before I hurried to grab it. I came out of the apartment and walked towards Amanda's room to knock when I noticed the door slightly open.

"Ma'am, I think you've left your keys on—"

Just as I was about to call her attention and knock on the door, an eerie feeling suddenly engulfed my system. I noticed that the lights in the room were closed and the only things I could hear were slight groaning and the sound of something hitting. When my eyes peaked through the gaps in the door, I almost stopped breathing from the shock.

Inside the room was a silhouette whacking a person with a blunt weapon.

My heart started to pound hard enough that I couldn't breathe properly. I was confused, unaware and panicked that I almost tripped on my own two feet as I ran back towards my room.

Scared and confused, I was gasping for air when I shut the door.

I hurried towards the telephone and, with trembling hands, dialed the number of the police. I waited for the call to go through when suddenly, I heard the door to the apartment open.

"If only you remained silent, Queen," the voice uttered as my eyes widened in shock. Before I could even shriek in horror, he was able to run towards my direction and hit me with an object from the back of my head.

My head started to ring, my vision blacking out. However, before I even lose consciousness, I saw a devilish grin flashing through his lips as my heart continued to race hard and my thoughts ran endlessly.

Yes, if only I remained silent.