Chapter 187 - 184: Luna and ’Fire
Kesby went to see his good friend that evening.
To be honest, Kesby hadn’t been sleeping well himself lately and was constantly exhausted, but his friends, the Ruby couple, were in even worse shape.
He hadn’t seen them in just four days, but they already had a sallow, waxy complexion. Their eyes were puffy and sunken.
When Mr. Ruby opened the door for him, Kesby was taken aback.
"Bolna Ruby, what have you guys been up to? A little too much action in the bedroom?"
Kesby teased.
"You’re the one with too much action. We’ve just been exhausted these past couple of days. Come on in, the mirror’s in the living room."
Dinner was ready, and the mirror was placed off to one side. Of the whole family, only Luna seemed to be in slightly better spirits, but she was sitting over on the sofa with her plate.
Seeing Kesby come in, she called out sweetly, "Uncle Kesby."
"What a good girl, Luna. Why aren’t you eating at the table?"
Mrs. Ruby invited Kesby to sit down and served him a pan-seared steak with side dishes.
"Don’t mind her. She says being at the table makes her uncomfortable, that she’s scared. I don’t know what nonsense she’s talking about."
As a guest, Kesby just smiled and then glanced at the mirror, which was placed so abruptly right in the middle of the table.
"Isn’t it strange to have a mirror on the table while you eat?"
Mrs. Ruby chuckled and sat down in the spot directly opposite the mirror.
"What’s so strange about it? I think I look really good when I see myself in this mirror!"
’Good?’
Kesby made a point to turn and peek into the mirror. Mrs. Ruby’s pale, exhausted face was reflected within, looking no different from how she did in person.
However, once they started eating dinner, the atmosphere gradually warmed up.
"Bolna, we need to find a good buyer for this mirror. I know a few people who specialize in collecting unique works of art—they love bizarre stuff. We can take it to them to have a look another day."
"Roughly how much could it be worth?"
The moment selling it for money was mentioned, Mr. Ruby was hooked.
"I’m not sure yet, but I’ve been in the appraisal business for a while now. I have a feeling it’ll be a lot. I can’t even tell what kind of gemstone the surface is made of. Usually, things with an unknown origin like this are real treasures!"
"I think asking for over 100,000 Euros is definitely possible."
"A hundred thousand!?"
Mr. Ruby’s face lit up. That was no small sum.
Mrs. Ruby, on the other hand, wasn’t too happy about the idea of selling such a beautiful mirror, but the temptation of the money was greater.
"Heh heh, and that’s a conservative estimate. If even those guys can’t identify it, they’ll definitely be willing to pay a higher price. Rarity drives up value, you know."
The atmosphere at the dinner table was lively, filled with talk and laughter.
But over on the sofa, the little girl didn’t dare look at the table, focusing only on the food on her plate.
Ever since the nightmare on the first night, she had become terrified of the mirror and hadn’t gone into her parents’ room since.
Today, because the mirror had been brought into the living room and her mother wouldn’t let her eat in her room, she was too scared to sit at the table and had retreated to the sofa.
When she occasionally couldn’t resist looking up, she would always see many shadows in the mirror. Two of them, in particular, were staring intently at her parents.
What terrified her even more was that there was another small shadow... and it seemed to be looking at her!
"Mommy..."
she called out.
"What is it, sweetie?"
Luna was about to say something, but all the withered shadows in the mirror turned to look at her, scaring her so much her face went pale.
"N-nothing... I’m done eating!"
"Do you want some more? How about I get you some salad? If you’re not feeling well, tell Mommy!"
Mrs. Ruby looked at her daughter with concern. As a mother, she could tell the little girl’s complexion wasn’t good, even though her own was even more frightening.
"N-no... I’m fine. I want to go for a walk!"
She couldn’t stand being in the house another second, but it was already dark, so of course Mrs. Ruby wouldn’t agree.
"Sweetie, it’s dark outside now. You shouldn’t go out. Why don’t you go back up to your room? Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Kesby haven’t finished eating yet. How about we take you for a walk after we’re done?"
Kesby and Mr. Ruby also smiled at Luna in agreement.
Luna didn’t say a word. She just put her plate on the sofa and silently hurried upstairs.
Once in her room, she slammed the door shut with a BANG and locked it. Then she took off her shoes, climbed onto her bed, covered herself with a blanket, and curled up in the corner.
She was only six years old, filled with fear and worry. She desperately wanted to tell her parents what she had seen, but she didn’t dare.
At school, she’d tried to tell her friends, tried to tell her teacher, but every time she was about to speak, her scalp would tingle and her hands and feet would turn ice-cold.
The window was open, and the summer night breeze blew in in gusts. Luna sat for a while before getting out of bed to close it.
She stood on her tiptoes to pull the window down and happened to glance at a car parked in the distance.
’Fire?’
A faint, warm feeling emanated from it.
"Is that fire?"
There was someone inside that small black sedan, and a hazy, ethereal burning sensation seemed to rise above it.
A sense of security. It was a strange sense of security, as if the little girl’s fear and anxiety from the past few days had finally found a safe harbor.
’I have to go there! I have to take Mommy and Daddy there!’
Luna was filled with joyful anticipation, waiting for her parents to take her for a walk so she could naturally lead them in that direction.
But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The Ruby couple and Kesby talked late into the night, discussing in detail all the things to keep in mind when meeting potential buyers, and naturally forgot their promise to little Luna.
They only came to say goodnight right before they went to bed.
That night, Mrs. Ruby took a few more pictures of the mirror and posted them online, expressing her reluctance to part with it.
Meanwhile, Luna didn’t sleep a wink all night. She heard sounds—horrible roars and struggles. Some of the screams were especially loud and bloodcurdling, and there was also the sound of scratching on glass. It made the goosebumps on Luna’s skin refuse to go down.
She only dared to cry huddled on her bed, too afraid to make a sound. She was so scared something would happen to her parents.
She wanted to get out of bed and run to her parents’ room to wake them up. She’d cried so much she was thirsty and wanted to go get a drink of water!
But every time she got to the door, she didn’t dare touch the doorknob. At times like these, she would run to the window and look at the black sedan that never drove away.
As long as that car was still there, she felt a little better.
’Please, please, whatever you do, don’t drive away!! I’m begging you!!’
...
Early morning. Philier and Brown had been on watch last night. It was as peaceful as ever, and they had gained nothing.
"Damn it! What the hell is this thing! This is so damn weird!"
Philier couldn’t help but curse.
Brown, stretching, also looked annoyed.
They still hadn’t found anything, but last night, both of them were almost certain something strange was going on.
Because whenever the thought of calling off the surveillance after a while crossed their minds, they would be hit by a strange feeling of disappointment.
After days of no results, this thought would occasionally surface, but last night the feeling was the strangest yet.
It might sound odd to describe, but it was as if leaving would mean losing something, or disappointing someone.
It felt like the eager anticipation of your parents watching you during a big school exam or a competition when you were a kid. The feeling was so conflicting that they couldn’t even take turns napping as they had planned!
PS: Saturday’s third Chapter.