Second Chance (Vol.1) Squandered

37: Spinoff - Truce - Flu's 7th year with Clu

(Hi - Parts 31-39 are on the spinoff characters Clu and Flu. Aditya enters their lives in part 34. To continue with the AdiYa story jump to part 41- yours truly MissWW)

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Flu rushed into the chapel and froze just before reaching the altar. She sensed his presence even before he spoke.

Adi: Hi! Feeling better?

Flu whirled around. Adi was sprawled on a pew in a manner more disrespectful than Clu. Adi should not be here. Before the visions assailed her, Flu caught Adi by his jacket and dragged him out into the open air. She did not know where she found the strength but he was out.

Flu had grabbed his jacket front and was shaking him.

Flu: Why are you here? Do not come here ever again.

Adi: Someone is very territorial. I thought this is Clu's property

Flu: Only on paper. I ow...

Then she held her tongue and just shoved Adi. Her own strength frightened her. As Adi straightened his jacket and dramatically brushed off the creases on the front the voices started in her head. She screamed for them to go away and dropped in exhaustion clutching her head.

Adi: (rushing to her, concerned) Flu are you alright?

He squatted by her side feeling her icy cheeks with the back of his hand. Then he rested his hand on her back.

Flu: (weakly, panting, not raising her head) Leave the property. Pleazze. If you leave I will be alright.

She sneaked a peek at him through her hair. Adi's narrowed eyes were on her. Then he slowly looked around. She could guess how his eyes would judge the place.

He would see a creepy place. And in another few hours after the sun set it could only get creepier.

They were a short distance from the edge of a dense dark forest. Some distance away, there was a cemetery with a high wall behind. There was a parsonage behind the chapel. If Adi had checked it then he would have judged it as another stifling dark and gloomy place that the freak Flu loved to spend hours in.

To Flu it was her safe haven; her retreat; her sanctuary that had been trespassed.

The forest was a symphony of quiet; music of silence blended with unseen animal sounds. It was home to her favorite birds, the owls. Solitary creatures like her. On moonlit nights Flu loved walking down the forest paths rarely trodden; listening to her owls hooting and their notes changing as she moved: sharper, muted, mixed.

She loved walking to the accompaniment of the rustle of dry leaves in the fall. She loved walking on the forest's many carpets, sometimes barefoot: spongy mosses, tickling grasses, crunchy dry leaves. She had a separate love for the lichen spreading through the forest. Her hands loved caressing the wrinkled barks of tall trees that seemed to go all the way up to the heavens above; citadels standing guard protecting the ancient wilderness.

And she could go on and on about the light shows put up by sunbeams and moonbeams streaming through the forest canopy.

Flu had many enchanting experiences like when she had startled a flock of tiny birds by the slippery cobbled streambed. They had flown past her a flash of red and browns sprinkling her with droplets dripping off their wings.

The forest was Flu's own private haunt. Clu refused to explore it. She was scared it would trigger her hundred allergies; all imaginary.

The cemetery was where her loved ones rested in peace. The wall behind was a collage of green red and purple ivy. 2-3 months later the wall would be nothing less than art in the glory of the many autumn fall colours.