After completing all the chores for the day, little  Shui washed her hands and face with the freezing water to ward off her tiredness. Wiping her wet hands with a piece of rugged cloth, she walked into the backyard garden of the orphanage. The night sky was embedded with millions of sparkling stars and the gentle cool breeze carrying sweet fruity fragrance of flowers embraced her and ruffled through her black hairs as if trying to say that she did a good job. Smiling she took a deep breath and then hopped towards her favorite spot in the garden. On her way, she got distracted by the delicious fragrance of grapes. She couldn't resist the inviting smell and stopped near the grape vine and stood there to admire the fresh and juicy grapes.

"They seem delicious..", she said while looking at them in awe.

Her stomach growled in  agreement to the fact that indeed the grapes surely were juicy and delicious. She then held her tummy with her hands and looked at it.

"I'm so hungry I must check if there are some leftovers in the kitchen.", saying so she ran to the kitchen. Upon reaching there, first she made sure that no one's watching her then she tip-toed to her secret spot where she used to hide her food so that she can eat it later. When she removed the lid of the small container, she found that there was  a piece of the bread which was already half eaten and now it was being eaten by the ants, too. Annoyed, she slammed the bread thrice on the floor to get rid of all the ants and then took it to the garden so that she could eat in peace. When she reached the place where she always sits, she saw a young man wearing a weird looking traditional gown was sitting there already with his back facing her.

"Why on earth is everyone annoying me?", she gritted her teeth in rage. But because she was just a little girl, she could do nothing but ask him nicely to sit somewhere else. She took a step towards him in compulsion, suppressing the urge of hitting him she was about to ask him to move when the man said something that made her speechless.

"It was a tough day, wasn't it?", he sounded concerned. Shui froze in her place thinking that either he might be someone from the union or he might be leader Goro's friend. Either way, she was now caught wandering outside at the time when she was supposed to be sound asleep in her room. So she stood still with her head bowed, because she was taught to stand like that whenever she made any mistakes. But she couldn't understand that how could he know about her being there without even looking.. She quickly threw the bread away, in order to not get caught. Because she was now caught wandering and if anyone knows about her eating at night without permission, it will only add to the punishment she was now about to get.

"Look at you, standing like that. You look like you had been drained off your energy. Want some water?", his voice was gentle and soothing. And Shui also felt good because this was the first time ever that anyone from the union had spoken to her, that too with such warmth and concern. And in reply to his question, she politely shook her head.

"Hmm… This won't do. Let's get you something to eat. You seem malnourished.", the man said again. Upon the mention of food, Shui face lit up but she was still standing silently. Though she agreed to the fact that she was starving and wanted something to eat but she felt that something was fishy. Because the people never treat orphans well but the man in front her was offering her food, himself!

"Don't just stand there,  speak something!", he spoke again but this time his voice was louder which made her tremble like a dry leaf and she immediately fell on her knees and asked for his forgiveness.

"I beg your pardon, sir. I don't need anything and I'll go straight to my room. Please let this slide for once. Please, I beg you.", she requested pitifully. But in response to her requests, all she got was silence. Fearful of the punishment she kept on apologizing and requesting the man but he seemed to sit quietly and look at her begging for forgiveness. It was so humiliating for her but she was helpless because there was nothing she could do apart from it. After sometime, she mustered the courage and lifted her head to look at the man, just to check what he's up to. To her surprise, there was no one sitting there on the rock. She rubbed her eyes and looked again but indeed there wasn't anyone. She stood there dumbstruck. She saw a man sitting there on the rock just a moment ago and now he is nowhere to be found.

"How's this even possible?", she whispered to herself.

She also searched for him nearby but he wasn't anywhere.

"It's like he disappeared in the thin air…", she concluded and walked towards the orphanage.

"Wait a minute!", she suddenly halted near the small pool of water. "Did I just encountered a ghost?", her face went dark and suddenly the cool breeze which she was enjoying earlier, felt eerie and all the ghost stories she had ever heard about the ghost of the dark caverns, kept on echoing in her head. She got goosebumps all over her body and the constant feeling of being watched by someone in the dark, took over her senses. Fear overwhelmed her and she found it difficult to walk anymore. Her knees felt weak and she could hear her heart pounding against her chest. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she curled her fingers into fists and prepared herself to run as fast as she could, on the count of three. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She started counting, keeping only one thing in her mind-

"I have to run as fast as I can, without looking back."