I arrived in front of the Poris Herb Shop, and I was very reluctant to go in.
Honestly, I had lots of good memories from this place.
Memories started flooding my mind with flashbacks. I shook my head, trying to erase the incoming tidal wave of memories from fully engulfing my mind.
I don't want these intrusive memories; they will just get in the way of moving on.
I don't want to forget them, but right now, it isn't what I need. I need acceptance, and I don't think I can do it yet.
I've just been putting up a front to prevent myself from breaking down at any moment now. Well, this is why I postponed going here.
Seeing the place where I used to go, empty and gloomy, made me feel uncomfortable.
However, my emotions are a mess right now. I feel happy at the same time I feel sad. It's contradicting, yet it's the best way to describe how I feel.
With these conflicting emotions, I don't know what to feel. Well, for starters, I shouldn't ruin my sister's plan to make me feel better and waste the efforts of both Milvard and Baddock.
Thinking about that really brings joy to my heart. It was just a simple surprise, yet it made me feel like the burden in my heart was suddenly lifted.
However, I can still feel that it's just temporary and not long-lasting. The fact that I still couldn't come to terms with it hindered me from moving on.
Accepting something that you know is gone is a challenging and lengthy process. It takes time to heal and move forward. Losing people— losing loved ones is the worst feeling ever.
Nonetheless, I am thankful to have the people around me save me from drowning in my sorrows.
Without them, I might have gone crazy from all the constant aches in my heart.
At the end of the day, people who are left behind will have to move forward at some point.
The longer we hold onto something that's already gone, the more it is damaging to ourselves. Letting go is also part of moving on.
However, it's not gonna be as easy as walking down the streets.
Nothing is easy in life. It's always full of challenges and dangers. No matter where you go or who you are, we all experience hardships. The difficulty of the situation only differs on how each person deals with it.
I realized I've been staring for too long at the entrance of the shop. It seems like it's been close for some time now.
The fresh plants that are usually displayed on the racks are all dried up and dying.
It's horrible.
Is Maecy neglecting the shop?
I entered the shop, and I can already feel the gloomy atmosphere surrounding the place. The place looks dead. It's dark, and it seems like it doesn't have any living plants anymore.
The furniture is the same as what I saw last time I've been here. But dust and cobwebs start to invade each corner of the shop.
What happened here?
"Maecy!" I called out.
I went to the other side of the counter and tried to open the door. It probably leads to the Poris' home at the back of the shop.
I tried turning the knob, but it's locked.
I don't think anyone's home.
No! Don't tell me...
Well, let's not think about negative things. Let's look for her first.
"Please, Maecy if you're in there, please open the door for me," I said while knocking on the door very loudly. "Maecy, if you want someone to talk to, I'm here," I continued.
This isn't gonna work.
I need to bust this door open and look at what's inside. I need to see; I need to know.
What if I kick it down? Would that work?
I tried but immediately failed. What a strong door.
I need a tool to help me open it. At least destroy the knob would help.
I looked around for something to help me break down the door. Well, I don't see anything helpful— not in here, that is.
I went outside towards the garden just beside the shop and found a shovel.
Would this work? I just need to slam it very hard.
The doorknob budged a little bit, but it's still not giving in. I continuously slam the shovel on it until it finally broke. I rushed inside, making the shovel clang to the ground.
I need to see it with my own eyes.
I roamed around the house, looked at every room, every nook and cranny of the house, everything underneath the furniture. I looked everywhere, but the place is void of any human contact for months now.
Dust started settling in on every piece of furniture since they aren't covered by cloths. Cobwebs littered the ceiling and the walls; the place looks dark and desolate.
It finally sunk in.
Maecy is gone.
I collapsed on my knees and onto the ground. This can't be happening.
What's wrong with this place?
Why do people keep disappearing like bubbles?
I can't believe this is happening all over again.
Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)
I managed to get myself back home after that unexpected discovery.
I sighed.
Honestly, I felt numb, especially with all these bombshells that keep dropping on my heart too many times within just two years.
I don't really know what to feel. After the initial shock, I blacked out and walked out of there with my mind floating. I don't even remember how I got back home.
I didn't even remember asking Milvard and Baddock about it. Well, I can't ask them anyway since they're on a meeting with the mayor. But I'll get to the bottom of this.
I will make sure to get them back. I will not rest until I see their dead bodies. I have to make sure for the sake of my sanity.
I decided to just keep calm and relax. Milvard and Baddock didn't seem that bothered earlier. Maybe, Maecy had gone to one of her relatives in another town.
