Chapter 9 Dark Pasts and Memories

Walter

Two days with them were a trouble for Walter. Since his classmate who got possessed by an obsessed ghost, a fairy and a beautiful woman morphing cat began living in his house. Every day was a total chaos that his head was about to get bursted for they were all pains.

"No, not that!" He grabbed the iron from Aishah's hand who was about to plunge the thing into the tub filled with cold water, he was lucky for it wasn't plugged in the outlet.

"AM that isn't used for. . . brushing the hair!" Too late already, Ariadne Mae has begun brushing her hair with a fork.

"Yes, this is used to twirl spaghetti right? Sorry, I forgot." She smiled meekly at him which he only responded by scratching his head in distress. He is standing beside the door from their kitchen to their bathroom before he went to the sink.

Meanwhile, Fatima Jahasil strolled in her cat form, strolling in a corner of the kitchen. Walter didn't notice her walking into the open fridge as he closes the door right after getting a bottle of cold water.

"Where's Fatima, breakfast is ready," he asked the girls, Ariadne Mae who was busy twirling her spaghetti and Aishah who was inside the body of his delinquent classmate.

"Aishah? Wake her up please," Walter asked.

"Call me Ma-ri-car, since this was her body's given name." There were streaks of tears in her eyes.

"So, is she about to go over-acting/emotional mode again?"

"When can I return back to my body and see Mammo again?" She whined dramatically.

"I told you to get out of that body already!" Ariadne Mae spatted.

"I tried," she replied, wiping her tears.

"Hey! Where's that cat?" Walter asked again, this time he raised his voice.

"Maybe it's on top of the roof. It's cats' breeding season, ya know." Ariadne Mae grinned.

"Every day is a season for cats to breed." Aishah grinned back disgustingly.

"Fine, I'll go wake her up." Walter was about to dash to Fatima and Aishah/Maricar's room when Maricar's eyes glowed green and a holographic image of a shivering cat inside a fridge showed up.

"She's inside the fridge?!" Walter yelled in shock as he hastily went to the fridge to open it, and sure thing there was the shivering cat, ice cold, fur damp.

He grabbed the poor cat by its nape, pulled it out and closed the fridge before putting the cat in his arms. He grabbed the nearest towel and dried off the dampened fur of the cat.

"What on earth have you eaten?!" He scolded the shivering cat, which just meowed in response.

"Couldn't you morphed back into your human form?" He demanded while placing the cat on top of the table. Maricar inched away dismissively.

What will he possibly do if his mom were there? He was lucky for his mom has gone on a business trip in Hawaii so he can basically do whatever in the house.

Walter was again bothered by the fairy's confession. After they got home that day while walking on the road going home, Ariadne Mae had confronted him, telling him that whatever decision he will execute will change everything. But he doesn't get the point of what she's talking about. Ariadne Mae also confessed that in order to get to the bottom of all these, he has to know what his past was, which he hated so much especially when it needed to talk about his father.

The cat trembled from the cold, it's golden eyes were a mirror of pity. It meows for the fifth time now. Maricar looked at the cat sympathetically albeit the fact that she seems to cringe by it.

"What have come inside her head that drove her to go inside the fridge? What on earth have she eaten to do that?" Walter asked again, gazing at the girls, at Ariadne Mae who was licking her saucy fork before digging it into her plate of spaghetti.

"Cold. Death." She said after devouring her food. She twirled her fork, twisting the spaghetti with it put.

Maricar got a bowl of milk and placed it beside the cat who happily took a lick at it.

Walter tried deciphering the words yet they were too vague to be figured out.

"What do you mean by those words?" He asked, petting the head of the drinking cat.

"Ask her." Ariadne Mae retorted, impaling her gaze at the cat.

"Seriously? You're asking me to talk to a cat and wait for it to answer my question?"

Ariadne Mae chuckled.

"Now you ask? You have just asked her of what on earth have she eaten and then you'll ask me that? Trivially, you asked her that same question twice."

