Nocturne of Nightmares: A Retelling

Chapter Ten

WE WATCHED THE CURSOR on the screen spin as we waited for the search results to appear. The four of us were in Ray's bedroom, standing around him while he manned the computer from his chair.

"There, there!" Thoma pointed at the screen, and Ray clicked on the first link.

"Bluebells, huh?" Ray frowned.

"That's right." That was what Father had called it. "I wonder... do you think it's still open?"

The page refreshed and showed us the headline of an article. "Well, there's your answer."

Bluebells Orphanage Closed until Further Notice.

I leaned over Ray's chair and peered at the monitor. "After some successful adoptions, Bluebells Orphanage will halt operations due to reasons withheld by the owner. The date is form thirteen years ago."

"That sounds fishy," said Subaru.

"Doesn't it?" I craned my neck to look at him, "It's around the same time we lost our memories," and then I returned my gaze to the screen, scrolling down the page. "They seemed to have a good reputation, and if they've helped a lot of families, I'm sure they have a number of patrons, too."

"Eh, maybe the founder just wanted to cut costs," Thoma shrugged. "Running an orphanage is expensive. Probably even more than managing a company."

"That could be true, but it's still suspicious," said Ray, and his chair swivelled gently. "That's about it. There's not much info here."

"Let's try the other links," Subaru recommended, before Ray got up from the chair and dug his phone out.

"I'll leave the research to you. I need to make a call."

Subaru nodded, taking Ray's place in the chair just as he made his way out the door. Thoma began to head out, too, but he paused when I asked him where he was going.

"I need to go home for a bit," Thoma murmured lowly. "Maybe my folks know something about this."

"Oh." Thoma and I found out about our adoptions just yesterday. I shot him a worried look. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Maybe my recovered past was so horrible that my parents had been keeping it a secret. Even though we were not related by blood, they truly loved me, and that was all that mattered. But Thoma might have felt differently. Would he be able to accept the truth?

"No need to worry, Ziya," he smiled, all teeth, and gave me a thumbs-up. "I can handle it. Call me if something comes up, alright?"

I nodded hesitantly. As Thoma disappeared, I stood behind the chair and watched Subaru typing fast. By the dexterity of his fingers, I wondered if he was some kind of computer expert. Come to think of it, he'd never shared much about himself.

"There are some pictures here that are very similar to the house in the nightmare world," he said.

"Whoa, you're right!" The pictures were clearly very old, but some features were certainly distinguishable. I tried to take a closer look, peering over Subaru's shoulder. But at the same time, he turned his head, and I felt his nose brush across my cheek. In my surprise, I stepped back, almost losing my balance.

Subaru gasped, "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, totally fine!" I tried not to look at him so that my embarrassment could be left unacknowledged. The last thing I needed right now was to be teased for something so ridiculous. To my relief, he moved on quickly.

"Ziya, look at this," Subaru motioned me closer.

"Is that..?" At the end of the page was a picture of all the people from the orphanage. In the centre, there were six children.