7 CHAPTER 7: The Adaptation Period

[Sasha Shadows]

As the movie ended, everything around me began to swirl, forming a real-life mixture of paint with the colour of light yellow, white and black. Therefore, the atmosphere around me turned into pitch black due to the excessive dark colour that dominated almost the whole space.

That was confusing.

So confusing.

I had yet to make a move to leave but I was already standing in front of my house. The whole neighbourhood was covered with dead silence except the insects' winged orchestra. As during this hour, people would usually go to bed instead of staying up. Thus, this led me to have a sudden "I'm all alone in this abandoned world" idea.

Out of the blue, the hooting sound of an owl startled me as I nearly tripped and fell headlong to the ground. Turning my head towards the voice source, I couldn't stop the chilliness that caused the goosebumps down my spine at the sight of the owl, which was staring straight at me with its big round eyes.

Oh my god, it could see me!! I wasn't entirely invisible, I thought.

As I reached the front door, I hastily kicked my shoes away, in which they wouldn't even budge until I gave up and changed my focus to my pocket to fumble for the house key. "Darn the bloody great fall, my keys are in my bag," I cursed under my breath when recalling myself leaving it at the bookstore. "How am I supposed to enter?" But as I reached out to touch the doorknob, my transparent hand finally reminded me of the short cut.

I was a ghost. I did not need a key.

And with the thought shining bright in my head, though there wouldn't be any light beaming out of my skull, I burst through the front door and finally entered. Safe and sound. "This is fun!" I exclaimed in excitement while jumping on cloud 9. And then, I accidentally smashed my hand onto a photo frame and it crashed onto the ground.

Oops!

That's strange, I thought I couldn't touch or move anything when I was in such a form. Sighing upon the broken glass, I squat to pick up the photograph. My fingers sweeped the shattered glass away cautiously before clamping its edge with my fingertips.

After putting it back to place, I bent to take a closer look at the people captured in the photo. They were my grandfather and the little me years ago smiling in front of the camera.

--Flashback started--

My grandfather held me up until our eyes were parallel while chuckling with his face full of wrinkles. I was laughing wholeheartedly when he mimicked the sound of the roller coaster. "Want a ride, little Sasha?" he asked while warmness filled my little heart. I nodded with a bright smile to show how much I agreed with the idea.

Since I was his only granddaughter, he bought a bicycle and modified it just for me. First, a basket was added to the front of the bike and last but not least, several rainbow coloured pinwheels were attached to each and every corner of the manual vehicle. Furthermore, Grandpa also asked me to name it.

The word "Rainbow" was what came to mind. So it became the name.

"Yay, we're going on a ride!!" I was almost shrieking out of overloading happiness when my grandfather put me into the Rainbow basket.

"Let's roll!" was what he said after settling himself on the saddle. The bicycle moved with the pinwheels spinning beautifully, turning our journey colourful. "Whoo!!" Our hair drifted backwards and revealed our foreheads as Grandpa picked up the speed. We laughed along the way when passing from house to house.

At that time, he had knee problems. But the little me did not know how severe it was as the only thing I repeated along the way was 'faster faster…'. Grandpa would never disappoint me as I could feel stronger wind slamming onto our faces from the front.

Not long after, we stopped by the hills and looked down the busy streets, where cars were moving at different speeds. On that day, we played 'I Spy'.

And I won.

Grandpa got me a chocolate ice cream as a prize which turned out to become my favourite flavour. And then, we travelled back home by Rainbow again. The spinning pinwheels were the major cause for me to stay happy. Just happy.

--Flashback ended--

I missed you taking me everywhere on Rainbow. I missed your smile and those wrinkles marking your age. I missed your grey hair that mixed with a little hint of white. I missed your spectacles that kept your vision clear. I missed everything about you, Grandpa.

You told me to forget everything that happened between us. You said you didn't want me to suffer, yet I still treasured the memory with all of my heart even though I'd turned into a drifting soul.

My eyes were burning as drip drops of tears began to stain the picture as I sniffled. Since this object was a pledge signifying the relationship my grandpa and I, I headed to my room, still holding onto the rectangular picture of us with my body floating and intent to pull the drawer open.