"Funny, very funny." Walter forced out a smile and got himself something to eat.

Today is Saturday after all, so there's nothing to hurry about.

***

While the girls sat on the sofa, petting Fatima who still shivers from the cold and a white towel was keeping her warm, Walter browsed the internet to search for anime to download since he can't use the television in the living room for it was used by the girls who are watching a UFC wrestling. Their eyes were gluing on the screen intently. He doesn't like playing the television in his room for it was desert hot there even when the aircon is turned on. He didn't want using his laptop either.

"Why so violent?" Maricar asked Ariadne Mae who was eating popcorn busily.

"Wizard Cavaliers, Black Wizard Warriors and even Mages don't act that way." She sat still on the sofa while brushing her long brown hair.

Walter's phone rang alarmingly, causing him to nearly throw it, worse it almost gave him a heart attack. It was a call from an unknown number. He hit answer, thinking that maybe it was his mom calling.

"Hello?"

"Is this Walter Dan?" A female voice called.

"This is Walter speaking, who is this?" He asked.

It is rare for him to receive calls, for occasionally he only received prank calls from others and that the only contact number he has was his mother's.

"Pervert! Bring my sister home or I'll sue you, you drugged her right?! I know she is delinquent, a hard-headed and a brat but you have no right to get her. . . er, dignity." Her voice yelled through his earphones that he felt like his eardrums were about to get damaged.

"Excuse me? I wasn't the one who invited her to stay in my house. Factually, she was the one who got here. And, a piece of little information for you, I'm not getting her into what you're thinking."

"Let me talk to her moron, or I'll get you in jail."

Walter unplugged the earphones and set the phone into loudspeakers before he handed it to Maricar who still doesn't understand what she's watching.

"What's this?" Maricar asked, holding the phone.

"It's your sister. I mean, Maricar's sister, answer it now!"

"Maricar? Are you there?" The voice called.

"Woah! It talks?" she said in amazement.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Maricar, you there?"

"Oh yes, I'm here, is this. . .?"

"My goodness, please get back Sissy, I've been worried sick. Why were you not home already. Please return right away, I'm all alone here."

"Huh? Is Mammo?" Maricar pronounced the word 'huh' in almost thirty seconds in duration.

There was a beeping sound and the call was hung up. Maricar probed the cellphone before handing it back to Walter.

Maricar stared at the television while Ariadne Mae was still busy at eating popcorn.

***

The night came. The four of them sat on the dining table. Fatima was Fatima again, wearing her pink T-shirt with the figure of a cat in it. Walter ate his meal unenthusiastically like that was his last supper.

"Fatima," Ariadne Mae began.

Fatima gawked at her.

"Why were you here?" she added.

"Why bother?" Fatima replied disdainfully.

Ariadne Mae looked into her eyes. She seems to be reading what she's thinking.

"Pain. Death. Misery. Death. Sadness. Your thoughts are pretty awful. I pity you." Ariadne Mae grimaced in her seat.

Maricar was eating her food without even caring to listen to their conversation.

"I'm not here for you." Fatima said, her tone was cold. Ariadne Mae shot a warning look.

"I'm aware of that. But you shouldn't go near Walter. Not even near us."

"Are you bothered by me?" Fatima responded tonelessly.

Ariadne Mae chuckled.

"Why would I?"

"For I am not merely an associate of death but I also bring death to someone else's door. Do you fear my presence might get Walter killed if I were to go near him and you can't then do your plans?"

"Exactly," Ariadne Mae admitted.

"How honest of you."

"What were you two talking about?" Walter butted in, totally oblivious to what they were talking about.

Ariadne Mae stood up and pulled out from her chair. She smiled crookedly at them before she walked away from the table.

"Where are you going?" Maricar asked while her mouth was still full.

"I'm off to sleep. Good night." Ariadne Mae sauntered into the living room towards the guest room.

Walter stared at Fatima's coal black eyes which were calmly igniting.

"Are you death?" Walter asked stupidly.

