Halloween

Alene's POV

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The strong wind knocked down the wooden stick in the neighbour's backyard, startling the black-billed magpie resting under the eaves, and so did I.

It is a beautiful morning. "I am going to skip the morning class, so I will have enough energy to go to the afternoon class", I thought.

Having said that, I think that stick fell a little too strange! I recalled how it was chained to the window grill, so it was almost impossible to fall naturally.

Chen Yang took a deep breath while clearing a pile of leaves on the ground. The biting cold filled his lungs with every breath of the stale air. He can see his breath.

"Ally, are you awake? It snowed last night." Cheng Yang said outside the door.

That is something even more unusual than the falling stick. "Did you see that?" I asked casually, thinking about all the possibilities, and finally, my heart skipped a beat, thinking of a long-forgotten friend of mine.

Susen.

I remember a saying in Zenthor: Snow Maiden's skirt swings in the winter rain, and her small hands belong to the witch.

There is no reason to snow this early, not when Mother nature is still healthy and has always followed the rules.

"I didn't see it. Kang Chin saw it. On the way back, he thought he was hit by a shuriken or something." As Cheng Yang finished speaking, Kang Chin laughed and said, "No, I didn't!"

I pulled off the quilt, quickly put on the windbreaker, and asked, "Brother Kang was late last night?"

"It's not a good sign for the God of Gamblers to return early. He wouldn't have." Cheng Yang said with no flick of emotion. Then, I heard Kang Chin laughing upstairs again.

"Halloween is here. Are you not afraid of walking out there alone?" I opened the curtains and carefully observed the weather. She felt lucky; there were no traces of icy spider webs around.

"Never mind? We are outsiders anyway. Have you heard of zombies attacking foreigners? No!" Cheng Yang said calmly as if it was an accurate statement he got out of the newspaper.

"Maybe not now, but it doesn't mean it won't happen in the future," Kang Chin said.

"Ha, you speak as if you've seen it before...Please be honest with me, brother, or I'll be restless when I sleep next to you." Cheng Yang looked calm, but he sounded different.

"I don't need you to keep me warm by the side." Kang Chin said as he zipped up the new leather jacket he got from Primark last week.

"Say that again if zombie hits the town. Anything happens by then; let's lie down and grow old together." Cheng Yang said as if he had a burst of emotion within, but all his friends would have known this was part of the drama he indulged in.

After staying with these two young gentlemen under the same roof, I know that well enough. They are spontaneous, and their minds are always out of the box, which I don't hate.

I like how lively this place has been since they moved in.

The incoherent conversation between the two suddenly stopped for a while, followed by bursts of laughter.

I heard Chen Yang laughing vigorously, "Oh, how lucky I'm not a woman, or else I would have fallen for you badly. Like how meteor clashes due to the act of... gravity?" Cheng Yang said.

Kang Chin smiled again and said, "That's right. Life is full of hope and endless surprises."

"Tell me, is the crush at your seventeenth that fills you with hope, or the money?"

"It's your seventeen."

"...Alright, guys, please leave the kitchen! A lone dog needs her space." I said lightly, putting the last dumpling into the anchovy soup.

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The fallen leaves blew against the window, making a crackling sound. I put half a pot of curry char siew at the table and didn't pay too much attention to the outside.

The fallen leaves blew against the window, making an uneasy crackling sound. I lifted a pot of curry char siew to the kitchen counter and wasn't paying much attention to what is happening outside.

I tried not to.

It's Halloween today.

They don't practice Trick or Treat in Asia, not in Zenthor as well. I am not used to kids coming to my door asking for sweets. I gave out the last three candies I kept in the cupboard to the previous batch of kids but clearly, they don't look very happy with their treat harvest.

They threw some mini fire popper at my courtyard, so I had to hang a fake ghostly figure out there to scare the kids away.

"I don't think this is how you should treat the kids. You know the rules around the mundane." A slightly raspy sound came from the living room as if she was whispering in my ears. The chandelier light flashed a few times and went off.

"Susen, I hope you are doing good. Now give my light back, or get out of here!" I calmly took another sip of the hot and sour soup.

I have been expecting her.

"What's with the anger? I sincerely hope that you reconciled." A figure gradually gets clearer in front of me despite the darkness in the room with all the curtains up.

It's Susen.

She wore an ice blue short dress, with some colourful pendants on her wrists. There are tattoos of flowers and vines on her arms, shining in a dim green fluorescent. It's never the typical fashion taste from Zenthor or any place in Asia.

She has thick lips and big eyes, her collarbone was obvious. Not much has changed except for the messy curly hair that was straightened. "Chen Siang is your best friend, Abi. What's the point with all the commotion before you left Zenthor?" Susen sat across from me and said.

"Friends? For real? She betrayed me and attracted the pursuers! Now you are asking me why I am angry? Did you hear yourself?" I snarled.

I was certain that I leave no trace behind when I left Zenthor. When his excellency Gong vanishes in the air right in front of my eyes, all I thought was to disappear from Zenthor like how he did.

Indeed, Goyang Jen is a good hunter but needed a guide or direction. I travelled so far away to the other side of the world, hoping to hide for some time, but he found me a little too soon.

I have an old friend who works in the headquarter and happens to be deeply admired by Chen Siang, who I claimed as a close friend back in Zenthor. She betrayed me a few times and the last time, she indirectly killed his excellency, Gong.

A mad love could make you pull a sickle.

It changed Chen Siang and she was slowly distorted from the inside.

"I believe more hunters are coming?" I asked. I believe my old friend might have asked Chen Siang to convey the message to me but unfortunately, the message ended up in the hunter realm. Because she never wanted me alive.

She wanted me dead.

Susen shook her head, with a gasp of sorrow in her voice: "From Gold Wings Guards at the headquarters to bounty hunters from the hunter realm... You were priceless, but now you have a price."

"How much do I worth?" I asked her curiously.

"Five hundred thousand Z."

I whistled, looking surprised. "If I surrender myself, can I get the full figure?"

"Are you joking? " Susen looked confused and distressed at the same time.

"I'm serious, I can do a lot of things with half a million. I could get someone to kill her, even if I am behind the cell."

"Abi!"

I smiled at her, feeling a little nostalgic. We used to fight a bit during our training in Zenthor, but it was all for fun back then.

"I don't understand. I don't. " Susen sighed, only to see a layer of frost all over her body.

"You better go; it's not good for the people from here to see you. I won't be pleased to see two snow fairies fighting!"

Susen pursed her lips and glanced at me. She came here only to make two friends reconcile. Now that it was unsuccessful, she could only go back secretly as if she hasn't come about before.

"Goodbye, Abi. This should be the last time I see you in person. Please take care of yourself." Susen's voice and figure faded in the air. She left.