Chapter 29: Illusion of Peace
On his way back home, Morden did everything in his power to think of solutions to his current circumstances.
He just had a gruesome fight with someone, a fight that left him so injured, bruised, and battered he couldn’t stand, and then the next moment it had all disappeared.
It was beyond strange.
In order to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, Morden quickly pushed all of the distracting thoughts to the back of his mind and made sure to focus on his escape.
His return journey was much faster than when he was heading there, and in a few minutes, he could already see his house off in the distance.
It stood out especially from the surroundings since it was completely dark, unlike the other buildings in the surroundings.
Seeing his destination up ahead, Morden increased his speed even further, and he soon arrived back in his home.
"Finally back in my safe haven," he muttered while he sat on his favorite chair.
"That was unnecessarily dangerous, and I couldn’t even find anything."
"The only thing I managed to confirm was that the red ghost was actually involved in all of this."
"And that person was probably the one that did it to both that family and mine."
"But why?"
"what’s the connection between these two incidents?"
Right now Morden’s mind is a mix of thoughts, questions left unanswered, and scenarios left unexplained, but not instead of sorting those out.
His body had other plans; his thoughts slowly drifted away to somewhere else while his eyelids grew heavy.
Before he knew it, he was already asleep on the couch again for the second night in a row.
And just like the previous night, after the night had deepened further, a shadow figure slipped into his room and stood in the exact spot it was the previous night, just staring at the sleeping Morden.
The rising sun was the trigger again, as the moment a faint glimmer of sunlight entered the room, the figure slowly slipped back out.
The red stone is still in its place.
About an hour later, Morden finally reluctantly opened his eyes, and almost immediately he turned to look at the window, and just as he expected, it was open again.
"The second night in a row," he muttered before standing up to go close to it.
He had already gone out to check yesterday, and all he saw was the piece of clothing stuck in the flowers that he had already picked up.
While leaving the window area, Morden caught sight of something red that immediately raised a thought in his mind.
"I guess I could take care of you guys now," he muttered while heading to the backyard door.
On his way he had picked up a watering can and filled it with water, and now he was standing in front of the small rose garden with a tipped watering can.
This had always been his mother’s first activity of the day, and from now on he had also decided to take up the duty.
"This place belongs to me now."
When he was done watering the flowers, Morden cleaned up the area and slowly began taking care of the house, though the living room was sparkling clean, the other areas absolutely weren’t.
He started with the kitchen; he picked up all the stale food that had already slowly begun rotting and disposed of them, he cleaned up the dishes and then wiped all the surfaces.
"This place should be done, right?" he said while looking all around him; the kitchen was sparkling clean, and everything was almost perfect.
Except for the cupboards.
The cupboards were almost completely empty.
"I better get some things to fill these places up."
"Oh wait, come to think of it, I haven’t eaten in over two days, and I can’t even say I feel extremely hungry."
"It must be due to me now being a Bearer; regardless, a plate of Rice will be nice at this time," his thoughts wandered while saliva accumulated in his mouth.
"No no, not now; I have to finish what I have started first."
He rushed out of the kitchen area and moved to his room, where he battled with a heap of clothes all around, and then the store before he finally reached his mother’s room.
Morden gently opened the door and peeked into the room that was slightly dark from the lights not being turned on, and just like he had expected, the room was in perfect condition.
The bed was neatly made, the items were orderly arranged on the bedside, and everything was prim and proper.
"I guess I will leave this place like this for now."
Since he was done cleaning the whole house at this point and he still feels really energized, Morden decided to head out to get some things and also gather other things.
He freshened up and changed out of his black clothes into a more comfortable one.
"I wonder if words from last night’s incident got out."
’That question should be answered soon though.’
He took his ID card, since it was where all the money he had was, and then he began heading towards the Commercial area.
****Hours Later****
"That was hectic," he exhaled while he dropped the multiple plastic bags in his hand.
The bag contained a myriad of things, ranging from foodstuffs to daily items, and at the end of the day, his account was mostly dry at this point.
"How do I earn money from here on out, that is something I really need to start thinking about."
"I have spent all I have on these," and from that he slowly delved into thought; he hadn’t gone far in his thoughts before he suddenly burst into laughter.
"Life is really a jerk."
The whole day’s normal event had slowly given him the dangerous illusion of a fun, still, and peaceful life, but his current life was everything but peaceful. His family was dead, and he had no idea who did it; he had a crazy encounter, and someone called the Administrator. It was all chaos.
"It is all a facade; it’s all an illusion."
He opened his mouth to laugh out loud again, but just before he could actually release it, a thought sprung up.
"The battle felt tight and rough, but there were lapses,"
"The pain felt disharmonious, it felt fake,"
"Illusions... Illusions."
"It was all an illusion," he shouted out.