Chapter 13: The Girl of The Library

"You have failed!!!"

Yell a vague silhouette of a large-bodied creature whose voice was so deep that it can trigger anyone's Flight or fight response when coming face to face. The creature then started Murdering Ryan's friends one by one with its bare hands and long, sharp horns on the side of its head, each one more gruesome than the last. Ryan stood there with eyes of disbelief before screaming out of pure rage and insanity, only thinking of how he can break this creature's more than one way so it could feel the same pain he feels, but for an unknown reason, the lad could not move any of his muscles or limbs so he was stuck at one of the most horrifying torture that a selfless man can receive. Until a tall, slim figure with white chains shackled from a particular part of its limb, appeared from behind, using one of its chains as a Garote and strangled Ryan across the neck from behind. His back was forced to arch upwards as his eyes stared at two distant creatures, a large wolf whose fur was the same as the raging fire and skin as hard and crusty as the molten rocks inside a volcano, growling aggressively at a blue butterfly that was flapping its wings and moving towards a random location. His teeth slowly gritted as he was rapidly losing his breath due to the painful strangle of a creature from behind, his pupils started to shake and rolled upwards as he could feel his final breath was slowly disappearing as his view of things slowly started to turn dimmer over time. Soon the creature from behind leaned forward to the side of his face and whispered something in his ears, something that was too quiet to be heard except for Ryan, but the language was so distorted and unknown, it was almost as if it was making each word up, but whatever it was, it made him widened both of his eyes in shock before it yelled in a voice that resembled a distorted videotape.

"Good, now wake up!!!"

Ryan then woke up, jolting out of bed with his eyes wide open, panting heavily as sweat dripped down from his forehead. He ran his hand across his neck, it was as if he could somehow feel that he was choked in the real world as well. He averted his eyes towards the open window with the sun in view, it was Saturday and he remembered that during weekends, Lucas is out so the people guarding the shop were him and the Staff, and he overslept. He placed his hand on his chest, feeling his still racing heartbeat, as the fragments of his dream suddenly flash in his head

"Another nightmare…."

He muttered before putting on a black t-shirt to replace his orange sweater that was drenched in sweat and heading downstairs to see Joseph and Wendy working their usual job. As Wendy heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she turned to her right and saw Ryan who just woke up but had that troubled look of him, and immediately realized what the reason was.

"Another Nightmare?" Asked Wendy, leaning forward on the Counter, while sitting on a wheelchair as she stared at him with concern in her eyes.

"Yeah..."

Ryan replied with a monotone voice before walking into the kitchen and pouring a cup of coffee that was already made since they have an instant coffee machine. The lad headed back to Wendy's counter and sat on a chair, staring blankly at the burnished wood of the counter while Wendy and Joseph couldn't help but stare at him in a growing concern.

"Dude, you've been having strange nightmares since we ignored that note at that lake 3 weeks ago. You keep saying that we shouldn't pay any attention but we're worried, are you sure you're alright?" Joseph asked with a concerned voice towards the troubled lad as he wiped the window with a clean white cloth.

"I'm alright… don't worry… but there was something different to this dream… I saw a large creature… and it killed all of you… and the other one… strangled me with a chain…"

Joseph suddenly stopped wiping the window as soon as he mentioned what the creature did to them, his face dropped to a frown, feeling troubled and worried about their friend, the same goes for Wendy.

"Hey... Don't worry, it's just a dream Ryan"

Wendy said, hoping to reassure them. Of course, Ryan nodded and agreed, sighing and taking a quick sip on his cup of warm coffee

"Did Uncle Lucas leave already?"

"About an hour ago, yeah. He said he'll be back a bit late at night so he tasked us to be in charge of the Shop again" Wendy replied for him as Joseph moved on to finish the rest of the window.

"I see… I can't keep having this dream… or else I will surely lose my mind… I guess I'll just have to endure it… I know finding the books will rid me of these nightmares, but I can't risk my friends' lives again…" He said in his already troubled thought, he thought and thought for an answer to what Illumina said to him at the lake, but her vague response only seemed to make it even harder for the lad. "Wendy, do you know someone who knows Shooting Star's History?" He suddenly asked, placing Wendy in a confused and curious state before answering.

