Blooming Red

Cassiel's POV

Sitting in the comfort of my apartment, I wondered how to spend the weekend. Not like I had any extravagant plans for myself but I wanted to be a little productive.

I walked towards the kitchen and began preparing lunch, I had already skipped breakfast in order to catch sleep. Nothing could make you happier than good food and a filled tummy. I let out a breathy laugh at my sense of humour and proceeded with my cooking.

I sat down to eat my deliciously lip-smacking meal silently. Eating to my heart's content, I pulled out my phone to check out for messages or important assignment-related emails.

To be honest, my apartment or the food I ate was nothing special, but it gave me the peace of mind that I needed most of the time. When I first moved in here, I was only 14. I knew nothing about the city and I would usually live off the road. Days would pass by with nothing to eat. For me, it was normal. As a kid, I believed that is how life is with everyone and everybody spends it the same way I do.

I still don't know who my parents are and why they abandoned me, leaving me alone in this cruel world. As days passed by, I found myself asking questions as to who I really was but every time I tried, nothing seemed to help me find answers about my existence.

From the few things I remember from my childhood, one of them is an old lady usually calling me Cassiel or Siel, and that is how I figured it would be my name. I also remember being fond of playing with puppies. There were a lot of them where I lived.

By the time I had turned 11, surviving became harder and harder with every passing second. Until one day a stranger took hold of my hand and helped me in ways I could have never imagined. I never got a chance to see his face as he had a mask on and sunglasses even though there was barely enough light to see clearly due to the heavy rain.

I met Mr. Vian one night accidentally, or so I believe when I was lying on a bench in order to catch some sleep. He was the very first person who reached out his hand for me to hold onto and did not feel disgusted by me. I, to this date, am grateful to him for giving me a chance to live again.

He was someone who came into my life like an angel and vanished into thin air without leaving any trace behind once I was well off to live on my own. The only thing I know about him was his name and that he was one of the warmest people I have ever met in my life.

After roaming around the house, scrolling through my phone and successfully wasting four hours of the day, I sat down to think of what to do next. My eyes landed on the calendar that was hanging on the wall. I looked closely and realized my birthday was coming soon. I mentally noted to treat Melvin and Zadkiel before they started asking for it themselves. I was finally turning 18 this year and well now I no longer had to hide and go to work, as I no longer would be underage.

When I was around 5 or 6, I slightly remember an old woman bringing out a cake for me. My surroundings were that of a village and not many people were living there. I remember they celebrated my birthday by throwing a huge party where people drank, danced and ate food that was placed on the tables. I also remember playing with the puppies that ran everywhere around the village.

Though my memories are blurry, for some reason I know I was very happy with those people. I know they might be the people I come from and maybe my parents are one of those people living there. I tried recalling what the area around the village looked like many times but every time I would pressurize my mind into thinking I would end up with a headache that lasted 2 or 3 days.

So, I had given up on finding out about my past and started living in the present. This, however, did not stop me from questioning who I really was and who my parents were. Were they still alive or not? Did they not love me enough that they simply left me alone? Was I not a good child so they had to abandon me and give up on me?

All these questions haunted me every day for the past thirteen years but, over time I had learned to live with it. The only few things I remember about my mother were her long ash-grey hair that swayed beautifully along with the wind. Though the memory is really blurry, somewhere in the back of my mind I remember she always wore a necklace that held a sun pendant, around her neck.

I went to my closet, opened up the small box that I kept with me all these thirteen years and looked at the things inside every day in order to remember something at all. In the box was the necklace I remember my mother always had around her neck, a picture of a little child playing around cubs and also a small handwritten letter which was barely readable anymore. I have had all this with me, safe, as a little reminder of those tragic yet beautiful days.

Though the letter is almost blank as most of the content faded away, I can only make out a few words that are written on it. The paper on which the letter had been written, had the initials EVERT signed on it. I tried reading the letter many times but it never made sense as most of the ink had gone, leaving an incomplete puzzle behind. Just by the calligraphic words I had started using the name for myself as Evert, assuming it was my father's surname.

I put everything back in the box, locked it and placed it in the closet again. As I walked over to the TV, my phone began buzzing. Picking it up, I answered it immediately as the name BOSS flashed on the screen.

"Cassiel, come a little early today, we have extra customers to deal with.", my boss ordered and, without hearing my reply, hung up on me. Typical of him to do so. I hurriedly packed my things, picked up my phone and wallet and walked out of the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind me. I ran towards the bus stop as it was almost time for the bus to arrive or else, I would have to take a taxi to work which would be expensive, considering I had to go about 40 minutes far from my place to reach work.

