Auden took fifty cents from her purse and purchased the golden crane she's already holding. The young man put a small string around its body before he threw it to mid-air. He handed her the string, to which she accepted and bid goodbye.
"What shall I name you, little one?" she talked to the moving paper crane and got flapping wings as a response. "Let me call you Tea." The crane swirled above her like a happy jump. She giggled and walked towards the other stalls.
Auden enjoyed herself exploring the market in the company of her new paper crane pet. Magic filled every kiosk. Her every step was accompanied by giggles of amusement in every turn. She never quite enjoyed the market before this. It was a blessing that she was off the hook in her job.
It was almost noon when she decided to drop by a diner. A soft clinking of shells echoed through the thick strip of silence and indistinct chatters.
The exterior is in the color of green and yellow, while the inside screams an 80s retro vibe. She went inside and sat on one of the bar stools near the kitchen. There were not many customers around, unlike the bakery shop she works at. But the vibe of the place sold the finest.
"Good day, young lady. What can I get you?" An old stocky bald man approached her. Grease is evident on his splattered apron. But above all else, it was his full sleeves of skulls and roses that caught her attention the most.
She softly cleared her throat and focused on the menu. There were tons of sweet and savory food. This is a perfect go-to diner.
"I'll have eggs and tea, please," she ordered while peeking on the menu. In the end, she decided to have a classic. It was just overwhelming.
"I'll get that, plus a meatball sandwich on the house. It's a rare occasion I come to see a new face, darling." She chuckled and straightened her stance as the old man turned his back to prepare her order. Her tummy instantly rumbled by the sweet essence of concoction grazing the air she breathes. She would surely have a healthy meal today.
Auden took a good view of the old man's exposed arm. It looks like it tells a story. From one side was a dancing woman under the moonlight filled with roses and thorns. The right arm, however, was inked with a clock and skulls fading in the dust. "Your tattoo is beautiful. Did you get that here?" she couldn't help but ask.
"I did, child. Art by the old Kip who lives down the hood. When you've been here for infinite years you get to collect art, and that's what I did exactly." The man flipped the meatball in the air and it landed in the open sandwich. "Everybody knows Kip. It'll be easy to find him if you're interested."
The old man again expertly flipped her scrambled eggs onto the plate and served it with toast and garnishes. "Hope you like your eggs this way." Her other orders are also served on a different platter. She couldn't stop herself from taking a bite from each one. The smell of butter and spices welcomed her senses deliberately. This was the best she had.
Auden heard the man chuckled, "Easy, kid." She smiled in return after stopping herself from choking and took another bite from her sandwich.
"This tastes heavenly. How come only a few locals visit you here?" She even looked around the few to none customers to emphasize her point. 'People are surely missing out', she thought.
"Well, I was a big hit back then."
"What happened?"
"People became health conscious." It was followed by a burst of rambunctious laughter that broke the silence of surrounding empty tables.
'But they don't die here, do they?' She set the thought aside. It could be just a bad attempt of humor to protect his pride and ego. Or it could also be that the gods decided that they were disease-proof with exclusions of bad cholesterol and diabetes.
It was minutes of observing and eating. His tattoos piqued her interest. It looks so thought out to be just any simple tattoo.
"The story behind your tattoo, I want to know it," she said after swallowing a mouthful of eggs and toast. There were not many customers, she thought that she was not causing much trouble.
The man looked at his inked tattoos for a moment. Auden thought that her intrusion might be wrong, but the man lifted his gaze and smiled wider. "This is a story I've read from the good old library. A story of cursed lovers."
Auden gazed back to her unfinished food, but her attention begged to focus on the story. There was this something that was grasping her attention.
"This town holds secrets that I've witnessed through the years, unlike the other locals. Here, we have keepers and seekers. Seekers seek souls leaving their dead bodies and bringing them here to live another life; they are also in charge of sending souls out to be reborn.
"Keepers, on the other hand, keeps memories and stories of every life every soul has ever live. Our memories are not really forgotten; it's just that keepers keep them safe and protected.
"So, one day, a seeker came to town to send a soul. She has this fair skin, hazel eyes, and long black hair, drawing a keeper's attention. The keeper chased the seeker; however, they can never stay together for too long; the seeker's job is in another world, and the keeper can never leave town. The keeper has the privileged to watch people from both different worlds since he must keep the memories of everyone. For years, the keeper watched the beautiful seeker dancing under the bright moon.
"But their love didn't end well. The seeker came back to town with a plan to stay forever. She can't take seeing people fall in love while she can't even reach the man she loves. The train that contains souls arrived and left without the seeker, which was reported back to the higher-ups. Their acts angered the gods."
Auden looked at the tiny details on the man's arm. "The thorns around the moonlight represented the rage the gods have for them." The old man pointed at the darker part of his tattoo, clock, and fading skulls. "The gods cursed them. The seeker will live like a normal human being. She'll live a life and die, and just like us, she'll forget everything about the life she lived.
"Once she's here in Middel she'll live a normal life like the rest of us. However, the keeper as the bearer of memories will remember everything. He knows who the seeker is and tries to reach out, but the seeker will never know who he is until she's up to live another life. By then, she'll remember fragments of their love, but she'll forget it once again she's born."
Auden suddenly felt hot liquid rolling down her cheeks. It was heartfelt. The old man wiped her tears and sadly smiled. "They love each other truly, but the curse kept them from loving freely."
"Hey, kid, stop crying now," followed by a rumble of laughter. It has been minutes since she started crying. The old man has been comforting her, but it seems like it's not working.
It was almost an impulse. Her tears started draining out like it has been waiting for this very specific moment.
Auden's hazel, round-shaped eyes puffed and redden as her failed attempt to suppress tears continue. Her heart was aching miserably, and she didn't know the reason why. She huffed a breath out, "This feels weird. That story is really sad." She sobbed more before drinking a glass of water. "Is that a real story? Who are those people?"
The big man smiled and gave her a sympathetic look. He took the initiative of wiping out the tears that fell from her eyes. She couldn't help but wonder, was her father this close to her? Would her father wipe her tears like this stranger just did?
The story somewhat made her feel the longing she had for her forgotten family. She stifled the upcoming surge of emotion. Her thoughts were dismissed immediately. Overthinking something she couldn't remember wouldn't help at any cost.
"Have you been to the library?" She nodded in response. She has sure been there. The book she read also made her emotions she couldn't name.
"There's a line of shelves near the archives. All the books on those shelves are memories of the people who had lived and died. The keepers store the most important events and published them for people of the city to read. I read that book from there."
Auden wiped her cheeks the last time. It all points back to the library.
"All right child finish your cold meal," the old man said while shaking his head.
"One last thing, do you know where the station is?"