Positive thinking— that's probably a good idea.
Honestly, I don't think I can handle any more of this disappearing act. I feel like every time I wake up, the people I care about will just disappear into thin air.
It scares me to death.
I can't lose my family. I can't lose my mom and my sister. We were just starting to reunite again.
I know that it will never fix what was broken, but I hope that the broken pieces can regrow the lost parts. We will never be the same, but at least we're somewhat whole again.
There's still an hour before the sunset, and I had been stuck in the kitchen, trying to distract myself by making some herbal medicine.
I've been practicing this for a month now, and I've been using the book I found inside a small hollow trunk while I was out in the forest last month.
It's called 'Herb Knowledge,' and I don't know who left it there. But it'll come in handy since plants are my specialties.
However, it appears to be quite a challenge to perfect what was written in the book. I always had a shortage of ingredients, and I don't know how to make up for it.
I don't even recognize most of the ingredients listed here. I feel like the plants here are found way deeper in the forest, but how do I even get those. Just stepping foot inside the forest is already suicide. What more if I go in deeper?
Thankfully, there's one procedure I can at least do since I am familiar with all its ingredients. But even so, the ingredients are still challenging to obtain.
I did manage to find all the ingredients needed for this procedure, and I had failed like twice now. I just can't get the proportion right. I thought it would be okay if I just mixed them all in, but it appears that there's a correct amount needed for it to work.
Honestly, this book lacked the basic instruction you need for doing this kind of stuff. Why doesn't it say how much to put?
It's making me very frustrated.
o(^o^)o
Finally!
The sun had already set, and it's already late in the night. I finally made the herbal medicine I was trying to make. I just had one ingredient I needed to prepare differently.
It's a crystal clear liquid, just like water. I put them in a small bottle and kept them safely in my sling bag. I haven't tested it to see if it works. Well, I guess I'll find out when I use one.
Honestly, it isn't that terrible to make if only I have everything I needed in the first place.
It's actually not the best out of all the herbal medicine in the book since it only consists of common herbs, but maybe it'll come in handy in the future. Even if the book says it's basically nothing, I had a hard time finding the ingredients. So for me, it's rare enough.
But I don't think I can make another batch.
These ingredients may have been common in the core of the forest, but on the outskirts, everything is rare.
So it's basically a 'use only for emergency' type of situation.
I cleaned up the mess I made and was headed to bed since I have a long day ahead of me.
I still have to do a lot of errands my mom and my sister asked me to do. I just realized that I forgot the thing my sister asked me to get this morning.
The whole Maecy disappearance made me distracted and forgot all about it.
I also needed to ask Milvard and Baddock about Maecy. Actually, now that I've regained my thoughts and calmed my heart, I feel like Maecy isn't in any danger. But it is still better to know than not knowing at all.
I locked all the doors and windows, turned off the lights, and headed upstairs to my room to rest.
I yawned and looked at the clock on my wall.
What?
It's already midnight?
I sighed. I guess another home-alone session this night.
There is no way my mom will come home tonight. I don't know where she's been going or what she's been doing, but she seemed pretty busy all the time that she hardly comes home anymore. All that I can guess is that it is work-related.
Wait! Maybe my mom is part of some sort of special secret force of the government?
Nah. Not possible.
Don't get me wrong, even if she's been away most of the week, she still made sure we're somewhat alive.
She had also been invasive lately. What I mean is, she's been talking to us more often and was asking more about our lives and all that jazz.
I don't really feel comfortable about it, but it is what it is. I can't just let my mom do all the work of reconstructing our relationship; I also need to meet her halfway for it to be entirely rebuilt.
In Lilianna's case, I have no clue what she's been up to lately. Once I figured out she was sneaking out that time during our childhood— which isn't really my best memories I had with her. We always disagreed on almost anything to the point where we just ignored each other.
Anyways, after I found out about her little secret, I had to tell my grandma about it, and she got grounded for a month. As revenge, she destroyed my newly cleaned garden. This was the time where I was just starting to plant in my garden.
After that, we agreed to mind our own business and keep a blind eye to what the other was doing.
Up until now, I never really put any effort into knowing or learning about her business. Honestly, I was tempted to follow her once, but whenever I think about my ruined garden that's now full of life, I just couldn't risk it.
The only thing I know is that whatever Lilianna said she'll do, she will do it without any doubt. So I figured it wasn't worth the life and beauty of my garden.
I hope that whatever she's been doing, it's not gonna cause her any harm now or in the future.
ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•
TO BE CONTINUED...