Alethea

"Those! All of those! Help me pluck them." The strange young lady said as she pointed to the part of the apple tree that extended forward from the house. That was the part of the tree that had ripe fruits.

Alexander who had been released and was standing outside of the quartz stones circle, looked at the young lady like she had lost her mind. "So these are what you wanted to eat?" He asked.

"Yeah!" She nodded, "They have been ripe for a couple of days now, and they look so delicious."

Alexander scoffed like he had just heard a ridiculous joke. "Hey, if you really wanted to eat these that badly, why didn't you come out to pluck them? They are not even that high."

"I… can't leave this place." She replied.

"Why not?" Alexander asked in confusion as he pointed to the quartz stones that surrounded the house. "Are you like, trapped in here, or something?"

The young lady just looked down at the quartz stones without saying anything, a sad expression could be seen on her face.

Seeing the look on her face, Alexander coughed to clear his throat. "Okay, sure. I'll pluck these for you." He said, as he began to pluck the apples.

"Woah! It looks delicious. They are really ripe." He exaggeratedly said, and when he looked at her, he saw that she now had a smile on her face, and that made him smile too.

….

A while later, Alexander and the girl were sitting on a bench seat at the backyard, as the girl ate the apples with relish, while he just watched her.

She noticed his stare, and turned to look at him, but he awkwardly looked away, patting imaginary dust from his clothes.

Thinking he wanted to eat some apples too, she then picked up an apple, and stretched it towards him.

Alexander smiled and said, "It's fine. I don't want any."

"Your loss. They are really good." She said as she continued munching away on the apples.

"Hey, are you really a human being?" Alexander suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Why? Do you still think I'm a ghost?" She asked back instead of directly answering.

Alexander nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure people who are scared of ghosts would feel ashamed, if ghosts were like you." He said, "So, if you aren't a ghost, why do you live in a place like this?"

"Because this is my house." She simply answered.

"You keep saying it's your house. Do you really expect me to believe that you actually live here?" The girl nodded, prompting him to ask a second question. "Then, what about the rest of your family?"

"My family…" The girl suddenly stopped talking, and looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you care about that? Speaking of which, I haven't even asked you what you are doing here."

Alexander scratched his head. "I um… I came here to take the kite…" His eyes then widened in realization that he had forgotten why he was here in the first place. "Oh yeah! My kite!" He exclaimed as he stood up and walked towards the tree.

"Kite?" The girl asked as she followed him and also looked at the tree, but the kite wasn't there. "My kite! Where's my kite?"

"I… I let go of it earlier, and it flew away." Alexander replied, as he slowly walked away.

"What?!" She exclaimed, and followed him again, blocking his path. "That kite was my favorite, and most special kite."

"It's a special kite to me too." Alexander retorted, before he then looked up at the sky and muttered. "Damn it! Where did my kite go?"

"Why do you keep calling it yours? It's mine!" The girl narrowed her eyes at him as she spoke.

"Well, the thing is, it's your kite, but it's kind of mine, too." He confusedly tried to explain. "And it's not exactly my kite, but it has to become mine."

"What are you talking about?" She asked in confusion, and then she held him by the v-neckline of his tunic. "So you are just a damn thief, aren't you?"

"What? A thief?" Alexander said, taking offense to her words.

"Yes." The girl replied without hesitation. "Father told me, that people who take other people's belongings without permission are thieves."

"Hey, it's true that I was planning to take it, but I wasn't going to steal it… I mean, I didn't know it had an owner." Alexander tried to explain.

"There's no such thing as an item that does not have an owner in this world. What are you going to do now, huh?" She said as her grip on his tunic tightened.

"Well, um…" He raked his mind for what to say when his eyes then saw a kite spool, and some other materials that could be used to make a kite. "I'll just take responsibility for it then! Happy?"

….

"Here! It's all finished." Alexander said, as he handed over an already made kite to the girl who had been sitting and watching him as he made it.

She collected it, and looked at it. "And just what in the world is this?" She asked, looking at the kite like it was something hideous.

"You really can't tell? It's a kite." Alexander responded, feeling proud of the rubbish he had made.

"You really think this thing would be able to fly?" She asked as she threw it back at him.

"What?" Alexander was surprised at her reaction.

"Whatever! It's not like I had any expectations of you, anyway." She replied.

Alexander saw it as a challenge. "Just you wait, I'm going to remake it." He said and was about to go back to make a new one, but the girl held the kite that was in his hand, stopping him.

"Don't bother. It's fine. It's not like the second one would be any better." She degradingly said.

Alexander then tried to pull the kite from her grasp. "Give me the kite. I'm going to make a really cool one this time."

She still stubbornly held unto the kite. "I told you, it's fine!"

"Let go!" Alexander said, and gently hit her hand, but she was still adamant. It then suddenly turned into a pulling battle between the two of them.

"Hey, let go, already!" Alexander said, and with his full strength, he pulled it this time, and together with the kite, the girl advanced forward and was now hugging him, unintentionally.

Alexander suddenly turned still as a statue, while on the other hand, the girl saw this as another opportunity to experiment.

Her right ear was on his left part of his chest, so she could hear the sound of his heart beating. "Woah! So you really are a proper male, aren't you?" She said.

Alexander who had just snapped out of the shock of the accidental hug, went back to another shock as he heard the words that came out of the girl's mouth. "W-what?"

"Your chest is so hard!" The girl examined, as she suddenly hit his chest twice as if confirming what she had said.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Alexander said, feeing flustered as he gently pushed her off him, but she didn't budge.

"Hey, stay still!" She yelled, and continued. "Wow, the sound of your heartbeat is quite loud too."

Alexander was finally able to push her off him. "Are you out of your mind?… Women aren't supposed to act like that." He said.

The girl innocently tilted her head. "Really?"

"Of course!"

"How come?" She asked, then she picked up an old book from her bench seat. "I've read a lot about it from this book, and it doesn't seem bad."

Alexander was speechless for moment. Is she really so naive, or is she pretending? He wondered. "Women just can't, okay? Geez!"

"Your face is suddenly red? Are you sick?" She asked in worry as she placed a hand on his forehead.

"Alethea!" The voice of a man was suddenly heard coming from the front of the house.

Alexander and the girl both had shocked expressions on their faces when they heard the voice. "This is bad." She said, as she pulled him along with her. "If he gets to know you are here, he won't just let you be. Hurry! Leave from the back." She urged the confused Alexander, and he quickly did as told.

"Alethea!… Alethea!" The voice continued to call, and was getting closer. Then the owner of the voice finally reached the backyard. It was Ronan!