Chapter 4 An Enigmatic Stranger

The night had shifted. 

One morning came as the sunlight woke Sonya up with its warm greeting.

Sonya stretched out and got up from the bed. She didn’t see Lassie on her bed anymore.

‘He must be in the kitchen with Auntie Caroline!’ She came out from her bedroom after putting the pillow on the left top side of the bed and tidying up the sheet. 

She grabbed a morning coffee and made tea for her auntie as she arrived at the kitchen. She didn’t see Auntie Caroline and Lassie there.

She changed her footwear with outdoor sandals and took a morning walk. As she walked through the path, Sonya found Auntie Caroline and Lassie standing near the brook.

Auntie Caroline was talking with a man.

“Morning Auntie!” Sonya greeted Auntie Caroline who turned her head at her. 

Sonya handed her a mug with a warm tea while she was holding her morning coffee mug. 

“Thank you!” Auntie Caroline took the mug from her. 

“Sonya, this is Mr. Jackson, our gardener!” Auntie Caroline took a sip of tea and tried to introduce Mr. Jackson, a man with a poker face and a pair of darker-colored piercing eyes to Sonya.

“She is my niece, my sister’s only child!” Auntie Caroline explained to Mr. Jackson about her. She took some sips of her morning tea.

Mr. Jackson smirked. “Is she Austin’s daughter?” He gawked at Sonya from down to top.

Auntie Caroline nodded. “Yes. Anyway, I will prepare breakfast for us. Please, join us for breakfast, Jackson!” Auntie Caroline turned her back. 

Sonya stared at her auntie’s back and turned her head at Mr. Jackson. “Burying something?” She felt a bit curious that there was another carcass killed by an unknown predator, and the predator left the carcass again on the brookside as a day before.

Mr. Jackson stopped digging the ground and turned his head at her. He didn’t answer Sonya’s question but his eyes were directed coldly to some flower plants with their bluish petals, appearing similar to tiny tulips or trumpets.

‘Auntie Caroline loves having bluebells around!’ Sonya thought and sighed. She didn’t have any interest in gardening as Auntie Caroline did. Her eyes captured the structure of that old mansion and triggered her to come within reach of the mansion into her sight. 

“Come on, Lassie!” Sonya snapped her fingers, asking Lassie to follow her steps to the gate of family land.

She was standing in front of the gate and taking some sips of her morning coffee. She saw something different from that old mansion's exterior look. 

‘It seems someone has cleaned up the front yard and the wall of that mansion has been scoured off the mosses. And, it’s not so smelled like yesterday!’ Sonya observed the mansion while enjoying her coffee.

She turned her face off as Mr. Jackson tried to approach her. 

“Is there someone living there, Mr. Jackson?” She asked him inquisitively and scorched her eyes as the morning sunlight hit her face.

Mr. Jackson shook his head and threw his chin as a sign for her to return to the family’s house.

Sonya sighed. She yanked the necklace of Lassie and ran a little with that dog to the house while her hand was holding her empty mug.

As she came to the kitchen, she saw Auntie Caroline had finished preparing the breakfast.

“I am going to wash up, and I will have breakfast later. I need to return some books that I borrowed from the public library, Auntie!” She kissed Auntie Caroline’s cheek and put her mug in the washing basin.

Auntie Caroline smiled. “Are you going to see Frank?”

Sonya giggled and put a slice of toast bread with peanut jam. “I met him already. He told me about his engagement plan!” She munched the bread quickly.

Auntie Caroline stopped frying some hams and scrambled eggs. “Really?” Auntie Caroline directed her eyes at Sonya.

Frank was an old friend of Sonya when she was still a teenage girl and he was five years older than her. 

Every summer time and vacation, Frank used to accompany Sonya who spent her school holidays in the family house to take a walk along the village. Sonya’s parents always took her to spend her holidays with Granny and Auntie Caroline since they were busy enough to take some days off for having vacation. 

People in the neighborhood who came within reach assumed that Frank and she had something special to share for watching them often getting along together.

When Sonya married her ex-husband, Matt, some of those people complained about it as they thought Frank and her should get married and have some babies. Sonya used to laugh at their jokes since Frank was no more than a brother to her. Both of them had no siblings and it became the reason why they could get along together.

Auntie Caroline looked at her. “Who will be the fiancée?” She put one of her arms on her waist. 

Sonya smirked and put another toasted bread on the plate. “She’s not from here. She’s working as a nurse in the central hospital!”

Auntie Caroline hurriedly took the hams and scrambled eggs from the pan before getting burned. Her face looked quite anxious to hear about Frank’s engagement. 

Sonya sighed. “Perhaps, I’ll have breakfast with Frank and his fiancée, Auntie!”

Auntie Caroline glanced at her and said no words, making Sonya think that it was time for her to leave Auntie Caroline alone.

‘She must be thwarted to find out that Frank will be engaged! Anyway, I am glad finally Frank can find a woman that he loves!’ Sonya slowly walked backward and ceased to go to her room.

She finished dressing up and was a bit of running down the stairs as she saw Mr. Jackson and Auntie Caroline were having breakfast. She approached her auntie and kissed bye on her cheek before grabbing the key car. 

Mr. Jackson stared at her. “Tonight is going to be a full moon!” He warned Sonya and made her stop her steps. 

