***
Autumn has arrived in the city of Lyon, France. The season is very beautiful and the colorful leaves are falling, the season when many tourists flock to France.
Lyon is a city that is two thousand years old and is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône. Lyon is the third largest city in France.
And entering the month of December, Lyon will soon hold a Festival of Light or Fete De Lumiere every December to be exact. Every year millions of people will come to the city of Lyon to witness the festival of light. In addition to showing a spectacular light festival, this festival also features music concerts and street dances.
But Esme has always missed the Festival of Lights since she was fourteen years old when her mother left her with her father who after her mother's death became a drunkard. Esme no longer felt the excitement.
Everything he spends just by working and working, he does not want to be silent and lament his fate. For him, time is money and any job he does. Starting from store service, guarding children's toy rides, and being a part-time child caretaker.
However, since last September, Esme has been working as a waitress in the best restaurant in downtown Lyon, and there is never a break for holidays. Brasserie Georges restaurant is a restaurant that is often visited by local and foreign tourists. France is famous for working thirty-five hours a week but unlike Esme, she can even work up to forty hours a week, but the salary offered to her is more than enough so Esme doesn't mind her working hours.
Esme washed the dishes and cleaned the tableware and kitchenware, then she wiped the entire restaurant room. So many young women her age worked in restaurants. This year he is turning twenty-one, the age when young people in most French cities are busy with a world of glitter and fun.
"What time are you working today?" whispered Alette asking.
"Ten o'clock I'm done, why?" Esme asked.
"Same. Let's go see the Festival of light tonight, while we're done with work," said Alette.
Esme shook her head, she was not interested in witnessing the excitement of the festival that has always been the mainstay of the city of Lyon.
"Come on, Esme. This year you have to come!" forced Alette.
"My father is sick at home, Alette. I can't leave him alone." Esme explained.
"You care so much about him, he's only been bothering you all this time, he's also just drunk and also likes to gamble, he's wasting your money!" Alette grumbled.
"After all, he's the only family I have," Esme whispered in a bitter voice.
"Happy yourself once in a while, see you're a young girl, enjoy your youth. You're 21 years old and you've never dated, go on a date with someone!" Alette said firmly.
"I don't have time and I never thought about it," Esme said.
"Hmm... you want to waste your youth on people who don't care about you!" Alette grumbled, looking annoyed at her best friend.
"Besides, if I go on a date, I'm sorry that our relationship won't last long because I don't have much time to go on a date with him." Esme gave an excuse.
"Come on, don't keep staring at me like that, hurry up and get your work done. If Mrs. Benedite finds out we're talking between work hours, our wages will be cut sadistically," Esme whispered, ending the conversation.
Alette went back to work while still glaring at Esme in disgust.
***
Esme prepares to go home and she goes home using the Paris metro which is open until one o'clock in the morning during working hours, for her, it is very economical if she uses public transportation because she only buys a ticket for four Euros. Esme walks towards the Metro station, she enjoys the city of Lyon at night, the old city is full of monuments and is also famous for its famous skilled chefs and also very famous restaurants and cafes.
Esme walked towards a narrow alley that was quite quiet, she deliberately went through a narrow alley to quickly get to the Metro Station. No doubt along the way he kept seeing ghosts wandering around with scary faces and sometimes there were nosy ghosts that kept harassing him.
Esme doesn't understand why when she was little she often saw ghosts wandering in front of her, when she didn't understand and always talked to the ghosts, people who saw Esme talk alone were considered strange and insane, when she spoke to her mother she just got angry. At the same time, if her mother found she was talking alone, her mother would slap and even beat Esme until she left bruises on her body.
Since then Esme didn't care about the ghosts that greeted her or followed her all the time because she didn't want to be labeled weird and crazy by people and embarrass her family.
Her ability to see ghosts made her mother willingly leave her and her father, Esme thought hurt.
A ghost with a red knee-length dress and also covered in blood has been following him for several days, his face is a bit scary because of the many bruises on his face. The female ghost looks like a ghost that just died and is a murder victim, the female ghost keeps asking her to help her get her revenge, but Esme doesn't care. He doesn't want to interfere with anyone's life anymore, yet his life is not fine either.
Even though the curious spirits kept bothering her, they didn't harm her in the slightest, but even so, Esme was very disturbed because their presence was getting more and more out of control.
The air tonight feels different, suddenly the ghosts that follow her disappeared from in front of her, Esme was surprised because they rarely want to leave in front of her.
"Good, they're probably tired because I didn't respond," Esme said to herself.
Esme was surprised when everything around her floated and the passers-by suddenly froze, as if there was no life she stared clearly at a man who was wearing an ancient royal costume or clothes from the past century, the robe was like the robe of a king. The man was holding his chest in pain.
Esme hesitated to continue walking and passed the man, but the only way to the Metro Station was ahead.
Esme took a deep breath, she didn't have to be afraid. Just walk, pretend you don't see the man. Not the ghost of the man, he knew the man might be a curious spirit who died in ancient times, I don't know in what era. But, what he knows is that the male ghost is a powerful ghost that can stop all activities around him.
Esme just kept walking without looking at the ghost of the man, she kept on whistling to calm her heart.
As he passed by, the man's figure was shocked, and stared at him in disbelief.
Esme kept walking and finally, she made it through without letting the ghost of the man know that she could see him.
Esme breathed a sigh of relief, finally, she arrived at the metro station safely.
***
Oliver stared in disbelief that a girl was walking towards him. Even though he had stopped time and made those around him freeze when he was in pain, did his current strength decrease when he was in pain again so that the girl could not work with his magic?
Oliver also did not expect that there are still humans who can counteract his magic power, Oliver must immediately find out who the girl is, but for now, he must return to his castle to restore his condition.
Then with a clap of his hand, he disappeared and was already inside the castle, at that moment the street he had stopped in time turned back to normal.
After a long time the unbearable pain rose in his chest he felt it again, and he stroked the burning tear marks on his chest that made him feel like he was on fire.
"Was your reincarnation born in this country, Eleanor?" Oliver whispered as he continued to pat his aching chest.
***