Fear 0.2

"We will be leaving now, we will visit the most crowded of places first so I will be taking a cab."

"Yes okay. Take your time and be safe, I expect you to come back by 10."

Pierce felt as if she was going through a severe shock. 'Did he just say I can come back by 10? He just gave me the freedom to do as I wish... what is happening here...'

Judith was a man of perfection, he always followed rules and expected the others to follow them too. He was always weary towards new people and definitely against the trend of a girl having a boyfriend, when that girl could be his own daughter. He expected absolute worship of the rules he made and had stated many a times how these rules were for her benefit. Pierce's father maybe a gentle professor but his authority was revered to by many, for he was very strict.

For such a man to act kind and loving for even a moment was a big thing.

"By 10? You never let me stay out for that long."

Her father simple shrugged, which he never did and handed her a card she noticed was his credit card. "We have a guest to serve and frankly I know he is trustworthy, so worry not," he then turned to look at the guest, "Make sure you enjoy the day Mr. Salvare, have fun."

Vladius nodded acknowledging the man and walked out of the house with a smile on his face.

Pierce noted down the last name casually in the back of her mind, shoving it as an unnecessary detail but a potentially important one.

"Wait for me Vladius," she called as she ran out the door, in the end it was her job to take care of the guest, 'Like a babysitter.'

Since she was already outside the house, she never heard her father question himself, "She called him Vladius?"

--

Hours later, evening,

A strong wind blew past them as they walked through the park. It was already past 7 and they were taking a short respite.

"The visit to the amusement park was fun right? And that mall."

Vladius nodded with a smile, his hair swaying gently with the wind, he motioned his fingers as if talking about a moving vehicle. She understood, "Ya I know right, you looked so happy riding that double decker bus, even I enjoyed the ride. How about that mall though, did you like it?"

He nodded his head vehemently with exaggeration, it made Pierce laugh.

Any little detail the kids enjoyed, he enjoyed. It was as if he really was a kid, even his expressions were just like little kids when they saw toys or things which fascinated them. His favorite had been the bus and the mall, it made her wonder if she hadn't been with him, he would have taken off running around various stuffs he thought were cool. Since his appearance was a little mature and handsome, he attracted a lot of attention from the people around him, if he was any taller, she was sure he would be considered a well paid model.

Only his good looks were keeping him from looking stupid because she just knew he was one. So innocent and inquisitive that it made him act too carefree and wildly. "You look like a kid when happy you know," Pierce clipped smoothly and watched as the sip he was taking from his cola bottle choked him halfway.

He coughed a little while glaring at her for the first time, yet it only made her bolder, "You know you were sleeping in the cab with your mouth open, and the whole time I was wondering what to put in there."

This got her a small shove on the arm but that's it. She had been paying attention to him since their small tour started. She noticed how he kept a certain distance between them when they walked and the contact was null. It was like he feared touching her.

She also noticed her own growing connection with the guest within minutes of meeting him, she guessed she had already started with the friendship yesterday when she met him for the first time, the development made her feel bubbly as the thought of having another best friend other than Gracia excited her. She was generally not so friendly with the boys nor the girls when she met them for the first time, with Gracia too she had been distant initially, but with him, she was ignorant of all the rules and thoughts and was just being herself. It felt as if she knew him from a long time. He was such a friendly and gentle guy that she couldn't help but be kind to him in return.

'Maybe that is why my father trusted him, maybe he is trustworthy'. Despite his lack of speech currently, he was way better than any person she ever knew who had speech, she believed a person's talent and personality defined them, not their appearances, and it was proving true.

And talking about appearances, Pierce noticed a thin chain he wore around his neck all the time, just like the two copper rings he had on earlier yesterday.

The copper metal was a dull color, looking old but suited his tan skin well. "Why do you always wear that chain, is it some lucky pendant or a charm?"

He took out the chain when she asked, showing her a copper ring that was attached to its end. The ring was small, looked like a female's. "Did it belong to your mother?" she was hoping it wasn't from his admirer.

He nodded confirming her guesswork and it made her feel better for some reason.

"What do you want to do now? We have some time left."

She waited for Vladius to write down his thoughts, until then she looked around and noticed the almost empty park area. People most of the time flooded it by 8 so they were saved the hassle of dodging the joggers.

The green shrubs and the trees helped sooth down her sour muscles, 'Too much of exercise today, my foot will probably kill me once I reach home.'

She was nudged out of her thoughts when she received the notepad, it read, "Can't we go to the monuments you were talking about earlier?"

"We can, but it will take a whole day to see them, I believe we should take a rest today and just roam around in the locality. Maybe eat in restaurants and watch a movie."

'It sounds like a date,' she thought with a blush and walked ahead of the guy when he said no further. She saw an ice-cream stall in front of her and decided then and there what they were having before dinner. "You ever eaten ice-cream before?"

Vladius shook his head in a negative, which she had already assumed because he was just strange that way. "Let's have some. Tell me what flavor you like and I will buy that for you."

