4 Tale #4: NOT ALONE

When I was born, my parents already knew that I'm full of curiosity. They watched me grow up experimenting on things and exploring places, always searching for something to discover, and those things sometimes ended up good and sometimes—bad. Good because I always find lost things and returned to their owner like my classmates' pair of shoes found under the slide in the school playground, and Mrs. Principals' wedding ring near the river. And bad because I discover something better left alone like our homeroom teacher's stash of porn magazines buried behind the school garden, and the dead body of my cat lying in the woods near our house.

"Don't cry honey, maybe he just encountered a wild coyote and got into a fight and lost. I know you love her so much but you have to let her go. Don't worry, we'll just adopt another one in the shelter." Daddy said as he brushed my hair as I cry. But I know better that Lune – my cat wasn't attacked by a coyote, I know someone killed her. Maybe it's Fred, the school bully. He always hated me and my cat, whenever he spotted us in the park he would insult and agitate Lune, earning a scratch from her and he'll try to kick her. But I would always defend Lune and quickly run away.

Eventually, we gave Lune a proper burial beside the oak tree at the back of our house, it's her favorite spot. After that, we decided to adopt another cat. I named him Deth and just like Lune, he's always by my side. However, despite all of that and a new cat, I'm still curious as to what really happened to Lune. My anger towards Fred faded but not the question what and who could've done that. I tried to interrogate Fred indirectly because he's still a suspect.

"Hey, Fred." I greeted him in the lunch hall.

"Hey, Lucy." He greeted back shyly. "I heard what happened to your cat, I'm sorry"

"No, it's... okay. At least you won't get a scratch from her again." I said, trying to provoke him to spill something. But he never did. He just explained that he never hated me and my cat, but I didn't focus there. Still trying if I can make him spill anything.

"Anyway, Fred, by any chance, do you know what happened to Lune?" I asked innocently. But he said no.

Looks like he didn't do it. My last lead to finding who did it is gone. After that, I never crossed path with him.

When I came home, Deth sensed that I'm sad and down, so he came up to me and purred. Well, it did lighten up my feelings. My stomach growled in hunger and got up to find something to it, Deth also jumped down, I thought he's hungry too but he walked to the bookshelf in the living room and meowed at a book. Curious to what it is, I walked over and looked to what kind of book Deth is clawing. The book looked like it is something you will see in a witches den, and this is the first time I saw this book. Maybe father brought it home last night. But why? Deth still meowed at it so I showed it to him. He seemed like he's searching for something inside the book so I started to flip the pages.

Suddenly, he placed his paw at a page. It looked like it's some kind of a ritual. It said that performing this ritual will allow the person to communicate with the spirits of nature. You can ask them what you want. I was so curious to it that I forgot my hunger. Before going to sleep, those words kept on repeating in my head.

"Communicate with spirits. Ask them what you want." And it seemed like Deth's meow resonate with it. His every meow makes the thought come again.

"Communicate with spirits. Ask them what you want."

It continued like that, until I fell asleep. The next day, that thought is still ringing in my head, and so my curiosity grew bigger and bigger. The ritual tempted me, I was more curious on will it really work than finding out who killed Lune. The thought kept on pestering me all day long, until my patience grew short, and my curiosity bigger with it.

That's it! I'm going to do it. I want to know what will happen.

When I got home from school, I quickly searched for the book; Deth's sitting on it, he quickly looked at me and got off the book. Reading the requirements for the ritual, I headed to the kitchen – seeing that the materials are mostly in there. Deth quickly followed and looks like he knows what I needed, because he hoped to the counter and tapped on the middle cupboard. That's where the lighter is.

As I gathered everything – mostly Deth pointing to me where it is – I quickly headed to the door. "Deth, wanna come with me?" I asked him as I put the book in the bag. He just stood there and stared at me.

"Looks like a no."

I left, looking at my watch, its 9 pm, the perfect time to do the ritual. As I entered the woods, it felt like I'm with someone, like someone is walking beside me. I dismissed the thought and convinced myself that it's just because of the fog. I arrived to where I found Lune; as I decided to do the ritual there and surprisingly there's not much fog surrounding the area.

