After, Liam and Leo were done with their preparation for bed. They walked to Fiona's room while talking.
"Hey, Liam," Leo called him with a question in mind."Did something happen when I was in the bar?"
"No, nothing happened..."Liam replied with unease, just the thought of that incident made him shiver.
"You sure?"Leo asked again, not giving up just yet."You know...when I came out of the bar and patted your shoulder. You know, the way you scream shocked me."
"Really?"
"Ya, I didn't expect you to scream at me and not only that, you even raise your weapon! And the way your eyes were filled with fear made me feel that something really happened while I was gone! And you were even fidgeting when I opened the door into Fiona's house..."
"Now, you're just exaggerating!"
"No, I'm not. It's true...You were trembling and fidgeting and your eyes showed true fear at that time...So I want to ask you again, did something happen while I was gone?"
"I..."
Liam wanted to share what really happened with him but he was scared he wouldn't take it seriously. Seeing Liam's silent reaction, Leo felt an ache in his heart, he felt a feeling that he had failed to be his reliable friend. (Liam's hesitantness said it all...)
"I promised I won't laugh. I just want to help..."
Leo's eyes were filled with desperation and dejection that made Liam couldn't refuse him any longer.
"Fine..."
Liam told him everything that happened in front of the bar. Leo's eyebrows were forwarded into a serious look, he was listening attentively to Liam as he talked about his unusual phenomenon incident.
After some time, Liam was finally done.
"And that's when you suddenly came out..."He ended with an uncomfortable look on his face. Then, he yelled."Come one, laugh! It sounds ridiculous, right?"
"No, I don't find it funny..."Leo said with seriousness in his tone, his face was not giving the slightest hint of laughter. (He was taking Liam's story seriously.)
"Huh?"Liam shockingly replied. (He didn't expect Leo to not joke about it...)
"When have you first met it?"Leo asked as if he was trying to help him solve this."Is it related to when we were in the inn with the princess and knight? I remember you said in the middle of the night you heard someone banging on the door, right?"
"Yes, but..."Liam said, hesitantly."I didn't get to see the ghost in the first place. Because of that bastard knight!"
"Why do you hate them so much anyway?"Leo asked, he's been curious ever since the first time, Liam started talking back to the princess and knight.
"Can't you tell?"Liam gave him the have you forgotten face before continuing in anger."Those damn royalties!"
"Oh...right..."Leo answered when he suddenly remembered what Liam told him about his past."But as I said before-"
"Not all royalties are bad. Ya, ya, ya..."Liam immediately stole his line, he was so done with it as he talked in a sarcastic tone.
Leo looked at him with a 'that's kind of rude ' face but soon sighed and continued smiling, kindly.
"Anyway, back to your incident. I think it would be best to ask someone from here. We could ask Fiona tomorrow morning."
"Why tomorrow though?"
"Well, we don't want to scare a girl at night, do we now? It's better to ask someone wide awake than someone sleepy and we wouldn't want Fiona clinging to us while we sleep, right?"
"Ya...I guess that would be best..."
"Alright, come one. Let's go! We still need to make our sleeping bags!"
Liam followed Leo to Fiona's room and when they reached there. There were already two sleeping bags on the floor and two pillows on the sleeping bags too. How generous!
Liam quickly dashed to one of the bags and fitted right into it. He was getting all cozy and readied to sleep as he heard Leo talking to Fiona.
"Thanks for helping us, setting up our beds for the night."Leo thanked her, sincerely.
"No, no. I should be the one thanking you!"Fiona immediately replied, shyly as she shook her hands."After all, you two help me out of that incident..."
"No need to thank us, we're just doing what we can to help, "Leo said with a gentle smile on his face.
Fiona blushed, shyly as she looked away from him.
"Ah, right!"Leo suddenly hit his fist on his own palm as if he thought of something."I wanted to ask you this. Why do you have so many chairs in the front? I bet you're curious too, right Liam?"
"Huh?"Liam replied shocked since Leo suddenly included him into the conversation. "Ya, I'm quite curious about it."
Liam turned around, laying on his tummy but still inside the sleeping bag like it was his shell.
"Oh, that!"Fiona said as she laughed, awkwardly, while rubbing the back of her neck and blushing, slightly."Well, it's because of the villagers here. You know I'm quite close to them so...A lot of them kept coming to my house and... especially the elderlies, they come in groups!"
"Oh, "Both Leo and Liam replied after they got their answer.
"Anyway, goodnight!"Liam suddenly said and turned back to lying on his back.
He then yawned and closed his eyes. Without a minute, he was already fast asleep.
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Morning came as the sun emerged into the sky, Liam was sleeping, soundly in his sleeping bag when he suddenly felt something warm between his arms. He was half awake by the thing suddenly moving, it was huge but comfy to hold. He hugged it, tightly refusing to let it go, he was still tired until after a few seconds he suddenly thought.
Why is there an unknown thing between my arms?!
He forced his eyes wide open and found that he was hugging a man, he couldn't see who it was but something about the man stood out. He has red hair.
