Ch. 10: The Missing Journal Part 1

It felt like being trapped in an apparent death, until a cold, light drop fell on his cheek -- a haze in the night that woke him up. Moving his body, he felt stiff and there was no strength left  even to open his eyes.

"Whaa--t" He tried to speak. No words came out of his mouth. There were only gasps and dark vision encircling him. He had not a slightest idea of what had happened or how it did. The next thing he knew, his forehead throbbed. The pain in his stomach was killing him.


How could he have ended up in such a state? The last time he recalled of being in so much pain was ... when he opened his eyes and found himself being tide to a chair. The blood poured out of his mouth. It felt a lot worse when he bowed down to open a sack and  then the green colored air surrounded him.

“Val?” Rosaline's voice was heard.


Her fingers ran gently through his forelock. He could feel her breathing, soft and tender.  Her skin felt cold and even though her hands were shaking, his depression, anger and fear fell quietly within seconds. There was serenity as he found himself less battling to get his feet back on the ground. 

"Are you okay?"

His cheek became wet  with the fallen of another drop. It streamed down onto his mouth, went inside through the corner of his lips --  tugging  at the tip of his tongue. It tasted salty, like sea water or tears. He knew then that it was  her tears as he heard her sobbing. Why was she crying?

Opening his eyes, all he could see was a blur while everything around him veiled in the dark vision. Strangely though, his head wasn't throbbing, the feeling of nausea had  already stopped, it felt a lot better, and soon... a song was heard. 

He knew the song. It was a song his mother used to sing to them, even though it wasn't his mother that night. It was her... Her light and mellow voice, accompanied by tremors at  the end of each of her lines -- hoarsely, only the remainders of what's left after all the screaming and horror.

“Everything is going to be okay, right?” She whispered  while she's holding his hand. Her fingers were cold. He knew he must get up  to check up on her. 

Getting clearer vision, he had finally recognized his surroundings. They were still there... inside the basement. She should have run, but she stayed with him instead. She held him on her lap and that's why he felt so comfortable around  his head, but not on his feet as they  directly hit the floor. Still, he enjoyed sleeping on her lap. It felt like being a five year old boy again. Her warmth was so much like his mom's. Her tenderness melted him, and the song... the song had been and would always be the song he would never forget. 


Closing his eyes, he  had not moved his body an inch. He wanted to be that way, to be touched, to be loved, and to feel those feelings he had never felt before--  until a harsh jolt pushed him down, and she was taken away from him.

"Valentin, help!!!”

______________________________________ 

Ch. 2 - The Secrets Part 2

 
Sunday, 05:00 pm, Valentin and Madeline were in front of Alexis’s Relics Store.

Theme Song: "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg

“Valentin, do you remember this place? This is where we first met. You once helped me when a thief stole my wallet."

"I remember.” 
“So?” 
“So... ?” 
“So... don't you want to take me for a coffee or something?"
"Madeline, I- ”   

 

“I really need to go now. I have to meet someone.”
“Someone? Who?"
“My girlfriend.”

"Girlfriend? I thought you haven't had a girlfriend, Val.”
“I was.”  
“Who is she? Do I know her?"
“She is…..”
He was about to answer her, but he noticed Annabelle going inside the store.



"Annabelle!"

"Annabelle?" Madeline turned her head around. From the corner of her eyes, she found a girl with a long brown hair. 

“Annabelle? Hello! my name is Madeline. I've just arrived from Sunset Valley. I came here with my daddy. He owns the famous hotel here. Hôtel Fleur Eternelle. I guess you might have already known since my daddy and I- " Madeline said at length.


 
Annabelle wasn't really listening. She turned her head around and saw Valentin running.


"Hello...?" Madeline waved her hands. "Are you listening?"

"Ugh, what were you saying?"
  

 

"Do I know you?" 

Madeline tried to smile, pretending that she had not noticed the boredom expression on Annabelle's face. "My name is Madeline. I'm Valentin's friend. Are you his girlfriend? If you don't mind, I would like to have a coffee with him. We haven't chatted for a while and coffee seems nice, so-"
 

 

“Hey!" Annabelle cut her off. "Madeline or whoever you are, I don't know what you're talking about, but you've got it all wrong here. I'm not his girlfriend and if you wanted to have a coffee with him -- he's already gone by now.  "

"What?" Madeline turned her head around. She didn't see any sight of him -- not in the store nor in the park. Guessed that Annabelle was right.

