Lily's Dead Scent

2013 - Part 1

3rd Person's viewpoint

Days had slowly passed by since Min’s last entry in his journal. The once-blank pages that eagerly awaited the ink of his thoughts now lay untouched, save for the occasional doodle or half-hearted sentence. It wasn’t that Min had nothing to say—rather, there simply wasn’t anything new or exciting enough to produce a fun entry.

“What’s there to write when there’s nothing interesting in sight?” he muttered to himself, tossing the open journal onto his head with a soft thud. The weight of it felt strangely comforting, as if the act of physically putting the book aside could also set his restlessness to rest. Ironically

Life, as his mother would often say, had become “stale.” The once vibrant days of summer had long since faded, leaving behind a landscape of bare trees and chilly breezes. Not that the Philippines has winter. The leaves had already fallen, lying in crumpled piles that would soon be swept away by the inevitable change in weather which is just endless rain and class suspensions. Min’s world, however, remained the same—dull and uneventful, devoid of the excitement that could spark his imagination.

His gaze drifted to the window, where the outside world moved on without him. He found himself watching the passerby’s with hints of disinterest, noting the mundane details of their lives as they went about their day. Then, something unusual caught his eye—a flash of bright color.

“I never knew there were people with orange hair,” he mused aloud, squinting to get a better look. A family, all with the same striking orange hair, walked by, their heads held high as they moved in perfect sync. They seemed to glow against the backdrop of the near raining clouds, a sight so strange that it both amazed and unsettled him. As if sensing his gaze, the family turned in unison to look directly at Min. Their eyes, all the same shade of vibrant green, locked onto his, and their lips curved into identical smiles. It wasn’t a warm, friendly smile, but rather something colder—something that sent a shiver down his spine and made the hairs on his neck stand on end. He quickly looked away, his heart pounding in his chest.

The clock struck noon, breaking the eerie silence of the room. The chime was a reminder of his daily routine, a signal that it was time for his mandatory outside hours. With a sigh, Min sat up, forgetting about his journal and landing softly on the bed. He grabbed his bag and rushed towards the door, eager to escape the suffocating boredom of his gray room.

“Mom, I’m going out!” he called over his shoulder as he flung the door open, expecting the usual response of “Be careful or I will disown you” or “Don’t stay out too long! You'll find a suitcase outside!” But today, there was nothing—no words of caution, no reminders to wear a coat or get an umbrella. The silence was unsettling, but Min didn’t dwell on it for long. He stepped outside, letting the door click shut behind him.

As he walked down the familiar streets, his thoughts kept drifting back to the orange-haired family. Their faces, those strange smiles—they were burned into his memory. The chill in the air was nothing compared to the coldness that seemed to radiate from them. He tried to shake off the feeling, reminding himself that it was just a random encounter, nothing more. But deep down, he couldn’t help but feel that something had shifted, that perhaps this ordinary day was not so ordinary after all.

"I can't waste the day." He said with the most serious face in all his life. By the time he finished the sentence, he noticed Nina's room window open. He never even noticed he was in front of Nina's house by that time.

"Strange, she only opens windows when she's trying to shoot robins" he said muttering under his umbrella.

Min, both curious and astonished from the fact that an open window is more interesting than an orange haired family, crept closer to the windowsill. He hoisted himsel up, making no noise whatsoever. All he saw was Nina, who's just building a house of cards.

Anyone who is in the right mind would know what happened next. The house of cards fell. Nina's expression went from seriousness to "you're gonna pay for this" once she saw Min with a twisted face, preparing to run.

Min ran as fast as he could, but he didn't know where he was going. It was the thrill of Nina chasing him that was in his mind. After a while, he finally realized that no one was chasing him anymore.

"Was she even chasing me?" He asked himself.

His attention went from Nina to what's in front of him. A house, differently colored from the others in their neighborhood. With french doors and symmetrical windows on all three floors. The boy was intruiged. Who could own a house this luxurious? Especially within the country.

But that wasn't his number one priority to know. He wanted to know one more thing he saw that piqued his interest.

"Why is mom's car parked here?"