176 That Winter, the Frostblume is no Longer in Bloom

Slowly, I began to stir from my deep slumber. Yet, my mind was still hazy and not a hundred percent sober. What my mind had emphasized on was this dream that I had. One that involved a harmonious world where Luna's illness was nonexistent and the group traveling to the beach for a summer trip just like how she had always wanted to do. The dream just felt so real, almost as if it was an alternative reality, and it was just so pleasant for my mind that leaving it invoked an awful feeling in my heart. When I opened my eyes, I realized that my nose ridge, as well as the left side of my face directly by my left eye, was somewhat wet. In addition to that, a small portion of my pillow was slightly damp, possibly because I had cried in my sleep sometime during the night.

I yawned as I closed my eyes and buried my head underneath the bed covers in order to escape the cold temperature of the day. Lazying in bed during a cold, winter morning is the best thing one could ever imagine. I opened my eyes after a few seconds and saw that my phone was resting on my the other pillow that I did not use. I could vaguely remember receiving a notification last night, but I wasn't entirely sure. Therefore, I reached a hand out from the warmth of my bed covers and for the device. Then, I woke the screen.

Like I had expected, it was already noon with the time being 11:43 A.M. However, the time wasn't what had caught my attention. Instead, it was the notification that was on display, the one from the Socialization app. Upon seeing the logo and name of the app, my heart froze temporarily before it suddenly accelerated. With trembling fingers, I slowly pressed on the notification to be brought to the in-app page.

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Objective Completed

You have completed the Ongoing Objective.

SP Rewarded: 500000 SP

Thank You for Your Participation.

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Objective...completed?

Immediately, I tossed the bed covers off of my body and quickly dressed in clothing suitable for heading outdoors. I rushed out of my room with my phone in hand and quickly made my way to the front door in an urgent manner, ignoring the surprised Loriana who was sitting in the living room watching television and stormed out of the house. I pressed with great intensity the button to call up the elevator and waited anxiously, shifting about on my two legs as my heart just wouldn't calm down as they pounded in my heart.

"What's wrong?" Loriana asked as she opened the door and asked me.

"I'll explain later," I replied with great fervor as I rapidly navigated through the Taxi app and called a nearby taxi to wait at the entrance of the building.

When the elevator finally arrived on my floor, I quickly entered and rode it down to the bottom floor. As it made its rapid descent, I hoped that no one would stop the elevator, and luckily for me, no one did and I was able to arrive at the ground floor as fast as possible. Once there, I rushed out of the building, not even waiting for the door to automatically open when it sensed my presence to exit the building.

The city streets of Palisia was as busy as ever, yet to me, it appeared to be moving in slow motion. Everybody, despite them walking at a brisk pace, appeared to be loitering about in my eyes as they seemed to slowly move about when I surveyed my surroundings for the taxi that I had called. I immediately spotted the vehicle that was pulling over to the side of the road and quickly approached it. I entered and slammed the door close after me, and since I had entered my destination beforehand when I had called the taxi here, the driver already knows my destination. However, there still was the chance that this might be the wrong vehicle, but that worry quickly died when the driver confirmed with me my destination.

The ride over to the hospital appeared quite slow to me. Since it was the weekend, there were plenty of cars on the city streets, which obviously caused the traffic to be extremely congested. I sat there, extremely irritated about the situation and was unable to sit back and relax in my seat. Instead, I was sitting on the edge of the seat in a position that would allow me to easily and quickly disembark the vehicle once we have reached our destination.

My heart continued to pound at an irregular and rapid rhythm. My mind was so occupied about getting to the hospital moments earlier but now that I am forced to slow down, my mind began thinking about what could've possibly happened.

Why did the mission end? I asked myself and rubbed my head with my left hand out of frustration. What could've happened? Did she... she didn't...

I let out a sigh of defeat as the frustration started building up within me, causing me to become more and more stressed out in regards to the whole situation. Everything was just so irritating to me at the moment when I looked out the windows at the city outside. The walking pedestrians were irritating, the cars around me were irritating, and the whole damn world itself was irritating. Everything just seemed to be out there to annoy me this morning...

"You seem to be in a rush," the taxi driver said to me.

"Yeah," I responded. "Can't you go any fast—" I paused when I looked over and saw that my driver was actually Ralus dressed in the uniform of a taxi driver in the rearview mirror. "Ralus?!"

"That's right," Ralus answered me with a smile on his face.

"What're you doing—nevermind. Just take me to the hospital right now," I said to him.

"Relax," Ralus began speaking in a calming tone. "There's nothing else you can do now than just simply wait."

"Can't you just teleport me there?"

"I can't teleport with people," Ralus responded.

"Then tell me," I then said in a begging tone. "What happened?"

"..." He then remained silent.

"Ralus!" I reached my hand over and grabbed hold of his seat as I leaned forward out of anxiety. "Please!"

"I think you should see for yourself," Ralus sighed. "I'll get you there as fast as I can."

His decision to not answer any of my most urgent questions made me extremely irritated, angry even. However, he was my transport to the hospital so there's nothing I could do to him at the moment. In addition, he did speed up the vehicle, even going over the speed limit and taking shortcuts after he said he would get me to my destination as soon as possible.

When I finally arrived at the hospital, I opened the door and ran into the hospital, ignoring the annoyed warning from the nurses and security about running in the hallways and entered the elevator. I rode it up to Luna's floor, and once the elevator door opened, it was a straight dash for her room.

I ran at a rapid pace, sprinting with no regards of conserving my energy. I cursed the fact that her room was so far from the elevator, yet that wasn't the main occupying force of my mind. Instead, I was imagining what it was that I would see once I arrive at her room.

Please, I thought. Please make it just be a mistake.

I hoped that once I slid open that door to her hospital room, that same girl would be sitting there on her hospital bed. I hoped that she would look over at me, smiling as she greeted me. I hoped that the two of us would then be able to sit and simply chat, enjoying the other's presence until it was the end of visiting hours. I hoped that what I would see would be the same scene as the days before.

When I finally arrived at the door, I quickly slid it open, slamming it against the hinges. The naive hope that I had held within me was quickly murdered by the harsh reality when I saw that her bed was empty and on the surface of the bedside table was a flower vase containing a single white lily.

Upon witnessing the now empty room, my legs lost their strength as I sunk down to the floor. Severely tormented and battered by despair, I stared at the empty room before me in disbelief. Yet, no matter how hard I try to deny it, it had happened.

Luna was dead.

She was taken away. Taken away from me.

She was murdered by life itself.

Within my heart, there was a feeling of true emptiness, as if it was a vacuum, voided of any material. There was simply nothing there. All that there is was darkness, a darkness so dark that it made my abyss appear to be bright.

Ralus slowly walked up behind me. He took off his taxi driver cap and held it across his chest. With his head lowered, he gave a moment of silence.

This was a kind gesture on his end, but it didn't matter to me. Nothing mattered to me at the moment. Luna was gone, and I'm all alone now... Just like before.