Blue Hour

Chapter 18

"I can sense that you have disturbed the balance of those who passed and cannot be seen." The old shaman said. 

I was even more surprised when he said that.  Is he referring about Sun? How did he know that I bumped into a lost soul?

Confusion was written all over my face. “What do you mean?”

“It seems that your string of fate was tied to someone, and you can’t remove it. It’s either you accept it wholeheartedly or face the wrath of those who cannot be seen.” 

Trying to force a smile, I responded. “The wrath? By whom? I’m sorry but this is confusing. I’ll keep this charm that you gave me. Thank you for your warning too, but I don’t get it.”

“Just listen to what I am telling you so bad luck won’t befall on you.  When you take your bath, put a pinch of salt on your bath water. to ward off evil spirits surrounding you.” 

“Thank you. I guess it’s time for me to do some work now. Miko, please assist him so that he can start paying respects to the deities.” I said then bowed my head to the old man.

“Remember, young man. Listen to everything that I told you. Be careful.” 

The words of the old man rang through my mind for a couple of minutes after they left. It was a very weird conversation, and it made my head hurt a lot as well. Maybe, I could have asked him about Sun. To shake off the weird feeling I have after that conversation, I worked with the reports that Miko sent me. 

The day ended in a flash, and after eating, hitting the bed was my option. It turned out to be a very exhausting day for me. My goal was to take a rest tonight, nothing else. My eyes were half closed already, and headed to the bed without even bothering who was looking at me. 

“Are you okay?” The familiar voice said. 

Instead of responding, I slumped on the bed and tried to close my eyes. The chilly atmosphere was starting to wrap around me, but instead of getting goosebumps, it was comforting. It was forcing me to sleep even more. 

“Sleepwell, Ray.” Those were the words that I heard from the ghost as I fell into sleep. 

Halfway through my sleep, memories started flashing on my mind. It was the day when I met the kid who wanted to play with me. Laughter filled the surroundings, coming from us two. There was something weird though, the kid I was playing with had a blank face. Then the surroundings changed, and the young kid was very close to me. He kept on repeating the same phrase. 

“I was waiting for you, but you broke your promise.” Those words echoed all over my head, haunting me. 

“Ahh!” Panting, I sat down immediately. Cold sweat trickled from my head. It was just two in the morning. I looked around and noticed that Sun was sleeping beside me. His words suddenly hit my head, and the feeling of fear washed down after remembering it. 

Ghosts do sleep too. A smile drew on my face as I watched him sleeping soundly. Slowly removing the blanket, I stood up and headed to the table to drink some water. It felt like I ran ten laps because of the thirst that I am feeling now. Instead of heading back to the bed, I opened the window so that the breeze could enter my room. The smell of  the farm slowly entered my nose, and calmed my heart even more. 

After an hour of just watching the night scenery outside, I heard Sun’s voice. “Did I disturb you? You are up so early. Sorry, when I was beside you, I did not notice that I dozed off too.”

Waving my hand as a sign that it’s okay, I spoke. “That’s fine. You can continue sleeping on my bed. I got thirsty that’s why I woke up.” 

“Thank you for being so considerate, even though I am disturbing your private space.” He said, pouting and bowed his head. 

Laughter filled the silent room that we were in. Sun gave off a confused look. I tried to hold my laughter but the way he pouted was too cute. He looked like a puppy asking sorry for his owner. 

“Are you okay?”

I remembered that it was just two in the morning, and I might disturb the others who were sleeping. They might think that I might have gone crazy too, laughing at two in the morning. 

“Sorry about that Sun. You just reminded me of someone, that’s why I can’t help myself and laugh.”

He scratched his head and gave another confused look. “I reminded you of someone?”

“Yes.”

His facial expression shifted so fast, and gave a very wide smile. “I’m glad that I was able to make you laugh because of some weird reasons. By the way, are you okay? You looked like you lost all of your energy earlier this evening.” 

“Yes, I was occupied with a lot of things yesterday that’s why I was so tired. Sun, do you know what this is?” 

I fished out the lucky charm that was given to me by the shaman earlier from my pocket and showed it to him. 

“A charm made from dried ginger?” Sun said. After that, he stayed silent for a few minutes. He was frowning as if he was thinking about something. 

He stood up and went towards me. “Yes! I remember. I had one too when I was a kid. My grandmother made me one  so that I can make new friends.” 

“I thought you couldn't remember anything?”

He just smiled and made another face. This time he looked serious. “Well, I can’t really remember anything, but there were some vague memories, and when I try to think of them, my head hurts. When you showed me that charm, a memory flashed in my head. I was calling an old woman grandmother, and she handed me the same thing that you were holding.”

There was a movie that I watched before, and he also had the same case with Sun. Well, the only difference was Sun is a ghost. The story was about a person that lost most of his memories and accidentally met someone. As time went by, and the other person’s willingness to help, they discovered that if he was shown certain objects or scenery, memories came back. 

“Do you want to have your memories back?” I asked. 

There was a moment of silence before he responded. “Well, what’s the use? I am just a soul wandering around.”

His face showed sadness when he said that. There is a part in him that wants to recover what he lost. Without thinking, I suddenly blurted out. “Let’s find your missing puzzle pieces. I’ll help you find your memories.”

Sun gave another confused look. “Why would you do something like that for me? I am also a stranger, and most of all, I am already dead.” 

I smiled and sat down beside him on the bed. “Let’s do it.”