"What do you think?" FJ replied, spatting the words cooly.

"Are you really Fatima? The one who I met in school that day? You seem different. You were enthusiastic and full of emotions that day. Now, you seem emotionless."

"Weird," Maricar butted in, wiping her mouth with a kerchief.

Fatima smiled meekly.

"What was AM's plan of me?"

"You should not know." She exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Tomorrow, the crimson moon will glow." Maricar's voice suddenly changed into Aishah's.

"We'll depart tomorrow, we'll go back to Samdiperove and,"

"Enough!" Fatima scowled, her black eyes danced in flames.

"Enough of your secrets already! I'm tired of hearing excuses and not hearing the truth. I deserve to know." Walter raised his voice.

"He won't go to that place."

"Of course he will." Aishah's voice insisted.

"And fulfill what's to be fulfilled?"

"What?! Can you please tell me an idea of what you're talking about? I'm going crazy thinking." Walter demanded which made the two of them to eye him in raw anger.

"It would be much better if you were clueless. Knowing would only make you aware of what and who you really are and you would not like to end that way." Fatima stated the sentences coherently.

Walter remembered what Ariadne Mae had said. She said that in order to get to the bottom of all these, he has to know his past.

"My father," Walter said the phrase bitterly that it made Fatima's eyes widened.

"Don't force yourself to know what you should not know, you'll just get hurt. You know already how much reality causes heartaches and you won't like it."

"I know," Walter said glumly.

"But I have to know what really bothers me, even if I could get myself hurt from what the truth is. I deserve to know. To be hurt is knowing you're still alive. I live my life most in virtuality, it's time to face the wrath of reality even if it hurts."

"You don't know what you're talking. Yearning to know even if it isn't yet time is like an obsessive desire; a curiosity that has gone into obsession, you'll regret knowing."

"It is better to go on knowing what will I then regret than living with lies and regretting not having known what I'm really regretting for."

"He deserves to know, truths can't be hidden, they spill in ways, and most mysteriously." Aishah grabbed her plate and put it into the sink.

Fatima stood up from the table.

"I'm off to sleep." She declared.

Walter has ideas but these ideas were just shallow, he has to dig deeper until he digs the depths of what he really wants to know.

He took a very cold shower that night even though he was a bit hydrophobic. His breaths produce fogs. He let the cold water run over his bare skin that it causes his nerves to tingle. This is the longest bath he has taken. He stayed at the shower room for about forty-five minutes that it made his pale skin got even paler and his red lips to turn into pinkish white. His hair was damp as it drops off beads of water.

Facing what you fear strengthens who you really are. The memories of his encounter with the Rusalki flooded his consciousness. H has already forced and ascertain himself that he has forgotten about that incident, but memories that traumatize you always meant to come bothering. He sweeps the thought away and shut the running waters. He stepped out from the shower room. His naked body is dripping with drops of water. His room is messy as usual. He grabbed the towel from his bed and dried himself, he then changed into pajamas. He sat on the bed not even bothering to watch anime, he has gone a lot today. He closed his eyes and whispered in the air.

"If I were the writer I write. If I were to save worlds I am a hero. If I were something valuable my father has to do something with it."

He thinks of what his theories connect into something, and what really is that. That is what he needs to find out, who and what he really is.

The room gets chilly which is odd since his room is always hot. Has the aircon gone berserk? He opened his eyes. The room got frigid, the air grew eerily cold and the room got darker.

A behemoth black panther stood at his front, its slitted golden eyes were glinting as it bared its fangs.

"Fatima," Walter's voice was panicky.

The black panther blinks its eyes.

"You were here to guard and protect me aren't you?" He asked, his voice was bold, but it is a bit chilly.

The black panther nods its head.

"I see." He said more to himself than to the panther.

The black aura that covered the room dissolved, the huge black cat shifted into Fatima.

"It's hard to maintain this human form." Her voice was calm again.

"So tell me everything," Walter demanded.