He nodded and went to stand next to her as she stared at the various flavors on display. The owner of the mobile van came out to greet them and asked what they would like to have.

Pierce quickly ordered for strawberry and waited for Vladius to speak his mind.

"Chocolate," was his reply and soon they were walking away from the shop with a strawberry and a chocolate ice-cream in hand.

Looking at his face she noticed smudges of chocolate over his lips and cheek, he seemed to have eaten it for the first time. She chuckled as she took hold of the tissue paper in her left hand and stopped him from moving with her right knuckle, still holding a half eaten cone.

"Stay still."

She did ask him to stay still but she hadn't expected him to freeze on contact. When she wiped away all the smudges she looked up at him with a sudden realization, 'What am I doing...?'

"S-Sorry, I... I... urgh, nothing, let's go shall we?" she stuttered out hesitantly with a bright red face, she hoped the dim lighting in the park hid the blood rush well.

Turning around she left him there, she was sure he was still in shock, she was too, even though such acts were normal around her school among friends, it just felt awkward between them, that simple act felt strangely intimate and suddenly a big deal. 'Okay, so maybe it isn't so normal among friends.'

After a while of walking they were both exhausted, or in her case she was as Vladius was just following her without a sweat. "How much stamina do you have?" she questioned while huffing for air, the walking had soon turned to jogging when they were done with their cone.

Vladius just shrugged and sat down on a nearby bench. She followed.

"What do you think about the stars?" she asked while looking at the sky. It was dusted with twinkles both bright and dim. "Do you think there are others like us out there?"

He answered with a brief nod. "What do you think they would look like?"

He shrugged again with a thoughtful tug on his lips.

Pierce turned back to look above while she stated her own beliefs, "I too think we aren't alone, sometimes I just wish that I knew more about this universe. It's so... mysterious."

A slight rustling from a nearby bush caught their attention and she realized for the first time that the night had became too calm all at once. The dread she had felt in the pit of her stomach the day before made it back with full force. It was to such an extent, that it made her tremble softly.

"S-Something is w-wrong..." she mumbled while clutching her sides. She knew it was just her imagination when she noticed Vladius looking casually at the scene, he was least bothered by it and so should she be, but she just couldn't shake off the feeling of being helpless in the face of such negative emotions she felt at present. It was as if the time itself was frozen as the bushes stopped rustling. She just hopped it was a rat or a cat which will spring out from behind instead of something else.

'What something else Pierce, they are just myths, stories of fiction,' she assured herself.

Even with the dim lighting she could see the shadows of the bushes and the frightening moment behind the green shrubs. "What's happening?" she asked Vladius as he too must have seen the eerie shadows.

And to her great shock, he wasn't there sitting on the bench, but had stood up sharply and was walking towards the source of the issue, his shoulders stiff and back straight, he was a man on a mission.

"Where are you going?" she whispered frantically clutching her sides with a firmer grip. "Vladius?" she called sharply. She didn't want to see him get eaten by something gross, like in the movies when a side character went to see what was wrong and instead got eaten or killed first.

To someone who was watching them, the entire scene would look quite comical but to her it was the least funny thing in her entire life. Even being reminded of the part after many years, she wouldn't be laughing.

She was going to call him again but stopped as he bend down to part the shrubs, he was quick not waiting for any kind of suspense, there was no hesitation at all.

But all that came out was an angry hiss of a cat which was pawing at something on the ground, making Pierce get up to see what it was. It was a pigeon, fluttering its wings trying to escape it's predator.

Vladius stood there for a second before feigning to kick the cat, which escaped quickly leaving away the bird cooing at the ground.

"Why isn't it flying?" thought Pierce out loud, her earlier fears gone with the incoming wind, which had suddenly resumed its flow.

Vladius motioned something with his hands but when she didn't understand anything, he finally took out a notepad and started to write down in it. Stepping back from the bush, he motioned her to follow him beneath the street lamp which glowed brightly now.

"It was too scared to move, fear does that to any being."

"I hope it doesn't gets attacked again."

She hadn't expected him to reply to that, but he did, "The weaker will be beaten and the prey eaten, that's the cycle of life."

"Did you copy that dialogue from somewhere?"

"My master taught it to me."

To Pierce it was strange that he called his teachers 'master', it was an uncommon term but maybe it was what they called their professors natively, who knew.

She was just glad her fears were unfound, and she was just being paranoid. It was a good thing he wasn't questioning her sudden panic.

"Hey Vladius," when she got his attention she spoke further, looking away from him almost guiltily, "I want to go home now." She couldn't explain it but she felt very scared in the park and not only that but since the start of the day she had been feeling shockingly fearful of something. The bush incident was more like a foreboding premonition to her than any other thing.

To say he was dejected after hearing it was speaking lightly, he was devastated but she couldn't help herself. Having a sixth sense was sometimes more than she could handle, and what will she tell him when he wouldn't even understand what she meant.