"No… but you can try the School Library, it's the only library in this town"

"Library… Why didn't I think of that…? I'll go there tomorrow at school"

"Why did you ask that by the way?"

"Oh, I just wanted to catch up on this town's history, that's all"

A few minutes later. Ryan finished his cup of coffee and washed it on the kitchen sink before walking back towards his room, grabbing his pocket-size book about Animal Nature and putting on the purple hoodie that Sasha knitted for him back at the Manor. He walked back downstairs and headed towards the door before Wendy asked him a question.

"Where are you going?"

"I just need to get some fresh air and clear my thoughts… I'll be back soon, don't worry" He replied with a reassuring smile before exiting the shop and closing the door behind him.

"Do you think he's really alright…?" Joseph asked Wendy after he returned the cleaning equipment back in the closet.

"I don't know… he keeps refusing our help, I know that wants to keep us safe but he can't do this alone… he needs to know that we are always there for him, no matter what comes"

"Yeah, but what can we do to help? We're facing a whole new level of threat that no human ever face in this century"

"We can ask that girl that collapsed on the lake, I remember Ryan saying that it was a sprite?"

"Oh yeah, where is she by the way?"

"Ryan and I dropped her at the hospital, she's in a coma for now… but when she wakes up, we must ask her everything that she knows, it's the only way to help him in his state"

"Yeah… you must really like him don't you?"

"Zip it, talking Marshmallow" Wendy replied with a death glare as Joseph just laughed as a response.

Meanwhile, the lad kept his slow walk towards the Town, no destination, all he planned was to walk and read his book so the nightmare he had earlier would disappear. But he couldn't help but think about what the creature that strangled him said, it was a language no one heard before yet somehow, deep inside of him, he understood a part of it. A part of the word he understood was 'Arise' thinking hard about it, he realized how ridiculous it was so the memory immediately faded away from his thoughts. He then realized that he was already in the town, seeing the small smile at the town's people as they shop for groceries from the side markets helped him discard his negative and troubling thoughts away for now as he just focused on the normal, peaceful view of the people of Shooting Star.

He soon came across a small bookstore, which was perfect, seeing that he was already finished with his old one, in front of the book store was a Book Recycling deposit, which was very convenient for people who want to get rid of their unused book so the others could use it, the only problem is that the Recycling deposit looked very similar to a green trash deposit so most people would be confused. After placing the book to the deposit, he immediately entered the bookstore to buy a small book he can carry anywhere to read to pass the time, until a female wearing a purple hoodie as well, and black skinny jeans along with a pair of black shoes reached in the booking deposit and pulled out the same boom that Ryan deposited. Sometime later, the lad finally exited the bookstore after picking the right book for him to read, the book was about The Beauty of Nature and a few more for his side hobby. Soon Ryan came to a sudden stop when he saw a female wearing a pink ribbon that tied her obvious long dark olive hair up, her eyes had the most peculiar color that he had ever seen, it was different shades of purple, starting from light to dark. He was sure that the girl was not wearing any contacts, but he couldn't help but assume that she was, seeing that he had never seen this kind of beautifully colored pair of eyes before. Her dark amethyst eyes go well with her cute appearance and her light pink cheeks, surely her cuteness is more of a weapon than any other female's beauty. She had the same height as his eye level but why was she standing right in front of him? He never met this girl before but the way her eyebrows were creased towards him in a mixture of both shyness and anger, made him confused and immediately assumed that he did something to upset her.

"(Who would throw away a book?! What's wrong with you?! Books are not meant to be just thrown away like unwanted material!)" She yelled in her thought with sheer anger but kept an angered look towards him as if she wanted to tell him those words out loud but couldn't, but the way she glared at him, almost looked like she was pouting cutely.

"Did I do something wrong…?" Ryan asked in growing concern as he was placed in an even more confusing position seeing he never did anything to upset anyone.

"(Of course you did!! Who would throw away a perfect book!! )B… book…" she muttered with a shy voice that confused him more.

"Book? What about the book?" He asked while tilting his head as a sign of confusion. As she heard him ask that question, she realized what she said and as a response, her face immediately flushed in red due to embarrassment before quickly hiding her reddened face behind the book he deposited earlier in a shy manner.

