Mid-Night Dinner

It was almost midnight when Luka reached home.

"It was a tough day." Luka sighed as he opened the main gate of his house.

He then walked to the front door and noticed the lights were still on. It wasn't something unusual, but it wasn't something common either.

Luka opened the front door and walked into the living room.

There he saw his mother-- Macy running at him. She looked at Luka and spoke, "Oh! it's you, Luka."

Macy was an early sleeper, and Luka was surprised to see that she was still awake.

"What's wrong?" Luka could tell from her face that she was worried.

"Your father… he got a call about two hours ago and told me that it was an emergency, so he has to go, but he is not back yet."

"Old man?" Luka wondered, then asked, "Did he tell you what was the emergency?"

Macy nodded and continued, "He said, 'A headless body was found in the river, and there are chances that body is of one of the teachers of the school'."

'I had that hunch it would be about something like this, but…' Luka clenched his fists and cursed, 'Tero, you bastard!. The body was in the cemetery, and there were too many graves there, so why the hell did he dump the body in the river?'

Luka's anger was visible on his face. Seeing Luka's reaction, Macy asked, "Do you know anything about it?"

"No… I mean, yeah" He nodded. "I heard it a while ago."

"I see," Macy sighed, then suddenly spoke, "Ana dropped by two times. Where were you?"

"I was with a friend."

"I know I have told you that you can stay out late if you want, but at least inform us. Ana came and told me that you would be coming home late, but I had no idea you would be this late." She sighed again. "And was worried, you know?"

"Yeah… I didn't know it would take this long." Luka remembered what Ana had told him. 'Dammit.'

"Are you hungry? Want to eat something?"

"Yeah." Luka was tired, and he wanted to go to sleep already, but he wanted to make sure his dad comes home before he goes to sleep, because if he went to sleep just like that, and his father didn't return till late, Luka was worried that Macy might not sleep.

"Go wash your hands. I will heat up the food."

Luka washed his hands, then sat on the table and waited for the food.

After about 5 minutes, the food was heated up, and Luka started eating while Macy stared at him.

Luka ignored her and acted normal as he kept eating. "How is it going in school?"

"Okay… I guess?"

"I see," Macy said with a smile on her face. "I am glad you are enjoying it."

"Where is Lily? She didn't come to wake me today, and I haven't seen her today."

"She is kind of sick."

"Kind of?" Luka asked with a confused look on his face.

"I don't know. Today, she came home early from school, so I asked her why she came early, and she replied with 'I am not feeling good'. I asked her if she wanted to go for a check-up, but she declined."

"I will check up on her tomorrow."

"Please do" she nodded.

As he was eating, Macy said, "Your birthday is coming up."

"Yeah, this Friday"

"You mean tomorrow, right?" She pointed her gaze at the clock.

It was 00: 03.

"Yeah," Luka chuckled.

"What do you want on your birthday?"

"Anything is fine."

A distant smile appeared on her face as she muttered, "You are the same as her"

"Hmm?"

"My sister, I told you before, remember?"

"Ah...yeah, she had the same birthdate as me."

"I always miss her at this month of the year."

"You also named Lily after her, right?"

"Yeah, Lilith. It's a good name."

Luka had heard Macy talking about her sister many times, but she had never told the entire story.

Luka was always curious about it, but whenever he asked his mom about it, she always replied with, 'I will tell you when you grow up'.

Just to test his luck, Luka asked, "Hey, mom, what exactly happened to your sister?"

She smiled slightly as she looked at Luka and said, "I guess I should tell you now."

Luka gulped down and prepared himself to hear the story of what exactly happened to her sister-- Lilith.

"It happened 18 years ago." She spoke, "Lilith, my sister..."