"Last house!" Lillian declared as they stopped in front of a small house tucked in the corner. The sun had already begun to set over the horizon as they knocked on the noisy house.
"That quickly? How many houses have we visited actually?" Ray asked as he began to count. "Three!? We've only been to three houses, including this one. Are you planning to go out again tomorrow?"
"Nope," Lillian answered as footsteps approached the door. A big, burly man stood at the doorway that is a little too small for him.
"Yes?" He asked, voice booming.
Ray had his hand on his waist with an intimidating look on his face. Tall as he may be, the man in front of them was still much taller than them, not to mention, very muscular. He looked ready to attack if anything were to happen.
Lillian undid the ribbon under her chin and took off her bonnet, smiling up at the man, "Hello, Hal. It's so good to see you again."
"Lillian!" The man exclaimed, gone was the intimidating aura as the man pulled her into a big bear hug. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. Ray, come here!" Lillian giggled, turning to Ray who stared at the exchange in surprise. Hand behind him, on the hilt of the dagger hidden in the belt strap, ready to attack.
He released his hold on the dagger and walked to Lillian as calmly as he could. "Yes, sister dearest?" He said, taking her hand in his own.
"Sister?" Hal looked at her pleasantly smiling. "Who might this be?"
"Why don't I begin the introductions once the whole family is here?" Lillian said, smiling back at him. Hal's smile is so contagious.
"Oh, right. Where are my manners?" Hal moved from the door, making space for us to enter, "Come in. Come in."
"Maybe I will just wait out here," Ray said, standing like the ground held him in place.
Lillian furrowed her brows as she looked at his nervous expression with worry.
"Could you give us a minute, Hal?" Lillian asked, walking to the door.
"Of course. You can go to the garden! I will prepare dinner in the meanwhile." He called from the kitchen, as little whispers filled the silence.
The children must be helping him out. Well, we have a couple of minutes before they come rushing out. Best to talk to Ray now.
"Come on." Lillian pulled Ray to the back of the house as he followed like a puppy.
She opened the flimsy fence as the rusted iron creaked in protest and they entered the garden filled with nothing but colourful grass and some vegetable plants.
A crooked wooden fence surrounds the little garden as the noise of the town slowly began to die down. Though sounds still came from the house, laughter and occasional shouting.
"Are you ok, Ray?" Lillian asked, sitting down on the grass, the view of the orange skies right before them as the sun sunk lower.
"Yeah. Why?" He said, trying to sound cheery but there was nothing cheery about his expression.
"Sit." She patted the grass beside her. He obeyed with one look from her.
"Isn't the sky beautiful?" She sighed out once he settled on the grass.
"Yeah." He replied, not looking at the sky as he played with the grass.
"I always love looking at the sky, Ray." Lillian continued, unphased by his disinterest. "Because it reminds me that, no matter where I am or how far away I am from my loved ones, we are still under the same vast sky. Isn't that crazy?"
Ray slowly looked up at the sky and sighed as she did, "It also serves as a reminder that you will never escape anyone. No matter how far you try to run."
Lillian looked at Ray and laughed, "That is a very pessimistic way of looking at it. But, I guess I can see some truth in your words. Are you trying to run away from someone?"
"Isn't running away impossible?" Ray raised an eyebrow at Lillian, a faint smile coming on his face.
"Oh, right. We just established that." Lillian covered her mouth dramatically, "How could I have forgotten that? I must have the mind of a twenty-five-year-old."
Ray finally burst out laughing, "That's too old, Lillian. Even for you."
Aside from the happiness, she felt seeing him look genuinely happy, she felt a little stab from his remark.
"R-right? That's such an old age. HA. Ha. ha." Lillian looked away, trying not to show her teary eyes.
"Thank you," Ray said so softly, Lillian almost didn't hear it.
"What for?" She asked, taking out some spare papers, glasses and her pen from her bag, "We haven't gotten to talking of your feelings yet."
Ray only stared at her blankly.
She wore the glasses and pushed them up from the bridge of her nose as she began to write down on the papers. "Now, I see that you are feeling a little overwhelmed just from seeing Hal. Why do you think that is?"
"Uh … I don't know?"
"You don't know. Alright." Lillian wrote that down then turned to him, pushing her glasses up again. "And how does not knowing make you feel?"
Ray's confused expression disappeared as he snickered and pulled the glasses off Lillian's face, "You talking like this is making me uncomfortable."
"What? How? I followed whatever the movies told me to do. You should be pouring your heart out to me now." Lillian looked through the papers, now it's her turn to be confused.
"Movies? Sometimes you talk of the strangest things." Ray teased as he wore the glassed, "How do I look?"
Lillian looked up from the papers as the sky became dark and the lights around the city lit up. Ray looked at her wearing the glasses and striking a pose.
In that moment, Lillian saw a scene flash before her eyes of her baby brother getting glasses for the first time and posing for her in their damp house, a bright smile on his face.
It took her months to save up for that but now he could see properly and his happiness made everything worth it for her.
Swallowing the lump in her throat as the image faded and Ray's face came into view, Lillian reached out and patted his head.
"You look extremely dashing." She said, softly.
"Really? Thank you." He grinned broadly, "I want to see how I look like."
"Here, let me." Lillian reached into the bag and pulled out the mirror she used to communicate with Jasmine and handed it to him, "You look great."
"It's embarrassing hearing you praise me this much," Ray said, after a quick look in the mirror. "But, I'm happy."
"Well, as long as you are happy because of what I said, I will just have to keep embarrassing you." Lillian teased, as he took off the glasses and handed them to her.
"Please don't," Ray said, staring at her while she took the glasses and shoved them back into the bag. "Can I ask I question?"
"Sure," Lillian said, not looking up from arranging the contents in her bag.
"Do you not like getting complimented?"
"That is a very odd question, Ray." Lillian took out some more papers, those she has already written on, and began arranging them properly. "It has an odder answer too. Do I like getting complimented? Yes. Will I accept compliments from others? No. Will I get embarrassed and deny anything if a person compliments me? Yes. Do I still like getting complimented? Yes. Can you see my dilemma?"
"I can." Ray agreed wholeheartedly, but he didn't look satisfied with her answer. "How do you act like when you get complimented?"
"Well, I become embarrassed and want to fling myself to the nearest cliff as my speech becomes stutter and I get defensive." She answered, shoving the papers back inside, properly this time. "What's with these questions though?"
"Well, I noticed tha-"
"Lillian!" Hal's voice came from behind them, his head sticking out of the window. "Come in, dinner is ready!"
"Alright!" Lillian called back, turning to Ray. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah." He answered and with a deep breath, pulled himself off the ground. He turned and offered his hand to Lillian, pulling her up.
"Thank you," Lillian said, dusting herself off with her bonnet. "Think you can enter the house now?"
Pursing his lips, Ray nodded his head, still holding onto her hand.
"I don't know what's wrong but I promise you that you will not fall into any harm," Lillian said, fixing his collar with her free hand.
"I'm not scared of being hurt." He murmured, looking at the house.
"Right. Then, let's go in."
"Ok."
Ray looked at Lillian who gave his hand a comforting squeeze, with a slight nod of her head. "Don't worry," She whispered, "He won't bite."
"Right." Ray laughed nervously. "Apologies."
"Hey, it's ok. He intimidated me when we first met too. You'll find that he's just a big bear." She said, trying to reassure him.
"I'm not intimidated," Ray said, smiling down at Lillian. "Let's go meet Big Bear then."
"Ok!"