My Long Lost Mate

"Rabbit, I know I told you to go down slowly, but I didn't mean this slow," he said as he waited for me to go down the stairs, taking a few good minutes for me to take each stair at a time. 

I lost track of how many times I tried to brace myself by convincing myself that nothing was down there. But I couldn't help but imagine something coming out from this dark underground room, suddenly lunging themselves at me.

Or perhaps it was also a result of my recollections of being dragged down to an underground room and beaten mercilessly for days. A part of me was hesitant to go down these stairs on my own now that I had to. I need to keep on reminding myself that there wouldn't be such a horrible thing again down here—well, preferably. 

I could have stayed upstairs, but that would mean I will have to be on my own while Luke searched down here. Rather than being alone, I think I would much prefer to go down here with Luke. He was the only one who could bring me my sense of security in this place.

"Here, let me hold that for you," he took the lantern in my hand, seeing how I was trembling a little while holding it. Luke appeared to be very calm and composed, as if nothing could frighten him, not even this place. "I'll be right beside you, okay? No need to be scared. I promise I won't scare you anymore," he said, giving me the courage to finally descend down the stairs. 

Going down, we arrived at a place that looked like the church's storage room. The place was as dark as it can be, and I could only see what was in front of me when Luke held up the lantern. All the things here were mostly the things you would find in any other church, just that these ones were covered with dust. 

"There really is nothing here," I sighed, disappointed that we had come all this way for nothing. We initially came to this church hoping that it would be the witch's hideout, as the place itself was quite secluded. Despite the fact that we had no other leads other than this church and the name Greta, it was worth a shot to come here knowing that the witch was right on my tail.

The room we were in right now was shaped like rectangular, and almost all four sides of it were full of abandoned items. Racks after racks, the dust here made it difficult for me to breathe normally without coughing ceaselessly. One thing that piqued my interest in this place was that one empty wall by the deepest part of the room.

Apart from the statue in the corner, this side of the room was the most empty part of the entire space. While the walls on the other three sides were hidden by tall full racks, this one was left empty. Maybe there weren't any other things to store here, but I couldn't figure out why I was drawn to this side of the room for no apparent reason. 

When I looked more closely, I found something written on the empty wall. Again, it was written in a language that I couldn't understand, the very same one as what I found in the book from before and by the entrance. Looking at how frequently I encountered this language at this church, it must really be a native language spoken by the villagers here.

I then turned my attention away from the words and onto the statue by the corner. It was a statue of a woman, dressed as a nun. The woman had her hands joined with one another, her eyes closed as if she was praying. It would be like any other statue I found here if it weren't for the snakes I found on either side of her arms, twirling around her.

I felt compelled to touch them, to touch the snakes. It was as if there was an invisible rope pulling me towards them. And so I did. I touched the snakes, and then suddenly, a burning sensation erupted from the part where I had touched them.

"Ow!" I pulled my hand back, rubbing it to ease the burn. What was that? It was that burning sensation again. I'm sure I've felt this before too, it was back when I was cooking with Bob. I remember feeling a sudden burn in my hand, and right after it, it was all black. 

"What's wrong?" Luke glanced at me, surprised by my scream. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I... I don't know. When I touch this statue, I suddenly felt a burn in my hand," I beckoned towards the statue. Luke examined the statue, wondering what was wrong with it, but then came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with it.

"Did you got a scratch?" he held my hand, turning it around to see if there was any wound, "There is nothing wrong with the statue. It's just a normal statue, isn't it?"

"Really?"

Was it common to come across a statue like this? The snakes seemed strange and out of place to me. Why were snakes wrapped around the arms of a nun?

"Yes, it's just like any other statue you would find in a church," Luke replied, so I decided to not ask any more questions about it as he must have known better than me. "Come, let's get out of here," he said, pushing my back gently.

We walked past the same stairwell, going upstairs back to the church hall. Though Luke said there was nothing wrong with the statue, I couldn't ignore the strange feeling I had about it—not to mention the burn. What was it, really? The burn was not as strong as the first time I felt it, but it still hurt.

Giving this place one last look, we finally went out of the church. I could feel my legs go weak from all the tension I had immediately after exiting the church. 

"Are you all right? That was a really big sigh," Luke chuckled, providing me the much-needed support for my legs.

"I never want to go back there again," I said, waving my hand. It was the first time I had felt so relieved since leaving my father. When Luke said we were going to an abandoned church, I should have known it wouldn't be a nice place to be. I've never been afraid of the dark, but I've always been afraid of what lurks in the dark. I was not fond of it, despite my years of experience living in it. 

"I figured," he laughed, patting my shoulders. "We should head back to our carriage, it's getting too late. We still have to go on an hour carriage ride to reach home."

I couldn't hide my gasp when I heard him, thinking that there would only be a little distance left to go to reach home as we were already in Wonsvile. I must have forgotten that Wonsvile was the largest land out of the three.

"Or would you prefer that we find an inn and spend the night here? I don't want you to push yourself too much," he asked after hearing my gasp. 

While it was true that I was exhausted, I didn't want to hold him back more than I already was because I knew he had a lot of work to do at home. It would be better if we reach home sooner so that he would rest more comfortably in his own room and quickly finish all of his delayed works. 

"No, I'm fine," I gave him a smile to ȧssure him as I shook my head, "Let's hurry and make our way to the carriage. It's been far too long since we've been home. I miss my bed," I said, earning a smile from him. 

Luke then gave me a nod, taking my hand to lead me back to our carriage. As we started to leave the church, a man was seen walking our way, a shovel in his hand. 

"Who's that?" Luke asked, stopping me from walking further. 

With a closer look, I noticed that it was the villager whom I remembered as the one shoveling the snow in the village. But was something wrong with him? The man walked in an unusual manner, with his head lowered and back hunched. He was walking very slowly, as if he were sleep-walking. The man also appeared to be muttering something under his breath, repeatedly. 

Luke, realizing that it was one of the villagers, called out to the man, "Sir, are you all right?"

The man didn't respond to Luke's call and kept his head lowered, still muttering something under his breath. We couldn't hear what the man was saying because he was still quite far away, but as he got closer, we could finally make out what he was murmuring about.

"Leave... leave..." 

Hearing it, Luke immediately pulled me behind him, noticing that something was wrong with the man. The man then suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide as he dashed towards us with his shovel up in the air, ready to attack us with it. 

"LEAVE!!!" he shouted.