The memories we share

With one hand wrapped around Joren's shoulder and the other clutching her stomach, Hailey let out a faint smile and in a soft, low-pitched voice she commented that she was glad to have finally found him as Lexi led them up a five-story tall flight of stairs towards the silver framed glass box which was dangling from the roof of the ceiling to further discuss the deal she had struck with them. As he ascended higher up the stairs with Luce over his shoulders, Eddy could feel his heart beating through his chest. Each time they had conquered a flight of stairs, he would breathlessly lament about how this place should have lifts. When they had finally reached their destination, they were greeted by a large frosted glass door which towered over them. While they approached closer to the door, it opened in a slow and steady momentum along with them as they walked into the room. Inside, golden tinted orchid patterns engraved onto the milky white walls across the room. In the middle of the room stood a large brown desk and several dark leather chairs which sprawled across corners of the room.

"Pardon the mess, I've had a…" Lexi paused, trying to articulate her thoughts.

"Minor conflict with a partner," She added.

As they entered the room, people dressed in silver suits escorted them to their seats and helped carry the injured to a small medical area located in a small corner of the large white room. As he laid Hailey onto the bed, Joren fixated his gaze on Lexi as she walked over to a silver medicinal cupboard which had a green cross embedded onto it. Smelling a rat, Joren continued fixating his gaze on her even as she proceeded to reach for the medicinal cupboard. Reaching in the cupboard, she removed three small vials with light purple liquid and a small yellow flower which was aimlessly drifting around in its bottle.

"Here," Lexi said, as she handed each of them the vials. Raina, Kayden, Joren, Hailey, Luce, and Eddy stared at the vials with their eyebrows furrowed and continuously tilting the vial up and down, trying to figure out what the strange liquid was.

"Relax It's not poisonous, it's just liquid Arginine laced with a hint of Qur'en flowers to enhance the healing speed and aloe vera for flavor" Lexi commented. Hailey, Luce, and Raina all bit their lips and smiled awkwardly at each other. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward glancing at one another, Luce pinched his nose and gulped down the liquid in one-shot, wanting to quickly finish the liquid as soon as possible. As the liquid touched the tip of his tongue, the bitter-sweetness of the liquid caused him to immediately curl his lips and let out a thunderous gagging sound. Despite its taste, the moment the liquid came into contact with the rest of his body, a cooling sensation slowly overwhelmed him, and he soon started feeling refreshed as though he had just woken up from a long nap.

" That was… surprisingly delightful." Luce remarked. "Apart from the bitter taste" After both Hailey and Raina had consumed their liquids, Lexi shot them an irritated looked and ushered them out of them out of her building once they were able to stand up.

Later that night at the sanctuary, while everyone was fast asleep, Hailey tossed and turned on her bed, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Her mind, preoccupied with thoughts, caused her to toss and turn on her bed. She had wondered about how Joren had survived the attack that day, and if it was possible if some of their other friends had somehow survived. After an hour of running through every situation possible, she finally gave up on trying to sleep and decided to grab a cup of hot coffee to clear her head. As she finished making her coffee, she was surprised to see Joren sitting a few tables away from the entrance, staring blankly in the air as though he had just seen a ghost. Curious, she walked up to his table and asked in a firm and gentle voice, "Can't sleep too?"

"Hmm?….Yeah." Joren replied monotonously, mind still half wandering. As Joren's mind wandered once more, Hailey couldn't help but notice the several changes in Joren's features. His jawline had become significantly sharper and his skin had become somewhat paler than what she remembered from when they were kids.

"It's really been a while, hasn't it? Feels like just yesterday I would head to your mum's café to help out. "

"You were always the 'mother' of the group. Always helping others, no matter how busy you were, oftentimes neglecting the fact that your plate was already overflowing."

"It's called being selfless, not that I expect you to get it. Considering how much of a klutz, you were "

"Tch, how humble of you. Say, do you ever miss the nights back at Greenville, where we used to stargaze together?"

"How could I not? It was our daily routine and also some of the best moments of my life."

Letting out a small and contented smile, without waiting for Joren's reply, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the rooftop where they could gaze into the night sky. At the rooftop, they laid down on the grass patch and silently admired the pale crescent moon, which shone like a silvery claw at night sky. As they were located in the far corner of Joltic city, nights here were relatively tranquil, apart from the occasional sounds of cars passing by and the sounds of waves hitting against the coast of the city. Lost in the quietness and tranquility of the night, their minds began to drift away, back to their younger days.

"Remember when we first discovered our powers??" Joren asked, snapping Hailey out of his trance.

"How could I? Watching you hit the ball to the moon every time we played cyberball was the highlight of my day."

"Tsk, you're just jealous that I ended up with the cooler power. " Hailey scoffed.

