15 Chapter 15

Ever since the night of his encounter with Sinclair, all the doubts that scared him were finally washed away like it was never there in the first place.

Uriel got up that morning with a fresh mind, somehow determined not to beat himself up about things he lacks, which he tends to do a lot.

He helped make breakfast, smiled throughout the old woman's stories, ate his meal with gusto, and took a warm and long bath.

All the tension and stress he gathered up slowly dissipated into thin air just like that.

It seemed like time had somehow healed some of his fresh wounds.

After Olia Isema's morning routines and work at the crops, she invited Uriel to go visit the cemetery.

"It might also help you remember the person you murdered," She convinced. "The deceased person's name is written on their tombs, after all. We might get a clue from there, you know."

Quite traumatized with his unpleasant experience from the last time they went out to have groceries, Uriel was still reluctant about going out with her. But since he couldn't entirely refuse the only benefactor he has, he had to force himself that going there might be a good idea.

Her reason also made sense, so things might turn out better than he expects.

He shyly nodded and said, "Alright. Let's go to the cemetery. I'll try remembering something there."

Olia Isema pats his head gently with a warm, wrinkly smile. "Don't force or hurt yourself in the process, my dear. Now that we have decided what to do, you can go up and find good clothes you like. A lot will surely suit you, so go ahead and pick one for yourself. I'll also prepare, so wait for me, okay?"

"Okay."

"By the way, you've never called me 'grandma' like I told you to."

Uriel looked down, a bit ashamed. He still feels uncomfortable around the old woman, which he can't just blatantly tell her out loud.

The old woman soon dropped the topic and let him go his way.

He went back up to the room and this time around, something smells pungent. Like a basket of rotten fruits were splayed out to scent the wooden-made room.

He looked around and thought nothing seemed to change.

The smell might also be just another illusion playing in his mind, like how that familiar voice keeps telling him strange things. However, at the back of his mind, those strange things constantly become truths and couldn't just ignore it like that.

He picked out any clothes his hand first touched and went on with it. He got out and used the bathroom from downstairs.

After changing, he patiently waited for the old woman's preparation and immediately departed from the house.

They strode the rear part of the village until they got into a huge cemetery with a 'Thorell Memorial Park' sign carved on a gray stone.

Uriel followed the woman towards the blind man sitting beside the cemetery's entrance way, surrounded by a variety of flowers.

"Can I please get these beautiful lilies, mister?" Olia Isema politely asked.

The blind man immediately pulled out a few lilies from a bucket and gave it to her. The transaction was so smooth, it was hard to believe that the man was handicapped.

While Olia Isema went ahead inside with the lilies, Uriel stayed behind for a little while, facing the blind man.

"How were you able to know where to get each flowers?" He curiously asked. "How were you able to memorize it without even seeing it? And where were you getting supplies of the flowers?"

Uriel waited for his answers, but they never came.

It's as if the blind man had turned deaf too. Uriel felt frustrated about it and asked over and over why he wasn't answering.

Soon, he gave up and glanced back at the vast cemetery.