A Horrific Fantasy

Chapter 61

Charlie and Alastor's embrace went on far longer than it should have been. They both knew that they should have let go moments ago but she felt so warm in his arms, and she could also feel his many years of loneliness and sorrow. She felt how long he had been without someone to hold and how much it had hurt him. She didn't want to let him go. She wanted to stay and give him what he had been unjustly deprived of for too many years. However the love in her heart did not extend to just him, it extended to others who right now, needed her more than he did. So she reluctantly pulled away from him.

"Don't open your eyes yet." He pleaded.

"I won't."

Keeping her eyes closed, she waited until he had recovered his face with his scarf.

"You can open them now."

"So what do we do now?"

"Now we continue with your training. So far you're doing good. Keep on telling me your story."

"Are you sure you want to keep hearing it?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay." She proceeded with her story telling. "The garden was the girl's favorite place in the whole world. She would spend hours playing in it whether it was sunny or raining or during the day or at night. It felt like a real live fairy land to her. Not just to her, to her parents as well. They'd have garden parties and picnics, and play games of make believe. It was the closest she had to something magical. She hoped that such wonder and joy would never end."

Alastor could see more flowers blooming and he could see clouds forming in the sky. Rain clouds.

"Uh-oh!"

Suddenly rain came pouring down.

"Oh my!" Charlie cried. "Did I do that?"

"I think so." Alastor laughed.

"I'm sorry."

"No. It's pretty good that you can do that. I've been trying to do weather for years." He took off his jacket and covered her with it. "But maybe that's enough imagination for one day. Let's go inside and work on the research aspect."

"Research?"

"Of course, you don't think I've lived here all these years without keeping notes on this place and the residents. Whatever I learned, I wrote down in a journal."

They hurried back to the house, though they were both soaked to the skin and shivering by the time they made it inside. Millie was quick to fetch them some towels and Moxxie had lunch already for them. After that, Alastor pulled out his journal containing all the notes he had taken and Charlie added the book Gina gave her to their study session. The two of them sat on a sofa by the fire place, in order to properly dry and spent many hours reading from the journal.

When it became late, they took a break to have dinner and Charlie played with Octavia for awhile. Alastor spent his free moment trying to stop Loona from pestering Angel with incessant questions about the outside world.

"How old do you have to be in order to drink? What does liquor taste like? Are concerts really as wild as promotion says so? Who can you trust high school? Do all boys just want to use girls for sex?"

"For God's sake, someone get this woman away from me!" Angel complained.

"Seriously Loona, you're worse than the six year old." Alastor said.

"I can't help it if I'm curious." Loona defended.

"There's a difference between being curious and being obnoxious. Which you are being right now. Give the guy a break, will you?"