"Oh, that's my book, is something the matter with it?" He asked once more, hoping she would answer him at least once so he could piece everything together, but she just handed him the book, and by further taking the book away from her hands, her shy eyes turned to an immediate glare of anger towards him once more.

"K…. Keep it" she muttered before quickly turning her back to avoid seeing him directly and stormed off towards the opposite direction he was soon to head.

"What's wrong with her…?" Ryan muttered to himself and stared at his book for a moment before placing it in the bag along with his other books and heading back home, now trying to rid his thoughts of the confusion he had earlier.

"(Why can't you just say it! Arghh I'm so stupid, but it's all his fault! I hate people like him! Books are meant for more than just being thrown away after being read! I need to go back to the library… to calm myself down… I can't wait for tomorrow…)" The girl muttered to herself, letting out a deep breath to calm her rising nerves before heading back to where she lived.

A day later It was finally Monday, a time for school and activities. Ryan wanted this opportunity to spend his time researching about this town's history, hoping he could find a clue on how it was built or at least what mythical creatures are listed in the past history. Lucky for Ryan, the principal gave him Special permission to skip classes if the matter is important and this matter is important for his personal reasons, but he still wanted to finish the first subject first before heading to the principal's office and ask him about being excused, which is Gym class

" Alright class, team up and stretch yourselves, we're playing Dodgeball to help your agility and reflexes, and because it's fun to see you eliminate each other"

Said the female Gym Clack with a triumph laugh as the class groaned and sighed. The class soon grouped themselves into two teams, Ryan's team had three boys and 6 girls while on the other team was Wendy's team, having a total of 10 players as well.

"I hate dodgeball, it's the only subject that gets me doooowwwnnn….." Rikka whined as she let out another groan

"It's ok, we just have to try our best"

Said Shira with a confident look to reassure her.

"Hmmm? That's awfully weird of you, usually, you tend to give up, is it because Ryan is on our team?" Shira smiled softly with a light blush as a sign that what she guessed was right. Soon the Coach blew her whistle and the match started. Balls were seen flying from the opposite direction as the class of students engages, if you are one of those in the court, you will start seeing Dodgeball as more than just a competitive game, it is a warzone and the balls are the bullets, males with strong arms are the most lethal in this gym warzone, meanwhile the coach happily enjoyed the gruesome view of students murdering each other with a rubber ball. Each team lost players one by one over time but Ryan kept evading the balls like it was nothing, even catching a ball or two so he could eliminate the enemy team.

One of the males with a powerful throwing arm on Wendy's team threw the ball with all his might directly at Shira, the ball was fired and the trajectory was directly at her face, she instant closed her eyes and flinched as a flash of response but Ryan immediately caught the ball and threw it towards the person who aimed at Shyra with a swift throw that eliminated the male.

"No aiming at the face!" Yelled the coach towards the eliminated male but he kept a death glare at Shyra like he had a grudge against her and Shyra noticed that.

"Are you alright?" Ryan asked.

"I'm alright, thank you" She replied sweetly before they continued the war.

The battle was indeed fierce, one getting eliminated after the other until Wendy and Ryan was the only one left of both teams

"You actually got good reflexes," Ryan said to Wendy as a compliment before he grabbed a ball on the clean waxed floor of the gym.

"Thank you, same goes for you too" *She replied with a smile, her obvious feelings for him were kept on hold and were replaced with only the eyes of rivalry as they stood face to face with one on both of their hands. The two of them clashed, both having excellent agility and reaction time which amazed the crowd until they both Threw their Final ball, hitting them both in the process without an official winner since they were both out.

"It's a Tie!"

Yelled the Coach after blowing her loud whistle which echoed through the Gymnasium. As the crowd felt disappointed that neither of their best players could win the match, Ryan finally felt like he met his match in a fair duel.

After telling Wendy about what he was going to do in the library, he immediately walked towards the principal's office, knocking on his door before entering to see Mr. Alex, finishing a huge pile of paper works before he noticed that lad.

