Chapter 56

After a few moments of silence, Uriel sincerely apologized without explaining anything.

Sinclair silently reverted to his ghost form and slowly floated off the darkness.

Uriel also followed him, maintaining a three feet distance. They could hear the cicadas and the branches creaking away through the night until Uriel was finally led to the borderline.

They haven't even said their farewell and they went their separate ways just like that.

It was silent and sad and full of regrets.

Uriel knew that Sinclair would be misunderstanding plenty of things afterwards and so would he, but gave it a rest for that night.

He returned to Olia Isema's house safely and slept quite soundly from the exhaustion of the whole night it gave him. He didn't even bother overthinking the memories that flowed in him earlier like he usually does.

Uriel was the type of person to be so much bothered with his own past that he needed to ponder this for many times before finally being able to digest it.

Losing memories, after all, felt all unprecedented.

However, this time, what bothered him the most was the festival and the friendship he wasted. He knew about the ghost's sincerity and all, but took it quite for granted because he was too sure that it'll end well no matter what he does.

In the end, being a kid didn't grant him to cross some lines that aren't meant to be crossed.

And when he did that to Sinclair's line, it took much of a blow than he expected to endure. It was quite explosive and angry.

That aside, he really thought the festival was such a great occasion.

It was even much better than how he imagined humans' festivals would be.

The food was delicious, the lanterns and lights were beautiful, the sky was perfect, and the jewelry was astonishing.

But the greatest part in all of it was that the creatures didn't care.

As long as the scent of humans is away from them, they go around having fun while not minding however eccentric someone's behavior or appearance is.

That's where humans become lackluster.

Uriel fell asleep at his usual spot against his will as his body refused to stay conscious any longer than he had been.

Meanwhile, Sinclair returned to the darkness from where they were before he led the boy back to the borderline.

What he returned for was the broken mask that was shattered right in front of him by the person he gave it to.

It was a prevalent concept that being given a gift by a spirit was a great honor, but he never thought of that.

For him, it was a greater honor to have that friendship with a human living being, which no other spirits could ever have, considering their circumstances.

He took every fragment with him as if those were parts of his heart that he couldn't just leave alone.

Sinclair carefully transported the fragments to his cave and never went back to the joyous festival.

It would only hurt him no matter how fun it looks.

He was more comfortable with the presence of his glowing flowers and the broken mask.

As he lie awake at the items he grew sentimental about, he saw a puppy slowly approaching him.

The little creature approached him delicately and licked his face drenched with unwelcomed tears.

Sinclair softly caressed the puppy and smiled sadly, "So it was you, huh?"

The puppy only barked weakly and cozily fit itself on the ghost's chest.

"You shouldn't hurt the boy," He said. "But then, he'd be too caught up with his past if he doesn't get hurt with its truth. Go easy on him, please. He's just a child and all he wants is a family."