He wasn’t exactly sure why Rui brought him out of the orphanage when he didn’t like going outside. He would rather be in the library, even if he had already read all of the books there at least twice. 

Was it punishment for reading on the rooftop? Or did Rui have something planned?

Almost as if to answer his question, he nearly stumbled down when something toppled him over. He stopped in his tracks, lightly groaning, before removing the arms wrapped around his neck. 

“Korri, please get yourself off of me.”

There was a giggle from behind him. Theo turned around, letting him see his sister’s smiling face. He grabbed her by the neck before ruffling her hair, almost untying her half ponytail.

“H- Hey!” Korri tried to squirm from his grasp, though it only made the both of them laugh even more. “Meanie. If you can do that to me, then why can’t I do that to you?”

He released Korri, making her almost tumble down on the ground, before poking his tongue out. “Because I’m your big brother. I get to have privileges in messing with you.” 

“Mean.” Korri poked her tongue out as well and scowled. However, the frown on her face immediately disappeared as she laughed again. “You were gone for a really long time this time. Whaddya do?”

Theo lowered his head as a chill travelled down his spine. Apart from him falling down, he couldn’t remember much about what happened. Maybe there was a small moment of shock when he realized he slipped, but he wasn’t sure if he felt his head hit the ground or if something broke his fall. 

But he could imagine what it must have looked like for the ones who saw it. 

He placed a hand on Korri’s head, making her furrow her brows. “What did everyone say?

“They said you fell down from the rooftop,” she replied as she removed his hand from her head. “You’re getting a lot of new bandages again, don’t you think that you’re hurting yourself too much?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like I intentionally jumped down from the roof.” His heart skipped a beat as those words left his lips. At least, he hoped he didn’t intentionally jump down. Now that he was getting more and more awake, he wasn’t sure about what happened anymore. 

He remembered falling, almost like it was from something really, really high. The sky was a bright blue, just like late in the morning. And the air felt cool, too. The rain did just stop when he slipped, so maybe that was why it was cold. 

He shook his head and sat on the ground, just under the trees. After clearing his throat, he turned back to his sister and smiled. “So, what’d I miss?”

Korri sat in front of him before replying, “You didn’t really miss a lot. There was a new girl, her name’s Gin, and she’s three.” She laughed again. “She was really weird, though. She’s always quiet, but when she talks she says a lot of weird stuff. Like floating light circles, or people with fox faces.”

Theo took a bite out of his apple and hummed. “She was probably talking about Spirits. I’ve read that some spirits could have fox faces and pretend to be human. Or maybe a monster that looks like a fox. I can’t remember if there’s any of them or--”

“--or maybe she just saw someone with a fox mask and thought they were something else?” Korri shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the tree. “Ate Mei did say that Father and the others found her all alone in a small city. Maybe she just saw someone with a fox mask and thought they were a monster. Weird creatures aren’t always the answer.”

Theo shrugged and crossed his arms. “You’ll never know, Korrina. A lot of new kids that have been here mentioned seeing creepy stuff before, I won’t be surprised if we die the… moment we…”

His eyes shifted from his sister to behind her. There was a little girl, someone that he didn’t recognize. She looked like she was around three years old, with black hair tied into twin tails, and a white dress that all new kids wear when first arriving. 

The girl stood in her place for a long while, making Theo stand up and dust his clothes. “Is that Gin over there?”

Korri turned around and stood up as well, just in time to see the girl disappear in the trees. “Yep, that’s her. But what is she doing in the forest?”

“You said she’s new, right?” 

When Korri nodded, a smile managed to form on his face. “Well, there’s only one thing we do when someone’s new to the orphanage.”

Not even a step later, Korri tugged her arm from his, making him stop in his tracks. Theo turned to his sister and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I dunno…” She looked down and held her arm, giving it a small rub. “You know that we’re not allowed to go in there. Besides, the forest is creepy and--”

“Are we really having this conversation again?” Inaudible stutters left his mouth as he tried to think of what to say, but he eventually shook his head and sighed. “Listen, if you don’t wanna come, fine by me. But I wanna see the ritual thing again, so I’m going. What do you say?”

His sister was silent for a while. But eventually, she sighed and nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

A smile managed to form on his face. Before he could grab Korri’s hand, she grabbed his uninjured arm and led them down the forest. He couldn’t even tell her to stop, his attention was focused on the ground below him as he tried to make sure that he wouldn’t trip or hurt himself again.

It was a while of Korri dragging him in the forest, but they finally reached the end of the orphanage. He nearly stumbled down to his feet and hit his head first on the ground, but Korri managed to catch him before he could fall. 

“Thanks.” He dusted his tunic before looking around. The trees covered most of the skies, allowing only minimal beams of light, but he was still able to see the large, vine-filled wall in front of them and the locked tunnel. 

Theo spun around a few times before stopping. “Where is everyone? Did it already f--”

“Ghosts!”

A scream left his lips. Theo turned around, though he found himself lying on the grassy ground with short breaths as he held his chest with both hands. There were noises around him, a couple of muffled voices. Soon, the muffles became clearer and he could hear people talking. 

“--could have killed him this time!” a girl’s voice, Zamira if he was right, said. 

There was someone else laughing, though Theo didn’t need to see who it was. He only knew one person who found it funny that he was almost scared to death, and maybe literally this time. 

He turned his head to the laughing kid, Yuan, and watched as he wiped the tears forming at the corner of his eyes. The new girl, Gin, stood next to him holding his tunic. 

“Come on, it was funny,” Yuan added as he finally finished laughing. 

“You almost killing someone is never funny!”

Theo sighed and pushed himself up while getting help from his sister and from one of the older kids, Tristan. “I’m fine, Ate Zamira. Don’t worry. Not like Yuan would intentionally want me dead or something.”