However, I failed to open it as I watched how my fingers penetrated through the wooden object. "No..." My hand shook to the extent that led the photograph to fall like a dead leaf, landing on the wooden desk by chance. "Maybe I'll just keep it here temporarily." I muttered to myself in defeat before moving towards the cupboard with the hope of changing into a set of clean clothes.

Ever since I'd left my body in the form of a drifting soul, I was still wearing my bookstore T-shirt as well as the black skinny jeans. Honestly, I really dislike wearing dirty clothes while sleeping on my bed, though it was extremely messy at this moment due to me rushing in the morning.

***

[Clerence Cartwright]

It was Monday and no doubt I had classes to attend. However, I decided to stay in the rented house and read an online novel which was beautifully plotted. It had reached the forty-eighth chapter and the story was close to the end. But, it's been a few hours since I'd waited for the latest updates.

The author of this book surprised me because he or she was punctual when it came to updating new chapters. This time, nothing happened. No new chapters no emergency notices no nothing.

Let's say the author was a she, alright?

So not long after, her readers began to spam her message board, urging her to update the next chapter of the book. Some were aggressive while some were polite. I could see different emotions expressed through reading these messages as most of them contained emojis.

But there's no response towards every message, as if the author had disappeared. Even though I had checked her message board every thirty minutes, I felt as if those answers were not even read. The only thing that changed the look of her message board were the increasing messages.

Poor author.

I'd seen one of them gathering the others to spam until she appeared like a genie. But what if the Internet of her house had crashed down? Or what if she'd slept pass her usual waking hour?

My mind was loaded with questions with no answers and waiting in front of the laptop was just time-consuming, so I turned the computer into sleep mode before going to change my clothes. Although I was skipping classes, I still had other places to go.

After calling for a random taxi, I locked all the doors and windows, including my room's and left the house. The departing address I'd set was the bookstore where I could travel there by foot.

I know, why didn't I set the address of my rented house, right?

First, I did not wish to expose my hideout to unfamiliar people. Secondly, I wanted to reduce my weight. As my assignments overloaded following the ongoing semester, I stopped going to the gym for one fucking month.

After a few minutes, the bookstore finally appeared in my clear eye vision. The idea of entering and saying 'hi' lighted up my face with a bright grin. There at the counter, a different girl was standing there. I'd never seen her but as I was about to turn and leave, someone called my name.

"Clerence!" It was Jesslyn. She approached me with her high-heeled footsteps and her expression holding a mixture of surprise and confusion. "What are you doing here? I thought… I've told you today… is your off day," she blurted out breathlessly as if she's been running a marathon.

"I'm coming to say hi," I admitted. "Hi."

"Rascal." The manager commented, pinching my cheek. A bitter smile was visible on her face. "How's Sasha?"

Sasha's name sent a pang to my chest until my heart skipped a beat. To be honest, it's been years since someone could send a jolt to my heart. Maybe it's a sign.

"She hasn't woken up yet," I answered wearily. "And I'd prayed for her last night before sleep."

"Good boy," praises Jesslyn as she pat my head despite the height difference between us. Instinctively, I bent to let her continue to action in a comfortable posture so she did not have to tip her toe for a long time.

My puppy-shaped soul loved being patted.

"Where are you going later?" she queried again while retreating. As I stood up straight, I had to look at her with my head lowered for about 45°.

"The hospital. I'm meeting Sasha later." My answer was straightforward.

"Oh great, I have something to give her. Please wait for me." Again, she ran back into the bookstore like Cinderella and returned with a box wrapped beautifully. "Her birthday is around the corner." Jesslyn explained as she stuffed the box into my opened arms. "Tell her that there are always people caring for her, even from afar, alright?"

I looked at the gift box which was as thick as a textbook and back to Jesslyn's face. "I will." I said, sending her a wink. She pinched my ear this time. "Ow ow ow ow ow…!"

"I said no flirting," she reminded me through gritted teeth but in a playful way. "Your taxi is here, send my regards to that poor girl," Jesslyn said when raising her chin, leading me to look behind me. As I did so, I could see the taxi stopped before firing its horn briefly.

"See you tomorrow, Jesslyn." I smiled at her slyly and she just stood there, akimboing with her head shaking. Her eyes rolled skywards as that was what the corner of my eyes had seen.

Once I entered the vehicle, the smile on my face vanished. A poker face was what replaced it.