Blood Hourglass Chapter 3

Chapter 3 One’s first meeting and reunion

Perhaps I didn’t know myself very well, and perhaps I didn’t know the reason why I didn’t go with her. It might’ve been because I got more accustomed to talking and acting like ordinary people now. This may seem ridiculous, but I hope it is the truth.

When you hide in the mountains and close the jungle-like curtains, you would never come into contact with other people. Even if you rotted there, no one would care; you would discover that loneliness had become a way of life. Loneliness would become your shadow. However, when you wanted to pull that curtain away and go out of the mountains in order to join society again, you would quickly find that relationships between people have become more simple and more complex for you at the same time.  You would soon understand that there were no more friends and relatives in this world, and even if there were more people in this world, you were just alone – a wandering ghost.

I closed the opened back door and sealed the First Seal. Turning around, I sat on the chair facing the south and blankly looked at the main entrance, while waiting for the arrival of the storm. It was very quiet inside, unusually quiet, but it wasn’t the silence that I liked, nor was it part of my silence.

Just when I was thinking about this in my head, the door was pushed open gently, and a tall figure appeared in front of me. Judging from his height and body, he should be a young man. He seemed to have prepared himself beforehand to find someone inside and did not show any hesitations. Very spontaneously, he sat down opposite me, as if we were in a cafe and he was late.

“You should say something!” I coldly said after I immersed myself in this feeling and noticed that he stayed silent after sitting down.

“Should I say ‘sorry to keep you waiting’?” He asked with a somewhat playful tone.

“How long do you still want to keep me waiting?” I asked relentless.

“Three questions, if you answer them, I will send you home.” He calmly said.

“First question?”

“Who are you?”

“Lin Jing!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to find a person, maybe she’s no longer a person.”

“Did you find her?”

“I found her.”

“Where is she now?”

“This is the fourth question and I don’t need to answer it.” Just when I started to leave, he stopped me and said: “I’ll take you home.”

“No need, I know how to get home and I never promised to let you send me home.” Finishing my sentence, I didn’t turn my head, and walked towards a small, dark mountain road, walking towards the direction of home. He didn’t follow, for whatever reasons; I didn’t intend to find out. This was for the better, because I could unseal the First Seal and quickly go home.

When the moon was at it’s highest point in the dark sky, I was walking alone on a rugged trail. Except for some small animal sounds in the surroundings, it was really quiet. I liked the silence, especially when I was alone at night. It was really enjoyable.

“How lonely of you to go home by yourself!” Suddenly a voice rang out of the woods, followed by laughter.

“Do really think I am human?” I asked while walking.

“Maybe!” She replied after thinking for a moment.

“You are here as well, how can I be lonely?” I walked step by step on the road, while she followed step by step in the woods. We were both walking very quickly. I wanted to go home and sleep, what about her? Why did she walk so fast?

“You want to send me home?” I asked.

“Don’t be so self-centered, I just want to go home to sleep.” Her words were followed by that annoying, TV drama-like laughter and entered into my ears.

“Do you have a home?” I asked coldly.

“You have home, why can’t I?” I could tell from her tone that she was not really angry and just wanted to quarrel with me.

“Didn’t you say I am a human? Humans, of course, should have home, while you are a n.o.ble. Do n.o.bles have a home?” I a.n.a.lyzed precisely.

“n.o.bles also need a place to sleep!” She argued.

“Isn’t it just a coffin? Just go find a cemetery to place it there. It is inappropriate to put it in a room!” I said, saying these unnatural things with a natural tone.

“You, that’s exactly what people don’t like about you likes. No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend.” She said angrily.

“Vampires are lonely.” I said coldly, with a bit of helplessness and a little sadness.

“That’s why I came looking for you. Ha! Ha! Ha!” She started laughing in this middle of the night on the small mountain road. While listening to this laughter, even if you did not feel fear, there was at least an uncomfortable feeling!

“We are family, Ha! Ha! Ha!” A great deal of emotions emerged, and I surprisingly started laughing. My pace became faster and faster, she was getting further and further away, but I was getting closer to home.

Now that I thought back to the affairs of that night, there were no violent conflicts, nor were there any unbearable farewells. Why, then, does it remain so clear in the recesses of my mind? I don’t even clearly remember the faces of those people. Even I myself cannot say to the point of it being etched into my mind? Perhaps it was like a single leaf, that fell upon the surface of certain still, mirror-like lake; even the slightest of ripples is unforgettable.