Yuan grinned. “See, he gets it?” With a wave of his hand, he placed his hands on his hips and turned to the wall in front of them. “Well, I guess we should finally start this ritual. Kuya Desmond? Will you--ow, hey!”

“It’s not a ritual,” Zamira said as she turned her head away from Yuan’s glare. “We’re just showing Gin one of the… essential parts of the orphanage that the caretakers won’t tell anyone.”

While the rest of them “oriented”  Gin about the wall, Theo lifted his head and stared at the topmost part of it. He always thought it would be easy to just climb it if he had the strength. There were tons of vines, and the vines could be strong enough to lift him up. 

Stepping forward, he placed his hands on the railings blocking the tunnel and rested his arms on the rusted iron bars. “I thought Ate Mei already cleaned the bars here.”

“What’s outside the walls?”

“It’s a forest, I think,” he heard Korri reply. “We’re not allowed to go outside because the forest is dangerous. So we just stay inside until we get adopted or old enough to finally leave on our own.”

It took a lot of willpower for Theo to remove his hold from the bars and turn back to the others with him. “Probably monsters and stuff. We’ve had a few people tell us that there were monsters, remember? Like I told Korri, I’m sure that we’ll die the moment we step outside here.”

Zamira, however, sighed at his reply. “Oh grow up, Theodore. Monster’s aren’t real, they’re just stories that Kuya Rui and Ate Mei told us when we were younger to scare us to sleep.”

“But- but it’s true!” Tristan placed his hands in front of him and stood in front of Zamira. “You- you remember that weird girl years ago! She said that a bunch of large furry monsters killed her parents!”

Yuan nodded. “Yeah, Ate Zamira. I’m not even joking when I said that I believe in those, too. You remember the Golden Eyed Ghost, don’t you?”

Theo shivered at the name. No matter how old he was, the mention of the Golden Eyed Ghost was always enough to give him a scare. He turned to his sister, who shared the same horrified expression as him.

Like before, Zamira simply scoffed. “Golden Eyed Ghost? You mean the ghost that haunts Thanata’s Orphanage at night with a dark body and bright, golden eyes?” A small grin formed on her face. She curled her fingers, making them look like claws in the shadows. “It haunts the house every night…”

Theo took a step back and held on to Korri’s arm. “Ate Zamira, please stop.”

“It looks like your worst fear…”

“Z- Zam-Zam, you’re not being funny...”

“And if you see it, you better hide. Because if you won’t, then it’ll snatch you with its long arms and eat you!”

“Yeah, that totally exists.”

For the second time just this afternoon, Theo jumped up and screamed. Behind Zamira, Rui emerged from the forest and patted a few twigs and leaves that got caught in his hair and clothes. Even though there was a smile on his face as his eyes gleamed, Theo couldn’t help but step back once again and lower himself down. 

“The Golden Eyed Ghost is totally real,” he continued as he turned to them. “In fact, I’m married to him.”

“Kuya Rui!” Tristan chuckled. “What- what are you doing here? I mean, what are you doing here?”

“Guys!”

Theo turned his head to where he and Korri first entered. The bushes rustled for a while, and quick footsteps made his ears twitch. After a while, one of the younger kids, Hilda, finally ran out of the bushes. One hand was on her chest, while the other was on her thighs. 

“Ate… Ate Mei… she’s…” She stood up straight, only for her to jump up at the sight of Rui. “K- Kuya Rui? What- what are you doing here? I mean, I, uh, what are you doing here?”

“You guys asked a six year old to guard?” Theo whispered to Tristan, who palmed his face at the little girl’s reaction. “You’re the oldest one here, why did you leave guarding to a six year old?”

“Because I wanna watch the ritual for once!” he replied with a whisper louder than Theo’s. “Just hush, Theo. I already came up with an explanation in case Ate Mei catches us.”

Almost as if on cue, the bushes rustled and opened. Mei, another one of the orphanage’s caretakers, placed her hands on her hips as her brows furrowed down. Her eyes surveyed them all, and Theo felt shivers when her eyes locked with his. 

“What are you kids doing here and why is Gi--you know what?” She turned her head to Rui. “Why are the kids here?”

Theo hoped that Rui would give her an excuse as to why they were here, but he didn’t give any. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms. “I don’t know, I just found them here. I was busy doing something--”

“You mean slacking?”

“--something important”--he shot her a quick glare--“when I heard someone talking here. Though I should have expected that a cracked gem like you would be slower than I am."

Mei raised a brow, though she immediately shook her head and turned back to them. Theo winced again, and he took a step behind Tristan so he could hide from her glare. He should have known that they weren’t ready in case they would ever get caught. Like the previous five times it happened. 

She grabbed Gin away from Yuan before lightly pushing him as well. “Let’s get back, all of you. Dinner’s almost going to start now, and I don’t think Theo’s eaten the whole day yet.”

While the other five groaned and followed Mei out of the forest, Theo stayed in his place. He turned around once again, facing the dark tunnel that loomed behind him. He was probably just hearing things, but he swore he heard a voice down there. Almost like someone, or multiple someones, was whispering his name at the same time. 

He took a step forward, but Rui’s hand made him turn away from the tunnel. 

“Come on, kid.” Rui patted his head again, and it was enough to remind him that his head wasn’t in the best shape. “You gotta wash your hands, first. You got rust in your palms.”

He placed his hands in front of him and frowned. Right, he held the old bars earlier. He almost forgot about that. 

With a sigh, he patted his palms against his tunic and followed Rui and Korri out of the clearing. Going to the clearing made him think about what was at the end of the tunnel once again, but he was sure that he would see it. Someday, he would get his answer.