"Ah, Ryan. Have a seat" The Principal gestured to him to sit on an empty chair which he did, formally. "I need to formally thank you for your butler's fund. He was really generous but I can't help but feel guilty. I asked him that the school needed 300 thousand dollars and he gave me a quarter-million… I can't take all that money"

"It's okay Mr. Alex. Ronald is financially trained, so if he meant to give you that much money then that means you will need the remainings in the future"

"I see… but do tell him that I couldn't thank him enough, expect more resources and equipment in this school, all because of you. Now, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to ask you if you would let me be excused for the rest of the day…"

"Why? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, I just need to do some research in the library about this town… I can't explain why but… I just feel like it will help me with my personal problems…"

"I see, alright then. I will allow that, consider it as part of my thank you for what you did so far. You're excused until you've done your research, contact me again if you are going to resume your classes so I can inform the teachers"

"Thank you, Sir"

With the words of the principal on his side, Ryan exited the room and headed towards the school Library that was just next to the campus seeing that it was a separate building from the school. As he opened the glass sliding doors of the School Library, the scent of old pages of wisdom entered his nostrils, surely this place indeed had a book that contains past information and history. Upon making it at the center, the lad realized that this was actually the largest Library he ever been to, much larger than the Manor's private library. There were few students to be seen reading books quietly on separate tables while others sat next to each other, but finding the book he required would be hard, so he searched for a librarian or at least a person from the Student Library council for his help. After wandering through the large and tall book Isle, there he saw a distant female, sitting behind a long desk where a bunch of book piles was seen next to her, whoever she was, it was clear that she loved to read. As he walked closer towards the distant girl, he noticed how her dark olive-colored hair shone upon the sunray that pierced through the glass window next to her, seeing a small distant smile as she read her book in sweet silence.

Once he arrived in front of her, she lowered the book she was reading and gazed over towards the split-colored male. Their eyes widened in shock to realize that the two of them met once more. Her dark amethyst eyes that glistened beautifully from the sunlight almost pierced his dense head, realizing that it was the girl from before so it made things awkward for the two of them.

"Umm… hello again," Said Ryan, hoping to start a small conversation but the girl had an even more troubling look than him, her cheeks were still as red as a strawberry since they first met, seeing that she was indeed a very shy person.

"(Oh no it's the guy again! What is he doing here?!)" She said in her head again while keeping an embarrassing look towards him. Without hearing a response from her, he realized that it would just make things more awkward so he went straight to the point.

"Umm, I wanted to ask if you have any books about… this town's history. I need it… any information will do" Ryan asked firmly before the girl nodded and stood up from her chair, holding a brown book close to her chest before pointing to a desk where a male was reading a book as well. "Uhh… do you want me to sit and wait?" He asked her in confusion but seeing her nod slowly meant he was right in his assumption. He walked towards the desk she pointed and sat on an empty chair as he patiently waited for her return.

"(Why is he even here, and why does he want to know this town's history…? I shouldn't keep asking myself this. Just get the books like a good President of the Student Library council so you can get back to reading and escape this reality again)"

After several minutes of patiently waiting, Ryan heard a faint sound, resembling the wheels of a grocery cart. He turned to his side seeing the girl pushing a large vintage library cart that was filled with over 40 books containing information about Shooting Star. She stopped the cart beside him and stood in front of the confused lad with her arms wrapped around the brown book that she always had next to her chest.

"Umm one or two books would have been easier…" he said to the girl with a small smile, as he scratched the back of his head slowly. The girls slowly became brighter and brighter in embarrassment.

"I knew it! Why did I have to get him all of the books relating to Shooting Star's History! I'm such a weirdo! Stupid Hitomi! Stupid!" Hitomi yelled at herself in her thoughts as she repeatedly bowed her head as a gesture of apologizing. "I'm sorry! You weren't very specific on how many you needed earlier… but it's still my fault that I brought you this much!"

"You don't have to do that, I don't mind if it's a lot. I'm just impressed that you managed to get all of these books without the aid of the computer, so thank you" Ryan said with a wide smile and a reassuring tone that caused her to pause from his compliment, despite how red her face is due to embarrassment, a pet of that blush was because of his unusually kind compliment. With a simple nod of her head, she immediately went back to her desk, not looking back at Ryan, and continued to read her book in silence while also covering her face since she can tell that Ryan was staring at her, leaving him with a sigh and a pile of books for him to read which could take him all day but he has all the time to the world, not to mention he was a speed reader. Soon before he could start reading, the male on the same desk as him whispered with a low voice since they were in a library.