"Go to sleep. You'll be having a long day tomorrow. The crimson moon will about to glow." She smiled wickedly, a white fog loomed above her head like a distorted halo.

Walter closed his eyes and fell to sleep. He was hypnotized.

He was spinning into a black swirling chasm, his head spun. An image appeared. A blond woman in about twenty-four years of age stood in a huge boulder, she wore spectacles, a white lab coat. She was holding a lens. Walter looked at her as his eyes were filled with sadness realizing it was his mother.

"Mom," he whispered.

A black mist appeared right under the huge rock, breaking it. The boulder collapsed and the woman fell.

A man appeared, he was piercing his eyes over the barely living woman who is now drenched in blood. The man was topless, he wore red leathered pants. His hair was spiky red. Beside him stood a black swirling human looking figure made of mist, the corner of its body is violet, its long tentacle-looking hair dangled and floated in the air, its eyes were hollow white.

"Mortals are weak." The man stated in his deep voice. The muscles on his body tensed.

"Help," the woman called, stretching her hand towards them.

"She somewhat helped us escape," the black mist floats and glided near the woman.

"She has an ancient blood of a goddess." The black human-figured shadow scooped blood from the woman and get a taste of it, it then glided back to the man and put its blooded finger in his lips.

"Scrumptious," the man closed his eyes, licking his lower lip.

"Help," the woman breathed shallowly and closed her eyes.

"Dead." The black shadow declared.

The man just smiled, he then raised his hand. The body of the woman shook, she floated in mid-air. Her eyes opened then she breathed deeply, black fogs are swirling around her body in a whirl before the black fogs entered her mouth, her eyes were consumed with blackness. She gasped and descended on the desert sand while the sun shone hotly.

The man walked towards her. She blinked her eyes and they returned to their usual coal black colors.

She is beautiful. The man touched her cheeks that made her tensed. The man then held her close and kissed her lips. She didn't fight, instead, she stood still in shock. The man broke the kiss.

"You're officially my bride," he smiled.

The scene faded and another scene is set in front of Walter. He was inside a huge hall, it was like a huge coliseum, with great columns and antics all in exquisite styles.

Walter's mother entered the hallway, she's wearing a white dress. Her round belly is protruding, indicating that she was pregnant. The spiky red-haired man followed her, his face was filled with grief and sadness.

"Angel," he began.

"I need to get you back to your world, you aren't supposed to be here."

"Eight months, I was able to live here that long, and then you'll just going to abandon us?" She questioned him, her eyes were falling with tears.

"You were able to live here that long because of our child, and it's against the rules you should be staying here."

"So you just want my child. How selfish of you!" She cried.

"That's not it, you know how much I love you. You're my life."

"Then go with us, leave this place and we'll live at my world."

"I wish I could do that, but the curse."

"We'll break it." Angel held his hands in hers.

"The kingdom, who'll lead the kingdom?"

"Leave the kingdom to Fatima, let's live a life without being interfered. Harold, I know we can do this, we'll break the curse and nothing's gonna stop us from being happy." Angel declared bravely and kissed Harold on the lips.

The scene changed. Walter was transported in a forest, he knew this forest, he was once here, he was in the dead forest. The trees were dense and they were creeping him out. Angel and Harold held hands in front of a swirling portal.

"That isn't the way." Harold tightened his grip from Angel's hand.

"We can do this together, please have faith." She smiled, holding his hand firmly.

"If I were to be gone, always remember that I love you. And please name our child Rey Lawrence." He smiled and kissed her. He untangled the grip of their hands and completely let loose.

Walter has always hated his father so much, but all the hate that filled his heart were all lifted. He always asks his mom the reason behind his father's disappearance, and she always says not to put a grudge against his father.

"Go!" Harold ordered.

"I'm waiting for our reunion and please take care of our child."

Harold walked towards the portal.

"I'll break the curse myself, go now. Let me handle this fate."

"No!" Angel screamed. Harold was devoured by the portal completely and he was gone, leaving Angel crying.