Dead to begin with

Chapter 8

"C'mon" he pleaded

"No"

"What's wrong with going out with me" Malu asked, which she replied with "Everything" 

That only made Malu grin.

Desperately wanting to get out of his company, Lucina power walked outside the school campus. And as surprising as it is, Malu kept up with her. 

Note the sarcasm on that one.

"Can you stop following me?" aggravated, Lucina asked "I would, but you did say yesterday that you wanted to finish the project" he retorted, grinning since he knew she couldn't reply back to that one. 

Lucina just replied with tsk.

smartass

No one talked for a while and when Lucina looked back onto him, she saw him grinning, like there was no trouble in his world.

Taking advantage of Malu's silence, Lucina just minded her own business, not bothering to look behind as she walked the route to her apartment. 

----

10 minutes into their walk, she could still feel his gaze on her, and it was  annoying her. "What are you still doing here?" she asked out of spite. Turning her head 90 degrees to the left just to glance at him, but only a glance

"Garden"

What? 

"what are you talking about?" she then stopped her walk and turned in his direction. 

"I never knew you had a garden close to your apartment" he replied, looking at a distance. She looked at the distance to see what he was talking about.

There in the distance was an enclosed garden with a giant sign with the words "Dreams" plastered in green and blue paint. Lucina remembered that Garden, it had always been there. In the past, people stood seconds to hours just to enter, but now it was run down, no one wanted to enter it again. 

"Ah yea, no one goes there anymore." 

"Have you tried going in there?" he tilted his head, like a child, curious about what the world has to offer. Lucina won't lie, she found it cute.

"No" she bluntly said and started to walk again to her apartment, but a hand caught her off guard, restricting her from moving towards her safe zone. But instead, dragging her to the direction of the garden.

"Malu!" she yelped. But to no avail, Malu just kept on walking to the garden.

Once they arrived at the entrance, Malu let go of Lucina. "What the hell is your problem?" she screamed at him. "I wanted to see the garden" he replied grinning at her.

What the hell is wrong with this person?

"Then visit it alone, don't drag me in your plans" Lucina then started walking to the direction of her home. "But I wanna try it with you" he replied, making Lucina stop at her tracks. She was going to reply but he continued.

"C'mon, its going to be fun"

"Yea, cause going into a garden that may or may not be haunted already, is counted as fun" you could feel every ounce of sarcasm dripping from her words, but like an innocent child, Malu just grinned and said "Yea"

this is going no where

"Fine, let's just make it quick" Lucina surrendered, and entered the run down garden.

----

"Woah" Lucina couldn't help but say when they entered. "Woah indeed"

Even if the outside looked run down, the garden was blooming with the blossoms. Surprisingly. the ventilation was still working, the image of a haunted garden Lucina was expecting were washed away at the sight of it. 

"look!" Malu run towards the direction of orange flowers. Lucina followed after him. "It's a Chinese Lantern" he exclaimed

"I see you have knowledge about flowers, dear" a voice from behind them said

Lucina and Malu screamed at the voice, terrified by its sudden arrival. 

Turning around, they saw a woman who looked like she was at her 60s, smiling at the two. "No need to be frightened, I'm harmless" she chuckled.

That's what all the old women in run down places say... 

"We haven't had guests in here for the past 3 years, quite nice to see new faces." she continued.

"Sorry to barge in without a notice, we just wanted to check this place out." Malu politely asked "Are you the keeper of this garden?"

"you could say that, this garden was abandoned by the owner. He was about to destroy this play, but I was able to convince him to give it to me instead." she smiled "Try looking around, the wishing well is open as well" and then she left

"Wishing well?" Malu turned to Lucina

Lucina suddenly remembered about that well "In the past, this garden was known because of their wishing well. It was said to make your dreams come true, some say it was real, and the other think it's just a way to market the area" 

Malu took his time in absorbing the information, his lips pouting at her words.

After a few minutes he smiled "Let's try it" and then he run off.

It's just like babysitting a 4 year old child

Lucina sighed and followed him like a mom on the way to retrieve her child

---

"There!" 

And there it was, a huge well. Actually it looked more of a fountain, than a well. Dried leaves and crawling vines surround it, giving a magical look. 

"C'mon" Malu waved her over. "Here" he said, giving her a coin that looked old.

"What coin is this" Lucina asked. Malu just shrugged and said "I dunno" and then threw his into the well, closing his eyes. 

Lucina took a breath and threw hers in, making a wish...\

I just want happiness...