The Ghost's Diary 👻 ✓

48. City of Silence

A gaunt piece of almost porcelain skin glides against the smooth surface of a shining table.

Oh wait, that's my arm.

I pull back my arm, just as my eyes wander to the chandelier in the middle of the dining hall. I've always wondered why there are numerous chandeliers, candelabras and dark coloured furniture. I later realised that Edenfield might as well be a museum with all of its pristine settings.

A light snore comes from my right.

The dining hall is almost empty, except for Ms Bragge and me. One can call Ms Bragge as almost half a person at this time of the clouded night.

My seat hisses as the back of my lower legs push it behind me. I know Ms Bragge won’t wake up wholly because of the noise, but it can certainly lower the intensity of her slumber. I brush my hands against her shoulders and shake them.

She opens her eyes after a few shakes.

She arcs forward, resulting in freeing her shoulders from my grasp. Her eyes look for me at my previous, before she rotates around to find me at her side.

“You almost scared me out of my wits, Lindsey,” she falls back into her seat; her fist supports her cheek as she blows a breath.

“Sorry.”

“Have you eaten?” she asks with her hazel irises focusing on me.

“Yep.”

The topaz-like lights sway back and forth above me, making my head move along with their current.

Yellow. Kathleen.

Ms Bragge begins to stand, but my voice prevents her from doing so.

“Ms Bragge, would you believe me if I told you something?”

She tilts her head to the side; a few loose strands escape from her bun.
“Of course, love.”

My knees bend down, so that she doesn’t have to look up everytime she talks to me. I intertwine my hands in front of me with my elbows on my thighs. My gaze stays at the woodwork of the seat as I say:
“Even if I say I saw Kathleen?”

I can only see her wrinkled hand move downwards before realising that it is actually for cushioning my chin up.

“You know, your father once asked me a question like that too when his parents passed away,” she crinkles warmth through her expression, almost like the warmth of her hands.
“Do you know what I told him?”

Dad...

Her chest takes a single strive before she says,
“I told him this:
Death has a lot of aftereffects. Often, they occur when we least expect them…
But what is important is to know that the city of silence is just a city, nothing else. In a lot of instances, you’ll feel as though you’ve visited that city once and still come back to the world.”

My eyebrows furrow,
“How can anyone come back once they’ve left?”

“That’s for you to find out, isn’t it?” she pats my head before drawing her hand back to stifle a cough.

My body springs up and proceeds the glass of water on the white-laced table, but she waves me down.

“It’s all right, sit down,” she stops coughing and takes a tissue from the table to wipe her hand.
Her breathing relaxes before she laughs,
“Now, that was a typical old lady reaction.”

She claps at looking at the table and sparks up, “Hm, I should get these dishes back to the kitchen.”

Ms Bragge stands from her chair before her smile fades lightly at the cold seat in the far end of the dining table.