"Hey Ryan, I'm actually one of your classmates I skipped classes don't tell anyone"

"Oh, you're the one who sits behind me right?"

"Yup, that's me. The name is Paul. So whatcha doing here?"

"Doing some research about this town, I asked the principal to make me excused for the rest of the day or until I'm done with my research"

"Ahh, I see. I mostly came here to read comics" Said Paul before revealing a comic underneath the book he was only pretending to read on the outside. "By the way, are you close with that girl?"

"No, I only met her yesterday in front of the book store"

"Ahh, well that's obvious. Just wanted to know"

"Who is she?" Ryan asked in curiosity.

"Oh yeah, you're still here so you don't know that girl. That's Hitomi Tanaka the President of the Student Library Council"

"Hitomi…? So she's Japanese?"

"Yeah, she was a transfer student a year ago. And she's extremely quiet, no one even heard her speak before, not once. She must be a mute"

"But she spoke to me yesterday, although it was only 2 words"

"Woah, then you must have done something to trigger her to speak"

"Did I…? maybe...?"

Paul noticed that Ryan was thinking deeper after he stated why she spoke. "Hey, don't overthink about it. Almost every student here calls her Mute or Book freak since she always reads books and is always in the library. Even the other members of the Student Library Council is weirded by her"

"Freak… so she's been there as well" He muttered in silence, glancing over at Hitomi while she read her book. "Thanks for the information, Paul…"

"No prob dude, I'll continue with my "book" I'll leave you be with your research," Paul said after Quoting the book part before both of them continued to read.

As time goes by, the students in the library soon started to exit the area one by one including Paul until Ryan and Hitomi was left alone in the same Reading area but they never noticed each other after the Shy female gave him the books he needed which still amazed him seeing that this library is very huge but she collected all of the books relating to his needs in a matter of minutes, no one could do that unless they fully memorized every book in their minds. The school bell soon rang out loud, signaling the end of the Monday school as it was already past 5 pm. Ryan stopped on his reading and stood up from his chair. realizing that he still has a lot more to read, since the books he read just now didn't contain any information he needed to answer his questions about Shooting Star.

The female stood up from where she sat and placed the brown book on top of her desk before walking towards the randomly placed book on the tables which the students left for her to place back at their correct aisle of the Dewey Decimal system. There were a lot of unreturned books and it was going to take her a long time to place them all in the correct aisle, but the female spent 2 years in this library and probably even more in her past. Hitomi was indeed a mysterious girl who was worth searching into her history to fully understand her deepest emotions. As the last Aisle of the book she was going to return was too high for her height, she grabbed a nearby stepladder and climbed on top but even with the small added height from the step ladder, she was still too small to reach but she refused to give up. She stepped with one foot that was on the tip of her toes, stretching her left arm the longest she could, and when she was about to insert the book to its correct spot, her foot immediately reverted back to its standing position, couldn't take any more from standing on the tip of her toes, making the stepladder rock which instant caused her to lose balance, accidentally stepping back at the edge of the stepladder and fell backwards. The world slowed down for her as she made her way to the cold hard floor of the library, this happened to her quite often but she knew no one else would help her, the members of the Student Library Council often leaves her alone to watch over the library while they do their individual work, sure they are friendly towards her, but she knew deep down that they think of her like everyone else and she accepted that. It was her against the world filled with judgemental people but she knew that she would still be standing, or that's what she thought at least until her fall was lessened when she suddenly bumped hard on to something from behind which caused a loud 'Thud' on the Book Aisle behind her. She opened her eyes which were shut as a reflex after the fall, seeing that she was on the floor, resting behind something that was both soft and warm, she noticed that there were two more legs next to her and an arm that was wrapped around her stomach. The girl paused as a response before arching her head up to see Ryan, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand after hitting the hard wooden book aisle.

Ouch… Are you alright…?"

Asked Ryan with a gentle smile that was seen upside down from her point of view. She paused for a moment, taking her time to process everything in her head until she finally realized their current position, sending her in a sudden flush of red that traveled from her cheeks to her ears.