I laid out the things I needed and followed the instructions in the book.

1. Draw a circle using s red powder. Make sure that the circle is big enough for you to fit. This will mark you as a visitor and not an intruder.

2. Go inside the circle and place a candle in front of you.

3. Using a knife, cut your index finger and let your blood drop to the rim of the candle. Make sure that the rim is completely covered in blood.

4. Sprinkle some salt to your cut to stop the bleeding.

5. Light the candle and wait; if the wind blew the candle off, break the circle and return home, the spirits don't want to talk to you; if there's no wind within 1 minute, continue the ritual.

6. Recite this words with your head bowed and eyes closed:

I do not wish to disturb you

I merely want to talk

I have questions that needs answers

I have something you need to here

Come to me and whisper in my ears

Come and I'll listen to you here

7. Open your eyes but do not lift your head. They do not wish to be seen.

I followed the instructions and when I opened my eyes, I saw a glimpse of a figure near my circle, then I heard voices.

"..."

"I'd like to ask something."

"..."

"No, it's nothing like that. I want to ask about my cat Lune, she died here in this very spot."

"..."

"Yes, she's the one."

"..."

"I would like to ask you... who killed my cat? Who killed Lune?"

"..."

"No. It can't be. I don't believe you."

"..."

"No, he didn't. He knows how much I love my cat, how much I love Lune. Dad won't do it."

"..."

"But why? Why would he do it?"

"..."

"..—"

"Lu? Sweetheart, what are you doing here? It's past midnight, you know it's dangerous out here, and what are you doing? Are you on a cult?"

"Dad, no. I'm just—"

"How do you think he found you here so fast? This part of the woods is quiet far you know."

"Lu, let's go home, mom's worried sick."

"See? I told you."

"But dad, mom died four months ago remember? She had depression for a year and... hanged herself here in the woods."

"In this very same spot."

"Oh... I'm sorry honey, looks like dad hasn't moved on yet. I'm sorry I made you remember that. Oh, please honey don't cry. Come on, let's go home and try to talk about this things yeah? Maybe help daddy to move on like you did."

"Dad *sniff* I... I *sniff*"

"Something shines behind his back."

"Dad, what are you holding behind your back?" A knife.

"Oh, my phone of course, can't search in the dark without lights. Come on Lucy, let's go home."

"But dad... DAD! Your pants! There's blood in your pants! Are you hurt?" It's not his.

"I don't think so."

"Just got some pretty bad scratch by a branch. Can you treat this for me when we got home?"

"You saw it too. It's in the book. Sacrificing someone's life to gain something. You know it's happening in real life. It's also in this... movies how you call it."

"Dad... where's Deth?"

"He's in the house, waiting for you of course." I don't believe you.

A soft and weak meow.

"Deth?"

"Meow... meow..."

"Oh my, he followed me."

"Dad, what did you do to Deth? Why's he bloody?"

"He's the next sacrifice of course. You read it already come on."

"Sweetie, let's go home."

"No."

"I said LET'S GO HOME!"

"Run."

I did what the spirits said. I run towards the deep part of the woods. I should've known. I should've noticed back noticed back them. Dad sometimes comes home messy, saying his car's engine broke and had to fix it.

I doubted him.

He said mom had a depression but I didn't notice any anti- depressant in the house.

I should've questioned him.

And the deaths of our neighbor's pets.

Why did I ignore all of those?

"Most of the time, being curious makes you focus on one thing and ignore all the others around you. Still, the phrase still fits in this situation. Curiosity killed the cat – because it lacked attention to its surroundings."

"WHERE ARE YOU SWEETIE?! COME ON, LET'S GO HOME, I'LL BUY YOU ANOTHER CAT IF YOU WANT!"

Run Lucy, run!

"Ahhhh!" No! I feel in a pit.

"Ah, there you are darling Lucy. Too bad, if you just followed me home... we could be a family again. Oh we'll, can't waste the opportunity. Gotta keep the sacrifices coming. I can just resurrect you and mommy again."

He's gonna bury me in this pit! Wait, ressurect... again? What's this squishy thing under me? Is that... my face?

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