Chapter 03: First Appearance

After a few seconds, I saw Dad going down the stairs and he saw us cuddling on the couch.  

"Heavenly, how are you?" I faintly smiled at him too and said the same thing I told Mom a while ago. He just nodded at me and went to the kitchen to check up on Mom who I think is still not done cooking.  

Dad is strict, but I know that he loves us... so much. But it doesn’t change the fact that I still hold a grudge against him for almost making me take those crazy medicines. I just can’t believe that they trusted the doctor’s words more than mine. 

However, when he saw how I was so against it to the point that I chose to live separately from them, he stopped insisting eventually. At least they realized that I am still sane. 

A few more minutes passed before Mom called us to eat. There are no guests, just us four. It became a family tradition that whenever we’re together, no other friends should butt in. There’s also a time for friends. 

It’s already late in the evening when we finished. The table was filled with stories for the past months that I didn’t visit. They did most of the talking, of course, especially Hellios. He's very talkative. He told me some funny stuff he did in school and how his group of friends surprised him this morning for his birthday. I was just smiling the whole time.  

And also, Mom, she told me things about the happenings in our business and about Dad. Not much happened and they are doing well. They didn’t even let me leave. They said that I should stay for the night since it’s already pretty late. I'm pretty sure they will not let me go if I insist on leaving so I had no choice but to agree. 

I was tired so I told them that I’ll rest now in my old room. I went upstairs immediately so I won’t have to hear Hellios pleading me to play Xbox with him. 

When I entered my old room, nothing has changed at all. It looks like they maintained the cleanliness of the room despite the fact that no one's sleeping here anymore. I tiredly lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. I didn't bother taking a shower or to change clothes since I will leave tomorrow first thing in the morning. 

"Heavenly..." 

My already closed eyes twitched because of what I heard. I thought I just misheard something so I didn’t mind it but... 

"Heavenly, wake up..." 

My eyes snapped open while I looked around the surroundings confusingly. No one's even here. I'm the only one who’s inside the room but I’m pretty sure I heard someone calling me. 

I was about to shrug it off again and go back to sleep but just as I was about to close my eyes, I heard the voice calling me again.  

"Heavenly..." 

Shit! This is creepy! 

"W-Who are you?" I asked, wary of whatever or whoever it may be. 

I know that I maybe sound crazy again, but I just want to make sure. 

But then, no one answered me. What the hell is happening to me? Am I really gong insane? What the fuck is wrong with you, Salazar? 

My mind dwelled with the thought lingering in my head when a ray of light suddenly flashed before my eyes. The surroundings started to turn and with a blink of an eye, everything is slowly changing. I closed my eyes because I feel like I would puke any minute now with all the turns and swirls of the colors.  

When I opened them, I saw myself in the middle of nowhere. I am still sitting on my bed but... I am floating some kind of a very dark place. This is very different from the previous scenarios I've seen. I'm like inside a void. It’s dark but I saw twinkling little stars around.  

What the fuck is this again? Where am I? This felt more real. This is not just happening inside my head. I can feel the coldness and the peculiarity of the place. The cold air is kissing every part of my body. 

"Heavenly---” 

There goes that voice again. It kept calling my name. It was a voice of a man and it sounded like he was in pain. 

There’s a form that is slowly taking place in front of me. Slowly, I can make out what it is. From a faint smoke, until it became thicker and clearer, then it became a guy standing in front of me. I lifted my head to look at him and my eyes widened when it landed on his face. 

His eyes... His green eyes... green like an emerald. I gasped when realization dawned upon me. 

"Finally, I was able to connect with you." He said while looking straight at me, his voice was echoing in this dark void. 

My lips parted with shock. My mind can’t seem to process what the heck is going on. I can’t move any part of my body. I feel like I’m frozen like a statue, even my eyes were locked on his. 

What am I exactly seeing right now? 

"Heavenly, listen to me,” he uttered. 

He's wearing strange clothes, definitely not from this era, or maybe not from this world at all. He was about to reach me with his hand but I thankfully recovered from being shocked. I immediately moved away from him and squeeze myself on the other side of the bed.   

"This isn't real. Stop it. Stop it! Please stop! This isn't real!" I was starting to pull my hair out of frustration. I slapped myself multiple times to force myself to wake up if this is just a dream. I can feel my tears rolling down my cheeks.

  

I don’t like this. Stop it, please. 

"I'm not crazy! Stop this, please! No, I'm not crazy! Just please, stop!" 

"Hey! Stop that! Heavenly, listen to me!" 

The stranger successfully reached me and he held both of my hands before he forced me to look at him. There, I saw his peculiar eyes again. Like it’s calling me... I can see a whole new world inside those pair of eyes. 

"Hey, calm down. Please." 

He wiped the tears on my cheeks and he held my face with his two hands. Like he’s saying that I only need to focus on him and to do nothing else. 

"Clear your thoughts. Please, calm down." He caressed both of my cheeks with his thumb and surprisingly, I managed to calm down a little bit somehow. 

"W-who are you?" 

With all these countless questions running inside my head, I only managed to ask that one question. My voice was hoarse because of my panic attack just a moment ago. I even thought that he didn’t hear what I just said because it took him a few seconds to answer. 

He was about to open his mouth to speak but his hand went to his chest, grabbing it as if he’s feeling an excruciating pain. He was squirming with pain. He weakly let go of my hand and fell hard on the ground. 

He's groaning in pain and I couldn't do or even say anything other than watching him. I gasped again with shocked when the surroundings started to get blurry. 

He slowly turned into smoke again and just like that, his presence was gone. He disappeared in just a matter of seconds.

What the hell is happening?