Veiled Whispers

Ch.12 - The Garden

Lily

The portrait was a window into a bygone era, each face a story etched in time. Theo, Matteo, Raide—I recognized them instantly. But it was Val’s regal bearing that drew my eye, his posture and gaze commanding even in stillness.

“Is that Val’s ghost that we saw earlier? And if yes, why is he haunting us?” I ventured, my voice barely above a whisper. Theo’s silence was a heavy shroud, his sigh a harbinger of untold sorrows. “I don’t know. I’m still holding onto hope that he is still alive somewhere,” he finally admitted, his back to me, a fortress of solitude.

The unfamiliar faces in the portrait beckoned with their untold tales. “Well, you already know Mat, Raide, and Val. The other three are Hazel, Jade, and Kenzo,” Theo revealed, a smile breaking through the somber mood as I stumbled upon Hazel’s unique name. "Hazel is his last name, it's Juan Hazel. We call him Hazel in his mother's memory." That revelation made me regret the laughter.
A moment of silence lingered before Theo’s invitation to the garden offered a reprieve from the weight of the past. “Okay, let’s go,” I agreed, stepping into the unknown.

●●●

Theo

Her presence was an enigma, a familiar stranger whose essence seemed woven into the fabric of my memories. As I led her to the garden, the creak of the old door was a testament to Raide’s eccentricities—a metaphor for life’s relentless march.

“Here we are. It is not as big as your greenhouse, but I make do,” I said, watching as Lily’s enthusiasm eclipsed the moon’s glow. Her admiration for the garden was a balm to my weary soul.

“Val loved gardening,” I confessed, the words a tribute to a friend whose passion for flora was a secret shared in confidence. The garden was a living memorial, a piece of Val that I nurtured in his absence.

As Lily marveled at the water lilies, their petals bathed in silver light, a voice shattered the tranquility. “Just about time, Hello dear brother.” We turned in unison to the source—a figure emerged, the spitting image of the man we mourned. There stood Val, his smile a beacon in the night.