"No, this is not my kid." The man responded, in a tone as if he were annoyed by the person's sudden remarks.
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking at me, in a gentle tone.
I stared at him and nodded.
"Who is she? Whose kid is that?"
The man moved near me, deciding to hug me and carry me into his arms.
"I do not know. I found this kid wandering around alone, so I decided to help her."
He said, while patting my back gently and looking at the men in the tavern.
But what he said was not entirely true.
I thought of why he did not mention the part where he saved me.
"But she has not said anything till now. Maybe she needs time to adjust."
"Oh, maybe we can help. We can put some flyers all over the town, ay?" Someone offered.
"Yeah, it would be helpful. We will give out the flyers when I have enough information on this kid. I'll call you all when I need those flyers. Thanks."
"Will she be staying here at the moment?" Someone asked.
"Since I found her, yes. I will be taking care of her, until her parents show up." The man sighed.
"Well, Exios whenever you need our help, we will be willing to do so. We can babysit her or take her out to play with our kids. HAHA!"
A couple smiled and laughed, some continued drinking.
"All right, turn back the music on!"
And in a matter of seconds everything returned to where it was before.
Complete chaos.
I leaned my head on his shoulders, as I felt comfortable and warmth in his arms.
"Do you want to go back inside, or do you want to stay here? We will talk when I am done working, okay?" The man spoke to me.
"I want to stay here." I responded to him.
I did not want to stay alone in a room, so I chose to stay in a place filled with drunk men.
He patted my back four times before placing me down on a chair, near to where he was working.
He looked at me briefly and smiled.
And as the time passed by, all I did was look at the men who were drinking happily and at sir Exios who kept on working, making drinks to those drunk men.
At one point he gave me a refreshment, iced tea.
At first I slowly drank it, out of fear that I might not like it, but then I gradually enjoyed the drink.
An hour or two passed, all of them began to leave place.
"Exios, see you tomorrow man!" One amongst the drunk shouted.
"See you Exios! See you too kid!" Said another one.
One by one, they kept saying their goodbyes to me and sir Exios.
And then everyone left the tavern.
Leaving me and sir Exios alone in a moment of silence. Well not exactly silent.
I finished my iced tea, but I kept crunching on the ice that was left in the glass.
Sir Exios was cleaning up the kitchen, where he makes drinks and food.
"You feeling alright, kid?" He asked me, while keeping himself busy by cleaning the place.
"Yeah." I responded shortly.
"Do you recall what happened?"
I thought for a moment in silence.
Then I recalled in my head the images of the beautiful scenario of the meadow filled with violet flowers, surrounding a crystal lake and everything that happened after that.
"I… woke up and saw a beautiful place with purple flowers everywhere.
There was also a crystal lake."
A crystal lake that reflected everything above.
"Then suddenly I fell down the cliff and I was caught by you." I continued.
Sir Exios looked at me and stopped cleaning.
"Okay…" He crossed his arms.
"Can you tell me what happened before waking up? Were your parents with you at that time? Or were you alone?" He asked me in a gentle tone.
I went silent, staring at the glass with the ice melting.
But nothing came in to my mind.
All I could recall were the events that I experienced today.
I shook my head slowly.
"I do not know. I do not remember." I looked at him.
He stared into my eyes and sighed.
"Alright, that's okay kid. I will try my best to help you out." He smiled.
"You… don't remember your name, right?"
I shook my head.
"Well, I guess I'll have to keep calling you kid, until you remember your name." He teased me.
"You can call me whatever you want, sir." I said to him.
For a moment he looked at me with a curious look on his face.
"Are you always this… emotionless? From the moment I saved you, you kept that same face." He asked.
"I do not know." I never even thought about it.
I never really felt any type of emotion.
I was puzzled by everything that happened.
"Huh… Can memory loss also wipe out feelings?" He thought aloud.
He realized what he said and instantly shook it off.
"Ah! Haha do not worry kid. It is just temporary memory loss, nothing that serious!" he nervously spoke, as if I would get scared if he said the words 'memory loss'.
After all I did cry in front of him for not remembering my name.
'Memory loss...' I thought.
"It's okay, I also think that I lost my memories." I said as if it was not that important.
He paused for a moment.
"You know… I am glad that you are okay. But you seem so mature at your age. I guessed that you might be around 10 years old." He smiled.
After that he puts his hands on his waist and started thinking.
"I am going to bring a doctor in a few days. In the meantime, rest upstairs and make yourself at home. Don't be shy to ask me for anything, all right?"
"Alright." I responded as I stood up from the chair and placed the glass on the counter.
"Thank you for the drink, sir Exios." I bowed to him.
Sir Exios walked to me and patted my head.
"I am going to finish cleaning here. New clothes are in the wardrobe, so go upstairs, get change and rest." He walked pass me and started cleaning the tavern.
While sir Exios was cleaning, I took the chance to look around the tavern.
The place was illuminated by such warm lights.
The lights above were lanterns, hanging gracefully.
It was also decorated with some green plants and the place had a sweet aroma.
'Oh.' I noticed other picture frames, placed on a tall table.
But fortunately I could see the pictures clearly.
On a picture frame there was the same woman from the other pictures, with a big belly. She was wearing a long green dress, while holding her belly.
The next picture showed the kid from earlier holding the woman's hand.
The images here were a little different.
Only the woman and the kid were shown in all of these pictures, while sir Exios wasn't present at all.
'Ah, he might be the one who took these pictures.' I guessed.
I looked around the tavern.
But the only thing I could see moving was sir Exios, who was cleaning the place.
'Where are they?'
-----
I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping, and to the people saying their mornings to begin their usual daily chores.
The light of the sun rising showed through the two windows beside the bed that I was laying on.
Last night I found new pair of clothes in the wardrobe, though I noticed that all of them were clothes for boys.
I didn't mind at all, as I liked how comfortable they were and how soft the texture of the clothes were.
After that I went to bed early, as I did not want to bother sir Exios too much.
He already did a lot for me, so I just did what he said.
I stood up and rubbed my eye.
"Good morning…" I spoke softly.
I got off the bed and started getting ready.
First I went in the bathroom to wash my face.
As I finished to rinse my face I stared at my reflection on the mirror in front of me.
'Ah, so this is what I look like.' It was my first time seeing my reflection.
Even though the bedroom where I slept in had a mirror, I didn't bother to check myself.
The messy long black straight hair with wispy bangs that weren't too short.
The ivory skin tone I had on my skin.
Black eyes, too dark to even see the pupil.
I kept staring at my reflection, as if I recognized it from somewhere.
Of course, it's my reflection, so it's normal to feel familiar to see what I look like, right?
It must be some type of muscle memory, but-
'This feeling again. Why do I keep…' A feeling that was growing inside me as I kept on staring at myself.
'What was it again? Where did I feel this emotion?' I tried to recall, but again nothing comes in mind.
I just sighed and looked away.
Whether I recover my memories or not, I don't think that what happened to me before waking up was any good.
Or maybe I was just being pessimistic.