46 Soul-Summoning Trick
1515 Words
The garden was filled with sudden silence, all eyes on Dorothy.
She gave him a recognizing gaze, but that was until there. She couldn’t recall the circumstance why she could tell he was so familiar to her. She stuttered while saying, “I’m not really sure. Have we met somewhere before?” she asked.
Peter stared at her for some time and now everyone’s looking at him, waiting for his answer. He looked at the three girls and back to Dorothy. He chuckled. “Never mind. We probably crossed paths around this neighborhood,” he said. “How long have you been living here?”
Lily answered for Dorothy. “Dora moved here for over a month now, right, Dora?”
Dorothy smiled and nodded. I’m not really the person to go out often. I mostly like to stay in my house,” she said.
He nodded and smiled. “We’re alike. I like to stay at my house than to go out, but that’s because I need to stay home to write.”
“I see. Does your management or your publisher don’t require you to sit at a station and work there? I knew some writers do that,” Dora said, suddenly taking an interest in his writing career. “You said you use your dreams for the contents of your books, right?”
Bianca interrupted. “I bet you stay at home for
He couldn’t tell that he solely stay in his house to curate his writing career by making scenarios on his dreams. “It’s not like that,” he started. “I requested my publisher company to let me do everything at home. Because...” he paused to look at each of them. “...I’m more comfortable writing at home. It enables me to concentrate on writing.”
They all nodded. Peter comfortably ate among them, and they naturally continued on with random conversations, Peter sometimes pitched in to join their talks.
Just as expected. Girls hanging together was never less amusing than when the boys talk. He remembered, moments he had with Josh, Ray, and Zack, they always talked about dumb things, girls, or games. Witnessing the four ladies’ conversation in front of him, made him think that they had a variety of things to talk about.
Peter never lost the chance to stare at Dorothy every time. And half of them, Dorothy stared back. He was a little dismayed she couldn’t remember him. The situation would’ve been better if she knew about him meeting her in her dreams.
“Right, Dorothy. You said you have something to do today,” Lana reminded her. It was probably one of the longest sentences she said during their conversations. She barely spoke, and most of the words she said were short answers to her friends’ questions.
Dorothy gasped and looked at her phone to check the time. “Right. I need to go buy a gift for my brother.”
“Sorry we won’t be able to come with you,” Lily said, holding Dorothy’s hand.
Peter suddenly had the idea to come with her. “I can come with you if you want,” he said.
They all looked at him, surprised. “No, I, I think I can do it alone.”
“Come on, Dora. He would be a great acquaintance. He’s around the size of your brother. It would be great to find the fit size for your brother. Besides, you wouldn’t mind it, right, Peter?” she asked with a secret wink.
He chuckled and nodded. “Yeah. I insist. I’m also planning on picking some new clothes, anyway. I don’t really mind.”
“Great!” Lily stood up. “We’re actually about to go, so you guys go have fun. It’s important for neighbors to get along.”
Peter and Dorothy watched the three leave with a car. When they were gone, she looked at Peter. “Are you sure it’s fine with you? If you’re insisting because of them, never mind. I think I can handle buying a new shirt alone,” she smiled.
He shook his head. “No, don’t worry. I like the idea of having acquaintance while going out. If you’re uncomfortable, I shall leave you alone.”
She immediately shook her head. She smiled. “Give me few moments to change clothes,” she paused and looked at the table. “...and clean this table,” she chuckled and started picking up the dishes.
He stood up and automatically helped her pick up some dishes. “Let me help you,” he said.
She panicked when she saw him. “No, let me do it, I’m fine.” She tried to get the dishes from Peter’s hands but he kept it away from her, smiling. “Okay, if you insist,” she said.
He followed him to go inside her house, which was designed with unique and modern interiors. “Did you design your house alone?” he asked when he placed the dishes in her kitchen sink.
She glanced at him while washing her hand. “No, I got the house with these interior design. I decided to keep it since I kinda liked the design. Doesn’t it look nice?”
Peter nodded and followed her to the living room. “It’s simple and modern. I like it,” he said.
She smiled and nodded. “Please sit down here. I’ll be back in a few,” she said.
“Yeah, sure. Take your time,” he said.
While waiting, he took the time to look around and figure out what kind of a person she could be aside from being the woman who had wild dreams.
The first thing he noticed was the only picture frame he had at one corner, on top of one living room table, and besides a glass vase, which had a camellia flower blooming in half-filled water.
He picked it up and studied it. Two middle-aged couple stood by, and between them were a small girl and a baby boy. He presumed the little girl was Dorothy, and he couldn’t help but smile when he noticed she still had the same smile.
He continued to look around the living room and when he was looking at the books at a small shelf, he heard a voice behind him.
“Hey, let’s go?”
He turned to see Dorothy, wearing casual street clothes. She was wearing a red off-shoulder blouse, with ruffles and a ribbon just at the center of her chest. He smiled. “You look nice,” he said.
She smiled and pointed toward the front door. “Shall we go?”
They arrived at downtown around 9 am, the streets were getting busy, as the stores were just starting to open. They stopped by the mall and Peter parked by the parking space.
They both roamed the mall. “You’re not really just buying a shirt, are you?” he asked when they stepped into the escalator to get to the second floor.
She chuckled in embarrassment. “Is it too effortless for a gift?” she asked. “I couldn’t think of anything else to give him.
He hummed and stepped out of the escalator. “First, tell me what he likes. We’ll figure out something probably.”
She started to think as she walked beside him. “Uh, he actually likes mountain climbing. It’s his sport. Bicycle riding, too? Yeah. He also likes video games,”
He nodded and already had an idea. “How about, you tell me what he would like aside from those things?” he asked.
She pondered again and thought for a moment. “Books? I think he’ll like those. I heard he’s taking interest in biography novels.”
“I can see that your brother has great sentiments on things. He likes things that are more relaxing, something that would greatly help with easing his stress,” Peter concluded but he looked at Dora. “But I can be wrong.”
She gasped with her eyes widened. “Now that you tell me that, I think your description fits his personality well. Are you good at figuring a person’s personality?”
“Nah, but I’ve been watching some psychological documentaries and it somehow rubbed off at me that I can kind of tell how a person could be. I don’t do it often, though. I hope I didn’t offend you or something,” he said.
She shook her head. “No, that’s actually quite amusing.”
They stared at each other for a while, and Peter took the chance to make her remember that she met him at her dream and that he tried a lot to save her. It would be great if she would acknowledge that he tried to save her from her dangerous dreams.
Soul-summoning was the name of the trick. It was one thing he learned through the three years that passed. The trick, he could use it to control people by eye contact but he was still practicing. He rarely used it, but when he did, he used it when the person doesn’t favor him. It worked always.
Now, he was using the trick to Dorothy. He knew it would work at least to make her remember that he was in her dream, or at least one part of her dream when he saved her.
She blinked her eyes and smiled awkwardly. “Is there something on my face?” she said and touched her face.
He was flustered so he chuckled and shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. Your eyes are beautiful,” he complimented and he meant it.
She shyly chuckled. “Thanks,” she said and looked in front of them. “Oh, there’s a book store. Shall we check that out?"
He smiled. “Yeah, sure,” he said and followed her.
Sighing, he wondered why the trick didn’t work for her. And somehow, he found her more interesting.
- Writer
