“Where did I hear it before?” Ava mumbled to herself.

“Hey Ava , what’s your wish?” Sophie asks.

“My wish? Well it’s Impossible I guess. I-I wanted to make pancakes with my mom , but my mom isn’t with me anymore.”

“Ma’am!” A person comes running towards Ava.

“I think this is for you , we found it when we dug your father’s grave.” A worker who was shoveling up the graves gives Ava the same box she had found in her home.

“THIS! This is what I was looking for!” Ava cheered.

“Wait , isn’t that the same box that was in your cupboard?” Sophie looks at the box feeling intrigued. “Open it! Maybe this one has diamonds!” she exclaims.

Ava unlocks the box and finds the other half of the paper. “Yes! What luck!” Ava’s happiness was clear from her face. She took out the other half of the paper from her cloth-made purse.

The letter grabbed her attention . Her mind felt like it was getting squeezed , shrinking , not being able to understand anything.

Ava’s P.O.V

“Does this mean that my mother is still alive? An-and she killed my father?” I mumbled to myself.

“What are you scared of? Your face is all covered in sweat! Did something happen?” Sophie walked to me. She was looking confused.

“Let-let’s go to your Aunt Sophie , I-I am really scared.” I was shivering with fear. My body was getting hot and sweaty. Strength was abandoning my legs.

My legs trembled and I almost fell , I grasped Sophie’s arm.

“AVA? What is happening? What’s the matter?!” Sophie grabbed my shoulders shaking me fiercely.

“I don’t understand anything.” I spoke.

“Alright , we will leave in four days.” Sophie smiles consoling me.

“Four days?!” I shout.

“Alright , peace girl peace. Ill try. Let’s head home first.” Sophie says.

The next day , Sophie was holding the two tickets to hemlock.

“Yay! I got them for you!” Sophie smiles in front of me.

I was washing dishes , I washed my hands and turned to look at them.

“Wow! How?” I was really happy .

“Connections. Anyway , lets leave before it gets dark.” Sophie passes the smirk.

“Yeah! Im ready!”

Ivyhood and hemlock had a distance of about 13.3km. we took a bus to hemlock. The bus arrives and we reach hemlock.

A huge tall brown wooden gate. A pair of guards standing in front of it.

“Your pass key?” he asks.

“Here you go.” Ava hands over both of the cards.

Both of them enter the city of hemlock , a bright city filled with flowers.

It was time for work , people were all dressed up formally walking to thier offices. Some were in cars , others were on bicycles.

Upon entering , we saw a man with a peacock , he was entertaining the citizens.

“Wow! How beautiful!” Ava runs up to the peacock. The green and blue beautiful bird was standing peacefully with its colorful train , a fan of colorful tail feathers.

“Ava lets go , Aunt will be waiting.” Sophie smiles pulling me to the other side.

We reach a shop , a tailoring shop. It was Sophies’ Aunt’s.

“Aunt Delphi! We are heree~!” Sophie barges inside the shop.

There was no reply. The interior was wooden. Beautiful clothes of every color hanged on the stand.

On the walls were photos of a woman , most probably Aunt Delphi .

“ Sophie~ my darling~ where were you~” a woman in red emerges.

Red coat , red skirt , red hat and red ribbons all over her.

She was elegantly dressed and looked amazing.

“Aunt! I missed you! Here , this is Ava.” She points at me.

Her Aunt looked at me for sometime . it was as if she was inspecting me.

“Hi , nice to meet you Ma’am.” I smiled at her.

“Well Hello there.” She waved at me.

Aunt Delph , she thinks someone is following her.” Sophie explains.

“Is that so? What does that person want?” she walks and takes out three mugs.

“Coffee?” she questions holding a mug in her hand.

I nodded. “Sure. I don’t know anything about him , I don’t know what he wants but im really scared.” I explain.

“Alright , ill think about that later. For now , tell me what would you both like to eat?” she asks.

“Ava wanted to eat pancakes earlier.” Sophie smiles.

“No , I-“ I try to politely refuse.

“Well then , lets make them , Im too tired to make them on my own.” She smiles.

“Ah!” both me and Sophie fall on the bed with a sigh of relief.

“I really enjoyed making them.” I smile looking at the roof. She had a warm aura and I felt really relaxed after talking to her.

“Well , you don’t know Ava. She talks too much. And I don’t EVER understand a single word she says.”

“She’s really nice , in my opinion.” I express my feelings.

