VII

NAIB

Is this it?

Is it the end of the line for me?

Am I really destined to be this way?

I walked and walked, running into whatever obstacles laying before me.

Pushing into the darkness I go, with the hope of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

A figure then loomed over me, his hands holding into mine tight as his brown eyes stared directly into mine.

But regardless of my attempts, I could not get to him.

.

"Eli Clark. Truth or dare?"

"Oh come on, I don't wanna do any of your dares, Subedar. Truth it is!"

I laughed as Eli pouted. The Seer had came to my room for a game we both had agreed to play along with Aesop as we wait for our names to be called for another match.

"Okay. You picked it yourself, so you better be honest!" I smirked as I picked one of the self-written decks from the box.

"To Eli Clark: what is the reason behind the blindfold covering your eyes?"

Eli coughed into his hands as he took the hood off his head and ran a hand through his brown hair, brushing it.

He then sighed, in which if I were to be honest, caused this slight feel of guilt to creep all its way to me.

"Eli? Are you okay?" I asked as his both hands started fidgeting.

"Oh. It's nothing. Okay. I'll tell you the truth. But please don't ever have any bad feelings whatsoever..." He said, petting Luke for he had brought the owl with him all the way here.

"Long story short..... I lost all my eyesight." The Seer said in a brief tone.

I froze as he let out a sad smile, the blindfold on his face being slightly moved by the breeze coming from the open window.

"H... how?! Did you get it in an accident or something?" I chimed in as I placed my one hand on the other.

"No. There was this oath I broke, thus making me have to sacrifice everything to Luke here. You, no. Everyone in this manor thought I was insecure with my blindness and all, but no. The only reason why is because I have a lifelong mark right under my eyes. And I might seem like I have lost the function of my eyes, but you do have to know that Luke has it all."

I scratched the back of my head, trying to process his words.

"Does that mean.... the reason why you always bring Luke to literally everywhere you go, is because he's basically your eyes?"

Eli nodded as his lips formed another smile.

"There you go, my friend. Well said."

"Oh God, Eli. I am so sorry. I really had no idea it would be that deep. I-"

"Shush, Naib. Told you. No hard feelings at all! Now. It's your turn! Pick one. Truth or dare?"

I had my attention locked on the Seer, my head trying to figure out why on earth is he still able to stand tall even after everything he has been through.

Losing an eyesight? Being permanently scarred? Those are more than enough to damage and be of threat to one's life.

Those are more than enough to be the reason to stop living, yet the Seer stood still with his both legs, his whole toughness emanating from him.

How will an idiot with no memories like myself ever compare to that of him?

I have no recollections and memories of my past self, yet I'm here acting like the world is about to crash on me, and that all is just because of a goddamn scar on my forehead.

I really am a coward, huh?

"Naib? Hey!" The Seer said, his shoulder pat snapping me out of the trance I am in.

"Dude, something wrong? We can just call it quits if you no longer feel like it. Besides, it seems like Aesop is not coming.... it's been nearly an hour since I told him about this game session and he's still not coming out of his room...."

I shook my head, preventing the tears from coming out.

"No, Eli. Let's continue. This time, as my way of expressing remorse for my previous question towards you, I'm going to tell you a bit about myself as well."

A flummoxed look was then shown on his face as I made up my mind.

"You're the very first one to know about this, Eli, but...

I'm a man of no memories..."

                                 ***

"Man. That must have been a very daunting ride for you....."

"My only hope of staying here in this manor is that I will somehow be able to recover from this, because, Eli, I just can't. I really can't."

By now all the tears had filled up my eyes again. All the composure I had managed to regain eventually came loose.

"Dude. Trust me. You'll regain everything back. I know this is hard for you, not to mention the fact that it is coming from me, but you'll get through this. We rise because we fall." Eli said, motioning me for a fist-bump.

I smiled as I wiped the tears away.

"We're friends, after all. Best friends."

I was about to give him my greatest salute when I sort of lost my balance, my elbow connected to that of the diaries being displayed on the table, toppling it over before it finally came into contact with the floor, producing a very loud sound as impact.

Just then, William the Forward's yell echoed all the way here from the first floor, indicating the recurring match is over and that we had to come downstairs for another gathering.

"Shit, Naib! You hurt?!" Eli yelled, lending his hand for me to grab as my head felt like being pounded over and over from the inside.

"Don't concern me. I'm good. Let's just head downstairs..." I said, still trying to ease out the pain both my head and elbow is in.

                                ***

"What was that earlier?" William piped in as I plopped myself on my regular spot.

"William. It's nothing! Really! It was-"

"Eli and Naib were showing off their skills when I noticed them accidentally dropping one of the diaries..." Emma said, in which it made us flabbergasted as the two of us stared at each other.

"As expected of two men with the souls of babies...." Vera said, her hands holding a bottle of perfume, the look on her eyes being annoying as ever.

It was when I finally snapped. Eli had told me that Vera Nair the perfumer has this attitude that is quite a burden to everyone in the manor, but never would I expect that she is capable of making assumptions based on something that is totally false.

Both me and Eli were not joking around, for fuck's sake!

"Listen here, Perfumer. I know you probably hate us and is annoyed after that very sound, but get this: we were not joking around and your perfuming skills suck!" I blurted out, only to high-five with Eli.

I had to put up an act to cover my current feelings.

I stared at the Gardener, feeling thankful for she actually helped us lots with that cover-up.

Emily was attempting to douse away the intensity of the situation when she realized that Aesop is not here.

Everyone then had their attention on us, with the Doctor herself asking whether or not a fight had broke between us three.

Eli then had his owl cooing at me, and I was more than aware of what he is trying to say.

Something is definitely wrong here.

All the bad intuitions we had were true after all, for Emily had went all the way to the Embalmer's room only to find him being sick and paler than ever.

My mouth was wide open as I took notice of Aesop's state.

This explains why he never made it out of his room.