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Three days after chapter 15 in book 1.

Aini 10

I'm drowning!

If the feeling where you don't perceive a single thing, your senses cut off from the world you lived your whole life, a vitality that you called the two most important people of your life, lost in the ocean of numbness wasn't what you call drowning as, then what was it?

This was what I'm experiencing, the numbness that the world bestowed upon me. No, even the feeling of numbness strayed me in the darkness, to the pool of gloom. The silence that surrounded me was sickening but what disturbed me was that I wasn't able to find the sound of my heartbeat, everything that I see and hear was complete silence, the frightening idea of death slowly gliding across my head was nauseating.

I wanted to scream, seek out help, I wasn't the one to stop fighting when the tides get rough but the place I was dumped into was relentless, I couldn't move a single muscle, my closed eyes yearned for the ray of sun, live another day, a moment at least to see the people I love, but this ocean I'm drowning in was ruthless.

There was no object surrounding me, if I'm sure of one thing, that will be the feeling of floating, but is it water? I couldn't tell, neither feel the coolness of the water but my body was freezing, the cold was disappointing. I wondered how long have I been here, it felt like an eternity but I couldn't tell.

I yearned for someone to save me, wake me out of this nightmare but is it only a nightmare? I couldn't tell, but I wish this was only a dream.

Zara

"What the fickle is wrong with her?"

I kept yelling at the walking corpse of Harry, his brooding attitude aching my dead brain but my screams fell on deaf ears, although I knew he couldn't hear me, screaming helped me keep my anger toned down. Living as a ghost had its fun when my dumb jack of a brain best friend was around, but when she disappeared, she stopped my heartbeat for the second time, and Harry?

Harry's situation was the worse but his good for nothing miserable state won't bring her back, his state of denial wasn't helpful, I want my best friend back but all Harry does was sleep, cozy and stinky in his bed, retired.

The huffing and puffing at my best friend's missing case have taken a toll on me, but this time I've had enough! I want Aini back and that's her I will get, by hook or by crook!

First, I want a solid plan, a list of places with abandoned buildings, and a quick background checkup with Aini's mother. I wonder if her mother knows anything about this, with very little knowledge of Aini's presence in her childhood town, I sincerely doubt it but perhaps Anne would know something.

I have tried communicating with Harry multiple times this past three days with no luck, but Harry senses my presence, he often directs his melancholy monologues in my direction and often rants directly at me by mentioning my name but he couldn't hear anything I say, neither see where I am or what I'm directing at so I have concluded that pausing life until harry comes to his normal state will take time, and we have no idea what Aini is going through or what the wicked witch is doing to her, so she should be saved, saving Aini will be the only way to save Harry too, and I need to do all this on my own.

If I was still a human, I would have packed a zillion of suitcases for the adventure but now I'm a ghost and the realization kills the buzz. I closed my eyes and imagined Aini's house in my mind, trying to emphasize the details and pictured it through my memory, white walls, white decors, white pieces of furniture, and white everything, when I opened my eyes, I was standing in the large living area at Aini's place.

Magic is interesting although exhausting.

No one was around, the place remained the same, too neat to call it home, Aini always called this place a makeshift palace and I could guess why. Every time I visit, I've always felt the need to keep myself in check, not to be a klutz and destroy the epitome of cleanliness of the house. I walked in the direction of the kitchen, the smell of chicken wafting in the air.

Anne was cooking, or attempting to cook with her mind far away from the boiling pot. Her looks spoke of concern and I wondered if she knew anything about Aini's disappearance but I couldn't ask her so instead, I decided to search the house.

From the very beginning of this mission, I had an inkling that the powers of Aini were a family included matter. Her foreseeing and the dreams could be a power passed down by her ancestors, a strong feeling that Aini's mother could also be linked in the loop was circulating in my mind. Although my dumb jack brain best friend hasn't spoken to her mother about the magic she possess, there might still be a chance that her mother was gifted too, and this was one of the reasons why I wanted to have a chat with her mother before everything went sh*t.

I walked into my best friend's room, Aini's mother, Leila was lying down on the bed, her eyes closed as if sleeping. I took in her room, the dreamcatchers were still intact except for the ones Aini took with her to the new house, I would much rather prefer her new home to her childhood house but sadly, I have inspected every inch of her new place and found nothing.

