Burdened Smiles

A few minutes later, the car zipped past others and turned towards an alley. The car entered the alley and after a few twists and turns it stopped in front of an ordinary two-storey house with an iron gate.

Hanna stepped out of the car and walked towards the gate of the house, she then pressed the doorbell and waited for an answer from inside.

A few moments later the door slowly opened as a short brown haired girl looked out of it.

"Who is there?"

"Amaya?"

Hearing her name Amaya walked out of the door a bit and continued.

"Who ar- Hanna?"

"Yes." Hanna replied with a small smile on her face.

Amaya furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at Hanna and said.

"Why are you here?"

"Should you not ask me to come inside?" Hanna questioned with a small teasing smile.

Hearing that, Amaya scratched her head as she nodded and spoke.

"Please come in." she said while gesturing to enter and started to walk inside.

Hanna nodded towards Amaya and started to follow her.

They soon reached a room illuminated by the sunlight coming through the window, a table was placed at its centre and four chairs were placed around it, and a small shelf with a boiler placed on top of it, containing plates, cups etc was placed in the right corner. The place was neither big nor wide, it just had enough space to chat without issue. Amaya walked towards a boiler as she questioned.

"Do you want tea or coffee?"

Hanna had already sat at one of the chairs, she turned towards Amaya and answered.

"Tea."

Amaya nodded and brewed two cups of tea. As soon as the hot water hit the grounded leaves of tea a calming aroma filled the room.

"You don't look sick." Hanna said with a raised eyebrow.

"I am not." Amaya replied as she turned to look at Hanna with a plate containing two cups of tea.

Amaya placed the plate on the table and took a cup and moved it in front of Hanna.

"Here."

Hanna moved forward and took the cup from Amaya's hands and took a sip out of the tea.

A calming flavour hit her as soon as she took a sip making Hanna fall back on her chair and continued to sip the tea.

A smile appeared on Amaya's face when she looked at Hanna.

After a few moments, Hanna finished her tea and placed the empty teacup on the table. She looked at Amaya as she spoke.

"Why don't you come to college?"

Amaya displayed a bitter smile as she spoke.

"I am scared." 

Hanna furrowed her brows after hearing Amaya's reasoning.

"Scared? Of what?"

Amaya however didn't explain and just continued to gaze into her teacup.

Hanna didn't pursue and changed the topic.

"I want to ask you something." 

Amaya nodded and spoke.

"Go ahead." 

"Ah… I don't know how to say this but do you remember when you told us about Midnighters?"

The smile on Amaya's face faded into a thin line when she heard that and that didn't escape Hanna's eyes.

"What's wrong?" She questioned with a tilt of her head.

Amaya looked at Hanna and shook her head.

"It's nothing." She said and paused for a few moments before continuing.

"I don't know much about Midnighters." 

"Tell me everything you know." 

Amaya lifted her head and looked into Hanna's eyes for a few moments.

"Midnighters… They are mysterious beings, hidden in day and come out at night because at night they get supernatural powers but at night they are just albeit strong humans." Amaya said as she continued to gaze into Hanna's eyes which had dropped low.

'That…'

'It matches my conclusion.'

Hanna thought as she massaged her forehead with her thumb and index finger.

"Is that all?" Hanna questioned as she looked at Amaya.

"That is all I know." Amaya replied with a bow.

"Is there someone else I can ask about this?" Hanna questioned, her tone desperate.

"I don't think- ah…" Amaya started to speak but stopped midway.

"What's wrong?" Hanna questioned.

'Should I tell her?' Amaya thought for a few moments after which she clenched her fist and spoke.

"You should talk to Anna about it." Amaya said as she lowered her head.

"Hmm? Anna?" Hanna furrowed her brows, her tone full of confusion.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Amaya questioned as she placed the teacups back on the plate and stood up to leave the room.

Hanna too stood up and spoke.

"Wait, what does Anna have to do in this?" Hanna asked as she believed that Anna was clueless about all of this.

Amaya stopped in her tracks and turned towards Hanna as she spoke.

"Just do what I say, Hanna Morgan." Amaya replied as she looked into Hanna's eyes with a small frown.

Hanna went silent and just nodded.

"You should leave." Amaya said as she placed the plate beside the boiler and moved towards Hanna and hugged her.

"Everything will be alright." Amaya reassured her, she could feel that something was weighing heavily on Hanna, a burden so big that she had to seek her out.

Hanna just nodded and replied

"Thank you."

Hearing that, Amaya broke the hug and looked at Hanna with a bright smile on her face. Hanna too smiled at her.

Hanna walked out of Amaya's house and walked towards her car.

'Anna… I have to talk to her anyway huh…' Hanna thought as she remembered how she wanted to talk to Anna about it from the beginning but didn't want to pull her into troubles but alas she will have to do it because,

'If what Amaya said is right, and Anna does know about Midnighters then I have no other option than talking to her about it.'

Hanna concluded as she pressed the accelerator and left the alley.

Amaya stood at her room's window as she gazed at Hanna's car which had already left, a few moments later she spoke.

"I hope you get what you want, Hanna Morgan."

Then, she closed the windows of her room as she returned to her bed but her gaze was still plastered at the window more importantly at the place where the claw of night used to be.

"Vincent… who would have thought that? I was being controlled all this time, huh…"

Amaya said with a bitter smile as a chuckle left her lips.