Letting out a small chuckle, Joren shrugged his shoulders and mouthed the words 'maybe'. For the rest of the night, they went on to talk about everything from their childhood moments to their teenage years and before the night was over, they laid on each other's shoulders and let out a contented sigh as they stared into the azure blue night sky and soon fell asleep on each other's shoulders.

The next morning, the courtyard was filled with eager kids playing together and the noise was so loud, it was almost as if they were at a market on a weekend. Joren and Hailey, however, laid unbothered on the rooftop, still fast asleep on top of each other's shoulders.

When the two of them eventually got up, Hailey saw Danny dressed in full grayish-blue outerwear sitting at a corner of the roof, silently reading his book.

"Dan.. Danny? What are you doing here?" Hailey asked, still half awake.

"I.. I.." Danny stuttered. "I…didn't want to play with the other kids…so I thought I would… come find you." Upon hearing the words, Hailey's heart melted faster than ice out of a refrigerator. After grabbing a cup of coffee and breakfast for the three of them, the three of them headed to the nearest street market where they could spend the day together.

As they arrived at Inkyo Market, they were greeted by a gigantic sign which had the words embedded in large golden letters," Welcome to Inkyo Market" and below it, in silvery smaller fonts, were the words " Joltik City's largest street market". Behind the gigantic signage was a field of colorful shipment containers that lined up uniformly on each side of the entrance, and at the center of it all were bright and colorful carnival rides that extended as far as the eye could see. Danny's eyes immediately widened as big as dinner plates at the colorful sight in front of him, and the usually quiet Danny was eagerly tugging away on the corner of her jacket, asking her to bring him in.

"Alright, alright, we're going in." Hailey chuckled at his sudden burst of energy. As they ventured further into the carnival, all sorts of carnival rides decorated the horizon, from roller-coasters to bumper cars to ring toss. Every single ride they passed by, Danny made them ride it or play it with him.

"So much for an ex-cyberball champion" Hailey mocked as Joren missed his fifth shot at a carnival game.

"Hey-in my defense, it's been a while since I've shot hoops. Skills getting a little rusty".

" Oh please, you're so rusty that you lost to a seven-year-old at a carnival game."

"Tell you what, rematch 1 v 1. You against me, the loser has to buy dinner."

"Challenge accepted."

Getting up from her seat and began stretching as though she was about to run a marathon. As the timer started counting down, she got into position and as soon as the timer hit one, she began shooting as though her life depended on it. Joren's focus, however, had shifted from the game to Hailey and was practically playing on autopilot. Seeing her play reminded him of the days back at Greenville when they used to spend time after school playing cyberball together, regardless of how busy they were. Thinking about those memories together, he couldn't help but let out a smirk.

"What are you thinking about?" Hailey asked.

"Hmm? Oh. it's nothing" Joren replied. "Oh? I lost. Guess dinner's on me".

Joren and Danny sat at a table, while waiting for Hailey to bring back the food. Glancing around the field of shipping containers, Joren couldn't help but smile, as it has been a while since he has enjoyed himself. Just as he was about to bask and let all the joy sink in, he felt a gentle tug on the corner of his shirt. It was Danny looking up at Joren with the same wide-eyed expression on his face as the one back at the sanctuary with Hailey.

"Ye, what's up, kiddo?" Joren said.

"Thank you for bringing me out today." Danny said in a soft and gentle tone.

"You're welcome, kiddo, did you enjoy your time here today?"

Without even having to think twice, he nodded eagerly and went on to talk about how he had never seen so many rides together in one place before and how it had reminded him of home.

"Mama… used to bring me to the spinning horse ride as a kid all the time. Before I became bad" Danny said in melancholy.

"Hey… Hey… your powers…it's not your fault. Alright?" Joren said reassuringly. "Being different doesn't make you bad."

"But I… made papa and mama… scared of me…" Danny said, his voice slowly trailing off.

"They weren't afraid of you, Danny. They are afraid of change, and sometimes unresolved fear turns into hate." Joren said, placing his arm over Danny's shoulders.

"Besides, getting powers isn't something you can control," Hailey said, carrying two trays filled with food. Some of which include Ghost Pepper crab, Hell's curry, Chicken Stew and Ashley's personal favorite, chili-cheese-tuna sandwich. Joren pinched his nose as Hailey took a bite out of the sandwich. " Pfttt, you won't enjoy it. You're too uncultured." Hailey said, punching his arm. "ARGHH… THE UNBEARABLE PAIN. SO MUCH PAIN." Joren yelled sarcastically, falling to the ground. Joren's yells attracted the annoyed looks from the crowd. " So sorry about this. He's new to the area and REALLY uncultured." Hailey apologised. Just as she was about to elbow Joren, her phone started to light up and a message notification from Luce informing her that they've found survivors from Greenville.

Writer's note:

Ello loyal readers! The Afterlife is finally on Instagram! There I'll be posting things like character, location files as well as chapter posting schedules :)

Feel free to follow @the_afterlife_webnovel

~Panda