"(Hey, hey! What is this?! What is this position?! Where did he come from?! He… saved me? But why? Why me…?)" She questioned herself, not realizing they have been staring at each other's peculiar eyes for a moment of silence. The warmth of his body and embrace was something Hitomi never felt in a long time, making her feel something she never thought she could feel besides being inside a library, safety and relief. "(He's chest is so warm… why is my heart beating like crazy… I can feel he's gentle heartbeat too, who is the…?)" Both of them couldn't help but stare at each other's eyes, as if both of them were being pulled in an inescapable void, paralyzing them before Hitomi blinked which ended their mesmerizing trance. "(Wait what am I doing?! He's the enemy! You hate him, remember!)"

"I'll take that long silence as a yes" Ryan spoke to end the aura of silence between them after letting out a small laugh and helping her up before he dusted himself. Hitomi stared at him for a while longer, rubbing both of her hands close to her chest in a shy manner before attempting to speak.

"A… arigato…" She said with an audible voice before instantly regretting that she said that in her native language. "(Why did you say that in Japanese again!!! All you had to do was say thank you!)"

"Genkyū shinaide kudasai…" Her eyes instantly widened in surprise when her ears actually heard him speak Japanese meaning 'Don't Mention it'. "I read Japanese kanji books so I hope I said it right" Ryan blurted with a nervous laugh while she kept her creepy yet attractive gaze at him before shaking her head in an instant, gesturing to him that it's alright. "I just wanted to say that you shouldn't remove the books on my desk yet, I'm still not done with reading so I'm coming back here tomorrow. Is that alright?"

"(You're coming back here?!)" She said in her thoughts before nodding as a sign that she agreed.

"Thank you," Ryan said with a positive voice before both of them looked beneath them to see the book that Hitomi was trying to return, their minds instantly thought the same thing, as if they became in sync unintentionally. They both leaned down and reached for the book together, accidentally placing her hand on top of Ryan since he was quicker. Feeling the spark of warmth, her cheeks once again showed the result of her rising emotions with the same bright red color. She quickly removed her hand on top of his, looking like she just did something that she shouldn't have done but Ryan didn't mind and picked up the book.

"Oh, sorry. Let me help you, you might fall again" He said towards her before placing the book back in its correct place. Staring at each other's eyes for a moment, Hitomi quickly bowed in front of him, taking him in her traditional way before quickly walking away, hearing the quick and loud sounds of her shoes as she made her way back to her desk with her face still red, her heart still racing like she just ran a marathon.

"(Kamisama, help me… what's happening to me, my heart's still beating like crazy… I can't believe he replied to me in Japanese… and he was fluent too. Oh my God! Why did I stare at his eyes…?! But… he gazed at me as well... He doesn't seem to act like one of the others... wait, his left eye…)" She then picked up her brown book and flipped it to the side so the back end of the cover was facing her. With a simple swipe of her palm across the book, a symbol of a golden yellow eye appeared on the top, having a sharp red pupil as the golden light became brighter the longer it was there. "(Must be just a coincidence…)"

As the setting sun began to shine an orange light across the sky, Ryan made a quick visit to a place he thought he would regret coming back, Shooting Star Lake. As he made it to the entrance, the appearance and the atmosphere had really changed for the better, the weird and unnerving feeling that he had on his first arrival in this area had finally disappeared. But when he gazed over at the lake, he remembered the Sprite telling him about how he killed a guardian, but what is a guardian, and what was it guarding? Deeper thought immediately overflowed in his head again, but soon disappear when he saw something shiny reflecting from beneath the shallow part of the lake. He wanted to take a more closer look so he removed his shoes and socks, pulling his jeans up, and walked towards the shining light, once the light was beneath him, he dug through the small rocks that were covering half of the object's body, once he finally had his hands on the object, he pulled it out of the crystal clear lake and realized that it was a pendant of sorts. Having real beautiful crystals as part of the design, and on the front end, it had a rainbow-colored shell that he never saw before, he thought this was fake or at least painted, but after observing it long enough, he realized that it was the real thing and must be worth more than a fortune.

"I can't find my Pendant…"

A flash of memory appeared in his head, remembering what the Sprite said to him before she turned for the worst and attempted to drown him.

"... I'll keep this just in case" He muttered to himself before taking his final moments to stare at the peaceful lake before putting on his socks and shoes, and finally headed back to the shop.

