Sakura Eyes

Chapter 24

I woke up perfectly that morning. The thing is the rest of the group didn't...because of me. When I woke up, I was as bleary and groggily like I always was when I woke up. Standing up, I was just beginning to stretch when I heard a thump behind me. Startled, I turned around to find a very disgruntled Catherine on the ground; I had forgotten that Catherine was leaning against me. She shot up, eyes wild and shouted, "Falling!"

That woke up the rest with a start, and all of them were instantly on their feet, looking around wildly. Yuri was screaming on the ground, holding onto Catherine's leg. Tristan and Justin already had their daggers out only to realize that they were still on the ground. They looked at Catherine who looked at me.

"Oops," I scratched my head.

And that's how I ended up doing the morning chores. It has been almost a week; Catherine adapted quicker than I thought she could and was keeping up perfectly fine with the hot weather and constant walking.

As I finished up the chores, Tristan came up behind me and informed me that we were ready to go. As we treaded farther into the forest away from the main road, I asked Tristan, "How much longer till we get there?"

"Maybe an hour or so," Tristan said.

I fell back with Yuri and Catherine who were strangely quiet. I was hesitating between beginning a conversation or just staying silent when it hit me. We were almost at Brody. The mysterious village was clearly leaving doubt and worry among everyone. 

We traveled like this for the whole time. When Tristan and Justin stopped, we halted immediately. I followed their gazes to the right, but I didn't see anything until we walked closer. As Tristan pushed the last branch out of view, we were able to see the village. Since we were on the ground and not on elevated ground, our view was limited, but I was still shocked. 

I had expected to see falling houses and broken down doors, but the houses were perfectly intact. I would've thought this was a normal village if the village wasn't so empty and deserted. It was like a ghost town. That was what it was. A perfectly intact ghost town.

This was Brody.

...

"Let's go have a look around," Tristan muttered. "But everyone be careful. Don't break formation."

We followed him out into the village in silence. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew by, throwing my hair everywhere. My hearing sharpened all of the sudden, and I heard footsteps echo from my right. Whirling around, I scanned the area around us, but I didn't see anything except for dirt. Narrowing my eyes, I pushed Yuri and Catherine closer to the group.

"Justin," I started.

"I know," he responded.

I shouldn't be surprised by now how sharp he was. Justin stealthily whipped out two daggers from his belt, handing one to me which I grabbed tightly. Justin reached out towards me and threw the hood of my cloak over my head. The rest of them did the same and threw their hood over their heads. 

I felt my ears perk up again when I heard footsteps echo from my side. Again, I turned around, but I didn't see anyone. Goosebumps began to raise along my arms. This wasn't a haunted village right? No—haunted villages aren't real—

"It's as if this village is haunted," Catherine whispered, echoing my mind.

A chill drummed down my spine. 

"Haunted?" Yuri grinned. "I wanna see ghosts! I've never seen them before? What do they look like?"

"First off," Justin growled. "This village is not haunted. Second, Yuri, you can't see ghosts."