“Wait till you hear her never-ending stories that don’t make any sense!” Sophie starts laughing. “Anyway , good night , we will talk tomorrow.”

She says and turns to the other side.

“Hey Sophie , Im actually really thirst-“ I hear Sophie snoring loudly declaring that she , Almighty , has slept.

I sigh and walk out of the room . my throat was dry and I couldnt control this thirst untill morning so I started walking downstairs.

I reach the jug of water lying on the table with a glass beside it upside down.

I reach for the glass and pick it up.

“Ow! My neck!” The pain had appeared again , flowing through my muscles , it was making me numb. Tightly closing my eyes , I feel immense pain. The glass falls from my hands.

I waited helplessly for its shattering sound but I didn’t hear any.

I opened my eyes slowly to look what had happened.

A huge black shadow of a person standing infront of me with that glass in his hands.

The pain was not allowing me to move from my spot . I kept feeling weaker and weaker. The closer he got , the more pain I experience.

“Let me end this.” His deep yet soft , dominant yet polite voice orders me.

“W-What , W-Who , W-why” I didn’t know what I was saying.

“Show me your hand.” The voice orders again.

I show my hand , shivering with pain and fear. He takes out a knife.

“What are you-!” I try to shout. With the tip of his knife , he pricked my finger.

Blood , drop by drop starts falling from my finger.

“Keep quiet to everyone about all of this . If you don’t want your heart stabbed the next time.” He collects the blood drops in a small tube and disappears.

“What is happening!” I start crying. “Why is this happening to me all of a sudden! These past days! My life!”

I walk upto my bed , opened up the side drawer to find a bandage. I wrapped it around my finger. It’s just a small cut! Why am I scared? I should stop worrying about little things.

She tries to console herself still crying. Lying on the bed she tries to sleep.

Her eyes were closing. And her teary eyelids were overlapping upon each other like an oyster bearing within it the pearl of sadness.

“Wake up ladies! The sun is up~” an irritating voice disturbs my deep sleep.

“Aunt! Its 4a.m! and the sun is NOT up!” Sophie yells pulling the blanket on her face.

“What are you? Old grannies? You should be rising early everyday , that is when you are the strongest.” She explains wearing a smile.

“LOOK! Ava this is what I was saying!” Sophie shouts out to me.

“What were you telling Ava?!” her Aunt rages to her bed. Snatching the warm blanket from her , she folds it and puts it aside.

“Aunt! All night! The whole night! I was warming this up just to sleep peacefully later! Now you’ve folded it!” Sophie points at the blanket.

“Sophie. This is September , why are you cold?” her Aunt walks to my bed , folding my blanket.

“Anyway Aunt , when are we going to talk about her problem? Im sick of looking at her pale face everytime she wakes up.” Sophie looks at me.

“”What? Im good.” I shrug.

“After I meet someone , he will be here in 10 minutes.” She smiles.

“Okay.” Both of us nod.

“BUT! Till then I will teach you how to walk!” Sophie’s Aunt was not normal.

“Walking is really important and really hard. If you don’t walk properly , you fall. And that is when! Young ladies! Your world turns inside out.”

“She has gone nuts again , lets leave.” Sophie waves at me then points to the door.

“What is she trying to say?” I whisper to her.

“When you fall on the ground , you view the world from a different perspective. That is when you know the reality of those around you. Do they keep walking? Or do they bend down to you?” her Aunt keeps talking.

“I don’t know , she just starts talking randomly , I never get her.” She whispers back.

“And then you realize that those who keep walking have learned to walk! They have learned to take their hearts out of their matters. And that is exactly what you should do! Don’t let your heart interfere girls. There is a reason the control to our bodies is given to our brain and not the heart.” I feel her anger and coldness. It seemed she had lived a hard life.

“I don’t understand her Ava. Lets go.” Sophie looks at me.

“But , it is the heart which pumps blood , which pumps life into us.” I reply

“I have never regretted the decisions I made with my heart.”

“That is because your heart is pure , wait until it gets stained by the world. You’ll know then.” She walks downstairs. “Im meeting someone.”

Sophie’s mouth dropped open. “You actually understood her? Wow , two geniuses together in one house. Im doomed.”

“Lets take a look at who she’s meeting , probably a handsome man?” Sophie smirks . her eyes narrowed and her smile widened.

“Can we?” I ask.

Sophie pulls me down with her.

“I cant see his face , but girl he’s breath-taking.” Sophie stares at the person.

Aunt and that person were sitting talking about something serious.