 

Valentin was in a rush. He was driving his old scooter to the Nectary. He didn't lie to Madeline at some point. He was in a hurry to meet someone there. He promised to pick her up at the Nectary at 5 pm. He was fifteen minutes late and when he arrived there, she had already finished harvesting the grapes. That time was harvesting time, and once a year, the Nectary invited everyone to harvest their grapes there.

The view around the Nectary was beautiful. Red and orange hues filled the sky as the sun started to hide below the horizon. The nuance of rural was so adhere and the field was filled with ripe grapes ready to be picked. One or two pickers were still there to harvest them. They  hummed -- singing a legendary folk song. 

"It's beautiful," she whispered -- standing in the field and looking at the sunset drowning between the clouds. It was so beautiful that she wasn't aware of his arrival.

Valentin stood behind her, watching her closely. He pulled out something out of his pocket.  "She would love this." He smiled and put it again.

As he walked toward her,  the flashes of old memories slipped back into his mind.

 

 

"Valentin,  see this? Isn't it beautiful!" 

Rosaline and I were hanging out in the school yard when she caught a red butterfly with her hands. I was so tired that I didn't feel so excited about it.


"Yeah,  can we go home now?"  


It was time to go home.

Rosaline loves  butterflies. She asked me to see it. I thought she's going to keep it, but she opened her hands and  let it flew up into the air.

There are things which I haven't known until now, but I know that Rose is not my biological sister. Her real mother is Eve Lisle. She and her mother stayed in our house in Sunset Valley when Rose was still a baby. Ms. Eve is a nice woman and was very close to my mother. She  liked to give me presents at Christmas, but I never saw her again after the New Year's Eve when I was six. It took quite a long  for me to really understand that she had died when Rose was four.

The accident was reported in newspapers. Mom kept the clipping about it in her diary until one day... I found it.  

 

The fire spread fast that made the firefighters unable to extinguish it until the next morning.  Ms. Eve was found in a burning car not far from Old Pier Beach. She was found with an unknown man whose identity still has not been revealed until now.

Chapter Two - Holding On Together

Year 2000 – Sunset Valley 
Theme Song : I'll be Your Love" by Nicole Scherzinger

"You can't catch me, son!"

"Val, honey, it's already noon now!" 

His mother were shouting gently at them.

The family was having a picnic at Sunset Valley's beach. Both Valentin and Rosaline were there and also their parents who were still alive at that time.

Chapter One - Choices

Main Theme Song: Pills by The Perishers 

"It's time to try." He thought.
 

"Monsieur, do you need an employee? I can count quickly and I have a good grade in high school. I could use a cash register and may also do other things, such as mowing the lawn or tidying up the shelves. I'll do anything if I am accepted to work here."

The store owner observed him closely and figured that the young man in front of him was possibly about 18 years old,  tall, with blond sand hair, tan skin and soft-green eyes. At a glance, he appeared to be a polite young man with good manners. Probably he would do fine as a cashier.

"Okay, I do need help lately. You may start working here today as a cashier. What a coincidence! I've promised my son to watch his game. I'll be back at four this afternoon."
"Thank you, Monsieur. Thank you."

"What is your name, son?"

"Valentin,  Monsieur,  you can call me Val." 

Time passed by and it was 5 p.m. already. Valentin tried to do his best since he really needed the job to make a living for him and his little sister. The bills awaited them. Yet, somehow he could not take his eyes off  a Shower in a Can which were being displayed not very far from him.  The price of Shower in a Can wasn't very expensive -- it was a very cheap item on sale, in fact, and he didn't really need it. But why did he feel restless just by looking at it? 

"Is everything fine?"  Monsieur Gaston, the store owner stared at him when he arrived back.

"Y-you're back, Monsieur?How was the game? " 

"Not good.  His team got defeated." 

"Great.."  

"Great? Have you not mistaken? I said he lost the game."

"Pardon me, monsieur. I meant, it would be great  even  if he'd lost the game. You should be proud of him . I've never joined the football team at school myself, but I was the school mascot. One day, I was over excited cheering at my teammates, my trousers become saggy. All  the audiences were laughing and made the goalkeeper missed the ball. Our team won. Of course, I wore shorts that day, but since then, my team  called me Val, the Lucky Pants."

"Ha-ha-ha, you're quite funny, young man." Monsieur Gaston chuckled..  "Thank you for today. You may go home  now."

"Thank you, Monsieur.." 

***

"Whoaa!!"