Chapter 3

My mom looked at me with her creased forehead. "Raven, ain't you gonna say hello to your grandfather?" she said as she placed the pancakes on the table. The food looked delicious, but my appetite seemed to have escaped my body. Everything I had ingested tasted bland.

"Raven, come here. How are you, my boy?" he asked, messing my hair as he always did. I felt the warmth of his skin as he hugged me tightly.

"Are you sick?" my mom asked as we ate our breakfast, then I've realized that I barely touched my food as I toyed with my fork, twirling it around my fingers.

"Sorry, just a little tired, maybe," I replied. My mom gave a harsh sigh.

"Who told you to sleep on the floor?" she scolded. Grandpa chuckled. "You're just like your grandpa. What odds have it

"I wanna talk to you later, son," he said. Then my mom and my grandpa exchanged a look, which made me felt weird, but I immediately dismissed the oddity of it.

"What about?" I asked. I wasn't interested in whatever he's going to say because my brain was preoccupied with things.

After eating, grandpa and I sun-basked in the garden in the front yard. As usual, he lighted his pipe while sitting comfortably on his bamboo recliner. Our front garden was one of grandpa's pride. As a landscape enthusiast that as he is, he designed it perfectly in his wish.

The well-manicured hedges in intricate designs could challenge the most impressive French or British royal garden. It was home to thousands of exotic plants and animals from around the world. It complemented the gothic mansion so well that even from afar, people could admire the baroque design, giving off a statement of grandeur.

"Sit down," he said, puffing a cloud of smoke from his mouth. For a moment, I just froze, trying to phantom the situation. Then I hesitantly sat down next to him. I was twitching on my chair, clearly unsure what to do. I calmed myself by marveling at the sunrise peeking through the oaks. He turned to me and asked, "What do you think about the company?"

"What do you mean?" I replied, quite nervous that he might get whined up. There was a sigh of relief when I heard him laugh. I smiled.

"I trust you, Raven. The company would be in good hands--- your hands," he explained.

"W-well... I don't know what to say. I mean, I love the company very much, but I am not sure if I am skilled enough to take it over."

He remained quiet for a while. I was cursing myself. "Have you ever been to the woods?" he suddenly asked me.

I was like, why was he asking when he knows the answer. Of course, I have been to the forest, and I was sure he's talking about the one adjacent to the mansion. I cleared my throat before saying yes.

"I bet you did," my grandpa whispered. "I wanna show you something," he added with his face beaming.

"What is it, grandpa?"

"A family treasure."

Then suddenly, I remembered the night I was "killed." Richie was asking for a locket. Could it be this? After gulping and clearing my throat, I turned to him.

"Family treasure? Err... grandpa, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you talking about... a locket?"

With a straight face, he looked at me. "Locket?"

"Yeah, a locket. I... ah... well, I heard it somewhere."

"Is it from your good-for-nothing uncle Sam?"

"Nope."

"Then... it's from his son."

"Ah...,"

"Go and put on your boots. Get your gun. We'll go hunting for lunch."

There I realized that he already dressed up for hunting. "I'll be waiting at the gate."

I went back to my room with my head filled with questions. "So Richie was right. There was a locket. But why was he prepared to kill?" After zipping my boots, I slid my shotgun, and off I went.

"Grandpa!" I screamed when I didn't find him under the oak tree, where he usually waited for me. "Grandpa!"

"Try to catch up, Raven!" he shouted. Basing on it, I assumed that he might have been at least a hundred meters away. But because of the shrubs and sticks around, I couldn't see where he was.

Thankfully, the ground was still damp from the storm last night that his footprints were visible. I followed them. I was walking so fast, trying to catch up, but for whatever reason, I couldn't.

I walked for about a kilometer. Then, I reached a fork road where his footprints stopped right in the middle of it. "Grandpa!" I screamed as I looked around. No answer. "Where could he be?" I thought. I was frustrated. He's not the type of person who would play a prank on anyone. Fear crept in me. I remembered before Richie put a bullet in me, he mentioned killing grandpa. "No way! Could it be that I came back to life to save my grandfather?"

My heart was pounding as my head throbbed. "I have to find him fast!"

With fear still dominating my system, I turned to the path on my right. I ran. I walked while screaming his name. The thick canopy was blocking most of the sunlight, keeping the foliage wet from last night's rain, causing my clothes to get wet. But I didn't care. I kept running, following a fading path blocked by overgrown bushes and ferns on either side. Then I stopped, when I was confronted by a soaring rock face.