A tall person wearing clothes , which looked like the clothes of someone from the military. A dark blue coat with golden buttons. The medals hanging from his shoulders. A dark blue cap with golden chain around it. And everything about him shined. We could only see a part of his face which showed he wore a smirk of victory. His arms crossed against his chest and his body leaning back on the chair.

“Oh my God , he is a Major General.” Sophie shouts.

Both Aunt and the person notice us.

“Sophie! Go back!” Aunt Delph had the most angriest expression on her face.

Both of us run back to our room before we could see his face.

Narrator’s P.O.V

“Don’t you dare think you’ve won! I will surely show you what I am capable of.” Aunt Delphie warns the person.

“Now that. was scary.” The person sitting in front of her says sarcastically.

“Vincent! Your testing my patience! Come back before I plot something really evil.” Aunt Delphie tries to warn again.

“ Major General Vincent Ma’am.” He corrects her. Aunt Delphie throws her hands on the table. “You should leave.” She points at the door.

“I will see you later then?” Vincent gave a sly smile followed by a grin.

“Don’t come here again.” Aunt Delphie shouts.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He says and walks out of the shop.

Ava’s P.O.V

“Why was she so angry?” I ask Sophie.

“I remember him , he’s Vincent. Always doing these kind of jobs.” Sophie informs Ava.

“What kind of?” I ask.

“Last time he came , he was an officer on night shifts , travelling cities at night. And now he’s a military man , he’ll be something else next time he visits.”

“But why was she angry?” I ask again.

“Well that’s because Aunt doesn’t want him to do that kind of jobs. Serving people you know.”

“Why?”

“Well , I don’t know , she isn’t fond of people.”

“I don’t get it. Its really complicated.” I got confused hearing Sophie’s strange information.

“In short , Vincent is Aunt’s relative who likes to risk his life to serve people which Aunt doesn’t like.” Sophie tries to clear things.

“Oh I get it a little. By the way , I don’t think it’s the right time to talk to her about me.” I say as I re-think about Aunt’s face. She had such hatred on her face.

“Let’s talk about it at night , you wanted to show her something right?” Sophie asks.

“Yes , the letter I found.” My mind was still stuck on the incident that took place a while ago. Why is Aunt like that? What’s her past? I had suddenly become interested in her life history. I brushed the thought off my mind. I was getting lost in my over-creative imagination.

“Ava , Im going out to buy some grocery , do you want to join me?” Sophie’s voice was coming from downstairs.

“Ill be there.” I reply. When did she go down , I didn’t notice.

We reach a place full of stalls , people everywhere selling different things.

“~Little ladies , do you want a taste of heaven?” a seller asks us.

“Sure sir!” Sophie shows interest.

“Here you go” the man hands us a bunch of strawberries , rich , red and juicy.

“Sir! This really is the taste of heaven!” Sophie replies.

“10 locks miss.” (- locks , currency of hemlock).

“What? 10?!” Sophie puts the strawberries back on the stall table.

“Thank you sir , it was a pleasure , touching the taste of heaven.”

We walk to the next stall which was selling bread.

“This is hemlock’s best-selling bread.” Sophie hands me a soft loaf of brown bread.

“looks good.”

“Let’s make egg sandwhiches today. Let’s head back home after taking eggs , we shouldn’t leave an angry beast alone.” Sophie says.

“Oh My God Sophie , she’s your Aunt.” I chuckle upon hearing a new name for Aunt Delphie.

We run back to Aunt’s house hoping to see her calm.

“Where were you my sweet potatoes. I missed you.” Aunt Delph runs to us hugging both of us. Both I and Sophie start giggling. Thanking God for such a welcoming reaction from her.

“Aunt , why don’t you go knit something while we prepare the dinner for you?” Sophie’s overwhelmed emotions burst out.

“That would be appreciable.” She smiles.

Both of us made dinner while Aunt sat there peacefully knitting a shawl for herself. After cleaning the dishes and drinking coffee , Aunt went to her room and both of us walked upto ours.

“Ava , show her the letter before she sleeps.” Sophie advices. I nod and take out the letter from my purse.

I walk downstairs towards Aunt Delphie’s room when I hear someone talking in the other room. My footsteps turn towards the voices , I was familiar with both of the voices. I peek from the half open door. It was Ash! Sophie’s so-called boyfriend. But his hair , they were long brown and shiny. I look further to take a glimpse of who he was talking to. The person that came before, Vincent.

“You killed him?!” Vincent asks.