Chapter 7 - My Name is Amara

After sleeping my tears off the whole night, I am now back in front of the cemetery, staring at the front of the gate. “I’m back here again…” I whispered.

I apologized to my Mom before I headed to school. My heart wouldn’t be able to take it if I saw her again with that kind of expression. I’m going to try my best to control myself and avoid doing that again.

And as the school ended just earlier, I wasted no time and headed straight to the cemetery. Why? Simply because my mind is still questioning the existence of that thing…

The skeleton. The talking skeleton, for some reason, had the same voice as Shade. It may be a coincidence, or maybe I was paranoid or even hallucinating the whole thing.

Yesterday was too much even for me. A lot of things happened, not only to me and my Mom, but also to this cemetery. Seeing a talking skeleton is the last thing I would want to see in my life, but… for some reason strange things happen in life.

I’m curious, really curious about that skeleton.

Despite being scared to walk through the cemetery again, it doesn’t change the fact that I did hear his voice coming from the skeleton.

I’m sure of it. There’s no way I would be mistaken. I am probably crazy… I took a deep breath, questioning myself.

Normally people wouldn’t want to go back after that happened. But here I am, standing in front of the gate, and eager to see the skeleton again. Hoping that it was really him and that it was really the case.

I pushed the gate open and headed inside. I continued walking through the graves until I was able to see a peculiar sight.

“So I was really not hallucinating it…” There was a skeleton lying on the grass, just beside Shade’s grave.

I stopped in my tracks, pausing to think about what should I do first. I couldn’t remember anything that well yesterday and the only thing I could remember is that I ran away from the skeleton. What stands out is that the skeleton was able to talk, and it sounded like him.

There was no really other way to think about it. I ran away because I was terrified at the sight of a talking skeleton… It was creepy, and the fact it had a familiar voice, made it more chilling.

I’m going to only do this because of him. If you’re not this skeleton, you know what’s going to happen to you. I thought, readying myself before continuing to walk.

“Woo…” I breathe deeply. “Let’s do this…”

I walked sneakily, closing the distance as I tried to make less noise. The sight of the skeleton slowly gets closer as I continue walking slowly.

“…” Trying my best to control my breath, I could only think of approaching the skeleton without alarming it.

I wonder why is it lying on the ground. Surely it’s not dead, right? I mean it’s already dead— I paused, eyes and mouth wide open. Frozen in sight of the skeleton looking at me.

Its head suddenly turned around while lying on the ground, it turned back, staring at me. “You’re finally back.” he said, getting up and standing up as it faced me.

My eyes followed the skeleton from down to top, still couldn’t talk. “…”

“Are you from here? I was waiting for you to come back. I was lonely here.” he continued.

Lonely? Upon hearing that single word, I was able to come back to my senses. I shook my head and asked, “W-what do you mean that you were waiting for me?”

He scratched the back of his skull. It was an odd scene, seeing a skeleton scratching its skull.

He chuckled, “Well. For some reason I am trapped in here…” he revealed. “I don’t know why.”

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if he was joking or not. “What do you mean you’re trapped?”

He shrugged. “Exactly how it sounded like… For some reason, I’m not able to get out of this cemetery.”

“You couldn’t get out?”

“Yeah…” he laughed awkwardly, “As strange as it might sound, it was the case.”

“There’s nothing more strange than the fact that you are a skeleton yourself.”

“Hm? What are you talking about?” he tilted his head in confusion. “You told me about it yesterday too.”

We did? Why I couldn’t remember it…

“To my eyes, you looked like a skeleton. No…” I paused and looked straight at him, “You’re a skeleton. That’s all I could see.”

“A skeleton? Is it really the truth?” he asked.

I nodded. “That should explain why I ran away yesterday… Well…” I looked at him from bottom to top, observing his body which is all bare bones. “I’m still confused and terrified of your existence.”

He stared down with his hand on his chin. “But… I don’t see myself as a skeleton…” he muttered and looked at me, “That’s one thing for sure. I see myself as a human being.”

That doesn’t make any sense… As I thought of that, a sudden burst of questions appeared in my mind, the question that had been bothering me ever since yesterday.

And then in a quick moment, my mouth blurted out, “You are Shade right?”

His mouth opened wide, and although he didn’t have any eyes, I could tell he was surprised by my question. “How do you know me? I didn’t tell you anything right?” he asked, opening his hands in wonder.

It was really you… I smiled and started tearing up as soon as I heard him confirm it. “It’s really you, Shade…” I whispered, glad that I was able to meet him again.

I opened my arms and was about to hug him, only to stop myself midway.

No… I shouldn’t do that, he doesn’t know me yet. I couldn’t just hug him out of nowhere. I reasoned to myself, trying to control my thoughts of hugging him. But it was okay, just the thought of Shade existing in front of me was already enough.

I was just happy to see him again.

“Yeah! How do you know about me?” he asked, happy to learn that I knew about him.

I turned around, realizing my burst of emotions. I rubbed my eyes and my face, trying to remove the evidence of me tearing up.

I can’t believe I cried in front of him.

Did he see it?

AHHH… I scratched my head in embarrassment.

This was supposed to be my second meeting with him. I bet his first impression of me is worse now… I sighed deeply with my back still facing Shade.

“You’re okay?” he asked, concerned.

I turned back, and smiled at him, “I’m fine don’t worry. I was just surprised.” I chuckled.

“I am too. I can’t believe that you were really visiting me yesterday.” he muttered. “May I know who you are?” he continued.

My face started to burn, my blush making my cheeks red. I turned away for a second, and gazed up in the clear sky, speaking to the creator above.

Creator, thank you for listening to my selfish wish.

My wish to meet Shade again was fulfilled. The wish that I thought was truly impossible to happen. But it happened… My wish came true.

I let out a sigh of relief. Thank you for giving me this chance…

I won’t waste it.

With my message of gratitude now done, I turned back to him. Smiling, I introduced myself for the first time.

“I am Amara. Nice to meet you Shade.”