“What about a full moon, Mr. Jackson?” Sonya sighed and looked at Mr. Jackson impulsively.

“I am not going to stay in the cabin!” He munched a sandwich that Auntie Caroline had made for him.

Sonya just knew that Mr. Jackson was staying in the cabin, a small plain room outside the family house. It was near the mansion; Sonya only once visited the cabin that used to become a place for Uncle Elbert to work as a writer. The room only consisted of one bed with a restroom and a large crafted wooden table with some chairs where Uncle Elbert spent his time writing. There was also a place to cook something inside. But she never stayed in that cabin because she was not allowed by Uncle Elbert. She even found some piles of papers that she was sure those papers were Uncle Elbert’s manuscripts for some unpublished novels or articles. 

“Please arrive at home before sunset, Sonya. It’s not a big city!” Auntie Caroline explained to her. 

Sonya nodded. “I will, Auntie, Mr. Jackson!” She answered and unlocked the front door.

She put the books that she borrowed from the public library on the seat next to her where she was driving her old jeep. 

The village street seemed so quiet, only a few cars and motorcycles were passing by. Most of the cars were carrying some fruits and vegetables from the farmers to the nearest market and nearest town.

Sonya inhaled. ‘That’s the reason why Mr. Jackson and Auntie Caroline asked me to return home before sunset. There are no street lamps alongside!’ Sonya looked at the street view from the car’s rear mirrors. ‘I could imagine how dark the street is after the sunset!’

Sonya pushed the door of the library. It was so quiet inside. She caught only Frank sitting at his desk and two other librarians. 

“Have you finished reading those books?” Frank took the book that Sonya submitted to him from his desk. 

“This book, I left three chapters unread!” Sonya pointed at one book and shrugged. “Not so exciting!” She smirked.

Frank smiled and gave her a key to a locker to keep her knitted bag while she was looking for some books in the library.

“Thanks!” Sonya grabbed the key. 

Sonya was walking along the bookshelves as she got interested in learning some herbs and herbal medicine with some ancient knowledge of healing methods.

She was reaching for a book that was put on the top row of the book itself. She jumped to reach it and almost slipped to fall, fortunately, there was a hand holding her back and thwarted her from falling.

“Thank you!” Sonya smiled at the man who helped her to get the book.

That man only smiled without saying any words and left her to another row of bookshelves.

Sonya stared at the back of that man who was wearing a black shirt and an old pair of jeans. He was tall and had enigmatic eyes with a mysterious smile while he caught Sonya staring at him with his eyes.

Sonya cleared her throat and turned her head away. 

She approached Frank’s desk to submit the book and borrow it. “Hey, you have fifteen minutes to accompany me having breakfast?” She whispered and turned her head around. She wrinkled her forehead as she found that the man had disappeared, out from the bookshelves about mythology books row.

‘How fast did he walk?’ She thought and rubbed her forehead.

“What?” Frank seemed to be curious as she got confused about something.

“That man!” She pointed in the direction where the mysterious man was standing just a few seconds before.

“What man?” Frank wrinkled his forehead as his eyes followed Sonya’s finger direction.

Sonya shook her head. “Never mind! So?” 

Frank glanced at the old woman who was sitting next to him. 

“Mrs. Francis, I need to buy a cup of coffee for a moment.”

The old woman turned her head to Frank and fixed her old glasses.

“I will bring you a camomile tea, your favorite one!” Frank offered her favorite drink as a barter and he insisted on asking for her permission.

The old woman nodded and returned to the book in front of her. She continued writing something in that book.

“Where should we go?” Sonya walked and fixed the bag sling on her shoulder.

Frank put his two hands inside his trousers’ pockets. “Over there!” He directed his chin to the place with a board outside, ‘Bluebells Café’.

Sonya smiled. “Everything had changed a little bit!”

She glanced at Frank. “I want to meet your fiancée, Frank! You should introduce me to her!”

Frank smirked, opening the café’s door. 

They ordered two slices of sandwiches, a strawberry pudding, a chocolate lava pudding, and two smoothies with some fried potatoes.

“So, what is your next plan? Moving into this village?” Frank asked as they took a seat outdoors and enjoyed the breakfast.

Sonya wiggled her fingers from the breadcrumbs. “I don’t know. I need some time to contemplate!” She drank her smoothies.

Frank bit the sandwich and nodded his head. “I understand, Sonya! It’s a big decision that you’ve made in your life!”

Sonya stopped munching her fried potatoes the time her eyes captured the mysterious man walking across the street. 

“Is that a new man in this village?” She asked Frank nosily and directed him with her chin.

Frank turned his head. “Which man?” Again, he seemed not to be able to find the man that Sonya addressed. 

“He disappeared so fast!” Sonya replied and rubbed her forehead as she got confused.

Frank smirked and his eyes backed to his plate. “The same man that you saw in the library?” He asked Sonya with a prying sight. 

Sonya nodded. “He has helped to get the book there!” She munched her sandwich with some questions started emerging in her mind.

Frank giggled. “Don’t tell me that he is a vampire that living in the mansion behind your family land!” He shook his head and was aware that Sonya’s fantasies to some extent, were weird and too magical to be true. He remembered Sonya’s imaginative story about a vampire who was living in the old mansion behind her family land after they spent their time watching an old horror movie when they were teenagers.