I woke up from a crazy dream with cold sweat. I run my fingers through my now wet hair and get up.
*knock knock*
It's Tom. It's already light outside.
"Come in."
"Good morning, Young Master Ivan" Tom opens the door to my bedroom with a greeting and starts to make all the preparations for my morning routine. "The bath will be ready in a short while. Should I bring the breakfast in your bedroom or set it in the dining hall?"
As I leave the room, I tell Tom to bring breakfast here.
Now that I am stuck with this damn power, I need to decide what to do. How should I use this power? First of all, I am NOT going to attend school ten days a week! I still need to go to the academy and attend my lessons on the second run of each school day. But what should I do for the first run of each day? No one will remember it, so I can just skip all the lessons...
Right now, it is more important to study the Lucero family secret journal. I really need to get some answers. And it may help me know what to do.
But the crazy entries that I read yesterday must be the cause of my bad dreams. Remembering this, I decide to spend the day outside today. It's finally Saturday.
I call Tom and ask him to prepare some clothes to go outside, but no carriage. I am only going to the city centre; I'm definitely not going to the back alleys this time. but riding a carriage in the city takes away the feeling of freedom that I need today.
I walk a little less than an hour until I reach the city centre. Around the Lucero family mansion are the rich noble estates and after those, towards the city, there are the rich merchants and lower nobles' houses. Both the gardens and the buildings become smaller and smaller. When I reach the city centre, it is full of live with a crowd of people walking around the streets and going in and out of the huge number of establishments. This is one of the major cities close to the imperial capital, so you can find for sale almost everything that you can also find at the capital.
Without a plan, I walk through the main avenue, stopping from time to time to look at some street performances. Most of the performers are musicians. There are many people either singing or playing musical instruments, and sometimes there is a pair of singer and player. I stop to listen to some of their songs and give them some small change. There is a puppet show, with crowd of children watching what seems to be a legend of the first emperor of Tartan, in front of a toy shop. The owner must be happy, with the children asking the adults to go and buy them toys to play like that. Performers attract a lot of attention, so usually the shop owners welcome them.
I got distracted by the street performers and before I noticed it was already lunch time. looking around, I see a restaurant, 'Wild Boar', and go in.
*cling*
"Welcome. We have some free seats. Are you alone, or waiting for someone?" a waiter immediately starts taking me to a free table.
"It's just me. What dishes do you have?"
"Our specialty is boar stew, but we have other dishes…" the waiter lists all of the restaurant's dishes but I choose the boar stew.
The food was delicious. It was well cooked and well-seasoned. For a moment, I wonder what my ancestor would have done if he ate this. That's no good, I wanted to stop thinking about it. This should be time off.
With my stomach full, I continue to walk on the avenue and head towards the central plaza. It has a fountain and some trees with benches under. There are flower beds making several paths. It's basically a mini garden. This plaza becomes especially nice during the hottest months. I sit down and close my eyes.
I almost fall asleep, but some children run past me laughing and yelling. They are having so much fun that I ask to join them. Don't judge me. I need to have some fun. And no one will remember this undignified moment.
Small children have a lot of energy. The play only ends when the adults start calling for the children to go back. I walk around the plaza a little more before I leave.
I go to a wide street next to the main avenue. It is almost as big, and it has almost the same amount of people and establishments. I walk down the street. This street is less noisy than the avenue. There are also performers, but they're mostly human statues, and artists painting portraits, caricatures or landscapes. There is a particular artist that catches my attention.
I stop in front of the artist and carefully observe the paintings displayed. The paintings are mostly of cities. There are many pictures of this city and the capital, there are also a few others from cities that I don't recognize. This person must be a traveling artist. I look at the canvas they are working on right now. . I watch as they bring the street to life on the canvas.
*BAM*
"NOOO!"
Suddenly there is a loud noise followed by screams and a cacophony of many other sounds.
"Allie! Allie!"
I turn around and get stuck in place. Everyone was staring at the same spot.
A carriage had hit someone. There was someone laying on the ground in front of the carriage. But they were so small. A child. There was a lot of blood spreading on the road. A crying woman run to the child, screaming.
"Allie! Help! Oh, my Allie…"
The woman grabbed the child, all the while crying and screaming. Some people started yelling for a doctor.
…
Somehow, I left that street and arrived home. That scene replaying in my head. I don't even know if the child was dead or alive.
In my 17 years, it was the first time I saw something like that.
How could that happen? Could no one stop it?
"…"
Maybe I can.