Upon his arrival, he saw Lucas washing the dishes and a plate of leftovers on the counter.

"Hey, Uncle Lucas" Ryan greeted him as he hung his backpack on the coat hanger.

"Oh, there you are, what took you so long?" Lucas asked.

"Extra studies…"

"Ah, I see. That's understandable. I left you some leftovers if you're hungry"

"No thanks, I just need to take a rest since I had a long day…"

"Haha, it's good to see you finally knowing when to take a break, I was concerned that you were acting very energetic unlike me back when I was just your age" He laughed shortly as he continued to wash the plates, Ryan smiled at his Uncle's words but suddenly disappeared when he asked him a straightforward question.

"Uncle Lucas, what's wrong with me?"

"What do you mean?" He asked with a confused look from behind.

"Why was I born with a different appearance unlike the others… thanks to this, I was called a freak and many more growing up…"

"... I see… I'm going, to be honest, when you were born, I was there. You're father and I was indeed shocked to see your appearance, there is a 10% chance that a couple would give birth to a child with two different colored eyes but having two more different colored hair? That's a whole new level. But your mother loved how you look very much and it didn't take long for your father and me to love and accept how you look as well"

"Oh… were you in New Orleans as well?"

"New Orleans? No, haha you were born here kiddo"

Ryan's eyes widened after the shocking words that Lucas just spoke, he never once thought that this was his place of birth, he always thought he was born in a hospital somewhere in the big city.

"I was born here?!"

"Yes, then your parents left the town and settled in a forest near the City, it was your father's dream to live in a peaceful house in the calm forest. Ryan, let me give you some advice… Weird or Freak, no matter how people say those words towards you, always know that they tell you that because you are different from the others, and that's a good thing. Sure being one with the others is a good thing as well, but the most important thing in this world is by loving who you truly are and who you truly want to be. This world is judgemental, I know. But you don't wake up every day to impress everybody. There is nothing bad about being called a freak or being treated like your weird, it's just another way of saying you are a special individual, it hurts being called that but they're missing out, you have Wendy and Joseph with you, and those two don't care what others think about them, I know because they have been working here since they still didn't know each other.

"I understand… thank you, Uncle Lucas… I'm really grateful to have an Uncle Like you"

"You're too kind, Kid. Now go and sleep, you deserve a rest"

Ryan couldn't agree more, he climbed up the stairs and immediately flopped into his bed after turning off the light. But his mind was suddenly secluded by the image of Hitomi, he didn't know why her image suddenly appeared but, the warmth of her body, the softness of her skin could still be felt on his left arm and the angelic scent of her hair was something he could never forget. It wasn't attraction he was feeling towards her, the way he felt her hand on top of his, he felt an unusual surge of a strange aura, he didn't know what he felt but a part of him wanted to either feel it again and another part of him wanted to be close to her, he never met anyone else who had a similar past like him so he wanted to help her escape from the bars that restricted a part of her from being free.

After a while of staring at the black ceiling, his eyes soon felt heavy and all he could see now was darkness. Until he arrived at the same unknown area he was in his nightmare, his legs started to shiver and his mind was losing sanity as he refused to look back after hearing a loud noise from behind, resembling a sound of cracking bones. His feet then felt warm and wet, he looked beneath him to see he was standing in a pool of blood, and in front of him appeared all of the people he knew and loved, all nothing but corpses and rotting flesh. Then a shadow appeared in front of him and formed into the large, bodied creature he always saw in his nightmare, choking him with one grip of its large hands and lifting him 2 feet of the ground as he tried his best to break free but its grip overpowered him until it eventually released him, causing the lad to fall on the ground that was filled with blood. He gasps for air while wiping the dark, metallic blood off his cheeks but ends up spreading it across his face. Then a wolf growled at him from a distance, gaining his attention with its eyes burning in bright orange, his fur then became ablaze with flame before charging towards him in a blink of an eye until he jolted up from his bed, sweating harder than he ever did as his temperature grew higher and higher, breathing heavily and nervously. He ran his hand across his neck, his dream becoming too real for him to bear as the light of the fool moon illuminated his darkroom through the open window.

"The nightmare keeps getting worse…"