After freshening up, I went downstairs.  When daddy heard my footsteps, he talked to me from the kitchen:”Jing’er, why are you getting out of bed so early. Today is Sat.u.r.day, why don’t you sleep a little longer?”

“Xiaoya asked me to accompany her to buy clothes today.” As always, I drowsily sat in front of the dinner table.

“Then wait a minute, breakfast will be ready soon.” Like always, Dad took care of me and woke up early every morning to prepare breakfast for me. I knew he loved me very much, and if I had to leave one day, he would surely be very sad. I did not want to see him sad and didn’t even want to imagine it.

I joined daddy for breakfast. I was full of joy while watching him eating so happily. He was very busy at work and even worked on weekends. Usually, he drives me to the bus station, because our home is located at the end of a small path that is quite far away from the bus station.

When I got off the bus at the bus station today, I slowly walked towards the place where I had agreed to meet with Xiaoya. She was already waiting for me, therefore we started to stroll through all the big and small clothing stores. However, even after walking around for a while, she did not even buy a piece of clothing; it was unlike her.

“Do you want to talk to me about something?” I didn’t want to walk around aimlessly. It was better to simply ask what was wrong.

“Actually, actually today is my birthday. I would like to invite you to my house for dinner tonight, can I? There’s no problem if you can’t make it.” She asked timidly while bowing her head.

“Sure!” I readily agreed, since I suddenly felt that only when I became a real human, I could live a quiet life with daddy.

“Really? Are you sure?” She raised her head excitedly and gave me a pleasantly surprised look, as if she could not believe what she had just heard.

“Of course.” I repeated.

“Awesome!  Awesome! Today will be the best birthday ever.” She was so overjoyed, that pa.s.sers around us started to stare at us with puzzled looks. Even after they walked further away, they still kept looking back.

“Then let’s go.” I didn’t want to stand here and become a public display, while I urged her to leave quickly. Just when I wanted to turn around, she suddenly pulled me back and said: “Wait, we have to wait here.”

“Who will come to pick us up? Your father?” I asked.

“No, but you will know soon.” Then she smiled at me. Within her smile, I felt helplessness and sadness, but I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to see this kind of smile ever again, since it didn’t suit Xiaoya’s round, innocent, and pure face. Exactly at that time, a white, very clean car was heading towards us. Instead of a sign plate, there was a very simple but very strange wooden cross that was held together by two small wooden nails. It slowly stopped beside us and when the door opened, a man came out of the car. He was not old and only a bit older than Xiaoya. I guessed that it should be her brother, and just as I expected, Xiaoya shouted towards him.

“Brother, you came just in time!”

“Because I happen to have a habit of wearing a watch.” He said with a smile.

“Brother, this is my best friend, the one I always tell you about – Jing’er.” Their eyes turned towards me.

“Hey, I’m Xiaoya’s older brother.” He walked towards me and gave me a polite handshake.

“h.e.l.lo.” When I held out my left hand to shake his hand, a sudden strange feeling emerged. I’ve seen him before, who was he and why couldn’t I remember his face? I searched through every corner and depth of my memory, but still nothing.

“Have we met before?” He suddenly asked.

“I think this is the first time.” I replied.

“I feel like we had seen each other before. You give off a familiar vibe.” He looked at me and said.

“Really?” I just answered with a simple word, making it look like I had no interest in this. In fact, I was constantly thinking about it in my mind.

Some say déjà vu exists, and at that time I really had this feeling. How could you have a kind of familiarity with someone you had clearly never met before? His gestures, his tone of voice while speaking all gave me this feeling. Was this an illusion? No, normal people might have this kind of illusion, but I wouldn’t. Also, didn’t he have the same feeling? It couldn’t be that both of us had that the same kind of illusionary feeling at the same time. This would be too unbelievable, right?

“What are you thinking about? It’s already late, let go!” Xiaoya said while pushing me.

“Oh, nothing.” I got into the car together with her.

“Brother, what are you doing? Why don’t you get into the car and start driving?” Xiaoya, who was sitting next to me, shouted at his brother, who was still staring in s.p.a.ce outside.

“By your command My Lady, I’ll drive right away.” It seemed like he was still completely trapped deep in his thoughts just now.