I couldn't touch things, open up the closet and check for details but I can channel my power into a certain demand and can get it done, from teleportation to magically open up drawers and sabotaging through my best friend's belongings, Aini wouldn't mind, will she?

I opened the bottom draw of my best friend's closets, there wasn't much, she took most of her things to her new place, leaving behind only a few for her holidays and occasional time-off. What caught my attention was Aini's poetry book amidst the empty journals in her closet, Aini had an obsession with collecting books, journals, sketch pads, and diaries, although she doesn't use half of it, she still had them hoarded in her closet.

I opened one of her sketch pads and poem neatly filled the page, with two wings masterfully pencil sketched in the background, the right-wing a tad bit darker than the left-wing as if to portray black and white, side by side. It was beautiful but the poem was written in red ink on top of the sketch blocking the admiration of the art. I involuntarily read the poem,

Monster

I like the monster
That swirled around me.
Flipping its dark wings
And sapping my soul.
Numbing my feelings
And draining my thoughts.

I like the angel
That dwelled around you.
Batting its wings
And healing my wounds.
Invading my senses
And accompanying my heart.

I couldn't decipher the setting of this particular piece, Aini was talented and that was the only thing that struck my mind, and a small smile spread in the remainder of my best friend's other creation of poems she fondly shared with me but she kept most of it to herself.

I left the closet, focused on closing the doors of the closet in my peripheral vision, as slowly as I could to not wake Leila. The closet doors stuck in between a shoebox which caught my attention, I tried to see what's inside.

When the box opened, consuming most of my energy, I stared at the number of photographs that were stored inside roughly, Aini has always organized the pictures in an album or a scrapbook, discarding of pictures were never her style but maybe she was planning to organize it later, perhaps?

I focused my powers on the flipping of pictures, there were her childhood photos, goofy smiles to heartfelt memories, blazer tucked suit to dirty baby frocks spoiled in paint? And there were pictures of Anne and an unknown man, draping his hands across Anne's waist, who is he? There was also a photograph of Leila, baby Aini, and another man, his features matched with Aini, they shared the same shade of hair and the dimples when they smile, which Aini inherited over time till now. That should be her biological father. All three of them were genuinely happy in the photo, I wondered what went wrong?

How many unraveled mysterious does this family hold? And my dumb jack best friend was most likely oblivious to all of it. I searched for any other details, so far, I was only able to find two mystery men, two perfect families crumbled down in the past, and a box of inutile pictures and quotes.

I shut the box and set it on the down shelf and tried to imagine a neat and closed closet, concentrating so hard to clean the place to much of my ability, until I heard the intake of a sharp breath and a shuddering gasp, I turned towards the noise and noticed that Leila was awake, a look of surprise and horror masked her delicate features, goosebumps slowly spread across her neck and body that was visible from her elite worn evening gown.

Did she stare straight at me? I wondered that if she could see me? Her features instantly morphed into her normal self and she walked past me, with precise strides as if she was afraid to get in contact with me, and closed the closet door, mumbling, "Anne's obsession over Aini has turned her into a klutz" and laughed nervously.

The wheels on my mind started turning violently, Leila was never one to mumble, leave alone complain and I'm pretty sure she can see me but what I'm not sure was that why should Leila hide her tracks, covering up quickly by diverting the matter at hand.

One, I'm absolutely betting on was the fact that Leila can see me, but I just wanted to make sure of my recent discovery, so I mustered a bit of my usual wit and spoke in a clear voice, "hello Leila, I know you can see me," she stopped frozen at the spot, her previous decision of walking out the room forgotten.

Two, I knew I got her attention, she can hear me too, which is an amazing and helpful discovery at the moment. She stood at the spot another minute or two and pretended as if she didn't hear me and started taking a step forwards towards the door.

"Aini is in danger, I want your help," I let out immediately. She was my last ray of hope and I couldn't afford to lose her.

That caught her attention, it should. At the end of the day, Aini was still her daughter.

She left out a defeated sigh, my words drowning slowly in her system, the possibility of her daughter in a danger made her stubborn attitude deteriorate, so she turned, looked at me, and said, "what do you want me to do Zara?"

A/N

Word count - 1930 [excluding A/N]

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