As soon as I arrived, so did the bus. Panting heavily, I got on the bus and sat in my usual spot. Plugging in my headphones, I closed my eyes and leaned towards the window listening to the melodies playing through my phone.

By bus, the ride was about 45 minutes till I reached work. Just as I planned to doze off, I felt someone sit next to me. I opened my eyes to see an old lady with baggy clothes sitting beside me. I smiled at her as our eyes met and continued looking outside the window.

"You are a very handsome young man" complimented the woman beside me. Although I had the headphones plugged in when she had sat down next to me, I removed them in respect.

"Thank you," I replied politely smiling at her. She had wrinkles under her eyes and when she smiled her eyes shut completely. She wore a long red coat over a white plain dress. She sure must have been a beautiful lady. Her clothes showed how elegant she was.

"You are beautiful too Ma'am" I genuinely complimented her in return for her lovely words. She let out a small breathy laugh and looked out the window sighing lightly. The rest of the ride was silent.

No one seemed to be having any conversations amongst themselves, usually heads stuck on their mobile phones. The old lady and I also had nothing to talk about, so staying quiet and looking out the window at the now-dark sky was the best option.

The bus finally came to my stop and I stood up, getting ready to walk out of the bus. I reached the door and looked behind to wave goodbye to the sweet lady that had accompanied me to work today.

"Bye Lunar! Be safe!" She said smiling looking straight into my eyes before the doors of the bus closed leaving me as puzzled as ever. The bus had long gone but I could not bring myself to process anything.

The lady had just called me by an odd name and as far as I remember I did not mention any name to her. And Lunar was the person in my dreams, right? How did she know about him? Who was she and how could she be so sure of what she said? I mean, if she wasn't she wouldn't be smiling like that. The unanswered questions just kept bundling up.

A couple of minutes later, I gathered up my thoughts and started walking towards the somewhat dilapidated building. I opened up the door and was greeted by the strong smell of alcohol and cigarettes. I cringed at the site of men and women sitting and drinking their asses off. I straight up walked to the bar counter and started getting ready for my shift.

"Hello there little one!!!" Exclaimed a very hyper voice from behind me. Recognizing the voice instantly I turned around and side-hugged the beautiful girl standing in front of me showing her brightest smile.

"Hey!! Jessica, how are you?" Anything that made me happy at work would be Jessica. She was one of the most effervescent of all the people I knew here. She made work a hundred times more bearable. I would even give in to working extra hours just because of her. When I first came here with Mr. Vian she was the only person I would stick around with all the time.

She was like the elder sister I never had, and since then everything I learned was with the help and guidance of Jessica. Because of her, I became the best at my work here and many times even got ranked as the best employee of the month. Though it never changed the way we got paid it still was good to have customers that wanted you to prepare their drinks as it would help with some extra tips here and there.

"Why do you look so pale?" She interrogated, releasing herself from the hug. I shrugged, only to receive a smack on my back.

"OUCHHH!!" I yelled grabbing the attention of the customers nearby. I quickly bowed down apologizing for causing the disturbance and turned towards Jessica, glaring at her.

"Don't you dare glare at me and don't you dare shrug my questions off! I will smack you on the head if you don't start taking care of yourself!" ... Bla Bla Blaa, and there she goes with her scoldings. I knew this was coming as it was pretty normal for a pissed Jessica to lecture her juniors when they would do something out of line.

In my case, it was always about my health and how I was a very careless person in her eyes. I smiled and listened to her blabber about how I should eat three times a day and how I should make sure to carry extra snacks with me every time I go outside. She paused to take a breather before chiding once more, "And haven't you found yourself a mate already? You are already an adult-"

"Hey now, I will be turning 18 in a few days. So, technically I am still not an adult."

"Humph! Well, you should at least date. Your entire college must be flocking towards you, so I doubt you lack potential partners, especially with those good looks, perfect build, and ideal personality of yours."

"Talk about dating, I haven't even found anyone I would be attracted to-", I paused in my sentence, as a calm face holding a cold, yet protective expression, flashed before my eyes.

Jessica seemed to have noticed my change in expression, as my silence proved I was guilty. She chimed beside me, poking my waist with her elbow, "I knew it! If you like someone, you should start dating already!"

"Hahah... there is nothing like that... oh look, the boss might get annoyed if we stay idle for too long... Hahah" With nothing more to say, and with no way to control my blushing face, I could only rely on the dim lights of the bar and my strict boss to flap out of this dense atmosphere. Jessica patted my back and left me behind to cool myself down, waving a 'sure thing' at me.