Blue Hour

Chapter 4

Ray looked around but the mysterious man disappeared already. He hurriedly stood up, as his back was wet already because of the mud. A few seconds later, he saw flickers of flashlights. It was Miko and a man named Austin. Austin, if Ray remembers correctly, was the one that manages the sheds and the tractors in his farm. 

“Dude! What happened? Why are you covered in mud?” Miko asked, looking worried. 

Instead of telling him about what I saw, and also to avoid more gossip, I ended up lying to my friend. 

“Uh, well. I just spaced out and I almost stepped on a little animal, and I avoided it. So, there I accidentally slipped in the mud.” Ray said, scratching his head, acting embarrassed so that it will be more believable. He was hoping that Miko would bite what he was saying. 

“Silly, just because of that you shouted loudly! A full grown man, screaming like a girl in the woods. Haha.” Miko said, teasing him. 

“Shut your mouth. Well, it’s better than being afraid of ghosts.” Ray answered. Austin was trying to hide his laughter. 

“Let’s go now.” Ray said. After that, they headed back home. Miko and Ray thanked Austin for accompanying them. 

Ray decided to head to his room to change. He kept on thinking about the incident and who that person was. Why did he look like that? Something was eerie about him too. Maybe the person that Ray saw was the ghost in the rumors from the employees. Ray took off his clothes and placed them on the laundry basket. 

Ray turned on the warm water and showered. He suddenly felt the fatigue coming off from his body. It was indeed a day to remember. Seeing a lot of good things, and of course, something weird happened as well. After a few minutes of cleaning himself, he went out and picked up the clothes from his luggage. He still needs to unpack because Miko kept on bothering him earlier. 

A cold breeze suddenly hit the back of his neck as if something was watching him. He scratched his neck to brush off the weird feeling. He looked around the room but there was no one. He even checked outside the window but there was no one, so he decided to put down the blinds just in case. He felt like someone was playing a prank on him. 

It was already eight in the evening when he finished unpacking his clothes. He checked on his phone, and as usual there are a lot of messages regarding messages. He was surprised to see a message from his siblings but did not bother checking it. Ray heard someone knocking on the door. 

“Come in.” Ray said. The door opened and it was Austin. 

“Sir, I brought you this. Sir Miko tried to call you earlier, but you were not answering. So he asked me to bring this to you.” He said and placed the tray of food on the table. The scent of the food filled his nose, making his stomach grumble. Again, when he is focused on doing things, he sometimes forgets to eat. He saw Austin smile. Maybe he heard his stomach grumble. 

“Thank you, Austin. You should have not bothered. I was about to go to the kitchen after I finished unpacking my things.” He said and smiled. 

“No worries Sir. Also, we want you to feel happy with your stay here. So you can ask for this sort of thing, anytime.”

“Thank you. You can go now, and please don’t bother picking up the dirty dishes. I’ll bring them to the kitchen.” Ray said. 

“Okay, Sir. Thank you so much.” Austin said and left the room.

He stood up and went to the table. The tray was filled with chicken soup, fried fish and a bowl of rice. There was also a piece of banana. The smell of the soup made him hungrier. He already tasted a lot of famous dishes but nothing beats this kind of food, especially made from fresh ingredients. Living on the farm was a good decision for him. 

Again, while he was busy eating, he felt again that someone was watching him from behind. Ray slowly turned his head, but there was no one. He is alone in the room, but he can really detect the gaze from his back. 

Ring….

He almost fell on the floor when his phone rang. He hurriedly picked it up and checked who was calling. It was Miko. He could just drop by his room. He almost had a heart attack because of the nervousness he was feeling now. 

“Did you eat the food that I asked Austin to bring you?” Miko asked. 

“Yes. I did. Thank you, but I was to go out as well when Austin went into my room. Where the hell are you? You could have just dropped by in my room instead of calling. I almost had a heart attack.” Ray said, fixing the tray. 

“A heart attack? What happened? About that, I am out here with your employees drinking. They offered me coconut wine, and it’s so good. You can join us.” Miko said.

“Oh, nothing. You are really shameless. On your first day, you go drinking. Haha. Don’t forget to say thank you to them, silly kid. Okay, I need to bring the dishes to the kitchen. Goodbye.” Ray said, laughing. 

Ray hurriedly picked up the tray and headed to the kitchen. He was greeted by the helper around the house. He just smiled at them as he passed by. When he arrived at the kitchen, Austin was there talking to the cook. Ray approached the two. 

“Thank you so much, it was delicious.” Ray said. 

“You’re welcome. We are glad that you liked the food. By the way, this is Cynthia, the one who is in charge in the kitchen.” 

“Nice to meet you Cynthia. The food that you gave me was so good.” Ray said and smiled. Unlike in the city, he was usually busy and never bothered talking with his helpers. He never smiled at them. But the atmosphere in the farm was different. He cannot help himself but not to smile. After talking about things, he decided to get back to his room. 

As soon as he opened the door, he felt the chilly breeze hit his face. Then he saw someone sitting on the bed. He hurriedly closed the door, his heart beat getting faster. After a minute, he slowly opened the door to check. To his surprise, no one was in the room. 

“What was that?”