Chapter 17 - A Night is Supposed to be Quiet

—CREAK… The door slowly opened and after leaving me for 20 minutes, Amara finally returned and headed inside. It looked like she was holding an apple with her hand, or that’s how it looked to me.

“Sorry I took a long time.” she muttered, approaching me. “I’m not sure whether you get hungry or not but…” she paused and handed me the apple, which was floating in the air.

I took the apple from her and said, “No, I don’t really get hungry. But now that you mention it, I’m not sure what happens when I try to eat something.”

“You need to try it now.” she urged. “I wonder about that too, that’s why I brought an apple.”

I nodded once. Then with the apple in my hand, I tried biting the apple and immediately swallowed it. “…”

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t taste anything, but it looked like nothing comes out my mouth.” I answered. “Did you see anything?”

“I didn’t. Did you swallow the apple?”

I nodded once in response. “Let me try again.” I said and continued biting the apple multiple times, eating without being able to taste it. But no matter how many times I tried to bite and swallow it, nothing came out of my mouth, and it just disappeared.

She chuckled softly. “Now the apple’s almost gone. You’re done with it?”

“Yeah, it’s not like I can taste anything.” I answered.

“Okay, I’ll throw it out.”

“Just tell me where to throw it.” I said, hesitant to hand her the apple I just finished eating.

“You don’t want to be seen walking around the kitchen, right?”

“You leave me no choice.” I sighed and handed her the apple. After I handed it, she immediately went out of the room and came running back in a minute.

“Phew… Was I fast enough?” she asked.

“I guess you’re fast enough. But I’m not sure whether it’s impressive or not.”

She chuckled. “I always try to run from the kitchen to my room in less than a minute.”

“Your Mom doesn’t mind it?” I asked.

“She definitely minds it.” she said, sitting beside me. “I slipped one time when the floor was wet. Luckily, I didn’t hit my head, only my butt.”

“And you’re still doing it despite what happened…” I commented.

“I just did it because I can’t have you waiting for another minute.” she said. “I hope you didn’t get weird out of me.” she asked, her voice soft.

“I wouldn’t say I didn’t get weird. But you know, I don’t think it’s normal for someone you barely know to invite you to her room.” I said then added, “It’s not all that bad though. I know you have a good intention, that’s why I’m glad.”

“I know right.” she whispered and laughed awkwardly.

“Thank you, Amara.”

The fire flickered in an unusual way, swaying unnaturally. “I’m glad.” she replied. She grinned, chuckling in a low voice. “I can’t believe you’re here beside me.”

I raised an eyebrow and turned to her. “Why?”

Suddenly I felt a warmth in my face, and both of my cheeks warmed. “You’re looking at me, right?”

“Y-yeah…” I muttered, confused about what is she trying to do. “Why are you holding my face?” I asked, and then I noticed something changed about her. Her color slowly changed into yellow, and the warmth of her hand started to be more noticeable.

“Amara?” I asked, still not getting answers from her.

“Sorry.” she said, letting go of my face. “I just wanted to feel your face…” she murmured.

“…” I remained silent, unsure of what to say back.

“You are really able to feel me, huh?” she asked.

“Y-yea—”

“Ahhh!!!” she shouted, cutting me off. “No, no, no, forget what I said.”

“Huh…?” I muttered in confusion.

Then she suddenly floated away from the bed, going to her cabinet.

What was that? I asked myself, surprised by her sudden shouting. I watched her as she opened the cabinet and grabbed something from it.

“Here.” she said, throwing away a blanket over me.

“What?”

“We’re going to sleep.” she said, approaching me.

“W-where? Where am I going to sleep?”

“In the bed of course.” she answered. “No one’s going to sleep on the floor.”

“We’re going to sleep together in one bed!?” I exclaimed.

Without answering me, she immediately goes to lie in bed, covering herself with a blanket. I stood beside the bed and watched her as the blanket hides her fire.

“You’re really a person…” I muttered, looking at the blanket as it took shape of her.

She brought down the blanket a bit. “Stop standing over there and go lie here.”

“But…”

“Don’t make me do it.” she muttered.

I scratched my head and sighed, “Okay…” I walked to the other side of the bed and sat at the edge. “You’re sure about this?” I asked again.

“You do know that I have a school tomorrow, right?” she asked.

“Got it…” I whispered and lay on the bed, I covered myself with the blanket she handed to me. With my side facing the wall, I was facing away from Amara.

I don’t think I would be able to think straight in this situation. I said to myself.

“I hope you don’t hate me for this Shade…” she whispered.

“I’m not gonna hate you for this.” I answered back.

“Do you know that I like you?”

…

…

…

“HUH!?” I exclaimed, turning to my side and facing her. As I turned, the yellow fire was facing me, as if she was expecting me to turn around.

“So, you don’t know?” she said, chuckling. “Based on your reaction, it looked like didn’t know about it.”

I raised my chest from the bed, “What are you talking about? You like me!?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this the reason you invited me over here!?”

“Of course not. I wanted you to be able to sleep in the room instead of on the grave.” she denied, and added, “Didn’t I tell you that?”

“You did tell me that.” I answered. “But it doesn’t make any sense for you to say that you liked me.”

“Do you really think that?”

“I…” I muttered.

“It’s not like I wanted to take advantage of you. I just wanted you to know that there’s a reason why I invited you here. It’s not just because I like you, but because I want you to sleep comfortably. But since you can’t sleep, then the least I can do is for you to be able to sleep on the bed.” she explained.

“I’m sorry that I acted this way. There are just some things I can’t control. But, please don’t be mistaken that I want to take advantage of you.” she continued. “I like you. But more than that, I wanted to know you.”

“…” I remained silent, speechless, and couldn’t think of anything to say back. I couldn’t feel anything, my senses were dulled, but I knew for sure that I was going through an emotion I never felt before.

“Shade?” she called.

I laid back on the bed and hid myself over the blanket. “I can’t believe you’re confessing to me at this moment.” I muttered.

“Why you’re not answering back?” she said, nudging and moving my body over the blanket.

“I’m going to sleep.” I answered.

“AHHH!” she shouted like she was screaming in frustration. “This is not the end!”

I smiled, but my expression slowly wavered.

Crap…

I can’t stop…

I don’t know if I was crying, but I could feel, that the happiness was catching up to me, overwhelming me with her words.