Liam still in his sleepy state, noticed that it was Leo and slowly closed his eyes. Before opening his eyes again in shock, he bounced away from Leo and hit something from behind. He groaned as he looked back to see Fiona's small shelf.
"Oh, you're finally awake? I was wondering why you were clinging to me but I guess you just want someone to-"Leo turned around as he said before he suddenly dashed to Liam as he yelled."Liam, watch out!"
Liam looked up and saw the lamp on the shelf, swaying left and right, slowly losing its balance due to the impact of him knocking on the shelf. As it was about to fall off the shelf, Liam raised both his arms above his head, trying to defend himself as he shut his eyes. But suddenly Liam felt something breathe on his face, he opened his eyes and looked up. He was greeted by two red eyes.
"Liam, are you alright?"Leo asked, his face was leaned in really close to his.
"What...What are you doing?!"Liam yelled, flushing red as he pushed Leo's cheek away.
"Liam, stop it! Why are you even embarrassed?! Can't you see I'm trying to help you?!"
"Huh?"
Liam looked up and saw Leo holding onto the lamp. Liam's face blushed red as he covered his face with his hands.
Did I misunderstand the whole thing?! He leaned in because he wanted to put the lamp back to safety, right? That...That was so embarrassing! How can I even misunderstand such a thing?! Why is my heart beating so quickly too?! Am I ill?
Liam was in deep thought as his face was still covered, he didn't move an inch until he heard someone call him.
"Hey, stop being so shy. We need to go and prepare for our journey."Leo called him and Liam revealed his face again.
"Ah, right.The next town..."
Liam stood up and saw the lamp behind him was back in its original place. He didn't even realize Leo placed it back when he was still in his mind. He turned to Leo and saw him talking to Fiona about something...It must be about the ghost...He thought.
He stared at them for some time, seeing their friendly chatting face turned into a serious discussion, he left. He walked down the corridor and turned into the washroom. He prepared himself as he thought.
Is something wrong with me? Why ever since I was young, all these kinds of unfortunate things kept happening to me? First, my mother's death and now this...ghost following me...Have I been granted with misfortune ever since birth?
Liam was stunned by his own thought that he lost the process of what he was doing in the first place. He was standing there with a toothbrush in his mouth as he dozed off. Unexpectedly, knocking sound came from the closed restroom door, scaring him half to death. He jumped as he yelped, making his toothbrush drop to the floor.
"Liam, are you still in there?"He heard Leo's voice asking him.
"Yes, "Liam replied as he bent down to grab his fallen, wasted toothbrush with some toothpaste still on it.
He stood up and sighed, watching his dirty toothbrush as he heard Leo go on.
"I came to ask since you were in there for quite some time. But...Guess you didn't have any problem. Then, me and Fiona will wait for you in the living room. Come out when you're done."
"Alright,"
He heard sound of footsteps slowly walking away and soon disappeared. He then proceeded to wash his toothbrush and went on with his routine as usual. After some time, he came out of the room, slowly walking down the brightly lit hallway, which made him feel anxious as he thought about the ghost he reported to Leo.
They must have been talking about the ghost from yesterday. I'm sure of if...if it's not why would seriousness be drawn on their faces...
As he thought of this, he proceeded to guess their discussion on this.
What if Fiona says that the ghost that follows me is a curse like what my mother got...but not a sickness instead a ghost that will haunt me until death...
His body began to tremble as he thought of that.
What if...No, no, stop with the what if... you're.... you're only scaring yourself...Calm down...
"Hey, Liam! You're finally done?"Leo's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
He was so concerned about what spirit it was that he didn't even realize, he was already in the living room.
Both of them were sitting on the chairs in the room, Leo was on the armchair while Fiona was sitting on a stool near Leo. Both of them were prepared for the trip with their bag on the floor next to them, even Liam's bag was with Leo. Seeing them readied for the trip made him a little relief but the thought of the spirit still lingered in his head which made him panicked on what they were going to tell him.
"Hey, are you feeling alright? You looked a little pale..."Leo asked him, which made him jump.
"Ya, you look a little off too. Are you ill?"Fiona added, agreeing with Leo's intuition.
"No, no!Im alright!Very fine!See!"Liam quickly protested as he hastily rushed to grab his bag."Come on! What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
He walked out the door as he swung his bag onto his shoulder. He could hear the sound of footsteps following behind so he was quite relieved as he hoped they wouldn't realize his indifferent attitude. (It was so obvious, how could they not notice...)
"I didn't know you were so energetic now..."Leo said as if he didn't realize anything was off with him...but he did. (He just didn't want to force Liam to tell him everything, he wanted Liam to feel comfortable to share it with him)
"Ya, I'm excited to finally be free again but you seem to be more rushy than I am."Fiona also said as if she didn't notice. (But it was actually Leo who told her not to.)
"Haha..."Liam chuckled, nervously as he tried his best to not make the laughter sound fake(even though it was) and soon continued."Leo lead the way!"
"Alright!"He replied and stepped forward.
He pulled out his map and began to direct them back on their track.